Today

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TODAY, 

Outside my window...It's kinda grey/overcast.

I am thankful...for so very much and attempting to convert Thanksgiving into Thanksliving.

In the kitchen...are some fun ingredients that I'm looking forward to including in some tasty treats. 

I am wearing...a sweater, scarf & jeans

I am creating...well...I just created my second quilt. A bit more involved than my first and almost totally different than I originally planned. When I laid it out, I didn't like the pattern I had designed...so - I redesigned it :) 

From the learning rooms...I'm learning more about quilting as I quilt more. This time around  I learned that stripes are tricky and triangles are too!  And I forgot to allow for the sewing margin on the diagonal of the triangles. When you sew two triangles together to make a square, that diagonal sewing margin in addition to the outside edge margin significantly alters the size of the square and ultimately the size of the quilt! It actually all worked out fine as the "final" size was almost as big as a down blanket I recently purchased so I just added a border and then sewed the quilt top right to the blanket. I love the feel .... it's puffy, thick,  a bit crunchy (hmm...there's got to be a better word but I can't find it ...but this is one of the things I like most about this one)  and it's so warm and comfy and I love the medium weight and the different fabric textures. 

I am looking forward to...making yet another quilt. This one for my son for Christmas. I took him to the fabric store with me the other day to pick out materials/colors/patterns that he liked. Not a place most guys would want to go, nor is it something most guys would even want to do with their mom - but he was a good sport about it and I'm so glad I brought him! I would have never come up with this combination of fabrics on my own...but I like them! I really do. And I know he does too.   

I am  wondering..what this next quilt for Spokes is going to look like when it's done considering that the one I just made is nothing like what I originally pictured in my mind and I'm hoping that I can finish it by Christmas.

I am reading... Well - I'm going to read this book with my family around the dinner table beginning this evening. I need to put it on the dinner table so I don't forget. Click the pic for more info:

Around the house...Things are beginning to look rather festive. My husband, Strike & Spokes put up the Christmas lights on our house yesterday. The kids put up the tree. We will keep it with only the lights and the star for a little while before we decorate it. 

I am going... to put up a few more Christmas decorations. 

I am thinking... That Strike is going to get a lot of milage out of these...  

I texted her to let her know I had a little surprise for her when she gets home from school :) 

I am hearing...Playmaker playing the piano. Beautiful. 

I am pondering...Yesterday's sermon. We almost decided to stay home from church yesterday but I'm so glad we didn't. I didn't want the sermon to end. Really interesting. Perhaps more on that later.

I'm also pondering a quote from the movie Playmaker and I finished watching together this morning ... to the effect that when babies enter the world, their fists are clenched tightly because they don't know any better and they want to take everything. But -- when someone dies, their hands are wide open because - when we near the end ... we finally realize that we're not taking anything with us.

One of my favorite things... Heath Bars :)