One of the reasons I like to take the week of Canadian Thanksgiving off is that it’s almost always guaranteed to be good weather. It’s usually sunny, and comfortably warm during the day. Perfect for doing the last bits of gardening required for the year.

But not this year. The weather has been miserable – grey, frequently rainy, and most days barely reaching above 10C/50F. Except for Thursday.

Thursday dawned sunny, and by 10 am it was a nice, balmy 14C/57F. I wasn’t going to waste the opportunity.

The first thing I did was harvest the carrots.

This was my first attempt at growing carrots, and I definitely made some mistakes. My first planting didn’t get enough water and mostly died. My second planting was too thick, and I didn’t thin them enough. It was also planted a little on the late side. But despite that…. look at all that orange!

Most were on the small side, but that wasn’t surprising given my notes above. But there were still several good sized ones. That’s a cookie sheet they are laid out on so that should give you some idea of size. I cooked several of the bigger ones with dinner that night, and Dave’s been steadily eating the little ones raw since then. So small or not, it’s been a successful experiment. I will definitely be planting more next year.

With the carrots out, I planted up some garlic. I absolutely love using fresh garlic in my cooking, and I’d love to have some homegrown to use. Of course, I won’t get to reap the rewards until next year.

And… I said I wasn’t going to do it… but when I bought the garlic to plant, the nursery I got it from was having a HUGE clearance on perenials.

I ended up filling a flat….

Some familiar friends, but also many new ones. Instead of trying to find space for them in the various gardens – I planted them all in the empty bean bed.

It can serve as sort of a “transfer” garden. They can live there over winter, and come spring, I can expand the garden spaces, and have them in their new homes before it’s time to plant more beans.

I also picked up a Forsythia at an amazing price – just $5.

I planted it just outside the shed where it will bring a wonderful burst of spring colour to the garden.

I also got the climbing roses secured for winter, and all those spring bulbs planted. Now it’s back to rain again. The only thing left to do this season is harvest the remaining squash, which I will probably do this weekend.

There’s still blooms to enjoy until the frosts hit… but the hard work is done for the year – and it’s all been very rewarding!

Last weekend, Mom and Dad were in the area (Dad was picking up an order for hunting season at a gun store not far from here), so they stopped by for an hour or so. And mom brought me a little present.

Pins, just like my blue ones – but in black!!!! How cute are they???? I decided they needed a very special pin cushion… so I made them a little pumpkin!

Just look at all those cute black kitty faces….

Of course, not as cute as the real thing!

I have been working fairly steadily on the great grey blob almost every night for the past week. So imagine my dismay when I picked it up yesterday to measure it, expecting to be able to start the ribbing… and it was only 3/4 of an inch longer than where I left it last week!!!! I still needed over two inches to start the ribbing.

I had other plans for the day, but I decided I needed to get to that ribbing – come hell or high water – so I plopped myself in my chair and got to it.

Knitting all day was not without its difficulties…

Difficulty Number One was eventually overcome (distracted by a noise Dave made in the kitchen… but he was soon replaced by Difficulty Number Two.

Eventually, that Difficulty was persuaded to move to a less obstructive position…

Of course, it wasn’t long before Difficulty Number One returned…

Eventually he settled in for a nap and I kept knitting… and knitting. Finally dinner time rolled around and I got up and measured my progress… so sure I would be at 18 inches!

#@%&!!!!!

Well…. maybe you’ll see some ribbing next week….

With Thanksgiving out of the way, it’s time to focus on Hallowe’en. To that end, I’ve been working on a few different spooky projects over the last couple of days.

Those little black pots pictured above were for this.

It’s a candle holder I found at Michaels, but of course, I thought – I can put plants in that! So I got six little terracotta pots, painted them black and planted them up with some cacti and succulents.

I think it’s pretty cute!

In other plant news…

I also got this little cauldron planter to paint up. My original plan was to put my string of pearls plant in it, look it looked like little bubbles… but then I remembered I had this dragon fruit that was in need of planter… so in it went.

And in the same vein of paint-your-own pottery…

I couldn’t resist this little light-up ghost cat!

This next project was the most time consuming….

…and it took a very steady hand to paint (which is a lot harder for me than it used to be), but I’m pleased with the results. It’s now hanging in the kitchen.

Several of you have seasonal buntings you put out… and I absolutely love the idea. I’ve been planning to make some, but then I found this one at Michaels and just had to get it and put in on the antique radio cabinet we have under the TV!

Halloween gnomes in candy corn hats!!! Admittedly, it’s a little long for the radio front, but I still think it’s adorable. Here’s a close up of those gnomes!

Too cute!

And last, but not least – my knit pumpkins are out for the season again

These guys make me smile every time I see them!

Now… I have to get the outside of the house decorated – there’s a lot of skeletons to pull out of the closet!

I woke up Monday with a migraine, but I really, really, really wanted to get caught up on the blockheads block.

By late afternoon, it had mellowed enough that I thought I could try and tackle a block or two. There were three blocks to catch up on.

The first block…. well I’m still trying to decide how to do it with just two fabrics and a background. I have some ideas, but I’m not sold on any of the yet. The second block, I’ve decided to skip… it just won’t work with my vision of this quilt. The last block… I absolutely LOVE… but it’s paper pieced. I’m not opposed to paper-piecing… but my brain certainly wasn’t up to it with half a migraine still lingering.

But there was an alternate block provide for those who didn’t want to paper piece.

It’s called the Woven Star, and it was pretty easy to put together. Just the type of thing my sore brain could handle.

And mom suggested another block that would give a similar look to the paper-pieced one.

