Scrappy Pumpkins, Cross Stitching Crows, Homemade Bread Stuffing, Talking Temu

This is the Smoke Tree in September. I like the mulberry and lavender colours the leaves have this time of year.

And of course, the wild New England Asters are also purples and so pretty.

Thank you for lamenting with me about the loss of our little pond. It is sad, especially for all the critters and birds that lived, drank and bathed there. And though its been raining off and on the last two days, most of September continued the rainless streak. We've had frost warnings and I covered my pots on the veranda twice now but didn't need to. They're on my to do list to move indoors.

I've finished Autumn Quakers and am very pleased with it. I'm a bit stumped as to which project to cross stitch next. I decided to order The Blue Flowers' "In Praise of Pollinators", one I'd been eyeing for quite some time. And perhaps you would agree with me, this certainly reflects my interests and life here at the wooden house. You can see it here at 123 Stitch.

Or I could begin the Peace on Earth design which I showed you Here. While I wrestle with that lovely dilemma, I pulled out the mammoth Year at Hawk Run Hollow. I finished the August block and began September. I've had to set it up on the big hoop as it's so large to manage and I feel like it's getting mauled with all the handling. But I've finished nine months now so getting there. The  stitch count for each block is 92 x 92 and the total stitch count on the whole design is 271 x 371 and that is a lot of stitches. 

Here it is finished and a start made on crows for the September block.

While I had in mind to sew a couple of turkeys...one in applique and one pieced, I decided to wait. More about those later. In the meantime I began a few appliqued scrappy pumpkins for a table topper. These are small and since they are so simple, I drew the shapes myself. 

I liked that Karen at Just Get It Done Quilts made a video about the sewing supplies you can buy at Temu. They are so much cheaper there than anywhere else which raises questions.  I value Karen's opinions. 

Have you bought anything from Temu? They have this neat apron there that I like and it's $6.25C. HERE if you'd like to check it out again because I think I shared this before.

I cooked a small beef roast on Sunday. Instead of mashed potatoes I decided to make oven fries for a change. I cut the fries large and parboiled them before putting in the oven. Since Tony loves stuffing so much, I made this recipe From Valerie's Kitchen for a stovetop version. You need chicken broth to give it some flavour. This was really good and I think his favourite part of the meal. There was enough food leftover for another meal which is always a bonus.

Daughter gave me these beautiful home grown apples she got in Quebec. I'm thinking of making an apple crisp today.  

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week is how we started class each day in school. Growing up and in all the Newfoundland schools I later worked in...all of them Protestant, every morning we'd stand to sing God Save the Queen and then O Canada and the Ode to Newfoundland would be sung on alternate mornings, all to the recordings on the PA. This was followed by an in class Bible reading and the children took turns reading those. I was nervous when my turn would come around and I learned later that the Bible is not easy to read. Mom told me they did the same thing in her school days but the children could choose a verse to read. Teachers would ban the verse " Jesus wept.", the shortest in the Bible, because the boys especially would pick it. How about you? I'm thinking your experiences were probably very similar and, of course, our American friends would have to do the awe inspiring Pledge of Allegiance too.

I hope your week is going well. I'm keeping very busy while these September days sure are flying by. 

Loving having linky parties to share this post with like The Inquiring Quilter, Quilt Schmilt, Quilting and Learning, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Melva Loves Scraps.