Happy Hallowe'en

Too busy today carving pumpkins! We had such a dry summer there were no BIG ones so I had to make do with little ones
LOL
Enjoy!

Time For Something New

So I'm committing to this illustration. I was so impressed with the simplicity of the last piece I have to do it again.

But FIRST... I need more bark material, a full metre.

This was done in 3 phases. First it was spatter-painted in black and a touch of orange, then dried and heat set to fix the paint.
Second step was to wet most of the surface with a spray bottle of water and them throw more, slightly diluted black. It was set deliberately on an angle so the paint would run.
After that dried and was heat set, I re-wet areas and dribbled on walnut water, just enough to stain it again.
So how to use this?...Slices

These pieces will portray a more mature tree trunk.

A Quilt....At Last

These past weeks have been filled with this and that. I haven't started another Art Piece but I have a variation of the yellow Autumn Birch in my head.
I'm still debating size, primarily. I've been letting my roll of canvas dictate my size limit. Using canvas as a stabilizer has prevented me from doing very much on the Long Arm. The Juki doesn't like stitching through canvas and 3 or more other layers of cloth. I listen to that machine and choose accordingly.

But the trips and company are almost finished for a while. The last is my son's birthday this weekend, ( I'm presently cooking granola and then Cheesecake) plus Halloween. The yard is put to bed, for the most part. I did a massive cleaning in time to catch the city pickup. The rest can go into the green bin for weekly disposal.

But I did quilt a queen this week for the sister of one of our guild members.
This was her first quilt and with all beginners it comes with problems and oversites. I quilted it and did manage to improve its lay (I think). She did a stellar job of the blocks, "Pickup Sticks" is the name. With practise and experience she'll learn to trim the blocks and not just attach the sashing  "any old way". LOL

It's for her son at Christmas. He'll be pleased.....he's a boy.....Mom is perfect.
( I can only go by MY sons.)

Fruit Cake Day

Now the weather has changed and we're in the "tween" time of no AC and no Heat, the last few weeks of "wonderful to be alive" weather.....time to think of Christmas...and cake.

I gathered the candied fruit over the last few visits to the store and after hubby brought home the RUM we were good to go. Though I mixed the fruit and rum a few days ago, it didn't hurt it to sit. In fact as it did absorb all the rum........I added a little more.
I remember disliking this as a child and my children gave it a pass also, but now that everyone is grown I have trouble keeping any past New Years.

This is 8 cups of candied, RUM soaked fruit plus the leftovers from Granola fruit. (I thought I might like dried papaya on my cereal, but no. Using it up this way is a natural.)

I bought a new Spring form pan, one slightly smaller than the one I used last year. This gives me two cakes that fit nicely into cookie tins for storage. I did try cooking in the pan a few years ago, but after slicing it in the pan we noticed the pan finish was lifting. So back to cake pans.

Buttered, lined and buttered again......

Baby just had its first drink of rum....

Momma is happy, seasoned and ready for storage.

So I'll leave them till December and then give them another drink.......They should be ready for Christmas celebrations.

This is the recipe I used this year. Very straight forward and easy. Enjoy!



www.epicurious.com/.../mrs-mackinnons-christmas-fruitcake-233422

Row 5 For Jane

Once the weather broke this summer I was able to think about the hand quilting on the frame in my living room.
As I advance the whole piece.... I can see the centre. This looks doable! Hahahaha!

Plants that just keep on Giving

I had a busy weekend visiting with family. Now that things are settling I wanted to do some things in the garden before the weather changed again.
Before she left, my sister helped me clean all but the Hostas in my garden. I'll wait for a hard frost before I tackle them.
We bought a few pumpkin for Halloween and while I was moving them to the porch today I decided to empty my summer pots and salvage the Dracena spikes for next year. I had planted Sweet potato vine in them all but it only grew well in one. When I dumped it out I found my prize.

I'm sure they're edible though the flavour may be lacking. I'll find out!

Another Workshop With MY Girls

Gathering once more in the work room at Creative Sisters in Kitchener, we spent  Friday working on   another Botanic wall hanging.
The pre-workshop assignment had been to gather photos of a leafy branch. This was not as straight forward as it sounded for some. If you can't find the perfect simple branch with a few leaves, how do you separate what you want from an overwhelmingly leafy view?

When we finally gathered it was really great to see people "branching out". Some chose simple and some chose the full tree. Some chose to do a double sided leaf approach and other chose to use "crumbs". It was great to see how the group had grown in confidence and were happy to go in different directions within the theme.

Here are some of our interesting results. You can see how far they have progressed.

Afternoon with a Sewing Friend

Back at the CQA Show in the spring, a friend and I bought a pattern and the hardware required to make a charming purse. We finally got to it yesterday and this afternoon I finished it.

The piece of needlepoint I found at a thrift shop. It took a lot of dithering before I could cut a piece from it. I always associate these pieces with my youth and watching my mother work pieces for the dining room chairs, or a piano bench (which I still have) or this one which was a bell pull. But cut it I did.

Inside is a zippered pocket, creating 2 separate sides. I used upholstery fabric as I was concerned about the wear of cotton fabric. This, I'm hopping will be more durable.
(I only broke  2 needles.) LOL

Dyeing - What I Did Today - Yea Me!

I have company coming for Thanksgiving in 3 days. It's too early to clean so I decided to dye.

I need more dyed cloth for autumn. Whether I used this cloth in a micro snippets way or large pieces is undecided. I know what I want to make, a companion piece to the Autumn birch, but other things may come before, I get to it.

So this is what I made. 8 FQ in golds and reds.

Out in the sunshine they glowed. (A neighbour I casually know, had to cross the street with his dog to inquire. I ended up giving him a tour with the promise his wife could come and visit.)

I did 4 pieces blending two colours and four more dyeing them singly but in such a way the colours were not solid. That's the way I like them.
So enjoy. ( somewhere along the way I forgot to photograph two. Oh well.)

And of course, my mop up cheesecloth!

Jane Stickle Quilt - Row 4 Complete

Once the weather broke, and I finished my current projects and quilting commitments...........I had nothing to do.
I walk by my "quilt on a frame" everyday and a few days ago it was, once again, TIME.
Not all the pictures are great and not all the blocks photographed well but here are the latest 15.

The purple dot is where my air erasable pen "exploded"? It's been a few days now and it IS going. I figure another week.

This was my favourite from this row.

This one is my second choice.

I have a few busy days coming up between Thanksgiving, prepping the garden for winter, house guests and our next workshop, so I won't be starting anything major for a few weeks.
Give my brain a rest!!