I’ve been making such good progress with my Christmas list that I decided to add another project.

Earlier this year, I bought this panel with my Dad in mind.

I thought it would make a nice lap quilt for him and Jem. Like my brother’s outhouse quilt, I had to do a little planning for this one.

Also like my brother’s quilt, I decided to cut the panel up. Then I made a few blocks to go with it.

I absolutely adore these little bone blocks – though I’m not sure Burton feels the same way. He’d much prefer a cat quilt, I’m sure.

These blocks, and a few of the pieces of the panel will create a border around….

Well NOT around BURTON!! Geeeee cat! Not everything is about you!

They will go around the biggest part of the panel – though I need to size it up a bit before I sew the blocks around it. After that, there will be another border with some paw blocks. And, if all my math works out, it should be a decent sized lap quilt!

It feels like the livingroom has been painted for AGES, and I’ve been dying to show you pictures. But I’ve had to wait for Dave to do a million little piddly things before he’d left me move the furniture in. We are almost there, and I hope to have an update for you soon

Until then, here’s a little side story

We go into Strathroy pretty regularly. It’s the closest city, and has almost all the big stores we need for the renovation. On the way in, there’s a little furniture store. A few times, they’ve had furniture by the side of the road with “free” signs on it. Every time we’ve looked, the furniture, usually arm chairs and loveseats, have been in fairly rough condition… I think they might have a removal service for their customers or something.

Last week, we were heading in to go to Canadian Tire, and Dave noticed they had a couch and chair with free signs on them. I was already driving past, but we decided to take a look on our way back. I’m so glad we did!

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It’s hard to tell here, but it’s a dark olive green – a perfect match for the green in my floral couch. And it’s in pretty much perfect condition. Honestly, I’m wondering if it was a floor sample or something – it doesn’t look like it was used at all (the faint dust marks on it are from us bringing it in the house.). Not only does it recline, it rocks.

The couch was the same style and material but in a light beige. And if it would have fit in Dory, we would have taken it too. My trailer currently has a bum wheel, otherwise, we would have come right home and hooked up the trailer and hoped it was still there when we got back. I’m guessing it got a good home though!

This fabulous find meant that I could FINALLY get rid of the futon. Don’t get me wrong, the futon has done me well – Mom and Dad bought it for their basement in about 2003. They let me take it when I moved into the Beamsville townhouse in 2007 so I had a couch, and it’s been with me ever since. It’s on its third mattress, and now the frame is starting to reach the end of its life. It’s time to let it go.

The recliner is perfect for me, because it still allows me to stretch out when I need to. Of course, the minute it was brought in the house, someone decided it must be for him!

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I’m pretty much fighting him for it every day now!

I don’t need a weather man to tell me winter is on the way.

I’ve got a burrowing Rupert. The cold winds are rising! Get warm!

Before the winter weather hits, it feels like there are eleventy billion little things we need to do around the yard. But of course, it’s been crazy rainy so doing any of them has been next to impossible.

But just after Hallowe’en we got a couple of sunny (if a little chilly) days, I put on my pretty pink wellies…

And got out there and got down to business. Ok… admittedly, Dave did most of it.

One of the things he tackled was our giant scrap pile. After we got rid of the dumpster this summer, anything we pulled out of the house pretty much just got piled at the back of the yard. Dave went through it and decided what could be salvaged and reused, and what needed to be cut up into manageable pieces so we can get rid of it easier. Then he got busy with the saw.

When we took down the greenhouse, there was a large work table in there. It needed a new top though, so Dave stripped off the old one and gave it a more useable surface. Together we moved it into the shed.

It’s not fancy, but it’s perfect for holding my pots, and soil and garden things.

Next up, he had a wooden frame that had been built onto the laundry room floor as a riser under the washer and dryer for some reason we can’t fathom. We didn’t need it there, so Dave took it out.

He thought it might make good shelving for the shed, but I had a better idea. I desperately needed to get my spring bulbs in the ground or they were going to rot. I don’t really have a garden ready for them yet – I needed some sort of temporary space. So I tipped it on it’s side and filled it with soil.

Happily, most of my bulbs were in very good shape despite spending all summer in paper bags in a box in the shed. I only had to toss a couple. After everything was planted, Dave had the brilliant idea of using some leftover catio fencing to help keep the squirrels from feasting on them all

Come spring, I’ll have crocuses, hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips galore!

And last… I think I’ve mentioned that we plan to put up a clothesline. There is a clothesline pole at the back of the yard, but accessing requires trimming several trees. We won’t be able to do that for a while, so I picked up an inexpensive retractable line at the hardware store. Dave kindly installed it so I can string it between the garage and the fence.

It’s enough room for two loads of laundy, I promptly put it to good use!

There’s still plenty to do out there before the snow flies, but it feels good to have these few things accomplished!

As I was hoping, I was able to sneak off to Mom’s for a couple days before Hallowe’en to do a little quilting. The priority was quilting a couple of baby quilts (those posts will come soon), but I was also hoping to have time to quilt my Spring Brook Blossom quilt.

And happily, I did!

Finishing up at about 54″ x 72″ it’s a great size for a lap quilt. And it was so much fun to pull all the different fabrics together for a fun, scrappy look.

Although the pattern didn’t call for it, I love the addition of the little butterfly block.

It’s a fun little block, and I’m sure you’ll see it in my quilting again at some point. And you may notice something in amongst my usual little loops there… little loopy daisies here and there! This one had a lot of open space and I felt it just needed something extra

And speaking of extra…

Check out this wild backing fabric! It’s just over the top and I love it! I have a nice big chunk of it left too, so you’ll see it again in another project!

But for now, this one is in the shop, awaiting a new home… maybe it belongs in yours!

Happy November! Today I bring you flowers to brighten your day.

Yes. Flowers.

In November.

I’ve shown you my reblooming iris before, but I confess, it’s still strange to me to see irises blooming in November.

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I don’t manage to get many blooms on it before it gets too cold, but it’s still wild that these irises exist in the first place. I definitely need more colours!

We have had some very cold nights, but no hard frost yet. As a result, the Toad Lilies are still living it up!

I can’t wait to see what they do next year with an uninterrupted growing season.

Most of the mums are done now, but there’s still a bloom or two limping along.

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There are some buds on the roses, but I don’t think they will get a chance to bloom. That frost has to be just around the corner.

So, I expect this will be the last garden post until next year. Despite the disruption of the move, it’s been another wonderful growing season!

I am happy to report, it was a very good little Hallowe’en in our new town.

I got Dave to take a picture before it got too dark, but was dark enough that you could see all my fun stuff lit up. And here’s a close up of my fantastic hat…

I absolutely adore it and I might wear it all year round – lol!

The night was great, it was chilly, but not too cold. I was warm enough with just my Lestrange cardigan on over my black dress. Next year I’m going to try to get a nice, big cloak to wear instead).

It was cloudy, and we were worried about rain, but happily, it held off until the trick-or-treaters were done. All tolled, we probably got about 80 kids, which is far better than we ever had at the townhouse. I bought enough candy for about 200, so Dave and I have a whole cauldron left to snack on still.

Now everything is packed away, but we have bigger, and better plans for next year! I can’t wait!

I’ve got some tricks to share, but first, a little treat!

A few months back, Mom bought me a little present. A collection of fat quarters that I’d been lusting after since it came out in late summer

The collection is called “Kitty Corn” and I just fell in love with the colours, and those little retro kittens. It wasn’t your usual collection of Hallowe’en fabrics, and I was just smitten!

Well, when I ordered the extra fabric for the outhouse quilt, I needed to make that flat rate shipping fee worthwhile. While browsing the site, I came across a backing fabric that looked like it was a purrfect match, despite being made by a completely different company.

That’s always a gamble when buying online, because colours can look different. But then it arrived!

It was like they were made for each other! Obviously, I wasn’t able to get a quilt made in time for this Hallowe’en, but next year… come harvest season I’m going to have one purrfect little seasonal quilt!

Now onto the tricks. When we moved here, Dave decided we would have to go all out for Hallowe’en. Of course, with the ongoing renovations, I don’t really have “all-out” money, but I managed to scrape together a few things from a few discount places.

Enough to creep out the front steps, at least. Some cobwebs, a couple skull lanterns, a few skeleton specimens

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We still had the styrofoam jack-o-lanterns neighbour Krista skillfully carved for us a few years ago.

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I got Dave a big black cloak and some white make up – he’s going to be a vampire. I got myself the cutest pointed hat and a cauldron, and of course, we have oodles of candy!

We never got a lot of kids at the townhouse, but Dave thinks this is going to be a very pro-Hallowe’en town. I guess we’ll find out tonight!

While I wait for the brown fabric needed to finish the outhouse quilt to arrive, I have the star quilt to work on for new-brother Shaun.

Sewing stars is always a pleasure, and these fabric just increase the fun. I’m already half done, the blocked needed and I barely feel like I’ve worked on it.

Here’s a closer look at those beautiful prints (there are three different combos, with two blocks of each)

It’s not just Burton who loves the railing on the little steps from the sun porch.

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The other two think it’s the best seat in the house. Though for some reason, Relic only sits there at night…

I think Burton rocks it best!