But I digress…

I spent the week in blissful contemplation of my nice, tidy clean stack of towels. And the gloriously pale blue October sky.

And I worked my behind off leveling my new Pandaren Monk in WoW- I got to level 30 in only two weeks! (That’s a new record for me- it took me months to get the original Cobbwebb that far.)

Ahem. But I digress.

This week has seen two walks around the lake, one around the Bay (lovely this time of year! All deep blue and glittery white as the evening sun glints off the waves), only one day spent on laundry (yaay! I love when a new routine works the first time out, don’t you?), one horrendously bad idea (NEVER slice Jalapeno’s without wearing gloves- EVER! Peanut butter helps though…) and absolutely no crafting.

It’s the sewing I miss the most…

But I should point out that Christmas is only 2 MONTHS AWAY (insert wild eyed hair pulling here).

And I haven’t started a single project. Not one- am I cured? Will I quietly assemble and hand out a few sedate cookie plates and call it done this year?

Perhaps…

Coffee Break…

Sounds good right about now, doesn’t it? A little break in the action, time to rest and just breathe for a while, no distractions, no deadlines, no demands…

This was on the way up to Julian the other day:

Ahhh…

I’ll be back next week. Until then- Happy Weekending everyone!

Slowing Down…

Whew! What a weekend- a few Drives into the countryside, Crafts Fairs, Tea Shop foraging, Fall Leaf Peeping, Financial Meetings and File Organizing, lots of knitting, a little quilting and one late night surprise dinner later, I’m exhausted! So the kitters and I are taking it easy this week, especially now that the break in the weather is over and the heat has come back. Here’s a taste of what we found this weekend:

How about a little recipe for this week?

Take one part thrift, one part tea shop jelly, one part Christmas whimsy, and swirl in one part brand new china. Pack CAREFULLY and steal away home for a wonderful taste of fall fun! I’ll be back later on this week with a peek at the work that’s been done on the Watercolour Quilt. For now- I think I need a nap…

Friday recap

Finally! The first storm of the season- clouds filled the sky as far as the eye could see:

Lovely aren’t they?

I love a good rainstorm to ring in the new Fall season, don’t you?

Today is filled with all kinds of cold weather projects:

Work on the Watercolours Quilt has begun again- adding borders to fill it out a bit…

The weekly food prep is underway in the kitchen- Roasted Butternut Squash is featured again this week. So yummy…

On the baking front- Blueberry Muffins, Buttermilk Biscuits and maybe a chocolate chip cookie or two…

The knitting needles are out in full force- a new Pixie Pouch, a hat, and maybe some socks finally…

All that, plus Christmas Crafting Lists, Thanksgiving Meal Planning, and even a Winter Solstice idea or two are in the works. Oh my, I do love cold weather!

Happy Weekending everyone!

A Self-Guided Tour of the Wild, Wild West…

The location for the quilt show we went to this past Saturday, Old Town Temecula, is such a fun area to visit! Full of old western buildings, lots of brickwork, and the trees! I miss trees…

It was nice to get out of our hometown for a day and just revel in another city for a change, and lucky you I took my camera and captured scenes like these:

All the quilts layered over the railings and under the eaves of the buildings really made it feel like a neighborhood walk. And all those yummy plants everywhere! Not just trees, but lots of herbs and flowers everywhere, too.  You can learn a lot about a place by the amount of plants they have in their public spaces…

I love looking at the architecture of the buildings around me wherever I go- it’s so nice to be reminded that there are more than just square boxes to live in. Modern buildings today are generally geometrical shapes covered in stucco, so it’s nice when I find evidence of a skilled architect in the landscape around me:

There are just a few buildings taller than two stories in the downtown area, making it easy to enjoy the mountains surrounding the area.

 

 

 

  This is a close-up sample of some of the brickwork we found- gorgeous isn’t it? They even broke up the dense feel of brick by throwing in a pattern over the step area!

