David - have a great time with your group! Sorry about the Sooners and sorry about Sam Bradford. Hope the shoulder heals quickly. Claire, happy gardening! I have daylilies and hostas to move too, but I am waiting until it cools off here a little first. We are finally getting warm summery weather this weekend LOL! Sharon, I am so jealous of your being able to spend the fall at the cottage after the summer people are gonw. That was always my favorite time of year in Ogunquit - saying goodbye to the tourists! Enjoy your time and Clive bcskye, sounds like a blast! What sort of horse show is it? I used to ride hunters (and a few jumpers) back in the day, but I love all sorts of equestrian competitions. Have a great time with the family too. Linda, OGM! 1200?!?!?!? There are going to be some happy pooches and you are a dear for the labor of love. Katie - sounds like a wonderful way to spend the weekend. As David says - dance like no one is watching! Annie, glad to hear those beanies are going to good use. And happy canning! I can't wait to start my next project, I just have to find a little time. Dedtired - enjoy the Cape - as I mentioned before, fall is the BEST time to go anyplace touristy - the crowds have thinned. Lyra - Good luck with the projuect. I know how that goes, seems I can always find something else to do rather than what really needs to be done. Somehow it all does get dome though - an enjoy your time off, you deserve it! I had my second jewelry class on Friday - I just love it. Working on a multi metal (copper and brass) pendant to learn my skills. I will post photos as I complete projects. Fri night was out with friends for Happy Hour, yesterday was relaxing at home and getting totally caught up on Mad Men. I am TOTALLY addicted to that show now! Today we are having another couple over for a BBQ - sometimes it is nice not to have a gang and just sit and enjoy a quiet evening with grown up conversation. Tomorrow we are thinking about going to the NJ shore (I am cringing at the thought, I don't care for the shore) so we'll see. Maybe I will send the men folk off and have a canning day to myself. Stay happy and safe everyone! Alexa

It sounds like everyone is having a busy weekend, quilting or otherwise! Well, you know what they say about "idle hands", so I don't think we'll have any problems here, eh? Friday night we got hit with a fast-acting blizzard (2 feet of snow in just about 12 hours), so the state police closed the post office I work in, so I came home to a 4-day weekend. Yesterday I made a set of 4 coasters for the current Seeds-n-Stitches swap. I call them Grape Pie Coasters, and whenever they're washed, the "crust" will become more pronounced as they unravel a little. The blue fabric is the underside of the coaster, and I'm glad I had some fabric to make the interwoven crust with! I'm hoping to finish a quilt I'm in the middle of making. Instead of making a bunch of crazy quilt blocks, I'm doing the whole thing as one huge block. I'm also planning on working on blocks for the birthday block exchange and the mystery quilt I'm hosting for Aprils S-n-S group. But, right now, I think it's time to go bake some sugar cookies to enjoy with my coffee this morning! Have a great weekend everyone! Dan

Thanks to everyone who responded about me sewing through my finger the other weekend... I got a cold or allergy attack right after that and didn't spend much time on the computer, but the finger has healed completely with no infection and I'm back to sewing... so glad I wasn't too traumatized to sew ever again! I literally *just* finished the a tote bag for an aunt whose birthday was December 11th... I was going to make a wall hanging, but after about 4 tries, I never got anything I was happy with, so I did a tote instead... I finally got all my "free favors" for friends done... hemmed pajamas, embroidered over a hole in some pants, and reversed a button and hole to turn a woman's jacket into a man's... I have a picture of the embroidery... my friend found some nice pants at a thrift store and the only problem was a hole in the back... so I gave him a link to check out some embroidery designs and this is what he chose... a cowboy hat... Here's the tote... I'm going to Heat N Bond a heart and the aunt's name (that I will embroider on another piece of fabric) and call it done... Every bit of the fabric was stuff I inherited from my grandmother... hopefully she's smiling down, glad it's being put to good use.

Sandra, looking forward to seeing a pic. Sue, I Skyped with DD with morning and she seems to be enjoying the warmer temps.:) Ritaweeda, sounds like we have the same experience. It took forever to get rid of everything we moved to the new house that I didn't want anymore....I guess it is an ongoing activity really. I still feel like my house is "new" after nine years and am still putting things up on the walls. Like you, I like a sparser wall. Off to do some yard work on this lovely weekend, Bible study tonight. I definitely want to get to the sewing room and finish the top for DD's depression block quilt. Then it would be fun to see if I could pull enough fabric for the falling charms throw for the family room.....or sew together the quickie wall hanging from another Lotto winning....or maybe do both. (Obviously I've had too much coffee...shouldn't have made the second pot. LOL) I'll try and post pics I received from my sister of the two quilts in the old cedar chest she inherited.