Officially Fall

I don't set much store by the calendar definitions of seasons.  We're told it's spring when there is still snow on the ground, and by the time the calendar gets around to making winter official, there is snow again.  In between, there's summer, and fall.
It has started to feel like fall this week, and we even had frost on the grass this morning, so this time the calendar seems right.

I finished this little lap quilt this week.  I "won" it in a silent auction at our quilt group last year.  It could have said "some assembly required" on the package, but everything except batting was in there.  The printed pattern was included, the blocks were pieced, the strips for sashing and borders and binding were cut (and labeled!), and the backing was there as well.

All these beautiful leaf prints are very appropriate right now, and the colors are so good.  When I take it to our quilt meeting this month, I want to thank the person who donated it to the auction.  I'm donating it as a lap quilt, probably for a nursing home resident.

Here's the book the pattern came from.  The quilt is named "Greta", and is the last one in this book.

I'm trying to finish canning and freezing vegetables and fruits before it's too late.  This is a half bushel of tomatoes that Little Buddy and I got at the Farmers Market on Wednesday.

While he was watching Mickey Mouse, I got them canned.  There are 14 pints of tomatoes (only one didn't seal).  When the kettle is down to mostly juice and a few tomato pieces, I can that in the taller jars as soup starter.
I'm thinking about maybe getting some more tomatoes, since I don't think this will last the winter, but we are really getting to the end of tomato season now.

How do you baste your quilts?  Here's what I was doing Sunday.  I spread out a batting on the floor, and cut out the batting for 3 small quilts.  I like doing this on the carpet, as the batting clings to it and thus lays flatter.  Once I get the batting cut, I layer the quilts on the kitchen table and spray baste them.

This is the stack, ready to be quilted.

September is almost over, and all my blue blocks are done for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  I did find this blue picture in my files.

My youngest grandson, nicknamed Little Buddy, loves blueberries.  I bought a lot of them this summer, at the store and at the farmers markets.  When we got home from the grocery, I would wash up some blueberries, and give Little Buddy a small bowl of them to eat while I got the groceries put away.  It's a good snack for a little guy, and keeps him busy.
Sadly, all our blueberries are in the freezer now.  But that means yummy muffins and pancakes this winter.
I'm so glad the sun is shining brightly this morning.  It's the wedding day for my daughter's best friend, and the ceremony is outside.  My oldest grandson is an usher (he's 13), and I can't wait to see him all dressed up in his new suit.  I'm looking forward to this happy occasion for the young couple.

I hope you have happy occasions this week, big ones or small ones.

Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Angela at soscrappy
Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Cynthia at Oh Scrap
 

Pumpkins and Leaves and Pet Peeves

Happy Friday!  I'm actually blogging on a Friday for a change.

It really is fall now, I guess.  Here's my grandson in his Halloween outfit.  I've decided orange is my new favorite color.  (Oh, and the shirt doesn't lie, either.)

Here's my finish for the week--I have finally finished the canning.  Last weekend I got a half bushel of apples and a half bushel of pears canned up.  A few of these jars are left from last year, like the beets (I'm the only one who likes them) and some of the pickles and jam.

The little jars here on the lower left are baby food.  Applesauce (unsweetened, of course) is next to the wall, and the pears are closer to the jam jars.  They're clearly labeled on the lids, since they look just about exactly alike.  Our little guy has started on cereal and vegetables, but no fruit yet.  When he's ready, we'll be ready.

These empty bottles are for vinegar.  I started some on Saturday, as I finished the apples.  I make it with apple peels and cores with water and a little sugar.  It will ferment in the kitchen until it's good and vinegary, and then I'll put it in these glass bottles.

My grandson and I went for a walk on Wednesday.  He rode in the stroller and chewed on a toy, and he didn't seem to mind when I kept stopping to pick up leaves.  Even though it's early, some of the trees are starting to turn, and there are all these wonderful colors just lying on the ground.

Of course that made me long to make leaf blocks.  So I did!  Hey, why would I worry about UFOs?  Sometimes the inspiration strikes, and there you go.

Before I started, I knew I wanted to make 9 in. blocks.  They're a good size, not too tiny and putzy, and not too big and clunky.  I used my scrap strips, and cut them lickety split with the Accuquilt cutter.  Then I took them up to the sewing room on a cookie sheet.

I'm varying the blocks a little, and making them very scrappy.  Lots of the squares came from my shoebox of leftover 3.5 in. squares.
So that's what I'm happy about this week.  
I guess I'm getting grouchy in my old age, but somehow today I've been thinking about stuff that makes me grind my teeth and shake my head.

