Happy Hallowe'en

 

Just a quick note to wish you all a Happy Halloween and repeat my love for this season of the year. 

 The sun continues to change it's angle and by so doing I can see my maple tree reflected on my garage side window from the inside of my house.  

If I open the front door, which is just to the right of this round window and look out to see the reflection. . . it isn't there.  

Autumn is such a magic time of year.

Have fun tonight whether you have a gathering to go to or you are repeatedly answering your front door.  

Robin

Exchange, quilt on the floor, autumn

 

I have been working all week on an exchange we are having in my quilt group.  We are exchanging any size (mine are 12") pumpkin blocks.  I made the one on the right and decided it didn't really shout pumpkin so I changed the pattern.  Thank goodness there are only 8 of us participating because it's taking longer than I thought it would (doesn't it always?).  I've got 6 pumpkins shapes appliqued so far, just 2 more and then I'll work on the stems and leaves. (Was just reminded that there are only 7 of us participating so I'll have one extra regular pumpkin as well as the first block I made - Good Grief!)

I thought I'd show some of my progress on the flower quilt.  I call it "Earth with her 10,000 flowers" from the song.

I am enjoying doing the Baptist fan quilting pattern.  It makes it feel like it's going fast.  I'm using white DMC color #712 pearl cotton size 8 thread.  It is so soft and glides right through the fabric.

My #2 daughter has finished all the blocks for her batik quilt but she has no room to lay them all out so here they are in my family room.  She has such little time to sew because she's in the thick of teenagers (four of them to be exact ranging in age from 12 to 18).  She's in the car constantly taking them to school, ballet, friends houses, etc.  Her husband is deployed so she's doing it all by herself.

She comes over one morning a week because that is all the time she has to spare.

So, this quilt might be on my basement floor for a while.  It's just my husband and I so it's not bothering us.  He exercises down there and I quilt at the frames both of which are not hampered by her quilt.

I set up a sewing station down there too so when she comes she can just sit down and sew.

The valley is finally showing some signs of fall.  I've seen the colors on the mountainside for a month now.  This is our maple tree on the south side of the house.

Halloween is next week already, actually one week from today.  September and October have flown by in a dream.  

Robin

What I've been doing

 while I was impatiently waiting for my new phone to work right.  We got new phones on August 21st and I could call and I could text but I couldn't get into my apps.  So my blog has been silent for over 2 months.

It has been raining all day.  It's the first rain we've had since August I think.  And Tuesday was our last day of 80's from 2024  It's been a long summer.  The house was unusually dark (I've been used to the bright sunshine) so it was a perfect day to put out my squirrel lamp.  Doesn't it just glow?

This post is picture heavy so here goes;

I started a new little quilt with my 2 fabric lines by Jeanne Horton.  The first line was a Wisconsin line she designed in 2014 while I was in Wisconsin.  The 2nd line is Riverbanks and it goes with the first line very well.  The center is a little story about the history of Wisconsin.  The border with the postmarks is from cities all over Wisconsin from Green Bay to Rhinelander to Waukesha.  We didn't go to them all but since we were over vehicles and apartments. . . we went to most of them.

I appliqued part of a quote by Joseph Smith Jr. that we would recite every morning while we were on our mission.

I just finished the square in a square border this morning.  The quilt looks quite dark in this picture and the fabric lines are very subdued but it is brighter in person.  I have two more borders planned 

I have been cooking,

                                              Apple tarts and German Chocolate Cake - yum!

and canning

all the produce that my garden gnome keeps bringing in.

                                                                        Tomatoes,

                                                                            apples, 

grapes, and cucumbers, honey dew melon, corn, pumpkins, strawberries, raspberries, and lovely basil

                                                 A great local display of squash and pumpkins.

                     I went to a wedding shower for a grand niece.  (When did I get so old)

                             Wouldn't you know the only picture I took was of the food - ha!

I lost my wedding ring one day.  It has been loose for a long time because I have lost weight and wouldn't you know it some of that weight was in my fingers (?)  I soon found it in the hamper but it put a scare in me and so I have just put it in my jewelry box so I don't loose it again.  It feels kind of weird not to have a ring on that finger after 51 years.

                                                 We had a family campout in the backyard.

                      It was no stress, the kids planned it and everyone brought their own dinner.

Shane is a fabulous story teller and I didn't hear the story because I was taking pictures.  Looks like it was a good one.

                                       Look at his eyes in the picture below.

My grandson came home from his mission in Florida in September thankfully missing both Hurricanes.

And last but certainly not least.  I got a new granddaughter last month.  She's beautiful and healthy.

This is the before picture taken at the family campout.

And this is the after.

Robin