What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

It seems to be all about the weather here in the winter months. Saturday,when I went out with the dogs, the temperature was this with a wind chill of -34C. 

So it is Halloween here in Canada and a very wet, cold one in our corner of the country. Here is what I've done this morning before sitting down with a cup of half caf. 

Fed the dogs and let them out and back in. Put cream on Ned's little spot he's licked too much. Also had to chase him to get a tissue from him. Boy, does he love tissues and he has an insane ability to sus them out! 

Ran the swifter over the floor in the t.v.room and this main area. Dog ...

 It's the flight of the geese season now, a natural cycle here in Canada. I've never been able to get a good photo of them with their marvelous vees marking the sky. But I am getting photos of the bright colours beginning to mark the landscape these days too. We both noticed it's getting darker earlier too or "closing in" as the old people called it.

August has brought welcome cooler temperatures here this week to the Ottawa Valley, Canada. The season of growing things with all the greens and the buzzing things is at its height...this meadow below was literally abuzz, so much so I would not walk through it. In particular, there was a large fly there we used to call stouts as kids. Have no idea what exactly is a stout but we were afraid of them as they could bite. 

 Well summer is upon us...it happens around this time every year :) no matter what the weather or temperatures. And what a marvel it all is. From the very early morning light to later sunsets, I am trying my best to take it all in and appreciate it. For it all moves by quickly...take the Phoebes with their nest on the sound box on the back of the house, for instance. The family...three little ones, are already raised and gone. They must have snuck out in the dead of night for me to have missed them the way ...

 My eyes are drawn to the tops of trees these days. No leaves so I've been rewarded with a glimpse of something or other-birds, nests, etc. Lately I've twice seen a turkey way up in the branches. Especially up so high there, they look completely out of place. How do they rest that long neck I wonder. Surely it can't be comfortable. Once a week, a flock still wanders through the front yard area. And lately a small flock of Dark-Eyed Juncos has been around the feeders. They are on their southern holiday from the Arctic. What ...

 Mid July and it is still all about the outdoor gardens both wild and tended, for me these days. To think that just a few short months ago this was all buried under a mountain of ice and snow! And I still hold a strong awe and wonder about the whole wee seed to beautiful blossom process. But I'm thankful too to keep my indoor plants alive and doing well.

 Like the beautiful Ardisia or Coral Berry below I received for Christmas. I took it outside just for a portrait in July sunshine. It has tolerated the eggshell/banana ...

Young robin, pond bathing...

 "Into your hands and out of your head"- Kate, The Last Homely House.

She was referring to the comfort and special calm that stitching can bring us. 

Kate was recently a guest lecturer on a Norwegian stitching cruise where she met the lady who is one of the leaders of the Tempestry Project. This is a project where you stitch a temperature chart of the year you were born and one of this year. An easy way to track if the climate has changed much in that area. It would be interesting, wouldn't it?  You can see more about ...

 Mother Nature had a surprise in store for us. A winter snowstorm began last night and is continuing this morning. Woke up to this...

Hopefully winter 2024's very last blast. I'm not at all upset as I've been worried about the lack of ground water the very early spring might cause. Perhaps this will help. And we have not lost the power, which they were warning us about, so fingers and toes crossed...

Deanna at Dreamworthy Quilts chose #9 for our Chookshed Stitchers Challenge this month. I was so happy to get out my #9 which is ...

 We dog sat during the holidays while Beth and family spent New Years Eve at a hotel which is their tradition. This is Petey and Ned after the ball playing... panting at me, right in my face. Just don't care at all. :D  You can see the difference in height between the two brothers in this one.

Autumn Marigolds with a little dew, very early morning. Flirting with frost warnings this week.

 No sign of a groundhog in about a month now. Also my hummingbirds have disappeared. Yesterday, the geese flew overhead with their familiar wild honking. I never tire of watching their beautiful v's cross the sky. 

LeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's new prompt has to do with our favourite spices. Recently I was here, a rare spot for me to be.

 When a trio of turkey vultures were circling very low over our heads one afternoon last week, I had the thought that perhaps I'd brought too much of wild nature to this land (with all the feeding of the birds, squirrels, chipmunks, etc.). Turkey vultures are unnerving in size with amazing wing spans-up to 6 feet.  A walk through the back woods and we confirmed it wasn't us they were after...we found what was attracting them- a poor young raccoon had met its demise somehow.  We beat a hasty retreat and let nature take its course.

 Just ...

 "And into the garden I shall go

To lose my mind and find my soul"

My garden is overblown these days...all the beds have so many interlopers I don't know where to start with the weeding. I actually enjoy a chaotic garden so this isn't bothering me that much. I did pull out the Wild Grape Vine that had wound its way through the daisies. But even that has pretty leaves to my eye. 

Above is a Cedar Waxwing with its gorgeous lemon belly I captured down by the pond a few years back. The sun is ...