Welcome November

You may want to grab your favorite beverage and snack as this turned out to be much longer than expected: 

If "in like a lion, out like a lamb" applied to November, the end of this month is going to be wonderful.  A strong cold front went through last night - it was about 80 F yesterday and it was in the mid-50s today - we were fortunate that a hole in the line of thunderstorms opened and went over us.  We got a lot of rain and it was very windy, but we didn't get the heavy rain and damaging winds that other areas got.

So, to recap October.  I went to Michigan the first weekend - I was my Mom's birthday surprise.  It was a down and up day.  We attended a funeral for one of my Dad's cousins - while sad, there were smiles and laughs as folks reminisced.  That evening the family took Mom to dinner in Windsor, Ontario and then the casino.  DSon and DNephew both won.  I prefer to think that I contributed to their winnings than that I lost.  Jack came over for one evening while his Mom and Dad went to dinner - he is getting around quite well now and decided he and GG (great-grandma) were going for a walk (not walking on his own yet, but I don't think it's going to be long now).

Overall, it was a great trip.

And since I brought Jack up, here he is in his Halloween costume:

DNephew dressed up like a Dad :-)

I also went to Virginia Beach and caught up with both sets of in-laws.  I got to DSiL's and meet the boys.  I have a feeling they are going to be hand-fulls when they get older or Vance is going to be the handful and Calder is just going to follow along.  Really hard to believe they are two months old already.

I did some stitching, but not as much as I would have liked.  I've compressed/irritated/who-knows-what the ulnar nerve in my left arm, so my pinky and half of my ring finger are numb. I'm supposed to keep the arm at less than a 90 degree angle, straight is ideal, so stitching has been a lot slower than normal as I adjust.  The orthopedist said it can take several months for it to heal.  If it doesn't I may be looking at surgery.  I have a brace I wear at night that keeps my arm straight and isn't sleeping like that fun??.  The one I wear during the day mostly just reminds me not bend it too far and also provides some padding when I forget and lean on it. Typing is interesting as while there's feeling, I have no real sense of where in space the fingers are. I can tell I'm hitting something but don't know exactly what until I look at what I typed.

Despite the nerve issue, I have two finishes:

Love You Dad by Bent Creek  Stitched on 28-count Summer Khaki with DMC 

Love You Mom by Bent Creek. Stitched on 28-count Summer Khaki with DMC

Yes, you've seen these before.  I made the same pieces for DNephew and his wife when they were expecting.  These are for DNiece and her husband.  I've got the backing fabric for both of them so just need to pull out the sewing machine and get them FFOed.

When I finished Love You Mom, I started this:

Forever and Ever by Cottage Garden Samplings
Chart #1 of the Songbird's Garden Series
Stitched on 40-count Tin Roof from Weeks Dye Works

I am really enjoying this piece and plan to spend a lot of time with it this weekend.

DNiece picked out the new baby's Christmas stocking.

Candy Nutcracker by Kooler Design Studio

 It's a really cute pattern, but because it's older there aren't any embellishments, so I may add some metallics and/or beads.  I am also switching the fabric to black.  Here's the floss toss

The pattern sure looks like there should be a lot more colors.  Here's a picture of it on black from the front of a Bucilla kit:

As soon as Forever and Ever is done this will go on the frame.  It will come back off the frame as soon as the fabric arrives for the birth notice piece I have planned.  I was browsing Cute Patterns by Maria over on Etsy and saw this:

Magic Dreams. Boy

 The theme for the baby's room is stars and moon and I thought this would be perfect.  I think I'm going to move the stars around in the lower right corner to make room for the pertinent information.  I found a piece of fabric from Fabrics by Stephanie LLC that I think will be perfect:

Neverland Sea by Fabrics by Stephanie LLC

The description says it's a "dark water scene".  I am hoping it's a good cross between water and sky.

As I mentioned earlier, I plan to spend my stitching time this weekend on Forever and Ever but starting next weekend, I have to really get busy with papercrafting as I have to finish cards for a baby shower, a wedding and Jack's birthday.  I then have a list of things I need to have finished by the Friday after Thanksgiving as I'm heading back to Michigan for the weekend and want to take as much of the Christmas things with me as I can.  I will be taking quite a bit of time off in November (from the 15th until December 3rd) so will have time to work on things during that time, but would like to have as much done before that as I can so I can concentrate on the more labor intensive things like baking Christmas cookies.

I have my 2020 stitching/crafting plans pretty well lined up.  It is an ambitious plan, but I think it's doable.  Of course, I have another 8 weeks or so to change my mind.