A Year Went By and It Was Halloween Again!

 It's been ages since I wrote anything here and it turns out that I've missed it.  This last year has been one of chasing around trying to catch up and guess what?  It's possible that I'll never actually catch up.  Does anyone actually catch without full-time staff?  I'm still working on it, but not worrying about it so much.  It's so much more fun to quilt.

Summer here was a bit unusual.  It was cold and rainy through much of May and finally turned summery in June.  Then we had a heat wave at the beginning of July, which the hydrangeas hated.  The vegetables might have been okay had it not been for the deer.  The veggies are in the front as we don't have enough sun in the back and even though there were onions planted among the tomatoes and I used deer spray, the deer came in the night and pruned them back several times along with my front yard rose.  We had some tomatoes, but not nearly as many as usual. They also will pick one tomato, take a bite and leave the rest. So here's my question:  Since tomatoes are in the nightshade family, why don't the deer get a stomach ache from eating the plants?  Luckily, I make pretty good fried green tomatoes and I have at least 6 months to figure out a workaround to save my tomatoes next year.  

The quilt below was started about 5 years ago.  I finished one block before the late, great Ella chewed up the directions.  Also, I wasn't so crazy about the background.  With a new set of directions (that I also scanned into my computer, just in case) and a different background fabric, I started again.  I would work on it for a while in the fall and then put it away to work on Christmas.  So this summer, I decided to finish it before Halloween and I did it!

The needlework was fun and easy and it turned out cute. I like the retro look,  

Speaking of which, I bought the panel with the 5 pictures in the quilt below sometime last summer.  I just couldn't figure out what to do with them.  A week before Halloween I saw a quilt made up with them in a neat quilt shop in Tucson called Quilter's Market, which has lots of great fabric and ideas. I made the same black and white blocks in the middle and did my own borders and got the top finished in less than a week.  All the fabrics I used came from my stash (and yet it never seems to get smaller) and again, I like the retro look for Halloween.  

And here's the one from Quilter's Market:  They had kits as of a couple of weeks ago.

Mine isn't quilted yet, and may not get there until next summer.  It does, however have the distinction of being completely pieced on a 1951 Singer Featherweight. I learned to sew on it in the late 1960's.  It's back in shape and does a great job of straight stitching.

And finally, this another multiyear project that's hand appliquéd. I actually really enjoy hand work, but of course I underestimate how long a project like that will take.  All that's left is binding and a few well placed buttons.  

I clearly need to work on better lighting and will post it again when it's truly finished and I figure out how to show it off better.

Our fall started out sunny and warm and it was soooo lovely.  The week before Halloween it turned cold and rainy.  And now there are leaves coming down and muddy dog prints in the house.  My summer clothes are mostly put away and I miss them already.  I have more time to quilt and bake and there's more snuggling under quilts. I have a little quilted hanging that I love called "Fall Fell."  This year it felt like it happened overnight. 

Happy Quilting to All