Fall Runner

One of the 17 items on my Q3FAL list is making a runner for my Etsy shop. I'm happy to say I've checked it off the list!

Rather in keeping with the theme of 2020 where we've all spent so much more time at home than usual.

I, like many others, like the buffalo plaid look to lots of fall décor I'm seeing and I thought hmm, what if I created my own buffalo plaid pumpkin using 2.5" squares? Fun!

DrEAMi! #44

Welcome to our monthly celebration of all things tantalizing, where we chase squirrels to mad abandon. 

Tish sent me this. Pretty funny. I actually don't have a squirrel this month but that's not to say they haven't been scrabbling at me, trying to get me to succumb to temptation.

Cat Mats Installment #3 of 3

Finally I am publishing a long overdue post. You may recall I participated in Cheryl of Meadow Mist Designs, and Paige of Quilted Blooms, first book release, Modern Plus Sign Quilts back in 2018. I chose to make Kaleidoscope Plus (you know my love affair with kaleidoscopes runs deep).

Oh how I love that quilt! Fabrics, front (so many cat-themed ones) and back (a soft grey textured Minky), quilting, the design, just ahhh. I named it Cat-Eye-doscope and it went to my dear friend of many years, Linda.

Well I had leftover fabric and I knew I needed to make Linda's cat daughters their own quilts, seeing as how much cats love quilts... I showed the finished mats in this post, and I alluded to needing to tell more of the story behind giving Linda her quilt and her cats their mats.

I Like/Love #44

I know it's cliché, but the end of the month rolls around awfully quickly, and here we are with another post of gratitude and thoughtfulness. That means this Saturday is also the last one of the month, and time for DrEAMi! here on the blog where we show off the squirrels we've chased and nabbed this past month. I link up with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color where a group of us post, some weekly, some monthly. Feel free to join in because...

The more you are in a state of gratitude, the more you will attract things to be grateful for.

-Anonymous

1. I absolutely love Fall where I live. We really get into the fall spirit, decorating front porches and lawns and businesses. I walked over to the farm to market just down the road last weekend to take some glamour shots of my backpack (the post is here; be sure to hop over there as there are two pretty sweet giveaways). I peeked 'behind the scenes' a bit at the farm market and saw this.

What a riot of colour, eh? 😉 As you can see from this photo, and those on the backpack post, the majority of our trees haven't started changing yet. Some of our maples are just beginning to get fiery red-orange tips, and the chestnuts are going brown.

It's in the Bag Blog Hop: Back At Ya Backpack

Today is my day to present the bag I made for the Island Batik blog hop.

I chose to make the backpack 'Back At Ya 2.1'. It's a smaller sized backpack, and the perfect size for me. I was given four pieces from Island Batik's new line Nouveau Soul with which to make the bag. Read on to find out how you could win some of this gorgeous line of fabric for yourself!

Okay I just have to stop right here and say, Nouveau Soul was made for Sandra!! I have said several times how DO they do this, as in choosing the perfect fabrics, colours, but this one? A name with a French word in it, uh bonjour, c'est moi, Sandra, professeur de français, and Soul just makes me think yoga...

All the notions required to make the bag, along with the pattern itself, were supplied by By Annie, the threads by Aurifil, except for a couple that are my own purchases, and the machine needles by Schmetz Needles, except for the jeans needle which I purchased some time ago. 

Well I just had to take my backpack out into the neighbourhood for a test run!

Lee & Maria's On-Farm Market, just 0.5 km from home

I've carried many a bag of produce and other groceries home from here, (ouch my cramping fingers) so having a backpack in which to put my purchases is now a welcome addition to my homemade bags collection.

How about a little closer look?

Annie chose well! Do you see the Art Nouveau styled tulips? Love!

Island Batik Update

I hope you've been as wowed as I have with the bags on display last week! I have to say that the quality of the instructions, accompanying videos, techniques and bag parts is outstanding. I am steadily, albeit slowly, working away on mine.

This made me super-excited last night. Don't worry; the flap is not crooked, no clue why it appears that way. I was looking for the little dooma-hickey you use to pop out your SIM card, and came across the little wooden Handsewn tag that I believe I received from Sew Me A Song in with an order a while back. Or it could have been in with a Pile o' Fabric order... In any event, I knew immediately I'd put it on the flap!

I am working with a few pieces from the Nouveau Soul line, a line I just love. All the fabrics we are using are from the Spring 2020 collections, which are going to be available very soon in your LQS.

All right let's take a look at this week's lineup.

Thoughtful Tuesday: Musings on Rocks

Wait, you thought this was a blog about quilting? Well, mainly so, but from time to time I muse on other topics. However, this is the first musing I've done on rocks. Rocks is a noun and a verb. This feels like school!

Rocks as a verb indicates that something is fantastic. The Island Batik blog hop that started this week and runs through September 29 rocks! There are, as usual, lots of giveaways, so be sure to visit the bloggers as well as Island Batik. The schedule for this week is at the end of this post.

Something can rock one's world, like this pandemic. 

And then there are rocks, the noun.

I've shown you these, and many others on Instagram, before. They've given me joy over the past several months of walking in my neighbourhood. They given me pause as well.

Summer Stars

Last summer I participated in a QAL called Sweet Star QAL. It was a sort of DrEAMi, in that I started in almost at the halfway point, and I had no business taking on another project, but it sort of consumed me, as those squirrels do. The best part was that I finally had found a pattern for my Blueberry Park stack of fat quarters that I'd bought a few years ago at Craftsy (who are back, which I'm sure you know, and as Craftsy, and it's "watch whatever you want for the next 45 days" event to celebrate their return). We made four blocks a week, and I had such fun combining various fabrics to make the blocks. I love the blues and greens with a bit of yellow and gold thrown in. Once the top was done, I behaved and got myself back on track with deadlines and commitments.

Couldn't you just snuggle up with a good book in that oasis? Well maybe not; it was rather hot and humid! Still, it evokes the idea, and one could sit on top of the quilt there and read...  Our Sweet Autumn clematis is absolutely stunning and its heavenly scent pervades that entire area, reminds me of jasmine in Florida in looks and scent. It cascades down either side of the fence. There's another small one, but we think it hasn't gotten enough sun since the cannas, mandevilla vine, barberry and elephant ears have filled in all around and above it. Note for next year!