Gremlins

I have a Gremlin living at my house. Don't know where he came from - or when, but he definitely exists! I spent most of this past winter on the couch in the living room so don't know when "he" appeared., but shortly after finally going to bed in the bedroom upstairs I noticed the TV in my sewing room was on.  Hmm, who turned it on ? How long has it been on? Maybe the cat walked over the remote ? I hid the remote where she could not possibly walk on it and waited. Sure enough 2 days later the TV magically turned itself on! Hmmm. Maybe the TV timer is way off. I turned off the TV clock  and waited to see. A couple of days later the TV once again magically turned itself on. It is rather disconcerting to come home after an evening out to find your sewing room TV blasting away! So I unplugged the TV!  Last week I was in the sewing room doing a few chores (ironing) so I plugged the TV in , did my chores, turned the TV off and forgot about it. Sure enough, I came home last night to find the TV blasting away!!! Gremlins!! Actually, I think my neighbours next door must have a baby monitor which has the same wave length as my TV so when they turn on their monitor it turns on my TV as well! A more logical explanation I'm sure, but I rather like the thought of Gremlins ;)

Had the sewing ladies in for afternoon tea last week. Sure was fun to see them. Of course I used my new Strawberry Basket ordered online from North Carolina! It comes with a creamer and open sugar bowl which fit into the side pockets. You can't see from this pic, but the sides of the bowl have a basket weave pattern. LOVE IT! My friends know  I'm a sucker for China, and I've always wanted this piece ever since I first started collecting this pattern (never mind how long ago that was!)

 Of course we had Angel food cake to go with the strawberries, fancy cheeses and crackers and a grape salad (new recipe for me) and finished off with mini fruit tarts and Hello Dollies. YUMM :) Lu brought me these lovely tree Peonies. Aren't they lovely! Thanks Lu !!

On the sewing front I have finished the next to last row for Lucy Boston. Have to cut out and baste more connector beige hexies before I can finish off the last row. Once all that is done I can audition the connector blocks. Phew! this has been a long haul with more yet to come, but it is a good hand work project for the patio :)

 TTFN

Patio Redo

Woohoo - summer is coming and it's almost time for some patio :) Now that I'm retired I'm looking forward to more than just post 5 pm/weekend patio time - yippee!
When I first moved into my condo I had a too small patio. So, I went out and purchased more (smaller) patio stones and did my best to expand my  patio. In this left pic you can see my patio table, still with its winter cover, and the division between large and small patio stones. Not only was it not aesthetically pleasing, neither side of the patio were level anymore :(.  So, since I finally have both the time and money I hired someone to come and re-lay all my patio stones into a more pleasing and level pattern - see  pic on right. Small stones are now in the centre and the larger stones outline the patio :).

Another of my projects when I first moved in was to plant some wee gardens and trees. At the time all I had available was that ugly black plastic thingee to edge my gardens.  Well, this worked for the last few years, but was also not aestheically pleasing.




 So while the man was here I had him install some garden stones around both tree gardens. Now I need to plant some ground cover/Hostas in the area under the Caragana tree which just will not grow any grass! The land around my Japanese Maple slopes away so the stones are
layered higher at the patio level and lower towards the grass. Not exactly the stones I had in mind, but I had to leave for a med appointment so this is what I got! Not 100% the way I wanted but 100% better than before! I 'm contemplating getting new patio furniture and getting rid of the table altogether. Maybe this year, maybe next, maybe not.

What else have I been up to you ask? Well, lots of hand sewing the connectors for my Lucy Boston blocks. 4 rows done, row 5 and 6 to complete. I have an idea for the cornerstone blocks but need all the rows on the design wall to see if my idea is any good. Stay tuned !!

TTFN