taking a turn . . .

Backposted (because how ever many years from now I'd regret not having posted these pictures along with their stories)!

Well.  The week started out just fine.  We woke up one day to a lovely blanket of snow.  I love March snows!  Remember, just the weekend before, we were out on the boat!

But, as is typical of March snows (not March ice storms, mind you), twelve hours later, it was back to Spring! And three days later . . .

By the end of the week, I was feeling poorly.  By Saturday morning I was feeling bad enough that, for the very first time, I took a covid test . . .

It didn't even take sixty seconds for the "positive" to show up.  Ah Bach. Talk about a turn for the worse.

Thankfully, I didn't feel terrible.  One day with a fever and bad headache, and then I was just tired.  I spent a bunch of time out on the deck (covered and with the heater on) . . .

And enjoyed the wildlife show . . .

By Monday, as hard as he'd tried to stay away, Todd had also succumbed. By Wednesday, I was really feeling fine, so I nursed Todd and took advantage of being home and worked on (and completed) my March UFO challenge project, which was to piece the T-block quilt (minus the border) that I'd tentatively named Oriental Tea Garden.

Yay!  I also worked on finishing the hand-quilting the silver spiderweb on my Halloween Hexi table topper . . .

This was actually May or June's UFO challenge project, but I've got the time, so I went ahead and finished it up! 

I did end up missing some big things. Ellie did her presentation on the fabled Babylon Hanging Gardens:

I was supposed to receive a Quilt of Valor at a presentation on Thursday, and our guild's quilt show, which is always spectacular, was over the weekend.

Luckily, I've got good friends who sent me some photos!

I can't believe I'm saying this ... but I'm ready to go back to work next week.  <grin>

:)

happy wednesday . . .

I'm going to start with the big news, right off the bat . . .

One.  Hundred.  Days.  

Can you believe it?!?  How much stitching do you have to do in order to be ready for it? That's the million dollar question, isn't it?  LOL!

Late Sunday afternoon I finally sat down to stitch, but got distracted by a new TeaTime Holidays magazine . . .

Yeah, more Christmas! Though the first tea party they share is a Thanksgiving one! It justified having the pumpkin blondie with my mug of pumpkin spice tea.

I combated Monday work blues by 'fallifying" my office space:

Tea service was swapped out first thing!  I love this miss-matched setting! ♥

I made the leaves with laminated paper and die cuts. Both at work and at home, I'm using more and more hand-crafted seasonal decorations. It makes me smile!

I did get around to finishing my cute little squirrels stitchery . . .

Very pleased with how it turned out!  I'm enjoying the simple hoop finish, too.  I'll back it with felt and maybe embellish the edges with cording.  Happy things.

Now ... what to stitch up next?!  Maybe a pumpkin??!

I'm headed out of town (one state over—Georgia) for a church planting staff wives retreat with several of the staff wives from our current church.  Should be a fun couple of days; these kinds of trips always make for the best of stories!  I'm driving, so I'm really hoping the rain from Hurricane Sally doesn't impede us too much.  Then it's home to a camp full of Boy Scouts!  Yay!   Y'all have a good remainder of the week!

:)

weekend busy happies . . .

I'm going to tell you a true story . . .

I read a quote that caught my attention: "The secret to having everything, is believing you already do." 

Immediately I thought of my current fabric stash and felt a little convicted. Then this verse of scripture popped into my head:  "Lord I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24)

Then I ordered this . . .

To go with this . . .

Which it does, and very nicely, I might add.  The end.  No names were changed to protect the not-so-innocent.  

Where do I go from that? It's been a very busy weekend! Of course, mine starts when the workday ends on Thursday, so maybe that's part of it! Thursday evening we celebrated Evey Jade . . .

She's just the kindest, sweetest, most energetic little girl! I still can hardly believe she's already six!

Friday morning, Todd and I headed back to the lake. It really was another beautiful day.

The lake was so smooth!  Todd was determined that we would take the boat through the lock at Guntersville Dam and fish down the other side of the river.  We've never locked through the dam before, and I admit, I was both excited and anxious!  But the lock operator was very kind and when I told him it was our first time, he walked us through the whole thing.

Top left: first started at top-the gate has just finished closing; top right:  the water is draining out of the lock; bottom left: the bottom gates opening up to the river; bottom right: looking back as we exited the lock at the bottom.

It really was fascinating!  We locked down, so we started at fifty-four feet of water and came down to sixteen feet of water.  That's a BIG difference!  It's eerie, too.  Especially listening to the water, which is going or coming from somewhere! 

