While my Piccadilly Square quilt is hanging around on the design board, waiting for me to make up my mind, I made a new table runner in fall colors. I even did some free motion quilting! Most of my quilting for small projects like this is the standard stich-in-the-ditch pattern, following the lines of the pattern. This pattern has a large area with no blocks, so I improvised. Not bad! The fabric is all from my leftover fabric, so it feels like an accomplishment two ways - expanding my skill set AND using up fabric.
Thoughts from DJ
Sunday, November 01, 2026
Saturday, October 31, 2026
The "community puzzle" is complete - almost....we were missing a piece by the time we got it put together. I'm still hopeful that I'll find it under the couch or somewhere....
We started the next puzzle, and I don't think we need to wonder for too long how we could be missing a piece of the last puzzle - we have helpers that don't always play by the rule of "leave the pieces on the table"....
Friday, October 30, 2026
I completed the blocks for the Piccadilly Square quilt, but....don't like how they look together. I made 13 blocks from the bundle of fabric I got (coordinated to work together) so I'd have an extra block to play with. The colors all go together, but...don't work well together in the quilt. This one has a light purple on the bottom right - it's too light.
This one has a light pink on the upper right - again. too light.
I tried moving the light pink to a different row, but...still not working.
Better? I pulled a lighter orange out of my stash. I like this one better, but....still undecided. Should I stick with the original light purple or the new orange? This is going to sit on my design board for a bit before I put it all together.
Thursday, October 29, 2026
Monday, October 26, 2026
Sunday, October 25, 2026
And...the first casualty......
I think James was asleep on my bed when Coco went running into the bedroom, startling her. She ricocheted off the lamp on her way to the window. Down one lamp.....
The cats are not happy about Coco in the house. Luckily Coco doesn't seem to be trying to do them any harm, but if they run, she will chase. And yes, they will run. Or climb, whatever. Luckily for them she isn't in the house much - AJ has her with him. We think she may have been crate trained in the past because she has zero issues with the crate.
Saturday, October 24, 2026
Meet the newest addition to the family - Coco! AJ and I went to Mt Shasta Friday to check her out, and brought her home. She's 5 years old, and is a sweetheart. She was a bit nervous when we first met, but settled down pretty quick.
AJ spent at least an hour yesterday throwing the ball for her once we got home. (He ordered a bunch of tennis balls for her yesterday - she has a tendency to destroy them....) The other dogs are not as impressed, but since Coco spends her time with AJ in his house, they are not interacting much at this time.Wednesday, October 21, 2026
I added two more chickens to the flock this weekend. A friend of a friend needed to get rid of her chickens, so I got a couple. I didn't necessarily need them, but I was looking at getting a couple more next year, and they needed a home. One is a Sapphire Gem, which I already have, and one in a Adirondack, which is know for odd feather growth. This one has no tail feathers, poor thing! They are both about the age of my Wellsummer, I think, but are much smaller. My Sapphire Gem, at least, is much bigger, fluffier than the new one.The white one is very small and very timid.
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
It's apple season! I made mini apple pies this weekend. They turned out great! The recipe is from the Pioneer Woman (mini apple pies recipe) and was easy to follow. (Using premade pie crust helped make it easy, not that I can't make a decent pie crust. I was going for easy!)
Monday, October 19, 2026
Yes, I just finished Falling Leaves, so....I need a new quilt! It's not like I wasn't working on Cascade or anything, right? A semi-local designer had a class at Sew Simple for her Piccadilly Square quilt on Saturday. I've always heard that she teaches a lot of "tips and tricks" in her classes, so signed up for it. She didn't disappoint! I walked away with a few more ways to do things, and 3 completed quilt blocks (out of 12).


























