Calendar Quilt – November

November in this part of the world is not a month with much personality. Sandwiched between Halloween and Christmas, it’s a dark month that seems to rush by, overshadowed by the anticipation of December’s festivities.

In our home, we always start November by preparing the Christmas cake. The Middle and The Youngest one help with the measuring and the mixing, while the Eldest one eats the raisins. The cake is lovingly laced with brandy by Himself, wrapped in paper and stored away until December.

After the passing of a couple of hurricanes, the ground is thick with leaves and fallen nuts. At the weekend we gathered some acorns, conkers, elderberries and tiny, brown hazelnuts to tempt our little hamster. The hazelnuts and conkers were a big success, the acorns were tasted but discarded and he held the elderberry in his little paw nibbled it and shuddered as if he had eaten a lemon! I asked him very nicely to pose photogenically in the pumpkin but he just refused. Put his little paw down. First of all he ate it, then he peed in it and finally he crawled out its carved mouth and was off. Some critters!

I have a bit of a thing about patchwork houses. They are simple to sew and to me there is something magical about such exquisite little buildings. In this block, I wanted to capture hushed, dark November nights with the lights glowing from the windows.

When I saw the adorable owl button I just had to have it and I positioned him up on the star, surveying the scene below!

To make sure you don’t miss December’s block, sign up to my blog below. I’d love to have you along!
You can see last month’s block of the calendar quilt here.

For tips on machine applique, check out my machine appliqué tutorial.