Thanksgiving

In this part of the world, the harvest is pretty well finished by mid October. We are getting frost warnings most evenings. So, it makes sense that we give thanks for the harvest in October. Our vegetable gardening is nearly non existent these days, especially since there is an excellent Farmers' Market about 5 minutes away, in the parking lot at Best Buy! I can buy lovely vegetables, grown pesticide free, and support local agriculture.

However, the seeds from one of last year's squash decided to grown out of our compost bin this year, and without any work we have a bumper crop of squash.

I haven't cooked any yet. I hope they taste good.

The sewing room reno continues. The Kallax has been built.

Today, I was adding bins and labelling them.

I have found a few WIP that I plan to finish soon.

I started the Ring Sling back in February. You can see the lining here.
https://artsandsocks.blogspot.com/2019/02/one-day-only.html

Then I cut the exterior of the bag, by putting the cut line on the fold and I cut on the fold line, leaving me with something unusable. Progress came to a complete halt, until today.

The exterior is now cut correctly.

Here it is with the exterior pocket.  I think fall needs a little Tula Pink. This is Tabby Lane, that I have been hoarding for awhile. Fingers crossed I can finish the bag with no more disasters.

I saw a tip the other day that you should store your interfacing rolled inside a paper towel tube. I just laughed. I buy my interfacing 5 metres at a time. I saved one of the pieces of packing from the Kallax and it is just the right size to make a bolt for my interfacing.

It will fit nicely beside the shelf.

Clean Sweep

Last week, we put all the items we wanted from IKEA on a list and actually bought them. We finally got the new bed we have been wanting. We got my little guy his big bed, as his third birthday present. And, I got a Kallax shelving unit to store my fabric in. The price of shipping is per delivery not per item, so it just made sense.

If you live without IKEA then you might not know about this marvelous piece of furniture. It is a box of cubic holes, that you can place storage bins into, or store books, or use their drawer insert and add a cat bed.

This is the one I bought:
https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/kallax-shelf-unit-white-80275887/


And, of course, I picked up the cat bed for it.
https://www.ikea.com/ca/en/p/lurvig-cat-house-black-80376551/

So, the next order of business is to move the boxes and bins out of my sewing room, so I can put the shelving in to store them.

Progress is being made, but I need to move some more out. I am not showing you the mess that is still to be moved. At the same time, I am pulling fabric for some projects for my upcoming quilt retreat.On the couch, you can see the start of that. Not much sewing is being done, but I am hopeful that I will have some better organization soon.

I have been knitting.

One of a pair of baby socks, the yarn is leftover from an adult pair in Turtlepurl OM colourway. The pattern is Kate Atherley's baby sock, my favourite baby sock pattern. There might even be a hat from the leftovers.

It was garbage day on Tuesday,  and you always see the most interesting things.

A crow (or possibly a raven) is inspecting the neighbours' garbage for items they were suppose to put into the organic composting bin.  Obviously the city is getting serious about keeping organics out the landfill, and they have hired this guy to check our bins.

Autumnal Equinox

Last week, the weather here turned hot and humid. Just when we were sorting clothes for cooler weather, we had to pull out shorts again. Needless to say, my sewing suffered. I did some knitting, but don't have much to show for it, so today, I thought I would show you what my world looks like just now.

The garden that we ripped out in July, and replaced with planters, has taken off gloriously.

This:

Now looks like this:

Hard to believe it is the same space.

A little rose bush I picked up at the grocery store, is covered in flowers.

The Acidanthera is adding a bit of exotic beauty to the mix.

However, we are seeing signs that despite the warm weather, winter is coming.

My neighbourhood was built over fifty years ago, and the trees are big and beautiful.

Last week it was all green, now it will change quickly.

This is a "Parsley Worm", snacking on some parsley in a pot on the back patio. Next spring, it will become a Swallowtail Butterfly. Eat fast, little guy. The frost will be here soon and the parsley will be gone.

Flora

Flora is the first bag of the fall collection of patterns from the Bag of the Month Club.  The pattern is by Janelle MacKay of Emmaline Bags and is exclusive to club members until December.

Since my favourite colour is purple, of course, my camera will not render purple properly. This is my best effort.

On my monitor this is the closest to the actual colour of the fabric.

It is a simple bag. There are only six pattern pieces.

Of course, I added a zipper pocket. (This fabric is actually bright purple.)

And a credit card pocket (or two). More purple!

The bag has a recessed zipper.

The bag has these wonderful pleats.

Although the pictures don't do it justice, the hardware is rainbow iridescence.

I think this is the first time I managed to finish the Bag of the Month Pattern in the month it was released.

In case you were wondering, I think one of my dear ones is planning to claim this one.

A Tote Bag

I seem to keep getting lost, but I have been working on things.

I started a new shawl that I plan to finish this week.  I finished one sock and promptly cast on the second so the first wouldn't be lonely.

And I made a tote bag.

It was a commission for a friend, who wanted a gift for a lady who runs an alpaca farm.

The applique is the logo for the farm. I traced the pieces onto paperback fusible web. I carefully labelled them as to the colour of the piece. I now have an extra set of animals. It seems that I don't bother to read what I write on the pieces so I have a black llama and a white alpaca sitting on my sewing table, with the opposite label on them.

I used my standard tote bag pattern. It has a zippered top.

Two big interior pockets.

I also did a faux binding on the top to add a finished look to the bag.

I actually remembered to add my label.

After I quit looking at the flaws, I think it came out very well. My client was quite thrilled because it came out much better than she had pictured.

I feel a couple of "squirrel" type projects calling to me, and I think I may indulge myself.

Roses For Leanna

This has been a week of finishes. I started this quilt in a class about 10 years ago. Put it away while I figured out what I needed to do to love it. Pulled it out this past spring, fixed the top to my liking, and then Leanna fell in love with it. Since Leanna needed a quilt, it is going to her, now that it is finished.

Of course, I have a very hard time finding a place to take a picture of a large quilt, that isn't covered in pet hair, but I tried.

It is a little lumpy but it stayed clean. It is 78" x 78", according to the lady who did the quilting.

It has lots of red roses. The border is tone on tone roses.

Krista did an awesome job on the quilting.

The back is red flannel so I asked her to use beige in the bobbin, too, to give the back some interest.

The corners are flat and square.

It is even labelled! Most of my quilts aren't. I expect she will enjoy it when the weather gets cooler.

And, because summer isn't quite over yet,  another pair of shorts for my little guy.

Lace Ilex

According to my Ravelry Project Page, I started this scarf on November 30, 2015. I guess it was waiting for me to be in the mood to finish it. Since I am finishing some vintage UFO's right now, it has now had its turn to be completed.

Here it is, this morning, enjoying the sun. I love the way the shadow shows the lace. It is 14.5" wide and nearly 60" long so it will be very nice in the winter. to wrap up in.

The ends taper to give it some interest. I love the seed stitch, not your usual edging for lace.

A closeup of the lace. Each repeat has a slightly different lace pattern. The pattern is Lace Ilex by Susann Hajjar.

The yarn is Diamond Luxury Collection Footloose.  This yarn is discontinued. Fortunately, when I realized that I was going to be short, my friend Cheryl came to the rescue with a skein from her stash, in the same lot.

These pictures are a much more accurate representation of the colour of the yarn. It is a rich, deep purple.

I had a professional model visiting today, who volunteered to show what it looks like on. Most of his work has been for his Mommie's Facebook Page.