October Round Up!

Whew, I've been racing to the end of October -- it's been a BUSY one! I haven't got a lot of sewing done this month at all... I had great intentions to participate in Indie Sewing Month at the Monthly Stitch but October! Sheesh - so busy.

It seems that this month is always a busy one for me, despite my best efforts. It's also my birthday month, so my desire is to relax and celebrate a little, but it never seems to happen. There are a lot of good things about all this busyness, some of it quite fun, but it really does cut into the sewing time ;)

Starting with Canadian Thanksgiving, I then move into Ontario Public Library Week (always a lot to do at work) and then into the Stratford Writers Festival which I've been working alongside the last few years. It's great fun, and a wonderful weekend, but I am wiped out after 3 long days of it. So hopefully I will finish the two projects I have in the queue by at least the end of November!

During Ontario Public Library Week this year, there was a fun online contest, #OPLWBookOutfit. The idea was to match your clothing to a book cover -- this is something I've been meaning to record and post here for quite some time, so I jumped in with both feet and took photos 4 out of 5 days over the week. Here are my entries -- only the black&white wrap dress is store bought, the rest I've made: that's a McCalls 6996, a Jennifer Lauren Laneway Dress, and a New Look 6936.

Finishing up Ontario Public Library Week with a shout-out to my library, where I can read new Canadian books like Radiant Shimmering Light, then see the author in person! https://t.co/YcYqjepaiG @ONLibraryAssoc #OPLWBookOutfit #OPLW pic.twitter.com/7MudrQtBOr

— Melanie (@Melwyk) October 19, 2018

My library is a great place to find arts based programs and resources! for ex: https://t.co/ALmL5qPqUq @ONLibraryAssoc #OPLWBookOutfit #OPLW pic.twitter.com/9W0LBt3DDw

— Melanie (@Melwyk) October 17, 2018

I use my library for lifelong learning, including catching up on all those classics I've missed, like Siddartha... @ONLibraryAssoc #OPLWBookOutfit #OPLW pic.twitter.com/6KXqb6VyPI

— Melanie (@Melwyk) October 15, 2018

I love to use my library to keep up on current events @ONLibraryAssoc #OPLWBookOutfit #OPLW pic.twitter.com/1erDNdoQYD

— Melanie (@Melwyk) October 16, 2018

I also spent a lot of time working on the launch of a new project at work: a Community Art Display program that I'm excited about. We started with a Staff art display to get things going, so of course I had to hang one of my own pieces. I worked on this hand embroidered & machine quilted piece so intensively that I got blisters on my needle fingers, haha! But it was finished in time. It's No 1 in a series, and is called "Girl Gang #1: Little My (Finn Family Moomintroll)"

There are to be 3 more in this series, if I can get them done -- I am working on #2: Pippi Longstocking right now. The aim is to combine the sweet backgrounds reminiscent of baby quilts with the pugnaciousness of tough girls from children's literature. We'll have to see how it all works out.
I was also lucky enough to get to the Cherrywood Challenge travelling exhibit, which is located in the tiny town of Seaforth thanks to the Cotton Harvest quilt shop owner there, who carries Cherrywood fabrics and was able to secure this small town as a location for the exhibit - only stop in Canada, I think. The theme this year was Prince, and it was impressive. This was the second place winner in the Challenge, and the local viewer's choice as well.

And finally I finished off this busy month with a class given by my local quilt club, Scrap Magic with Deb Beirnes. It was relaxed and low-key, and we made a bunch of samples of different blocks that work well with scraps. There were 29 different options in the handouts and we were able to choose the ones we wanted to try - I really enjoyed the relaxed feel of this class and had fun with my pile of mostly blue scraps!

I've also been reading as much as usual, and have explored both some quilt related reading (Adventures in Design by Joen Wolfrom) and some online reading via SAQA, and some great escapist fiction. How about you? What have you been up to this October?