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Hello, there!

I guess I should maybe attempt to sum up what's been happening up in my neck of the woods, but I really don't feel like it.  So it's going to be brief.

The kids are all doing great, and so are John and I.  Will's on the wrestling team again this year and Natalie did 2 plays this fall.  (Mulan, Jr. and she played the role of the Ghost of Christmas Past in our community theater's production of A Christmas Carol.)  Laura got to ride around with me a lot while I chauffeur the other two kids all over the place.  She wants to play softball again this year, so I will get to chauffeur her around this spring.

 We had a great Thanksgiving at home with just the five of us.  Christmas has been really good, too.  Yesterday it snowed most of the day so I enjoyed baking cookies while listening to Christmas music and watching the snow flurries through the window.

I finished Laura's quilt.  She was very excited to come home from school one day and find it on her bed.

I would like to finish nine quilts in 2014.  All but one of them will be smaller-than-bed-sized quilts and I already have two of the tops finished; I just have to quilt and bind them.  So I will put those first on my list for January.

We will have to see how much I actually accomplish.

Laura's twin sized quilt.  She was so happy that I finally finished it.

Oct. 25, Continued

As I was saying, after we ran some errands in town Natalie and I hopped on the Parkway to go home.  I was hoping to see some beautiful fall color.  And we did.

 There's a little bit of white on the peak of the ridge in the background...

 And then we rounded a curve near Craggy Gardens and saw this:

 We stopped at the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center.  It was very, very cold up there!  And looked like winter with a fall background.

Looking at the view across the street from the visitor center

 The next section of the Parkway looked more like a winter drive.  (Natalie took these photos while I drove.  There were some slushy patches, but nothing bad.)

 We stopped at an overlook to see Mt. Mitchell and the Black Mountains.  There was snow on those peaks, too, and the road to the state park was closed due to ice.

 We started getting to a lower elevation and got to see more fall colors.

It was a beautiful drive, as usual.

I'm So Glad I Live in a World Where There Are Octobers*

*L. M. Montgomery

Here we are at the end of October.  I love October.  I love the colors, the scents, the sounds of crisp leaves in the wind.  The light as it filters down through yellow, red and orange leaves.

And now I will catch y'all up a little with the kids.

Will's last middle school soccer game was during the first week of this month.  They finished the season undefeated.  And now wrestling practice has started.

Natalie auditioned for A Christmas Carol again this year; she will be playing the role of Ghost of Christmas Past.  She is very excited about it; she says that this is the first time she's gotten the role she really wanted.  I can't believe that it's only been a year since she first started getting involved with our local community theater.  Last year's audition was her very first and she got a speaking part.  And now her current goal is to be on Broadway. 

Laura is eight years old today...  My babies are all growing up so fast!

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The kids were out of school this past Friday and I needed to go to Asheville to pick up my camera at the repair shop.  Natalie went with me.  I asked the other kids if they wanted to go; Will said no and Laura's reply was, "The things you want to do are boring."  She is so funny!

We went to the Biltmore because I wanted to see the mums in the garden.  It was a very cold morning, so we didn't stay outside very long.

 The Conservatory was nice and warm and the orchids were beautiful, as usual.

Natalie did not care to go through the house, so we left after looking at the flowers.

We ran a couple of errands in town and then drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway some.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  I'll be back later to post some pictures.

Quilts

I haven't talked about my quilting in quite a while...

I'm currently working on a bed quilt for Laura and she asked me the other day how many quilts I've made.  I had to think about it.

The total number of quilts that I have actually completed is 11.  I thought I'd post some pictures of them.  (I know that some of them have already been on the other blog, but I'm going to share them again, just because.)

As many of you know, Natalie's bed quilt was the first quilt I actually started, back before I had a sewing machine.  So I did all of that one by hand.  Which is why it's not the first one I actually finished.  The photos are posted in the order that I finished them.  The dates in the caption are when they were finished.  Some of them I started way earlier than others.  :)

Baby quilt for my youngest nephew, after I purchased a sewing machine.  I'll need to make quilts for my other nieces and nephews at some point... Feb 2008

My Mama's quilt.  Feb 2009

Quilt I made for me.  Fell in love with these fabrics. Sept. 2009

My sister Chrissy's quilt. Nov 2009

Aunt Wanda's quilt. Nov. 2010

Natalie's quilt.  She helped me pick out the fabrics when she was 2.  So far the biggest quilt, as it goes on a double bed. May 2011

Quilt made for my mother-in-law.  July 2012

My sister Stacie's quilt. Sept. 2012

Made for John's sister Susan.  Loved the sheet music fabric, and thought she would, too.  (We met when we were both music therapy majors at college.)  Dec. 2012

Quilt made from a panel.  I'm keeping this one; just love the happy snowmen. Feb. 2013

Quilt for Will's bed.  He picked out this fabric and pattern a few years ago.  Aug. 2013

The next two are projects I'm still working on:

Made this one as part of a class I took at the local quilt shop.  This is just the top.  I want to hand quilt it, though, so it'll probably be a while before it is done.

 The barn quilt is made from fabrics selected for the class.  I did add the mountains behind the center barn, though.  It was originally supposed to be a windmill beside the barn with just the sky fabric as background.  Trying to decide if I want to add some hay bales beside it...

The center of Laura's quilt with only 1 of 5 borders added.  She is anxious for me to just finish it, already.  I have finished adding all the borders (they turned out GREAT; one of them is pieced) and now have to add some appliqued flowers.

My sewing machine died on me earlier this year when I was finishing up piecing Will's quilt.  John, his parents and sister all went in together and got me a really nice sewing machine for my birthday.  I just love it!  It is so much easier to use than my other one so I'm hoping to be able to finish a lot of projects.  We really need a new quilt for our king sized bed...