Changing seasons

I love switching out my decorations around the house to showcase a new season and fall has arrived here in South Dakota, at least for a few days.  The temperatures today are nearly 40 degrees cooler than Monday was.  It's soup weather!  Or maybe chili.  So I added my fall leaf table topper to my kitchen counter to replace the patriotic summer runner.  I made this one several years ago but it makes me smile every year when I pull it out again.  

What kinds of autumn decor do you enjoy at your house!

Forgive the poor photo, but the light is not very good on such a grey dreary day.

A new project

I know that I don't need any new projects but sometimes a quilt comes along that I just HAVE to do.  House Warming Party is that quilt.  I love the reds and greens and creams in this.  It's a BOM, and these 4 blocks are for month 1. 

So I'll be doing this BOM. the new Saturday Sampler mystery quilt BOM, the Rainbow Scrap Challenge BOM, and am involved in a Halloween block swap.  I think I see a theme here - lots of blocks!!

Shrinking the stash

Over Labor Day weekend I pulled together and cut the pieces for more donation pillowcases.  One evening this week I pinned together the "tube" so they were ready to sew together using the tube method.  So now I have 7 pillowcases ready to sew the French seams on the bottoms and sides to finish them up as I find a little time to sew.  

The peach and navy ones were from fabric I bought locally last spring with pillowcases in mind.  The John Deere fabric was in my stash and had also been purchased within the year to make pillowcases. But the star fabric, the red and green cuff fabrics and those yellow and aqua piping fabrics were all from the "found" stash.  And it makes me feel so good to know that the abandoned unused stash fabric is shrinking a little every month.  

That means that I'll have room for more NEW fabric, right?

Easy mindless sewing

Sometimes when I only have a half hour to sew I like to work on something that is really easy and doesn't require any major concentration.  Heartstrings blocks fit that description. And now that my scrap strips are all in one container I can just reach in and grab what I need.

So, 2 more are done.  I hope to get at least 5 done this month.  This makes 38 of the 46 blocks I need for a completed Heartstrings top.

On the road

I will spend a lot of time this month (and last) in Pierre for some training for my job.  The hotel I stay at is close to a walking/biking trail that follows the Missouri River and meanders through some quiet neighborhoods.  Except for the heat and humidity yesterday afternoon, my 3 mile walk was good.  

Orange RSC14

My orange blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge are complete.  These definitely help warm up the color scheme for the pigtail quilt I'm making.  The warm and cool colors are pretty well balanced now and we still have 4 months to go.  What colors will be next I wonder?

September goals

September usually brings a more reasonable work schedule, but this year I'll be on the road quite a bit for training for new projects.  And I'll be babysitting 3 of my grandchildren for 3 days while their parent go to a wedding.  So I need to keep my goals modest and realistic.

• 3 orange RSC14 blocks
• 5 Heartstrings blocks
• complete Sept. Saturday Sampler tasks
• 2 pillowcases from stash fabrics
• complete 1/4 of the hand quilting on the Cats wall hanging