October Goal, One Room a Day

 Saturday's room for the day was the family room. I spent the ENTIRE day cleaning windows, pictures, blinds, lamps, and walls. We moved every stick of furniture in the room so I could give each inch of the room a much needed scrubbing. AHH, a top to bottom clean room. 

 Even the popcorn machine got some TLC. Then it was on to decorating while we watched the Bama game, Roll Tide.

 I baked a carrot cake for hubby to sweeten the deal with the heavy lifting. I know my MAN!!

 One room down, many more to go.

 This is an oldie but goodie that made the cut as I am downsizing our decorations. I made this way back when DD#1 was  little. How could that have been 35 years ago?

 Our countdown to Halloween house. Now that I don't have the grands every day I will fill each door with one M&M for when they do come by then send them on their way with a nice sugar high to Mommy and Daddy.

 I made this tree For Tyler's first Halloween. Each year I add a scrapbook ornament with their Halloween photo on it. I need to get last years done. That seems to be the story of my life, always playing catch up.

 The little girls hat from their first Halloween, how could I give this away?

Last but not least the Fisher Price Halloween toys for the grands. Tyler is so excited to know he can finally play with them again after a "very long time" He told me he remembers them from when he was just a little kid! He thinks 6 years old is such a big kid!

I have set a goal for myself that the month of October I will take one room each day to clean from top to bottom, declutter, repair, throw out, and whatever else is necessary to get things back in order. I know some days I won't be able to finish and entire room but I won't move on until that task is accomplished. I am even going to spring for some painters to come in once I see how many rooms need to be done and the colors I want.

After having one or more of the grands for the past 6 years things are not as fresh as they use to be (me included). It's not like we live in a pig stye but there has been a whole lot of lick and promise cleaning especially the past 2 years with the three new little ones. Hubby is all in, not that he will be doing a whole lot of the work but having a cheer leader on the sidelines is something!! Ha    He is the one who insists that some of the work be hired out. I won't be putting up a fight on that!!!

Today was the downstairs hallway. Sounds easy right? Wrong!! I can cram more objects in a little space than anyone I know. The hall hutch was stuffed full of linens, candles and such. Who knew that much stuff would fit in just one piece of furniture. The hall closet was another challenge. It's main purpose is to hold all the Harley coats, helmet's, bags and stuff. That's all fine and dandy most of the time but once the holiday's roll around and winter is here we need that space. More sorting, pitching and decision making. It will be a WIP for now.

It won't be all work and no play, a girl needs balance you know!!! The laundry room is overflowing in sewing projects that need to be finished, craft things DD#1 has me working on for Halloween, and my own wish list. Anyone want to join in on some pre holiday cleaning? Make sure and leave a comment so the rest of us can follow along. Who doesn't love a gang of wonderful ladies cheering them to victory!!!

Time to Downsize

 I didn't want to start decorating for Halloween/Fall until I gave the house a good cleaning from top to bottom. Soooo I put the little girls to work today. They do have a flair for cleaning and dressing don't you think? Next time I am in goodwill I need to check out the hats, I am getting a little tired of the toboggans! Ha

 A neighbor dropped by today to give us a TON of fresh eucalyptus from her back yard. I put together 3 large vases full and still have a nice pile to work with on the deck. Well while I was at it hubby and I cleaned the kitchen windows then began pulling out the linens and Fall dishes.

 After lots and lots of moving of glassware.

 The hutch in the kitchen is ready for some Halloween/Fall fun. The plates, cups and such on this side of the cabinet is for adults. The Halloween dishes are from when our DD's were little girls. We always had chili on Halloween night which they ate in the large mugs, the plates and tea pot were used almost daily for tea parties and hot chocolate nights, such sweet memories. If I can find the time this year I want to let the embroidery machine loose on the napkins.

 But on the other side the grands have the middle shelf that is all theirs. Can we say cute plastic!

 The bottom shelf is mostly Fall/Thanksgiving dinnerware other than the Frankenstein tea pot. We have a place setting for 14 fall dinner and desert plates. I sent the desert plates home with DD #1 who has more empty cabenits than I have total cabinets in our home. Must be nice!!

