Wednesday.....

An early release day at school and I also get to work this morning at the store!

I seem to have issued a challenge by e-mail to a blogging friend Joanne..... to finish something by the end of November! She took me up on it and I'm going with something similar to what she selected - Finish my hand quilting on the Hugs and Kisses Quilt! I started it last Thanksgiving so it will be a year (summer off as its too hot to hand quilt!) if I actually get it done. I spent the morning yesterday watching a few episodes of season 4 of Grey's Anatomy and hand stitching. I made some good progress on the side cream border....... lets see if this can be a finished quilt at the end of next month! My next hoop move is a corner =). One side of the first border will be done. I am debating going back and doing the peels on the outer border too... and hand stitching together the edge.

I did get something done... I crocheted the tops to a couple of kitchen towels...... and Aidan added one button and Greg/Emily added the other. Emily's was put right to use in the kitchen. Aidan's will fly up to Grammy R with some others that I need to make today. I seem to have to change them out daily... and sometimes twice a day depending on how much baking/cooking is going on. Which reminds me... better put the crochet hook, yarn and cut towels in the bag for work today. =)

Other good news..... We believe Aidan made it into the gifted program at school. We have a meeting Nov 5 with the school to discuss how it works and to help them plan a challenging program for him. Hopefully that will stop the 'I'm bored, I know what she is teaching already'.

Off to work for me..... early pickup and then a free activity at the library at 2 today - pumpkin painting. 

Finishes!

I actually got my UFO for the month finished! This is the 16 patch stars quilt I made with the 2014 RSC Challenge. I love how these 16 patch blocks work up into such pretty quilts. This quilt is 48x66 with a mottled cream backing and a green binding.

I also never showed the completed pink nine patch quilt I finished the binding on a few weeks ago. This one is 37x37 with a snuggly flannel on the back.

Time to decide which UFO will come out to play next.... will it be the Grandmothers Choice blocks from a sew along back in 2013 or the Lori Smith last two 12 inch blocks in my quilt as you go quilt?

Binding....... you know what that means!

Yup - I finally got a chance yesterday to whip stitch some batting together so I could finish pinning the 16 patch stars quilt from the RSC Challenge last year. I decided to just do a quick walking foot quilting on it - a diagonal line through the 16 patches and just extended it to the edge of the quilt. Then.... I almost put a scrappy binding on it but... it was just easier to cut the lengths I needed out of a bit of mottled green I had sitting on the shelf. Now the fun part - hand stitching the binding to the back! I love stitching in the evenings at the end of the day - it is just so relaxing to slowly stitch and reflect on all the things that happened during the day.... especially since the kids are tucked in bed and it is truly my relaxing time.

Each of the kids had to lay down on it for a picture yesterday- sorry for the extra bits - that is kids for you.

Today will be working in the garden a bit and playing with Emily's knitting loom before we head to a roller skating rink to celebrate Juliette Gordon Lowe's birthday! She was the founder of Girl Scouts back in 1912. The majority of my troop is going to be there. I'll be in sneakers as my few experiences with roller skates would land me in the hospital with a sprained ankle if I attempted it! We'll see how Emily does though. Aidan will be home with Greg working on his diorama that is due tomorrow.

Linking up Sunday morning with Kathy's Quilts. Head on over and see some beautiful projects.

I snapped a few photo's last weekend while out in the back yard. Emily and Aidan got to ride the tractor around the yard - this is Emily on it.

Some butterfly's enjoying the flowers and the garden. I could not get the yellow ones I always see down here. Maybe they'll allow a picture today while Emily and I are out there finishing the planting.

monarch butterfly

Phaon Cresent.

Phaon Cresent

This is what has been eating my lemon bush.... a giant swallowtail caterpillar who love to eat citrus bushes. It will become a pretty butterfly...I just don't want it to eat my lemon bush! Greg moved it last weekend into a better location - more sun than it was getting and hopefully it might give me some lemons and limes at some point.

10 more minutes on the baked french toast and then it will be figuring out Emily's loom. It is a singer circle knitting loom for kids. Wish us luck!

Saturday in RSC world.....

Deep breath.... long week. Sick employee had me working the last two days and I went in this morning just to make sure we were covered. Thank goodness - he is better and I got to pop into Joanns and use a 60%, 50% and 40% off coupon this morning =) My reward.

