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

Autumn Arrives!

 Autumn will arrive this Wednesday, September 22 & I'm so happy to see this season begin!

The sunny blue days with nature's beautiful colours changing as if the leaves are singing & you view an orchestra looking into the wooded areas & when the sun hits those woods the volume is turned up!

The nights are cooler too & one adds an extra blanket to the bed for a cozy night's sleep.

I savoured my summer as long as I could & was blessed to have the last of the boys visit Mitchell & Nicole, the honeymooners visit us for a vacation before going back home to Alberta. This October 11th Thanksgiving Day & will be their 1st wedding anniversary.

We really enjoyed having them & look forward to seeing them again at Christmas! XO

Mitch & Bridget relaxing in the sunny great room, she was enjoying having his attention & not having to share it with Baxter. lol.

Bill & the kids prepared a birthday dinner for me, my favourite roast lamb with mint, creamy mashed red potatoes with skins, coleslaw, fresh carrots & peas, it was so good & made with so much love. 

It was a delicious supper & wonderful laughter with a dinner conversation that warmed my heart.

Happy birthday to me! I am such a lucky woman to have so many friends & family to wish me the very best. Baxter is just hoping to get some of that delicious lamb.

Just too much excitement to contain me! lol

Bill & I, looking at these photos I should have taken my apron off!

Nice phot thanks for taking it Nicole xXx!

And there we are again, a lively bunch!

Hello Nicole! xXx

I made a Spanish Bar cake from scratch, I loved this cake when the A&P would sell it. It was made into my birthday cake for all to share with yogurt ice cream.

Sewing Projects Come To Life!

To complete my Kathy Schmitz fooler quilt, I needed two more blocks so I made this one twice! 

Those blocks are located in the top left & bottom right. I had purchased an extra panel of the printed blocks to enlarge the quilt & added extra scallops on the inner blocks & voila! It's off to the longarm quilter to have a leaf pattern put into it, then a black binding to complete it.

I finished my rug design of the crows & ravens & like the way it turned out! Some more steaming is needed to mat it together more, I had just sewn the back binding on in this photo.

I spent time steaming this rug down too & after this photoshoot... Baxter had a huge mishap on the rug & I had to wash it in the machine to remove all diarrhea & I have to say I LOVE BRIGGS & LITTLE yarn. It is the most durable easy to work with yarn that my hands have ever touched!! The rug came out beautifully & I just air dried it!

Rexton is a very mischievous cat, she helps me make the bed every morning & loves when I work in the foyer with large fabric pieces! 

She is the lump in the fabric & when I lift it to look & talk to her she seems annoyed to be disturbed!

The fabric that Rexton is under is a William Morris Strawberry Thief pattern for the back of my Baltimore quilt done in Maryland fabric designed by Kathy Schmitz.

 

When the Alberta kids left, so did Bill for a week of work in Brampton. So, I took to decorating for fall on the inside & out. I came upon my April Cornell collection of linens & in it were nine very large napkins. I unpicked all the seams to create squares, I think the last quilt I finished spurred this idea!

I moved the center design around with altering it so there is no one direction nor other. I want to use this as a quilted table cloth for Thanksgiving. I found a large yellow & white buffalo check for the background & binding. Now I have another piece to that yellow & orange collection that I can actually use!

Autumn Decor

The bright foyer now has some fall colour to it too!

This little fellow is just inside the door to greet you! He was a birthday present from my London friends Beverley & Gary who gifted him to me when visiting me several years ago. Creature comforts that warm my heart from loving friends xXx.

The front door has a bright glow to it too! And now the foyer when you enter has the same feeling!

I found this wonderful metal art piece in the Salvation Army when the Brampton kids were visiting. They too are loving the thrill of the find & I like recycling & supporting a good cause. What a win-win, it looks great on our porch!

The poor robin felt the rath of Hurricane Ida & was knocked down & the tail was broken. It too is in the cue for repairs because if it's broken round here we fix it!

I've been enjoying the front porch these days with fewer & fewer mosquitoes around.