 It is impossible to get a good photo of the kitchen hutch. The back is all mirrors, it sits directly across from the kitchen bay window. With the dishware and linens pulled out and the kitchen in OK shape we moved on to the attic.

 I now remember why I hate getting out decorations!! I have the pleasure of digging around to find it all in the attic then handing it down to hubby. I know it must have been 100 degrees up there even at 7:00PM. 

Here is one side of the upstairs hall.

And here is the other side. This is an outrageous amount of decorations!!!! It is time to DOWNSIZE!!!!

I am not an any mood to begin the process of sorting all of the Halloween/Fall decorations and fluffing our nest. Maybe after Tyler's T Ball game tomorrow I will be more in the mood. Hubby and I both agree we need to let go of some things, this is all just tooooo much. However each time hubby says that he gets all sentimental on me and wants to keep it all. NO MORE, I will be waiting to do the majority of the decorating next week while he is up North. Once our big girls go through what I no longer want/need the rest will be headed to Goodwill just in time to make another family happy. Hubby did agree that climbing the attic stairs and dragging it all down needs to stop so he will be installing additional shelves in the garage. Where in the world he will find the room is beyond me!!

I don't have the house in nearly the shape I want it in to start this project but I will take it one room at a time one day at a time until I get back on top of things. I have forewarned the big girls to keep their "Mom can you do" wish list to themselves for the next week so I can get my own "To Do' list completed. I still have to do more sitting than I like to due to my foot but I know just where to sit and keep myself busy. Sew baby, sew!!!

Have you started your fall decorating yet? Do you still deck the Fall hall's the way you use to? Sometimes I wish I had a room with floor to ceiling shelves for storage, then I realize how crazy that is. We are so BLESSED to have all that we do have.

Squeezing Every Once of Goodness from Fabric

 A friend called yesterday wanting to know if I had any Halloween scraps I could pass on. As a matter of fact I had cleaned out my Halloween tub of little scraps and bagged them up to take to the cabin so I could cut out 2 1/2 inch squares for a future (way in the future) Halloween Granny square quilt. The lighting was so bad in the cabin I didn't cut out a single thing, only worked on projects I had pre-cut at home.

 After lots of ironing and cutting little squares I ended up with a nice size pile of 2 1/2 inch squares.

 The leftovers will be going to my friends house tomorrow so she can whip up something over the top wonderful. I am taking my camera for my next visit with her. She makes the most amazing things!!! She has an ecliptic/bohemian style that is breathtaking. So fancy!

 While at it I decided to use the bigger scarps from DD#1 pillows to make up a cute little purse tissue holder. I got the tutorial for it over at  Suzanne's blog. Scroll down a bit on the page to find the tissue holder. Suzanne has some great tutorials, I hope to do many more of her things when time allows! Make sure and give her a visit.

 I did mine just a little bit different (big surprise) I added top stitching to the binding and a different fabric for the lining.

Suzanne has a warning that you can't make just one. She was so right!! I made 6 of the little lovelies in just over an hour. Oh there will be many more. Won't these be cute gifts for teacher's, neighbor, or GF?

I had a very short window to get anything accomplished today before Kara arrived with her terrible 2 attitude, UGH!!! A few errands were ran first thing, a little housework, clean bedclothes and vacuum sealing 12 pounds of bacon. I didn't want to start with free motion quilting today since I knew I couldn't finish it in the little time I had. Leaving the sewing machine out with a quilt attached around little hands is not a good idea. Kara still managed to crawl up on the table and shoved as many gold fish snacks as she could in it before I could turn around. That girl!!!!

I have both little girls tomorrow so I don't expect to get a thing done other than playing, changing diapers and keeping them feed all day. My one extra goal for the day is to get in the sewing room to do a bit of cleaning up. Am I the only person in the world who spends as much time cleaning up as I do getting things done?

