Feels like Fall!

Well, the season has finally turned here in Ontario. Even though the colours have not been the best this year, I still love all the gold undertones in the leaves, contrasted against the grey sky. I've been contemplating this colour scheme for Bonnie Hunter's next mystery, but I'll wait until she reveals her colours before I make up my mind. I still think blue & white is a good idea too...

But anyway, Technicolor Turkey is well in hand, so I felt like I could take a break and pull out my old Hallowe'en UFO, Jacks and Cats. I need 55 wonky nine patches for the alternate blocks and pieced border. I'm making them in pairs:

And I've been rediscovering a lot of interesting fabrics in that box! Love those sunflowers above. These oak leaves on the right are terribly dated, but I do still like them. Back in the spring another quilter expressed surprise that I have fabrics from the 90s in my stash. And I was surprised that she was surprised! But I was thinking today that the 90s were 20 years ago, so maybe I am a little out of touch. :D

All the blocks are still waiting for their final trim, but I made reasonable progress today:

I have no illusions that I'm going to finish this quilt this year, but it will be nice to move it along. I've changed my mind several times about how to handle the applique blocks, and more experimentation is necessary. In the meantime, I can play around a little more with these blocks. I think I will give them a little extra improv treatment.

And once these blocks and the border are done, there really will be no more excuses for avoiding the applique.

Plenty to do!

Pink Turkey

The RSC17 colour for October is pink, and my three pink Talkin' Turkey blocks are done.

Many people have said they're considering making these blocks too. I highly recommend them!

The design is by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville, and in my first post I shared the two places you can find it. It is fun to make and very forgiving, because you do a final trim of the strings before you put on the last round.

Even though I've now made many blocks in many colours, it still surprises me when I put on the last round and the block transforms from sort of messy to sharp and crisp!

And there are hardly any seams to match, either.

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, so Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian readers!

I hope this is the only pink turkey anyone will be served.





And check out all the other pink entries in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link up, right here.

Moth Movement

It's the beginning of the month, and the Kaleidoscope of Butterflies continues! Although I haven't posted about my Moth in the Window project since June, there has been steady behind-the-scenes progress nevertheless.

1. I bought more fabric.

I carelessly checked to see what was new from Art Gallery fabrics, and I could not resist a few of these Sage prints by Bari J.

2. I decided (again) to make it bigger.

Reading back, I see that my original plan was 90 blocks, but I know that after the last post I settled on 56. But, now I have more fabrics to use, so the final plan is 81 blocks and just a simple solid border.

3. I cut all the fabric.

This summer I realized that it is a lot easier on my shoulder to cut shorter strips, rather than a full width of fabric. And it is easier to keep the short cut pieces neatly stored and organized, too.

Since I don't have a dedicated studio, this has proven to be a real improvement in the process!

4. I made a few more blocks.

Somehow it really entertains me to have the same fabric in different colourways, like this background fabric here. It's like a poem that rhymes.

5. And a few more...

Yes, this last one on the left is another dud. Two pretty fabrics, not pretty together. But, with 81 blocks to choose from, I'm hoping a few imperfect ones will just blend in.

Right at the end of August I took this photo of our sedum, which was just swarming with honeybees. Driving around the neighbourhood, almost everyone who has a garden has this same plant, so it is good to know that the bees are well fed before they go down for the winter.

For me, I'm sorry I've been MIA for most of the past month. When hurricane Maria was bearing down on Florida, I had my own emergency, with a late night ambulance ride, two difficult and painful procedures, and an unexpectedly long and difficult recovery. It has made me pretty grumpy, and I expect it will still be a few weeks before I am back to normal. But, at least I can still sew a little. :D