A month is a long time.

Lots has happened since my last post.  We cleaned up our 'northern' home and got it ready for winter and then set the heat at 55ºF and locked the doors, set the alarm and left for our sunnier, warmer 'other' house.  It is always a whirlwind when we arrive.  Everything needs dusting and cleaning, wood needs to be oiled because the air is so dry, corners vacuumed, baseboards washed and don't even talk to me about windows.  Then we are busy with connecting with our 'old' friends, back on the tennis court, returning to our other activities like quilting, softball and pickle ball.  I have finally sorted out my projects that I left behind, added the fabrics and patterns I brought with me and am increasing my 'fabric stash' with all the pre Thanksgiving sales.  Prices are too good to resist and all have free shipping.  What is a quilter to do?

I have managed to mess up two different projects but am going ahead with them anyway and have two simple projects finished.

 

A pumpkin hanging for my 12" stand and a hallowe'en fabric tote.  Both kits from Connecting Threads that were on clearance after Hallowe'en.  Am working on being 11 months ahead rather than a month behind.  Getting read for October 2015! 

This is one of the projects I messed up.  I am not sure if it was me being lazy when reading the directions or the instructions weren't clearly written or illustrated but am going to put it together anyway.  There should only have been three colours in each block and they should look like eyeballs.  This will be a table topper so not too concerned about my mistake and for sure, am not picking it all out and redoing! 

 We have been busy planting and decided that instead of our front garden being full of petunias and colour, we would go with something more permanent like lantana.  The petunias die in the heat of the summer and have to be replaced every fall but, hopefully, the lantana will grow and spread and be colourful all year round.  It does well in the heat here so we never have to plant in this garden again! 

We purchased a birdbath today and I also bought some flowers and got my pots planted for some back yard colour to go with the citrus trees.  The oranges are slowly ripening.