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!

To help keep me motivated on Dad’s Birthday sweater, I’ve decided to post a weekly check-in on my progress.

So here’s the first one…

It doesn’t look much different than the last time you saw it, so I put Lemmy on it to keep the picture interesting. But despite appearances, I have made a couple inches of progress. It’s now at 15 inches from the underarms, and I need to get it to 18 before I start the ribbing… so I’m closing in on the end of the body… but those long rounds mean its a marathon, not a sprint. Hopefully by next week’s check in, I will have at least started the ribbing – finishing the ribbing by then is probably too optimistic.

By Sunday at noon, I had accomplished a good amount of work in the garden, so I decided to treat myself to an afternoon of sewing in the studio.

The first thing I needed to get out of the way was Burton’s bassinette mattress and pillow. I’d picked up a piece of foam from Walmart last week, so it was just a matter of cutting it to size, and sewing a casing for it and the little pillow.

This was fabric I’d ordered from Spoonflower with the intention to make pillows. I was a little disappointed with the quality of the printing, as it’s a little blurry – not crisp at all. But I didn’t think Burton would mind.

We’ve got the bassinette in the corner of the livingroom right now, and the fabric goes quite well with colours in there.

But of course, Burton is the true judge of the final project.

“It’s much squishier than it was before!!!”

“Ok. I like this!!!

“Okay…. yeah….this is goooood.”

Of course….. now Lemmy wants to know when he gets something cool from the thrift store…

Don’t feel too sorry for him – he’s mostly taken over the chaise.

As I mentioned yesterday, I spent a good part of the weekend outside in the garden. Temps hovered around 25C, and I know there won’t be many days left like that this year.

I’d also been sadly neglecting the gardens the past couple of weeks. Part of that is because I’ve just been constantly on the go, but also because of the mosquitos.

The mosquitos have been absolutely murder this past month. I’m guessing it’s because it was such a wet summer. You could not step out into the yard without being absolutely swarmed. The only way to get anything done without being bitten to death was to practically bathe in OFF.

So even when I had maybe 20 minutes or so to go out and pull a few weeds, I didn’t, because I didn’t want to have to spray myself down, then feel (and smell) bug spray on my skin for the rest of the day.

But this past weekend, their numbers did seem to dwindle a bit (though I did take an OFF shower before going out) , so I decided it was time to tackle that weeding. Plus, I was keen on cleaning out a few parts of Edible Alley.

The peas and the cucumbers have been done for quite a while, so I cleaned out what was left, and cut away all the string trellising I’d put up for them.

I will definitely grow snap peas again next year. Dave loved them, and I surprised myself with how much I loved them too.

While the cucumbers did well, I think I will try an English cucumber next year, just for something a little different.

The tomatoes were still going, but the plants themselves were looking a little sad. I have had MORE than enough tomatoes this year, so I figured I’d pull them too.

I still got about a half-bushel full of ripe ones! Talk about tomato overload! I will definitely be making sure I get cherry or grape tomatoes next year. This was definitely too much!

I also cleaned out the beans. The regular green beans were done. The Chinese Long Beans were still going, but I wasn’t really fond of them. Dave said he’d eat them, but every time I picked some and brought them in, they just sat there. I won’t be planting more next year. They were a fun experiment and grew really well, but I think I’ll stick to just regular bush beans next year

The carrots I left where they were…. well… I pulled one.

They are still quite small. These are the ones that got planted much later. I don’t think they will get too much bigger, but I figure I have time to give them another week or two to grow as big as they can.

The carrot patch looks rather wild and crazy right now! Those marigold have just gone crazy over the last couple of months.

And of course, the squash are still growing.

We will eat it this week. I still have two more of a good size on the vine. There are a couple new ones, but I don’t think they will have time to grow and ripen before the frost hits. Still, with the two big ones still on the vine, that’s four squash this season – which is just fine in my book! These got planted a little late too.

But it’s not just veg in the Alley.

The strawberries are smaller, but all the plants are still producing. I picked a few for me…

And left a few for whoever has been munching away on them in the night.

I’ve also got raspberries! At the townhouse, my raspberries always grew nice and tall on their own. But here they seem to just flop about. I will work on some proper supports next spring, but for now I banged in a few stakes and tied things up.

And as I did, I discovered I had quite a few ripe berries! I ate all the red ones before I thought to take a picture.

But I did get a pic of the golden ones. They were a gift from the neighbor last year, and they’ve done really well. They are a touch less tart than the red ones. I’m hoping to get enough next year to make a batch of jam from them.

And there’s still lots more of both the red and yellow to come!

And last…

The catnip that took so long to start from seed this summer has finally filled out and come in!

Yesterday I was out in the garden, which have been grossly neglected these past few weeks. As I was working away, clearing out part of Edible Alley, and all of a sudden, I heard drums… and bagpipes.

The local fair is on this weekend, and I’d forgotten all about the parade to the fair grounds. I’m not big on parades, but I do love pipe bands. I ran into the house to get my big camera with the long lens, because the parade route goes up the street behind the house.

I got back out with the camera just in time to snap some pics from the back fence.

Three pipers led the way.

Followed by the rest of the band.

There’s just something about a pipe band. I hear those pipes, and drums, and I’m instantly transported to another time. Or maybe I’ve just watched to many historical re-enactments!

Either way – they were fabulous. They are the Forest Legion Pipe Band – Forest being a small town about 3 minutes north of us.

And following the pipers came the rest of the parade. Here are some highlights.

Old and new Firetrucks

Several old farm tractors. There were a few modern tractors too, but I like the old ones much better!

The Alvinston Pro Rodeo had a cute little chuck wagon

The horses were so pretty!

And there were several old cars

But there was one I loved most of all!

A baby pink truck!!! How perfect for me!! How I’d love to get my hands on THAT beauty!

Soon enough though, the parade was over. But it was a nice little interlude in my outdoor work day. (More on that tomorrow)