has it really been a month since i posted?!?!

i guess time has sort of slipped past me lately. i've been pretty busy with work and also lots of sewing. we've also been working on getting some stuff done around the house that needs to be completed by november 20.

the biggest accomplishment has been our transformation of what we called "the cat room" because we have a bench seat placed under a window where the cats like to sprawl and watch squirrel tv. i wish i had a "before" pic, but just imagine a room crammed with all sorts of miscellaneous crap: desk and computer, paper shredder, filing cabinet, spread-out mountains of M's paperwork, boxes of M's stuff he never found a proper home for when he fully moved in, craptons of office supplies, framed artwork that came with M that i really don't care for, a cat tower, a huge blow-up ball for pilates (um, yeah. never used), a clothing armoire (now empty), a blanket chest, overflowing boxes of M's cds, random bits comprising the stand for the flat screen tv mounted to the wall that we're never going to use not mounted to the wall but didn't want to get rid of, and so forth and so on. you get the picture, right?

fast-forward to today: the room still holds a desk with computer, filing cabinet, paper shredder and office supplies, but now the paperwork has been sorted through and either recycled, shredded or filed (except one small box), homes have been found for random crap, and we moved over a twin-sized captain's bed that belonged to M's son and bought bedding so little miss emily has her own bed when my parents bring her up for thanksgiving (and whenever else she comes to visit). i also relocated an antique vanity that belonged to M's mother as well as a chair that had been hers into the room. the armoire is still there, but as soon as M gets home on sunday, it's getting relocated to my sewing room. the end result: a room that's functional, organized and still can serve as M's office, a room for emily when she visits, and a place for the kitties to hang out and watch squirrel tv. BTW, the kitties seem to think we moved the bed in just for them to have a larger, comfier place to sprawl whilst watching squirrel tv!

in sewing news, i've fallen in love with half-square triangles, thanks to both my vintage bernette (which doesn't "eat" the fabric like my new home machine) and a handy-dandy super easy peasy tutorial! the result is my new favorite block:
for binkwaffle in the 3x6 bee
blocks the ravishing in red bee is making for me this month
originally going to be part of a wallhanging for my modern swappers partner, but since she doesn't seem to care for it, it's going to be made into a table runner for my mom for xmas

i also have some other christmas pressies in the works, but i'll post a sneak peek of those later!