October in a nutshell

 

I need to do a better job coordinating between my blog and Instagram.  A lot has happened this month, and I just realized none of it has been posted here.  If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen these pictures, therefore you may be excused :)
Otherwise here's what I've been up to:

1. More Taryn's blocks were sewn. I can't wait to hand quilt this one.
2. There was some actual weather here this month.  It's unusual for us to get any kind of storminess in October, but the rain has been a welcome relief from the dry dusty heat.
3. The herbs I picked back in August are dried and I plan on putting them into little jars and giving  some away for Christmas.  Need to find some cute labels.
4. I followed a couple of different tutorials for a zippered pouch to make a large project bag and a small notions bag.  I used some Japanese fabric from my stash and a floral from Rifle Paper Co.
You can find the instructions at Noodlehead and Jedicraftgirl.  I haven't fiddled with zippers in quite a while, but I managed to survive the trauma of installing 2 of them.  Now I want to make a few more of these bags as gifts.
5. Just finished reading Uprooted, which was good but just missed being really good by something that I can't put my finger on. Maybe the POV it was written in, or character development, I don't know, but if you've read it I 'd love to hear your thoughts. The yarn is Quince and Co. Osprey in Carrie's Yellow.  I'm thinking of adding yarny embroidery to the ends of the scarf I'm making.  Not sure how that's going to work on garter stitch, I think stockinette might be better, but it's worth a try.
Until next time!

What a weekend

I spent last weekend happily sorting through my fabric and decided to challenge myself.  I wanted to make some quilt blocks from my bin of small scraps, and not yardage from my stash.  They had to be solid or almost solid fabrics, and I couldn't use a pattern.  A fly by the seat of your pants, make it up as you go kind of quilt.  I was so fired up after reading this book- did you ever get so excited about something it almost renders you immobile because your mind is so full of ideas that you don't know where to start?- that I just started throwing fabric around the room.  When things finally settled down,  I had six 10 1/2 inch blocks, and started playing with a layout.

Kind of like Gees Bend meets the Amish.

While that was percolating, I transformed 2 old quilt blocks into pot holders.  I can always use new ones at Thanksgiving.

By the way, see that long yellow squash back there?  Perhaps you've had these before, they are called Delicata squash. I am obsessed with them right now and have been making one every week since they arrived at the grocery store.  The outside peeling cooks up soft so you don't have to remove it before eating.  I slice it into one inch rounds, take out the seeds, and lay on a cookie sheet tossed with olive oil and sea salt.  Roast at about 400 degrees until they get softened and slightly browned.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese while they are still warm.   I'm making that one with pork chops and wild rice tonight. 
Okay where was I.  Oh yeah, then last night, after watching several taped Hallmark Holiday movies (where every female main character is named Holly.  Why don't they branch out and try Noelle? I do love watching these though, no matter how corny or badly written), I got on Pinterest and found a banner for Thanksgiving.  So with midnight approaching, I warmed up the printer, dug out the glue and twine and made this.

I reduced the size of the letters to 60%, because the original printed out as big as the copy paper (too big for where I was hanging it) and I didn't have any brown craft paper, so I cut up some grocery bags instead.  I already had the small clothespins, but where were they?  No matter, I was on a mission of the most determined crafty kind, and there would be no rest until the clothespins were all present and accounted for (you know these "quick" projects are never really quick are they?).  After a half hour search through every basket, box and bag, in my sewing room I found them.  However I was one  short, so a hair clip is standing in until I can get to the craft store.  Can you spot it?  Or maybe I will leave it like that haha!

I swear the sun was coming up when I finally went to bed.  What a weekend.

Get your craft on!

September

I dug out an old crochet blanket WIP the other day and added more blocks.  I have four (!!) crochet blankets on the go, in various states of completion, and this one seemed as good as any to work on.

Still not feeling the quilting love.  Guess I'm a bit burned out. And September is here with all it's seasonal changes so I'm distracted.  Here's what I notice about September...

I want to crochet something warm and cuddly

Noisy Canadian geese flying overhead

Baseball and football on television at the same time

No one is interested in swimming in the pool lately except the dog

The leaves are raining down from the willow tree in the front yard reminding me to rake

Halloween candy is on display at the supermarket

The grasses and fields are dry.  Farm equipment stirs up dust in the air while harvesting wine grapes and the last of the tomatoes

The nights and early mornings are cooler so little dogs need their hoodies

He has black whiskers on one side and white on the other. Cute eh?

I feel like baking

Irish soda bread, recipe here.  Tim thought it was a giant scone.  Don't do what I did and substitute half the white flour with spelt flour.  It was really good, but too heavy.  Like, I could have used it as a stone on the curling rink, heavy.  All it needs is a handle.  But yummy with jam.  And tea.
 
Summer is leaving.  I can run the oven without breaking a sweat, work on wool blankets and drink hot tea in the afternoons.
Oh yeah, I love September.

Fall field trip

Every fall I try to visit Phillips Farms in Lodi, also home to the Michael David Winery.  Outside, I usually grab a wheelbarrow and load it up with pumpkins of all shapes and sizes. Then it's on to the cutting garden (see my header pic), where you can pick your own bouquets.  Inside, they serve lunch and have a wine tasting bar (this is why my daughter decided to join me.)  I made her pay by posing for a picture.

