Gorgeous October

Most of us here in the Midwest US have had the most mild, warm and beautiful October. The days through the first half of the month were warmer than normal - almost hot, by my standards. Now, here just past month's midpoint, we are finally having what I would term "normal" October weather. Cool, crisp nights in the 40s and clear, sparkly days in the 70s. Perfect.

Here are some nature pictures (sorry, not quilts!) from our part of Ohio.

These two pictures were taken on a particularly warm late afternoon from our front porch. Note that the trees really haven't dropped too many leaves at this point. Our fall color seems delayed, and the leaves are now finally dropping - about 10 days since these pics were taken.

This past weekend we had our 4th annual Hocking Hills getaway with the kids. This has been such a fantastic way to spend family time - it is becoming a tradition we all look forward to! Here's a shot from our morning hike from Ash Cave to the fire tower - about 4 miles total.

Still not seeing much color here in Ohio, are we? But the Saturday morning was cool and the hike was refreshing. Those are my two daughters in the foreground; DH and SIL are further up the trail.

Last evening we drove into town for a couple of errands and admired this beautiful harvest sunset. Farmers are combining beans and corn, and the hazy dust stirred up by their machinery makes for a magical picture, despite our dirty windshield.

While we were away at Hocking Hills, neighbors in our home area were hit Friday night by a tornado. Our property was out of the path of the storm, but three miles away, several homes and outbuildings were damaged or destroyed. It wasn't a big tornado, but even small ones do damage. There was no loss of life or injuries, thankfully; rebuilding and inconvenience are the only lasting effects. 

I am expecting Sharon here in a little bit. What will we work on? Heaven only knows. We both are in that indecisive stage, I fear. I have at least three ideas brewing; we shall see what pans out.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Welcome November!

We really are marching right on through 2017, aren't we? Incredible to think that it's November already. Wow.

No doubt I have mentioned before how I love the Peanuts gang. The cartoons were a staple of my growing up. Books, comic strips and television specials - my siblings and I devoured all things Charlie Brown and Snoopy.

With the relief of having the October UFO finished, I treated myself to some scrappy stars this morning. The parts for 6 stars have been cut and stacked near my machine for over two weeks--they were my reward for when my UFO was done. Finally! I could work on something else! I see that I was in a bit of a rush and a few intersections are somewhat off. I may do some "unsewing" later on and redo them properly.

Here are my six newly made stars. It looks like I was digging in the red and blue remnant tub, doesn't it? I hadn't realized how similar my color choices were until seeing them lined up like this. Added with the previously made stars, though, the colors do become distributed a bit more. Below are the 24 Scrappy Stars made to date.

I generally do a quick look-back at the accomplishments of the month just ended. I can't brag on too many this month, that's for sure! Having over two weeks of respiratory infections really slows a gal's ability to do much of anything! I missed birthdays (Mom's, hubby's, twins', and friend's), card club, quilting, History Day, and class. Our son-in-law was very ill during the time we were sick, even hospitalized for five days, and we couldn't get to Columbus to see him because we were contagious. What a month! (S-I-L is fine now, thank you.) When I finally did bounce back, I found that I needed to spend more time on my two classes than I normally do, therefore sewing time was at a premium, to say the least.

My collage for October includes a few stars made prior to getting sick; a fun night with Frienzies; fabric bought on a shopping trip to West Virginia; cool weather which prompted using the fireplace; a lunch date with daughter Emma; spools of thread from Grandma's sewing kit; a gorgeous fall sunset; the American Jane Jolly Bar I won on Instagram; and the October UFO.

Now about that UFO. It was a quilt-along I joined in 2014 called Tell It To The Stars. I stopped late in the year when I realized that the borders were extremely involved and - gah! - pieced! In working toward a finish this month, I decided to make two skinny inner borders into a single thick border. The mottled navy that you see is the result. 

Another change is that lighter narrow border outside the pieced section. It was supposed to be of the same background fabric that I'd been using throughout, but I had used it all! I needed to substitute. More than likely, I could have tried a bit harder to find a better match, but you know what? I just didn't really care, so I found a suitable neutral in the stash - I refused to obsess about finding just the right shade of neutral. It's no big deal.

A final difference is the addition of corner blocks in the outermost borders. I might try putting together a brief tutorial on how I did those last two borders and the corner blocks. You can't see that corner in the photo above, but it does show in a picture from yesterday's post. And get this - with all this time and a few changes, the size came out almost perfectly to the measurements given on the instructions - 91" x 79". Now how about that?

So there's my month, in a nutshell. I don't have any really firm plans for November. I will find out which UFO is up next when we Frankfort Girls meet on Friday morning. I have some other WIPs (works in progress) that will likely be tended to. And do I dare consider starting something new?? Oh, how I would love to!! 

I hope your November is productive!

I have linked up with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts. Click on over there to have a look around!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Welcome October

Having had a rather satisfying September as far as finishes go, I am rearin' to go this month and I start today! This afternoon, DD Emma is popping in to begin work on another baby quilt, this one for boyfriend's sister. She has her fabric and an inspiration photo - all big squares - so it will go together fast. 

Tomorrow I will post pics of our work and perhaps by then I will have finalized my goals for the month. 

I hope you are as eager to get going in October as I am! Let's do this!!

Happy quilting, friends!