Sick - AGAIN!

So, here I am sick - AGAIN! Knew my chest was tight and my breathing was bad but put it down to seasonal allergies. Wrong, instead I have contracted another of my infamous chest infections/colds from HHHH. Argh! So I've been out flat on the couch for four days ... and the weather is phenomenally wonderful - just my luck! Tuesday the Forsythia didn't even have a bud on them, so during one of those rare half hours when I wasn't coughing my brains out I went out and trimmed them. By Saturday morning they were in full bloom. Woohoo! My Daffodils are up but not yet flowered and I can see the Peonies just breaking through the ground. My Weigela bushes at the front are budding and I have seen Robins and Red Wing Black Birds and even a pair of Gold Finches - so spring has definitely sprung!!

Above is mother's Easter wall hanging, now proudly displaying on her front door. I had planned/arranged to cook a turkey dinner for Easter (Saturday) for myself, mother and her friend and the two nephews. We held dinner at mother's 'cause her apt is better suited to dinner "parties" than my condo! As is her way mother whined for a good two hours because I/we didn't invite my niece and her partner. Being sick anyway I am glad I didn't as I barely got through the setting the table, cooking the meal, doing all the serving and cleanup, then driving everyone home! By the time I got home I was totally totally exhausted and collapsed. Why did I bother ? GOOD QUESTION!

Went to dinner and a movie - White Ribbon - with two friends on Monday night (before getting sick). Would have been a good experience overall if it hadn't been for the old COOT in front of us. The movie had NO sound track, was in B&W and had subtitles. The movie had just started and we were discreetly whispering to each other once or twice as we attempted to figure out who was who and what was what. The old COOT in front was truly obnoxious demanding that we "Be quiet ....We weren't at home in our living room" and that there was "nothing to laugh at" (my friend had giggled quietly when he said the "not in your home living room" bit). OK - one can and should expect a level of quiet at the cinema, I give him that, but there is also a polite way to ASK - and he was NOT polite! I do not feel at all guilty that his movie experience was interrupted. Tolerance of others while in public is not just a nicety it is a necessity! Ask nicely next time ....

Well, not much else on the home front. Not much of a productive week. Here's hoping for continued great weather and better health ...
TTYL

Hippity Hop

Easter is fast approaching. For some crazy reason I took Thursday off instead of Monday to make a four day weekend, why I don't remember. Ah well, I get four days off either way, woohoo! Above is my April Tisket/Tasket block, so I am definitely keeping up with the challenge ... another woohoo!
Not much on the home front this week. The week started out by seeing Shutter Island on Sunday, with a friend and Leonardo Di Capro (not hard on the eyes even as he matures). Good thriller and not any real gore so you don't have to keep averting your eyes. Then Tuesday was the theatre and a very good production of Pride and Prejudice. Thursday was the stitching group and we had a lovely time!

The rest of this week has been spent diligently working at mother's Easter door hanging. I've made the pattern
before but using different colours. I must admit I really like this version and am kinda jealous that she's getting it! Did a wee bit of machine quilting to outline the shapes, then hand stippled the inside and am now hand quilting around random "leaves" in the border. Hope to have it completed by Easter for her - which will be at her apt. I'm doing all the work and supplying most of the food, so although a long weekend it will be exhausting! Of course I'll have to borrow it back for Show-n-share at guild the next week!
TTYL

You Can't Go Home Again

Sorry for missing a week or two, I was busy with a visit from a childhood friend! I spent two weeks cleaning my brains out trying to get rid of winter's accumulated detritus and cat hair ... I got rid of two bags of older clothes and one of kitchen stuff. I can officially say I have almost completed my spring cleaning. Only two more rooms and the basement and windows, and it isn't even Easter yet. WooHoo! Of course my friend wore black corduroy and black velour so all the cat hair remaining in the house was instantly drawn to her as if I had never cleaned!!! ARG!

I think it was Thomas Wolfe who said "You can't go Home again" .... Although I loved having her (I don't get too many visitors) and it was great catching up in person (not via email, facebook or blogging) it seems our lives have diverged. Afterall she's a SAHM and housewife while I'm a SWL (single working lass). I continue to find it interesting that although I understand her lifestyle, most SAHM continue to think my life should be exactly like Sarah Jessica Parker's in Sex in the City . NOT!!! So, after answering way too many questions about my love life and my financial choices (I choose to pay off my mortgage ASAP and prepare for my upcoming retirement, and NOT live on credit, which means I will not be travelling soon), I can honestly say I was glad to get back to work where nobody bothers to ask anything ;) None-the-less I was totally THRILLED to have her here, it was tres fun walking down memory lane and can't wait for another visit..
What else have I been busy with you ask? Well, there are now three of us in the Tisket Tasket challenge. I'm calling us the 3Cs, for obvious reasons. Block two and three on either side and block four is well on its way - YEAH! Of course the challenge is to have four blocks completed by the April guild meeting. I'm sure I'll make it! But then again mother has asked twice now for a spring hanging for her front door. Uhoh, I'd better get busy! Here's row one for my challenge group ... eat yer hearts out heeheehee.
TTFN

