The Birds are back :)

So, last Sunday I was enjoying my usual morning in the sunshine and watching as first a couple of squirrels, a chipmunk, then a chickadee or two, ending with Mr and Mrs Cardinal all came to visit my bird bath. Even though it still has it's winter cover, the bowl has filled with snow melt/rain so the birds and wee animals all have something to drink. Last year was the first year I put the bird bath in the back yard, but I filled it with plants - lavender... Hmmmm, so I started thinking maybe this year I'll leave the bird bath free for the birds.

So later in the day I'm back in the kitchen making next week's lunches & prepping dinner when I hear from the walkway behind the Forsythias, a father tell his small child "It's a dead bird - leave it! Birds eat worms, cats eat birds, dogs eat cats, that's the way of it". Well, I was somewhat alarmed so took a good look behind the Forsythias and, yep, found one dead Mr. Cardinal!!! Oh No!! Did my sweet Simone (she who can not be touched) kill a beautiful bird? or do competing male Cardinals actually kill each other? Is Simone doomed to a life as a inside prisoner this summer ?
So I've been sad all week, upset that my lovely Cardinal family barely got started. But wait!! Today as I sat in my kitchen we had 3 Robins come take a bath in the bird bath, and a new Mr Cardinal with Mrs Cardinal come for a drink  - YEAH!!

I'm happy again :)

Word/Phrase for the week:

Melopoeia - when words are changed beyond their normal meaning with some musical property, inducing emotional correlations by sound and rhythm.

No sewing again this week - sorry. It was the Pater's 88th birthday this weekend so we took him out to dinner. Tomorrow is my sister's Bday, so another family dinner and another cake! I made a mess of the Angel Food Pineapple cake, so they're getting a Lemon cake!

TTFN

Dare I say it?

Spring has sprung!! Yippee :) Overnight my forsythia bushes blossomed. Thank you Vince & Mark (B-I-L and nephew) for trimming these bushes last fall, they look lovely this spring :) I can't believe how big they have grown from the small bushes I planted just a decade ago. A decade ! WHAT ! Has it been that long since I bought this abode? OMG! Recently I was chatting with another, younger, staff member who I rarely get the chance to chat with. She asked me how long I have worked with the Libraries, 37+ years!!! Well that deserves another OMG! Never did I imagine so many years ago that I would work FT for most of my adult life. 'Bout time I seriously consider retirement. Oh how I wish !

 I was reading my favourite website (Arts & Letters Daily) this week and came across an excellent article on the rise of ISIS. The Anomaly of Barbarism from Lapham's Quarterly. If you are at all interested in world affairs and are curious go read this article. It explains a lot !
Word for the week ...

Cognoscenti - those who are considered especially well informed about a particular subject.

No sewing to show you this week, sorry
TTFN

So where is our Spring????

Boo hiss, we're getting MORE snow!! and ice pellets on top ! Give us a break. My poor Daffodils are all bent over, trying desperately to blossom, and the Forsythia are stuck between almost budding and full bloom. Really getting so tired of this winter that will never end :(.
Ok, enough ranting about the lousy weather. Here's last week's POTC Lucy block

Really love this one. This makes a full 5 rows, so I decided I need to start working on some of the connector blocks. Well, I could remember where I put the neutral for the elongated hexies, but do yo think I could find the alternate colour? Nooooo, then I found this great black and decided to go with it. I think it's going to work great, don't you? Here's a closeup

They surround the POTC blocks, 4 units per block, then you also make a secondary cornerstone block between the POTC blocks (see below), so I have A LOT of these to make!! I'll be alternating making more of these and making the final rows of Lucy Boston. This is going to take awhile!!!!

This week's word

Crucesignati - signed or marked with a cross.

TTFN, happy Spring - if it ever gets here ....

