new month = fresh start

Hi everyone! Wow its November already. The summer months just flew by and now we are closing in on the end of the year. I can hardly believe it. I feel a renewed sense of energy and a new desire to get back to "normal" (believe me, in my family normal is a VERY relative term lol) The air is getting cooler and fall is definitely in the air. And so with the beginning of the season, I too, am going to try my darndest to focus on a new beginning of my own. I had to get a quick picture of the pumpkins on our porch. We did have 2 that we had carved, but they were well past their prime. I just love the rich orange colors! The painted one one of the mouslings picked out, and the one on the right came home from a field trip (and that one is going to be turned into pumpkin pie on Monday ;cD)

Also snapped a picture of a lone little dandelion among the fall leaves on the ground. Now is it just me or is this little one a bit of a late bloomer? I just don't remember having dandelions this late but then again, I could be mistaken. I just had to snap a picture after my little one said "Mommy, look its the first flower!" Too cute!!

On to quilty news :cD Yesterday I spent part of my day in Amish country on a shop hop. I never have enough day to do as much as I would like. So much inspiration!! So much fabric!! One of these years I am going to have to try to get to all 12 shops. Their theme this year was Pineberry Creek. I really liked the fabric...very country...and picked up a couple kits that I plan on turning into some throw pillows. I've also gotten some sewing done. I finally got those borders for the quiltalong quilt started. I love to use up as much fabric as I can. I hate to see any go to waste if I can help it. So I used up the scraps I had, cut them into strips and, well here is what I have so far...

Also got several string quilt blocks done. I have 256 done and I need 308 although I can't for the life of me figure out what I wanted the dimensions of the quilt to be :cS I just know I wanted a BIG, WARM quilt for the winter and these string quilts (with extra fluffy batting and flannel for the back) really fit the bill.

This is just part of the blocks I have. I have another stack just as big as the one on the right put aside waiting on the rest of the blocks to be done. I just love these string quilts. I love looking at all the blocks and seeing all the different fabrics and remembering the quilts that the fabric went into. Well, I am off to get some more things done. Not the least of which is to put finishing touches on my PIF gifts. I am soooo excited to finally have everything almost ready and ready to mail out by the end of the week. Hope everyone has a weekend filled with lots of your favorite things. Warm country wishes all!!