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!

:)

a week of whew . . .

Whew, what a week it's been! It kicked off with a *birthday*! I had a great day, and so appreciate all the happy birthday wishes! Joc and Evey came to visit at work (which was kind of a crazy day, getting ready for our Annual Meeting the next day) and were a bright spot!

Notice those smocked pumpkins on her dress??! Her mama has an appropriate appreciation for the finer things in Autumn/life! I also got my Autumn/Pumpkin Vignette fixed up on my desk . . .

LOL!  Did you not think I'd have pumpkins at work, too??!  ;)

That evening, we met up at Bravo's at Bridge Street for dinner.  I love Italiano, and I've really been craving eggplant parmesan.  It was quite tasty!

But this sweet family is what made the evening memorable! (And yes, the girls are wearing matching outfits! But what's funny is that I *just* noticed that Joc and Jason are kind of matchy-matchy, too!)

Tuesday was super crazy as we loaded things up and went off site for our meeting.  Best I can figure, we had about 200+ people there! I'm the association clerk, so I have to sit through all four and a half hours of the the meeting (taking minutes, no less), but when it was over, I knew I didn't have to be back to work until . . . tomorrow!

Still, as quiet as we wanted to be, on Wednesday, Todd and I appeared before the mission board of FBC Huntsville.  They've been, and continue to be, faithful ministry partners. Thursday was a morning full of ministry, but an afternoon of granddaughters!

We had a great time exploring Big Spring Park and downtown Huntsville . . . we even had pizza and gelato on the square, and sat next to a HUGE dog. And we enjoyed live music (or as Evey put it, "find dat muzak!") from several sources; it was very festive!

Friday, Todd and I took a down day and hit the lake. 

It was an absolutely beautiful day, and the autumn color was pretty spectacular, even though it wasn't as bright as it could have been due to the cloud coverage. We had the most sun when it set and the clouds cleared! We also found a pretty little spot we hadn't seen before . . .

Isn't that gorgeous? The sound of the water spilling over the rocks and into the lake was so soothing ... I could have sat there for days! 

I wasn't as prepared for handwork as I should have been, so I settled in with some Patchwork of the Crosses blocks I've had, but haven't pieced.  It was a good day to stitch and read and rejuvenate.

I got the majority of the block done and will take advantage of a slow afternoon today to finish it up.

I will link this up to HeLP on the 17th, over at Sarah Did It! 

I did manage to get my pumpkin stitchery finished . . . 

I thought I loved how this turned out, but looking at the picture, the pumpkin gets a little lost in the leaves a little.  Hmmmm. I used three plies of floss on the pumpkin and the outline of the leaves.  I should have taken it down one or two plies on the leaves so the pumpkin would stand out more.

Saturday was mostly a ministry day, too . . . in the morning, our church volunteered at the elementary school next door, helping with their fall carnival. Back home, we had a D-Now group in at the camp, and I visited with them for a while. It was this group's first time to visit the camp and they really enjoyed their day. I managed to capture a good fall foliage shot at the entrance of the camp . . .

I do love autumn! There's still not as much color as one would think, midway through October. And the brown leaves that frame the drive are as much from drought as anything else.

Saturday evening, we had a ladies' event which was fun. I had planned to make something pumpkin-y to share today, but lost the time.  Instead, I made a pretty terrific (and easy) apple cider punch to put in my pumpkin decanter . . .

It'll do... it was the perfect color and pretty tasty, too!

Not much to say about my stash this week . . . 

And since the picture's worth a thousand words, I'll leave it at that!

And that pretty much wraps up my week! Linking up, as per usual, to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.  Enjoy a day of rest!

:)

i may have over-steeped . . .

Think you caught a misspelling in my header today?  Haha!  Nope . . . you've over-steeped your bounds if you've taken on more than one body should for a tea party!  LOL!

There was *no* time for stitching this week as I prepared for a tea party for the girls and adult staff at the Alabama Baptist Children's Home in Decatur on Saturday!  I made bookmark favors . . .

And teapot favors . . .

Isn't that darling?  And when I say made favors, I mean I made a BUNCH of favors!  

Thirty-two, in all, which isn't too terrible of a crowd, unless you're cutting out all of those teapots from cardstock!

And of course, what's a tea party without creme cheese mints?!

These were a big hit!

I spent Saturday morning making scones and tea sandwiches for the group.  Evey and Ellie were my helpers . . .

LOL!  Actually, Ellie's a big help and likes to be a 'cheffer'.  

In case you're wondering, that's a chef who bakes.  *grin*

I didn't have to set a table for this tea party. Normally I love to do that, but at least I knew I couldn't do that on top of all the prep work!  I had four sweet ladies take on the task of tea table hostess and they all set up beautiful tables!

Ellie helped co-hostess her mommy's table.  Isn't it pretty?!

Everyone did such a great job! It was a fun afternoon . . .

And I think that the little girls enjoyed it because it was a party and they had crayons and necklaces and chapstick in their favors.  But I think the older girls (and even the staff ladies) learned that tea parties aren't just for littles . . . they are wonderful opportunities for sweet fellowship and times of refreshing. I think we may have even made some tea converts!

All that to share that my stash report is unchanged this week . . .

Worth it. I did finish up my lil' gingerbread man ornament, and so finished up my two ornaments for February. Yay!

This afternoon, if I don't take a nap, I'll be working on basting these pretty little pieces to their templates.  

That's good stuff for a slow stitching Sunday afternoon!

Linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.  I hope you're able to enjoy a beautiful Sunday, regardless of your weather!