Quiet week

Well, it's been a quiet week, busy but quiet, at least at home. At work I got a new "tiny" computer with Windows 10. Of course I lost 2 programs I used every day because they are older and not compatible with Windows 10, and I was moved to Outlook as our new email program. Had to scramble to find new ways of doing the same old thing. Too many new things all in one day for this old brain :O !
The weather is still being schizoid, sunny to start but cold with snow squall warnings, supposed to get 5cm today - Boo Hissssssss, my Daffodils are budding! Just to top off last week we had a mega email confused conversation as to our condo tree walkabout .... which got re-scheduled for tomorrow, when the weather prognosticators predict 5+ cm of ice/snow !! Oh well, oatmeal cookies are made and the soup's on - so I should be good to go for next week :) Here's last week's POTC Lucy block

Yesterday  went to a flick (Lady in the Van) with the Pater then started working on my last prepped POTC block. Once this is done I will have 5 rows completed so think I will spend my "spare time" today prepping connector blocks. Time for a change!
This week's new word:

Glissando - a continuous slide  upward or downward between two notes.

TTFN

Happy Easter!

Here's Claire about to eat the ears off her Easter Bunny from Great grandma ! Isn't she the cutest ?

I got two wee bunnies (one from me and one from Great Grandma) and placed them in these treat bags with a bit of pink excelsior. As you can see they were a big hit with Claire :).  Sunday was an absolutely perfect day, sunny and almost 20. Today .... wet snow/rain and blizzard like. Yikes - our weather is becoming schizoid! I made 2 cakes to celebrate the weekend, a Butter Pecan and a Confetti Pineapple Angel food cake. As you can see they too were a big hit! I have "orders" to make the Pineapple Angel food cake again ;).

It was another busy weekend for me. Dropped over to the Pater's on Friday to update his computer security, then had him over for dinner. We had ham and scalloped potatoes then tasted the Butter Pecan cake. Saturday was hair appointment & brunch with mother, then back to my place to make the second cake. My Cactus has decided to flower for easter but only on the one side - towards the window.

  

I've also been busy getting back to my POTC Lucy Boston blocks!!

Finished the beige one at our Sew What's gathering on Thursday. It was another lovely evening with the ladies and our hostess Cynthia. She's such a talented lady and we got to see some of her hooked rugs and her newest quilt where she did meandering machine quilting. I finished the blue/green one last night. Must say I LUV the plaid in this one.
The husband of one of our Sew What's ladies likes to frequent the thrift stores and frequently has the best of luck, finding quilts and quilt blocks. Well she had these 32 scrappy Dresden Plates and asked if anyone wanted them to make her an offer - so I made her a crazy offer of $5 !

Well, I'm not sure how it happened but I ended up taking these home for the $5! I think I got a bargoon and maybe I should offer her more next time I see her. In the mean time I'm enjoying their beauty, marveling at the potential and trying not to think about this additional UFO !!
Word phrase for this week:

Dolorism - an expression used to define a spirituality of resignation to pain and sorrow - doctrine of salvation

TTFN

SPRING !!

It's spring !! Woohoo!! It's sunny and it's Sunday :) :). Something about this time of year makes me obsess about cleaning/changing my decor. So, instead of cleaning (housework IS boring) yesterday I spent the afternoon  moving things around and rearranging decorative items. Today, although I'm pleased with my new home look, I'm noticing more of the "dirt" and wish I had spent the time cleaning. Ah well, next weekend is a 4 day weekend, Easter, so another big YAHOO :)

I've been browsing the Shabby Chic blogs recently and having some regrets about giving away a couple of my shabby pieces of furniture. Ah well, I am consoled with the thought that my basement room is cleaner and I have less "junk".  So I have a couple of salvaged shutters which occasionally I use in my decor, and decided to resurrect them and display some of my Shabby pieces. In the powder room I'm displaying my collection of framed Petite Point.

And in the living room I am displaying some of my vintage hand painted plates. I used S hooks to attach the plate hangers to the shutter.