Catch up Day

 While running around today I stopped in at Gymboree to see if they had any deals on clothes for the grands. I found a few things for the little girls at great prices but nothing for the boys. Summer shirts were down to $2.99 as well as shorts, a summer sweater (long sleeve) for $12.99 and a nice selection of leggings for $7.99 each. I bought a size up on all the summer things except the sweater and leggings which they will be able to wear this fall and winter. Total spent was $67.00 which gave me a coupon for 30% off next month on the entire bill. I will pass the coupons on to our big girls so they can do some fall shopping for the little ones.

 Finished the second Thankful bunting today. DD#2 now wants one but she thinks they are a little plain so the next one I am going to add some stamping with permanent ink. I am thinking some black swirly sort of thing here and there.

And happy mail!! I received my order for fall leaves mug rugs from  Carla I love each and every one. If you are in need of a wonderfully handmade sweet gift check out Carla's custom sewing at the top tab of her blog.

I received a second envelope with some happy mail as well. Our refund from our old bank for over payment on the mortgage in the amount of  $3,100.00 yepeeeee They still owe us a bit more from our old escrow account that should be in any day now. Nothing better than bumping up the savings account a little more.

I really do hate running around days but there was no one else to do it so I sucked it up and went about the business. I still have 2 more errands to knock out in the morning that I couldn't finish today then maybe I can keep my tail at home for a few days. 

Vacuuming was also on my To Do list today. After finishing the upstairs I moved down to the living room where I smelled burning rubber, YIKES I got the vacuum cleaner out the back door as fast as my almost healed feet could get me. Once hubby returned home he was able to fix the problem. I have been sucking up WAY to much thread while vacuuming. Some of said thread got hung up on the belt and burned it in half. No more quick clean up with the vacuum after sewing from here on, it's back to the broom and dust pan for me. 

While hubby and DD#2 watched some really dumb sitcoms tonight I hung out with them in the family room to finish pinning a "Valor" quilt. I hope to get a good start on quilting the quilt tomorrow before Kara joins me in the afternoon. I still have 3 more quilt tops waiting in the wings to be quilted. I would really like to get them all finished off before I work on any more UFO's or Christmas projects. 

I think I can, I think I can!!!! Are any of you trying to clear the decks to get started on all the Holiday cheer coming up soon? I am feeling so behind right now but it feels really good to have spent most of the month clearing out so many UFO's

Home Sweet Home

 Rocky Raccoon eating an M&M cookie the juvenile delinquent boys gave her/him.

 Another of the table runners I was able to finish up, this time it is a summer table runner.

 This one reminds me of lemonade, I think I might do some embroidery on the ends. Maybe lemonade 5 Cents or something.

 It was so darn dark in the cabin I couldn't take photo's even in the daylight. This one is a fall table runner with some modern fabrics with a fall feel.

 As much as we love visiting cabins I could never live in one, just too dark for me.

 The backing is a traditional fall fabric. I did add top stitching on each side of the seams to dress things up a bit, but you wouldn't have to do that if you want a super fast sewing project.

This was sitting on the coffee pot when I went to make coffee this morning. Yes, I screamed and ran. The boys enjoyed their fun at my expense. Sometimes I feel more like their Den Mother. Now you gotta admit this rubber bug looks real.

 Al, OH as well as NC have checked in, we have all made it home safe and sound. I don't rest until I know everyone has made it home. Motorcycles are a blast to ride but are scary things. We saw way to many bikes down during this trip :(

I might have forgotten to mention our mountain trip was our 38th anniversary celebration. We have been doing this long weekend trip since our 25th Anniversary. For the first 25 years of marriage our time and money was devoted to the kiddo's. It is now our time once a year to do what we want!! Ain't life grand, Ha

The quilt as you go table runners I made on the last day were done with leftovers from jelly rolls. I did add a bit of extra fabric to even things out, the backings are also from my stash. Two table runners for free!!! As an added bonus I was able to use up most of the jelly roll leftovers that have been hanging around and thinned out a little more of my stash. I do love "Making Do" 

Now that I am back home and on the family PC I wanted to share with you the link to the tutorial I used for making all of the pillow slipcovers. Linda has so many cute tutorials to share with everyone, you will enjoy her blog!!

The car is unpacked, the mail sorted (Some happy mail to share tomorrow), we have had a visit with all of the grands to deliver a little surprise for each of them. Now it's on to our bed. Vacation was great fun but home is where my heart is!!!

