A wonderful fall day!

Hello all!


Today, I got to spend the day sewing with my sister, and what a great day we had (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!). Although she didn't get much sewing in, I think she had a great time finishing up another project - staining a piece of furniture. And, I got to get a lot further on the quilt! All is done but the binding - final pictures to come soon!


How many of you have been enjoying fall? I don't know about you, but I think it feels so nice to have a crisp breeze in the air this time of year. Something about the coolness of the air, the leaves showing their colors, the angle of the sun, makes it so nice to be outside this time of year! My sister and I also got to get a great run in today, and it was a great treat to enjoy the air, the city, the leaves all on foot.

So, being that it's fall, I thought you'd enjoy the pictures of a trip to the pumpkin patch.

Searching for the perfect pumpkin.

Found!

(Yes, she picked out that outfit herself! I could not get her to change it...that girl has her own sense of style)

Hmmm...

This is it!

Attempt to get a group picture #1.

Attempt to get a group picture #2.

Flowers in the Fall

I am loving my garden right now. I have some great color going on. Not the oranges, reds, or yellows that you would expect me to be talking about at this time of year, but PURPLEY-PINK.

Absolutely gorgeous.

It was in this post that I first referred to these plants. I was wrong by calling them a hardy geranium. They are really Japanese Anemones, and what a winner of a plant. They started out small, and in two year's time they have really spread.

I think I can split them this fall or next, to spread the color throughout the garden. They are really a welcome plant this time of year.

A new cape!

No, I have not finished my quilt yet. I finished the stitch in the ditch quilting, now I have to move on to the free hand part...But, since the quilt is already late, I had to stop for a night and move on to fulfill an obligation. Way back in February, I made a Superman cape for a little boy for a birthday present (pre-blog days, so I don't have a picture). The mother liked it so much, she asked me in March to make a Batman cape for Halloween. So, it's been on my to do list since then!

This is the third cape I have made using this tutorial from Puking Pastilles. It's a great tutorial, a great gift, and such an easy thing to make and personalize!


This is a picture of the cape on my son, so it's long on him, but since the real owner is 4, it will be a great length!

Even the applique was easy!

Sarsaparilla Skirt & Vest GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Why not try again? This is pretty cute!

Sarsaparilla Skirt & Vest GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

Tools of the Trade

Remember, in this post, I mentioned that I had signed up for a quilting class? I loved the class, and learned a lot. In that class the instructor had us sandwich a mini-quilt. She taught me some great tips that I used in the past two weeks when I finally sandwiched the quilt top I referenced in my last post. She taught us the time-saving tricks of:

• Always leave your saftey pins open when they are out of the quilt, they should only be closed when they are in your quilt.


• Add all pins to the quilt, without closing, then when all pins are in, go back and close them.


• Use a tool, called a Kwik Klip to help close the pins.

In the past two weeks, I have sandwiched, and then re-sandwhiched that quilt top. The first one did not turn out so well. The back had all sorts of lumps in it WITH the pins in it. Which meant if I had gone ahead and quilted it, then it would have been a very sloppy back. So, out came the pins and back to the drawing board I went!

My tools and timesaving tips:

• Don't use painter's tape. Nope, it didn't hold down my backing enough. Hence, the lumps. I used Duct tape the second time, and it went much better.

• Who needs a Kwik Klip, when you have a Strawberry topper-cutter?

Seriously, I don't know what this little utensil is called, but we use it in the summer time to cut off the tops of strawberries. It works great in that aspect, but I found a new use for it with the quilt. It holds the bottom of the pin perfectly, so I can just push down on that safety pin and close it up.

With about 100 or so pins in this blanket, your fingers can get really raw trying to hold that little pin in place. This little tool was a big timesaver!

Tasks for this week: Get to finally finishing up this quilt!

Quilt top done

I have been working off and on all summer for a gift for someone special for our family, the lady who watches my kids while we work. She is so good to the kids and to her family. She had it hard when she was raising her own kids, and now she gives back to them by watching her grandkids while the parents work. We're not family, but we're close enough in my book. It was a tearful day when I decided to take my oldest out of that setting and into a pre-school.

I have finally finished the top to the quilt. I am planning on quilting it over the next two weeks or so, so I can finally give her the quilt. I had hoped it would be an end of summer gift, but life got in the way of the final finish.

Each hand represents a child had in her house this summer. The age group is very large, so the older kids helped with the younger kids. I hand embroidered each one's name under their hand.

When summer started and most kids were back to school, I asked her if it was too quiet. She said it was nice, but she did feel like a lot of her help left!

As for the fabric, I bought a jelly roll of the Flutterby line for the strips. The brown is croduroy. I am hoping the contrast in fabric type will work ok. I think it offsets the hands nicely. Anyone had experience mixing fabric types in their quilts? I'd be interested in knowing how it turned out.

Fall Color Anticipation

Fruits of our labor. Fresh, warmed by the sun, home-grown tomatoes. Yum. What a nice treat to enjoy with dinner.


I am awaiting fall color from this plant. I'll have to look up the exact name, but this is some sort of hardy geranium. I was not sure about it, but was told it would have great fall color. Last year was the first year I had put them in. They were AWESOME flowers. At a time when there is not much flowering going on, when the garden's summer colors simmer out, this plant puts on its show. I am awaiting with anticipation some more color! See those buds? It's FILLED with them.

Stepping back, you can see they have a great mounded shape. I planted them behind some peonies...I'll probably move them after they bloom. The peonies are taller, so you really have to peer around those peonies to see what's going on with these geraniums.

Check out this combination! This was an unplanned combination that turned out well. I love the way the yellow from the Black Eyed Susans mix with the purple-ish color of the Sedum 'Autumn Joy'. It works well with each plant's bloom time, too. The BES bloom while the Sedum's green buds come out. Then, just as the BES yellow begins the fade, the Sedum begin their show!

And, while I am purusing through my gardens, what are my little helpers getting into? Anything and everything they can.

Refreshed yet?