Thursday's Three Free Patterns, Halloween Talk, Sharing Quilt Backs, Special Video

 Autumn turned this maple tree into quite the marvel. 

Now those limbs are bare. And for a short time, we will enjoy our golden leafy carpet under foot on our walks.

Someone asked...yes the Swedish BungyPump Walking poles are fabulous in my opinion. You do get a workout- I can feel my heartrate rise, and I do believe my upper body and arms are getting stronger.  I usually spend 15-20 minutes walking  with them as many days of the week as I can get in. Not affiliated in any way.

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week was a favourite costume of ours. All I remember is having face masks as kids.  Those made of a stiff plastic like material that made your face overheat and sweat so much. Not pleasant. I always wanted a rabbit as in those days, my nickname was Bunny. No fancy treat bags either, an old pillow case to carry about. Gosh it all sounds like Olden Days doesn't it especially compared to the Halloween animatronics items available today. 

Speaking of Halloween, I went to see Halloween Ends with older grandson and I enjoyed it for what it is. I did not find it scary. Fun to see Jamie Lee Curtis again. 

I will not be able to meet my OMG for October, that is hand quilting Plaid Tilda. However, I am pleased with how much is quilted and how it is looking. It's over 3/4's of the way finished. I haven't shown the back before. I'm happy my stitches are catching the fabric through those layers okay. I like these pretty fabrics.

Remember the Super Scrappy table runner.  The hand quilting on that is done.

And I'm likewise happy enough with the stitches...here's the back as well. Not perfect, by any means! I'm no Gretchen or Karen! I could go on there with naming wonderful hand quilters. Check out Sunday's Slow Stitching party post at Kathy's Quilts and you will see lots of wonderful hand work including Kathy's!

Time for Thursday's Three Free!

Linda, the Texas Quilt Gal, alerted us to this free Mystery Autumn Stitchalong from Joy at Days Filled With Joy. Every Friday for 4 all together, Joy will release an embroidery pattern, free for a limited time. 

I'm sharing this idea because I just don't think of fussy cutting motifs enough or using fusible applique either for that matter. And the projects those techniques could be used in are endless. This one below is part of the free cache at Connecting Threads and is called Acorn Park Triptych. I love little scenes like this. Perfect for small scraps for a pin cushion or needlebook maybe too.

Gay at her wonderful Sentimental Stitches site shared this lovely free pattern called Friendship.  Available as a PDF download.

Interested in applique basic techniques? Erin Russek at her blog, One Piece at a Time, is sharing a series of posts showing how to applique. Her instructions are very clear with large photos to follow along. She also has a page of free patterns with tutorials. Great stuff!

I am ending this post with this wonderful video from Karen at Just Get It Done Quilts called My Dutch Textile Tour.  Karen and her mother went to Holland to visit the grave of her grandfather who died fighting to help liberate Holland in the Second World War. Along the way they visited several textile and quilt shops. While I had tears in my eyes during some parts, I also was thrilled to see the Petra Prins shop, which as Karen says, was like stepping into Quiltmania. 

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today and maybe found a little bit of inspiration-there are so many talented folks sharing their skills with us. What a time to be be a stitcher!!

Great to be able to share this post with Quilting Patchwork Applique, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Stitching Stuff,  Sum of Their Stories and Kathy's Quilts.

Many Free Patterns, Favourite Snack, Quilting Tilda

                     

Happy Thursday friends! The season is moving forward with news of snow flurries north of us. Here we are comfortably still in autumn with all the little things in nature changing, some faster than others as my photo captured here.

I'm soldiering away quilting Plaid Tilda.  It is going smoothly so far with the handling of the size of it and I haven't hit any lumps or tucks. It's interesting how fabric can behave well sometimes and other times not. I keep checking the back to be sure there are no snags and it's good to see it is already taking on that nice crinkly, cozy feel hand quilting gives a piece.

