Those falling leaves...

 drift by the windowpane.  The autumn leaves of red and gold...

Can't go wrong with Nat King Cole.  Now that will be stuck in my head all day, and I gift it to you.  

Last weekend I had a ton of bits and bobs of Batik leaf sections.  This week, I worked on assembling them.  I can only really focus on about 10 at a time, so I assemble a few and then advance other sections to get them ready for final assembly.  I'm up to 23 of 51.  I'm not cutting any more pieces from the original background fabric.  The yardage I ordered (12 days ago!) should be delivered today and I'll focus on getting it washed and ironed and ready to use.  

If it's a little bit different color, I'll still be able to mix it in and keep it from being noticeable.  This is a very light batik print with very little contrast.  I don't find those often.  I have enough pieces cut and matched into groups to make 9 more blocks this morning.  And, then we're back to cutting leaf sections.  Because of the unusual grid of the block (not a straight up and down, side to side equal sections grid) I'm finding it easier not to press the blocks as I assemble.  I press the individual components as I piece them and I trim those to get the right shape.  But when I'm assembling those components, I don't press until the block is assembled.  For some reason, it makes the blocks easier to assemble.

Joyful Quilter, yesterday I took those leaf shapes apart along the last seam.  I can do better, so that challenge is up for this week...get that assembled so that it's natural shape is flat and I can move forward into another section of what I have in mind.  I decided if it was worth doing, it was worth doing right.  This time, instead of starting at one end of that S curve and working all the way across both opposing curves in one seam, I'm going to start in the center of the section, and piece each curve from there to the edge.  And, if I have trouble this time, I'll pin the heck out of those curves.  I can apply my other skills to my art project.  It doesn't all have to be free form.

I made good progress on the Linus afghan.  I'm likely going to have enough yarn to make this one and another where the stripes are narrower.  I have several medium sized balls that aren't enough for the 7 row colorful stripes, but would likely do 4 or 5 rows.  And, I have enough skeins of white to make up the difference.  Last week, I had a lot of meetings on my calendar.  And, I crocheted through most of them.  Bad me.  But, I can count to nine and listen to what you're saying.  😒

Yesterday, I was in a baking mood, but when I was done, I didn't have the energy to take pics.  I baked white bread and brownies and an orange cranberry loaf...I haven't had orange cranberry anything in years and stumbled across the recipe and made it on the spur of the moment.  Haven't tasted it yet but the bread and the brownies are wonderful!  I wanted to share our Friday night supper.  Sometimes you feel like a healthy meal...sometimes you don't.  We had chili cheese hotdogs made with homemade chili.  

This was the second serving of hotdogs.  In the first one, I used Wolf Brand Chili.  It might have been made by actual wolves.  No offense to the wolves, but I promised Rob we'd never do that again and half the can went into the garbage.  Earlier last week, I made chili with the plan to save some to use on the rest of the hot dogs.  We ate them with salty chips.  It was terrible for us and it was delicious and it can't all be about living forever.  Sometimes, you just gotta have fun.  

Everybody have a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Please observe the guidance of the CDC and stay healthy.  We are having Syd and her boyfriend over.  We've accepted that there is a certain amount of risk involved with having guests, but we've mitigated that risk s much as possible to make it a safe holiday.  May your turkey be moist (but not too moist...ick!), your stuffing baked all the way through,, and your gravy not congeal.  Live, love, and laugh a lot.  

Lane