hop hop hoppin . . .

Hello!! Welcome to my contribution to the Hallowe'en Trick or Treat Mystery Phrase Hop, hosted by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching!  I'll scare...errrr....share some spooky stitching with you, along with a letter, and a link to the next blog!  You collect all the letters and guess the mystery phrase!!  Doesn't that sound like fun?

Fall has definitely found its way to the camp . . . 

I love the changing leaves!  We have such a variety of trees, we get all kinds of color when the season arrives!

I love to decorate seasonally, and this is my favorite time of year for it.  I've gotten to the point where most of my decor is hand made!  And while I'm not really into scary stuff, a tad of Hallowe'en "fright" can be fun . . .

This hexi table topper is spooky enough with the owl and the black cats and spider webs!  But stars and candy corn temper the ring of fire!

Full moon . . . adds to the spookiness of the season!

Tell me though, how spooky can a jack-o-lantern really be, with a great big grin like this one is wearing?!

This was a fun wool felt project that I really enjoyed stitching up!

I haven't done a lot of stitching this fall . . . my Nook is a mess (and needs a dedicated week of tending), and what with Todd's treatments and retiring, life has been crazy!!  I did get over to visit the grands last week for a paint day . . .

We had a hauntingly good time painting spooky little touches on pre-printed pictures!!  Of course, any day with the grands is going to be the best!

Okay, okay . . . enough of all that and let's get to the alphabet!

My letter was "G" (just in case it was hard to tell).   Now be off with you and hurry on over to Beth's Needlework Stash for your next clue!  And be sure to stop by Jo's blog — she's such a fantastic hostess!!

I'll be back soon with a proper update!  Happy Hallowe'en!!

:)

happy october . . .

Hello October, I'm so happy that you're here!  It's *birthday* month and it's blog hop month, too!  :)

I finished stitching up Mr. Jack O'Lantern!  

He's such fun.  But I felt he needed something a little more than a hoop or mug rug finish. I think I found (or rather, made) the perfect solution . . .

Yay!  It's a slipcover for a Christmas pillow I've had for ages. I may go back and quilt the face of it later.  Maybe.  Right now, I'm liking is just as it is, where it is!

I got some other stitching finished up and some started this week . . . 

The hexi pumpkin pins are always fun!

This Kathy Schmitz heart has been unfinished for a while ... since March, I think.  Which would be about right.  That's when the world went topsy-turvy, right?

Anyway, it's finished now and ready to display come February!

I stitched up the first of these in May (Mother's Day, to be precise), so it was about time that I worked on a second . . .

There are a total of six. At my current pace, I should have the complete set done by May 2022.  Hahahaha!!!  :)

Today I spent the majority of the day "falling" up the place . . .

While I watched a little SEC football.  There were (are) some good games on today!  Roll Tide!

I'll settle in tomorrow afternoon and pull out some "slow Sunday stitching" . . . 

I've got four of the nine floss colors needed for it.  I'll pick up the rest next week.  This will probably be my last autumn stitchery of the season.  I've got a wool project in the wings! Then I truly do want to get those mittens finished up for this Christmas.  LOL...really!

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts and her Slow Stitching post.  Y'all have a terrific rest of the weekend!! Oh, and you'll notice ... I'm being sweet ... no Christmas countdown reminder!! 

:)

splashing into autumn . . .

Hey hey!  Just checking in before we head into the weekend.  We enjoyed a lovely, beautiful day on the lake on Monday.  The weather couldn't have been more cooperative.  We're at that time of the year where sometimes the water, at 85 degrees, is warmer than the air temp!

That means we spend LOTS of time in the water (because it's too cold to come out)!  The girls had a blast splashing and swimming. Edith even decided it was her day to jump off the boat into the water, multiple times.  She was a champ!  But we were all *in* the water already, so no photos of that!

As my Jocey said, it was the perfect way to squeeze one more day out of summer . . .

My signature "sun setting, heading home" photo.  ;)

Now my thoughts are turning to things of fall. Like pumpkins. All the pumpkins. On Sutton Place had this cute idea for a craft pumpkin on her blog today . . .

Isn't that sweet??!! Let me be clear, this is *her* picture, not mine. You can bet that I'll have one next week, though!!  She also had a link to a collection of her pumpkin recipes (Pumpkin Perfection Desserts) you can get.  Do you recall the scene in Forest Gump, where Bubba is talking about the "fruit of the sea"—shrimp—and all the things you can do with it? That is *exactly* how I feel about pumpkin.  Pumpkin scones, pumpkin custard, pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin coffee cake, pumpkin doughnuts, spiced pumpkin cookies . . . you get my drift! PLUS you can decorate with them and quilt them and craft with them!  

Pumpkins > Shrimp 

Just sayin.

I did get some diamond EPP pieces whipped up . . .

I did six, satisfied the itch, and moved my attention to the Lucy blocks I got with my estate sale purchase several weeks ago. There were seven or eight POTC blocks in several stages, but this one captured my attention because it was blue.  And sparkly.  

