While working on my office was all consuming…

I did manage to find some time to give my fairy her wee little foot.

And with that…

My little Woodland Fairy is done (13-year-old me is jumping up and down with joy). As I mentioned, I’ve had this pattern since 1993 (when I was 13) but didn’t managed to start it until April of this year. So, about six months to complete (working on it only on weekend evenings). Obviously, it still needs to be soaked, ironed and framed – but I’m happy to call it an FO at this point.

You can’t see it well, but the aida is a mottled blue/green. Dave and I picked up a beautiful frame on clearance at Michaels, as well as a pink mat. (The pink matches the pink in her dress bustle). As soon as we’re done messing about with my office, I’ll get him to frame it so I can really show her off!

I told you I hoped to be painting by the Saturday…. and technically… yes… I was. Just not quite painting the beautiful green walls that I wanted.

First I had some priming to finish… including some of the wood work that replaced what was left of the wall we took out.

It goes across the ceiling and down each wall. It will be painted white and I plan to do some fancy hand painting on it (vines or something like that).

Then I had to paint that darn ceiling.

Let me say. I love painting walls. There’s something very satisfying about seeing the colour change and transform the room. Painting ceilings… not so much.

I got it done…

But I think in the end the paint won.

I also had a couple small spots of my poor drywall taping to repair. So I had to wait overnight for it to dry.

And that ceiling needed a second coat Sunday morning.

In the end… I didn’t get to the fun stuff until Sunday afternoon.

When we went to the paint store on Friday to buy the paint, I ended up changing my colour. The “Mother Nature” green I had picked out online was much darker in person. Now… I’m not opposed to a very dark green… but it is a very small room. While it gets lots of light in winter, in summer, the tree blocks most of the natural light from the window. I didn’t want it to feel like a dingy cave. So… I opted for Green Knoll instead.

When I got it home, I was a little worried I’d actually gone too light…

With just the corners done, it seemed a little brighter than I planned. But… I’ve done this enough times to know… you’ve got to get it all on and let it dry completely.

With the first coat done… I was feeling a little better, but it was still on the green crayon side.

When the second one went on

My heart was at ease. It was perfect.

Now… that wood work still needs to be painted…

as does the closet door (word is, Dave may do that for me this week). And of course, it needs a floor and a lot of trim so we are nowhere near finished… But it’s starting to finally feel like it’s coming together.

I hadn’t gotten out to the garden to pick things. I brought a small bowl out to hold the beans

I clearly should have gotten a bigger one. I prefer my beans a little skinnier than this – but as I said, I’d let them go for a bit. We will eat them all the same.

I also picked a yellow squash

And fall raspberry season is ramping up…

It doesn’t look like much yet – but I’ve actually already got half a bag of the yellow ones in the freezer from the last two weeks. I’m hoping to get enough for a jam. The reds will most likely be eaten on the spot as I already did a batch of red raspberry jam with the berries I froze from last year.

Tomatoes are finally coming in.

They won’t overwhelm us this year, but there are lots for snacking

We’ve got exciting news in melonland….

I picked two Mini Mike melons. You can see there nice little size here, with a cantaloupe from my neighbour’s garden for scale. I’m saving these to open for when Mom comes for a visit in a couple weeks. If they are good, I will definitely get more seed for next year – they are the perfect size.

And I was excited to get another mini Mike, and a yellow-fleshed watermelon appear a few weeks back. Hopefully they will get enough time to ripen.

I still have three HUGE birdhouse guords on the vine – and I thought I was going to get at least one more…

But it went a little funny as you can see.

I was planning on planted some late season lettuce in the empty pea beds…

But then I noticed this little pea sprout coming up there. Not sure if it will get any peas, but it will be fun to watch.

This weekend I’m hoping to get some time to harvest the carrots and the last surprise potatoes, but there’s one thing that’s very clear about the winner of this year in the veg beds…

…are the marigolds! They have absolutely taken over the beds!

The rain we’ve had this month has really helped the gardens after the very dry summer.

The roses are doing their best to make their late-season come back. The Japanese Beetles are still kicking around, but there are fewer each day.

Above L-R. Amazing Grace, Prairie Princess, Reflecting Glory

I bought Refleting Glory on clearance last year, and it’s definitely one of my best clearance buys. Not only is it’s beautiful – it’s one of those roses you can smell just by standing near it!

I still have plant to expand the Fence border garden in the back yard – I have all those day lilies, Asiatic and Oriental lilies I bought to plant out into it.

While I haven’t had time to plant them, I have kept them nice and healthy in their pots and this one has bloomed. It’s called Salmon Party. It should be more… well salmon… in color. But like Hocus Pocus, the colour will probably develop with age. It’s just nice to see big healthy blooms!

