Pumpkin Spice Is A Little Addictive

Okay, so twice this week this is what we've woken up to. Not the most autumnal colours now, are they? Well, outdoors at least. 

Happily, the leaves are still falling indoors, and are proving to be a little difficult to pull myself away from (Roberta is a bad influence.)

My initial fabric pull reinforced that I have a lot of fabrics that read like solids, but the colourful Kaffe fabric that I used in the block above introduced mauve and blue, saving the day by adding both colour and texture. SO much better. I got the inspiration from the photo on the pattern and couldn't believe that I was lucky enough to have some in my stash.

Once I got started it was clear that one block was not going to be nearly enough. Happily, a little more digging produced a little more texture....M

Pumpkin Spice Maples

As I write, I can hear leaf blowers and kids outdoors attempting to deal with the last of the falling leaves. But there's been a few leaves dropping indoors as well. Like this beauty by Roberta. SO gorgeous against that navy!

There's been lots and lots of Secret Squirrel sewing happening over the past month or so that I will share with you in January. Amidst the process of dropping off and picking up at Roberta's for quilting, she tucked a Crystal Manning pattern called Pumpkin Spice Maple Leaf into my bag. 

Always up for another squirrel to chase, I decided to play with a few fall colours while they were in season. And so did she! (Don't you love the middle colour that looks almost like pussy willows?) She is much further along with hers than I am with mine.

She got right into it, trying different combinations, each one as beautiful as the last. Not sure what that bottom print is called - the one that looks like poppies - but it's right in my wheelhouse. Love those large prints to add lots of texture.

Then she had four. As in nature, each on different from the other, and each one beautiful in its own right. So she needed to figure out just what in the world she was going to do with them.

Add a little sashing and a few dark cornerstones and you have the beginnings of a runner.

Then that fabulous poppy fabric came back into play for a border.

And then the dark brow cornerstone fabric became an outer border.

Here's a closer look at those borders.

She's still ruminating about how to quilt it but I know that she will pick just the right panto. I'm also thinking that there's a really good chance that the gorgeous large plaid in the upper right corner of the fifth image of this post (the one with all four of her blocks) will show up in the binding....M

The Goblins Are Coming!

The Queen of 'Ween has been at it again! There's no denying that this is one of Jane's favourite times of the year and recently she has pulled Linda into her creative web with the two of them deciding earlier this summer to make Hallowe'en quilts for Jane's great niece and nephew (two of Linda's grandchildren).

By late September they were finished and ready to be mailed.

Jane has just the BEST collection of Hallowe'en prints so digging through them was half the fun, I'm sure.

I have always loved this dot. Just fun, isn't it? The first photo in this post is another absolute fave.

And it wouldn't be All Hollow's Eve without a few black cats now, would it?

Creative gal that she is, when she was prepping her quilt for mailing she enclosed an "I Spy" list for Lucy to find items in the quilt. To say that they were thrilled to open their mail is an understatement. Logan loved his because 'it smelled like Granny'. How adorable!

Even Jane's wee pincushion has a Hallowe'en vibe, doesn't it?

Roberta quilted both of them with this great spiderweb panto, the perfect finishing touch. I haven't heard for certain, but I suspect that they've been sleeping under these treasures for the past month....M

Feels Like Spring

Today is one of those drizzly, cool, grey autumn days that makes you want to sit in, wrapped up in a cozy quilt sipping a good cup of cocoa, so sharing a quilt that's filled with pretty spring irises seems like a good way to counter the season's gloominess. 

This is the second of Betty's Quilts for Survivors projects and I just love it. I'd seen a block or two as it was coming together but I wasn't quite prepared for the impact of seeing them all in one place. Gorgeous!

Similar to her fall-coloured quilt, this is a very simple modified Nine-Patch. Those beautiful irises  are common throughout but it's the variety of mauves and purples surrounding the centre squares that takes it to a whole other level. 

You can see how she transitioned her thinking to have all four cornerstones in one fabric and the sashing pieces in a second colour, bringing more structure/order to the design, despite it's scrappiness.

It's a terrific example of where more is better - there's so much variety and movement, lots of places for your eye to roam - and all within the confines of a very basic block.

She stayed with a garden theme for the backing as well. That green floral is a beautiful complement to all of the purples and yellows. And the periwinkle binding will finish it off so nicely. I'm already dreaming of spring!.....M