october trail ride

My husband had some training over the weekend so the kids and I went up to my parent's farm and spent Friday and Saturday night.

We went for a trail ride on the four wheelers on Saturday on some trails that I hadn't been on for over five years. The trees were beautiful. My parents' have a lot of yellow maples on their property, so there comes a point every autumn where the woods are paved with golden leaves.

I finished the socks for my nieces, now I think I'll start on another pair for my son.

We are moving out of our home at the end of October to a different house outside the city and a bit closer to family. Lots of changes around here!

made with love

About two weeks before Cora was born I realized that I hadn't made her a baby blanket yet, so when I put my son down for a nap I spent some time cutting out enough squares to make one of the 5 square by 5 square baby quilts that I love so much. I pulled out my collection of Anna Maria Horner fabric that I'm also using for my Dream Punk quilt.

So much fun!

The fabric with the flying bird print is a JoAnn purchase that I've been saving - just hoping that I would have another baby and that I could use the squares I saved to make it. I love the free spirit of the flying birds and the fresh blue color.

I didn't have enough of the magenta fabric to make a complete border, so I used two different fabrics for that. I love the scrappy feeling of this quilt. It just came together and I know the story of how it all worked out.

The pretty baby sweater is called Korrigan. This one took a little bit longer to make than the quilt. I used hand painted yarn from Rivers Edge Fiber Arts. The colorway is Lilac. This pattern takes a fun twist on cables. It's knit from the top down, so you do the most difficult knitting at the start of the project, then the rest is stockinette. I have a feeling I will be making a few more of these for Cora as she grows. I just love this pattern.

xo Jill

new year revival

Try as you may to pose them and sit them just right, it's always the candid shots that are the most appealing.

We have been knitting, baking and living away here. I've just not been posting a lot because first I lost the do-dad that transfers photos to my computer and then I lost the photo card to my my camera. Then I just got lazy, or was it tired chasing after a one year old? Both!

Logan turned one this past Thanksgiving day. It was a good day. He's walking and running now and saying "dada" and sometimes "mama."

Happy belated New Year to everyone!

Jill

apple orchard

We went out today to an apple orchard with my brother and his family. It was a beautiful October day. The blog has been quiet lately, but I've still been doing a lot of projects behind the scenes.

I just finished a baby blanket for my husband's cousin and made a cute pouch for my wallet and cell phone. I got the pattern for the pouch from the book Beyond Cotton.

It's cooling down around here so we've been pulling out the wool sweaters. I wore my Bloomsbury sweater for the first time today - and baby wore his Sunnyside cardigan. I'm making another Linnie sweater for my friend's first baby.

I hope you are all having a good fall.

:) :) Jill

blueberry boy

The little guy and I spent Saturday night up at my parent's farm. We squeezed a lot into a twenty four hour period. The best part was the blueberries. My dad took us to a neighbor's blueberry patch where we could pick as many blueberries as we wanted for free.

I filled up two three gallon buckets.

It was a wonderful morning. It had rained the night before, but when we arrived the sun was shining and the raindrops were drying on the berries. I have never seen so many blueberries before - some of the bushes were just blue. They were pretty easy to pick. I got six gallons in about two and a half hours. We cleaned and froze most of them, but I put together a blueberry crisp last night and ate a whole row of it with a fork while it was still cooling in the pan.

What do you think of Logan's crawling technique? He swings the one foot up in the air like a counter pendulum and then digs in the toes on his opposite foot to gain forward momentum. I've got it on video. Super sweet. 

My Bloomsbury sweater is knitting up fast. I hope I can keep up this pace. I've almost got the body complete and then I'll start on the sleeves.

Hope you all have a great week.

:) Jill

star quilt

"We began as wanderers

and we are wanderers still

we have lingered long enough

on the shores of the cosmic ocean.

We are ready at last

to set sail for the stars." 

Carl Sagan

I'm so happy to tie off all of the loose strings on this quilt and wrap it up. Finishing this quilt was one of the major goals for my maternity leave (that and to keep baby happy!)

I accomplished both. (Baby is currently napping in his crib, a major accomplishment.)

I've only made a handful of quilts in my life, but after completing this one I can say that I'm officially addicted. I especially like the machine quilting part, that was a lot of fun.

I wish I had some stats that I could give you on this quilt, but I've had the fabric forever and I got it from multiple sources, even garage sales. I forgot what type of batting I used, but I know I want to choose a better quality next time, because it was very thin.

I really love the back of this too! I can't wait to start my next one.

Linking up with crazymom.

xo Jill

up at the farm

Up at the farm this weekend.

We crammed a lot into a twenty-four hour period of time.

We dyed enough yarn for me to make a sweater.

We went for a long walk through the spring fields.

We snapped photos of my finished star quilt. (Stay tuned for my next blog.)

I put on some mud boots and explored the farm for some pretty pictures. The cats followed me everywhere. The sheep stood and stared at me.

We had a nice dinner with family.

We watched "Spy" with Melissa McCarthy.

Baby and I snuggled in a strange bed for the night. (Spooky and fun.)

Woke up to coffee and cookies, packed up our bags and headed back to the city.

Phew!

Hope the weekend was good to you.

xo Jill

P.S. Back to work for me tomorrow. Gah!