Perfect Fall Weather

The weather was perfect for an outdoor adventure yesterday.  I don't know how many more nice days we are going to have before the cold sets in, so I put my sewing away and went out for a ride on my scooter.

This is Curran Hall Creek that flows through Scarborough, just north of us.  It was beautiful back there.  Lots of birds and hundreds of squirrels.  They all ran away from me as if I would hurt them.
Silly Squirrels!

There was Golden Rod growing everywhere.  I love this bright yellow weed along the side of the creek. Some of the trees were already starting to change colour, but most were still green.

Doesn't that look like it could be made into fabric?!   I don't want things to change colour too quickly. That would mean that winter is on its way and who wants that?  As I drove along I found some beautiful red leaves growing on a fence.  I think they are Boston Ivy.  So pretty and bright red. The same leaves are on my header.

Then I saw this tree.  It was like a tree on fire.  The colours are really wonderful this year.  And look at that sky!  Such a beautiful cerulean blue!   Does it look as if there is rain in the forecast?

This is the kind of weather that makes everything worthwhile.

September 29, 2014

A Trip to the Library

I got an email from the library to tell me that my books were due.  That was nice of them to remind me!  So off I went.  I love going to the library.  It was quiet in there.  Most people were on the computers.  I wonder if there will come a time when no one will read a real book any more.

Perhaps I'll be the only one left and then all those books will be mine!

September 28, 2014

Look Into My Eyes

Felix is a changed kitty now.  Last winter he was diagnosed with diabetes.  At that time he was lethargic, unable to walk properly and he had lost a lot of weight.  I have been giving him insulin twice a day for the past 9 months and now he is doing very well.  He can once again jump up onto my bed, the couch and the arm of my chair.  He's back to his chunky self and he is happy and smiling all the time.  So why is he not smiling for my camera?  

 Silly cat!

A photo post for September 27, 2014

Jungle Applique

Working on machine appliqueing my jungle quilt.  I find this quite boring, but it has to be done and someone has to do it.  So, I guess that would be me.  When I am finished with this, I will continue to draw, cut out and fuse more plants, animals and birds.  That is the part I love.

September 26, 2014

What I Did Yesterday

I baked a lemon cake.  Yum!

September 25, 2014

Little Letters

These are so cute!  I have become addicted to them.

September 24, 2014

It's Fall

Fall started on Monday evening.  I can't believe it!  Where did the summer go?  We had lots of rain and very cool weather in September.  But now that fall is officially here, the weather has turned warm and sunny. This is my kind of weather.

We started up our Tuesday morning quilting group a few weeks ago.  This really makes it feel like fall again.  Here we are sewing, reading, chatting, knitting, eating and drinking tea.  It's a wonderful time to get together!

September 23, 2014

I am now off to my sewing room.  

Our guild, the Rouge Valley Quilter's Guild is holding a challenge.  It's called the PhD challenge. PhD stands for Projects half done.  This is how it works.  We have to register an unfinished project that we want to work on.  We have to finish this by next May.  If we finish it we have met the challenge.  If we don't finish it we have to donate $5 to our local women's shelter.  Heck, that's a win/win situation!   I am going to enter several of my UFOs into this challenge.  It will be so nice to get some things done!

Meet Giselle

I finally finished the giraffe for my soon-to-be-born grandson's room.  Her name is Giselle.  Giselle the giraffe.  Cute, eh?  The pattern was free from Red Heart .

The garden is overgrown, so she has lots to eat.

Gotta pull up some weeds.  But that can wait until another day.  Today is Giselle's day.

September 18, 2014

I am linking to Sarah's Happy Dance today.   

Yellow Sunshine

Another beautiful day.  Lots of sunshine with low temps.  It feels like fall.  I am busy with my unfinished stuff.  Here is a picture for today's photo challenge.

Beautiful yellow sunshine.  September 17, 2014.

A Photo a Day for 365 Days

After a lot of thinking and trying to see if I have time for this, I have decided to post one photo per day for the next year or so.  This will keep me focussed on the present and allow me to look back and see where I have been and what I have done.