Besides pumpkins and flowers, we left with a bottle of wine, heirloom tomatoes, a hunk of raw milk cheese, and the best ever blackberry/peach pie, which we ate that night for desert, and finished off the next morning for breakfast.  I keep thinking about that damn pie. I want to go back and get another one.  I'm having pie withdrawals.  Pie dreams.  Please sir, may I have some more...pie?
The first three letters of my blog spell Pie.
Good grief.  No wonder my jeans are getting tight.
Afterwards we went into town and stopped at a lovely shop called the Antiquarium.  I bought a few handmade decorating goodies.

Check out this pumpkin.  There were so many to choose from, all made using home decorator fabrics and embellished in the most creative ways.

This one is made from a linen blend material and has a champagne cork for a stem. Kind of sophisticated for a squash wouldn't you say?

Despite all this galavanting about, I did manage to finish a small embroidery piece.  It's a free pattern from here, as seen on T.V.  Pinterest.

I trimmed the finished square to 8 1/2 inches, and added 2 1/2 inch triangles to the corners, creating a snowball block. Then I sewed on 3 1/2 inch borders.  Whoopie!  Christmas pillow in October.  Done.

In between

In between seasons and in between projects.  I have a lot started, and nothing finished.  One thing leads to another doesn't it?  I began making some simple navy and linen coasters, but only got two done, before I hit upon another idea, and started flinging fabric madly around the room, searching for a 1/2 yard cut of that floral, bought last fall, and put away for future use.
An hour later, found it.  Now a mini quilt/table runner is in progress.

It's beautiful outside on the front porch this morning.  Nice breeze, woodpecker in the willow tree, rooster crowing.  But it's going to be 100 degrees this afternoon, so I'm getting my "outdoor" fix   while I can.

A squirrel fell into the pool yesterday.  I watched him nose around the edge near the deep end.  When I started to get up from my chair I heard a PLOP sound.  Before I could get out the door to grab the pool net, he had already scrambled up the side and through the fence.  Normally they don't come that close to the house, but the poor thing was probably thirsty.  So I went out and filled up the bird bath with fresh water and turned the sprinklers on in the side yard.  Within minutes, the word had gotten out, and birds were swooping in for a bath.
Fall is so hot and dry here.  Right now our beautiful Yosemite National Park is burning (for almost a month!)  I hope they get it under control soon.  Every year, in September, it feels like summer just won't let go, although it is getting cooler at night.  The scrub jays are up to their tricks, a definite sign that the season is changing, because I'm finding acorns buried in my potted plants. They are creating a stash for the winter.  I get that whole stash thing. Yarn, fabric, acorns, it doesn't matter.  Gotta have it.  I do wish I had their built in instinct for finding everything once it's been hidden.  I could use that in my sewing room.

It's time

Time to de-stash some of my yarn.  This is only about one fourth of the pile that is growing faster than it is being used up.  There should be enough for a blanket or five.

I love to see other blogger's yarn piles.  So many colors and possibilities. When trying to decide what to make, I turned to a blog which has produced many beautiful crocheted and knitted blankets from her bottomless stash pile.  Kristen made this great blanket, of twelve, 20 round granny squares sewn together.  Brilliant.  I get bored easily making big blankets.  Making a bunch of little blankets  keeps me motivated. Each square is like starting a new project all over again.  It never gets old!

This holiday weekend, all the kids were home.  My daughter took over one end of the dining room table with a jigsaw puzzle, which everyone contributed to as they passed through the room.  The other end was piled high with my crochet yarn and a cross stitching sampler started by the other girl.  There were baseball games on TV, spaghetti with homemade sauce and a surprise thunderstorm that beat down the dust and left everything smelling fresh again. Sunday morning I made pancakes, plain ones for the boys, and coconut protein pancakes for the girls.

Coconut Protein Pancakes
adapted from the book Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano

3 eggs
1/2 cup pancake mix
3/4 to 1 cup of cottage cheese
small handful of unsweetened shredded coconut.

Mix all ingredients until well blended and spoon onto hot griddle or frying pan coated with coconut oil.
Serve with your favorite syrup or jam.
I love eating these as a snack, warmed up, alongside a cup of tea.

Now that September is here, I can start putting out some fall decorations, beginning with this idea found on Pinterest.

Take one plain rake with a broken handle.....

Add some fall accents and it's ready to hang on your door or porch. It took me about a half hour to drag the decorations from the attic, 5 minutes to decorate the rake.  Now what can I make next?

I smell pumpkin

Yes, Fall is officially here!  The decorations are coming out of the attic, the nights are cooler, and there is pumpkin flavored everything at Starbucks. 

 That brings us to the winner of the fall give away...........










Phillipa of Wendy Room Creations!!!! You have requested the fabric fat quarters.  Congratulations!
I hope you see this post, as I have no email to contact you.  Please send me your address and I will get your prize off to you right away.
Thank you all for joining in.  There were some great comments about why you love fall, and I agree with all of them!

This week I am planning an 18th birthday party for my son, and finishing up some VERY OLD projects.  I pulled this quilt from the back of the cupboard and started quilting.(I think I have tried to get this done for fall two years in a row.)

And I dragged out this basket of wool grannies which will be turned into a very pretty blanket.

In between, there is more quilt as you go patchwork being made.

Thank you all for stopping by today.   I'm off to refill my coffee cup and go visit all of your lovely blogs!!!