Pumpkins and the Blackbird

 I got an itch to stitch, so found this adorable design by Lynn B to begin yesterday.

I got a good start last night

Then picked up my needle again this morning and stitched while catching up on YouTube videos. I guess I wasn't paying close enough attention to the stitching, though. I finished the letters, the bird and the pumpkin, then started on the border. But things weren't falling into place. It took me a while to figure out why.

Ooops. I stitched to *I*s. It didn't take much to rip things out and get back on track. I stitched more tonight while watching the presidential debate and made some excellent progress. This is where I'm leaving it tonight.

Depending on our activities, there's a chance I could finish the stitching tomorrow. I have plans to finish it in a way I've never tried before. It's something in between an ornament and a framed piece. When it's done, I'll display it with my pumpkin patch.

Grandbears

I had the opportunity to have a video chat with Julie and the grandkids today. They tried on their new bear suits this morning because it will soon be c-o-l-d in Moscow, Idaho. They expect snow this week!

Melody remembers snow ... that it's white, it's cold, you can make a ball out of it, and you can sled on it. Annie is in for a treat this year.

I'm sure looking forward to the day I can go visit in my new Mimimobile and take them for a ride. 

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Julie took this wonderful photo this morning.

Pretty. Frustrating.

 The image on this puzzle and the colors of the Antelope Valley are beautiful.

However, as a puzzle, this picture stinks. This was one of those very frustrating puzzles where too many of the pieces look alike. Once the blues and yellows and purples were done, a sea of red and orange was left over. It was a case of sorting pieces by shape, then having to try piece after piece after piece with very few visual clues. That's not engaging or fun. It's drudgery. 

As a further insult, the four pieces in the top right corner were missing. Hrumpf.

It wasn't even a dollar's worth of fun. After taking photos, I threw this one away. 

Not good. Not good. 

I'm tempted to redo the guitar puzzle as a cleanse. 

Call Me Sparky

 After over 12 years with my blue Charmed Car (Hyundai Accent), our ways have parted. Jeanne's car gave up the ghost the week before she moved from Spokane Valley to Eugene/Springfield, so I offered my car as a way to get her here quickly.

I've missed having wheels! Yesterday, Dale and I found this 2019 beauty. It's a Chevy Spark. This baby fits me just right and has lots of features the Charmed Car never had ...

like a rear windshield wiper.

It's the little things.

Happily, "buy a new car" was one of the alternate goals on my 20 Goals in 2020 list. It feels great to check that one off. I'd been meaning to get a new car for over three years. I was finally pushed into the dreaded searching/buying process. Luckily, I felt comfortable with the very first car I test drove. Bam! Done!

Growing the Patch

 Once I completed the turning-sweaters-into-pillows project, I still had sweater fabric left over. I used the sleeves of the black sweater to decorate a couple more pumpkins. 

I saw examples of black pumpkins with orange polka dots on Pinterest, so decided to use the ideas as my starting point. 

I covered the first pumpkin with silver and orange sequins, held in place using straight pins with black and orange heads.

I fashioned a stem out of floral wire covered in black yarn. Then gave the stem a collar of black felt imbued with iridescent glitter.

The second pumpkin was covered in the black sweater, then bedazzled with four sizes of google eyes.

I admit to burning my fingers several times with the hot glue as I stuck the eyes to the pumpkin.

I created another stem with floral wire covered in black yarn. This time, I unraveled some yarn to use as a collar around the stem.

They're quite a pair! My granddaughter Melody particularly likes the one with eyeballs.

Using the sweater material for two more projects works toward one of my alternate 20 Goals in 2020. I may yet finish 20 of the projects I've begun or had kitted up. 

Tonight's Sunset

 Glorious

Day of the Dead

 Another day, another 300 piece puzzle. Because this puzzle has so many colors, so close together, I really couldn't sort the pieces by color as I usually do. Instead, my approach to putting this puzzle together was to grab a piece, check it out against the photo, put it on the board in approximately the correct spot, repeat. Eventually the pieces start lining up and connecting. 

Though I call it the Day of the Dead puzzle, it's officially called Colorful Traditional Mexican Ceramics.

