pumpkin-y catch up

Holy cow!  Sorry I haven't blogged in forever.  I haven't had two minutes to just be blogging for awhile, just been busy.  K, so the first project I finished up the Sunday before last.  I like the way it turned out, I just made my own pattern for tumblers with paper.  I will say that I don't really like using paper as a pattern because if you happen to be cutting repeated pieces and maybe you don't get the cutting ruler completely over the paper you can slowly trim it down until some of the pieces are not uniform.  I had that happen but still like the way it turned out.  Sorry this picture is so blurry!  But you get the idea.  I had the "ghastly ghoulies" fabric in the gray colorway from last year.  I kept thinking I'd make a runner with it but nothing looked right.  This last time I was at the LQS I bought some of the orange colorway and it all started to come together.

Here's the back view, George jumped into the picture as I was taking it!  Silly cat :)
Last weekend I went down to visit with Mom.  I drove down Friday afternoon, it was a beautiful day and drive.  It was like driving back in time to Summer!  I left home and 50 degree weather and drove into upper 90's!  I found a couple of pairs of cute boots and we ate at my favorite cheap americanized mexican place La Comida, and it was fab. 

Saturday we found a bunch of yard sales, we trolled around for awhile before I realized I might not live without coffee.  We stopped at a Starbucks, which had the most amazing ever pumpkin spice muffins!!!  So. good.  Okay, and I also learned a little life lesson.  You know how sometimes you'll hear people raving about something and you think, hmmm that sounds just okay but then you think maybe they all know something I don't?  Go with your gut on that.  Maybe tons of people like something and it's just gross.  Case in point: salted caramel latte.  GROSS.  I thought, sounds interesting and I've heard people just raving all about it.  It tasted like drinking a pretzel.  Because they put that super coarse salt on it.  After you get past the salt it's fine but that doesn't happen until about halfway down.  I say go with pumpkin spice for a seasonal "want to try".  Just sayin. 

The big fun for me was going to the pumpkin patch.  Which is a funny story because I have been driving down to Chico from here for at least 8-9-10 years or however long I've lived here.  And in between Red Bluff and Chico there has been a sign that looked like it should be a pumpkin patch, "Pumpkinland".  So, when Mom and I were thinking we'd go to a pumpkin patch I immediately thought of that place and it'd be perfect.  We drove all the way out there and it's really called "Pumpkinland Chocolate Factory"!  Whoops!  It smelled divine in there!  Luckily there was a fruit stand up the road with a little pumpkin patchy area and we had fun picking out the perfect pumpkins.  I should mention that we had been driving with the windows down, so my hair is pretty scary.

Here were the winning pumpkins on my porch the night I got home.  Sorry the picture is so dark.  I also picked a bigger oranger pumpkin that is in my kitchen.  I also picked up some of those miniature pumpkins that were super cute, a couple of orange ones, a couple white with greenish stripes and a white one.  I brought those in to work and put them on the front desk where Vikkie and I sit.  It's funny because the patients are just fascinated by the white and the striped ones!  They are so curious where I could have found such exotic pumpkins.  The funny thing is that I think I've seen similar ones at the plain old grocery store!  Oh, well.  I'm glad it brings them joy and awe.

I totally scored at the library book sale!  I got two walmart sized bags of books on tape for the hubs!  .50 cents each!  Super score.  Mom also found a whole bunch of Beverly Lewis books that I hadn't read yet, so I've got lots of reading to do!
Okay, so that was last weekend, what's up for this weekend?  I might, might be starting a new quilt.  I don't remember the name of the magazine I just bought, but it had a really interesting looking quilt on the cover.  It's scrappy but also structured.  Mom gave me a huge bag of fabric scraps that she scored at a sale and the lady couldn't give them to her fast enough for .50 cents!  I've sorted through the bags, and I think it will fit the bill for the quilt on the cover.  The other fun thing about the scrap bags is that there are tons of pieces of leftover binding!  So, I might even be able to eke out the binding for the quilt with those.  We'll see, it might not be quite enough or the right colors.
I started a new book last, which means I am currently reading 3 books.  Um, more accurately I have started 3 books and really just hooked into one.  It's the last book in a series from Beverly Lewis called The Mercy.  I have been waiting for it to come out, then on the wait list at the library so I was eager to start it.  I have, of course, already read the ending and it is satisfying :)  I'm pretty sure I'll finish it before the weekend is over, her books are easy reads and I always want to keep reading.  Like just one more chapter, then I finish that one and then I'm like, just one more chapter! 
Next weekend is the scrapbook retreat!  That will be fun :)  What is everyone else up to???