Autumnal Equinox

Autumnal Equinox - what?! How can that be - where did September go? YIKES, I'm not nearly ready ...
I tucked my head down and quilted all week, and as a result I completed the wall hanging  innards last week. So now I'm working on the borders, much slower going I must say.

 Last weekend I got busy and made another mug rug - it's golf balls! Now that my boss has officially announced my retirement (Nov. 11th - yippee!) I have to get serious and get these done! So here's another one I did yesterday - knives and forks !

I did a lot of cutting last weekend and got enough blocks cut out so I could spend Saturday afternoon doing assembly piecing. Whooppee I got another 12 Fancy Foxes done.

I decided there is not enough blue especially dark blue, so while at the local fabric store which was having it's 50% off sale I picked up 2 fat quarters, both of which will work. Think I'll spend today cutting up more blocks - almost ready to put these togetrher.

 TTFN

Stitchin time ...

Last weekend I got quite a few Foxes cut, so yesterday I sat down and sewed them up! I'm really liking the colours I chose and am looking forward to getting more sewing done on this project! It was a dull gray rainy Saturday yesterday so the Pater and I went to a movie - Florence Foster Jenkins. What a HOOT. Meryl Streep wonderfully sings off key - not an easy thing to do, Hugh Grant is so convincing as the overly charming husband, and Simon Helberg - of Big Bang fame - was absolutely hilarious!! If you need a feel good movie and a good laugh take in this flick!
I also got more stitching done on my Wild Flowers wall hanging and am starting to think I may just may make the quilt show deadline!

TTFN

They're Back!

Yup ! They're back - University students that is. City traffic has increased by a good 40-50% and is ridiculously stupid and dangerous again. It's the season for driving defensively as those SYM (stupid young men - actually the acronym should apply to all students regardless of gender) are out and about :(.One good thing is I can officially count this as my LAST SCHOOL SEPTEMBER EVER ! Woohoo!!!  I handed in my official intent to retire letter on the first day of classes, and actually felt a wee bit of regret. Didn't last long and disappeared immediately as soon as I got the first "where are the printers?" question. 9 possibly 10 weeks to go (not that I'm counting) Yippeee!

The heat/humidity has finally dissipated and today is a wonderfully comfortable sunny Sunday. My Hibiscus is still flowering and was visited by a Humming bird yesterday - nice! My Lavender is also flowering and giving me a better showing than last year's batch. Not bad for a garden that was badly neglected most of the summer.

Still getting used to having my weekends free again. Well sort of ....  I started the evening with grocery shopping and found myself picking up items for mother. When I realised what I had done I had a sad moment in the grocery aisle then put it all back. Now I'm doing a weekly Friday night date with the Pater. This week we went for pizza, a good way to start the academic year. Dad was impressed and always appreciates the company.  Later I ran off to hospital for another CT scan this time @ 10:00 pm! So Friday was a bust, but Sat I managed to get into the sewing room - yeah! I actually accomplished some Fancy Foxes blocks. I think this baby quilt will be lots of fun.

TTFN

Summer's Over - Wahhhh!

Well, the summer is over. Guess 2016 is the summer that wasn't, at least for me. This last month has

been a terrific blurr, but it's all over 'cept for the crying. Mother's apt. is emptied and her possessions are dispersed amongst family, friends and charities. Well, almost. I inherited my great aunt's Limoges china, service for 12 + all kinds of extra pieces including egg cups, except for a Teapot :(.

We tried to sell our Grandmother B's china, also a set for 12,  to one of my quilting friends who is interested in china and vintage stuff, but no luck :( So next step is to see if one of the relatives is interested. It's just too nice to dump off at the Goodwill....

Along with the china I also inherited two lovely end tables with marquetry tops. They fit perfectly in my small living room and are lovely real wood. I was with mother on one of our "antiquing" trips when she purchased them , one of my
fonder memories of our time together.

 I also inherited a lovely maple parlor table, another acquisition from one of our antiquing trips :)  The Royal Dolton (Autumn Breeze) and the Cranberry glass basket also come from mother.

The crystal and pewter lamp mother purchased online a few years back. It was made in Poland and is excellent quality. We were all shocked when mother purchased it online ! Who knew she was that tech savvy :) ! It's a tri-light and adds to the ambience of my room wonderfully.

This long weekend has been a Downton Abbey marathon on PBS, so I spent the weekend watching, and in between episodes got some much needed cleaning done. I also spent some time in my sewing room - FINALLY, and got the cutting done for the Fancy Foxes baby quilt. November isn't that far away!! I'm hoping to actually get one block done today.