P.S. After several stimulating e-conversations I have come to understand that not everyone rejoices in the term SAHM (all the blogs I read glory in it, so you'll have to forgive my skewed POV). In future we shall use the term CFOW when referencing CB. Slowly, yes slowly I creep towards an understanding of life, mine, theirs and others.

Socks!

Socks! I finally have a pair of hand knitted socks! Woohoo! A few years back I organized a stitch-n-bitch group (although we don't call ourselves that!) and we meet once a month during the quilting year and twice per month in the summers. Mainly it's quilters ... we all bring handwork and many ladies knit or embroider. As most of you know knitting is very popular right now (been there, done that) and one of the ladies in our group is into knitting socks. Anyway, as more and more ladies showed up to meetings with a pair of these lovely socks I've been teasing her for a while now about "where's my socks?". Well, now I have them and they are LOVELY! Thank you thank you thank you Ann! I'll have to tease you about something else now, hmmmmm.

The sun is shining and it's a wonderful weekend. While chatting on the on the phone to a friend I watched 2 Cardinals competing for the tree out front of the house. Soon it will be Robins, oh yah - spring is almost here!

Progress on the home front - to the right are the country vegetable blocks. The applique is all done now all I need to do is get the embroidery completed. But I've been delayed while working on the applique challenge block(s). Block one is on the left - not bad! Block two is started, may have it done for Thursday guild meeting may not. I have started my spring cleaning as I have a friend from out west coming in next weekend for a visit. Haven't seen her for - oh - 10 years maybe. Will be real nice to see her again.
TTYL

I Can Do It!

I can do it! I know it kinda silly, especially to the more empowered members of our sex, but I'm rather proud of myself!!! Two weeks ago I manage to add air to the front tire of my car, this week I managed to open the hood and add much needed washer fluid. Ok, ok, I still haven't pumped gas yet - I guess that will be my next milestone, and yes, I needed help opening the jug of washer fluid, but none-the-less progress is being made! Woohoo!

Another woohoo - I have a partner for a challenge. We've challenged each other to complete last year's Bunny Hill A Tisket A Tasket basket BOM. I'm already behind, my partner Christine R was working on block one at last Thursday's group, so I have to hurry up and get the first two completed by April 1st while she only needs to complete one. I think I'll suggest we do another two in April to bring us on track with the "block-o-month".
I love applique, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem for me. However it does force me to work on two projects at the same time. Speaking of which, the Country Vegetables are almost complete. One block to go for the applique then the embroidery.... stay tuned! Did I show-n-brag about my latest acquisitions at the Quilt store? All but the batik at the bottom are Robyn Pandolph's newest Canadian Cottage line. Very pretty.

And lastly, here's the pile of vintage purses, gloves and hats ready and waiting for the antiques dealer to come. Wish me luck, hope she interested in all of it and takes it all away. No, it's not my entire collection, but a substantial portion. Downsizing is inevitable and cleansing.
TTYL

Achoo

ACHOO! I've got a bad one .... boohoo for me. I'm down but not out for the count! Took two days off work, then felt guilty and bored so made the mistake of going in on Friday. Got to hear Debbie Travis speak at this year's Staff and Leaders Conference. Very entertaining, and yes worthwhile even for a sickie!                                                              Went to an antique show a couple of weeks ago with a friend at a local shopping mall. There was a booth with vintage jewellery, hats and gloves and stuff and I half jokingly asked her if she also bought stuff. She didn't have a card but wrote her contact info down for me, then came after me to say she also made housecalls. Hmmmmm, got me thinking this might be an opportunity to rid myself of some of my "collections". So, not being one who can sit still for too long .... yesterday I went through my vintage linens, corde purses, gloves, hats etc. The linens mainly consist of vintage cotton/linen hand towels, doilies and hankies. The corde purses, about 35, were from a collection I out together locally and displayed in my last apt. The gloves, also about 35, I got by chance at a local auction. They were contained in a "quilt block" bag and I thought I was bidding on a bag of quilt blocks. To my surprise it was full of green and yellow and pink and white and black gloves from the 50s and 60s! There even was a lovely pink pamphlet describing glove etiquette!