LeeAnna's (Not Afraid of Color) prompt this week was what is our favourite snack food?  I don't eat when I'm nervous but I do feel I need to be treated sometimes. Potato chips are so good but I feel less guilty about eating popcorn. Recently I found Orville's popping corn using avocado oil and sea salt. I add a splash of balsamic vinegar to mine- strange I know but, as a vinegar lover, it works for me. I add balsmic vinegar to a lot of things actually. 

Thursday's Three Free

I'm sharing a true Squirrel-ly moment.  I had found this free pattern below to share with you. From Kim at her lovely Retro Mama site.  What a great way to use up small narrow scraps, I thought.

Really easy to create and so cute. I could see the uses for it...pin cushions-yes, mug rugs definitely, maybe a place mat as I want to make some of those. But I wondered about a quilt. I googled herringbone quilts and found loads of examples and lots of tutorials to make a quilt using that block.  Fave Quilts has a whole bank of them!  But one caught my eye.

It reminded me of a block I'd taken note of years ago- 2015, in a quilting calendar I'd gotten for Christmas. It is a pattern called Tiny Textured Trees by Carolyn Friedlander, a favourite designer of mine. Her quilt looked like a miniature work of art.

 Maybe it's because I'm loving the trees on the property these days as the colours change almost hourly it seems that this one stood out. There are many variations of this stylistic tree block. For instance, there is Anne at Springleaf Studio and her gorgeous Arboretum quilt that I know some of you stitched and had me in awe. Wonderful Wanda at Exuberant Color for one.

Of course I had to chase down the one that caught my eye and found this. Kristy in this Quiet Play post from 2012 shared a free foundation paper piecing pattern for this block. I've downloaded it and will give it a whirl this weekend.

Still in a scrap busting mood...The busy and famous Pat Sloan I Love to Make Quilts had a free PDF for this scrap busting quilt that she made in 2013.  She calls it Traffic Jam. I notice quite a few folks sewed it in all sorts of colour ways. 

Since I already have a mess in the sewing room, I may as well try this. If I am to cut down on scraps, mine would have to be scrappier than this one. Generous Pat offers one of the most extensive free pattern cache on the net.Here

And for my embroidery/cross stitch friends, Laura at her The YellowBirdhouse site offers a bunch of free Halloween patterns to stitch, 18 to be exact.

Researching these links was a fun journey around the net for me. Thanks for all the positive feedback about this Thursday feature of mine.

Hope your weekend will be grand!

Delighted to share this post with Kathy's Quilts, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

4 Favourite Things in One Picture, Autumn Pinks, Turkey Soup

 This is Thursday, a lovely day to look back at the week and contemplate the weekend ahead. Thursday was my second favourite weekday...Friday being #1 signaling the work week ending. I used to say 4 pm on Friday was my all time favourite moment in a week.

Here is Neddy enjoying one of many walks down the deciduous tree lined path at the back of the property. This borders acres of undeveloped land so there are many trails to enjoy. Overnight it seems to have become leaf lined; lately the leaves are falling like snow.

I happened to step behind the Smoke tree and was treated to this view of pinks and reds.

Here's a little close up. Autumn pinks are so pretty. 

After Thanksgiving turkey comes the soup.  I added a can of my favourite tomatoes, San Marzano, to this one. I could have fed a platoon with this pot full. I always seem to make a lot of soup.

Below I've had this out in sight, in fact walk past it many times a day, but have I put in a stitch? No I have not, not one. But I will soon. The witch is waiting, beckoning to me (that would be creepy so hope she isn't, :). Actually I find her a little nostalgic as she looks like the witches we would have had in school and colouring books when I was a girl. 

Four favourite things are in this bottom photo.

We bought this very heavy brass German Shepard figurine at an auction for a couple of dollars. It is a loving reminder of the most loyal dog I ever had, Rex. Still very much in our thoughts.

The large pink carrying case holds my Hawk Run Hollow cross stitch project and everything I need to work on it, A Year At Hawk Run Hollow. With the warm day time temperatures I got to stitch on the veranda two days this week. I think that is the latest I've ever been able to do that. Amazing!

