It's Hip to be SQUARE

More lovely signs of fall, although our temperatures remain in the mid-90s.  Cooler mornings.  Earlier sunsets.  More cues from plants, like our alliums, just ready to pop open. 

Our sweet autumn clematis is in full bloom.  It's much more prolific this year because of the additional sunshine it's received since our tree debacle.

Rain is still infrequent, but definitely happens more than it did during our long drought summer.  I love to see mushrooms popping up after a storm.

Our front beds are also beneficiaries of a new pattern of sunlight.  Would you believe that I did not plant ANY of these flowers?

I planted this vinca, an annual, last year.  In one small spot.  It did not thrive because of the shade, but it reseeded nicely and spread down through the beds.  It even jumped across the driveway!

I've just left it alone.  It's welcome to spread where it wants to!

I haven't seen our goz in about a month. 

I tell myself that they're off "training" somewhere else, getting stronger, getting used to flying, and they'll be back in a few weeks.  We always see a lot of geese here, so I'll have to be patient.  Todd did see a turkey yesterday, and I saw a stray cat sleeping on the stairs outside our sun room this morning.  I always see a lot of strays here in the fall.

When I got a little closer, I could see that he was injured on his face and around his neck.  He was a grizzled old fellow!

The Chamberlains were on the cusp of adopting a fourth pet.  I brought him some food and water, which he inhaled greedily.  Then he loped off into the woods.  I remember seeing this little guy last year, too.  He's a die-hard stray.  I'll keep an eye out for him, though, and may start setting out food.

Our lazy cats don't know how lucky they are!

I started my new quilt last week and I am really moving along with it!  I decided to pre-cut my pieces.  Since the quilt is paper-pieced, I didn't need exact measurements, but I eyeballed my triangles and rectangles, mentally added my 1/4" seam allowance, and cut generous-sized pieces.  It only took one evening to cut everything out. 

I employed an assembly line process.  Each block is made up of four smaller squares.  So, I took four pieces of my pre-printed pattern and sewed the first 2 fabric pieces onto each of them, and then piece #3, and so on.

I was able to finish a whole 4-piece square pretty quickly.

The side half stars line up with the same on adjacent squares to form full stars.

I love it!

I got this done in just 3 days!  The blocks aren't sewn together yet because I'm not sure how big it's going to be.  The fabric was pretty expensive so I may just work through what I have and see if I'm satisfied with a comfy couch throw or if I want to go all the way with a quilt for our bed.  Right now I'm thinking couch throw, because I'd want to do something more simple for a bed quilt (two main colors, I think).  But I love making this.  For once, I've done everything in the proper way.  I washed and ironed each fabric.  I iron flat each seam after sewing.  If I'm off, even by a little bit, when joining 2 of the 4 squares together, I take them apart and try again.  I really want to do a good job!  It's a fun fall project.

Have a great week!