Falling in Love with Fall

The changing of the seasons has begun and I'm already lovin' it.  Been working hard on my Halloween See Saw Swap block and I am already getting in the mood to decorate for the season.  Did a little fall cleaning and got out all my candles---I love burning candles all Fall!!!  Not sure why I don't do it the rest of the year.
Our big reveal is in October but just have to share where it currently is in it's journey.   Sharon, my partner, added the candy corn border and I loved how it looked so I shifted the color theme in that direction and am so happy with the result. Woot woot!! 

Okay, for anyone keeping track, my border is going to finish at 3"---not the 2-1/2" it is suppose to be but the math was so much easier at the 1" block size...plus I'm pleased as punch with it.  I knew my eye was seeing yellow as the next border but I love the random mix of color that this brings and it doesn't pull my eye away from the happy fellows that are center stage.  In fact, I would swear the orange and yellow actually make me look at the orange and yellow the scarecrows are wearing. Now I swear I wish I could hide my picket fence.  Oh, well still lovin' it!!!

So today with my Feelin' Fall Ya'll mood,  I decided it was time for Ham and Scalloped potatoes.  Featuring potatoes and onions out of our garden.  So it was time time dig a few spuds up.  Before I could find some spuds, I found this instead.

At least three baby bunnies hiding in their burrow in the midst of all the weeds I never got around to pulling up this year.  Mommy bunny must have been in heaven with all the lettuce still in my garden.  One bunny took off and we couldn't find him and two remain although in this photo you can only see one.  We covered them back up and you guessed it no Scalloped Potatoes tonight.  I guess I'll have to buy some potatoes until these fellas move on in about a month.  They had their eyes open so we think they are about two weeks old right now.

Since I couldn't make Scalloped Potatoes and I have a craving for all things Fall right now, look what is now going to be my dinner tonight.

Don't you just love Fall???... Apple pie, candles, bunnies, scarecrows,  and where is that bottle of wine???
I know it is starting early but I feel the changing season is getting off to a good start. Enjoy the day your given you never know if you'll get another.  Hope that didn't come off sounding like Debbie Downer but I recently loss a close friend and co-worker --43 and Laura had a massive heart attack and she's gone in a blink of an eye-- shocks the system still.  So Carpe Deim friends and where did that bottle of wine get off to now...You know I'm going to find it.
Hugs and best wishes for a great week

Hexagon Hoot

Well here is the result of one of my outdoor cooking experiences last week.  Have you ever heard of pie irons?  We use them every time we go camping and every so often when we build a fire in the fire pit in the back yard.  They are great for making dessert after dinner.  In the past we have only made "pie" in them.  Here is our standard recipe:

• Butter a piece of bread and sprinkle with cinnamon
• Insert it into one side of the pie iron, butter side down
• squish the bread down so you can make a hole for your fruit filling
• spoon in the fruit filling of your choice -- we usually stick with can cherry or blueberry filling
• butter another piece of bread and sprinkle with cinnamon
• Insert it into the other side of the pie iron, butter side down
• close the pie iron and lock down the clasp on the bar
• cook for about 10 minutes, flipping sides every few minutes to toast bread evenly
• Peek to see that it is done, if not close and cook longer
• If golden brown,  pop it on a plate,  let it cool down and enjoy!

This trip we tried new recipes --- most with no trouble.  We made blackberry pies with fresh fruit and crescent dough for the crust.  Even though the ended up delicious---we were quite concerned when the dough started bubbly out the side of the pie irons.  What remained inside cooked up great.  What spilled out was fuel for the fire. We made cornbread--- it actually turned out awesome and never overfilled the iron. We could only fill one half of the iron and it raised great.  We also made grilled ham and swiss cheese sandwiches that were delicious.  With each of these recipes the KEY is to check and make sure you don't burn the what you are cooking.  Here is where I ran in to trouble on the trip.  I stopped to check that I wasn't burning what I was yearning to eat and here is what happened when I wasn't using my noggin'

I laid the pie iron on the empty chair next to me and the chair cushion instantly melted away.  Oops...My husband loves these chairs.  What to do???.... As it happens I had brought some extra fabric with me because I have always wanted to learn to make hexagons but had never taken the time to learn.  Since I thought it would be a great car ride or campfire filler I brought the instructions and some paper hexagon patterns with me.  I found this great free template download by Abi over at Snippets and Blabbery and I promptly cut out a few and was surprised how quickly I could put a whole flower together ---even though I was a complete newbie to this.  Must have been the added incentive of needing to fix my Hubby's beloved chair.







Yep that patch was going to be the perfect size to cover my
"Boo Boo"
So I just starting stitching that baby into place and 'Tada' all fixed and beautified!!!

