Still no magazine...

 After a trip to the MIL's this morning, I made these cute Halloween coasters today. I checked CVS for the magazine-- it was one of those "Might as well, since I'm here" kind of checks, so I wasn't too surprised that they didn't have it. Then, we took a trip to Wally World, and I was very disappointed that they seem to no longer carry Quiltmaker AT ALL!!!

:(

We came home and I found one thing to do that I can never stay grumpy during: pumpkin carving!

Mine is on the left, Tim's on the right.

I love carving pumpkins.

Tomorrow, Tim goes back to work, so I will resume my Quiltmaker magazine hunt. Perhaps I will start with Erica's....

Reminder: If I get 26 followers, I'll host a giveaway during November!!!

It's an ice cream night

Even though I'm still not employed by the "real world" (have they ever been a Homemaker? I'll bet not! It's a full-time job of it's own!), I still like Fridays... which is why I am celebrating this one. I just had one snack of bread and brie, and when I'm done with this I will finish my snack break with some ice cream.

 Mom and I went to a pumpkin patch today!!! I got to tromp through and find 3 pumpkins for Tim and I-- two will be carved, but the other one will be getting a pair of pants... See why?

Prudence had to sniff the pumpkins when I got home, starting with the Plumber Pumpkin... :)

I've been working on piecing two houses from a Snap Sack kit I got during the Shop Hop... I've decided that I am NOT going to complete the kit as described in the instructions, but rather use the kit to make MORE houses than just two, and then turn it into a bigger project... you know, something more usable than a 16" by 22" rectangle.

Speaking of usable, I ran out of strips for the rug... I'm only using the otherwise unusable pieces. But look:

 It's kind of fun!
So far, I have stitched 3 rows-- just straight lines across, stacking the strips 3-4 at a time to create a plush feel. It's definitely colorful. As you can see, I did put selvedges in. It seemed like a good use for them.

I found out that filling a sandwich bag with strips will yield at least a row, so from now on, I am putting my small strips in a designated baggy so that I can work on this project over time.

I need to work on FINISHING more projects... it seems all I've done lately is start them. I had been finishing, but not for 2 weeks now. So, I think it's time to find some motivation and Finish something. I have a list of Things that must Wait, like tim's present-- I need to find a table of some sort to set my machine in so that I can quilt that project (and basically both other Christmas projects I have started).

Anyone have such a beast? Or, know where I can find one relatively inexpensively? Maybe this break will continue a little longer while I search the web...

Happy days-mostly

We spent the morning wandering Menards, looking at fences, paint, knobs, and such... quite the happy married life morning.

Later, i managed to get some more sewing done on the cats, and I've been playing with some scraps Sally gave me the other day... I started a half-crazed project-- a rag rug, made from sewing small strips to a solid piece of fabric with just a short seam in the middle of the strips. Sally has a rug like this that feels really nice and she uses it in front of her stove, so I figured I would try with some of the wonky strips that would otherwise be thrown out... this includes selvedges, too. It's a great experiment. I'll try it out, see what happens when I wash it, and then decide.

Photos to come tomorrow...

The only glitch (and I say glitch because it turned out to be minor) in the day was that I got a call just after starting dinner form my mom-- she was rear-ended by some woman who was distracted by her radio... the lady said it was her second time in two months doing this!!! Some people never learn-- eyes on the road! But, Mom seems ok-- shaken up, angry, a little sore-- but ok. her car bumper had to be tied up to avoid scratching other parts of the car-- thank goodness Tim was here!
Mom and I are going to pick out pumpkins tomorrow. I have a feeling she'll be sore and still not back to Normal, so I decided we'd get some pumpkins... it's something that my family has loved as long as I can remember.

Reminder: 26 Followers and I will host a giveaway in November!!!

Hoorays!

Mom's "art" is ready for binding- YAY! THe only problem? I don't have any!!! The brown I used around the edges was too small of a piece, so I dug through and found a similar brown that will (hopefully) end up giving even more of the framed effect I'm attempting. I'll cut the binding strips tomorrow and find out... :)

I still have to decide what color to bind these with...

Quilting/back of place mat.

I got all four pumpkin place mats pieced, and two of them are quilted! However, during the second one, i heard what I thought was thunder (disproved by my iPhone), then thought might be the neighbor slamming his garbage can around (not that either), and then Mom called and asked if I had heard loud booming... so whatever it was, my mom, who lives 4.5 miles to the east, also heard. I'm puzzled. I've searched the internet for any local explosions, fireworks displays, or band events, and nothing seems to explain what we both heard. It's nice to know she heard it, too, since that means I wasn't hallucinating strange noises!!! Tim's back at work, or he would probably have some sort of logical explanation... or simply hug me and remind me that he'll protect me if it's a Boogeyman. :)

You'll notice the place mats aren't perfect-- I gave up being a perfectionist when I realized I could coast and stay top 10 in high school. Stressing for perfection isn't fun. So, rather than agonize over place mats, I just sat down and put the pedal to the floor. The pumpkins' lines aren't straight, but neither are Real Pumpkins!!!And, I did NOT cross over my meanderings this time! Small victories are just a big of a "W" in the win column!

I want to go find a pumpkin soon. I love pumpkins! Maybe that's why they became the theme for the place mats... I think Prudence has the right idea for tonight, though-- when my dog puts herself to bed, i know it's about time for me to head that way, too. We had a busy day....

which included a visit to the MIL's and her chickens!