It’s well into November (how did THAT happen???) and Burton is in the need of a November quilt.

On the weekend, we went online to get some inspiration (poppies seemed an appropriate choice), then got to work making some blocks

The great thing about Burton’s chaise quilts are they are small – they go together so quick

This one is actually a little larger (36″ square), but it was still put together in an afternoon. Hopefully we can get it sandwiched, quilted and bound this weekend.

Work continues on the first sleeve, though I did not accomplish as much as I’d hoped I would over the last week…

And this is part of the reason. Almost every time I sat down and picked it up, Lemmy had to come and sit in my lap. And that would be fine… except, he cannot resist the cables on the circular needles.

Andy he’s quite devious about how he grabs them. His favourite way is to lay UNDER the sweater and reach out and grab them when I thinks I’m not paying attention.

Despite his enthusiasm, I have managed to put several more rounds on it. I’m almost through the decreasing. I should have a finished sleeve to show you next week.

We just have to negotiate some boundaries first…

It feels like it’s been AGES since I last showed you anything on my Leader/Ender project. But rest assured, every day I’m sewing, it’s getting a little love.

I managed to get 12 scrappy 16-patches created, but that’s definitely not enough. So I’ve been sewing more scraps into two-patches. I’ve got a good stack now, so the next step it to make them all four-patches… and then eight-patches… before finally becoming more 16-patches.

It’s definitely not my fastest L/E project… but I think it’s going to be one of the coolest!

I have a friend who is having some serious health issues. Naturally I want to help, but being several hours away, it makes it difficult. But I can make her a quilt…

I bought this Jelly Roll ages ago with her in mind. I can’t say why, but when I think of her, these are the colours that come to mind.

I wanted something that will come together fairly quick, so I’m working on a version of the Star Patch Quilt.

I got about half the four patches made last Sunday before I had to stop for the day.

The other strips are all paired and sewn together, so it’s just a matter of cutting them up and sewing them back together again.

Then we get to turn a bunch of them into stars – Burton is very excited about that bit!

I know it seems like all I sew is red and white blocks but… that’s what I got for now (there’s more stuff coming, I promise)

This here is Block 7 (in the back) and Block 2 (in the front). It took us a while to figure out how to make Block 2 work with just two prints, which is why it was sewn last weekend, and not when it came out originally weeks ago.

We now have seven blocks for this sew along. There are five more blocks to come before a Christmas break. But so far, it’s shaping up to be a mighty fine quilt!

While Lemmy had fun the day after Hallowe’en, Burton made the most of the holiday itself.

A while back, while I was ordering a few things for myself, I came across some pet costumes. Burton is so good about wearing his bandanas, that I just couldn’t resist getting him a little something to dress up in for Halloween.

I was very interested to see how he would handle it.

He did NOT dissapoint!!! Look at that pose – isn’t he just the cutest little Vampurr???

He wore it so well!!! I wish I could have taken him outside for the trick-or-treaters – they would have loved him!

But he tends to be on the skittish side around strangers, and I didn’t want to take the chance of him breaking free on me. So we contented ourselves with a little Hallowe’en photoshoot.

Just purrrrrrrfect!

Halloween night was a chilly one here, with even a few snowflakes here and there. That’s not unusual in this neck of the woods. It is, however, unusual to wake up to this the next morning…

Especially because when you went to bed the night before, they were calling for less than 5 cm of snow. But apparently, overnight the wind shifted and we were treated to about 15 cm of “Lake Effect” (ie, thick, heavy, wet) snow.

I guess it’s officially the end of whatever was left in the gardens.

I went out to get the shovels out of the shed, and knock the snow off the catio fence.

Everyone but Lemmy elected to stay inside where it was warm and dry.

He seemed a little unsure at first, though this isn’t his first snowfall – just his first this year. It wasn’t long before he was running, jumping and diving through the snow like a fool.

Temps are back on the rise again (the snow was half melted by late afternoon) with more rain in the forecast, so it won’t stick around for long. But Lemmy is making the most of it while he can.

Here we are… finally onto to the sleeves on the Great Grey Sweater…

At first, it didn’t seem like it was going very fast. I mean… it was faster than that slog on the body, but it still wasn’t going as fast as I thought it would. But… it decreases every seventh round, so after a few rounds, it picked up pace and things started to move a little faster! And I’m about halfway done now – with more decreasing to go. So it can only get faster from here!

