turn, turn, turn

Hello October. Where has September gone?
Well....
It was a wonderfully full month here in the driftless region. Friends and family celebrated 2 anniversaries and at least 14 birthdays in addition to mine, a milestone. Funny, the view from inside doesn't seem to match the number....

My local quilt guild and the Quarter Back Club I attend in Decorah (my favorite Iowa quilt shop!) began their seasons.
Wisconsin held its annual Quilt Expo in Madison.

I took many pictures while viewing the exhibit. This one is a Snail's Trail, a block I have on my to do list.

And our county held its annual county fair.

best cheese curds on the planet

our neighbor and beekeeper Dan at the tractor pull

my American Pineapple quilt! oh my!

Our son spent a few days with us preparing for and fishing his last Mississippi River tournament of the season.

We goat and cat sat for our neighbors for a long weekend.

some of this year's babes

Bock, the papa

We cat sat for Anne and Matthias while they took a much needed getaway.

We celebrated the autumnal equinox with our ritual of standing on the road watching the sun set south of it for the first time since March.

We took a day trip (on my birthday) to see the H2OH! exhibit at the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, MN

and included a stop in Wabasha to visit the National Eagle Center.

While in Wabasha we discovered the cutest java/quilt shop you could imagine. Jan, the owner, was a delight to talk with and I found the exact quilting ruler I was planning to add to my collection.

We made a couple of pumpkin runs and have a nice collection on our front porch steps which were pretty bare. The houseplants that were vacationing on the front porch had their necessary end of summer spa treatments and had been moved indoors with much cooler night temperatures on the way.
After harvesting and preserving from the gardens,  winter prep weeding, mulching, edging work were the focus of the month. Not an entirely successful growing season. Happy for the successes and already planning for next season. Did manage to stop at Seed Savers while in Decorah and brought back some favorite seeds plus garlic!
I read two new novels, A Better Man, the newest Louise Penny book (I actually read this twice...once very fast and the second time very slowly to savor her craftsmanship) and Fiddling With Fate, the newest Kathleen Ernst book.
In between I found a little time to listen to the siren call of creating. My sewing space enjoyed a thorough reorganizing and I filled a basket with cross stitch projects I hope to tackle this fall.

I like to keep my fingers busy while we're watching videos from the library or something on Netflix or Amazon in the evenings. Sometimes that gets a little tricky when cats demand a lap. Jerome is frequently called upon to rewind for me when I miss some important scene. Patient man.

And now it's October. Sweater weather. Soup weather. Candles burning. Longer hours in the sewing room. Amazing night skies. Stunning sunsets. Blankets on the bed. Halloween.
2018 brought our first snow cover on Oct 16, followed by sunny warmer days. Mercurial. Chameleon. October.
Looking forward to experiencing it with each of you.