Final Flowers Before Winter

The last of my mums finally bloomed a few days ago.  It took almost a month for the buds to open.  I was beginning to think a hard freeze would hit before it finally bloomed....if it bloomed at all.  All of my other mums have pretty much lost their color.  And tonight it's going to freeze so it happened just in time.

 Thanks for the birthday present last year, Maria.  It's beautiful!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday, Lisa!!  I hope you had a special day. After going out for dinner, it was time for cake and presents.  I baked her favorite lemon bundt cake last night.

She loves Halloween so I thought a seasonal towel for her kitchen was a perfect fit.

Opening her card from Mom. 

She has been admiring Mom's purse holder, and I finally found one at a Hallmark store here in town.  What a great idea to keep your purse off the floor of restaurants.

I finally finished the binding on her quilt a couple weeks ago.  Since her birthday was so close, I decided to wait and give it to her today even though she's known about it for months.

I'm glad I could celebrate your day with you.  Love ya!

Painted Floor

I've been working on painting the furnace/laundry room floor the past several days.  I finally finished up tonight.  It was a tedious project as I painted around things and then had to move them so I could paint under them.  It's amazing how a painted floor makes the room seem so much cleaner.  I get so excited about the littlest things.  Thanks, Mom, for the help when you were here and for the leftover paint.

I also painted part of a wall that I didn't get to last year because of a shelf that was in the way.  This room wasn't even on my list of projects for this year so I don't even get the enjoyment of crossing it off the list.

Fall Flowers

Finally got outside today to do some yard work. The lawn needed to be mowed (several days ago) and the flower beds needed tending. I got the lillies cut back and some deadheading done. There's lots to do yet, but I didn't accomplish it all before it got dark.

This is the first year for the purple aster and the mums in the pictures.  They look beautiful...and they're huge.

I have three more mums that aren't blooming yet.  Hopefully in another week or so.

Wallhanging for Sewing Room

This past weekend I started another sewing project.  I've been wanting to learn how to hand quilt so I knew I needed a small project to get started.  A wallhanging for my sewing room was the perfect thing.  I went to the library and picked up some books and found a pattern for this quarter log cabin. The colors are going to look great in my bright yellow sewing room.

It was quite an easy pattern but very addicting. Someday I'm going to make a full-size quilt of a log cabin variation. Hopefully this fall and winter I'll get lessons on how to quilt and can get started on the next step. 

Pillowcases

Earlier this week I received a newsletter from one of the quilt stores here in town.  They are collecting pillowcases for children who are hospitalized for cancer treatments or other serious diseases.  The organization that is sponsoring this is ConKerr Cancer.  The pattern is available on their website.

I had gotten enough material for a third pillowcase, but as I was making these last night I found that one of the pieces was so out of shape coming off the bolt that I couldn't get the size I needed out of it.

I'm headed to the quilt store today to deliver my projects and to see what else I can find.  It's customer appreciation days and they have 15% off.  I need to get some fabric for the border of another project I'm making with the yellow fabric I showed in this post.  Happy sewing!

Sewing Projects

I've bought some fabric in the past few days for a couple of fun projects that I'm going to make.  It's all washed and ironed and ready to be used.  Now I just need to make the time to sew.

I'll post more photos once I'm finished.