I was wrong.

Fall is not nearly over.  As a matter of fact, summer may not even be over!

We reached about 82 degrees today (28C) so we loaded up the kayaks and headed to a small lake nearby.  What a beautiful day.  We saw several people walking their dogs, a few bicyclists, 2 stand-up paddle boarders, several fishermen, and even a couple of families with small children playing in the sand.

I thought it was odd that we could hear the traffic noise from a nearby interstate highway, but then I realized we don’t normally hear it because the beach is normally crowded with shouting laughing children.

Today was just quiet and peaceful.  And a little sad knowing that it was the last paddle of the season.  We return to more seasonal temperatures over the next couple of days, and the kayaks will be in storage by the end of the week.

On the stitching front, I’ve been working on my Charming Stars, and should have some blocks to show by tomorrow. 

Hope you’re enjoying whatever season you’re in!  Sunny

A Huge Ta-Da!

Yesterday, we packed up a picnic lunch, and went for a drive, looking for more pretty fall colors.  While most of the trees in our town are still green, fall is nearly over in the ‘mountains’ all around us.  We did have a lovely drive, however, and enjoyed eating our lunch beside a deserted lake.

When we got home, it was time to put the finishing touches on my seasonal quilt.  In keeping with today’s theme, I’ll start with Fall.

The inspiration for this was the pumpkin, which I made for an online Mystery BOM from a couple of years ago.  That’s as far as I got with it, so the pumpkin has been laying around in my room for at least two, maybe three years. 

Winter was going to be a big basket of snowballs with snowmen faces, but when I realized how big this block was going to be, it just didn’t work.

Spring was adapted from Vicki Bellino’s “For the Birds”.  I had to applique the bird houses instead of piece them, because I didn’t want the background to be pieced.  Otherwise, I just changed the sizes very slightly, and it was perfect for my needs.

Summer was inspired by a mug rug that I had seen on Flickr a couple of years ago. 

Last Thanksgiving, DH’s niece told me that I was making a wall hanging for her to hang on the long narrow wall above her staircase.  She gave me the dimensions, asked that it be seasonal, with winter at the top, and that it be completed by this Thanksgiving.  How do you think I did?

It’s 30 inches wide, and about 8 1/2 feet long.  DH is standing on our deck, and I’m taking the picture from down below.  I can’t wait to see it hanging on their wall.  I’ve been working on this for months, and I’m so glad it’s finally finished.

I was in the need of some instant gratification last night, so I made a few more mug rugs for our Hospice fundraiser.  The blue block was leftover from another project, and I almost tossed it in the trash, and then realized that it could have a new life.

 

 

 

 

 

Now I need to start planning and cutting projects for my retreat in a couple of weeks!

~ ~  Sunny ~ ~

Seasonal Confusion

It’s fall here in the US, and we expect to see pumpkins, mums, and brightly colored foliage at this time of year.  Since I always carry a camera, I’ve been accumulating a few pictures over the past few days.  Today, I walked in our beautiful City Park with a friend, and THIS is what we saw:

Azaleas and roses should not be blooming.  It’s just not right.

 

 

They’re pretty, so I’m not complaining, but they look odd with this as a backdrop.

Much sewing and unsewing and cursing have been happening at the QD place.  I’ll have something major to share soon.  Maybe.  It all looked good in my head, but the jury is still out on the final project.  I hope to attach the binding tonight or tomorrow, so the end is in sight.  I need a finish for October OPAM, and the end of the month is soon.