The white bird cage and Blue & White Shelley tea set now grace the coffee table. No real big changes, but just enough to satisfy the Spring redecorating urge ;)

I spent the week working on my Easter gifts. I'm proud of this one and machine quilted it the same as the Christmas one I did a few years back. Sorry for the out-of-focus pic, those are not buttons in the centre of the "flowers" but fabric circles. Of course I had enough fabric left over to make some mug rugs.

This afternoon I'll be making a couple of wee gift bags for the Chocolate Easter bunnies I have to give away. Should be fun, Thanks Mibs for the pattern! Before I forget, I was Bad again last week and purchased more fabric for my Lucy Boston @ our Guild meeting. So I guess I'll have to get back to stitching POTC blocks next week!

Today's phrase of the week is

Pareidolia - a psychological phenomena involving a stimulus (imagined or real) wherein the mind perceives a familiar pattern where none actually exists.

Hope you're enjoying your sunny Sunday first day of spring.
TTFN

Movie Time ?

Once again I did not go to the movie, sorry ladies but I'm just done in by the end of the week. Would love to have joined you. I sure hope my friends aren't offended and stop inviting me. It's just the end of winter blas/I'm soooo tired, nothing personal, but then again they're both retired ladies! Luckily today is warmer and sunny which always makes me feel rejuvenated :)
The local fabric store was having another of their famous 50% off one day sales, so I split from mother's early and dropped in to shop. Guess who else I saw there ..... a coupe of our Sew What's ladies ! Here's my next project which I hope to complete before Easter,  "in my spare time".

Lots of greys, yellows and purple/pink. Hoping this looks as good done as it does in my head!
And of course I managed one more POTC Lucy block

So here's this week's phrase, this one I found rather interesting

 Nature Faking - purposefully fabricating details about the material world - those who depict the natural world with excessive sentiment

TTFN

Did you watch the Oscars?

Did you? Not me I have to admit .... It's not that I'm no longer interested in movies, I am. It's just that I haven't managed to see most of the award nominees this year. I don't get to the movies as much as I would like ... don't have that much "spare time" anymore. A quilting friend keeps asking me to drop over "in my spare time" for a visit. I'd love to - but who has spare time????

This was my weekend to work so of course the weather on Sunday was + 14!!!! Are you kidding ? I'm stuck inside and the weather outside is balmy - WTF?? At least it wasn't sunny. Today is supposed to be rainy/flurries and we are expecting another winter "storm" for tomorrow. I don't do well with lots of wet heavy snow, so here's hoping the weather forecasters are wrong again ;).
I popped over to the Pater's on Friday as I hadn't seen him in awhile. He commented that's he's feeling lonely and that I don't visit often enough. Yes, I know - it's that lack of "spare time" again. Then, because my sister was sick (it was her weekend for mater duty), I did a quick grocery run over to mother's where she commented about visiting as well. Grrrrrr, I'm dancing as fast as I can people! In between end of month banking/groceries/laundry/housekeeping for myself, working and parental visits I did manage to complete one more POTC Lucy Boston block. Here it is

I'm very pleased with this one as it took forever to find any fabrics to match up. Luckily I have several blocks prepped so I'm good to go for a while yet. A few guild ladies have commented on my Lucy Boston progress so I thought I'd share what's on my design wall so far ...

They're in the order of when they were done, and that order will probably change in the final quilt. I haven't decided how many blocks per row, how many rows or even what fabric/colours I'll use as my "filler" blocks. Hmmmm, after this row maybe I should stop and take some time to make some decisions. Better yet, maybe I should start working on those filler blocks so I don't have them all at the end!! What do you think?
Word/phrase for this week ..

Deja lu - experience of having a conversation with someone about something from reading about them on the internet. Ever have that happen to you?

TTFN

Ok, winter can end any time now ....

