booking it . . .

Today is the first Tuesday of the month, so guess what??

It's The Bibliophile Files day!!

My three books (because one book covers two of my monthly challenge rolls) are as follows:

Someplace Safe With Somebody Good, by Jan Karon. I have long awaited the release of this book and then had to wait a long, long time for it to be my turn to check out the digital library copy. I'll buy this one, actually, but not until it comes out in paperback . . . to match the rest of the collection!!  ;)

Next up is The Hardest Peace, by Kara Tippets.  Have you heard of the blog, Mundane Faithfulness? She's an amazing person - wife, mom, and daughter of the Most High - and struggling with cancer. She chronicles her struggles in a very real and beautiful and compelling manner. 

And finally, this month (this week?!) is Trim Healthy Mama, by sisters Serene Allison and Pearl Barrett. After all the struggle I've been through in dieting and weight loss, this is such a refreshing change! I admit I'm already about a quarter of the way through it, but it's really making eye-opening sense to me!



So, so far this month, this is what's on my reading plate! Hop on over to sarah did it! to see what other bloggers are reading about . . . you might hear about a book that interests YOU!

:)

working design wall . . .

Rather, what my design wall looks like, even though I'm back at work this week! I'll be filling back in at the Madison Baptist Association three days a week through December. That'll leave me plenty of time for creating, which is good, since these fabrics are spread across my work table right now . . .

The multi-colored squares were calling to me, telling me they'd like to be in a NICU quilt. Our guild regularly gives comfy quilts and NICU quilts, and I wanted to give. I've worked out in EQ a simple design of shoo-fly blocks that I like . . . 

Now it's just a matter of deciding whether the setting color will be in black or in white . . .

I think I'm leaning toward black. What do you think??

Linking up to Patchwork Times.  Have a GREAT Monday!

:)

this little piggy . . .

Went to Lyon Family Farms and had a marvelous time!  Aren't they funny?  They loved those little piggy noses.  They got even more darling on Halloween night:

Photo courtesy of my son-in-law, Jason!

What a trio!! The Ballerina, Camo Man, and Queen Elsa. This year they all knew their minds enough to know what they wanted to be. Gosh I love 'em! 

I don't know about anyone else, but for us, November definitely blustered its way into town.  Whew!  We're sitting chilly at 28 degrees this morning!  Brrrrrr! But the temps started dropping drastically on Friday, making it cold *and* wet for Trunk or Treat, so we moved the whole shebang indoors.

My poor little Halloween Town pumpkin looked great on the back of my car -- it left a little to be desired hanging on a couple of tables, propped up against the wall (you can definitely tell it was 'sprayed to fit')! LOL!

As for the ol' stash report?  Same song, second verse.  Nothing's changed for better or worse!

Yup.  Zero in, zero out. I'll take that.

On the other hand, I did have a finish!

Yay!  And come Monday, it'll be hanging in my mini-quilt stand!

And for today's slow stitching, I'll continue to plug along stitching up my little pieces . . .

It took me a while to get the outside pieces cut and templated up -- I was waiting for the acrylic template to cut them, because the design I wanted to catch needed the precision. It was worth the wait.

Linking up this morning to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts!  Y'all have a glorious Sunday and stay warm!!

:)

pumpkin pass . . .

So it's Thursday and I've not worked stitch one on any of the projects I shared on Monday.  

Life, right?

Not that I haven't been busy. I played around with the Truvia baking blend and finally settled on a combination of ingredients that Todd and I both liked for No-Bake Cookies . . .

These are such a yummy and easy-to-make treat -- it was nice to be able to make them for my hubby again (who works very diligently to not eat sugar).

I also *finally* got around to putting together the painted canvas pumpkin for Kim.

I love the highlights in this fellow!  Blending the oranges and yellows in the pumpkin body and the olive and brown in the stem is key.  Once I had it painted (and it had dried), it was time to do the single letter monogram. I learned a GREAT technique for transferring fancy letters onto canvas.  First, you pick your letter and print it out in real size (and I outlined mine to give it a definite shape):

Isn't that a fun, scrolly "P"?! Next, you flip it over, and with a piece of drawing charcoal, cover the outline.  I didn't need to do quite so much scribbling--you really just need to cover your letter's outline.

The next step is to center your letter on your canvas piece, charcoal side down. Then with a sharp pencil, trace your letter design. Once you've finished, remove the cheater paper and voila!