I love applique and have a few books that I look through and dream about. That one, Template Free Applique by Katie Friesen, has easy to follow directions and simple but effective drawings. Katie is probably better known for her book, Expressions of Morris, which gives you an idea of what style of applique she enjoys. Do you do that?  Enjoy looking through your books, dreaming about what you could stitch.

My journal for 2021 is nearing the end. I've enjoyed this soft covered one with the peaches and pears  by Punch Studio very much. Lots of pouches and opens so you can see the whole week over two pages without turning a page. I've been keeping track of my wish lists, shows watched, books read, purchases, gifts, events, blog posts, etc. All of it handy information for forgetful me. Journals and Notebooks by Punch Studio where I'll be looking for another one soon, God willing, as my grandmother used to say. 

I'm off now to take Neddy for his second walk of the day. He is the best excuse we could have to keep moving. 

Linking this post with Not Afraid of Color where many folks share their Thursday likes. Also linking with Brian's Home, Life in the Scrapatch, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Alycia Quilts, Floral Passions, Quilting Patchwork Applique and My Quilt Infatuation.

Halloween Finish, Christmas Quilt Along, Ugly Quilt, Cross Stitching, Hazel's Summer Embroidered Wildflowers

After the horrid humidity that hung around so much of this  summer, I think I will say Autumn is now my favourite season. The air is clear and the garden has not completely died off, so a few flower bearing plants to still eye.  With the recent rains, all sorts of interesting mushrooms have sprung up. And of course, seeing up close all the changes to the trees, leaves and blooming shrubs is enjoyable as well. 

My groom is starting to take shape. I hope to finish him this week. I heard from  Gitta's that the Autumn Quakers threads had to be backordered. I would love to get a start made on that piece before any thoughts of Christmas cross stitching get on the radar.  But c'est la vie.

The sewist behind Love Laugh Quilt and host of the linky party Monday Making, Beth, is hosting a Christmas Red and Green Sampler Quilt Along on her YouTube channel, My Sewing Room. She has generously offered free PDF files plus videos posted for three blocks now. I like the way she works with traditional style patterns and gives them a modern look with fabrics, etc. 

A Finish of a Small!

I showed a little piece that had some orange and black strips sewn together back in this post. It wasn't hard to guess a Halloween project was in the making.  I didn't have a pattern as such but drawing a pumpkin isn't exactly hard to do. I just cut the wide mouth and the eyes without a template. 

And found a piece of Black Cat on orange fabric for the backing and brought forward for the edging. I stitched simple in the ditch quilting lines through the strips. 

This machine sewn place mat is probably one of the few things I've ever made completely by machine. I had to practice to get the applique bit the right amount but other than that, it was pretty easy.  Perhaps this will make it all hang together better when going through the washing machine. 

I heard that almost 8 year old grandson, Robbie, liked it!

 Please tell me this has happened to you...an ugly quilt story!

 At the farmhouse back in 2015 I had the fun of embroidering  large flowery patterns from a quilt along called Hazel's Summer Wildflowers. 

                             

Shelly Pagliai shared excerpts from her mother's diary of her life as a young girl and woman in the '50's in Missouri and offered the free patterns as a way of remembering her mom. The diary entries made for the most interesting reading (including the recipes for the food Hazel helped her Mom make) and I loved the patterns. I finished embroidering all six of the patterns and they sat for a couple of years. Then I sewed them together with blocks stitched in this rather brightly coloured bee and flower fabrics. I remember being excited to find fabric with bees and flowers and thought it would be perfect.  But I hated the results.

                                                

I spent Saturday night unstitching them all.  

Including parts of the stitched blocks too.

What made me suddenly think of this project was some Laura Ashley fabric I came across online. It  had a very small flowery print in various colours and it reminded me of these blocks.  I am thinking the tiny motifs will suit these better. I ordered it and can't wait to see if maybe they will work. It would be nice to have these embroidered blocks finally sewn into something I am pleased with. 

