Early Dark means fall??

Yesterday marked the first official day of fall. Which in my mind means hot chocolate, tea, fall decor and snuggling up with a book or project in the evenings when it is too dark to go out and do something. Since I have had my fall decor up for about 2 weeks now (far too early I think, because it's seems to still be summer out there),

I am left with my only options of welcoming fall by having a mug of hot chocolate (which someone randomly left hanging on our front door this evening. Yumm! Just need to add that bit of peppermint schnapps to give it that extra little flavour. With that added, it tastes just like my favourite Christmas time chocolate: After Eights! Which, by the way, taste just as good before eight as they do after eight. Especially when they are washed down with a delightful cup of tea)

and my personal fall/winter favourite: a good old classic cup of tea.

I had to take 2 pictures so you can see that I was actually drinking tea at this time, even though the temperature out there was around the mark of 28 or 29 at the hottest time of day. So, even though I drink tea now and its not fall, in my mind it's supposed to be fall, so I am enhancing that thought by brewing tea in the evenings, when it cools down to typical daytime fall temperatures.

I have also been spending more time on sewing than I should be since this sunshine will only be here for a few more days (or weeks, at the rate we're going), but suntanning or going to the beach just does not give me the boost of get-go that it does come June or July. I am ready for scarves,

sweaters,

and snuggle quilts! (This is a picture of Camia's new quilt...I am still working on my fall snuggle quilt.) and all those other lovely things that go with fall like crunchy leaves (I am super excited for those leafy fall pictures. A perfect photo op for Camia!) I finally got Camia's quilt ready for binding. There is a class in November that I hope to take that will teach me how to do binding properly. Then I can bind this quilt and my fall quilt, and have them 100% done. Putting the back on this quilt proved to be a bit of a challenge. Sewing the back to the front was the easy part. It only had to be re-done once because the first time I forgot to put the batting in the middle. I had an argument in my head debating whether or not I should take it apart and put the batting in, and I decided that I should otherwise I would always kick myself for not doing it. Then when I tried to 'adhere' the back to the front by sewing the three layers together, the backing puckered like there was no tomorrow. I suppose this might be because its super stretchy and fleece. So, I ripped it out again. This time only the additional lines came out. In the process, I ripped a hole in the back of the quilt (oops)

so now I have to cleverly disguise that. (To sew, or to do my first applique?) To be honest, I wanted to cut it to bits and start over. But that would not have pleased my husband since that would mean purchasing new fabric and would not have pleased me after I did it because that meant buying new fabric and sewing it all together again. No, that would be a baaaaaad idea. Hmm. Now I have to think. In the mean time, about that puckering? This is what I did to take care of that minor set back:

No more puckering...until I sew the binding on, that is.

This is what I am looking forward to sewing:

I was going to wait until my table got cleared, but then I thought about it and, really, if I want to enjoy it yet this fall, I need to get my butt in gear. My original goal (other than emptying my table) was to have it done by November 14, since that's when the binding class takes place. But, if I wait until that long, I can take out my Christmas decor only a short 2 weeks later. So, I am bumping all my other 'to do's' down a notch, and getting this done first. The other night I couldn't sleep, so I got it all cut out and ready for sewing:

So exciting! I can't wait until its done!