Last week I told you that this week I'd have one of my own, didn't I??

I DO!!  It was so fun to make!  I bought a $4 doily from Hobby Lobby, and I didn't feel the least bit bad about widening the hole in the center! By the way, On Sutton Place has some cute, vintage pumpkin printables today if you're into that kinda thing.  Like me.  ;)

My fancy pumpkin friend was crying for a companion, so I set her up with Sadie the Spider.  While I was at it, I put out some of last years acorns.  

They're still so cute!  If you're interested, you can check out my tutorial here.  I also got to hang my new wool pumpkin piece for the first time . . . 

I finished it in February.  LOL!  

Just a few little decorations to make me smile and maybe, just maybe, usher in some cooler, fall-like temperatures!!  

I do have a new little stitchery I'm working on.  I printed it off using my "tape a 12-1/2" fabric square to cardstock" method.  I'm still amazed at how nicely it works!  I did learn from the last time, to do a little picture correcting/editing, to make the design a little fainter when it printed.  It printed out very nicely . . .

So this is what I'll be stitching on this slow Sunday afternoon!  

Looking forward to brewing a cup of tea, putting my feet up, and stitching the afternoon away!

Linking up to Kathy's Quilts and the slow Sunday stitching post.  Y'all enjoy a happy day!

:)

necessity is the mother of invention . . .

I finished up the bike embroidery and started on a squirrel (which is *really* appropriate, since what I needed to be working on most was my mystery quilt for guild).

After I finished up stitching, I decided it need a word.

It needed the word 'autumn'. But it was raining. And I didn't want to go out into the Nook and use my lightbox. Plus I wanted a pretty script. So I pulled out my iPad and googled 'autumn font'.

And look what popped up! I thought that was pretty darn appropriate.  But I still didn't want to print it and take it outside (lazy rain and all) and pull out my lightbox, so I got this idea . . . 

I enlarged the word to the size I wanted it for my stitchery and screen shot it, so the image would remain stable.

Then I taped down my stitchery to the iPad so *it* would remain stable and traced the word.

And voila . . .

I like the way this worked out!

:)

checking in . . .

Y'all, I was utterly dismayed (no, seriously, I was totally and utterly dismayed) when I pulled up my blog this morning and realized that I had not posted in nearly a MONTH.  How has it gone from August 26th to September 16th and I've not shared a single darn thing?  

Rather selfish of me, huh?!

I'll spare you my typical (and truthful) sob story about living life . . . family/grandchildren keeping me busy . . . ministry . . . working fulltime . . . blah blah blah.  Nothing's changed! ;)  Instead, I'll get down to business and share some photos!!

First and foremost, Everley Jade turned ONE!  The littlest of the littles is now a full year old.  

Isn't she beautiful?!  And quite the personality, too!!

Ellie and I had a 'sleepover' and we drank tea, watched movies, and colored.

Yes, we both colored.  Hey, it's how we cool Neeseys roll.

The whole crew of grands was at the beach for the Labor Day weekend . . . 

Sawyer, June, and Olivia had a blast playing in the sand!  

And the three bigger kids had fun being *buried*! While the kids were on the beach, Todd and I spent some time on the lake with friends . . .

It was a lovely weekend! And just so you know . . . that's as far as I got into the water! ;)

I finally finished up this sweet little piece and got it to my mom for her annual Autumn gift (she and my dad celebrated FIFTY-FIVE years of wedded bliss on September 10th)!!

I love this little pattern!  I had a lot of fun with it -- so I'm not sure why it took me so LONG to finish it!

And since I'm enjoying the heck out of working with wool these days, I immediately picked up another wool project . . . 

Simple, but quite a lot of fun!  If I can stay focused and get it finished in time, it would make the perfect little mat to go with my September mini!

And, if you look closely at my stand, you'll notice it's sporting a sweet new look!  I got a new wire topper for it!  Just in time for fall! Oh -- and just above the stand is a picture of my folks, the anniversary couple!

I've also been playing with some of the wildlife photos I took while in South Dakota.  Here's two of the shots I've turned into notecards . . . 

I've done several more, but have already used them! It's a fun way to enjoy my trip all over again and share it in part with others.

And finally . . . it's coming up on that time of year of all things PUMPKIN!

I kicked it off this week with my first pumpkin spice latte.  Yummy!  Fall is my favorite!

:)