Sewing for Serenity

Good morning, my friends. It rained here for most of the day yesterday. We've had a nice fall, and the leaves have stayed on the trees until the bitter end. After this most recent rain, I notice they're mostly gone now. I'm afraid we're heading into the period I refer to as the "Big Dark." Ordinarily, we'd be thinking about when to head south, but we're staying home this winter. With our trip to Alaska planned for the end of next May, we're going to brave the cold and wet weather this year.

It should have been a two-day job to finish off the fourth stitchery for Girls' Getaway, but I'm leaning on my slow stitching to quiet my mind right at the moment. The more slow-stitching, the better.

This morning, I'll start on this next one. I wouldn't put it past me to finish it in a single morning. This will be the fifth of the seven I've committed to for the month of November.

Here are the four I have so far. Eventually, they'll all be in the center of a pieced block...I think...I could be wrong about that. At least some of them will be at the center of a pieced block.

I took a walk on the treadmill after that, and then went to work on my "Mosaic" piece. It's hard to tell if it's actually working yet, but I'm starting to recognize the design. It helps to know what photograph I'm using, and so I'm not sure if someone else could pick it out. Here's your peek:

If you're guessing a fried egg (annoying buzzer sound), then no. Good guess, though.

For now, I'm leaving all the little squares separate. If I were to start stitching them together, I'd need to change both thread and needle, and that all sounds like too much trouble right at the moment. I may change my mind down the road. I've been working on it one row at a time. If I keep up that pace, it should be ready for binding by the end of next week.

From there, I spent a little time quilting the Beach Bum ladies. There was just about an hour left in my sewing day, and so I was able to finish two more of the ladies.

There's just one more lady on the right to finish off. From there, I'll stitch the palm branches at the top. And then, just the clouds in the sky. There isn't a lot left to do. I doubt I'll finish it today, but maybe by tomorrow. Here's how it's looking from the back.

For today's sewing, I'll just keep on keeping on with these two projects. There's not much on today's agenda. I'll want to get in a Bow-flex workout. Later this afternoon, I'll start something in my Dutch oven for dinner. That will cut into my afternoon sewing, but food from the Dutch oven tastes especially good on a rainy day.

We're nearing the middle of the month already. Are you thinking about Christmas yet? We gave up exchanging gifts some years back, and it certainly takes the stress out of the season. Mike and I don't even put up a tree any more, settling instead for a small table top tree or else a poinsettia. I have lots of Christmas quilts around, and so it's still festive. Decorating takes about ten minutes. Undecorating takes even less time. But it's too soon to talk about that, isn't it? Right now, we're focused on Thanksgiving. Erik and Mae are doing the cooking this year. My contribution will be sweet potatoes (Erik's favorite) and cranberries. I make some from fresh cranberries, but the jellied kind from the can also have a place of honor on our table. 

Okay, so off I go. Enough talk about the holidays. Let's get back to our sewing, shall we?