 Hazel's blog is still there and the patterns for an appliqued version as well...The Life of Hazel Ilene, as well as the patterns for a number of other quilt alongs. I'm interested in the Vintage Christmas Ornaments one, for instance. 

Thinking of life at the farmhouse reminded me of the sumac lined driveway that turned brilliant red this time of year. I'll leave you with my dogs that I loved so much and think about all the time, Rex and Murphy, on that driveway one October back at the farm. Poor Hubby cannot say their names. 😢

I hope your week is off to a good start. Happy Stitching All!

Joining Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Love Laugh Quilt, Texas Quilt Gal, My Quilt Infatuation, The Inquiring Quilter and Kathy's Quilts. 

Rule #7, Embroidered Primitive Mini Quilt, Links, Shopping

 Rule #7 All life on earth is vulnerable. Money, intellect, education or prestige don't protect against all the ills that can befall us. So there is nothing that has happened to me or will happen to me where I can say those two little words, why me.  While I didn't say that out loud when I lost everything in the fire, a part of me inside felt let down by the universe.

 I'd been through enough by then with my various losses to know I wasn't special enough to be given a free pass from bad things (during those times I got a lot from reading the book, When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner)  but I did think of myself as a good person going through life trying my best to do good. It felt like because I'd had those bad experiences and survived, I'd paid my dues, that I'd earned protection from further bad things happening to me. How could that be my pay back I thought. Nonsensical I know, especially when I would remind myself that nothing I'd been dealt was directly life threatening like so many many face. I'm  ashamed to admit I was bitter for a month or two. before common sense took over and righted my thoughts, thankfully.  Aging is going to present challenges I know; perhaps I'll have a better perspective. 

Ok, enough about that...on to the good stuff that we all enjoy and love. For instance, with continuing warm temperatures, the autumn garden is still pretty. In particular, the pink Sedum has thrived.

All the yellow Ligularia in this garden is the Brit Marie Crawford strain which is known for its gigantic elephant ear leaves. Here the Sedum is a standout with Lavender on the left and one of the mauve Asters in front. Coral Bells peaking on the lower right. Any purple to be seen is Lavender.

Neddy down by the pond. Wild Goldenrod flourished this year and with the warmth, is still blooming.

This week I sewed a primitive style mini quilt. I've often mentioned how much I love pumpkins. I drew this very simple pumpkin shape, embroidered chain stitch to get full coverage on a small scrap of dark gray fabric. I used the most orange DMC, #740, that I had.

A little Kaffe material (I think) from the scrap bag for the border.

And embroidered the word Pumpkins on the other side. Funny about colours in photos; this is actually the same green as the stalk on the front. 

I'll probably use it for a mug rug. A fun little project. And here is the link to the Pinterest site, Mug Rug Halloween that features 630 Halloween/Autumn mug rug ideas.  All so cute and many many free patterns.

Stitching this weekend will be working on evening up the sides of my Tumbling Stars panels. I think I have enough sewn for a single bed size now and it's time to gather ideas for borders. All happy stitching for me. This is definitely my most ambitious hand pieced project to date.

We bought ourselves two items to celebrate our summer birthdays. One was the Nespresso machine and the other was a Cubii elliptical machine, not quite as much fun.   I've been using it while watching tv which you can because it is very quiet.  As a committed multi tasker, I think it is wonderful.  Strong legs are important for balance so hopefully this activity, even while seated, will help somewhat. 

New mug from Walmart with words I couldn't resist. Link is here if you'd like to order one.

Hope your week has been a great one and your weekend will include some stitchy time.

So happy too to link with these fine parties... Not Afraid of Color, Life in the Scrapatch. Texas Quilt Girl, The Inquiring Quilter, My Quilt Infatuation, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Alycia Quilts, So Scrappy, Kathy's Quilts and Quilt Fabrication. 