~ ~  Sunny ~ ~

FNSI and Saturday Adventure

I always sign up for FNSI, and I almost always stitch something.  But it usually coincides with our Dinner Club, so I get a late start, and don’t accomplish as much as I’d like.  I’m currently working on two WIP’s that are hand work, so I spent a little time on each of them on Friday night.  Back in 2010 (?) I started a hexie project, knowing that it would be a long-term project.  Every year since, I vow that it will be completed this year, but alas, that hasn’t happened.  So I pulled it out again earlier this week, and attached a few more flowers.  Making the hexie flowers was so much fun.  Sewing them all together, not so much.

pretend there’s a picture of my hexie quilt here

I’m also working on a cross stitch piece, so I put a few stitches in it.  I had started this as my lunch time project before my job ended, and haven’t worked on it much since then.

pretend there’s a picture of my cross stitch here

Our Saturday plan was to find some pretty fall colors and take pictures, ending up at our favorite little pizza place for dinner.  Every fall, we spend two or three weekends following the peak leaf colors as they progress nearer to our hometown.  Our destination was Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland.  Sadly, the further west we drove, the more dreary and cloudy the skies became.  And then it started raining. 

We stopped at a couple of places that we’d been before, including Rocky Gap State Park, Casselman Bridge, and Hill Top Fruit Market.

We decided that it just wasn’t our day, so we would have our delicious wood fired pizza for lunch instead of dinner, and return home early.  I took a map into the restaurant, and while we were waiting for our lunch, I noticed a lake on the map that I’ve never heard of before.  It’s very near where we were eating, so we decided to check it out before heading home. 

There are actually TWO lakes, and they’re only minutes from Rocky Gap, one of our kayaking spots.  How could we not know this?  We’re always looking for new places to kayak, so we drove all around them, locating the boat launch areas.  We’ll be back next summer!  And yes as we started heading east, we drove out of the gloom and into the sunshine!

We may have gotten just a little lost at one point, but we found some pretty spots, so it was all good.

 

 

 

 

All in all, a very successful outing!  My agenda for Sunday includes football and lots of stitching.  And maybe a big pot of soup.

~ ~  Sunny ~ ~

(eta:  I didn’t post this on Saturday night, because I was going to add more pictures.  that hasn’t happened.)

To my Canadian Friends

Home Sweet Home

I started to run out of steam the last few days of vacation, and didn't quite find time to blog.  On Sunday and Monday, we took the scenic route from Halifax to Yarmouth, and then to Digby.  DH likes lighthouses, and we were able to find several!
Sunday was another rainy dreary day.  And windy.  This picture shows the wind whipping along a beach.

And here are a few of the lighthouses between Halifax and Yarmouth. 

The sun made an appearance shortly before sunset.

The highlight of Monday was having breakfast with Joan from Ouvrages d’une Acadienne. in Yarmouth.

We had to change our plan a couple of times, but we made it happen!  Joan was so instrumental in my getting started into blogging, and it was such a thrill to meet her.

And guess what we saw after we left Yarmouth – yep, more lighthouses.

There are also some very lovely churches in the area.

Be sure to notice the pretty blue skies in these pictures.

Once we got to Digby, I visited the only quilt store that was on my itinerary – A Needle Pulling Thread.  Darlene has the cutest little shop, and is a real sweetheart.

Every inch of her walls are covered with quilts.  Many of them are Kaaren’s from The Painted Quilt.  I especially loved seeing this one in person, because I won the pattern and fabric from Kaaren last year.  I need to get started on the stitching.

Tuesday found us taking the ferry from Digby to St. John as we began the long trek homeward.  It’s about a three hour ferry ride across the Bay of Fundy, and there’s not a lot to see.  Two highlights of this day included a tugboat that came out to help get the ferry into the dock,

and because we arrived in St. John at high tide, we drove over to Fallswatch Park to see the reversing falls.  The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, and at high tide, the water rushes up the St. John River, and actually reverses the flow of the river.  It was amazing to watch.

I couldn’t capture the power of the water with my photos, so I shot my first ever video!  Unfortunately, I’m having trouble posting it. 

And then a very long drive home.  We were held up slightly in Customs, because the Agent was from DH’s home town, and they had to chat about people and places that they both knew.  Today was a stay-at-home day, and I got a good start on the huge pile of laundry.  Yippee.

We had a fabulous trip, got to meet Sheila, Joan, and Darlene.drove about 3300 miles, ate tons of wonderful seafood, saw beautiful scenery, met interesting people, and totally fell in love with Nova Scotia.  It felt good to sleep in my own bed last night, though.

Back to stitching now . . . Sunny