This is another case of a one-dollar puzzle with a missing piece. I did my trick with gluing several layers of card stock together to make the 4th corner. This puzzle was enjoyable enough that I can picture putting it together again.

Autumn Wreath

 Jodie came by last weekend and we made Autumn wreaths together. We each did our own thing. Jodie's wreath highlighted sunflowers. I made mine in these two shades of orange. I think they're chrysanthemums.  

I glued the flowers to a wire frame in clusters of three. Then I added in some leaves here and there.

I decided to hang the wreath in the living room on the stairway wall where the couch and loveseat meet. It's an 18" wreath, so has a substantial presence.

The bright splash of color is beautiful among the neutral grays and navy. 

Here's a peek at the chrome and glass lamp that we added this week. Snazzy!

Guitar Happiness

This is the most enjoyable jigsaw puzzle I've done in a long time. It is small enough to do in one sitting. The colors are beautiful. There is enough color and texture variation to make it a feast for the eyes. There are plenty of clues to help move the piecing along because there are not too many similar pieces. I wasn't fighting the image and having to default to sorting solely by shape.

It made for an extremely pleasant evening. It's a keeper. I want to find more puzzles like this. 

That's a lot of fun for a dollar!

Hangin' Our in the 'Hood

 Our neighbors are experts at celebrating Halloween. Their decorations speak for themselves.

My favorite ... the dogs chasing the guy up the tree!

Happy Haunting!

Jigsaw Jag

 I'm on a bit of a jigsaw puzzle spree right now. I finished this one, then two more, and am working on a third. Some weeks are like that.

As you can see, that green piece is still missing. But no worries.

I slipped a green file folder under the puzzle and traced the piece five times. Then I cut them out and glued them together to reach my desired thickness.

The new piece fits quite nicely, thank you very much. I like that it's very close to the color of the surrounding buttons. (Does this count as another completed craft project?)

I suppose that means I get to keep these Rainbow Buttons and put this puzzle together again in the future.

Flashback

 Dale found this gem while cleaning out his closet. We think it's from 1998. All those smiles authentically depict who we are. Love this family time!

Upcycled Pillows

I did a bit of upcycling this week. I took four of Dale's old sweaters (that are now far too big for him), and turned them into some cozy couch pillows.

I cut the sweaters into 19" x 19" squares, then serged three of the seams shut. Next I inserted the 18" pillow forms (bought from Amazon) and closed the last side seam with an invisible ladder stitch. Finally, I reinforced the seams by topstitching all the way around the pillow with a zigzag stitch 1/2" from the pillow edge. That created the small flange.

I like that these pillows are not simply for decoration. They'll be great for getting some real use, napping on the couch or propping up a book as we while away the winter hours in front of the fireplace.

Happily, this project completes four more steps towards one of my alternate 20 Goals in 2020. That is to finish up 20 of my partially done or kitted projects. I've finished up nine of those projects so far this year. That's encouraging!

Next up, I plan to use the arms of the black sweater to craft a couple more decorative gourds for my Autumn pumpkin patch. 

In Progress

 I didn't sleep long enough last night, so I've been off kilter all day. I'd planned to do some sewing, but that didn't happen. Instead, I started a jigsaw puzzle. Of buttons. That's almost like sewing, right?

Let's hope I can find that last green piece.

Bicycles

 Rested for a while with another jigsaw puzzle

Working with these vibrant colors was enjoyable. I needed to get into the groove by completing the tires first.

Fall Coloring

 As Dale and I took our afternoon walk, we not only saw beautiful Fall color in nature, we also found some Fall coloring on the sidewalk!

Several of our neighbors get a kick out of decorating for Halloween. Here, a mom and kid had some fun with sidewalk chalk.

Gotta admire dem jack-o-lanterns!

Fall Color

 Dale and I took our first Autumn walk around the neighborhood yesterday. We're beginning to see some Fall color! I like how this one tree is a splash of green, yellow, orange, red, gold and brown.

The Fall flowers are beginning to bloom, too. Love this rich magenta!

There are some wonderful Halloween decorations going up on the block, too. I'll share some of them later in the week.

