Thrifting, Autumn Tablemat Finish, Found Forlorn Pumpkin Blocks

Below is Brian Stauffer's "Winds of Change", a marvelous painting for The New Yorker cover on October 13. I wondered if this could be worked into a design for a quilt or embroidered piece. I do like curlicues. And I also wondered about what he meant by featuring these two things together. The noisy leaf blower and the beautiful design of nature. What do you think he's telling us?

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's conversation starter this week was how we deal with fallen leaves. I don't use a leaf blower but Tony does as it works so well to rid a big area of leaves quickly. He has to use the big noise cancelling head gear though very deaf. 

And here is how nature handles leaves on our walk in the big wood one day.

I said I'd share my found treasures on my latest thrift shop. There were two quilting books that went into my cart. The first is the 1949 edition of  Margarite Ickis' The Standard Book of Quilt Making and Collecting. I am thrilled to own a copy. I paid $3.99 and on Etsy it runs from $10 to $22 American.

It is in wonderful condition and contains instructions and patterns to make over 100 quilts. 

This book below also came home with me. 101 Log Cabin Blocks from Linda Causee. What is interesting about this book is it contains the patterns to copy and foundation paper piece each block. 

I paid $3.99 for it and it's on Etsy ranging from $17 to $35 American. 

I bought this man's shirt below- 100% cotton in XL for $10.  A very nice little pattern that I think qualifies as low volume. I read there is some dispute online about what low volume really means.

My big find was this king size sheet, 100% cotton, in a beautiful shade of green and in immaculate condition. It looked like it had never been used as it had fold lines still visible as well as a partial tag. I looked it up and the colour is a dark Foam Green, a beautiful blending shade. It was priced $10.47 which seemed oddly specific. Of course, this is not showing the true colour at all. 

I had my 20% off coupon so my wonderful treasure hunt was very economical as well as enjoyable. The only downside was there were so many people there, the isles were blocked. There were even lots of folks in the book area which never used to be. Sign of the times, I think. But also recycling is good for the environment, of course, so I can't complain.

My egg and cabbage casserole was okay. Even lots of cheese on top didn't make it a hit for Tony but I'll finish it. 

I was digging in one of my sewing containers and found four appliqued pumpkin blocks all finished and one partially made. Please tell me this has happened to you...you finish a project only to discover other blocks that somehow got mislaid!!! Anyway, I'm going to sew these four together and make a little mat. 

I had started and mostly finished a table topper last autumn (or maybe the one before?) that I've finished this week. It only needed a few more hand quilting lines and the border. So why did it get forgotten I wonder. Pretty fall fabrics. I find yellow always draws my eye (though not a favourite colour); do you? There was an old saying that all quilts need a little yellow in them. 

And I'd forgotten I'd adlibbed hearts for hand quilting lines in one of the panels too.

I'm still using this beige with black dots fabric that I bought in yards back when I thought that's how you purchased material. Luckily, it's a good blender.  This finished at 17 in. x 27 in. 

It's a good feeling to finish any project. And of course, it feels like a license to start something else. But I'm going to resist. I want those pumpkins quilted and will keep working on cross stitching those Year at Hawk Run Hallow corn cobs this weekend too. Always lots to keep the stitching fingers flying around here. 

It's been raining for a number of days now including one terrific thunder and lightening storm. I'm going to get on my gear and check out the pond. A little water has been holding there, so now I'm hopeful the pond will return before winter. 

I only believe it is Oct. 23 because the calendar is telling me so. But perhaps it means I'm having fun and I must be having lots of it. Hope you who read this are having fun too!

So grateful for wonderful linky parties like Days Filled With Joy, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Melva Loves Scraps and Songbird Designs.