Yesterday I went for a ride up to the mall.  I had to take the back streets because our main road is under construction at the moment.  They are upgrading the water system and putting new curbs and sidewalks in.  As part of the daily photo challenge, I was instructed to take my camera everywhere I go.  As I passed by some colourful berries against a beautiful blue sky, I stopped to take a photo.

So this is officially my first photo for the yearlong challenge.  September 15. 2014.

And for today I want to show you some letters I have started to make.  This is going to be an adorable quilt made up of letters and other blocks.  It can be colourful or neutral, depending on which fabrics are used. The tutorial is on Temecula Quilt Company.  It started last week.  Sheryl Johnson offers a new letter every few days.  Tomorrow it will be the letter 'D'.  I am looking forward to it.

September 16, 2014

Goodnight Irene is a Flimsy!

It's done!  Once I was determined to finish the top it went quite quickly.  This had been a leaders and enders project, but it would have taken me another year to finish it if I had to do it all that way.  I am now looking for another leaders and enders project.  Maybe I should finish another UFO project.

Here is Irene.  She measures 64 by 80 inches.  I will send her out to be long-arm quilted.

I am happy with how this turned out.  Thanks Terry, for hosting this sew along.

I Made Some Charming Stars Blocks...

I said I wasn't going to do this sew along with Terry, but she put me on the list anyway in case I changed my mind.  And I guess that's what I did.  So here are the 4 blocks I have made for this month.

I didn't use a charm pack because I didn't have one.  So this is busting my stash.  That's something that I can use!  Busting my stash before my stash busts me.

I have been busy canning stuff this week.  I made three batches of tomato sauce and one batch of low sugar peach jam.  I think my canning days are done for now.  The weather has turned cold and my tomatoes aren't producing any longer.  My garden is just about ready to be put to bed for the winter.

What I really wanted to show you today was my Goodnight Irene quilt top.  I am almost finished but this morning as I was sewing the last border onto the quilt, I noticed (just before the end of the row) that I had run out of bobbin thread.  Very frustrating!  I had to re-pin everything and just as I was starting to sew again, the phone rang, so I lost my concentration.  I will definitely sew that sucker on this afternoon.  Then I will be all done with the top.  I will have to decide if I will quilt it myself or send it out.  I am leaning towards sending it out because I am really busy at the moment.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

This and That

It's been a busy week.  School started last Tuesday.  And even though I don't have to go back to work, I always feel the crunch.  I worked on my 'Irene' quilt on several days.  Then made a few bibs and a burp cloth.  Sorry, I forgot to take photos of them.  I hope to make a few more, especially burp cloths. I 'll take a photo then.  Also worked on the Jungle Quilt, but didn't get much done on that.  Yesterday a friend of my DD's held a baby shower for her.  There were close to 40 people there.  I lost count. All of them teacher friends!  We had a delicious lunch and there was lots of talking and reminiscing. Because I had done some volunteer work at my DD's school, I knew most of the guests.  It was nice to catch up on their lives.  She got lots of great gifts.  Two cars were needed to get all the presents back to her house.

Today I am making tomato sauce.  Last week was just too hot to cook anything.  But this morning it is nice and cool.  The tomatoes have been sitting on my kitchen table all week and I think it is time to get this stuff made before the hot weather comes back.

After that I am going to tidy up my sewing room and see what I can sew up.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

Still Working on Irene

This is the quilt I started with Terry at the beginning of the year.  It has been languishing in my UFO bin all summer.  So now that summer is over I decided to finish it.  Oh, yeah and also because Terry is starting a new sew along.  I showed you a few of the blocks from that one last time, but I thought I should finish Goodnight Irene before I make any more Charming Star blocks.

I know this is not a good photo.  The top is just sitting on my design floor.  And the sun is shining into my living room.  It's going to be a hot day today.  Did I tell you my AC is not working?  Well, it's not.  I have all the fans going and I hope my house will not be too hot by the end of the day.  I only have one more row to go on Goodnight Irene.  And then just the borders to do.  So I am sitting in front of a fan and sewing like crazy.  I hope to have this done by tomorrow.

Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network.