For the Love of Autumn

Two posts in one day?! Crazy, I know. But I remembered a cowl that I crocheted last week that I wanted to enter into Rachel's Celebrate Color party.

But more on that in a minute. I wanted to share some non-stitchy fall color celebration first.

I love the way the autumn sun lights up the prairie.

We made a jack-o-lantern the other day, but I only bought one pumpkin. So we decided to make a 2-faced one!

Doesn't he make a great jack-o-lantern??

Cutting up my side.

Jake's side.

My side.

We cut these guys a couple weeks ago so they've already gotten soggy and got thrown into the burn barrel the other day. I still have some mini pumpkins on the table & we'll probably carve another one this weekend for Halloween. :D

The other day we went out into the back pasture to get the horses because Jake needed to take them down to the boss' house for shipping time. The horses like to hang out in the back corner of the pasture so it was about a mile & a half out and back. That's not that bad of a distance on the road, but when you're following cow trails it's a little rougher. Luckily the horses came right up to us & trailed back to the house no problem. The dogs had a great time too!

Our pups playing in the grass.

My tailgater, Fancy.

And now for my first cowl...

This was my first experience with working in rounds. The first time I started it I got it twisted. It took me about 4 rows to figure that out. So I ripped it all out. Next I couldn't figure out how to join each round without increasing the number of stitches. I ripped about twice as much as I stitched, but after 2/3 finished I still had increased by 10+ stitches and the joins looked TERRIBLE! At the Sewing Summit Rachel had a do. Good Stitches bee meet-up with a crochet lesson/session. I really wanted to learn about the bee so this was the perfect opportunity to do that and also get some help with my cowl. The fabulous Suzy helped me figure out where my mistakes were and I ripped the entire thing out and started again. After zillions of stitches I think I finally figured it out.

And here it is! Please excuse the terrible self-portraits. :)

Convertible Cowl from The Crimson Owl

Wide enough to be worn as a hood.

This is definitely my favorite way to wear this. Now I just need to find a cute pin that coordinates.

And just for the fun of it...

Sunrise the other morning. I love the jagged rays in the clouds.

{Sew} Modern Monday

It's October! Yay! That means I can start decorating for Halloween. :)

(1) My 10 minute table runner that took several weeks. Only because it sat half finished on my shelf while I worked on other projects.

A close-up of the fun fabrics.

I also put up a giant spider web in the window & I have a wall hanging that's ready to be quilted. When I'm at The Sewing Summit this weekend I will be on the lookout for glow-in-the-dark thread.

(2) Remember my Jelly Roll Race quilt top? Well, it too sat on my shelf for weeks (months really). I thought it was going to be a tablecloth, but when I rearranged the dining area & tried it out on the table it was just too busy for my taste. So I changed direction slightly & decided to cut it up and make placemats & oven mitts.

But now I need your help. I don't know how I want to quilt it. I know I don't want to stitch in the ditch. Besides that I have no idea. For an extra incentive to get lots of quilting suggestions I will send a little thank you gift to the person who's suggestion I choose to use. So post those ideas!!

Here are the placemat tops. Fun, huh?

I'm still debating on the backing because I'm not really a fan of yellow, but it goes so well with the top AND I already had it in my stash. 2 will be bound with strips from the black jelly roll & 2 with the off-white.

(3) I made a new camera bag for my point & shoot. It's such an awesome camera and needed a truly awesome pouch to live in. I used some of my Terrain charm pack for the fun and colorful bag.

Be sure to stop by Canoe Ridge Creations if you haven't already to see what everyone else has been up to.

WIP Wednesday

After living in the mountains for the past few years, and having a very short summer on the Montana prairie last year, I am no longer used to hot weather. July & August were miserably hot and humid (for Wyoming), and since the A/C in the house doesn't work well I was basically a puddle on the floor for most of the summer. Working in a sewing room with a hot iron was out of the question.

With the beginning of September it has cooled down considerably and the leaves are starting to turn yellow. Soon it will be hunting season, The Sewing Summit, our wedding anniversary, jeans & sweater weather...I LOVE autumn!

I know it will warm up again before winter, but I sure am enjoying the cooler nights & tolerable days. I was able to get quite a lot done on Saturday.

Here's what I've been working on:

I completed more work on the Heart & Home quilt that I'm making for our friend as a wedding gift. I'm using Sweetwater's Hometown. Such a great collection!

30 Misfit tree blocks. They still need to be trimmed down, but they will be heading to Kentucky this week where Amanda will be dispersing the trees to all the other Misfits.

Halloween quilt, I'm still working on the layout of the blocks.

Little Apples HSTs. I started with the 2.5" mini charms. Still trying to figure a layout for these as well. I was trying to organize them by color, but my plan is not working so far. I may go for a more random layout as far as color goes.

I also finished bee blocks for 2 bees & got my fabric out because September is my month for String Me Along.

Be sure to visit Lee @ Freshly Pieced and see what everyone else has been working on.