I’m on vacation this week, and I’m hoping to sneak up to Mom’s a couple of days and bang out some quilts on the long arm. I have both Garden Trellis and Scraps and Ladders to quilt, but I had some time this week and I just couldn’t resist adding one more top to the t-quilt pile.

A few months back I was nosing around pinterest and I came across this quilt block:

As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. I had this fat quarter pack for a couple years now:

I got it from Walmart, and isn’t it just the cutest?

It didn’t take me long to turn out the first block. Three more quickly followed. Add some sashing and cornerstones and bam!

I give you one adorable 46″ square quilt top!

By some amazing coincidence, I have a chunk of the seashell fabric that should be enough for the back. Before I picked up this FQ pack, I’d found the shell fabric in the clearance bin at Lens, and used it for the back of Deep Sea Stars.  I’ve still got a couple yards left… what are the chances?

Never leave a fresh pair of socks unattended in this house…

It’s a good thing the recipient won’t notice a little extra cat hair…

Progress is slow on the poncho. I’m trying to do at least four rows a night (one full pattern repeat), but the rows are long, so it doesn’t add up to much. But stitch by stitch, it gets done.

Or at least it would, if I didn’t make stupid mistakes like this…

Forget one simple K2Tog and it just throws everything right off. Of course, I didn’t notice until I was well passed it. I was almost tempted to leave it, but it was just too glaringly obvious… so riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip it!

Luckily, the stitches were easy to pick up and now I’m back on track. I’m still in the slow lane, but at least the lane is on the track and not in the ditch!

One more block is complete for Dave’s Christmas quilt. One to go and by the time it’s done, the backing and sashing fabric should show up on my doorstep. I’m hoping to have the whole thing quilted and bound by mid-November.

As an  aside, Dave accompanied me to Lens the other week while I was picking up some plain white fabric. We walked by the section that has the Stonehenge collection of fabrics and it immediately caught his eye. While I haven’t been hiding this project from him, he doesn’t pay much attention to what I’m sewing unless I point it out to him. But at least I know he’ll like it now! (Not that there was much doubt).

Although I have the poncho on the needles, you know me, I always need at least one pair of socks on the go too.  It’s mostly for their value as travel knitting, but also because when you have a big project on the go like the poncho, it’s nice to have something small to break up the monotony.

So I cast on another pair of anklets in Rowan’s self-striping Mermaid colourway so we can have matching socks. They aren’t a perfect match… Rowan’s pair doesn’t have the solid heel and toe. Mine have it because I’m not 100% there’s enough yarn left to make another full pair without it. Luckily, I had some leftover turquoise that’s just half a shade off from the one in Rowan’s yarn. Just like Rowan’s pair, I’m using my Undine pattern.

Jacob’s Ladder won out in the battle of what to do with the L&E four patches.

And I am just thrilled with the scraptastic results! You’d never know this one gave me absolute fits to put together. While the pieces are simple enough (just four patches and HSTs), making sure everything is going in the direction is should was surprisingly tricky. But in the end, I managed it.

Keeping up with the scrappy nature of this one, I dug deep into the stash for fabrics that would work with all those little four patches

The black floral of the HSTs and inner border was leftover from the back of two quilts I made (Superstar and Victorian Love Charm).  The green stripe was leftover from the back of a quilt Mom made. The white/grey cornerstones were a leftover charm from Sam’s Kitty in the Sky with Diamonds

This Leopard flannel (clearance bin find) will make the back, and the binding is some leftover green from the back of Dragonfly Gallery.

Now it’s in the to-quilt pile and I have a new L&E project on the go…

Geese! Lots and lots of Geese!

 

Our fall this year has been all over the place so far. One day warm, the next day cold… back to warm, rainy, windy, foggy… the only thing we haven’t had is snow!

The garden is still hanging in, but it’s definitely winding down. Though you wouldn’t know it when you look at the Chrysanthemums.

It’s so covered in blooms you can’t see the leaves!

The pink one out front is much smaller, but so pretty. And almost as many blooms per inch.

The weather has confused my yellow irises…

This is definitely the first time I’ve EVER seen irises blooming in OCTOBER!!!

Chicago Peace always does well this time of year.

And Blue Girl has put up her (probably) last bloom of the season. And it is a perfect one!

The coneflowers and susans are almost done, but there are still a few specimens left.

The finches have been enjoying the dead seed heads though.

The sunflowers are done, but I’ve left them up for the birds…

But someone knocked the big one down and had quite the feast!

And we’ve still been feasting on the fruits of the garden as well!

Guess who’s already FOUR????

Yep. This weirdo. Don’t ask me how such a small cat can be so long (or contorted). We just accept Rupert as he is…

I’ve said it before, Rupert is a little enigma wrapped up in a gorgeous ginger pelt. He can be incredibly stand-offish one minute, and the next, he’s climbing in your lap looking for love.

He still loves to wedge himself on the metal tracks of the sliding glass door, though that can’t possibly be comfortable.

He still grumps at Relic every chance he gets, but almost every morning, I wake up around 6 am, and they are both on the foot of my bed, curled up together.

He loves to be outside, but if I come in and shut the door behind me, he’s pressed up against the screen, worried that he’s been abandoned to the wilds.

He’s the  funniest little goofball and I’m so glad he’s ours.

The Queen of the Cube got her crown…

… I’m not sure she’s too thrilled about it….

With all the scrappy nine patches done, it was time to cut the plain white blocks and get another quilt top together.

I love how, in this layout, all the nine patches create a framework, or trellis.

Mom’s been bugging me to try more than just loops and meandering on the longarm. And all those white blocks are just crying out for something special…

So I picked up this simple flower stencil. It’s going to take a bit of practice, but I think it will look cute. And speaking of cute….

Check out this garden boot fabric I found for the back! Another spectacular clearance bin find! The daisy print is from my stash and I think it will make nice binding, don’t you?