Is it Fall Yet?

Having grown up in Northern New York State, I still expect cool weather and turning leaves to arrive in September.  Here we are days before Halloween in Atlanta and the maple in the front yard is finally starting to turn. I even had to turn the heat on for an hour this morning to take the chill off the house. Two days ago I was still wearing shorts and sandals, but I know that fall is here because the Bottle Gentian Gentiana andrewsii is blooming.

As are the New York Asters Symphyotrichum novi-belgii

And the Virginia Creeper Parthenocissus quincquefolia that rambles over the fence is turning such a lovely shade of red.

Just never mind that the Plumbago Plumbago auriculata still thinks it’s July.

Despite all those green leaves out there, in two days munchkins will be ringing the door bell and I’ll be wishing I could still eat enough candy to make me sick without gaining an ounce. In anticipation of the fall colors that will eventually come to the maple tree and the pumpkins pies that will be topped with real whipped cream (no cool whip in this house), I made this simple table topper.

Want to make one too? It’s pretty easy. I had about a yard of a fall themed focus print fabric that a family member had left over from another project.

From this  I cut a rectangle that was the size of the repeat with an extra ¼ inch on all sides – in this case the repeat was 12 by 12 inches, but yours might be smaller or larger.

Next I dug through my stash and pulled out a variety of solid and small print fabrics that echoed the colors in the focus print. With these I started building up borders. In addition to the solid black and white borders, I cut the assorted fabrics into three inch by the width of fabric (WOF) strips. These were sewed together and then subcut into more border strips. I cut four corner squares from the focus print, picking out details (in this case leaves and sunflowers) and assembled all of these in a design that was pleasing o me. I love improvisational projects like this, figuring it out as I go. Don't you?

Oh, and while I was at it, I made this…

to hold a nice bottle of cognac for a friend. Sidecar anyone?