Autumn Leaves Tablerunner

I needed to make something for fall that I could teach in a class at work, so I thought of these autumn leaves block that were in The Autumn at the Courthouse quilt I taught several years ago.  These leaf blocks are so versatile that they were a no-brainer for another class.  You can find the directions for the Autumn at the Courthouse on Fons and Porter's website, under the Free Quilt Patterns tab.  These blocks are the perfect size to make many things:  such as hot pads or potholders, or any fall quilt or tablerunner.  I taught the class on Monday.  I don't know why I hadn't reported my finish before now.  In the picture, the tablerunner is laying on the floor with a table on the left and chair legs on the right.  Should have taken time to crop it but I didn't.  Anyway, I finally had a finish to report for the year.

We're going on a Caribbean Cruise!

Richard and I haven't had a vacation in quite a few years, so when he retired from the hospital this summer we decided to take a cruise!  We will be on the Norwegian Cruise Lines Epic, visiting Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Grand Cayman Island, and Cozumel, Mexico.  This happens next month.  I can't wait for the day to come!  We will be gone for two weeks, although the cruise is for one week.  I hate leaving my kitty cats for that long but my daughter and her husband live across the street, my brother and his family live across the street the other way, and my son lives behind my brother.  There will be people coming and going at all hours, so the cats won't have a chance to get lonely.

I have been buying clothes and everything we will need for about a month now.  Hopefully I won't forget anything important!  I keep making lists and losing them.  Of course, Richard hasn't shown much interest in it and has left all the planning to me.  All the cruise blogs say you need an over-the-door shoe hanger to hold things in the bathroom of our stateroom so I have been looking everywhere for one.  I guess I will have to make one.  I also want to make a caftan to wear over my bathing suit and maybe a shirt or two.  Time's getting short - I really need to get busy on them!

We are going to drive down to Sanford, Florida and visit the huge flea market there.  Then we will head on down to Hollywood and spend a couple of nights there.  I want to hit the beach.  Then on Sunday morning we drive down to the Port of Miami and park the car and board the Epic, one of the largest cruise ships out there.  I have scoped the whole area out on the internet.  Really, anything you want you can find on youtube.com!  I have also been haunting Google Earth and Google Maps.  There will be lots of pictures, so come back in late November to have a look.

We have a balcony room (most all rooms on the Epic are balcony rooms) and I am looking forward to meeting people and eating unfamiliar foods and being entertained.  I have booked an evening with Second City Comedy and a murder mystery lunch where the audience participates.  The ship has 21 eateries and swimming pools with slides.  I hope I have the nerve to try it.

WVU will be playing a football game on Thursday night while we are on the ship.  They have a sports bar so I hope we will be able to see the game.  We are going to take our WVU t-shirts to wear that evening.  I can't wait!  This is going to be fun!