Fishing Boats

 I had the chance to pick up a few more one dollar, 300-piece puzzles last week, and the chance to put one together today.

I didn't feel well yesterday, and was still recovering today. This was an excellent quiet activity, working with very pretty colors.

Happy Dance

I feel honored today. This photo from a couple weeks ago received the Fan Photo of the Day from pro photographer Nick Kelsh! 

I'm a long-time member of the How To Photograph Your Life Facebook community. Each day Nick picks one photo posted by a member of the community as the photo of the day. He talks about various qualities of the photos to help us all learn to be better photographers. 

This was such a wonderful surprise and a much needed boost to my day.

Candle Light

 

September Goal Update

It's hard to believe another month has slipped by! I'm happy to report I finished two of my more challenging goals: having a dental appointment and making a watermark for my photos. I managed to zero out my email account. Plus, I backed up my computer.

Other than that, I continued going above and beyond on several of the goals I already finished and did a bit more settling into our new home.

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Overall Statistics

Completed: sixteen goals
In Progress: three goals + two alternate goals
Unstarted: one goal
High-achiever (reached my goal but did more anyway): twelve goals

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Goal Details

1. Transcribe session from last year's Skamania Celebrate Your Life retreat
Finished in February

2. Create a watermark for my photos
Finished in September

3. Memorize the names of all the U.S. presidents in order
Not yet

4. Reach a new goal weight
Finished the 1st in March.
Reached the 2nd goal weight in April.
Reached the 3rd goal in July.

5. Find a new doctor, a new dentist, and a psychiatrist
Finished in September
Had a dental cleaning and replaced crown. Great dental office!

6. Put together 20 jigsaw puzzles
Finished in February.

7. File all new digital photos once per quarter
Finished third quarter in September

8. Zero out email box once per quarter
Finished third quarter in September

9. Learn to cook six keto dishes
Finished in March.

10. Listen to 20 podcast short series
Finished in July.

Listened to two more podcast series in September:
23. The Oath season 3 with Chuck Rosenberg (highly recommended)

24. The Other Latif from RadioLab (interesting)

11. Find 20 geocaches
Finished in March.

12. Watch 20 movies or series from my Netflix / Netflix DVD / Amazon Prime / Hallmark queues
Finished in May. 

Watched 23 more movies in September (too many to name)

13. Celebrate 20 minor holidays
Finished in May. 

14. Read / listen to 20 books / audiobooks
Finished in July. 

Read one more in September:
22. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

15. Write 20 #throwbackthursday blog posts.
Finished in June. 

16. Create a preliminary design for permanent furniture and fixtures in my Studio.
Made more progress in September.
Put together and filled storage furniture in the alcove. Bought (but haven't put together) more storage furniture for the Studio. 

17. Master bedroom closet organization.
Finished in February.

18. Send 20 letters / cards
Finished in July.

Wrote one more in September

19. Paint 20 rocks.
Finished in March. 

20. Buy furniture: couch, loveseat, glider, dining room table.
Finished in April.
In September, we installed more furniture in the living room and alcove.



Alternate Goals

Complete 20 previously started projects
4. Framed You Are What You Eat in September

Make a food treat or a dessert each month
September - Brownies



Word of the Year: Settle

As for getting more settled into our new home:
* Found a handyman who cleaned our roof and cleared our gutters. We've made arrangements with him to remove a tree and add some gates to the fence.
* Installed three side tables for the living room and entryway. 
* Built three storage cube units for the alcove, and bought two others for the Studio
* Helped Jeanne move to Springfield

* Bought some rugs for the porch and entryways

* Bought some throws and a quilt stand for the living room
* Got a new computer 

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In October, I hope to build a work table for my Studio. Maybe I'll finally memorize the names of the US presidents in order, too.

Froggy

 A little friend hopped into our kitchen today. Dale caught it and released it outside. When I told Melody the story during our video chat today, she wanted to see a picture of the frog. Alas, I didn't take one.

But I did recall taking a frog photo early in the summer. This tiny one was on the front porch. I couldn't find the photo right away to show our granddaughter. But I promised her I'd look for it and ask her mommy to show it to her when I found it.

Julie, please share this with Melody!