While I was planting bulbs, I had a lovely visitor…
This sleek grey boy lives at the house across the street. He’s a frequent visitor to our yard, though he’s still pretty shy, mostly running off when he sees us. But more and more, he’s been sticking around as long as I don’t try to approach him.
As you can see, he came that day, for a munch on the catnip, which has filled in beautifully after it’s slow start. After his snack, he even came over and gave me a little sniff. But he ran off again when I tried to pet him.
You know how much Dave and I love thrifting, so while I was on vacation, we took as many opportunities as we could to stop at thrift shops and antique stores while we were out and about. Here are our latest finds…
We are going to be hosting our families for Christmas this year. There will only be about 10 people, but I needed some proper serving dishes. These large banana leaf shaped platters should hold some turkey and stuffing quite nicely!
They stack nicely for easy storage too.
At our favourite used store in Strathroy, I found this 3.5 gallon galvanized bucket, perfect for the garden. And three of the largest Mason jars I’ve ever seen.
Here they are beside one of my 500 ml jars. They are HUGE! I have no idea what I will use them for, but I just had to buy them.
We also made a trip to our favourite antique mall in Woodstock, and each came away with a good score.
There’s over two yard of the Hell Kitty fabric.
And last… on the way home from that Sarnia trip on Saturday (the one that interrupted my sewing) we drove by a pile of furniture on the curb… most of it was in pretty rough shape, but there was a loveseat that was in great condition.
It was the perfect size and just fit into the back of Dory! We brought it home and Sunday I gave it a good steam clean.
It goes quite nicely with our thrifted recliner. It fits well in the upper living room and it allowed me to finally get rid of the broken old futon. Between this and the furniture in the lowing living room, we have plenty of furniture for Christmas entertaining.
But I think our guests might have to fight Burton for the recliner…
I had hoped this vacation would give me lots of time to get in the studio. Despite the foul weather, it was not to be. There were just too many other projects that had been neglected.
I got in the studio exactly two times. Early in the week when I went in with a migraine, and this past Saturday. I planned to sew all day – but I wasn’t even through the first block when Dave came in and interrupted. He needed some part for his car – and he needed me to drive him to get it…
Sigh… I asked him to let me finish the block and I’d be down.
So this is all the sewing I accomplished on Saturday. It’s the latest block from the Blockheads sew along and will go with my other red and white blocks I made earlier in the week.
Maybe I’ll be able to get some time in the studio this coming weekend… though I doubt it. I also didn’t have good enough weather to paint the catio porch like I wanted to. It’s looking like the weekend will be the last good one for the year… so painting will be priority if the weatherman is right…
While working in the garden, I came across several wee friends… some old, some new…
I love these brown Mantis ladies. The mantis population is very good here in the garden. If only they ate Japanese beetles! Regardless, they are always welcome.
I interrupted an intimate moment between two Grasshoppers on the Royal Red Butterfly bush. The grasshoppers are always very populous here – though they are a little less so in the catio yard, thanks to a certain ginger kitty we brought home.
This moth (either a corn earworm, or a cowpea moth – Google can’t decide) was making the most of the warm sunny day.
There was a Cabbage White butterfly getting what she could out of the pink pincushion plant out front. The pincushion plant is very popular among the Cabbage Whites.
And a bumblebee was taking the opportunity to get a little nectar from the lavender.
Absolutely everybody was getting ready for the coming cold weather.
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!
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!
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!
Wandering Cat Studio 