Thankful It's Thursday

"The foliage has been losing its freshness through the month of August, and here and there a yellow leaf shows itself like the first gray hair amidst the locks of a beauty who has seen one season too many. "
                                                                ~Oliver Wendell Holmes


Thundering Thursday!  I can only wish we were having thunder.  That would probably mean rain!  Something we haven't seen here in over 3 months :(  Everything is looking dirty and tired as we are heading into fall, nothing a little rain couldn't help remedy.  I know it will come - think positive - I know it will come!!  I'm still looking for the first fall coloring in the leaves of the liquid ambers or in the mulberry trees.  I envy those who live back east with all of the fall color splendor.

Photo Of The Day:

Orange Trumpet Vine

The truth, as in many things, the Orange Trumpet Vine is somewhere between a plant thug and the garden answer for this millennium.  To begin with, the vine is aggressive and can reach thirty to forty feet, climbing and scrambling over any obstacle. It never met a trellis it didn’t like and it will cover a screen or trellis very quickly. When planting it, jump back quickly as it has been known to break gardener’s ankles ;) in its zeal to find growing space. It self sows and you’ll quickly have little trumpet vines (I wonder if the babies are called “coronet”  or "pocket trumpet" vines?) popping up.  You have to prune it heavily to keep it in bounds. And do not worry about whether you are pruning it properly or not. It grows back so quickly, you’ll have to wonder if you did it at all. Some people (never myself you understand) say that the proper way to prune this plant is with a chainsaw.  It is currently climbing a neighbors pine tree (that is mostly dead) adding odd orange blooms to an evergreen.  The hummingbirds really like to stick their beaks deep into these flowers, sometimes irritating a visiting bumblebee.
         
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Yesterday when I went out to collect the mail, there was a large envelope waiting with MY name on it!!  Last week I had won a giveaway from Char over at Cloth Stitched!  This was the first time I had won anything in blogland!!  I opened the envelope to find a nice note from Charmaine and pretty pink tissue paper sealed with a bright yellow happy face:

I almost forgot to take a picture before opening it :)

Inside I found the charm pack,  Park Avenue by 3 Sisters for Moda, I had won and a darling hand made scrap pincushion made by Char.

Here is a close up of the cute little Scrap Pincushion Char made.  I'm going to put it on my stitchery stand to hold all of the stray pins that seem to find their way there.

Thank you, Char, for having such a great giveaway and for the very special scrap pincushion!!

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Some of you may remember my posting about my friend, Leona, and her request for help in making her sister a comfort quilt.  Yesterday morning I spent some time making up two 9" blocks for the quilt.  She had requested either a nine patch or a 4 patch block in any type of fabric with white or off-white combinations in the block.  So I couldn't decide which to make to I made one of each (these are the first two blocks I have made without following a pattern):

Here's my four patch block

And here is my nine patch, sort of a nine patch inside of a nine patch

These will go out in today's mail to Leona.  I thought I would get them to her early so that maybe she can get a head start on piecing the blocks together.  If you are interested in helping Leona create a quilt for her sister, jump on over to Leona's Quilting Adventure for all of the information.

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Maybe some of you noticed a couple of new buttons on the right hand side.  Would you like to know what they are about?

Are you ready to Blog Hop.  Starting September 27th, Gudrun is hosting a Fall-O-Ween Quilt Designer Blog Hop.  Gudrun has 10 designers lined up and each day she will bring you a great project and 10 themed blog posts.  Sounds like loads of fun!  

The cute little scarecrow is announcing that Debi of Quilting With Debi is hosting Fall into Fall Quilters Giveaway beginning October 1.  She is hoping to get at least 200 quilters to participate in this blog giveaway.  What a great way to get your blog out there and noticed!  If you are interested in joining in the fun, just link over to Debi's site for all of the information.


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Today I received an email from AccuQuilt in response to my request to be considered to host a GO! Cutter giveaway.  They said I had to have 100 followers :(   Currently I have 82 followers, and a big thank you to all 82 of you!!!  Could you help me find 18 more followers?  Tell your friends, your fellow bloggers, your relatives, to come join my blog and then maybe, just maybe, I will be able to host a GO! giveaway!   Oh how I wish for a GO! Cutter to come into my life.

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Me dreaming of an AccuQuilt GO! Cutter

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Reminder - My 2nd giveaway is still happening. 

Enter today!  Just click HERE to enter - the winner will be announced Monday!
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Final Thoughts
We are almost to the end of the week and into the weekend - nope, shouldn't think that way.  Don't wish days away in anticipation of what may come in the future.  Enjoy today, enjoy tomorrow, enjoy every minute you have!  Thank goodness for Thursdays!