The geese are ready for fall & the scarecrow has hitched a ride on the back of one! What a trio!!

This is a new feature to the porch this year, a small water fountain. We've had it for years & Bill uncovered it in our many moving boxes this summer.

The wicker heart is one of my fall favourites & I've had it for over ten years now. I'm becoming a regular at Lockerby's Farm for their harvest of veggies & mostly the pumpkins!

Heather taught me to make limelight hydrangeas with potting soil & placing a rock on top of their lower branches & it worked we now have two more to plant this fall! 

I enjoy sitting in Edie's rocker that she gifted me in 1989 when Nicholas was born. Now it's used on the porch again as she once did when she was alive.

Wicker gathering baskets, the tomatoes are so plentiful this year & now the grapes are ready to be brought in too!

I pulled the IKEA swivel chair in from the sunporch & have started decorating with the black & white buffalo check. The cat statue is really life-like & has been with me since it sat in my office at work. The pillow is another piece to the quilted table cloth, I love the sunny feel that orange & yellow give you!

The flannel & wool banner is hung too, I really enjoy Bonnie Sullivan's designs & hope to make a few more before Christmas which is only 96 days away! 

This is the only Halloween decor in the kitchen & I like it there & so do the corn people! lol

Leslie & Nick gave me this card & it still makes me laugh!

The autumn colours of golds & orange really bring out the blueness of the sky & water!

Here is the ding table with more of the April Cornell collection, the votive candles will add a nice ambiance to the Thanksgiving dinner.

I purchased the turned bowl with lid at Open Door Antiques, wood is such a warm inviting decor to any room & I have a fondness for turned wood from the exposure to it from my friend Gary that is a published craftsman in that art.

These two make their appearance every year, filled with memories, Grandma Richardson gave me the burlap to make them, the ditsy print is from the boys' crib sheet, the dress is from the kitchen door curtain that was in our Ontario home many years ago, the corduroy is from a Vogue pattern channel style top I made in the mid 80's...so many memories that warm my heart!

And they sit on a box that my girlfriend Sandy mailed out to me as it made her think of me, there is a nautical scene to the lid! xXx

Don't they just make you smile?!

The FALL hanger really accents the hanger that Beverley made & gifted me several years back.

I do miss my girlfriends from London ON but I don't miss the chaos of that city to where I now live with my life on the Miramichi Bay NB.

Rexton has claimed this as her bistro table to watch what is going on in the dining room & kitchen or the backyard when the birds are around.

Bill has found a new dish that everyone loves, cauliflower pizza! The crust is just cauliflower, egg, & cheese that is put in a hot 400' oven for 15-20 mins then sauce & topped with more cheese & put back in the oven. It is so filling & delicious we eat it nearly every week!

When the Alberta kids were here Nicole asked me how to make a Roman shade for their bathroom that had an odd size of 36" wide by 24" long.

I took out books on the process & explained it the best I could as I had made about a dozen in my lifetime but I was a sewer Nicole is not. 

Then it came to me! I had a shower liner & shower curtain in a buffalo check that would look perfect in the bathroom with the tile work that Mitchell had done years ago when he 1st moved in.

The kids did a COSTCO run for me & I put together the Roman shade for them!

It worked out perfect for me, I was just hoping it would custom-fit the Alberta home!

And it did! here is a photo that Mitch sent me & it does enhance & mimic the colours in the tile work that he did. It is a small bathroom & he added big interest to that small area!

The other consideration was something that could take on dampness & not create mildew, the shower curtain fabric was the perfect solution!

I thought by adding more length than needed it could be installed higher above the window creating the illusion of a larger window when opened just above it.

It was great to see it go from an idea sewn, to the install on the window! I was glad that years back in 2013 Mitch helped me install Roman shades on the guestroom window so it must have been familiar for him.

I'm happy that you took the time to visit me here today. I've been busy organizing my sewing room with so many projects on my to-do list before HoHo arrives.

As we enter the autumn take some time to stop & see the beauty that nature has to offer this season.

Wishing you health & happiness always.

Cynthia