A final flourish for October

This wasn't made for any reason other than that I fancied making it. Usually I have a purpose in mind before I start making something, but it was fun to make something just for the fun of trying out a new pattern. It comes from Gwen Marston's Twenty Little Amish Quilts and is made using some of the solids I've been collecting. I've hand quilted it, using a variegated thread, which was fun as it didn't take too long. I've done a sort of feathers pattern in the borders.

As you can see, we had a lovely sunny spell this morning, which has washed out the colours a bit. Sadly, the sunshine didn't last for long, although the rain did stop long enough this afternoon for DH to get out and do a bit of autumn tidying in the garden.

I'll certainly be making some more of the quilts from this book as I love the manageable size. Though what I'm going to do with them I have no idea. Just pile them up somewhere I expect.

Another present for the growing pile

I've got another Christmas present ready to tick off the list, for my 10 year old niece. I found this little house in a Quiltmania magazine and decided to have a go. It was pretty easy to make, though a bit fiddly because of the size; it finishes at about 6 inches long. I've filled it with tiny pens and sparkly coloured pencils and put it away in the drawer.

It's a gloriously sunny autumn day today, though a bit chilly (no more than about 5 C, or 41 F) but lovely in the sunshine, so I've been out harvesting the almost-last of the vegetables and cleaning up the vegetable garden. All that's left out there now are the leeks and the swiss chard which should be able to stay out through the winter. I need to store the swedes and turnips, but the last of the beetroot, carrots and tomatoes will soon be eaten. We finished off the last of the potatoes last night, so (sad face) I'm going to have to start buying our vegetables now. Roll on next summer.

A couple of small finishes

I've been doing a lot of hand stitching over the last few weeks, whilst watching the Commonwealth Games, so I've not got a lot to show. But I did finish this little Hallowe'en hanging. We don't really 'do' Hallowe'en, but I thought it was quite cute. It was a free pattern from The Painted Quilt. But then Number Two Son came to visit last weekend and told me that he was having a Hallowe'en party, so it went home with him.

This morning I made myself a pencil case. The pattern came from a special bags issue of the Popular Patchwork magazine, and I love the way that it's turned out.

A rainy day in Glastonbury

A couple of weeks ago, on a wet Wednesday just before DH disappeared to South America for two weeks on business, we went to Glastonbury Abbey. Legend has it that Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury with the Holy Grail after the death of Jesus, and buried it near Glastonbury Tor. It's also the legendary burial place of King Arthur and Guinevere. What is true is that it is one of the earliest Christian centres in England. If you're interested to read more about the Abbey and its history, click on this link which will take you to the official website, and very good it is too.

It is, like many ruined churches and abbeys, well worth a visit, and we found it very atmospheric. We'll certainly be going back, hopefully on a drier day, to spend more time.

Here's a slideshow of some of the photographs that I took.

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Autumn Leaves

I entered my little quilt Autumn Leaves in the Quilting Gallery competition this week, so if you get the chance do go and vote for me; do it quickly though, it's the first one you come to, before you look at the others, as there are some lovely quilts there and you might change your mind!