September, Stash-Busting & Some Tuesday To-Do's

September, how I love thee,

let me count the ways!

It's finally pumpkin time!

I welcomed September by picking just a few--a little green,

yes, but you never know when the squirrels or mice

will find them so it's a good idea to start grabbing early.

They'll finish ripening just fine.

Let the porch decorating and pumpkin baking begin!

How did everyone do this past week?

I'm pretty happy with my productivity!  Here's

what I got done:

1) Finish [Squirrel in] The Secret Garden

(I should make up my mind about that name!)

I finally decided to order more coordinating fabric

for the outer border but I first squeezed in a small

yellow one.  Pardon the late-evening-lighting pic:

So you can get a better idea of how it looks, I tossed it

on our bed in the daylight--no "staging", just a quick pic.

After deliberating too long, I thought there was no way

I'd get this thing finished by Tuesday especially waiting on

 fabric to arrive in the mail but the Etsy shop owner shipped

it immediately and it arrived in two days--from New York!

I actually had this completed by Sunday and went on to

make up the backing and cut out the batting.  This

one is 100% ready to quilt. 

I also started piecing together tiny HSTs from the trimmings

from this quilt.  I have 165+ made but even more to go.

All will need to be trimmed down to 1 1/2 inches.
What will I make with these?

No idea but it'll be cool.

Maybe a pillow (or three?) to go with the quilt.

2) Make Garlic Knot Blocks

Can you believe it?  I finished all 120 blocks!

And did some decent stash busting!

3) Get one of my tops loaded and begin quilting

I didn't get this done but I did make the backing and cut out

the batting for the West Point quilt after I did the same for the

Secret Garden so I now have 3 quilts completely prepped.

That's a lot of "boring part of quilting" to get done so I

think it more than makes up for my not getting #3 done.

I think I'll get one loaded and begin quilting today.

4) Garden work

Picked some pumpkins.

Harvested more herbs (chives, thyme).

Pruned roses; dried petals for chicken mix.

Picked tomatoes; continued to prune.

Made 10 bags "chili starter" from tomatoes, onions

and Anaheim green chilis and poblano peppers.

These are so easy and handy!

I figure if I'm going to freeze peppers, why not save some

steps and freeze them how I'm going to use them?  A bonus

is that I can just pulse them in the blender with the tomatoes.

No chopping needed.

I'm in a bit of a hurry today so here are my

to-do's for next week:

1) Quilt one, or more, of the 3 finished tops.

2) Sew garlic knot blocks together.

Also, choose borders and come up with a name.

3) Garden work

Roast and freeze peppers

Prune, can tomatoes

Weed

4) Enjoy September!!!

5) Just maybe:  choose and start a new quilt

A little stash-busting note:

I emptied two bolts of fabric (about 14 yards) this week in

making the backings.  I moved out some smaller pieces that

have been hanging out in my cabinet for too long so I'm

feeling really good about the stash-busting progress so far.

Just a month to go before shop hop so I'm off to put

the pedal to the metal carpet.

Happy Quilting!

Linking up to:

Home Sewn By Us Tuesday To-Do #56