We went to the first annual local fall fair last night. I'd been jealously reading about fairs in southern Canada and the US so it was a lovely surprise when my sister called me up Friday night and asked if we wanted to go. It was put together by the community garden collective and a couple of other local green groups. The fair consisted of a couple of preserves workshops during the day and a potluck and viewer's (taster's?) choice blue ribbon competition in the evening. The picture above is the only one I took before my battery died.


I went to a jam making workshop in the morning (Rhubarb Saskatoon Berry) but wasn't able to make it to the pickled beans workshop in the afternoon. I was busy making a pie for the potluck; except when we arrived Jane said "Is that for the best pie category?" and we put it on the competition table instead of the desserts table. Just plain apple - the easiest and most reliable pie I know -  but it ended up with a blue ribbon. To be totally fair I should mention that there were no other pies entered but everyone said they liked it so it still feels kind of special. There was enough leftover to be part of our breakfast today.


Jane got a ribbon for her wine jelly and someone else won for a turnip that was bigger than my head (and bigger than the only pumpkin that showed!). The buffet table was full of delicious offerings, most made with local harvests (such as that mallard above). By the end of the evening everyone was asking everyone for recipes. I'm already looking forward to next year's fair and Jane tells me that if there is enough interest they will start including handicrafts along with all the food.

My quilt survived the wash ... and feels wonderful and warm. I am wrapped up in it as I write. That trip through the washer completes my reasoning for this quilt. I'm not sure if you can really create a quilt out of laziness but that is how this one started: I had this lovely bag of scraps from Erin but I wanted to wash them before they went into my stash and I was just too lazy to wash and press that many little pieces. I knew they would fray and leave bits of thread everywhere and it just seemed like it would be easier to wash them without any of the raw edges showing. So I sewed them all together and made a quilt.

I had no idea what this would look like when I started. The scraps are very random and range from tiny little calicos to novelty prints of candy and insects. There are two different hot chili fabrics. Some pieces were large strips while others were tiny rectangles. There was even a small collection of triangles. It was so exciting to see things come together that I could hardly stand to work on anything else. I owe thanks to Blair of Wisecraft for the idea of using a solid colour for the binding and flannel for the backing. The flannel is so soft and warm and the binding really pulls everything together.


I spent almost the whole time I was piecing trying to figure out how I would quilt this. With so many little seams I was worried that machine quilting would result in a stiff quilt instead of the squashiness I was hoping for. I liked the idea of tying the quilt but I know from experience that Abby will happily spent an afternoon pulling out every last one. My compromise was to tie the quilt with bars of satin stitch on my machine (there is a quilt finished this way in Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts). I love the effect but did not enjoy the day spent tying off and sewing in all those little thread ends.


This quilt will live in our family room and I plan to spend plenty of time this winter curled up under it with a good book. It finished up at about 160 x 200 cm (65" x 80") making it a perfect size for curling up under without being too big. Abby and Zeke have both show a liking for this quilt while it was under production and I expect it will be regularly covered in a layer of insulating pet hair (what a good thing I know it can survive the wash).

I'm totally panicked - the quilt I just finished is making its inaugural trip through the washer and I don't know what will happen.