And all the possibilities! I think my favorite is the one of the top right.  You?

Today we celebrate six fabulous years with this precious little girl . . .

Evey Jade is the birthday girl! We're doing a family party tonight and looking forward to it.  This girl is fearless and bright and bubbly and spicy.  We love her so much!

We also celebrate my folks' 60th—SIXTIETH—anniversary!!  Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

And though I'm getting ready to immerse myself in fall, I'm going to leave you with this thought:

Baahahahaaa!

:)

acorn tutorial time . . .

These little fellows were just so much fun to make ... and to me they were especially endearing, knowing that their little caps came from our own trees!  They whip up really quickly and easily, so if my instructions are tough to follow, it's me, not them!

First, round up some caps!  We have a number of different types of acorn-bearing oaks in the camp, so I was able to find some different looking styles and sizes!  

We've been really wet over the past several weeks, so after I picked up all the caps I wanted, I put them on a tray in the oven at about 200 degrees for several hours.  They were nice and dry after that!   Then I was able to sit down and get busy! I used a variety of wool colors--because variety is the spice of life--but feel free to stick to more traditional colors/patterns if you desire.

Cut your wool in a circle (about 1.75" diameter). I didn't even trace it; I just held the circle to the wool and cut around it.

Using a sturdy thread or floss, knotted at the end (but with an inch or so of floss to work with on the tail end), stitch a running stitch around the edge of the circle (about 1/8"). 

End your stitching on the same side you began it.  This makes it easier to pull the circle closed.

Pull the ends of your thread together, slightly pulling the opening together (this will help you find the center/base of the acorn). Put a healthy dollop of hot glue (about pea-sized) into the opening, directly on the wool base. This will help you to shape the acorn and will also give the base some weight.

Take a pinch of polyester fiber fill and stuff it into the opening onto the hot glue.  Use your discretion.  If your cap is a bit bigger, your acorn can probably handle a tad more fiber fill.  But remember, you're putting it in over hot glue -- so it's better to start on the 'less' side of fiber fill and add more if you want to.

Pull the ends tight to close the opening and tie it off. You can snip off your ends, or do what I did and stuff them down into the acorn using the tools in the next step.

Using a stiletto or the pointy end of junkie scissors, stuff the excess thread and any fiber fill into the cinched opening. At this same time, work the hot glue in the wool into an acorn shape with your fingers.  This step is not pictured because I couldn't actually do what I was talking about and take a photo at the same time.  LOL!

Place a generous dollop of hot glue at the top of the acorn, over the opening , and cover with the acorn cap.

Set it straight on or make it jaunty!  Personality counts!

Finally, make a GAZILLION more!  Because they're so stinkin' addictive!!!

Happy Fall, y'all!

:)

doing life . . .

I feel like my stitching has slowed down a little.  Okay, okay, I *know* it's slowed down!  The Nook is a total mess right now, and I have no desire to do anything about it.  I do have handwork on hand ... the big hexie project is still in the works and I'm still working on the Hospital Sketches BOM in wool and some fall monogram work for the girls!

I had a couple of my stitching buddies over one day and we watching movies, drank tea and did handwork.  That was so fun--so fun I forgot to snap any pics! Todd went fishing that day! ;)

I also went through my quilting books and patterns and weeded out a significant number of both.  I gifted 'weeds' to pals who wanted them and put the rest on the "free to a good home" table at guild. I feel lighter now!  I also made a spreadsheet of the books I had, to make it easier to find them (and so I didn't purchase duplicates...again)!

Spent an afternoon at Scott's Orchard picking apples with Joc and the girls: 

We had such a fun time! I got sweet potatoes (right?!), apples, apple cider (which is YUMMY and contains nothing but apples and if you freeze for 90 minutes, makes a great slushy) and apple cider vinegar.  

Jackpot, right?

And look at this . . .

My Liv lost her first tooth!  Such a sweet girl...I miss her--all of them--so much!

Also big in my world right now is diet.  Not a "diet" so much as elimination.  My autoimmune meds quit working and the next step was a (self-injecting) drug that I'm afraid to try.  So I decided to do at least thirty days of AIP (autoimmune protocol), which I started Monday.  I did some prep work over the weekend . . . I made applesauce from scratch, "nomato" sauce, bone broth (can I tell you how much I love my Instant Pot?!) and riced a lot of cauliflower. Most of those things I got pics of . . . 

And we're off to a good start with meals (which I also grabbed photos of) . . .

Orange Beef with Broccoli over Riced Cauliflower--it was yummy!

Lasagna Casserole--to which the nomato sauce was put to good use, along with zucchini noodles--it was also (surprisingly) yummy!

So AIP is where my focus is ... especially since Todd volunteered to do it with me. Wow! It takes a little more planning . . .

And to wrap it all up . . . it's finally autumn (both on the calendar and meteorological), so Happy Fall, Y'all!

We like to celebrate Fall in theory here in the South.

Sweaters, autumn colors, pumpkins, spiced lattes and teas, colored leaves and all the works.  Even though temps are still in the 90's.  Ah well.  

:)