Pet Peeves of Fall 

1.  Fake pumpkins for decorations.  Believe it or not, they actually make fake pumpkins TO CARVE.  Seriously.  Real pumpkins are cheap.  Buy some from a farmer.  Buy extras and make a pie or two.

2. Strong fake-cinnamon smelling pine cones.  Today I went to buy batting in a chain store, and could barely breathe for the smell of it.  I kept looking around for them, but didn't see the bin of them until I got to (of course) the batting shelves.  AT THE BACK OF THE STORE.  I think the employees stuck them back there to try to lose the smell, and who could blame them.  I might have put them on the loading dock where a truck would hit them.

3.  Christmas decorations put up before Halloween.  It gets earlier every year.  Next year it'll probably start right after Valentine's Day.  I like Christmas, I really do, but this is too much.  Holidays should take turns, like grade school kids at show and tell--one holiday at a time.

4.  This ENDLESS presidential election season.  We've had almost 2 years of this nonsense, and at this point I'm all out of outrage.  I'm going to be so excited to cast my ballot on election day, mainly because that will mean the election is finally OVER.

Sorry about the ranting this week.  Writing this down made me realize just how minor most of this stuff is, and how good I really have it.

I'm linking up with the very creative Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
and with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts
 
Enjoy the season this week, whatever it may bring.
Cheers,
Sylvia

Sew Everyday

I'm making good progress this week on Evie's quilt.  Evie is my adorable four year old granddaughter.  Her favorite color is pink, and she needs a warm flannel quilt for her big bed.

When last seen on this blog, her quilt looked like this.  All the pieces were cut, and it was stored in a basket, waiting for its turn to be pieced together.

As you can see from the first photo, it's a Bricks quilt.  In order to work out how many pieces I needed from each fabric, I had to make myself a chart.  I had to be careful working this out, because some of the fabrics were just scraps.

Once I had it graphed out, I made this color chart.  The fabrics are labeled A through N.  I cut a small scrap from the leftovers of each fabric and taped them to the page.  (Not an original idea, of course;  Eleanor Burns had this is in all her books.)

As you can see, I alternated light and dark fabrics.  I had to repeat one of the lights.  Fabrics F and N are actually the same.

Once I had the charts done, I laid the piles of rectangles out on an old card table so I could keep things straight.  Then it was just pick up and sew.  This quilt is done in rows, instead of blocks.  I made 18 rows.  Odd numbered rows have 14 rectangles each.  Even numbered rows start and end with a smaller rectangle.  If I had planned it out differently, the smaller rectangles would actually be squares.
I cut my pieces 4.5 in. wide and 6.5 in. long.  Before borders, the quilt will be 72 in. wide by 84 in. long.  There is nearly an equal amount of fabric used for each print.
All of the rows are pieced, and I only have 4 more to sew onto the top.  Then it's time for borders (probably only one).
You are not going to believe me, but I only had to buy ONE of these fabrics in the store.  The rest were in my stash.  Which just says how ridiculously huge my stash is.

So that's the main event in the sewing room this week.  In other news, I'm binding the Star Blossoms quilt.  I'll be sending it to its new home by the end of November.

One of my favorite modern quilting blogs is Crazy Mom Quilts Crazy Mom Quilts Blog.  She has a regular feature she calls Finish It Up Friday.  I don't have any quilts finished today, but here are some things I actually got done this week.

I knitted a hat for the Mittens and More project of Milwaukee Public Television.  I still have to knit the mittens to go with it.  I knit for this project every year, and I feel it is really worthwhile.  I can't stand the idea of kids enduring the Wisconsin winter without mittens or hats.  The deadline is fast approaching:  Oct 23rd is the last day this year.  For more information, click here:  Milwaukee Public Television Mittens and More 2015

Yesterday, I canned six pints of beets.  My husband won't eat them, but I'm fond of them, and six jars will be about all I need this winter.

I had to dig out the pressure canner instructions, since I mostly use the water bath canner for fruits and jams.

Here's what  I should be working on right now!  It's a half bushel of Cortland apples, destined to be pies and crisps this winter.

In spite of all the fall things to do this time of year, like canning and baking and going out to Holy Hill to look at the leaves, I am trying to make time to sew every day.  It really shows in how much I can get done, and how happy and productive I feel.

What are you working on this week?  I hope you have time to sew every day.

Ten Reasons to Be Thankful for Fall

I have to admit, fall is NOT my favorite season.  I love summer.  Working in the garden, going barefoot, having the windows open, no need for jackets, summer.  So fall is kind of tough for me, being the definite end of summer and a scary glimpse into what's ahead--the full-on Wisconsin Winter.
Whenever things change, we have a choice.  We can moan and groan about what's gone, or we can deal with the change in a positive, thankful way.