Pretty blue flowers on a 108 wide backing with the 60% off. Has anyone else noticed that they seem to have a lot more choices for the backings now at Joanns? There were some really pretty ones there today. That will back The Century Quilt for my niece in blue and yellow. Some white plain yardage at $1.99 a yard and it is oh so SOFT! That will be for the dresden plates. The 50 and 40% off were used on hand quilting needles - she rang up two but I had only purchased one... so I went back and just got the second one... you know, since one came to about $1 and the other package was around $1.30... for 20 needles each =) That was my splurge but it all has plans..... I do love when you save $55 in change.

I hope to finally whip stitch the two inches of batting and finish pinning my 16 patch stars quilt from last year sometime today. I'd love to start quilting it... but we'll see.

While digging around in the mess that is my sewing room I found these 4 patches.... brown and cream and green. Leftovers from Greg's Labor Day quilt and The Vermont Quilt. I have some ideas turning over in my head to use these up. We'll see if it works or not! All units except the little four patches in the bottom right side are 4 inches finished. Those are 3 inches.

Head on over to the RSC Challenge and see what other brown projects are popping up in blogland.

While 'working' at the store I did get to stitch a little bit in between customers. The little Sue 2 got finished off and I got the Oval Flower done as well. Oops - just need to stitch the little square in the middle in yellow. These are from the midget appliqué blocks found at sentimental stitches.com and finish at 4.5 inches. I've been working on these since January and I have 39 of 52 blocks completed.

Remember to hug your kids and grandkids today. I found out Thursday afternoon that one member of my daisy troop lost her battle with cancer. She was 6 years old and the sweetest little girl. A few prayers for her family would be appreciated.

Tiny Tuesday....

The petunia got finished last night. 37 Midget blocks have been completed this year. I think little Sue is the next block to get worked on. Now to get all the Girl scout nut and candy orders entered into the system today. Wish me luck!

Monday morning....

No school today for the kids. Teacher work day. They have been busy playing with their connects building things this morning for well over an hour.

I whipped up some pumpkin apple streusel muffins which are baking in the oven now. We will also do some sugar cookies today as well.... so the kids can decorate them. That should keep them busy for a little bit this afternoon. The sugar cookie recipe is from a former guild member up in Vermont and can be found on my recipe page. They hold their shape so well - the only recipe I use now for these. Think I can try almond or will I have to do vanilla flavoring again? Vanilla again. All made and in the fridge for a chill for a couple of hours.

As for me.... I still need to till that last quarter of the garden and plant some peas. The rest of the garden is weeded. Things are popping up and growing! Just need to put the fence posts up and run the wire on as well. Greg is home today... so I'll enlist his help with the fence. It should be wonderful weather in the 70's with a nice breeze. Perfect working outside weather, finally.

I also need to whip stitch some batting so I can finish pinning a quilt. Then read the directions for Emily's new knitting loom so we can play with that. Aidan learned how to put a button on yesterday! He pulled two buttons off his pants within an hour.... so it was time for him to learn how to put them on. He got to join the club..... needle poked his finger pretty good...... but he went back and added the second button to the other pair of pants anyway!

Oh - the green trip around the world block got completed yesterday! One to go!

Here are a few pictures of the kids at the pumpkin patch in Dunnellon on Friday.

Pumpkin patch 2015. Ages 7 and 6

Hay bale slide!

King of the pumpkin patch!

Kids with their selected pumpkins.

Archway with gourds growing all over them. Really neat!

Ok - time to get dressed and start the tiller!

Slow stitching Sunday......

I had high hopes to be binding today.... but when you get to the last part of pinning and realize you are 1 inch short on the batting.... I need to pull out pins and start again later today. Oh well, there is always other projects to work on!

My hand stitching today will be a few more green squares onto the forest green trip around the world block. Yes, just a few more squares to add and I'll have 8 of these completed. That leaves one more to do - in teal I think. I'll be adding a few this morning while Emily is watching a Curious George movie.

I also have a few more stitches to add to the midget appliqué from last week - those little yellow bits are very intimidating!

Head on over Sunday morning to Kathy's Quilts to see what slow stitching is happening all over the world.

Oh - My last post was asking which background to use for my Dresden plates....if you want to take a peek and share your thoughts....