A little this and that

DJ called me into the living room with a "get your camera"  Skyler was trying to hide behind the lumbar pillow that he uses in his recliner and sometimes on the kitchen chair against his back.

He tries valiantly to keep the cat hair off of it but that is a little difficult when it either sits upright on the recliner or the love seat when not in use.  Both of those spots are Skyler's preferred night time sleep spots.  Or they will be till the weather turns cold and he bunks with one or the other of us.  I think that one shot  made it look like he was a baseball umpire.  I may have baseball on the brain though since they are down to like 10 games to go and the Cardinals are 2 up in the National League Central.

I can finally share a picture of something that I made for my pal Norma recently---right after I made my hexie hop version I made this one for her along with the accessory pieces.  I mailed it off to her in late August and it arrived yesterday to her home in BC, finally!!!!  She asked for lime green and I accommodated that but used some accent colors to go with it and striped fabric instead of piecing the detachable pin cushion..  The pattern is from Curry Bungalow  I just made the contrast cuff a bit longer and used wider boning.

The rotary cutter hold is something that she didn't know was coming and patterned after one I had received from our guild president at Christmas last year.  The thread holder was just something I was goofing around with.  It is a hexie on the ends so that made sewing it on a little harder than if I had used yo-yo's like the one I have.  LOL  In the end I got the flap just hair too long but I was NOT starting over.  Nor did I want to put it in the blog hop, as I would have ruined another surprise for her!  I hope it will live happily in her home.

I was not going to sign up for the upcoming "WICKED" hop mostly as I had hoped to get caught up with some other projects.  Also I will be going "home" soon to visit with my family in early October.   However, Mdm. Samm announced that there were still a few openings.  I think it will jump start a Halloween quilt idea that Norma and I collaborated on last year. Wendy, the head cheerleader, approved me so I am IN!

Since that time I have been thinking about and looking at all manner of Halloween elements in my computer files and notebooks.   This picture just happens to be part of it.   I have tweaked my design, have a rough print out of what I am doing and have begun cutting.   I am afraid that there will be another spell of blogging without many pictures of what I am up to. Well, so be it -- participating in the hops is so much fun!  I missed the pin cushion hop and elected not to do the batik one though I am anxious to see how the theme was interpreted.  Soon I will be able to cross something else off my list which is okay with me.  If I have time, there is one other craft type item that I may try but it will depend on what day I am assigned and how quickly my other plan comes together.

On a personal note:
I received a call from my sister in IL this afternoon.  Diane and Rick will be passing through Alabama on their way down to Destin, FL on Saturday morning.  She has never been to my home though my sister Janet and her daughters have.   It should time out that we will join them for lunch and then they will complete the 5 plus hour drive to their destination from here.  It is a little bit out of their way but as Diane says, 40 minutes away and not stopping to see us is not an option!   Had we not made connections, then I will be seeing her in a couple of weeks but it is not quite the same thing.  Woohoo!

And sew it goes---------