I was hoping to have at least one finished project today, but I was felled by the flu this week. While it involved lots of enforced couch time, I did even have enough energy to pick up the needles.

But my lovely neighbour Krista did pop by with a little pick-me-up…

A gorgeous yarn bowl she made for me!

Isn’t it so pretty?

And it’s already being put to good use. I’m on the mend and the needles are clicking again!

 

The Leader and Ender HSTs are really starting to pile up. And there’s a time in every L&E project where it ceases to become an L&E project and it goes into regular rotation.

I had a  feeling we were getting close to that with this quilt, so I decided it was time to do a count.  I have 76 cut and pressed, 158 ready to cut and press (I really need to get on that part!) and 18 still in scrap form, but ready to sew.

If I’ve done my math right, that gives me a total of 252 squares. Now to get the layout I need, the number of squares need to be divisible by 8. So I’ve still got a few more blocks to go before this one goes into the regular line up and I have to start a new L&E project.

Here’s where all my Quilts-on-the-Go stand:

• Autumn a-whirl: Still watching for a good deal on batiks for some borders for this one.
• Marseilles Stars: This is the one I showed you earlier this week. It’s going to take a bit. I’m trying to get my intersections and points as close to perfect as possible, so I’m only doing a couple stars at a time:
• A quilt for Ty: This one you haven’t seen yet. It’s a commission from neighbour Krista for her stepson, but we’re still at the fabric picking stage. We’ve pulled a few from my stash, but we need to shopping for more. But the fabrics we have are holding their spot in a box so I don’t go too crazy starting projects and forget that I have this one on the dock.
• Leader and Ender HSTs:  Getting close to finishing up all those HSTs. This one is going to be a crazy one!

 

“What?!?”

When I showed off the sugarskull hat I made for the fair, I was given the suggestion that someone on my Christmas list might like one too.

So Mom gave me some gorgeous gradient handspun she made

And here we go again! I’ve only just got to the start of the skulls, so I’ve got aways to go, but this hat is a fun knit. I’m using some leftover Zarina for the white parts, and it’s a beautiful smooth merino – a perfect contrast for the handspun.

This is the toughest of the Christmas hats I’m making, so I thought it would be best to get it out of the way first. I hope to have more to show you soon.

As you know, I’ve been itching to start a new quilting project. You also know that I love star blocks.

Ever since completing Deep Sea Stars, I’ve wanted to do something similar for myself. But I didn’t want to do the block exactly the same.

I had a couple charm packs of this beautiful collection called Marseille (I do love those French florals)

I sat down, did a sketch and made some notes.

I did one as a test, and then another to refine the process a bit.

It’s going to take a while, but these blocks are going to pile up to make a very pretty little quilt!

And the second pair of heavy man socks is done!

Again, nothing fancy for this pair. In fact, they are even less so than the last pair. This pair is just plain vanilla.  Same yarn, but this pair’s colourway is Bullfinch.

I think it’s another great capture by the yarn company!

And this is the last of my December birthday presents so now I can focus on Christmas hats… stay tuned!

 

I’m still undecided on what to start for a new quilting project, so I figured I’d turn my attention to the disappearing nine-patches I’d sewn at Mom’s last month.

They needed to be cut and disappeared. The cutting part is pretty simple, you just slice each nine patch in half both ways.

 

Then you turn the pieces to create a new design. There are a number of different ways you can turn them.

 

But in the end, I chose the layout that creates a whirlygig in the middle.

In a short afternoon of sewing, I had all the block cut and reassembled, and then even sewn together in the full layout.

It’s now just a wonderful jumble of beautiful fall colours.  Because of the crazy whirly-gigs, I’m calling this one “Autumn A-Whirl”.

Of course the top isn’t done yet. It needs a border or two. But that will have to wait for the next batik sale at Lens… those batiks are beautiful, but spendy!

Last Sunday, I pressed my good friend Aneesha into service to help me get pics of all the socks for my pattern ebook.

Both of us felt we hadn’t seen much of fall, and the spot where I wanted to take pictures is along the Bruce trail where we hiked last year.  We were hoping to see a wonderful autumn bounty, but once we got there…

We’ve finally had that hard frost and a big wind storm and there wasn’t much colour left! (And we’ve had a good dumping of snow since this picture was taken)

There were a bunch of wild pears left on a tree. I’m going to have to remember that for next year… we can harvest a little free fruit!

Looks like those wind storms did some damage and knocked this tree across the path.

We didn’t hike as far as last year, but we explored the immediate area a little more and came across a little creek.

This is where it flows under the train tracks…

And then continues on it’s long journey to Lake Ontario. If you look closely, you can see a little ice around the edges. It was quite chilly out.

Our final destination was the rail line the runs through just before the hiking trail starts climbing the escarpment. I’m saving the sock pictures for the pattern release…

But here’s a little sneak peak of all 12 beauties together!

I know I said the other week that that would be the last for the garden… but I wasn’t quite right. Though we have had some pretty freezing temps the last week or so, the last of the Toad Lilies still managed to bloom.

I may order more come spring because I just love these little guys!

And despite the frost, these little guys were still trying to bloom. Clockwise from top left: Dianthan, Snapdragon, Beard Tongue and Stonecrop.

And you may remember how beautiful the last of my Chicago Peace roses were…

Well before the frost hit, I cut the last few budded stems and brought them to bloom inside.

What a difference! You’d never know they were from the same bush!

Any surprises outside your house?

We wondered if Burton’s interest in playing fetch would wane as he outgrew kittenhood. But here we are a year and a half in…

… and the game just never stops!

Sometimes he even plays by himself, by sitting at the top of the stairs, dropping the ball, then chasing it to the bottom, picking it up, running back up the stairs and doing it all again.