Yep. It’s one year to the day since we stumbled onto this wee nugget, wet and crying in a parking lot in Glencoe.

You can read all about how it happened here. Dave said we are not going out to lunch ANYWHERE today, but I think we should because I think five cats is just the perfect number of cats. Sigh….

For a retrospective of how he changed from kitten to cat, you can read his birthday post here.

I will say that he lives up to this comic to a tee….

As sweet and adorable as he can be… he is one baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad little kitty. From escaping the catio multiple times to stealing socks and underwear to murdering butterflies. He’s recently recently taken to jumping on the kitchen counter (about the only no-go zone for cats in this house). He’s so bold about it, he does it right in front of Dave!!! So now I have sheets of aluminum foil across my counters in an effort deter him. So far it seems to be working… but who know what he gets up to when we are in bed.

What I do know is that when you point your finger at him and tell him he’s a bad cat (for annoying his brothers, knocking all my knitting bits on the floor, stealing my prescription bottles from the bathroom and shooting them down the hall, or any other manner of tom foolery…) this is his response…

Absolutely zero respect!!!

Honestly, he’s one of the baddest cats I’ve ever had (the baddest being the appropriately named Kobiashi Thunderdaemon Satancat).

Of course, it’s hard to stay mad when five minutes later he’s like this…

So warts and all Lemmy, you will forever be the best Hallowe’en treat EVER!

Mother Nature has just loved messing with me this month. Saturday was supposed to be sunny and warm – likely the last warm day of the year. I still had a handful of things to get done in the yard, so it seemed like dear Mother was going to help me out for once.

But never believe the weather reports – especially here, where, as Dave has frequently noted, the weather changes every five minutes.

It was not warm, it was not sunny, it was barely even dry. Thankfully, the little rain that swept through kept mostly to a fine mist, and those things in the yard still had to be done so I got to it.

Naturally, I had some “help”.

Our first task was chopping down several of the dead perrenials – mostly in the catio yard. I tend to leave a lot of the seed heads at the end of the season for the birds – especially the coneflowers.

They are a favourite snack of the Finches. You can see on the right, they’ve already been munching away. But attracting them with such deliciousness INSIDE the catio yard is just cruel. We already had a couple Junco fatalities in our first winter, and I’d prefer no repeats. Especially with the addition of Mr. Ginger Murdermitts. He was hard enough on the butterflies – I don’t want him getting a taste for Finch.

Once all the chopping was done, I got the last of the garden ornaments away for the winter.

These could winter outside, but putting them away will just keep them nicer for longer. I did have to go digging for all those little mushrooms though – they were in the woodland garden under the maple. And it’s been busy dropping a nice amount of mulch in the area.

I wish the Norway maple turned a nicer colour in the fall – but those gorgeous purple leaves just turn mostly brown and dry and drop to the ground. I don’t bother cleaning them up until Spring – they don’t fall anywhere they will cause an issue, and they create a nice bit of winter habitat for moths, frogs, toads, fireflies and all manner of little creatures.

There are other creatures playing in the leaves too.

Fryburger is a daily (multiple times some days) visitor now. Though this is the first time I’ve seen him in the tree. He had no problem getting back down so I guess I don’t need to worry too much about it.

He had a good roll in the leaves, got a little pet, snacked on some catnip, then headed on his way.

I had a little snack break myself, and took a little tour around what was left of the garden. There are still some blooms left, but it won’t be long before they are no more.

The Clematis have been an absolute delight this year. After years of killing them at the townhouse, I finally have them growing here – and blooming so well – even after they shouldn’t be blooming any more.

Though there are quite a few buds out there still, these will likely be the last roses of the year. Caroline de Monaco on the left, and Good as Gold on the right. It was a tough year for the roses. I still got many blooms, though not as many as I would have liked.

It was a fabulous year for foxglove, and next year is already shaping up to be even better. All those little seedlings I transplanted around the Holly Bush have thrived. They should put on quite the show next summer.

And the Toad Lilies will continue to delight until we get as good, hard frost. That probably won’t be far off, but I will enjoy each bloom as long as I can.

At least I have my glorious burning bush to keep me warm when things get cold and frosty!!!