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?

 

So many of you have been working on lovely autumn-themed projects. And it’s had me itching to start an autumn project of my own.

I’ve been toying with the idea of designing a poncho, but then one popped up on Ravelry which caught my fancy!

It’s knit in worsted, but I had the perfect autumny yarn in my stash.

It’s DK, but with a few adjustments to the pattern it was easy to make it work.

I’ve got a good start on it, but it’s not going to be a fast project. Autumn will probably be over by the time I get it finished.  But still, it’s good to have a seasonal knit on the needles.

How are we at the end of September already? September just flew by. I hope October moves a little slower.

With the last pair of Christmas socks done, I’ve only got on thing left on my to-make list for Christmas, but it’s a biggie.

There’s another block done for Dave’s Christmas quilt. I can make one of these big bad boys in an afternoon, so I shouldn’t have too much trouble staying on track, but still, I worry.

I’ve got four done, with two more left to go. As you can see, once I get some sashing in there, it’s going to be a good sized quilt. Dave is just over 6ft tall so I want to make sure it’s got a lot of length for him.

Here’s the fabric pairing for the last two. I’ve ordered the sashing and the backing, but it will probably take a few weeks to get here. I’d like to get these two blocks together by then.

I don’t generally enjoy assembling the tops, but I’m really excited to see this one come together.

Huzzah! The last Christmas knit is done!

Nothing fancy – just basic sock math and contrasting heels and toes. I do love the yarn. It’s West Yorkshire Spinners BFL prints. It’s lovely and soft and makes fantastically warm, heavy socks.

Just one present left to finish now, and it’s a quilt. So that means the next things on the needles is something for me!

I finally found a new Leader and Ender project…. sort of.

After I finished the top for the Time to Sew quilt, I was left with several 2″ sashing strips in off white, as well as a decent sized chunk of the fabric.

I rarely work with pieces smaller than 2.5″, but I didn’t want to waste those strips. So I cut them in 2″ squares, and started collecting 2″ squares from my other leftovers.

Scrappy four patches make great L&E blocks because they are just so mindless.

My original plan was to put them in a Jacob’s ladder layout… something like this:

Though not that big… I did something similar in my Follow the Leader quilt, and I love it!

But then I was over on Mangofeet’s blog… if you follow her, you know she makes the most AMAZING quilts. One of the blocks she’s been making is the Sand Castle…

And they are just so cool too? And now I can’t decide what all my little four patches should become when they  are done. What do you think?

While we’re deciding, here’s where all my other projects are at:

• Celtic Dreams – Four blocks down, two to go! (More on that soon)
• Garden Trellis  – This was the old L&E project. I have to cut the white squares and get this top together.
• Pinkerville quilt – This one doesn’t have a proper name yet, but I’ve made a few blocks and I love them!
• Unbe-Leaf-able – Those leaves are falling fast. I hope to finish this top soon!
• Leader and Ender quilt – As you see above!