November Is Here!

Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day.
 ~Robert Caspar Lintner

I thought the above quote was a good way to start November.  We should be thankful every day just for being alive, for being with loved ones, and for all that life can hand us.  Can you believe that it is now November?  We only have two months left in 2010!!!!  I have to admit that I now am a true believer of the saying "The older you get, the faster time flies".  I must be having fun because so much of it is a blur - lol!  Have you started your holiday menus?  Are you all finished shopping for Christmas?  Last month I sent out the 'dreaded email' to my children and their spouses and also to my DH.  This email gives them notice that all wish lists are due on or by November 15th.  No list - no gift (sure, like they believe that)!  Okay November here we are!  We are ready for you and we're off and running!!

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Picture of the Day

This was taken Friday morning as the sun came up.  We were supposed to have a storm coming in - "Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning" and all of that nonsense.  Temperature reached 80 and not even a breeze all day long.  The clouds were just a teaser.  Mother Nature can be such a trickster sometimes.
You my ask "Why does sun appear red during sunrise but sky appears blue?"
This is due to the way that light particles diffuse or pass through different amounts of differently coloured light. White light is made up of all of the colours in the spectrum, like shown in a rainbow, and when the light (generated from the sun) passes through our atmosphere, all other colours of light except for blue are filtered out by the light passing through the atmosphere.
During evenings, or indeed some mornings, the sun is lower in the sky, this means that the light from it has to pass through a greater amount of atmosphere to reach the point that you are at. Due to this, it now filters out all parts of the light spectrum except for the red light, meaning the sky appears red. This is also why, on some rare occasions, the sky can appear green.

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I actually met my goal of completing the cross stitching in my SIL Christmas stocking!!  I actually shocked myself when I took the last stitch at 4:04 p.m. on Friday!  I still need to put the back on but that will be a piece of cake.  The kit came with white felt and I'm not sure that is what I want to use.  I think I may go look for some blue felt to use instead, it will show less dirt.

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I also made the first block in the Thread Head Quilt Along.

This is block #1.  I'm actually am supposed to make two of each block but I became sidetracked before I could make another.  Some days are just like that for me.  Do you ever have those kind of days?
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I found a couple of things that are coming up that look like lots of fun. 

Little Bits of This & That is hosting the Mistletoe Make & Bake 2010.  Here is what she says about it "I am very excited to announce Mistletoe Make & Bake 2010! We have a baker's dozen of designer projects and dozens of cookies recipes for you just in time for the holidays. So get ready to hop through some wonderful blogs, collecting gift-giving projects and yummy cookie recipes perfect for your holiday cookie exchanges!

November 15th-20th, 2010
Here is the line-up~
November 15th
Sherri K. Falls of This & That Patterns     Monica Solorio-Snow of The Happy Zombie
November 16th
Heidi Kaisand of Chicks & Hen     Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts
November 17th
Celine Perkins of Perkin's Dry Goods     Patrick Lose of The Latest News from Patrick Lose
Kelly Ann Richardson of Kelly Ann's Quilting
November 18th
Lissa Alexander of Moda Lissa     Julie Stewart of Quilts 4 Julie
November 19th
Roseann Kermes of Rosebud's Cottage     Brenda Riddle of Little Acorns
November 20th
Vickie Eapen of Spun Sugar Quilts     Melisa Morrison of Sweet Home Quilt Co.
November 21st
On the seventh day, we’ll rest. And eat cookies!
So mark your calendar and get ready for a fun week filled with cookie bliss, wonderful projects and awesome prizes!!

Sew Cal Gal will be hosting a Christmas Quilt Show.  She has tons of sponsors providing prizes.  This looks to be a lot of fun too.  You can take the link above to find out the submission process.  This event is being held November 14 through the 21st.

It looks like we are in for a very busy week of hopping in the middle of November :)

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GIVEAWAYS

Fresh Cut Quilts is having a giveaway to celebrate her 100th post.  This ends tomorrow November 2nd.   

The Mad Quilting Librarian is having a giveaway to celebrate her birthday month.  Check this out to win one of four different fabric collections.  This ends Friday, November 5th.

This is your FINAL REMINDER to enter my "Just Because" giveaway.  Check out the 5 fall themed fat quarters that could be yours if you enter HERE.  This ends tomorrow (Nov 2nd) at 6:00 pm PST (ok, you will probably get one more reminder tomorrow morning but why wait - you don't want to be the last one to enter)

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Did everybody have great weekend?  Were the ghosts and goblins kind to you?  Did you get all of your running done, your sewing projects completed, the dog washed and the laundry done?  Mine was spent fairly quietly.  I did manage to get the laundry done and some hexie flowers made.  Didn't get the yard work done, nor did I finish any projects.  This week my goal is to complete my three swap blocks and finish the SAL top.  How about you - what are your goals this week?

I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
~Douglas Adams

Have a monumental Monday!!

My TTYL Surprise and Christmas in August

Can you believe it's Wednesday already?!?  Time flies even when you're not having fun.  It's still hot and I don't see much relief in sight.  You would think I would be used to these long hot summers since I was born and raised right where I live!

I'm still experimenting with nail polish.  Here is my story on China Glaze TTYL.  Was I ever shocked when I completed my latest mani and walked outside.  I had been doing my nails in a dimly lit room and thought, well, this is a pretty mundane pink with tan undertones.  I thought I could probably live with it a few days and figured I would never use this one again.  I even had to redo my thumb as it was going on rather thick and streaky.  Not a very good quality of polish, I thought.  Then I walked outside to take a picture and was I ever very completely shocked and even said OMG!  There were different shades of pink, some oranges and even golds along with a lot of shimmer!  It is gorgeous!!  What more can I say.  While talking to my daughter, Megan, I explained to her what happened and she said that this polish is from the OMG Collection and is a holo polish.  She had previously used a blue one (can't remember the name) from the same collection and showed it off on her blog.  I had loved the look but would never do blue (after all, I am a grandma!).  The only bad news is that is started chipping just after being worn for 24 hours :(  Guess we can't always have beauty and wear together.  I will use this polish again but will probably save it for more special occasions than just for wearing around the house.  Here are some pictures:

This is what I thought was a fairly boring color - poorly lit room (please ignore the ugly thumb)

Better here under florescent lighting

WOW!! It still doesn't show all of the colors that appear in sunshine

I thought I would share my current cross stitch project with you today.  I usually don't work from a kit, and this just reinforces that thought.  I prefer to have my charts done in black and white and not multi-colored like this one.  I also like the stitch indicators to be big enough to see easily, but every time I think there might be a change, I practically have to get my nose up to the chart to see what the little symbol is in the square.  This is a 14 count fabric, which is okay, but I much prefer to work on 18 count.  By now, I'm sure you are asking why I selected this one.  I am making it for my son-in-law, Ryan, and it was chosen by my daughter.  Poor Ryan had been using a store-bought red fuzzy stocking with puffy paint writing for his name each Christmas.  It looked rather out of place next to all of the rest of the family's stockings that have been stitched either by myself or my mother years ago.  So, I'm determined to finish this and my goal is to have it done by the end of the month.  Here are pictures:

Here's the kit I'm working on for Ryan's stocking

This is the kind of chart I hate - multiple colors and very tiny symbols

Work in progress in my cross stitch frame

That's it for this wacky Wednesday.  I'm off to work on my Hawaiian quilt pattern - I'm actually going to draw it out on the big paper instead of the tiny 8 1/2" square that I started with.  Wish me luck!!