Gratitude and Glimmers #112

Welcome to my post of glimmers (of joy and wonder) and gratitude for the month of October. You can find links to more posts like this one at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles.

--Unknown

Sorry that this is a few days late!

1.  I like what I think will be the cover of one of two upcoming new patterns.

I just need to figure out yardage for the baby size; I have it mocked up in EQ8.

2. I love hearing birds pitter-patter or scurry across the roof of my sewing room. I love hearing robins softly cluck-cooing to each other. I do not know, but I like to think they've come from further north and are pausing here before crossing Lake Erie on their way south for the winter.  I love seeing them coming zooming in from one of the trees in our yard straight at the window to land on the roof just over my head.

3. This article just lit me up when I read it. Canadian actor Hudson Williams, one of the two stars of the global hit Heated Rivalry, (Canadian made series) based on the books by Canadian author Rachel Reid, wore this beautiful cardigan by Samson Cree Nation (that's in Alberta) designer Justin Jacob Louis to the Kate Spade New York Global Summit on Women's Mental Health!

credit: Jason Lowrie/BFA

Justin was spending Canada's National Day for Truth & Reconciliation with his family, on a lake, paddling happily and unplugged. Later, when he checked his phone: two to three months of sales had occurred within two hours! Be sure to click the link to the article to see more photos of the cardigan and a short video with the designer himself.

Another glimmer of joy and anticipation happened when I read that The Assembly is back for season 2 on CBC Gem on November 1! Canadian celebrities are interviewed by a host of neurodivergent and autistic people, and no topic is taboo. We loved the first season, so I know it will be much-enjoyed by us both, and one we can watch together. Also, I'm excited to start Yaga, on Crave now. Hudson Williams and Noah Reid (Patrick, David's husband from Schitt's Creek) star in it.

L-R Marie-Philip Poulin, Hudson Williams, Lights (source: CBC)

4. This short article in Maclean's magazine explains how Gander came to be. What a breath of fresh air it is and has been since I’ve been on it. We just need more quilters🧐but right now it’s just Canadian residents who can be on. However. as you’ll see if you read the article, they plan to open it up by the end of this year. Check out the thinking behind algorithm, rage-baiting and likes on posts as to why they have set it up the way they have.

5. Well this piece of news this week gave me such hope! Live coral healing a dying one. However, the scientists caution that at present, this is just relegated to the lab, and that preserving coral reefs is still paramount, but it certainly does have real ocean possibilities.

6. I am currently reading book number 40 for the year, putting me ahead of the past few years, woo hoo. October was filled with really good reads. One was The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and another was The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali. The latter is my University of Alberta Book Club current read which I've just finished. Excellent. She's written two others which I've added to my ever-lengthening To Read list. Years ago I read Honeymoon in Purdah by Alison Wearing which opened my eyes to the wonderful warm people of Iran and their rich culture at a time when we were being fed lies (shocker) that they were all evil jihadists. Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune, a light beach-type read, Heir of Fire by Sarah Maas, second in another series of hers, and The Book Witch by Meg Shaffer made for a lovely full month of reading, much of it outside on the deck in the gorgeous warm sun. October has once again been a glorious month weather-wise.

7. As for TV, I thoroughly enjoyed The Other Bennet Sister, actually watched most of it with my husband, which was a surprise, though he kind of 'skimmed' it. He also watched most of The Hardacres with me, and I'm glad to read that there will be a third series. I'm enjoying season 4 of Ted Lasso with my three months of free AppleTV. We started watching another show on AppleTV recommended by Dayna, Shrinking.

8. I like Cedar Valley pita chips, made right here in Windsor, Ontario. Dangerous.

Update: Okay talk about serendipity!!! (yes three exclamation points) Not quite two hours after I hit 'Publish', I happened to open the Windsor Life magazine that had come in the mail today. On the cover were two people, one wearing a chador. I wondered what business they had birthed (Grit, growth and a decade in the making was the tagline on the cover). To my utter surprise, there were Ameen and Surria Fadel, the mother-son team who had launched Cedar Valley in 2015. They got chosen to be on The Amazing Race Canada. Crazy! A definite glimmer on top of this glimmer! So odd that I would mention these, and then the magazine arrive and I read it, all within hours of each other.

9. I love walking any time of the year in Point Pelee National Park. Especially with dogs.

10. I never used to like autumn when we lived in Alberta. Too short, not that colourful, and the long dark cold winter was imminent. We've been back in Ontario now for over 14 years, autumn does not disappoint, and I do not cease to be ecstatic over the vibrant colours. These are not photoshopped or colour-enhanced, just taken with my iPhone.

Along the Ganatchio Trail in Windsor

These sumac caught my eye today, Nov. 2, on my morning walk with Rufus. On fire!

As did this tree--!!

Mid-October, these massive beauties:
 

I love how the maples turn from the outside in, making it look, to me. like they've been dipped in orange, yellow and red icing.

11. MacGyver's garden was not as wondrous as last year because... Zora.🐶However, it still was pretty incredible, and with our warm October that is continuing for another good week or more into November, with no frost yet or for the foreseeable future, certain lush tropical areas are still so vibrant. I took this yesterday to show Brianne and Jordan.

Elephant ears, bananas, King Tut grass, mandevilla vine--a little piece of the Caribbean!

12. Although I only had a few sales, which did not cover the table fee and loss of teaching my Sunday morning yoga class, I was happy to try something new: being a vendor on October 25, at Hallowoof, a fundraiser that the Windsor Humane Society brought back this year after a ten year absence. The Humane Society turned 100 years old this year, so they thought it a good time to bring back the one to five kilometre walk, complete with vendors and sponsors.

My table of wares - the baby quilts needed to be better displayed but I only had one table.

I've been rather quiet online this month, even forgetting to post this on the last Thursday of October, though it was half done. But that's because I was busy sewing for Hallowoof, designing and sewing and writing up the pattern for a new fall-themed tote bag, and doing more reading than usual!

Sadly, on the Canada mug cosy sold, along with a cat mat and three cat toys. I've listed all of the makeup bags in my Etsy shop, and hopefully by the end of today, all of the mug cosies. If you're looking for Christmas gifts for cat or dog lovers, grl power, rainbow, etc., $25, shipped free, check these out! No US orders at this time, sorry.

13. I'll leave you with this.

and this.