 

The really funny part was this whole are was only about four blocks long! We were really starting to feel like we were in a old western town that collided with a modern city for a few minutes, until we came to the Starbuck’s at the end of the block…

Iced coffee anyone? Hmm, that reminds me of a recipe I wanted to try…

Wash Day at the Quilt Show…

The quilt show was so much fun this year! It’s always nice when you get to share your interest with likeminded people, isn’t it? And for one whole day, Temecula turns its Main Street into a quilty goodness Festival, chock full of people who just love quilts! It’s over, sadly- but through the wonders of time travel and photography, I can take you there with me! Want to go? C’mon, the portal is just over this way:

As we turn into the parking lot at the end of Main Street, I can already sense the excitement in the air! This is a beautiful part of the city, with all its wood and brick buildings evoking the Wild, Wild West. Then we turn that first corner and see all the people! And all the quilts! They really are hung everywhere, all around outside on every building:

That’s “The Coop”, a really nice quilt store that is full of wonderful fabrics, quilt samples, patterns and books. I just love how the entire building is swathed in quilts- on the outside and on the inside! An interesting thing about this quilt show is that it lasts for only one day- that way the quilts don’t sit outside in the wet, nor do they get damp from the morning dew. But it’s fun to imagine it’s wash-day in the early 1800’s, and the whole town has hung their quilts out to dry in the early October morning sun. Okay, okay, yes- I’m in the middle of rereading the “Little House” series- how did you know?

One thing I didn’t know about before this year was that they also have a great Farmers Market every Saturday full of good things to eat, crafts and jewelry stalls, organic foods and even a few garden plants for sale. Oh! I am wishing I had gotten some of the small lavender plants that were out- they were so yummy looking! My hummingbirds could use a few more of those now that winter is on the way.

Hmm…all those quilts up there are giving me some ideas. Where’s that rotary cutter gotten to …

Faeries in the garden!

Didn’t I tell you there would be Faeries in this space soon? Well, it’s not quite what I had planned, but look:

Do you see it? It’s right there, in the back a bit:

What is it mama? What?

Not here, Tasha- over there!

We have a Faerie Mushroom in the garden! Interestingly enough, it’s even growing in the same pot as the plant that I brought home from the Fairy Festival this summer! Coincidence? I think not…

October Red

This is outside my window this week:

Such a red, red rose! Happy Weekending everyone.

That bright, golden October light…

Lovely October- the gold, brassy light, streaming into the house, blinding me with its’ brightness, turning the computer screen and TV into nicely reflective mirrors…drat. Time for new curtains!

So- first I measure the windows- or rather, in this case, the glass doors. 8 feet exactly. Okay, I want them long enough to brush elegantly against the floor, 2 inches for that. and, I don’t like sewing drapes, I generally just fold over an allowance at the top to slide the curtain rod through and call it done, so 4 inches for that. 96 inches plus 2 plus four= hmm…lets just make it 3 yards, that’ll be plenty. Now I just need to dig something suitable out of the stash. In the meantime…

I have a little black Pixie Pouch almost done, and plans for a white one to go on the needles before the day is done…

The shower curtain is working out great- until I realized that I never finished off the seams! Drat. Guess I’ll take that down today and do some work on that this week…

It’s time to drag out the Cricket and cut some new Fall shapes again! Bats and pumpkins, leaves and foxes this year…

Playing around with a new Purse idea- it’s involving lots of brown velvet, ribbons, leaves and Fall colours!

And finally, still messing about with doll patterns, ideas, sketches and plans. I really do like the early stages of a new idea, but sometimes the logistics just get in the way!

Pinning for cooler weather- can’t even look at the oven its so hot nowadays!

October!

Gosh I love this time of year!The pumpkin patches are finally up, Pumpkins and squash are heaped in piles in the market, the leaves are spinning down, the earth goes to bed earlier, and everyone longs for a weekend in the mountains…
No baking yet this week- it’s been too hot to turn the oven on! Lots of crafting though:

Finished Tasha’s new Morris Pillow this morning- it’s made from the leftovers of the Shower Curtain I made a few weeks back. After piecing together strips and blocks I put some iron-on interfacing to the back, both to plump it up and also to enhance it’s quilty-ness. Then I put a regular old bed pillow in and sewed it up. Perfect! It goes quite nicely with the new Fall themed dishes I picked up early last month, too…
I also finally- finally!- perfected my new Pixie Pouches pattern! I’ll have pictures to post of that later this week, but basically it’s my knitted bag recipe. I started the process last Fall, believe it or not…
The only other thing I have going at the moment is a pretty major Job Search- time to get these oars back into the water and find some regular work! And no, I’m not giving up on The Dream- it’s just time to realize certain paths didn’t pan out, and time to get back on the Road…