My quilt guild does a lovely thing, they make Friendship Star quilts and give them to members who have/are experiencing trauma/loss in their family. So, over the weekend I was the recipient of a lovely grey, yellow and white friendship star quilt which I have shared with my sister & family (sorry I forgot to take a pic!) Thank you LFQG!




 TTFN

Sad News

 

Mother passed away unexpectedly July 23rd. As was our usual date I went over to pick her up for her hair appointment/brunch/grocery shopping/Saturday visit but sadly, found her on the floor, she was gone. My sister was the last to see her Thursday night. Friday we were all in Sarnia for a family funeral (father's brother), and didn't check in with her as I would be there Sat morning.

The past two weeks have been a total blur - making all the arrangements, contacting people, starting the process of winding things up. Mother had a good life. I learned how to make a slide show of pics of her life, and wrote her eulogy at 2 am. I was pleased at the service as it paid an appropriate tribute to a courageous and adventurous woman. Father was involved in most things, so one positive, our family has gotten closer.
Mother and I were close. When I became single again mother signed us up for art history lectures at the local art gallery. When she became single again we got season tickets to the local theatre, giving ourselves a regular Friday night dinner & theatre date. Over the years we went to antique shows, movies and quilt shows together. She was always my "date" (and I hers) for New Years Eve and family functions. She will be dearly missed.

July 23 was the first day of my summer vacation. I am so exhausted from sorting and packing and racing around arranging things. I had to cancel my turn at hosting our Sew What's group - just can't manage it this year, sorry ladies. I hope to get an additional week (or two) off from work so my sister and I can get everything done by Aug 31 and I can have some recovery time. We'll see.

My vacation plans had included making the Fancy Foxes baby quilt. One good thing is the owner of Kalidoscope of Quilts did replace the 3 meters of backing fabric which had the factory seam. I am very grateful to her and will send along a Thank You note shortly. When I did get a chance to sit down I did some stitching on the Wild Flowers hanging, and hope to get to the baby quilt soon.

It's been hot and super humid this past 2 weeks, so I've had little patio time :( - TG for AC! My b-i-l (thanks goodness for him!) came over and put an additional shelf in the bureau I have in my living room. This was needed to house the 235 pieces of Bridal Wreath Limoges! Mother inherited this china, place setting for 12, from her Aunt Dell, and added pieces along the way found at various antique shows we attended together. Now I've inherited these beauties. Don't know if I'll ever use them - maybe for the Sew What's ladies! when I do use them I'll think of her and all the fun times we had together.

TTFN

Disappointment

So last week a friend and I travelled out of town to shop for fabrics and pattern for a new baby quilt. I was so thrilled to get the wanted pattern (Fancy Foxes) and a bunch of fabrics in the colours I was looking for. I was also thrilled with the backing fabric I chose, although not foxes it was "modern" and in the right colours. Well, Imagine my huge disappointment this morning as I was folding the now washed fabric. Do you see it ? I didn't see it while the fabric was being measured and cut, and I'm sure the store owner didn't either, but there it is!!!!!

The fabric was factory seamed all the way from edge to edge!!!! I'm soooooooo disappointed WAHHHHHHHHH. Has this ever happened to you? Now, what am I going to do ? Should I go back to the store and request/ask/demand a whole new cut of fabric? The factory seam is smack dab @ 1.10cm mark! I'd have to cut out that part and seam the backing, and I'm not sure there's enough fabric. GRRRRRR. And I was going to start this project on my upcoming vacation. Soooooo disappointed. I'll email the shop owner and see what happens - will let you know later :(

The whole week wasn't completely bad, I managed one more mug rug, finishing off this lovely pink fabric. Also, I received some encouraging news. 1) I met with the financial people and YEAH I can afford to retire early - haven't officially decided yet - but nice to know!!
2) I finally, FINALLY got an answer @ work to my request from last FEBRUARY, yes you read that right, LAST FEBRUARY, when I requested a more flexible work shift to compensate for the fact that I had to arrive @ 7:15 am to get the accessible parking spot I need. (I had competition from another lady who also needed an accessible parking spot.) It took them 6 MONTHS, tons of paperwork and medical appointments, etc for them to agree to my request - sort of. They have agreed to allow me to change my work day IF NEEDED due to parking situation from 9-4:30 to 8-3:30 . Not quite the "flexible schedule" I asked for, but better than nothing and better late than never.
Word for this week:

Cavaderic - of/relating to a cadaver.

Which leads me to this interesting website I came across reccently Materials of Mourning .
TTFN

New Project !

Well, it's official. My niece & family are expecting again - woohoo! So, a new project to work on this summer. I emailed her pics of several E. Hartman patterns (they're soooo cute!) and this is the one she picked!

