Tomorrow, November 1st, is the beginning of BIRTHDAY MONTH. And this is a really important birthday: I will be turning 70. For that reason I made sure to dress holiday appropriately for Halloween even though I spent most of the day at home. It’s funny how many holiday pieces of clothing I have accumulated over the years. 
And they never wear out when I only wear them once or twice a year.
The only real sewing I have gotten done this week is to get this chicken appliqued. I still have two to applique and then tomorrow a new one comes out at Fat Cat Patterns. Oh, joy, it is fun with batiks, again.
I know that most people have been glued to the TV watching Sandy working her way to the East Coast. As one who has experienced several hurricanes while living in FL, my thoughts and prayers were/are for the people who probably didn’t have any idea what they were in for.
We lived through Erin, Opal, Dennis, Ivan, and Arlene before deciding to leave Florida and return to Alabama. To work through the trauma of the storms and the difficult decision to move I made this:
This is “Flight to Alabama.” At the bottom you can see the sandy beach, water and seagulls under a blue sky. Then, going up, the skies darken and we see the whirling storms. In the quilting are the names of the significant storms that I didn’t want to experience again.
Then the sky lightens again and we see the clay colored soil, the trees, and the path through the trees to my swing, all on our 5 acres in AL.
All of the above is leading to my idea for a quilt: Tracking Sandy. Both because I relived my own hurricane experiences while watching this and because our youngest son and his wife live in MD (and are all right) it was the first thing I thought of when I saw this on our TV. I am still thinking on this idea but don’t be surprised if it shows up in fabric sometime.
And now Halloween night is coming to a close and, yippee, tomorrow we wake up to BIRTHDAY MONTH.
What a great week, so far.
I finished quilting Jack and was going to bind it but decided I need to get back to the deadline projects. I brought it in to put on my end table and decided I like the rough look so it is going to stay that way until after the first of the year and then a quick binding, just because I will tire of this look pretty quickly.
This is the backing on Jack. It is fabric I have had for at least 7 years. I had planned to make a vest but, as you can see, that didn’t happen. I used to really enjoy Halloween when the kids were little but now, way out in the country, we really don’t celebrate it much. I have put out some of our decorations but we don’t get very excited over it.
Monday night was another of our great grandson’s soccer games. We really do have fun watching them run and kick with almost no idea of which way they should be going. 
Tuesday I spent trying to sort out a closet. I have filled 3 bags with clothing and old comforters that will be going to Goodwill tomorrow. And, of course, I haven’t made a dent in what needs to be sorted. 
And yesterday, well for the most part it was spent sitting on the deck with a good book. It was one of those beautiful Fall days, warm, sunshine, breeze, leaves falling, way too nice to be inside doing anything productive.
But late in the afternoon the book was finished so I went inside and appliqued one chicken and cut the pieces for the Carol Doak BOM for October. Here they are all stacked up and labeled, ready for stitching.
And this is where I stopped: 3 sections done and one to go. However, it was my turn to cook dinner so I had to leave.
Today it is raining. I can sit on the deck but, after the obligatory housework is finished I am headed back to the studio to finish what I started and move on to other fun stuff. Interestingly, I will be all caught up on the 3 BOMs I am doing. I was very careful to not let me get overwhelmed this year with BOMs and that has worked out great. I have had to miss out on several I would like to do but the lack of pressure has been wonderful.
Since I stopped working for Weight Watchers I have found that I have been “forgetting” everything I was taught and had been teaching for the last 3 years. So I am back on plan. I hadn’t gone very far astray but I could see the old habits coming back and I just can’t have that. This was my breakfast this morning: whole wheat toast with sugar free pumpkin butter (yum), sliced apple and coffee. When I am thinking about it I eat slowly and that means that when I am finished I feel satisfied and comfortable. I did share some of the apple with my parrots: they love 0 points fruit and veggies. 
Wow, this has been a busy week.
First Rhonda posted this free pattern. That was right after I had decided that I was not going to start anything new until I was done with the few things I am making for Christmas.
However, isn’t this terrific? Here he is all fused and I really already have him appliqued. I will get him quilted and bound today, hopefully, and then he will be hanging around until Halloween is over.
So, what do you supposed are these? Well, they are a small part of a project I offered to do and that I am not at liberty to share.
And this is another part.
In fact, my embroidery machine was hard at work all week. We made one label that is ready for the quilt on the frame.
In fact I also got another label embroidered, not finished, as well as three insects. Small things for my design wall but three different projects seeing progress.
Meanwhile the seasons are changing, even here in the deep south. Here this tree is called a Sweetgum tree and is the most colorful tree we have on the property.
We also have several oak trees. Here you see the little acorns. There are now hundreds of them on the ground and on the deck. They are so small they fit in the cracks between the deck boards. However, they don’t feel very good under bear feet!
But none of this activity or change is interfering with Ms. Murphy’s beauty sleep.
So, quietly please, hop on over to Patchwork Times to see what other quilters are working on.
