I got the binding on the "County Line" quilt out of the Paris-inspired fabrics last weekend, but it was too rainy all last week to get a photo of it outdoors:



The colors are a little different from what I normally use, but I like how the quilt turned out.

Here's a close-up of one corner that shows the quilting better, and also shows the binding. I was glad I had enough of the sashing material left to make the binding, I don't think anything else would have looked quite as good:



I also got a "surprise" afternoon off from Youth Group - there's a bad 24 hour stomach bug going around town (I think I may have had a touch of it last week; I had some stomach cramps, tiredness, and loss-of-appetite that, at the time, I blamed on being female, but what might actually have been a very mild form of the bug. I generally do not get intestinal things as badly as other people do; I assume it's because of the large amounts of yogurt I eat). Most of the kids in my group are down with it, so we decided not to meet tonight.

(It's OK - the lesson I prepared will keep until next week. It's on Yom Kippur - I'm doing a little background on Biblical/Jewish history for the kids - and I see that Yom Kippur is actually not until Monday the 28th. [and if there is anyone who's reading this who is Jewish and has something in particular you want me to teach the kids about it, please let me know. I went to a couple of Judaica websites for background and stuff I didn't know about it already, but I realize that there are different things emphasized in the different Jewish groups...])

So I also took some time and re-decorated my mantel, seeing as Tuesday is the first full day of fall (yay!) So I did a fall theme again:



I had been wanting to get some "fairy lights" (though I guess, technically, fairy lights are the plain white ones) to use for fall. And Target had these nifty orange LED bulbs (so they consume less power, and also should last longer). I'm not sure how I feel about the LED Christmas lights - they seem a bit glare-y to me - but for fall, I rather like these.

And yeah, I do "fall," rather than specifically Hallowe'en, partly because I tend to think of Hallowe'en as "mainly a kids' holiday" (Even though I know many adults go all out in celebrating it - in the latest Martha Stewart magazine* they had full-size, three-dimensional glittered skeletons (including a green one, which looked really disgusting...I kept thinking of lichens growing on bones) for something like $150.)

Besides, with 'fall,' I can leave it up and enjoy it for longer.

(*I got that magazine when the Mary Engelbreit one folded. I am not resubscribing; it seems the magazine is aimed at people with a lifestyle perhaps $25K richer per year than I am, or, people who are more willing to shell out lots of bucks to impress their friends.)



Most of the stuff is last year's, pulled out again; the LED lights are new, as are the glittery things in the vase on the right. I really do like those lights. I may leave them on when I have to go out in the evenings so I have something friendly to come home to.