I guess I have the spring cleaning bug a bit early ... last weekend I went through my closets and pulled out 2 bags of old clothes I think need to be retired. That's all for now from this sickie. Hope you're keeping well?

Argh!!!

 Argh! I've come down with some sort of respiratory something ... So am well into Cold FX therapy .... here's hoping it stays off the worst of it. So .... last weekend while I was still feeling human I went out to the local quilt Fabric shop were I had a gift certificate (thank you to sister and b-i-l). With no particular project in mind .... I indulged in a half meter each of 10 of Robyn Pandolph's Canadian Cottage Challenge fabrics. Who knows if I'll get a project completed in time for the competition, but I fell in love with the fabric (my kinda colours - all in those country cabbage rose style - and with a Canadian theme to boot!) I also scored  a interesting thread container ... to match the green vintage styled wicker and wood sewing box I won at their store as a door prize. Woohoo!

So, here's a picture of the squares I was preparing for my next project - remember the last post ? Well, I decided the instructions were stupid (some patterns take the long road ) and I wasn't going to cut 108 1 1/2" squares in three different shades of blue ... instead I would cut 1 1/2" strips of three shades of blue in assorted fabrics and sew the strips together then cut into 1 1/2" strips. OK, this is good patchwork technique and would have worked just fine .... except ... being a visual personI then followed the pattern's picture instead of reading the instuctions .... see mess on the left! my patches did not match up in the corners and I was really po'd. 

So, the remainder of the week was spent unsewing those borders ..... I spent Saturday afternoon repairing the damage caused by pattern writers who don't pay attention to the accuracy of their visuals - tres important for all us visual people!!!! Needless to say, my borders are now closer to perfection and I am happier. LESSON learned? There are still sewing/quilting pattern writers who think the world remains controlled by text dominated patterns and are not yet politically sensitive enough to those who are visually dominated. HELLO-  wake up pattern writers!

Ah well, the world's not perfect - yet - but maybe someday (HA Ha ha). Below is the finally version with their respective interfacing overlay. I use the overlay to help me with the placement of the applique pieces - a wee trick I learned from one of my many quilting friends!

Wish me luck!
TTYL

Winter Projects

Shhh! Don't say anything. When this project is done it will be a birthday gift to mother for her Kitchen. I've had this pattern kicking around for quite a while and finally getting a chance to work on it! - Yeah! A bit of patchwork, a bit of applique and even a bit of embroidery. The pattern calls for the lettering to be done in satin stitch, but I might just do it by hand. I'm hoping to machine quilt it now that I've completed a course on machine quilting. Anyway, her B-day isn't til June so I've got lots of time...

So, January is over and I realized I hadn't begun the "laying out the quilts" for this year. So, while rooting around in my linen closet I discovered one more quilt I hadn't inventoried last year! This one was made by my maternal grandmother Lilian Grace Boyter and her mother-in-law Mary-Jane Boyter, we think it was made sometime in the early 1950s and was definitely made from men's wear wool samples. My mother's brother worked in a fine men's wear store for his first job and brought home all the sample squares of wool intended for men's suits. So, being enterprising women Grandma and Great Grandma made a quilt! In my memory this was always in the trunk of father's car and was know as the car quilt. It's backed in light grey cotton and nicely hand quilted in the Baptist fan pattern. Poor thing has had a hard life, it was used to wrap whatever cargo father had in his trunk and likely never washed much. None-the-less this utility quilt is part of family history and loved for what it represents.

I was given a new crock pot over the holidays so decided this week to attempt to make soup. Now, I readily admit to not being domestic .... at all .... so attempt #1 was an inevitable disaster. Don't ask, I know you're wondering how on earth someone can screw up making soup ... suffice it to say, I now know at least two important things when making soup and will employ these lessons in attempt #2. 

Wish me luck!!!!

TTFN

A voice of One's Own

So I've been blogging for about 2-3 years now and finally feel that I may - perhaps - may have found a voice of my own. One that expresses my personal opinions and life observations without appearing to simply be rants or misguided comments. Personal observations of the minutiae in my life, are just that, personal, perhaps to be shared, perhaps not. My comments are not opportunities for others to offer unsolicited advice or admonitory censorial remarks. But some people just can't help themselves, and that's part of life also. Luckily I moderate all comments (ha ha). Those are the people I now choose to avoid, if possible. Avoid, because life is too short to get all wound up and anyways, girls just wanna have fun - right? especially this girl!