A Lemoine Star!!! It too was very easy to put together – though I did make one cutting error and had to redo a few HSTs.

So now I have three simple, but beautiful blocks, which I think are shaping up to a beautiful quilt!

Today is Thanksgiving here in Canada. It’s going to be a quiet day around the house for me and Dave. But as always, I like to take stock of the things I’m grateful for.

Of course, I’m grateful for Dave and the cats, and the roof over our head. I’m grateful for my family, even though I won’t see them today. I’m grateful for my hobbies, which keep my mind engaged and hands busy.

And I’m grateful for my garden – even though it gave me WAY TOO MANY TOMATOES!!!

I mentioned that I cleaned the gardens out last weekend, and I had a huge basketful of tomatoes. Many of you mentioned canning some tomato sauce, and that would be fine, except tomato sauce isn’t something we eat a lot of in this house. I’m not a big fan of tomatoes in general, and we don’t eat much pasta. Dave likes tomatoes, but has to watch his intake because the acid bothers him.

But then, I was laying in bed and I had an epiphany… I didn’t have to make sauce – I could make salsa!!! Several years ago, I ended up with a glut of green cherry tomatoes, and I made Salsa Verde. I gave it all away and it was a big hit with everyone I gave it to.

So Saturday morning I got up and put all the tomatoes in the sink to give them a good clean…

Then I got to chopping…

I could have used my blender for this like I do when I make jam – but I love playing with knives. I chopped tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic threw it all into my biggest pot.

Once stewed down, it was put into pickle jars and processed in a hot water bath.

In the end, I got 14 jars in three batches. I made a hot batch (jalapeno and scotch bonnet peppers), a mild batch (half the jalapenos), and a mild batch without onion or garlic for best friend Samantha, who has a sensitivity to alliums. With the exception of Sam’s batch, the rest will be added to Christmas presents this year.

You can see, even after that, we still have some tomatoes left – though not enough for another batch. But enough that I won’t feel too bad if we don’t eat them all before they go bad.

And the ability to make something special to share from our own garden – Burton agrees – that’s something to be thankful for!!

The leave are turning and falling, the cool autumn winds are blowing… and I’ve got spring on my mind. I’m on vacation this week, and possibly today, or at least one day this week, I willt be on my hands and knees in the dirt for the final time this year.

It’s time to plant the spring bulbs!!!!

I’ve made a couple orders from my favourite mail order suppliers, as well as collected bulbs from the stores as we’ve been out and about…

I might have gone a little bit crazy in the tulip department…

Most of them are Triumph tulips (one of the most standard tulip forms) but not all

These two (Spring Green and Modern girl) are Viridiflora tulips.

I also ordered some fancier ones. They aren’t a perennial as the Triumph tulips (you may only get one or two years from the bulbs)..

But they are so pretty they are worth putting in new bulbs every year.

But it’s not just tulips…

I’m adding quite a few new varities of daffodils. Here we have Pipit and Rip Van Winkle

Mount Hood and Arctic Bells

And some fancy coloured tulips!

One area I really neglected last year were the crocuses.

I’m making up for it this year with a 50-bulb mix. Crocus are among the earliest blooms so I want lots and lots of these guys around.

I’ve also ordered a mix of Alliums

To get more colour in the few weeks between the spring bulbs and the summer perennials. I love those big round heads and so do the bees!

Now that the woodland garden has been officially started, we need some colour in there too.

I’m not sure what will take so I got some snowdrops, Spanish bells and some English Bluebells.

And when it comes to fall planting, you know I can’t forget the irises.

This year I’m adding “Presby’s Crown jewel”, “Frimousse” and a mix of pinks. I probably won’t see blooms on them the first spring, but they are always worth the wait!

And last … but certainly not least..

The Raspberry Sundae peony!

It’s going to be one magnificent spring next year!

I’m really not sure where September went, but October has now dawned in the garden. There’s still lots in bloom, but there’s no denying now that the garden is on it’s decline to the end of the gardening season.

This past week has been unseasonably warm, and the honey bees have been very busy collecting pollen before the temps turn this weekend.

And these jerks are still hanging around

Though there are definitely fewer of them than there were at the height of the season. And hopefully my efforts have helped and we’ll see even fewer next year. Probably not, but a gardener can hope.

There’s even been the odd butterfly or two flitting about. Mostly the ubiquitous Cabbage White.

But also this Painted Lady.

She was busy filling up with nectar on the Queen of Hearts butterfly bush, which still has lots of blooms (Deadheading really helps keeping these bushes blooming.)

Like the Monarch, these butterflies are migrants. This one is filling up for a long trip south…

… at least as far as the Southern U.S., and maybe even as far a Mexico! Safe travels little Lady!

Picture-perfect Lemmy

The Moda Blockheads have started up again with another quilt-along. It actually started a few weeks ago, but I haven’t had a chance to even think about joining in.

But after I got Burton’s bassinette squared away, I decided it was time to get started.

This time around, Burton and I are using this lovely collection.

It’s called Flowerhouse Daisy’s Redwork. And I know what you’re thinking…. another red and white quilt….???

Well not really… because my other quilt is red and CREAM (with a little beige thrown in). Plus my quilt is a much duller shade of red. This one is very crisp and bright.

This one is also going to be a bit of a challenge because I only have 12 fat quarters. I’m going to try to do as many blocks as possible, with only two fabrics (plus background) in each.

I got the first block done and I love the simplicity of not just two fabrics, but only two colours.

Burton was quite pleased with it too. As for Relic and Lemmy… they didn’t help in anyway shape or form, but they insisted on being part of the photoshoot. Apparently word has gotten out that I trade treats for good pictures!