Yesterday, I alluded to the fact that the Monarch continue to be regular visitors to the garden.

It’s not every day, like it was, but at least every other day, there’s one or two flitting through.

The love the butterfly bush the most, but they flit about a lot of other flowers too, like the hollyhock above.

I also recently learned how to tell the difference between a male and female. Above is the female. Below is the male.

You can tell the male by the two black spots on his hind wing. Can’t see them?

Neat eh?

Here’s another male!

And now you’ve learned something new!

And for extra credit: The above White Cabbage Butterfly is a male. Below is the female.

How can you tell? The male has one white dot on his upper wing, the female has two!

Another Saturday, another stroll around the garden!

This big beautiful sunflower greets me every morning as I open the curtains. It’s so cheering to see her peeking over the fence top.

This is the view from the other side of the fence. Such a happy bunch! I can’t wait to expand the gardens on this side of the fence next spring.

I told you the Mums were going to be incredible  once they started blooming. Aren’t they just incredible!

The ones out front are much smaller (less sun) but such a pretty fall colour!

The butterfly bush continues to bloom and we’re still getting winged visitors almost every day! (More on that tomorrow).

I’ve also made an addition of this small, pink heath. I bought one of these not long after we first moved in, but I didn’t make it. It was a pretty sad specimen when I bought it, so I’m betting I have better luck with this one.

I’m enjoying fresh raspberries every day.

And the peach Foxglove is enjoying another round of blooms.

The Sedum is now in full bloom and it’s such a bold, beautiful pink. I have chunks of this Sedum throughout the various gardens – it’s an important late-season source of food for pollinators.

And in between all these other blooms, the marigolds are still going strong.

And the petunias are going absolutely bonkers!

All hail Peno, Queen of the Cube!

With all the recent sewing, I finished off all the Leader & Ender nine patches (now I have to start cutting plain blocks). Which meant I needed another L&E project.

I came across the Leaves a’flutter quilt and thought the block would look good in scraps.

I still have lots  of 2.5inch strips leftover from my rainbow log cabin quilt, so I started cutting them to size and sorting them by colour. I cut all the background pieces as well and got it all nice and organized and managed to complete one block. (The stems are applique, so I’ll do them all at the end.)

Sadly, because I have to pay attention to the direction of those leaf points, it’s not going to make a great L&E quilt. It’s just not mindless enough. So this one is going to go straight into regular rotation.

And I’m still looking for a good L&E block!

I know it probably seems like it’s all quilts all the time around here, but I promise you it’s not. I am knitting…. and I’ve completed another pair of socks! And man socks at that!

Our anniversary is just around the corner , and it wouldn’t be an occasion if I didn’t give him a pair of handknit socks! I was using another skein of Rowan’s lovely striping yarn (Sea and Sand), but I didn’t want to do another pair of boring old vanilla socks. So I spiced it up a bit with some slip stitches.

And as a result – I give you Vanilla Extra!… a fun, FREE, slip stitch sock pattern in two sizes.

All you need is a self-striping yarn and a coordinating colour for cuffs, heels and toes. I had some leftover Alley Cat in a light yellow that was remarkably close to the yellow in the stripes.

This pair came together exceptionally fast – especially for man socks. I had them done in just nine days, which I think is a record for me! Those slip stitches give it a really good rhythm! I may just have to make a pair for myself.

In the meantime, feel free to download the pattern – and tell your friends!

I found some time and finally got a Fish Called Rhonda top together…

Well… I had to move the cat several times but…

Isn’t it just the cutest school of fishies? To ensure the fish were floating (swimming?) within the border of the binding (once it’s quilted of course) …

… I had to add a background border to the left side, bottom and top. The right side didn’t need one because the tails are already set away from the edge of the blocks.

And I didn’t make a mistake with the layout…

There’s one fish going the opposite way on purpose. That’s Rhonda, a sweet little red-head who’s not afraid to do things her own way!

I need to get something for the binding, but I already have a nice big chunk of the whale fabric for the back . I also have a fantastic idea for the quilting… I can’t wait to get started!

It’s true! I love big blocks. You only need a few of them to get a good sized quilt!

I made another block for Celtic dreams. They are about 24″ square – nice and big. From start to finish (cutting included) one of these takes me a couple hours to complete. They are a perfect afternoon project! I’ve got one left and then I have to get some more fabric to finish this quilt off.

Moving on….

I finally settled on a block for my crazy Pinkerville fabrics. (Don’t you just love that Nessie???)

It’s inspired by the star block in MSQ’s Nightsky quilt. I’ve made some minor modifications, so mine is about 22″ square. I plan to make at least eight of these big baddies, for one wild quilt!

Sometimes bigger IS better!

As you can guess from the title, it’s another spider post! Feel free to skip if it gives you the heebiejeebies…..

 

But me… I love spiders, and this summer has been exceptional for them!

I found this little cross orb weaver hanging out on a Sunflower leaf.

There have been a lot of Grass Spiders around. They build a very neat type of nest…

They lay sheets of web with a funnel opening. They hang out at the base of that funnel and run out when something lands on their web…

Peek-a-boo!!!!

Out front, a very smart  Grass Spider has made her web on my fairy house. And she’s using the window as a place to hide… can you see her little legs sticking out?

Occasionally I find her hanging out in full view.

The real exciting spider was the Spotted Orb Weaver that made its home on my Cana Lilies.

It was almost invisible amongst the seed pods on the expended bloom stem. I only noticed it when it came out on its web.

I even got to see it wrap up a bit of lunch!

Which it then took back to the seed pods for leisurely snacking.

I just love nature!

Although I’ve been very excited about fall, there’s still plenty of summer left in the garden…

In fact, my back yard looks positively wild!

The Physostegia I bought at the Milton market has finally bloomed, and it is so pretty. I noticed my neighbour has some too. His is VERY tall (like more than 5 feet), so it will be interesting to see what it does next year.

Chicago Peace is blooming again. Her colours always seem to be extra vibrant in the cooler weather.

Every year, I always add a few annuals as filler. This year it was mostly petunias, and they’ve just gone crazy!

This is another beautiful annual I have in a pot – an African Daisy in the prettiest shade of pink!

The catnip has started to bloom too. I grow it in pots now to keep it under control (it really spreads) and to keep the cats from flattening my gardens!

My Chrysanthemum out back is enormous and absolutely covered in buds.

I have one out front too, but it doesn’t get as much sun, so it’s much smaller and not quite ready to bloom.

And last, we’re still enjoying some lovely backyard produce, and will until the first frost comes!

It’s been a while since I showed you any pictures of Winnie, so here she is!

She’s all grown up now, but she’s not a huge cat – just a little bit bigger than Rupert.

She’s not a lovey dovey cat (except with my Dad) – some days I’m not even allowed to pet her.

But she’s always up for some mischief!

Unlike other cats, she doesn’t even pretend to be helpful – she just goes head first into trouble.

Incase you don’t recognize it – that’s the bottom of my dress she’s grabbing!

But she certainly is a beautiful beastie.