Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Beginning a Round Robin, Ending the Harvest

Without putting too fine a point on it, Autumn always seems to be a time of endings (nice weather, long sunny days, fresh veggies and fruits) and beginnings (school, new projects, new clothes).

Our little personal garden went out with a bang this year. A colorful ending to a educational (for the grandkids) and delicious year.



These were the pumpkins we picked last week - the last of them. That was after sharing with the grandkids and the neighbors. We thought we only had a “few” left. HA!  I’ve been giving them to passers-by and used a few to decorate my house inside and on the front porch area (see below).


I’ve also tied some of the dried cornstalks to the front pillars (not pictured).  The red and green grapes have made great snacks for the last month or more, and these were the last of the large bunches. The rest I left on the vines for the bees (gone now since the frost) and the birds. The purple Concord grapes in the yellow colander is another batch that I picked on that morning. Later they were juiced into about 4 quarts of grape juice and bottled.  Yum!!  We got almost 12 quarts off the one bush this year.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My latest “beginning” is a round robin for Crazy Quilting International.  This one is called “I Love Paris”.  Sound familiar?  It was my idea because I wanted MORE after doing my Paris purse a couple years ago.  (see posts here).


Among those posts is one that explains how I do my piecing. This one was more complicated than my purse, and I had to add that central lavender piece (vertical, curvy, to the right of the toile) because I didn’t leave large enough selvages on my pieces.  But it finally came together with some hand stitching and adding trim to cover some raw edges. Luckily, the many imperfections will be covered up by the embellishments!


This is in the mail to Theresa, and I look forward to stitching on their blocks! 

Until next time,
Cathy maroon

4 comments:

  1. For a little backyard garden you guys do exceptionally well. Love all the pumpkins. Sounds like you all had a great time at the retreat. I will try for next year. We had to go to Toronto this year as we had not been up there for 6 years. Time flies.

    The square above looks great. I will be watching it as it travels.

    Hugs

    FredaB

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your entry looks very autumnal, and I really like the containers you used for the pumpkins. Looking forward to lots of stitchy goodness!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fall is my favourite time of year - all the wonderful colours. We don't see as many colours here on the west coast but I do enjoy photos of the east. Ahhh, Paris - look forward to seeing how the girls stitch this up...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh wow, I would love back yard produce like that! In fact Laura wants a wee pumpkin for our dashboard ;o)

    Sorry I didn't get to say goodbye to you last weekend, it was insane with people everywhere, and I totally lost track of where you were at the dinner. It was lovely to meet you, and thank you so much again for all you did for us!

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate your visit to my blog and love your comments!