So yesterday was a chance to drive to Exeter and pick up the pattern and some fabrics. Had to go out of town since my local q shop burned down :(

The bottom fabric will be the backing, the grey is the background and the fat quarters will be the foxes. Trying to go "Modern" with this one, wish me luck! I think I did pretty well with my choice of fabrics even if I did forget the pic when I went shopping :(. Think I'll need to visit the Marsh store soon and get some darker grey for one of the foxes. Woohoo! a sewing project for this summer's vacation :).

On the home front I have managed one more mug rug. Another one is ready to go, just gotta get to it!
I also found my hand quilting mojo again, after a long winter hiatus,
and started working on the Wild Flowers quilt. Can't tell you why it has taken so long, for some reason I was blocked - not knowing how I would quilt it.  I no longer mark quilts, having adopted a free style to my hand quilting. Well, suddenly I knew how and where I would quilt this on - just outline quilt around each applique/ sunburst block! Since this is just a wall hanging it shouldn't take too long. Maybe I'll even have something to put in the quilt show this Fall!!
Word for the week:

Black Swan - an unforeseen or unpredictable event with extreme consequences, as in last week's fire was a real Black Swan event!

TTFN

Local Tragedy

Our local quilt store, Cornerstone has gone up in smoke! I was standing on my front step chatting with a neighbour when I noticed a huge black cloud. We wondered what place was on fire. OMG, it's my local quilt store!!!! Actually the whole strip mall went up in smoke and several businesses were lost. Word from Judy, the shop owner is that nothing can be saved. What a loss!

And I was just going to drop in to purchase a baby quilt pattern! I didn't shop there as often as I wanted to and will deeply miss having a quilt store in the neighbourhood.
Word for this week:

Lachrima - tear(ful) as in This week has been lachrima

TTFN

Happy Father's Day !

Happy Father's Day Dad! We enjoyed a lovely BBQ dinner at my sister's and it was so nice to sit outside post dinner and enjoy the evening. I gave him a box of cotton handkerchiefs - what else do you buy someone his age (88) who needs/wants nothing. It's just a token, but it was fun to shop for him. Spent my Friday off taking the cat (Iris) to the vet for her yearly shots, then off to Service Ontario to renew my car and driver's license, and my health card. So that was 1 hour of my life I'll never get back ...
It was the Mater's 89th birthday last week, so yup, another birthday cake. We all gathered after dinner at her place for cake and ice cream

Claire was so sweet! Even though she doesn't quite understand who mother is, she came in and walked right up to mother and wished her a "Happy Birthday", then danced and danced and danced! When we finally got the cake cut and served Claire was ecstatic - as if we haven't had birthday cake almost every other weekend lately!!

Not too much to report on the home front ... a few more mug rugs completed.

 Not sure who will get the beer bottles ( I couldn't resist!),

But I have several candidates for the musical mug rug. Made 2 more  of these coffee rugs

Has a wee decorating idea and decided to put both shutters together and move them to the the wash stand. So instead of one with plates over the love seat, and one with Petite Point over the toilet, they're mixed and both are in the living room. It also meant I can bring out my initials from hiding

The wooden N is all one piece of wood and came from a long ago trip down east, from Lunenburg Nova Scotia. Kinda like this setup, think I'll keep it for a while. What do you think?
Word/phrase for this week:

Inkhorn the term refers to any foreign borrowing (or a word created from existing word roots by an English speaker) into English deemed to be unnecessary or overly pretentious

Have a great week

June Showers

So my "dwarf" lilac has overtaken almost the whole back garden!! I tried to trim it back, but by the time I got out there it was already in bloom. So, I cut back as much as possible and the poor Peonies will have to wait 'til the Lilacs are over . Poor Peonies, as soon as they bloom you can guarantee a rainstorm will come along! Yup - it has rained on/off all day today, so no sunny Sunday this week!
That's ok, a couple of friends and I took in "The Man Who Knew Infinity". Excellent - I recommend it! Had the Pater over for dinner yesterday, that was interesting.

I've also been busy making more mug rugs. Not sure who will get these, but I'm still having fun.

Gotta love the one on the left with pencils, and I really like the one on the right with the red and orange coffee cups!
 But then again, I kinda like this one with  Black & White cups.

And not to be left out are a pair of mug rugs with Owls! Look close at the one on the left. Yup, there are owls :).

The Owls on the right come from a fat quarter given to me by one of my quilting buddies - Thanks June!


This week is the Mater's 89th birthday, so stay tuned for another birthday cake next weekend!


Word for this week:

Petrichor - a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather.

TTFN,