Chilled to the Bone

 Our raccoon friend left a nice mess on the deck after we went to bed last night. Looks like he even helped himself to a few leftover beers. How in the world he got into the garbage can that has a screw on lid as well as a bungee cord had us all scratching our heads.

 After cleaning up his mess I took a photo of the table runner I finished last night. There will be no sewing this evening!!

 Our buddy "Big Dog" bought a new helmet mounted video camera for today's ride. Problem now is no one can figure out how to download the video. A few too many adult beverages late this afternoon might be part of the problem.

 When we are on the road restroom facilities are few and far between. He is hubby holding the key to one potty along the trail. Notice the key ring is a fly swatter? We soon found out the reason was that the bathroom had place cut out of the wall where a window may have been in the past!! If you would be willing to spend any quality time in there a fly swatter would have been needed.

 We mistakenly took a wrong turn and ended up on the Dragon, UGH!!!! We ran into one ambulance going up an additional one going down. We saw a Harley that was destroyed on the dragon :( We later learned the diver survived with nothing more than cuts and a dislocated shoulder, Thank you God. It looked so much worse.

 Not a great photo of the dragons tail that is at the end of the ride. I have never had the nerve to check it out but the boys are always talking about the U Tube videos of the Dragon. If your into crazy guy stuff it would be listed as the Tail of the Dragon or Deals Gap dragon.

 Then it was on to Fontana lake and Dam.

 Followed by Cherokee

 My boys, God love them

Headed back to the cabin after a very long COLD day.

 

I am in the bed with every blanket and quilt I can find, the fella's have cranked the heat up and have the fireplace going, it is soooo cold. Well really it isn't so awfully cold now that we are off the bikes but we were chilled to the BONE so it is taking awhile to warm up. The temperature on the bike was reading 42 degrees, shave 20 degrees off of that while riding brings the temperature down to 22 degrees with clear sky's and lots of sunshine. I don't care how many layers of leather you put on it is still cold. We were at it 8 hours today before we finally made it back to town where the boys decided we should stop in at the biker bar for a beverage.

 

After parking the bikes at the Harley dealer for the night (NO drinking and driving!!!) The fella's went in for a little something and I found the closest Starbucks to get myself a hot Carmel apple cider, them proceeded to fall sound asleep in the car, BTW it too was parked. Tomorrow they are on their own. I have had it with the cold weather.

 

These guys are a mess, I need to sign off and get them back in the cabin. They are now feeding cookies to the raccoon's on the deck.

Sew Much Fun in the Cabin

 Again the colors are off on this chevron pillow cover. They are really dark and light blue Chevron. DD#1 wanted these for her family room.

 Two fall pillow covers for DD#1, the colors don't show up well in this photo.

 Two Halloween pillow covers for DD#1

 I am thinking a nice big button for the middle once I get home.

 Three Halloween buntings ready for new homes.

 The last of the Crabby fabric worked up into a table cover for me.

 At dusk tonight I too a little walk to stretch my back after a day on the sewing machine, how peaceful is this covered bridge.

 The waterfalls are wonderful. Nothing like having the back door opened to hear the water.

 The fellas made it back safely just in time for some steaks on the grill and a little SEC football.

 While setting on the deck tonight I happened to look up just in time to see we had a visitor.

Here he is coming on down to check out our garbage. I let him have at it, fighting raccoon's is not on my wish to do list.

 

A huge THANK YOU to "Buzzing & Bumbling" for sharing the pillow slipcover tutorial!!! What wonderful directions, the pillow covers came together so quick and easy. This will be saving me a ton of money with all of the different pillows DD#1 is always wanting for her front porch. I can't for the life of me link up her blog, hopefully tomorrow I can get the link to work.

 

While the boys were riding today I had the cabin all to myself....lots of sewing and resting in the rocking chairs. Life in the mountain's is grand!!

 

Tomorrow I will be joining the guys for part of the day to ride the parkway then its back to the cabin to do some quilting on a "Valor" quilt while the boys go do what boys do.

 

Off to bed as we were all up at 5:30 this morning...UGH!!