Chistmas Already?

That is what my crazy Christmas Cacti think anyways. A couple weeks ago I brought them in the house from the porch because we had frost warnings, and someone told me..(I remember this now).. that when you do that it will spur them to bloom. They did.
I took them back outside on a sunny afternoon last week for a picture.. the white one opened up first.. and now today this red one.
Magnificent I think. The leaves on this plant are so pretty. The white plant not so much.. and I don't know why.. I treat them both the same. But it never looks as healthy as this red one does.

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A couple weeks ago I got a surprise package in the mail from my new friend Lily Xue. These little owls she makes are so adorable. He perches on my computer screen quite nicely. She is a crafty one, and we have had fun trading some things back and forth from Ohio to Tokyo. I had won a contest over at Terry's Treasures..oh it's been several months ago now I think.. and it included some magazines that I had duplicates of which I wanted to share with Lily-Xue. When I got the package from Terry.. which I just thought was going to be the magazines.. there was also this adorable fabric collection inside!..Isn't it pretty?.. and really perfect for my new project. Thank you so much Terry.. and I'm sorry I have been so lame in not mentioning it until now.

Anyway.. lots of folks adore these types of owls that Lily Xue sent to me.. and if you are just new here, I have posted a link to my own tutorial on the sidebar to make another version of them with yo-yo eyes and jingle bell feet. They make really cute ornaments for this time of year.

Still working on the Black and White quilt. I've decided it's going to be for one of my boys for Christmas. I hope they aren't reading this. But I guess if they are, they still won't know quite for sure which one it's for.
Here is the back. I am loving the way the thread is making designs.. kinda reminds me of snowflakes.
The backing is fleece like you would use to make hoodies, which I was hesitant to use at first because I didn't know how it would quilt up, but it's working just fine. I had a lot of odd sized pieces, so I just sewed them together any which way.. red, white and gray. I'll show the whole thing once I get it done.

And I'm starting a new project which I shall blog about tomorrow.. here is a sneak peek.. lots of pink..