My Thanksgiving Cactus is blooming its head off. I have never seen this plant so happy. There are more red blooms than pink or yellow, but I do have some of all. It came into bloom a few days ago, and there are more buds forming, so I think it will be in bloom for a couple of weeks.

The shape of the flower has always fascinated me. They are like little rockets.

Every year I share this plant’s flowers, someone will say that they have one but call it a Christmas Cactus. So, once again, here is a link to tell the difference – Christmas Cactus or Thanksgiving Cactus? Thanksgiving cactus plants have toothed or serrated “leaves”, while the Christmas cactus has a smooth, rounded appearance.

The pollen bearing anthers of the Thanksgiving cactus are yellow, while the Christmas cactus pollen anthers are pink. The flowers are so vibrant in color this year.

Rain and wind over the past week have brought most of the leaves down from the trees now. Valley fog in the early morning shows the layers of mountains and hills across to the ridge beyond.

On the feeder, it is the beginning of Feeder Watch for the winter, to report sightings of birds. This photo documents three species. First, there are two bluebirds in one frame, proving that there are indeed two. Also, the hairy woodpecker’s head shows the black band down the middle of the red patch on his head, distinguishing this species from the downy woodpecker. A Carolina Chickadee hangs on the side. These are sometimes hard to distinguish from the Black Capped Chickadee.

Here, I have documented two titmouses. No, you don’t have to send in photos with your counts, but I like to take a lot anyway. The bluebird was back for another beak-full.

At the end of the day, Oliver stopped by for a meal. He does seem to enjoy the peanut butter sandwiches.

While he had his treat, we sat down to the best Butternut Squash Lasagna I’ve ever made. This time, I used an Alfredo pasta sauce from a jar instead of making a white sauce, left out the mushrooms, and added sauteed onions and garlic to the squash before layering it with the noodles and ricotta.

Wow, was this good, and faster than the method of making your own white sauce. I also put in about a 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped basil, and lots of mozzarella cheese. Yum!!

In the sewing room, I had a fun time Zooming with my international buddies about a week ago. We are the Chookshed Stitchers, and this time had 6 countries represented – Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, Canada and the USA. We sewed and chatted for hours, and the time flew by.

I worked on getting one of the Christmas panels sewn into a top. I picked up the panel and border fabric at the retreat last month. So it added to the Stashbuster total, and it needs to go out. I trimmed the panel and cut borders to size.

I didn’t want to miter the corners, so red squares are cornerstones.

The longer side borders are added first.

Then the top and bottom borders. Simple and quick.

I loaded on the longarm and decided on a plan.

I put silver Glide in the top with Bottom Line in the bobbin. The pantograph was perfect for winter. It’s called Flurry, and is snowflakes with swirls.

Cute isn’t it?

This will be ready for something in a week or so. If you are interested in it, let me know. Otherwise, I’m not sure if I’ll donate it to the silent auction or put it at the consignment store.

I also made progress on the jacket ensemble for the Mancuso show. I need a camisole and skirt to go with the quilted jacket. I spent a lot of time trying to get my embroidery machine to do a blue rose on the black fabric, and it just won’t stitch it well. I tried multiple times with various layers of stabilizer, and once even using a bit of black batting. Nothing worked well, and I am out of scraps to try again. I decided it was better not to have embroidery at all rather than submit one badly done. So, I set up the pattern to cut out the top.

It is turning colder this week, and the schedule is lightening up. I hope this means I’ll have some time to make progress on the black camisole and skirt, finish the Christmas quilt, and do some stamping this week. I need to get my Thanksgiving cards made and sent. While I’m sewing and stamping, I’ll finish off a wonderful series on Netflix called From Scratch, beautifully made and a great story. Plus there is a new season of The Crown, and a new series on the invention of streaming music services called Playlist that is also pretty good. What will you be working on this week?

Seems like everyone is beginning Black Friday sales early this year!

Amazon’s Holiday Gift Guide is full of fun stocking stuffers, craft deals, kitchen goodies and more. There are lots of Early Black Friday Deals, and see the special section for Gifts for the Thanksgiving Host, plus Hosting Must Haves. There is also a new Handmade section for small business artisans, much like Etsy used to be. Check out the deals in Arts, Crafts and Sewing!

Shop the sales at Fat Quarter Shop! Sales on Notions, Books, Patterns, and Fabric. This month get 20% off the Basic of the Month, Organic Mammoth Flannels. Sale 30% Off the Books of the month by Pat Sloan. See the Precuts of the week, and don’t forget the daily Flash Sale.

MadamSew – up to 50% off notions.

Impression Obsession – Limited Edition Cling Sets and Clearance Deals – November features snowmen. Check out their new line of papers!

Sulky Thread is having some fun webcast projects. Plus free shipping on orders of $60.
Find new ideas with Books on Sale at C&T Publishing!

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