Soup, Muffins, Wood Workout, Hand Quilting and Free Patterns

I'd put my chicken carcass on the stove to boil down to make a base for yesterday's chicken soup.  Half an hour later I thought what on earth is making that smell.  I went to the kitchen to investigate only to see it was my chicken broth bubbling happily away. Thankfully I always start with lots of water in the pot and a low heat.

 Totally forgot it-wiped from the brain and now I can see how old people can start fires in their houses, right under their noses. Hubby says it's because I'm always juggling a number of things at once. I tell him that's just being a woman and I've been doing that all my life.  Besides which, at that time, I was juggling or attempting to juggle exactly two things...the soup and a bit of reading. Thankfully our smoke alarms (which are very high up with the ceilings here) have 25 year batteries. 

I added tinned tomatoes to this one... San Marzano is one of my favourites. 

The weather has been wonderful. The warmest November I've experienced here in Ontario. Last year this time there was snow on the ground and the pond was so frozen we could walk on it.  With temperatures up to high teens most days, nature is reacting like it's spring. More new growth here in the purple globe thistle for instance.

Maybe I could blame that lapse in memory on being sapped a bit physically. Loading wood on the trailer and then stacking it next to the house the last couple of days was quite a workout for us both. I noticed how differently we react to a little physical labour. I ache a bit whereas Hubby gets really tired and needs more sleep. I've noticed after day 3 of moving my body like this I've been sleeping better as well.  So thankful we can both still manage these chores. 

We have the other half of our wood order coming Saturday. We are already thinking we will stack it at the drop off and cover it well. Save us lugging it up here to the house and that way we can space out our wood getting trips as we need it. 

 I have a bunch of other things to share this post.

Let's start with food, my favourite topic and combine it with the season which normally (how much nothing seems to be normal this year) is one of comfort food.

Crosby's Molasses has a free e-book section. I downloaded Comforts of Home- 20 recipes for Homemade Comfort Food.  Molasses has 25% fewer calories than sugar so if you like it that's good. I'm not a big molasses fan but I love it in baked goods. 

Crosby's Comforts of Home E-Book

I made a batch of loaded bran muffins...raisins, dates and pumpkin seeds added to these. 

I found this wonderful free tree pattern with a tutorial from generous Leanne at Devoted Quilter named Ticker Tape Tree.  Super easy, really neat how this goes together and another scrap using pattern. I'm going to get out my green scraps and give this a try one morning very soon. I'll finally get to use green thread in the machine. 

Rachel at Stitched in Color and Lucy at Charm About You are co-hosting a sewalong called Geesey Geesey. A chance to practice keeping all the points when making many many geese. I'm thinking this could be an excellent candidate for the RSC which I assume will start again with colours in January. Or right now in Christmas fabrics. 

This colourway, which looks like Art Gallery fabrics to me, is appealing. I like how vintage patterns take on a completely modern look depending on the fabrics. 

I have to prep more spool blocks for the Medallion quilt and make the last of the fans to total 18.  

I love how hand quilting looks and feels. It is addictive and maybe that has to do with the soothing effect of this kind of slow stitching. 

Here I took the Halloween Sampler out of the frame to get a photo. Enjoying this stitching very much and getting a hang of how much slack I need in the cloth to get the rocking motion going.

A couple of woodpecker photos taken from a great distance down by the pond. Interesting how they use their tails for stability. They are enjoying the suet cakes I've put out and I'm seeing more of them. Update: This has been identified as a yellow bellied sapsucker by birder friend David at Travels With Birds.

Hopefully I'll have further opportunities to get better photos. 

We are off to do a grocery and dog food pickup. Hope your Thursday is a great one. 

As always, linking this post with Not Afraid of Color, Paying Ready Attention, Inquiring Quilter, For the Love of Geese, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Alycia Quilts, Quilting Applique Patchwork, Viewing Nature With Eileen and It's a Small Town Life.