I acknowledge that perhaps I see life differently than the "norm" - for a woman of my age. I have a wry sense of humor and some people misinterpret my humour as anger. Not so, but hey - that's you not me. Occasionally I wonder if I should change how I present myself to the world and then decide the effort is just too great.  I'm not willing to pretend to be someone I'm not . We've all met the fakes - you know them, the just smile optimist/extroverts (they who think they rule the world ...). The ones who never seem to notice or comment on the absurdities of this life. I sometimes think their rose coloured perspective makes them miss most of the more interesting moments. Who knows, perhaps that's what they're after.

What brought all this on you might ask? Well, I've been reading this book by Kenneth Sherman titled What the Furies Bring. It's a collection of essays on his musings on the post 911 world, Judaism, poetry, other religions, terrorism, the works of Anne Frank,  Primo Levi, Franz Kafka and Varlam Shalamov, to name a few. Challenging but interesting and I'm pleased to acknowledge that I have actually read of most (not all) the authors he discusses. I also just finished the book Money from Hitler, by Radka Denemarkova, recently translated into English from Czeck, another find from the new books shelf (remember I work in a library ...) And also Findings : the material culture of needlework and sewing by Mary Beaudry. This latter one I was tipped off about from one of my many blog surfs. I can't remember who's blog, sorry can not ascribe attribution for this wonderful read. None-the-less, thank you!  I highly recommend this work for anyone interested in archaeology and the history of sewing implements . Boring you say - no no no, au contraire! I suppose we all know there are sewing needles and embroidery needles and darners and straw needles, but did you know there are minikins, and short whites, and middlings and poppets and corkins, and even mourning pins!!! Not so boring now eh .....

Nothing much to report on the craft side, still stitching along on my cross stitch. Perhaps the reading and cold weather have decreased my productivity, I don't know and don't much care. Anyway, that's all for now folks ....

TTFN

"If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people".   and
"The beauty of the world...has two edges, one of laughter, one of anguish, cutting the heart asunder." Virginia Woolf

Winter Hiatus

Well friends and readers .... I'm back after a wee hiatus. Nothing serious, but the winter blas (pictured above) got to me and I took a break. Actually I've been a slug ... just going to work, feeding the cats and cocooning in my living room doing cross stitch! Yes - for the time being I'm all quilted out and have returned to an earlier craft. Actually, I'm taking a machine quilting class at a local sewing shop as I felt the need to have "professional" instruction in an attempt to improve. Time will tell if the effort was worthwhile. In the meantime I found a stamped cross stitch kit in my stash and am once again hooked on cross stitch. This may take me awhile so don't hold your breath!

So, being hooked on cross stitch I made up a cross stitch winter postcard for the quild's postcard exchange. Then I remade the mittens, pictured earlier, and finally got the needlepoint pillow completed. I've had the needlepoint for years and always wanted to make a small pillow. So, recently I moved a black hooked rug from the hallway into the main bath to cover the cold cold ceramic floor. Hmm, that gave me an idea and so I also moved mother's baby rocker into the bathroom corner ... and, well, you know how these things go ... I just had to complete the needlepoint pillow to put on the rocker!

So what else have Iris and Simone and I been up to you ask? Well, ok, I admit I have done some sewing. A while back I randomly put together the leftover blocks from my Cobblestones quilt. It's been on my design wall forever, and over the holidays I finally put some borders on it. I love how it looks, but it's still too small to do anything with it except maybe donate it as a kid's quilt.... So, now I'm grappling with what to do next, donate it or find something else to extend the borders. But don't forget this year's resolutions:

1) finish UFOs and 2) don't buy any fabric (hahahahahahahhah!) Wish me luck!

TTFN

Happy New Year!

 

So it's the New Year .... did you make any resolutions? I did, lots and lots of them .... I won't bore you with mine, but needless to say one of them is to be friendlier, happier and more accepting. Sounds good, lets see how long I can keep my resolutions this year! I was pretty good last year until about October when I got totally stressed out over my quilt show at the Library - oh dear. I shall have to guard against that in 2011 with the CQA show coming to London! I found a Christmas pillow someone gave me several years ago and decided it would look wonderful on the Eastlake chair my dear friend gave me. Don't you agree?
And keeping up with my sewing time this holiday season I finally, yes finally made those matching mittens for my down winter coat I call the beast. I got it many moons ago at a reduced price as the hood was missing. Since I'm a frugal shopper I purchased an almost matching hood then made an outer hood, cuffs, a scarf and now mittens out of dark brown with black trees fleece (no, the mittens are not all black!). Anyway, as always I learn best by doing, next time (ha - like there will ever be another time) I"ll know a couple of mitten tricks! Here's the online tut I used for this project from Sew Can Do. If you're anything like me I love to decorate for the holidays and hate, Hate, HATE taking it all down, especially taking down all the lights as they do brighten up the place! None-the-less take them down I must, today. But as a reminder ....

TTYL