I have waited all summer for these….

These are the Blue Pictoee Morning Glory that I started from seed this year. They are just stunning – definitely worth the wait.

And while I’m not getting any Passionfruit this year…

But the Maypop flowers are blowing me away! I am so glad I bought them. I have to make sure they get extra mulch so they make it through the winter (we are just on the edge of their viable growing zone)

The real stars of the season are the sunflowers. They are all over the yard.

These two – in the backyard are both volunteers.. The light yellow one the right is in the catio, and that’s a bit of a danger – the finches LOVE the sunflowers. SO I’m keeping that one dead-headed to avoid the temptation of fresh seed. It was just too pretty to pull completely.

We’ve got a wide range of sunflowers too – from teeny fluffy ones (like Teddy Bear on the left) to big, and bold.

This one has small blooms, but that great rusty burnishing. It’s growing up by Squirrelington’s, so it’s safe to leave it to go to seed.

And then there are the pure red ones – from bright and fiery to deep and mysterious!

Burton’s got some new friends for the Spooky Season….

Don’t worry Burty! No stuffy will ever compare to your magnificent squishiness!

It’s been a fairly rainy, grey month so far, so it makes my current knit super appropriate….

And as you can see, Burton models it perfectly!

To refresh, as it’s been a hot minute since I’ve shared this project. It’s a shorty pair using the leftovers from the Slip Stitch sock.

I love how the grey yarn is knitting up! And it’s so soft and squishy! I can’t wait to get the second sock knit and off the needles! But it’s going to have to wait a bit – I’ve got an office to prime and paint! (Renos are on track! Woohoo!)

Sick of butterflies yet? No? Good – neither am I

We’re seeing quite a few Red Admirals this month.

But this is the first Painted Lady I’ve seen this year. Painted Lady is one of my favourite butterflies.

And there have been all kinds of Skippers.

These little Crescents have also been very abundant this year. They seem to prefer yellow flowers, so I was tickled to capture this one on a pink Cosmos.

And the Monarchs…

Have been amazing this year. They are starting their long journey south so we are seeing so many of them – even while out driving – I easily spot them fluttering over the roads and farm fields.

I got very excited on the weekend – I was headed from the shed to the catio and something in the veg gardens caught my eye…

Can you see it? Let’s take a closer look…

How about now? Yup. That’s a little monarch chrysalis hanging from Mr. Raccoons book. And on first glance, I thought it was close to opening.

It was brown, and still mottled with green. When a monarch is close to emerging, the chrysalis goes clear and looks mostly black. This one has most likely been the victim of a parasitic wasp. It’s the circle of life, I’m afraid. Only 5% of monarch caterpillars make it to butterfly stage.

It just makes every one of these as little extra special!

In addition to renovations and gardening (and laundry) I also did a little stitching on my fairy.

All I had left to do was the outlining. But there was a lot of it!

I used to HATE outlining. But something has happened with age… like binding, I find it oddly soothing. I just stitch and stitch and stitch and don’t worry how close to finishing I am.

And eventually…

There’s nothing left to outline. You sit back. You admire your work. You do a little internal celebration. You compare it to the picture on your pattern.

And then you notice…

You forgot to stitch her poor foot!

So, you’re going to have to wait until next week for an FO post!

It’s Labour Day today… a nice long weekend here in Canada. But as I mentioned on Friday… I had work to do!

Saturday, I taped the new drywall hung in my office. Sunday it got a coat of mud. While you’re reading this, I’ll probably be up there sanding (and cursing). I’m going to try to paint the ceiling and wood work (closet and a beam) during the week after work, and with any luck, I’ll be painting those wall this coming weekend!

Of course, there’s still floors and trim too – but it’s starting to feel like progress!

But working on the office wasn’t the only thing I got up to.

I did some laundry – and it still delights me to see it hanging out on the line! And of course, that amazing smell when I bring it all back in!

I did a fair bit of work in the gardens. Mostly weeding, but these two.

Helped me hack down the dead parts of the Honeysuckle from the catio fence. Furby kept my stepstool warm when I wasn’t using it, and Lemmy took stock of all the dead vines as they came off the fence.

That corner of the catio certainly looks bare without it there. But I was happy to see that it wasn’t completely dead. There were some branches coming from much lower down that were growing green and strong. I left them, so they can help feed the roots before winter. With any luck, it will come back bigger and better next year!

It’s back to the day job tomorrow…

I think once I’m done sanding, I’ll be joining Rupert for a well-earned rest.

While I am thinking about my garden of bones… the garden of flowers is still going strong. Here’s a look at what’s still in bloom this month.