Outline your letter, if you can, with a sharpie (because the charcoal is a fickle medium and easily blows away), and paint as desired!

Once I'd finished painting and it had dried, I used a liquid gold sharpie to highlight my "P" and give it a little pizzazz . . .

Then it was a simple matter of hot-gluing the cotton backing, leaving a little opening to stuff it with plastic bags, and then sealing it shut.

Add a bow, and TAH-DAH!

Tomorrow we're doing Trunk or Treat at our church.  It probably won't surprise anyone to learn that I'm decorating my PT Cruiser as The Great Pumpkin!  Pictures definitely to follow!

:)

on tap . . .

Got a few things rockin' the design wall this week.  First up, getting the mini harvest piece quilted and bound:

I had some leftover binding from another project that I'm going to use instead of the rust fabric I'd originally planned to use. I decided that it would be too eye-catching, and I really want your eye drawn to the embroidery center.

Next, still plugging away on my wool work . . .

Teehee! Still being secretive!

And finally, I'll continue to work on my first Patchwork of the Crosses (POTC) block. I'm so loving this! 

A light bulb finally came on for me. I went to start fussy cutting my honeycombs, and realized I couldn't just trace around a template. I had to be able to SEE where my template was going. I am a visual/doing learner (so spoken and written words don't always penetrate), so I'd never understood the concept of acrylic templates.  *NOW* I get it!

I made do and created an open paper template, but my next order is definitely an acrylic template! Linking up today's post to the design wall linky party at Patchwork Times!

A lot of different things, I know, but hey; variety is the spice of life, right??! Have a happy and *creative* Monday!

:)

a girl can change her mind . . .

Right??

I had originally planned on using this leftover piece of fabric . . .

(purchased and used originally for the table runner down there somewhere:)

on the back of my mini harvest banner.  But it's *such* a lovely piece of fabric, I couldn't bear to put it on the back of something . . . so instead, I used it here:

A girl can never have too many aprons, can she?  Plus it'll be perfect for cooking/serving Thanksgiving dinner!

I was pleased I'd used a yard (for the apron and then again for the new backing and binding on the mini-harvest piece).  Here's the stash report I'll be linking up to Patchwork Times:

Ah, yes . . . you noticed I also added two yards, didn't you?  That would be from this sweet sampling of sparkling, frosty blues that my sweet friend Janet, of rogue quilter, sent my way!!  

Isn't it pretty?  And totally me! I've already used some of it.

In a manner of speaking, anyway.  We celebrated June's 2nd birthday yesterday, and the snowflake piece was perfect under her birthday cake!  (Can you guess what the theme was??!!)

I also went ahead, based on many of your comments, purchased the cardstock pieces for the POTC blocks.

This will be my slow stitching today!  Whoohoo!!  I can't wait to see this block come 'alive'!

On a final and very proud note, I'd like to introduce my nephew, Nick:

Who graduated on Friday from United States Marine Corps boot camp!  Very proud of this handsome young man -- OOHRAH!

:)

world wide blog hop - feline style . . .

Leia here this morning.  Once again stepping up to fill a gap that *person* has left. Silly human. I'm still not sure what exactly to call her . . . some in my house say "Denise", some say, "Mom", and some say "Neesey".  Let's get some consistency, folks!

Anyway, that lady is busy playing around with a bunch of strangers (she calls them Mom and Dad -- these people are so confusing) who are staying in my house!  So not only do I get strangers, but I also get stuck with the blog.  That's okay.  

Y'all needed to know more about me, anyway.  So here it is, the Feline Fursion of the World Wide Blog Hop . . . many thanks to Squeaky, over at sarahdidit! for inviting me to participate.

1.  What are you working on?

I'd say making myself beautiful, but that takes no effort.

2.  How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I am the queen of my household . . . I have others to do my work.  How they go about it is their business, as longs as it's completed to my satisfaction.

3.  Why do I create what I do?

Truthfully, I am, so I create.  I create trails of furbunnies under the couch.  

I create bite marks in the big great plants. 

I create chaos when I walk under peoples feets as they come down the big stairs. 

But I have to admit I particularly enjoy the screams of terror I create when I walk into a crowd of little people!

4.  How does my creative process work?

There's that silly word, "work" again.  SMH

Next week, take a visit over at Missy's Homemaking Adventures, and Muffin is going to take over the hop.

But before you go, rub my belly . . .

If you dare!

And check out the rest of the Feline Friday posts over at sarah did it!

:)