something rosemade

It's Finally and Officially Fall For Me

I don't know why it was hard for me to put out for the Fall decorations and quilts in the past; I was lucky if it was done at least a week before Halloween.  This year, I was done by the first week of October which is an all-time personal best.  I think retirement has helped, no more having to switch the closet from spring/summer clothes to fall/winter clothes since I was able to consolidate all my clothes into one closet due to the big purge last year.  This really was a big time saver.

One of the new additions to the Fall front is the one that was inspired by the gigantic squirrels' nest which lived in the birch tree in front of my house.  It fell down and I couldn't bear to throw it away so we brought the dog planter from the back, put the nest on the bottom, added some artificial leaves and a perfectly sized pumpkin and I loved how it turned out.  Pluto (our beloved late Bluetick Coonhound who resembled this planter) would be proud. I must place an order for another squirrel nest with my fur buddies for next year because this idea is a keeper.

Also not to be forgotten is the lovely metal Indian Corn decoration that was purchased from my visit to Shipshewana, IN this past August.  I propped them in a milk can which we had since we were married and it was from my sister-in-law's farm and may be around 50 years old.

My few disappointments for this Fall is that it's another year that I have not made a quilt from my stash of wonderful Halloween fabrics.  This is one bin of them; I have two.  And another one is that I have not quilted my Primitiva quilt which also has these wonderful Fall colors.  My plan for this quilt is to put fleece instead of batting and only do light quilting.  I experimented with doing this last year on another quilt and liked how it turned out.

For 2016, I used the The Quilter's Planner and it was a wonderful tool for me to plan and journal my activities, both personal and quilt related.  I've ordered mine for 2017 and love that it will include an expanded Project At A Glance List and a section dedicated to doodling which in 2016 I doodled wherever there was a blank sheet which made it difficult to find my idea.  I will definitely put in my planner next year to start a Halloween quilt no later than June and to finish the Primitiva quilt.

And lastly, here are some of my Fall quilts which were placed around the house yesterday.  These quilts were made from my stash of Sandy Gervais fabrics and made a very nice dent in the bin.  The quilt from the bottom was made from last year's participation in Pat Sloan's Happy Little Wishes Challenge which was a great opportunity to use up more of the Sandy Gervais fabrics.  As much as I love buying new fabrics, I love making stash buster quilts.

I realize now that it's funny whenever I post a photo of one of my quilts in either Pinterest, Facebook and now this blog is that I'm looking for a photo in my library thinking I made it over several years ago and instead was last year.  I guess you lose your track of time when you make quilts which may be a good thing to do.