Light Blue Round Up

The temperatures are dropping up our way and areas further north have received a dump of snow today.  It probably won't stay but it has been cold enough for snow.  Angela's choice of pale blue is very appropriate considering the kind of weather moving in our way.
I'm writing this on Friday night between rounds of trick or treaters.  We've had over 70 so far and there are still kids out on the street. Hope the treats hold out.
Now on to quilting matters.  I finished the last three brown, grey...dark blocks.

When I went to check my stash this morning I had about 5 light blue fabrics - not enough to make my boxy stars.  I discovered I'm not a light blue type - my blues were either greyed or had a green undertone.  And I needed 8 different fabrics for my Boxy Stars so I had to go shopping to pick up a few more bits, some fat quarters and some half yard cuts.  Two of the fabrics may be a bit dark and may not be used. 

Some of my light blues had quite a bit of yardage, 2 - 2.5 yards.  I bought them to make a wintery type quilt several years ago but didn't get further than buying the fabric.  You know how that is.  Great thought but fleeting ;-).   How are you doing with your light blue round up? 
Saturday morning update!!!

It snowed!!!  Just a light dusting but the first of the season.  The temperature outdoors was 0 Celcius - the freezing point.  Brr!  I'm not quite ready for this.  I hope we have a few warm days yet so I can put my garden to bed for the winter and get all my outdoor furniture safely stored.

Last Saturday for Brown

This morning I'm linking up with Angela over at Rainbow Scrap Challenge.   All the brown blocks she's posted for October are done.   I took this picture on Thursday morning but when I went to check out some of my favourite blogs I discovered that she'd posted another block.

                    This morning I finished off the last one and here it is hot off the cutting mat.  This one used up all the little odds and ends from the previous blocks.  Bonus!

 

I also found time, while watching a little TV, to put the binding on a quilt that was made at a quilt retreat back in September.  Everyone in the group brought 2.5" strips and a few 2.5" black and white squares.  We set up two of the machines and went to town sewing the strips together end to end.  We then took the two ends of what seemed to be a mile long strip and sewed the sides together.  We continued in this way until we created a piece of fabric that was about 64 inches long and 162 inches wide which was then divided into three quilt tops.  One of the group members quilted the tops on her long arm machine.  Three of us then took on the final task of binding.  Here's just one of the very scrappy quilts that will be donated to a local group. 

Decision Made

Thanks to everyone for your input last week.  I opted to go with the second layout.  Here it is all sewn together waiting for quilting.

I really like the pinwheel pattern created by the spool ends.  It adds a little bit of additional pattern interest. 

We had company for Thanksgiving and out of town guests for a few days during the past week so there was no time for sewing until Friday.  That's when the little runner got stitched together and five of the six blocks posted at RSC over the last few days were also completed.

My version of Maple Leaf and Hour Glass

 

The cat block and Prairie Queen

 

Clay's Choice.

 

Hope to get the final block posted on Deb's site put together on Saturday. 

 

Just look at all that beautiful colour in my Japanese Maple.  Darn, there's that thistle in there again!

It's been a rainy couple of days out our way.  The autumn colour really sparks up an otherwise grey day.



 

 

 

 

Spooling Around

I finished my September orange spools.  There's a lot of brown and black going on in each spool so I figured it would appropriate to finish off the spools in October and create a little table runner that would be fun and colourful.  I started playing around with setting out the spools.




First I laid out all the spools in a typical layout as above.  Here are all eight colours.   Safe and boring?

 

Then I tried mixing up the colours but with the same layout.  I thought this spread the colour out a little. 

Next I tried stacking the spools end to end.  This created some interesting white and brown hexagonal patterning but it looked like there should be more happening and I wanted to make it a runner and not the middle of something.

 

What if the centre spools were laid out horizontally? This created  a frame around the blocks and looked more finished. 

 



Then I tried to place one spool of each colour in each row.  Okay?



Finally I played with the colour placement and tried to place them diagonally like a rainbow.

 

Which setting would you select?  I'm really torn.

 

October is Brown or .......

I spent time earlier this week painting the hallway outside my bedroom and my bathroom.  With the time spent selecting paint colours and testing them out it took the better part of three days to complete.  Don't you just love those little sample cans of paint.  I think they hold about a cup but they're worth every penny you pay for them.  I'm so glad I tested out a few shades before committing to a colour.  I picked Denim Light for the hallway and Chocolate Froth for the bathroom.  Speaking of chocolate, Angela selected brown as the colour for October.  I pulled out my browns

Aren't these delicious - everything from blonde fudge to taffy to rich dark chocolate.

I made the first of my brown blocks - Boxy Star.

And I was busy with another little quilt.  This year our guild offered the quilt of the month project.  For a flat fee of $20 participants get a new pattern every month.  The September pattern was  Not Just Any Rail Fence by Jackie Syer. 


The patterns are supposed to be scrap busters but I decided to make mine a stash buster. 

I purchased just a metre of a lot of brightly coloured fabrics when they were on sale - buy one get two free.  Now who could resist that.  This pattern reminded me of a weave and that's how I treated it.  Isn't that colourful!

These are the four colour ways I made.  The bubbles with the orangey-gold centre square were a common element.  The light and dark also appears in two blocks.  Only the medium values got switched out.  Because I was working with full yardage the quilt went together relatively quickly.  I'll see what the October pattern will be.  Will it be a scrap buster or a stash buster?
Linking up with RSC to see what everyone else has been up to with the new colour.

Good-bye to September

The autumn colour as seen from my deck has just started.  We had a wonderful warm spell for just over a week.  It started before the first official day of fall so I hesitate to call it Indian Summer for fear that there will not be one in October.  The temperatures were double digits even over night but last night we were down to single digits.  (This is Canada so I'm talking Celsius. )  With cooler evening temperatures we should see more colour soon.  I just love the colour.  It's so dramatic against the blue skies.                 

The young maples along the walking path are looking lovely in their yellow and russet.  Have I mentioned that fall is my favourite time of year? 

 There are so many berries on the barberry bushes, I'm afraid it's going to be a long hard winter.  I heard someone predict the T-Rex of winters is on the way.  But for now  I'll just enjoy the colour of the season.