Gotta Love Her!

And if you want even more wit and whimsey of our gal, Maxine, check out Lucy's blog entry HERE.

Something To Ponder

You know, I was just wondering...
Why is it that if you cross the North Korean border illegally you get thrown into prison and get 12 years of hard labor;

And if you cross the Iranian border while out supposedly leisurely hiking in the hills, you get arrested and imprisoned;

But if you cross the U.S. border illegally, you get a drivers license, a Social Security card, free health care and free education!

Who's bright idea was this?

I'm just curious.

Marvelous Monday Update 10/12/09

WEATHER
On Saturday, the wind was pretty raw on the ole face. Not only that, it actually SNOWED! I was happy to see it didn't last long. Nor did it accumulate. We haven't even experienced fall yet. Where's FALL??! For this time of year, our area set a record low temp of 25F on Saturday night! Brrr... was it cold Sunday morning!

To answer Nancy's question from last week -- No, I hadn't turned on my furnace yet... Not until this past Sunday. Prior to that, I'd been lighting the fireplace to take the chill out of the air -and- used the electric blanket on the bed.


GARDENING
Due to the cold temps, the outdoor planters were hit with the frost. Some are wilting and dying. :( I was smart a few weeks ago and took some cuttings off the sun coleus. They've already rooted and I'll be planting them in pots. By spring I can plant them outside again.

I pulled everything out of the garden on Sunday. At 41F, the weather wasn't too bad... as long as you kept moving and worked up a sweat. LOL I raked the yard and put all the leaves in the garden area, along with old potting soil and garden additives I bought on clearance about a month ago. JT came over and tilled it all under for me.



We started to plant tulip and daffodil bulbs, but got chilled before we could finish. This coming weekend is supposed to be nice, so hopefully that job can be finished and then we have bulbs to plant at his place.





STITCHY STUFF
Last week was a a wonderful mail week!


Sheila in TN RAK'd me the November issue of Cross Stitch and Needlework. Thank you, Sheila! She's new to blogging and recently learned a new craft called Kimekomi. Check out her blog, if you have a chance.




Vicki in CO had her first ever blog giveaway. She had her DH pull a winning name from the contestants. Guess who was the lucky one? Moi!! I picked up Vicki's package from the post office the same day I got Sheila's. So it was a double-whammy!! {big grin} Here's what she sent me:

Thank you so much, Vicki!




She even sent me the piece of paper with my name on it that her DH drew as the winner. I thought that was just precious! :)






I'm speeding right along on TMQ. Finished another quilt square motif. :) This one is called Star of Bethlehem.


And I've almost finished another one:


Two more after this and I'll have the outside border of TMQ done. Other WIP pics of it can been seen HERE. These are all being stitched on afghan fabric, two-over-two. I'm still trying to decide what to cover the back with. Any ideas?

In addition to TMQ, I was able to stitch on two other projects:

Lorri's Scissor Case
by Lorri Birmingham

Flower & Bee
by Annalee Waite Designs

GIVEAWAYS
Annette of Annette's Acre is celebrating her 6th blogversary. In recognition of six years of blogging bliss, she's sponsoring a fabulous giveaway that ends at midnight on Oct 18th. Check it out if you're interested!

In celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Jennifer of Feathers in the Nest is hosting a giveaway. Visit her blog, and take a peek. :)

Have You Ever...

...done something nice for someone without expectation of something in return from that person? Or, have had someone done something for you? Did it not just make your day?



That's the concept of Pay It Forward (PIF). If you've never seen the movie (or read the book) by the same name, I highly encourage you to do so. It's very good!


In the spirit of PIF'ing, CJ of Tea and Stitches offered to Pay It Forward. I thought it sounded like fun, so I signed up. So now it's my turn to Pay It Foward!

This is so easy. No sewing involved, and you get 365 days to send out your PIF's :) The "rules" are as follows:

1. I'll send no less than 5 stitching related items per person within the next 365 days.
2. Items can be DMC, other threads, stitching needles, straight pins, buttons, scissors, ribbons, etc. - a combination of items such as 3 threads, 1 pack of straight pins and 1 pack of stitching needles or just 5 threads.
3. The items must be new and not used. (Send things you'd be happy to receive.)
4. If you win, you must be willing to post this PIF on your blog and do the same for at least 2 people.

If you are interested in Paying It Forward, please comment on this post with your email address so that I can contact you. I will PIF three readers. If there are more than three comments, the names will go into a drawing to determine the lucky ones :) Good luck! I'll announce the PIF receipients on the 15th.

Marvelous Monday Update 10/5/09

Holy smokes, Batman! It's October already. Unfoturnately, I don't have any exciting stories from last week. No Ms. Fix-Its... no homestead updates... no critters... no cooking... no accidents, even. Pretty ho-hum stuff around here.

It's been cold and rainy here. Several times in the past week, I've been tempted to turn on the heat because of the cold, damp weather. Brrr!

Here's how last Saturday morning went:

{Look outside}
Self: "Hey it's not raining. I can get the garden cleaned out."

{Put on shoes}
Self: "Crap, it's raining."

{Take off shoes}
Self: "I'll just do a few things inside."

About 30 minutes later...

{Look outside}
Self: "Hey, it's not raining. Better get outside."

{Put on shoes}
Self: "Dang it. It's raining again!"

Sounds like a bad cartoon strip, doesn't it? I ended up taking my shoes off and decided I'd just take advantage of the "indoor time" to dig out my winter clothes, put away my summer ones, and purge closets/drawers of things I haven't worn... and probably won't wear.

I was thrilled to get some stitching in, too. I finished a TQM motif and started another one while watching Old World Wisconsin on TV. What a neat place! Without further adieu, may I present.... Postage Stamp Basket:

The motifs aren't very detailed, but they're great
for those days you want to stitch but don't really
want to think too hard and/or want many color
changes. :)


I also went through a bunch of my charts/leaflets. Decided there were a lot of them that are no longer my taste, so I'm working on scanning them and putting them on my stash-for-sale blog. What a trip down memory lane that was. Interesting how our tastes change...