Daniel took pictures of my hands sewing the bias binding on Ethan’s quilt. I have always been too busy looking at the sewing to notice what my hands are doing. So it was weird to look at the pictures of my own hands and have it seem foreign. This shot was the least contortionist looking. I have an obsession with hiding the stitching when I do bias binding. I wish I could just relax and do a slip stitch and let the thread show, but I couldn’t convince myself to do it this time. So the quilt took longer than it needed to. But I am very happy with the results and will post pics tomorrow when there is enough light to take a few.

I wish I could enjoy it. I guess I am enjoying it to some extent, but I am afraid of winter setting in and not being ready. I know that once it gets too cold it will be too late for some things. Yesterday I washed up the truck we are going to sell. It needed a pretty good going over and I knew going through a car wash wouldn’t cut it. It was getting close to 60 degrees out, but it was still not warm enough to keep it from being miserable for my fingers. Today I took screens off and washed windows. There are still quite a few things to do, but we are supposed to get a few more nice days in the next week. It has been hard to keep up spirits with so many “chores” to take care of. When I couldn’t stand it any longer I started work on a quilt for my five year old. I have been promising it for a while, but it is so easy to not get around to it when he isn’t pleading for it. The poor boy had flowered curtains 8 months until I finally felt sorry for him and made these. Quilt is coming soon in similar motif.

Since this years fall colors in Michigan have not been quite as spectacular as normal due to some odd weather patterns, I have been focusing much of my attention on Apartment Therapy’s Fall Color Contest. As I am still planning to add some color to our kitchen and workroom it has been inspiring to watch the entries come in. I have been a little bummed that though I thrive on color, I still didn’t have anything to submit. After the deadlines had closed I started to think about the colors in our bedroom and how much I am enjoying the combination. It developed out of a desire to not paint the walls again, even though the green that is there would not have been my first choice if I had been able to start from scratch. I had the fabric for a quilt that I was really excited about putting together and realized it would work with the wall color. I finished the bedspread at the end of last spring and found the curtains on my trip to CA in June (though I didn’t buy them until a few weeks after I returned home.) I think because the room developed slowly out of necessity and not from some dynamic source of inspiration, I have been slow to recognize it’s final effect. Well, since I missed the deadline for the contest I will post the picture here, though I don’t think I could compete with some of the amazing entries. Go take a peek!

I have a hard time ever getting anything into the mail. I have been so thankful for on-line banking and bill pay because my past history of occasional late payments never had anything to do with the money or writing out checks, but bills would often get held up when it was time to get them into the mail. Something about finding addresses and stamps and remembering to put it out in the box before the mailman comes always seems to be more difficult than it should be. So I think that the snail in the term “snail mail” is really referring to me. So since the snail has been kicking around for two weeks trying to remember to get a thank you card in the mail and that is not happening, I decided to post a big THANK YOU to my friend Christy. She found this table runner and thought of me. And I think it looks pretty cool as an addition to our decor. I tried it on the dining room table and it was a little too long to be convenient. When I moved it to cover up this bookshelf/coffee table I knew it had found it’s home. I put this bookshelf on it’s side a few months ago to give us the benefit of both a coffee table and a place to hold reading material close enough to the sofa that overlooks the lake for those lazy afternoon indulgences. Now it really looks a lot better. Thanks Christy!

Dad is away on a camping trip with two of his brothers. I have not been looking forward to him being gone since he contributes so much around here, tends to be the stricter disciplinarian, and is wonderful company. I have actually been amazed at how easy things have been since he took off. The kids seem to steer clear of mom. It is weird. It makes me wonder if they just know I am the grouchy one and all the demands they usually make are because they want to interact with dad. I tried to make a point of eating dinner together and they totally left me out of their lively conversation… and there are only two of them and they had already played outside together for 6 hours while I raked up leaves, mowed parts of the lawn and did some weed whacking. On a side note, we also enjoyed the fire pit. It is great to have a place to put all the junk that gets raked up. Dad usually does the bedtime routine and so it always seems to take longer when it is up to me. But all went well and I had a quiet evening after Ariana stomped off in a huff for being told she was supposed to be in bed 10 minutes ago. As I am now in the midst of a power struggle with the 5 year old I am not too confident about how the rest of the weekend will go. Well, I guess I need to go. I need to get that boy moving!

Yippee! Our local Joann’s is closing and opening a much bigger store right next door. Instead of moving everything over to the new store they are clearancing everything and stocking the new store from scratch. So not only do we get a new and improved store, we get great deals in the meantime! So with ribbon at 70% off I grabbed a few spools to send to Carol, who will put them to much better use than I would. I ran out of time to get ribbon by the yard cut, so I guess I will have to go back again this week. Any excuse to go back will do!

I have such big projects that it doesn’t lend itself well for posting everyday. I also have been feeling like I have too many things that are real work to do before I can indulge in my fun projects. Right now the garage is full of junk that was cleaned out of the attic and basement and it needs to be disposed of. I also should clean all the windows before it gets too cold and we end up having to look through dirty windows all winter. With doctors appointments and the hassle of trying to buy a car this week, I feel thankful that I don’t have to fit all this in around a job and kids. But I do wish I could do more fun stuff. I am in the middle of making the second cushion cover for this sofa. At least then it will be functional until I tear up the rest of the sofa to reupholster it.

Here is what I did yesterday in the glorious sunshine! It is amazing how a sunny day can fill me with energy. I checked the weather today and we aren’t supposed to have any sunshine for a week. I am not sure I can make it that long and have considered checking a map to see where the closest sunshine is, hop in the car, and just drive! Or maybe we will dry up enough outside to enjoy a fire outdoors.

The cold weather is here. I am so glad it hasn’t gotten down to freezing yet, but it has been chilly enough. We had to clean the furnace and get it running again. I have not been looking forward to that. I do love the cool, crisp weather and the amazing colors on the trees. Today I spent most of the day making a burning pit out of half of a metal drum and some patio pavers that I haven’t used to make a patio yet. It looks neat and I will take a picture tomorrow and try to post it since it is too dark already tonight to get a good shot. I have been wanting to make a place where we can have a fire and sit outside so that we can extend our time outdoors before the winter arrives and shuts us in for good. Anyway, the nights are chilly and I keep being reminded of those things we have to look forward to during the winter. Things like having to warm up the bathroom before I want to change my clothes and having to wear slippers because the floors are unbelievably cold. Last year I crocheted these slippers and started a striped scarf of the same colors. I have been looking forward to picking it up again when the weather gets too cold to spend anytime outside. I also know it will be more motivating to finish it when I can actually use it. For now, at least I can keep my feet warm.

My life was hijacked by jury duty. What a relief to be done with it. It was pretty overwhelming and I am not used to NOT being allowed to go to the bathroom or have a snack whenever I feel like it. It was strange to feel such a loss of freedom. And reminded me why I am enjoying being my own boss. Having kids sometimes puts me in positions where I feel like I have lost my freedom, but the nice thing about that is I still get to make all the decisions, even for the kids. So I think I will exercise my freedom now and go to the bathroom, and then I will have a snack. Woohoo!