Ooooo! Halloween dress

I made two identical dresses, for Elizabeth and baby sister Annabelle.  Their mom supplied the shirts and fabric; my job was to make the dresses with twirly skirts and send them north.  Warmed my heart to hear that Lizzy tore open the package, put on the dress and refused to take it off for two days--she even slept in it!  I think I need to start planning Christmas dresses...

OCTOBER

The "golden rain" fell a few days ago from the golden rain tree, leaving the apricot/russet blooms behind. Here in central Florida, we call this "autumn color." We must be especially vigilant to catch it!

It's time to tidy up the yard and garden but we don't know what to do about the five little beauties who have taken up residence in the pool. I've tried in the past to relocate frogs to the boggy spot in the park across the street but they hop right back overnight, seeming to prefer a more toxic-chemical environment. They're safe for now as none of us has the heart to turn on the pump.

A Little Nine Patch

The quilt is a big ol' thing--the ninepatches are small, finishing at 2.25 inches. It's a version of a 1930s quilt owned by Kaye England which she shared in APQ a few years ago. She says she thinks hers was made by a child, judging by the less-than-perfect stitching and it's handquilted. Imagine handquilting through all those seams. It called out to me, too, and I thought it would be the perfect use for my smaller scraps. I love all my fabrics and can't bear to throw away even the tiniest bit. The 1400 ninepatches add up to 12,600 three-quarter-inch squares. It's very heavy due to the number of seams and required a surprising amount of thread. I'm happy and feeling satisfied that I finished this quilt but can't imagine doing anything like it again!