Lots of Fall Projects--and a little fun

This Buttermilk Basin Pattern, "Give Thanks", is finally ready to be basted and quilted. I shrunk the pattern, so what would have been 42" x 50" is now almost 25", by just over 26". I made mine a little more of a square.

I had SO much trouble trying to choose borders for this. The wovens and plaids I had just didn't work. Still not sure I made the right choice, but after auditioning every combination of Fall colors under the sun, in a variety of fabrics, this is what stuck. I only had a small piece of the outer border and ended up having to piece the top and bottom. It is most obvious on the bottom.

I still do pumpkins in November. I have these two smaller projects basted and ready to quilt. The stems on the two little pumpkins in the basket were too pale, if you recall, but they were also too well fused to be removed. So I took a brown Pigma pen and lightly shaded them to give a little more contrast with the background. We do what we have to do!


My version of Lori's Quilters Madder is also ready for basting and quilting. I did put the HSTs all around. Down the sides the measurements worked out well with the border, but across the top and bottom, not so much. After wrestling and wrangling to make them fit, I did the truly "humble quilt" thing and chopped off the borders.
I really like this little quilt. Madders warm my heart! When I was choosing fabrics for the border I found a gorgeous madder paisley that a friend had given me. It isn't as obvious all chopped up, but it is so pretty (the quilt Lori used as inspiration had a chopped up madder paisley in the border HSTs). There was no selvage, so I didn't know what it was. I sent off a photo to Cyndi and I was able to get a couple more yards from her shop. Thank you, Cyndi!


Again, I made the blocks half the size of the original. After quilting this will probably end up being about 14" x 17".
I read on Marian's blog that this is the 7th SAL she has done with Lori. That made me think of how many I have made. Since I started following Lori in 2011 I have only skipped one of them, and a couple of times I made two. Thinking this might be my eighth SAL with her.  I have created some of my favorite quilts from these opportunities.

The only real "finish" I have here is my little turkey pillow from my fusible test. This was also from a Buttermilk Basin pattern--a pincushion, I believe.







Finally, I am doing another "really out of character for me" project (like the Floating Foxes from last year), but I LOVE it.  Joanne, over at Canuckquilter, has designed such a fun baby quilt pattern called Tic Tac Who? There are three versions--Tic Tac Quack, with a duck; Tic Tac Woof, with a dog; and Tic Tac Hoot, with an owl. They are all so sweet, but I was especially drawn to the owl. When she asked for pattern testers, I couldn't help myself, even though I usually don't do such things. And look at the size of those blocks--8"! I've made quilts smaller than that! *LOL* It was really fun to make progress in bigger leaps and bounds for a change!

I started the cutting on Monday night, began the sewing Tuesday night, and have squeezed in a few hours each day. Last night I got it down to just needing the borders attached. The lighting on the photo isn't the best, but the background is a tan with cream dots. I may add a green outer border to make it a tad bigger. Joanne hopes to have the pattern ready for sales soon--possibly next month. I have to say that her directions are very clear and concise. Everything went together very smoothly!
Thanks, Joanne, for letting me play with your pattern. I may have to make the Woof version down the road.

I have held drawings for the books offered in my last post. Winners are as follows:
Rachel's Reel--Summer
For All Seasons--Raewyn
Prairie Flowers Encore--Doniene
Emma's Courtyard--Gale
If you are named above, please contact me with your address so I can get them sent your way. If I don't hear from you by Tuesday, Nov. 8th (U.S. Election Day) I will draw another name.
Until next time, Janet O.