:)

bustin' a move . . .

Y'all.  There's nothing like a deadline to get me *moving* on a project.  That's how I can come before you now and say I have not one, but TWO complete finishes (quilting, binding, labeling and sleeves) this week!  Whoohoo! And what's even nicer?  I'm two months in-a-row complete on the #APQresolution challenge.  This month they drew project number five . . .

Which for me, was the faux ruched flowers project!

It now has a name . . . Larla's Pocket Full of Posies.  A little birthday happy for my baby sister.

And I also finished the antique rose topper . . .

Which also has a formal name . . . Desert Roses After the Frost.  This one's a birthday happy for my sister who's joining me in the 50's this month!

Two finishes . . . sheesh, it's about time! Two that are UFOnomos!  :)

I also managed to get all the pieces cut for Evey's quilt . . .

This is going to be fun to work with -- and I'm thinking I'll either embroider or quilt an alphabet in some of the white squares, along with flowers or something.  That'll keep me busy for while! Between getting that cut and prepped and labels and sleeves for the finished pieces, my stash report is looking pretty nice this week!

Of course, I realized that I didn't have enough of the Kona white to use for the back of my blocks, so I'll be adding more in the relatively near future, but it'll go out again quickly, so that's okay.

If I get some slow stitching time in today, this will be what I'm working on . . .

My go-to project when I'm not working on other stuff!  I have three more 'pairs' to baste to the base piece, and then I'll be ready to start a new block. Linking up today to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.

Our church is memorizing a passage of Scripture together each month this year. February's verse is one of my favorites and I made up a graphic for it.  Thought I'd share it with y'all . . .

Happy Valentine's Day! Feel free to right click and save it, if you'd like.  

Enjoy a blessing-filled day!

:)

new thinking for a new year . . .

Happy New Year!!  A new year always feels so fresh and sparkly . . . a clean slate on which to start over (or press on) . . . a new opportunity to get it right!  But so much for a clean *stash* slate. Between spending time destashing and spending time shopping (and even spending some time stitching) my slate is already showing bigger overall numbers than it did for the whole of 2015!

Ha!!  How's that for a first report?! I really went through all my yardage with an attitude of, "Does it have a purpose . . . does it bring joy?"  If it couldn't be yes to one of those, in the to-go bag it went, to the tune of 48.5 yards. And I was on the lenient side. I think I'll give it a couple of months and then go through it all again. Since I ended the year with an accumulated total of better than 200 yards, it's obvious my stash needed some pruning!

I used up a half of a yard preparing all my EPP 'houses' for the Hexie Birthday Swap. It adds up pretty quickly, eh?  I have all of them (seventeen, including one for me and an extra one for Sarah) for the year cut and ready to be basted together (with the exception of several ladies who haven't made a color/fabric choice yet) . . .

And a lonely little Chrysanthemum for a late-comer to the club. Between those and this . . .

my poor, neglected POTC block, I should have enough to keep my stitching on a slow Sunday afternoon!

And then the purchase . . . I purchased more fabric in the space of one day at the New Year's Day sale at Patches & Stitches, than I purchased in the entire of 2015. CRAZY! But, to my credit, it's got a specific purpose! Our Stitcher's group is doing a block swap.  Six blocks (a 3.5" nine-patch) for sixteen ladies.  So 96 blocks (by June)! Here's the quilt the blocks are for . . . 

It's really lovely, but I'm not convinced I'll be using my blocks for that particular look. We're using all Civil War fabrics and a cream.  Here's what I picked up for my offerings:

Isn't that gorgeous??? Oh yeah, and those are some beads I picked up for 'snowflakes'! But back to that fabric.  I just loooooove it!!

Yup, it'll be fun playing with this stuff! The nice thing about going to the sale with a bunch of gals from the Stitcher's group . . . we didn't get the same fabrics -- lots of variety -- spice of life.  ;)

I've challenged myself in several quilty/crafty ways for 2016. For one thing, I've got way too many UFOs hanging around. Most are pieced and just need to be backed and quilted, but I've got an older one where the piecing needs to be finished. Anyway, I'm tired of them taking up space. So when I saw that All People Quilt was sponsoring a UFO Challenge, I jumped right on it! I printed and filled out my list of UFOs . . .

On January 1, I hopped over to the APQ webpage to see which number I'd be working on. Would you believe it?

Number 2! LOL! My Christmas Hexie Topper. I didn't realize how old this was.

Hmmmm.  The reason this is unfinished is because I've never determined exactly what I wanted to do with it! Any ideas?! Hahahaha! If this particular challenge is of interest to you, you can check it out HERE! 

My second goal is to complete a very modest two Christmas ornaments per month, for a total of 24 by the time next Christmas rolls around.  

I loved the wool snowman and the Christmas tree, so for January, I'll stick to one of each of them! This way, when I'm wanting to attach a little something handmade to a special gift, it's already crafted, and I don't feel the pressure of *having* to stitch into the wee hours to have something ready.

My third goal is to reduce my stash this year, in a significant way (hopefully a combination of use and gifting away anything I don't find appealing anymore) -- and not to purchase *anything* that doesn't have a specific purpose! 

And finally, I want to keep my Nook in better order! I spent the better part of a day cleaning/tidying/tossing so I could sit down and create. I am definitely one who needs order! And the Nook was rather chaotic (it's a small space -- it doesn't take much)!

So, what about you?  Any specific quilting/stitching/crafting goals for 2016?

I'll be linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts!  Enjoy the remainder of the weekend!!

:)