October Beauty

 It is already October & the colours of nature are changing to tell the story of beauty that will peak & then fade to branches until the spring's revival of green budding life.

With the cooler days ahead it is time to get my sewing room in order or a better order than it is.

The sewing room is my creative spot & creative minds are seldom tidy. I have so many ideas of what I want to do & have several projects always on the go. This is a pile that is placed into the room at the door & it is so out of control.

I asked Bill to build a shelf solution for me & this is a wonderful outcome!

Yes, this is my sewing room as you enter!

Here is the selling idea that we came up with, Bill is a welder so he used some of his scrap metal to make the frame & spray painted it white.

Then he sanded raw wood smooth on the top for the fabric to sit on.

And now these piles will make more sense to me on the shelves. Baxter & Bridget thought this was playtime & Bridget had her ball & was ready! 

Remember with any change you have to have chaos, then once it is settled you will have the outcome.

I'm enjoying the self at the end of my sewing desk & magnets will hold measuring tapes & other sewing notions close at hand! Thank you, Bill. xXx

This man has the patience of a saint...he's been married to me for over 34 years & has always been my biggest help in keeping me organized, behind a door! lol

This is a funky room that is wide at the front & the width of the window at the end of the room. It also has the protrusion of the hall closet going into it too. I like the location next to the kitchen, foyer, & bathroom! Yes, the 2016 addition had a lot of thought go into it for the use of living in it.

I finished the Kathleen Tracey 2018 Mystery quilt & made it into a pillow cover with a few more embellishments added.

The frill & medallions in the flying geese are from Kathy Schmitz's fabric collection called  Maryland, I love it & you'll see more of that collection through the winter with projects that are still in my head.

Rexton the Manx is loving the sunny after sun, she really does think she's a dog!

This pillow was made when Mr. Boots was with us, he was a lovely cat. 

The back of the same pillow, don't you just love the colour & texture of this collection?!

She really is sweet when she's sleeping!

And ready for action when she's awake, the Boston's love to terrorize her. She's still missing her buddy Boris Loree that would sleep & spoon her with his warmth. These two are nothing like him!

This was Namama's dresser that was in the basement in London ON, Bill hauled it out here & it has sat in our basement for several years. Then I had an idea!

What if we used it for our dining room coffee/tea bar? The length would fit the wall & the height was the same as the adjacent island counter!

Bill had already sanded the top as it had many marks & stains on it. There was no drawer pulls on it so I ordered some from Lee Valley's hardware department & I love the outcome!

And the drawers give storage for the products for making coffee & a tea selection can be found in there too as well as napkins!

We are enjoying our new - make do- coffee bar!

But the chore of putting an electrical box in the wall that would have the power for two heating elements plugged in at the same time had to be done prior to having the bureau in place.

Bill has a guardian angel that had guided him through this installation of the electrical box.

He was sawing through when he hit something so he moved the saw blade lower to make the cut for the electrical box. Only to find that the drywallers missed cutting out this electrical outlet that was alive!

He was so lucky not to have put his metal saw blade into that area!!

OMG, he was so lucky! It is true, you don't know what is behind your walls till they are opened up!

This was part of our 2016 addition, it was a big job & the trades were busy but this could have ended his life &  my life as we know it.

Back to the dining room! Remember the napkins that I made into a table cloth, here it is all quilted & ready for Thanksgiving! Thank you Rose, our local longarm quilter, she loved it too!

I folded the ends under for ease getting in & out of our chairs.

The runner looks great on it too, the quilting really pops with the smooth texture of the runner!

With fall we come to the harvest & reading my friend Julia's blog Of Petals & Wool, I knew I was so far behind & so many tomatoes were put in the freezer. Then a girlfriend Deb gave me a bottle of her mango salsa, it was delicious! So after making my first time ever salsa, Bill asked for her recipe!

 

This was the makings of the zucchini relish that I had not made in years. One huge zucchini made the relish, a chocolate zucchini loaf & zucchini & onion fried for dinner.

Zucchini relish is done!

Salsa is done, it is a first for me making this & I look forward to enjoying this with the kids at Christmas...in just 82 days from now, we will all be together for Christmas. I love a full house!

It has a real Christmas colour to it too! Yum!!

And the grape jelly is done too! I made my own jelly bag again from flannel & discarded it & the grapes inside in the garbage. Grape jelly is a messy one that stains but so does the mustard sauce from the zucchini relish. 

Glad to have this year's canning in the tail lights. It really cuts into my sewing time. lol

And Deb's Mango Salsa is done too! She was so helpful when I asked for the recipe, sending me home with more tomatoes, mango, & garlic! I made it up the next day, another winter eating pleasure to come!

Downstairs for storage till winter.

These two remind me of kids! That is my chair get out...make me!

That is Baxter's chair & he likes the view out the window, Bridget likes what he likes & is stubborn! lol

Even talking to him I could tell he did not care, he wanted his chair back!

I always let them sort out their own issues. 

Sweet little Rexton, loves the afternoon sun that floods the foyer.

This is from the April Cornell kitchen items, it is two of her placemats sewn together! I'm pleased with the outcome! And I only had two of these hydrangea autumn placemats!

I saw that she too was doing that & thought how easy it was. I added the 36" straps as she did with the MODA logo to reinforce the seeing holding the market bag together. I also added a canvas bottom insert on the bottom to add more depth opening to the bottom.

Many years ago my friend Liz gave me plans to make a squirrel feeder that I admired in her yard.

Bill looked at them & within hours made this for our fellow yard squirrels, I have not seen any this year yet but with the cold weather upon us, they will be coming out of the woods for the winter bird feeders.

Until then, the peanuts are dry & safe waiting for them.

The sky & water is blue this morning with white caps on the water with the cool wind this morning.

The autumn is fully upon us now & such a beautiful season, my favourite season!

Turkey & pumpkins = Thanksgiving.

Thank you for stopping in for a visit. I hope that you are all going to have a Happy Thanksgiving as there is so much to be thankful for.

A thought to ponder.

If you haven't any wrinkles, you haven't laughed enough.

Have a great week!

Cynthia