Happy Thanksgiving

I know we still have a couple of days to go until Thanksgiving, but I wanted to make sure that I wished everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. This year for the very first time in my married life I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner at my house. I am cooking my very first turkey. I have cooked a turkey breast before but never a whole turkey. I never knew there were so many different ways to cook a turkey. Almost everyone I know has told me "how" to cook it. I hope that it turns out OK. Thankfully I am only cooking for four people, not an entire houseful like many of you. I am also cooking my first dressing and stuffing. To me that is more stressful than the turkey. I am also preparing sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, and popovers, and pecan pie. Fortunately I have cooked all of these things before. Happy cooking everyone.

New sewing themed book discovered

I am always on the look out for books with a sewing theme. I saw one advertised in one of the quilt magazines last week and decided to look for it at the local library. The author is Marie Bostwick, and the title is A Single Thread. I managed to find it earlier this week and I finished reading it last night. It was a very good read. The characters were very likable and it was a plus that it was set around a quilt shop in New England. I had not read any of this author's previous books, but will definitely be on the lookout for her other books.

As far as sewing themed books go, I really like the Benni Harper series and most of Jennifer Chiaverini's books. I have not read her new book, I believe that the name of it is the Quilter's Kitchen. Most of the people I know that have read it weren't crazy about it.

Brrrr! It's cold outside.

Not quite cold enough for snow, but cold enough. It seems that winter has finally hit Atlanta. It was really cold this morning. I had to go back inside to find my gloves. We were up at our cabin in Blue Ridge over the weekend and it actually did snow a few flakes on Sunday morning. I was hoping for enough to keep us snowed in up there for a couple of days but no such luck. I love winter and the cold weather.

Great book

Last night I finished reading a really good book, The View from Mount Joy by Lorna Landvik. She is one of my favorite authors. The first book that I read by here was Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons. Her books are funny and thought provoking at the same time. Check out her publisher's website.

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/lornalandvik/

All Things Christmas

I finally got back to my quilt sewing tonight. I have the first border on my all Things Christmas blocks. There are two more borders to go. Hopefully, I can get those on sometime later this week.
This is a really busy week at school. We started our book fair today and are in the middle of our school retrofit. (lots of new equipment, including new phones that none of us are quite sure how to work. Projectors should be installed later this week.) I am hopeful that the worst is over.

More Clothing Sewing

I had planned on working on my applique blocks this weekend, but somehow got sidetracked finishing a dress, and working on a jacket. The jacket is an Indygo Junction pattern. I love their patterns, they are very simple and always go together perfectly. I found a great print corduroy that is burgundy and a grayish green. I was lucky enough to find a solid in the grayish green to do a pair of pants.

The jacket sewing was on top of the yard work that I did. It was such a gorgeous day yesterday that I worked out in the yard most of the morning. We have three maple trees that have decided to lose their leaves at different times. Two down one to go. I also did some work in our little garden. I pulled up the pepper plants and the tomato vines. The tomato vines were still loaded with green tomatoes. I guess I will take them to school tomorrow. I am over both tomatoes and peppers. We had enough that I was able to can almost 40 quarts of tomatoes and have put numerous bags of peppers in the freezer. I will be glad this winter, but it is very time consuming.

Finally finished

I Have been working on an applique block of the month from Stitch n Quilt for almost a year. I have finally finished the six blocks. Six blocks doesn't sound like a lot, but when you have never done applique before it is. I am not one to start with something small or even simple for that matter. Here are the last two blocks that I did.

I can't wait to get the blocks sew together and quilted. I am going to see if my mom will hand quilt them for me. There are still some embellishments that will have to go on after it is quilted. I hope that this weekend I can get the blocks sew together and the border on. Wish me luck.