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!

It’s no surprise how much I love my little squirrel picnic table. You’ve all seen the photographic evidence.

Well, a couple months ago, neighbour Krista suggested the perfect accessory for it. But it wasn’t until the other week when I finally found what I was looking for at the dollar store (when I was there for something completely different, of course!)…

The little chalkboard was meant to be a sign for an event table, or other display, but it was just the perfect size for a little sign for Squirrelington’s. Instead of chalk, I used white paint for permanence (I didn’t feel like having to renew it every few days).

I don’t know about you, but I think it classes up the joint a bit!

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Can anyone tell me where the heck September went? Seriously, it feels like it was only about a week long.

Here we are… at the beginning of October, and things are definitely slowing down in the garden. In a week or two, I’ll do a big weekend of winter preparations, but for now I’m just enjoying the blooms that remain.

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The mum in the back garden is just starting to bloom. As you can see from the second picture, it’s just covered in buds. It’s always pretty spectacular when it really gets going.

The marigolds are still blooming like crazy. They will go until we get a good, hard frost.

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This has definitely been my best year for nasturtiums, but even I didn’t expect them to still be blooming!

And I still never get over the fact that I get strawberries in fall! They are small, but still delicious!

Hey- did you know that Basil blooms? Well now you do. Leave it long enough and it will give you pretty white blooms that are similar to catnip!

My Mandivilla has been enjoying the cooler weather.

She’s just busting out all over the place with flowers. This big beast has to come inside for the winter – she can’t take the frost. I haven’t told Dave yet. He’s the one that has to lift her.

And last… October has always been a great time for roses around here… except this year. They are very unhappy with me after their move (hopefully we make up by spring). But Home and Family was one of the few that didn’t get moved.

And she’s putting out a few last minute flowers (tinged pink by the cold)

Rupert says Burton and Relic get entirely too much screen time, and he wants you to know he’s pretty awesome too

So far, I’ve got nine of the 12 flannel bear paw blocks completed for my brother’s birthday quilt. I still have three to go, but I laid them out just to get an idea of the size I’m looking at.

I’m aiming for a lap-size quilt, so with three more blocks, some sashing and a border, I should be right on target.