AHHHH...FEELS LIKE FALL! (AND A GIVEAWAY!)

This is how I am feeling. 

 Deep, 

                                                 vibrant, 
                                     and coming to a close. 

                                   Our fabulous summer  
                        has ended with school starting today and
                         noticeably shorter amounts of sunshine 
                         including our first rainy day in forever.

                               Here's what I've been up to -

                  I made it to the APNQ show in Tacoma, WA.
                              Here are a few of my favorites.

    I did a little shopping and fell in love with the "Collage" line!

Do I need more fabric? Ha!

NOT!

Especially because his is what I have been working on

obsessed with. 

"Magnificent Madness"

It measures 64x69 and is mostly 1 1/4 inch strips!

I can't seem to stop, and so am finishing up the leftovers...

The scrappy look seems to be a theme.

I have two classes coming up!

Scraptastic! at Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop - 

inspired by the book Scrap Republic

Sunday, September 22, 10-3.

I just finished putting the binding on this scrappy guy!

Gosh, I did/do love that line by Desise Schmidt!

AND...

Karla Alexander's Summer Solstice 

from the book Stack the Deck Revisted

is a fun, simple, and stunning quilt!

Calico Creations, Saturday September 28, 10-4.

I like to make little somethings to give away in my classes.

Here's tissue pouches...

and Samosa pouches

from the great tutorial here:

http://www.sewmamasew.com/2013/01/samosa-pouch-tutorial/

Besides sewing, 

I have made a point to do some reading in the hammock, 

while the outdoor reading time was good.

 I enjoyed the silly 

Where'd You Go Bernadette 

by Maria Semple, 

and 

A State of Wonder 

by Ann Patchett.

I really enjoyed 

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

by Rachel Joyce. 

SIGH....

it is just so very beautiful AND

Harold is working on the same stuff we all are working on!

I just have to share my two favorite quotes...

"Harold was so tired he could barely lift his feet, and yet he felt such hope, he was giddy with it. If he kept looking at the things that were bigger than himself, he knew he would make it..."

and

"He had learned that it was the smallness of people that filled him with wonder and tenderness and the lonliness of that too. The world was made up of people putting one foot in front of the other; and a life might appear ordinary simply because the person living it had been doing so for a long time. Harold could no longer pass a stranger without acknowledging the truth that everyone was the same, and also unique; and that was the dilemma of being human."

lovely!

Here's a "littlebit" - me happily riding the wave of life. NOT attaching a negative or positve value to what is happening.

Ahhhh!

I am also reading Flow 

by Mihaly Csikszenmihalyi,

a book I have had for a while,

and have picked up several different times,

each time getting something different from it.

This time,

what I am really hearing,

is...

"Each of us has this freedom to control our subjective reality."

really?!

and he has two quotes I love -

"Men are not afraid of things, but how they view them." - Epictetus

"If you are pained by external things, it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgement of them. And it is your power to wipe out that judgement now." - Marcus Aurelius

HOPE!!!!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE...

It's time for a fall feeling giveaway!

I noticed this morning that Halloween stores have popped up

and decorations are displayed!

So...

20 chunks of Halloween fabric!

(I am guessing at least 6 yards) 

or large bag of all kinds of yummy Halloween scraps!

Anyone can play. 

Leave a comment sharing something that makes you happy

and which prize you would prefer

and/or

become a follower.

(PLEASE make sure I can get a hold of you!)

My husband (who has been traveling for a very long time 

and is happy to be home for a bit

probably will need something to do to stay out of trouble

(and take his mind of all the fabric his darling wife has...

so much that she is compelled to give some away! hee-hee))

will pick a number on next Sunday morning!

Good Luck! 

Tell your friends!