It's official, I have the winter blahs .... although this winter has been relatively mild, for me it can end any time now! I sure am tired of getting up in the dark (5:45) and leaving the house at 7 am! I am tired of not going to things I want to attend (movies, guild meetings, great niece's birthday party) because it's either too cold or I'm too tired and worn out. :( woe is me ....  Alright, enough of my pity party, sorry about that, It's Sunday, a day of rest. The sun isn't out but the Squirrels are. They're having a picnic on my patio, enjoying the apples I've left out for which ever critter wants/finds them.
This week was my great niece's 2nd birthday and I found the perfect book for her

Here's the Amazon write up

The incredibly intricate and vivid illustrations in this book are details of a modern quilt inspired by Sibylle von Olfers' classic storybook Mother Earth and Her Children. This vibrant new translation, in turn inspired by the quilt, explores the changing of the seasons and delicately touches upon the circle of life. When Mother Earth calls her children to prepare for spring, the earthly children yawn and stretch before they busy themselves with beautification. They dust off the bumblebees, scrub the beetles, paint bright new coats on the ladybugs, and rouse the caterpillars from their cocoons. Bedecked with new blossoms, the children emerge from the earth and become spring flowers that frolic through the summer and autumn, until the leaves begin to fall and they return to Mother Earth, bringing the weary bugs and beetles back to their winter refuge.

How perfect is that? A lovely picture book for a lovely little girl, based on a lovely quilt :)

Happy Birthday Claire!

 So, just in case you think my winter blahs stopped me from sewing, nooooo.  I tried real hard to get  out of my funk. Here are last week's POTC Lucy Boston blocks!

Love the sunshine yellow in this one, and

this one is not quite as bright, but still not my usual dark/black/grey.
This week's word:

Chtonical - in under or beneath the earth - subterranean.
As in I have been feeling chtonical all week!

And for your reading pleasure this week, an article from Aeon "Losing the Thread. Older than bronze and as new as nanowires, textiles are technology — and they have remade our world time and again"

TTFN

Winter Wonderland ...

Winter has arrived - all in one weekend! Our hiatus from winter is over :( . I've been stuck in my home for 5 days now.  Cold weather alerts and tons of snow! But the sun is out, and that makes the snow so pretty.  I have plenty of groceries, I always stock up in winter just for this type of weather, and I have lots and lots of sewing to do. No parental duties this weekend so I didn't have to go out. I just put a roast in the crock pot and a spice cake in the oven. I have prepped 6 POTC Lucy Boston blocks and have 2 more to prep, so I should be good for another week ;). No wait, I have to go back to work on Tuesday, Monday being the  "Family Day holiday.

Yes, there is a car under all that snow - you can just see the tail lights and the passenger side tires ! Speaking of family, my nephews are coming over today/tomorrow to clean off the car and dig me out. Phew lucky me :)! The condo corp has plowed and done the sidewalks, but they don't clean off your car, darn it! And to make this snow weekend complete, I enjoyed a Vikings (season 3) marathon yesterday - Yeah Ragnar, and Rollo and Floki and Lagertha and Bjorn - Yeah Vikings season 4 starts Thursday!

 

And of course I finished another POTC block ..... here it is

Let's just hope this weather doesn't stick around, or make a repeat appearance! Even our guild meeting was cancelled this week - and that just doesn't happen! I'm sooooo ready for spring.
So, this week's word is:

Hesternal - of or pertaining to yesterday, as in I want to go back to our earlier no snow weather ....

TTFN

6 more weeks?

Are they kidding? 6 more weeks of this weather I can take. It's been so mild and wonderful, very little snow, even the sap is running - woohoo for Maple syrup! Unfortunately next week's weather predictions makes me think winter is coming back and with a vengence. Boohoo!  Have been enjoying the mild winter while it was here, and our sunny Sunday :)
Not much excitement in my household, one more POTC Lucy Boston block accomplished

and am working on the last of those I prepped at Christmas. Time to get into the sewing room and prep some more!
Word/phrase for this week

Stendhal syndrome - psychosomatic disorder of rapid heartbeat dizziness, fainting, confusion, hallucinations when exposed to experiences of great personal significance

TTFN