So here are my 10 reasons to be thankful for fall.

1.  Pumpkins.  Because without them, we wouldn't have pumpkin pie.  Plus they're a really great orange color.

2.  Hoop quilting.  Hand quilting in a hoop is much more comfortable in the fall than in the summer.  This is a top pieced by my great-grandmother in 1969.  I have been working on it off and on for literally years.  Although I guess this is a good example of how long it takes to finish a quilt you're not working on.  So with cooler weather, I'm working on it again.

3.  Knitting. While it can be done anytime, it just seems more right when it starts to get cold in the mornings.  Here I'm making caps for soldiers:  (www.capsforsoldiers.com).  Luckily I've got lots of yarn.

4.  Canning season is just about over.  Here are 19 quarts of apples, ready to make into pies this winter.  I canned these on Monday, and made apple butter on Friday.  I like canning, especially since it means I've got lots of good local food on hand even if we get snowed in.  (It usually saves money, too.)

5.  Quilt shows!  It's quilt show season!  Quilts, vendors, classes, oh and did I mention vendors?  And even if you can't get to all of them, some of them have great pictures online.  The photo above comes from Quilt Expo 2014 in Madison, Wisconsin.

6,  Wool quilts.  Don't miss the wonderful new exhibit at the Wisconsin Museum of Quilts & Fiber Arts entitled "Sheared Delights".  The quilt in the photo above is hanging right as you enter the exhibit, and it is mesmerizing.  (See the web page at:  wiquiltmuseum.com).  There is nothing like the deep rich colors of wool.  I might have to make another wool quilt myself.

7.  Antique shopping!  Flea market season is, sadly, over, but now antique mall season begins for my husband and me.  It's fun just to look.  You never know what you're going to find.

8.  Walks in the woods.   We had a great day yesterday, walking on a trail at Pike Lake with our dog Bella.  The leaves look brown here, but they were brilliant shades of yellow, orange, and red as well as brown, and they crunched under our feet.

9.  Oven meals, or crock pot dinners.  I could call this one "West Bend Farmers Market Pot Roast".  The beef, potatoes, carrots, and onions all came from the market.  Yesterday was the last day for this year's market, but it will be back again in late May.
Crock pot meals are my favorite on weekend days.  I can get it ready in the morning, and it can cook all day while I sew.  Makes the house smell great, too.  I guess I could do this in the summer, but we just aren't in the mood for this kind of food until it starts getting cold.

10.  Time with family and friends.  We have several family birthdays in the fall (above is our daughter Connie's last September).  One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving, which for me really ends the fall season.  No commercialism, no hype, just a good home cooked meal to share, and all of us thankful for the past year and glad to be together.

Wishing you the joy of this season, and every season.
Happy quilting!
Sylvia






 

Fall Harvest

In the fall of 2003, I participated in a Treadle On block exchange, which resulted in the quilt above.  The rules were a little unusual.  We made blocks in 3 different sizes--12 in., 9 in., and 6 in. finished.  We could use any leaf pattern we liked, with the leaves in fall colors.  The backgrounds were to be dark, like the forest floor.  And of course, all the blocks were to be sewn with treadle or hand crank sewing machines.
Waiting to get my "squishy" (technical term for the package of blocks) in the mail was like waiting for Christmas when I was six.  It was so worth it!  The variety of blocks and prints was wonderful.  It was fun laying them out on the floor and fitting them together.  I added a few blocks with light backgrounds to jazz it up a bit.   I made lots of flying geese for the border on my Minnesota A, looking out the dining room window. 
It's been 10 years now, and I can hardly believe it's passed so quickly.  My favorite time to work on this quilt was in the fall.  It was hard to make myself do the quilting any other time.  I just finally finished the quilting last year.
I'm including a few more pictures.  If you see a block you made, could you let me know?  I once had a list of all the participants, but I'm afraid it disappeared.  I know Windy Cindy made the pink batik blocks.

I'm finding that I really love the color orange!  Maybe it's just this time of year, but I'm seeing orange everywhere and really enjoying its mellow brightness.

These pumpkins are garden "volunteers".  Their seeds were in the compost, and the vines came up everywhere.  The big green one is slowly turning orange.  I bought the butternut squash at the farmers market.
I'm still working on the feedsack pinwheels, and I will post a tutorial shortly.  Even there, I'm finding bits of orange.
Here's hoping you are enjoying this season too.