Now I think I need to add a few more to really
max out the girl power on this chair.  You know this chair is permanently "mine".  Not sure if I want three or five of these on here to really cherry up this chair.





Here is a picture of the pie iron.  This is when we cooked cornbread to go with our Sausage and Bean Dutch Oven Stew. We thought we should go low heat and slow with these so we started out on top of the grate but ended up holding them below the grate to get enough heat to cook them.  They were delicious.

Keepin' it together --- do the same

Progress in Paradise

We spent the last week camping up on Mt Rainier at Cougar Campground and hiking up at Paradise Inn and at Sunrise on the Northeast side of the mountain.  The sub alpine meadows are in full bloom.  We saw deer but thankfully no bear or cougar.  Wouldn't you agree that these are pictures of Paradise for sure? It was great being unplugged for the week and relaxing. The sky is really that blue up there. I also got a lot of hand sewing done with two of my UFO's getting completed.  They now smell like a campfire but a good washing and they are going to look great on my tables.

This is a table runner that I started over six years ago (when my kitchen was still red ---it no longer is).   I put off finishing it because it had inside corners to bind. I wasn't confident I could do that so I set it off to the side.  Come to find out inside corners are easier than outside corners and now I wish you could design a quilt with only inside corners. They are that easy. Here is a picture of the finished project.  I couldn't even find the pattern I used for this one but I think it had buttons in the center of the blocks for the flower centers so I put three in the middle of each flower.

I had another table runner that I had started about two years ago which at least matches my current decor.  It has lots of flowers sewn on it and each is hand quilted around the edges, as are each of the many leaves.

The flower centers are buttons covered with fabric and I LOVE how this turned out. I am doing a happy dance just looking at this makes my heart sing.  Check it out. Isn't it gorgeous?

I also had time to embroider one more garden step block on the drive up to Sunrise.  Which I am glad I had in the truck because the road is a series of switch backs climbing the mountain on cliffs with no shoulders on the road and I wasn't enjoying the view out the window like I should have.  It was almost too scary. I would love to do more hiking in that area but I don't really want to go up that road again any time soon.

I also took along some fabric to give making hexagons a try. I had the opportunity to give it a shot and will share that outcome later in the week. I got my see saw swap block back from my partner while I was gone for the Halloween See Saw Swap and will share it's progress soon, plus I won a fat quarter bundle from Bea
at beaquilter.  She just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Sonja, and I guessed her birth weight right on the nose and was closet to the right time of day she would make her arrival. Big thanks to Bea and all the Staff at Connecting Threads for Sponsoring this fun giveaway and the opportunity to put this fat quarter bundle of Pearadise to good use.  Hey maybe it was my being at Paradise that brought me the good fortune to win some Pearadise.  Just a thought...

   Quilt label

I am ready to pass off Grayson's quilt to him.  I threw it in the wash with three color catchers and let me just say they are lifesavers when red fabrics are involved.  I can't believe what they caught. They were very purplish in color and I am so grateful my quilt looks wonderful.  Here is a picture I took of the quilt label I made for the back of the quilt.  I had a few people offer suggestions as to what to name it...because as I shared that is not my forte.  Michele from Quilts from my Crayon Box suggested "Sailing Across the Waves" and I thought how brillant is that.  The sailing boats are doing just that...why couldn't I think of that.  Hats off to Michele for lending me a helping hand and to everyone else that offered to help me, I appreciate all your help immensely. I am glad to hear I am not the only one that struggles in this seemingly simple task.

Looking forward to getting alot done this week and sharing it with you all soon.

Keep Stitching

Polaroid Picture Perfect Swap

Putting these blocks together was a lot of fun and very easy.  I enjoyed looking thru my stash and finding fabrics that would be great pictures.  I found some troll fabric scraps that I had made a pair of shorts out of for my daughter when she was about 4 years old and now she's 25. Wow that has been hanging around a long time and it is so picture perfect in the block. I love it. Sending them off tomorrow and then Debbie over at A Quilter's Table is going to be busy this month collecting the blocks from 72 swappers from around the globe and sending us back the same amount we are sending her ( minus a few we're sending as a hostess gift to her) Looking forward to that surprise package in time for a new fall project.  Here is what I'm sending out.

Aren't the trolls adorable???

The animals on the green background are a Japanese fabric
I picked up at a quilt show this spring. I wasn't sure what to
do with this fat quarter.  They made sweet Polaroid blocks.
Plus I have enough left to make a few for me to keep.

In case you were wondering why I haven't trimmed them to a finished size, Debbie is
having us all trim them after we receive them back.  This is the first time I have used
a Kona solid and I can't  believe how badly it frays.  Good thing we will be doing a little trimming later on.
Hoping whatever project you are currently working on is bringing you joy!!!