Nifty November Stitching, Cooking and Playing

A November sky if ever I saw one...Milder and wet, then a big freeze overnight turned the morning landscape into an ice covered fairyland. I thought it was hoar frost but I've read since it was rime frost, a dangerous frost for ships at sea. This kind of ice is thick and grows in the direction of the wind. 

Whatever the name, it was especially beautiful down by the pond where the tall grasses grow. By noon, it had all disappeared so I felt lucky to have witnessed such fleeting beauty. And my photos don't do it justice.

There has been a lot of stitching going on this week. But it no longer feels like autumn stitching here so I made the decision to put away the big Pumpkin quilt and save it for quilting at a later time. I did finish off the little appliqued 4 Pumpkin topper though. 

I embroidered the outer edges in Herringbone stitches just to add a little more interest. 

I also cross stitched another corn cob on the Hawk Run Hallow September block and now put that aside as well. This week I'll go through my little group of cross stitch projects to see what to put stitches in next. 

The Christmas Present quilt I started last year had one more row to stitch when I took it out of the bin. I used two sewing sessions to do that and then prepped it for quilting. I love these Rifle Paper Company fabrics. There are many tutorials for sewing this block and I used the one

 at the Center Street Quilts site where you'll find tutorials for other

neat blocks too.

Here it is as a flimsy. It's a very easy quilt to put together if you need a scrappy quilt that sews up fast.

And I layered it up ready for quilting. For the backing, I used a thrifted Tommy Hilfiger very light hue of blue sheet that has a navy blue and red tiny design throughout. It's 100% cotton and has a soft feel to it. I will enjoy stitching this.

Pretty fabrics.

Last week I made Shepherd's Pie for Tony, something he loves. I don't use a recipe for this anymore. He'll eat anything that has mashed potatoes and cheese on it so he didn't notice there was chopped spinach in the meat mixture. 

One day I said to him, I don't suppose you could sew could you. I meant use the machine and even though I pointed out to him how much he loves machines, I couldn't get him interested.  A shame, as I think he'd be good at it because he's very meticulous about everything he works on. 

Well, our American friends are looking through their files, pulling out the old favourite recipes to prepare for the big Thanksgiving feast. That always reminds me of favourite movies featuring the American Thanksgiving. Perhaps the funniest was this one below. I've watched it a number of times over the years and still laugh at the jokes. 1987...phew, where have those years gone!

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And the delicious snacks can be so good and, yes, very filling too.

We've had Abby joining Ned and Petey here this weekend while the family is out of town for a hockey tournament. Ned is in his glee as he loves his mother so much. It's been wonderful walking them and playing ball with them outside. They are such loving dogs and look striking together with the beige, black and chocolate. We were surprised to see how much grayer and sadly, older looking, Abby is now.

Hope your stitching fingers are flying and there is something wonderful each of you are looking forward to. Like these pups, we all need our treats!

Happily sharing this post with nifty parties at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Quilting Patchwork Applique, Life in Pieces, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Melva Loves Scraps.