Socks On

                                                                        And so it begins.

I think today is the first day of autumn (or maybe it was yesterday?) and overnight it turned cool enough that I am wearing socks. My weather  barometer is  measured by socks on or socks off.

For the most part  today the sun is shining and the sky is blue, the temperature is way down and there's a light breeze to keep things just cool enough to close the windows part way.  We have a strict rule that the heat doesn't get turned on before October first. No matter what. Our concession to cooler temperatures is to close the windows part way.

                                    Everything is pumpkins, cornstalks, scarecrows and  mums

 Except for Christmas. From July the stores were stocked with fabric, decorations, cookie cutters, Advent calendars, cards, craft supplies so by now Christmas is  fully hip bumping  autumn out of the way. Everyone says they love fall the best, it's  pretty, the humidity is dropped, the temperatures cool, heartier fall food tastes so good again but  go into a store and you have to wade past Christmas to get to Halloween. 

I'm prepping for retreat, making piles of projects and tools I'll need. I'll take the churn dash to begin quilting on it - the clock is ticking on that one.  And the Liberty circles for when my fingers get tired of quilting. That will be enough, I think.  A few sharing snacks but not much, the Inn feeds us so well.
 For now I'm just cleaning up little things,  quilting the baby quilt, making Christmas ornaments (see what I mean???), finishing up a pillow idea, trying to figure out a border for something, it's just this: