Thanksgiving is out of the way so now it’s time to focus on Christmas!

The first Christmas project that has to be done is the “Night before Kit-mas” quilt. As I mentioned before, it’s going to be raffled off to raise funds for Natalie and the kitties at Bee Meadow Farm.

That means it has to be done well before Christmas so it can be raffled off and mailed to the winner in plenty of time for the silly season. My goal was to have it done by the end of October, so Natalie can hold the raffle sometime in November.

And I’m happy to say, I’m well in sight of reaching my goal… the top is finished!

I told you that you’d be seeing more chains in my quilts – I just love them! This one is a nice lap size (about 52″ square), and filled with kitten/Christmas fun!

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And can we talk for a minute about plaid? You know I love plaid, right. But what I love even more…

Diagonal plaid! I paid full price for this one – but it was worth it. It’s the perfect fabric to wrap the whole thing up with!

Now I just need to get a backing, then I can get this one quilted and ready to raffle!

I finished up Paisley’s birthday socks last week.

And aren’t they just the most cheerful socks you’ve ever seen???

The pattern is inspired by the Love Still Wins socks. Basically, I stole the chart from it, and made the rest up as I went along.

I used two “budget” yarns for these. The black is Red Heart “Heart and Sole”, and it was surprisingly soft. Though not as soft as the self-striping Felici (colourway: Side Pony) – that yarn is crazy soft, especially for the price!

Paisley is not a matchy-matchy teen, so I let the stripes fall where they may, and I love the result.

It also means I still have one ball left of this colourway – enough to make myself a pair of anklets! (Once all my gift knitting is out of the way!) I call that a win!

Today is Thanksgiving for us Canucks, and it’s also the third anniversary of the day we made Relic a permanent member of the family! (You can read more about how he showed up here and when we officially took him in here).

And we are so thankful this amazing cat sauntered into our yard.

Even after all the years, it still melts my heart to see him passed out in the bed like this.

I think of all those years he had to sleep outside, and always be on guard. To see him stretched out, sound asleep like this, without a care in the world….

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He’s so full of personality.

It’s really hard to imagine how we ever got along with out him!

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After my post yesterday, I know some of you are probably wondering… With the gardens put to bed, will Squirrelington’s remain open?

And the answer is, absolutely, YES! How could I possibly think of closing Squirrelington’s? My brother put a nice thick coat of clear on the table, so it should be able to weather the cold season.

One of the things I love about this house, is that I can watch the birds and other backyard beasties from the comfort of the couch. Especially when it’s cold and snowy outside.

In addition to the squirrels, I now have at least four “regulars” – four cheeky blue jays that wait on the fence (and in the trees) for me to put out the first serving of the day.

They clean out the table pretty quick, so I’m now going through about double the peanuts that I was… but that’s ok.

I mean, could you say no to these guys?

Besides…

Even Peno’s gotten in on watching the backyard entertainment!

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here in the great white north. As it has all over the world, COVID has put a bit of a damper on the traditional gathering of family.

But one tradition COVID can’t mess with has to do with me and my garden. This weekend is always the weekend I bring the indoor plants back inside (it’s getting chilly out there and we could get frost any day now), and I also use the time to get the gardens ready for winter.

Among the plants that will be coming inside is the Hibiscus.

She was a sad little plant on a clearance rack a few months ago, but with a little love, she turned into a prolific bloomer. But, she won’t appreciate the cold and snow, so in she comes.

We’ve had a decent harvest of the few edibles things we grow.

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I brought in the last of the banana peppers (hand included for scale). And while it’s been mostly cold and rainy, the plants are still flowering!

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Same with the tomatoes. We got a fair few red ones (and some still ripening) but there are A LOT of green ones that just didn’t have time to ripen. We won’t get enough warm days for the slow pokes to catch up, I’m afraid.

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My fall raspberries are finally turning red and juicy… though the bluejays are getting most of them before I have a chance. Apparently a daily buffet of peanuts and sunflower seeds are not enough.

Speaking of sunflowers, these small red ones are still popping out a few blooms.

And these yellow beauties actually belong to my neighbour. They are called Helianthus, and are related to the sunflower. He told me I can harvest some seeds this weekend, so next year I hope to have a good showing of them.

My marigold are still going strong, and I’ll be collecting seeds from them too. Especially, they’d bold red ones.

I told you my mums would just explode and well…

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I included Burton in that last picture for scale. It’s literally a shrub with just a mass of flowers!

Now I’ve got work to do, so I’ll leave you with my nasturtiums…

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which will NOT STOP BLOOMING!

PSA… do not leave your warm woolies anywhere where Miss Winnie can reach them.

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You might not get them back.

(Yes, that’s my Lestrange cardigan. I had to do some serious negotiating to be able to leave with it!)

One last FO for the week…

But I can only take credit for the piecing of this one. Mom deserves most of the praise for all the fancy work she did in quilting it.

Her classes have definitely been paying off. Just look at this amazing stitch work…

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After all that the cheery pink fabric I chose for the back is kind of dull and boring in comparison

My plan was to put it in the shop…. but I don’t think I can part with it.

I don’t think Burton can either!

The next finished quilt is my Disappearing Nine Patch of adorable sea turtles.

I just love the movement this one has, not just with the pattern, but also all those cute turtles (and crabs) swimming and dancing about.

And how can you not loves those happy flannel sharks on the back?

What you can’t see well in the pictures, is that the whole thing has been quilted with a varigated (pastel pink, yellow, blue and green thread), just like I did on Pinkerville Parade. It add a little more magic to a cute baby quilt.

Like Bramble Patch, this one is available for sale in the shop!

The rest of the week of is a week of quilt FOs, so buckle up!

First up is Bramble Patch

It’s a simple, but elegant baby quilt in my view. And those forest creature add a perfect touch of whimsy.

I’ve fallen in love with chains in quilting, so you will definitely see more in my work. I was happy to use up quite a few leftover bits in this one, including almost all of the red I used on the backing of Royal Stars.

This cute little quilt has joined the others in the shop.

Since I’d neglected all my other knitting to get the Fer-De-Lance socks done in time, I missed my deadline of completing the the barnyard sweater by the end of September.

Now, the deadline was self-imposed, so it didn’t really matter, but I want the darn thing off the needles and out of my face (not to mention, Christmas is creeping ever closer and I still have lots if crafting to do!)

So, this past week, if I’ve been knitting, it’s been only on the stinky thing.

And happily, I’ve completed the first sleeve! Only one more to go and this will be in the rearview mirror!