Sunday Scripture...

Courtesy of  Our Daily Blossom.com

November Mini...

Another closeup of mine

Friday was a fun day for me. I got to spend the day in the studio - less the hour I spent at the post office waiting to post overseas packages. (Just a few goodies heading to my friends in the Farmer's Wife QAL.) When I got back home, I tasked myself with starting (and finishing) my mini quilt for November. It is mid-month already, after all.

Kathy's original design

My friend, Kathy designed this month's quilt. I was tickled to see that she had chosen squirrels and acorns! I think her design is adorable and I've been thinking all week about how I wanted to personalize mine.

Fay's mini

This is the quilt, adapted by Fay. She had hers finished earlier in the month, so I got a peek last weekend at our coffee group. It's always fun to see how each quilter personalizes the designs to reflect their own personality. One of the gals loves little yellow ducks, so no matter what the theme, she always manages to find a place to sneak in a duck!

It was time for me to quit gawking and start sewing. I chose the fabrics I wanted to use, and then I pulled out two of my Michelle Palmer drawings on fabric that I've been saving for a special project.

Close-up of my November Mini Quilt

I decided to do a little hand tinting on Michelle's two little squirrel drawings so that I could place them as the focal point on my block. Then I fused them to the block and started adding leaves and acorns.

My entire center block

By the end of the day, I'd completed my block. It's all stitched, bound and ready to take to our coffee group this morning.

December's design is already in my binder, but I think I'll bask in this November glow for a little while before I tackle the next one. I'm going to wait until the traditional "day after Thanksgiving" to even start thinking about it. Christmas will be here soon enough. No need to rush.

Button Floozie Ornament Exchange...

I'm a Button Floozie. No. Really. I've been a contributing writer to the weblog, Button Floozies for some time. It's a great place to read about all the different kinds of buttons and meet new bloggers who share this interest, too.

For the past couple of years, our administrator, Laurie has organized an ornament swap for our members. Each of us belongs to a group of five and we create ornament sets to share among our group. In my group for this swap are two old friends, Denise and DeeDee, and a couple of new friends, too - Debbie and Renee.

Our deadline to mail our hand-made ornaments is today. So, guess how I spent yesterday? Yup. Making ornaments!

I had help. Miss Ellie (my Babylock Ellisimo) was all too happy to help me create the base for my ornaments, and she stitched out her work in record time.

After she was finished, it was my turn. Sewing, stuffing, stitching, detailing with vintage buttons and making the cording for hangers all went into the creation of each ornament.

They're all finished and in the mail...right on time. I'd love to show you a picture of them, but I really have to make you use your imagination. There's a chance that one of the Floozies in my group might peek at this post, and we can't have her seeing her ornament before she opens her package, now, can we? Thank goodness for Photoshop and their special effects feature.

I'll show you the actual photo some time next week, after I'm sure the ornies have been received. Today, I'll be making the November mini quilt for our monthly QAL at Sandy's Quilt Shop. I'll be taking it with me to the shop on Saturday, but I promise to share it with you first.

Happy Friday, y'all. I hope you have a creative day, too.