early darkness . . .

Daylight savings time ends tonight!  To that end, this cartoon made me laugh, laugh, laugh!

It's funny ... but it's also very true, no?  Be sure you turn your clocks back ... and enjoy that extra hour of sleep in the morning! It's a little ironic to me that we get that extra hour of sleep on the morning that sun rises an hour earlier.  Why can't we get it right?!  LOL!

The girls were SO cute as the fairies from Sleeping Beauty!  

Aren't they just precious?! Of course, they were the tip of the iceberg . . .

Jason was Prince Valiant, and Jocelyn was a fabulous Maleficent! Aren't they fun?? We had a good time manning their front door while the crew trick or treated.

I've been diligently working on my "Pick a Pumpkin" project, but this is all you get . . .

It'll be all ready on Wednesday!

I've also been working on mug rugs samples for our guild's December swap, which we'll introduce at this month's meeting.  The theme is Christmas/Winter.  Here are my offerings so far . . .

This is my own design, which I "prototyped" in Publisher. I'll clean up the quilting on the one I actually swap. I was struggling with the metallic thread I was using. Ugh. Here's the graphic from the mock up:

He's pretty close! The second one is also my design . . .

Also prototyped in Publisher . . . 

But you can see my (semi)finished product ended up being a little bigger than the concept!

LOL! I got excited. I still need to quilt this one.

My slow Sunday stitching will involve stitching my wool pieces (the hat and scarf) down on the snowman and embellishing the tree.  I've got to find the perfect star button to garnish the tree top!

Enjoy your day . . . make the most of it! And be sure to check out Kathy's Quilts to see what projects everyone is else slow stitching on!

:)

the ins and outs . . .

This past week was . . . weird. In no small part due to a Thursday routine procedure I had scheduled, which required several days of prep beforehand.  If you know, you know.  If you don't, I'll spare you the details (but only until you're post-50!). Still, I feel like I got a lot of *other* stuff done . . .

For example, when your six-year-old grandson facetimes you to specially request that you make him a new scarf in his new favorite color, you pretty much jump on it . . . 

Yes, black is Sawyer's new favorite color!  He's so cute!  I decided to give the loom a try, mostly because my co-worker has been using one and the results are so even and pretty.

I think it turned out nicely. He'll be able to wrap up twice in it -- it's longer than my 66" frame! Not a bad two-day project, right? And speaking of Sawyer, they just got his school pics back:

He gets more handsome every day! Gosh I miss him and his family!

So, I finished up the black scarf, but then there's Ellie, whose favorite color is "red with sparkles". Can't ignore that, can I?

Of course not! This yarn is a lot lighter (which probably would have been more appropriate for the scarf going to Southern California), but it does have sparkle!

I've been (and will continue today) to do some hand work on a super-secret project that I need to wrap up and get in the mail this week . . .

Terrible shot, right? Good. Ha! I should be able to show a finish next week to make up for it.  :)

I've been doing some other crafty stuff, too . . .

These little guys are "treats" for my preschool Sunday school class.  Today we will make up these sweet little blessings wreaths as our craft, 

So I've got everything cut out and ready for those, too.

My stash is ... unchanged. The unchanged melody. 

Maybe next week?  I'll do some regular sewing this afternoon, too.  Evey's going to be Ursula to Ellie's Ariel. She needs eels.

I'll be making eels.  LOL!  The things we do for our grandchildren, right?!?

And I would be remiss if I didn't share the beautiful shelf my friend made for me, just for this tea-filled space . . .

It's perfect -- my tea tins were starting to be a little cluttered!

I'll be linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts. Y'all enjoy a lovely Sunday . . . and a fabulous week!

:)