November Colours, Red Blackbird House, Interesting Podcasts

There are heavy frosts most mornings now and we have our first snowstorm warning for today. Who knows, perhaps it won't materialize. But it has snowed a tiny bit as I found out one very early morning out with the dogs. So far it has been melting. This morning most of the pond had frozen over, just a light skimming though. Home we would say it "caught over". 

I noticed how much colour is standing out in the landscape and still to be enjoyed before the white blankets everything. Here are my latest photos and these may be my last chance to capture them. 

The deep green Hostas have evolved into beautiful yellows/greens with murky browns and a hint of purple.  How many times do I have to tell my assistant to keep his nose out of my pictures!

Oranges glimpsed on the back of the side lawn meadow turned out to be the Smoke Tree's final colour change; beautiful right to the end.

And these eye catching cherry red berries below stood out against the November ground which is still sporting the odd bit of orange and green too.

I think they are DMC 321, one of the Christmas colours.

These are not wild but so pretty. I took this photo recently of a huge planter overflowing with Begonia blooms outside the accountant's office. They are still okay because they're being covered at night. Who knew Begonias were so hardy!

Inside I'm continuing the hand quilting on the little Four Pumpkin piece. For this one, I'm stitching lines in the pumpkins first. I'd thought of using a coloured thread but then I changed to a neutral that won't show up as much if I wobble a bit.  

 I am having a good time in the sewing room too working on the Blackbird Designs piece. I have zeroxed my patterns for the Christmas tabletop, cut them out, labelled and sorted them. I started with the Red House. The fun part was going through my stash to find fabrics that would suit this design. The makers had chosen a deep red/burgundy which is rather large at 20 x 21 inches. As it turned out I didn't have any deep red of that size and had to sew two pieces together. I also don't have much brown but luckily enough so the roof could be one piece as featured. 

That background fabric has been in my stash for a long time-I've looked at it often and always put it back on the shelf. I love the leafy design and happy now to be using it in this project.  I love house quilts and would like to make another one with just houses one of these days. But which pattern to choose, there are so many!

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's question this week had to do with which podcasts we enjoy. Being a monarchist, I listen to many of the royal pundits and youtube royal experts. For the record I was always appalled by Prince Andrew's behaviour and so glad the titles have been stripped. For general health, I listen to many podcasts but I'll mention just one- Diary of a Ceo where Steven interviews all the doctors/experts who have ideas about how to improve our physical and mental health. These include topics such as fasting, vitamins, exercising, even whether you should be tongue scraping regularly. I find this talk interesting and I learn so much. Since I'm a true crime nut, I also listen to a group of those too, for entertainment. A favourite is Somebody Knows Something. I also enjoy conversations with authors and discussions around writing and listen to those. This side of technology is such a marvel and how wonderful to be living in these times with so many resources at our fingertips.  

I just checked and there is still a snowfall warning for us starting around noon. And dirty old ice pellets in the mix for tomorrow...I hate ice. Oh well. I hope your forecast is so much better wherever you are. I know it's summer for some of you reading this. 

I'm off to take the dogs for a walk. Take Care!

Sharing this post with parties at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Melva Loves Scraps, Alycia Quilts, The Inquiring Quilter and Songbird Designs.