Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Of Spring, Sewing, and Bats

WORLD NEWS:  Spring is in the air, AND in the ground.  I have snowdrops and crocuses blooming in the front flower bed.  And dandelions that have turned a lovely bright green, in time for St. Patrick's Day which is this coming Sunday.  Yesterday was sunny and 17c., perfect weather for walkies on the rail trail.  Today will be 18c. and maybe sunny (?).  That's VERY warm for this time of year.

GUILD NEWS:  I did a demo for the Binbrook guild on Improv Curved Piecing.  Working on these was quite fun.  Prep involved a few Youtube videos.  I swear, you can learn anything on Youtube.


SEWING NEWS:  A client gave me a big box of fabric for use in donation quilts, so I've started with the panels that were in there.  These need to be trimmed and bound. 

STORY TIME:  I'm pretty sure everyone has at least ONE bat story.

It was summer, several (many) years ago. DH was sitting in his chair in the living room, minding his own business.  Reading a book.  It was evening...8 pm?  9 pm?  I was in the kitchen, also minding my own business, reading the newspaper.  Enjoying a bowl of ice cream because being summer, the weather was hot.  I was having a problem with my eyes, though. I kept noticing a dark swirling as I was reading the paper, but it was very intermittent.  I'd look up -  things were fine, then I'd look down and dark swirling would start again, then the whole scenario would repeat.  Finally, one of the times I looked up I saw that something was flying around the room.  At first I thought it was a bird, but then the "thing" landed on the small kitchen speaker up in the corner at the ceiling.  Holy Mackerel Batman!!  (Hah, notice the pun?)  And, yes, I am a girl at heart, so of course my first response was a bit of a scream.  Then another scream for DH who, as many men would do, said "whaat?"  I continued screaming:  THERE'S A BAT.  THERE'S A BAT.  THERE'S A BAT.  And again, as many men would do, he said "what do you want me to do about it?".  I'm thinking to myself:  Uh...wtf?  This is why I got married?  I did a little more panic-ed screaming at him, until he finally came into the kitchen... to make sure it was a bat and that I wasn't imagining things.  Since, you know, ladies don't always understand these wildlife things.  Apparently.  Uh huh.  Then he got a light jacket out of the closet and managed to fling it over the bat as it was whirling around the kitchen.


The poor thing was lobbed out the front door, jacket and all, where it eventually made it's way to freedom.  We assume that it flitted into the house from it's normal roost by the front door when the dog took a little too long to come inside.  

I no longer say "Oh, look,  honey - there's a bat living by the front door.  How cute is that?"



 

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

2024 In Pictures...

The apron I made for my egg-providing neighbour.  I know she appreciates these...I popped over there one day for a visit and she was wearing a tattered apron that I'd made her a couple years earlier.  Ever since then I make her a new one every couple years.

I'm lucky enough to have friends who I meet at Mapleview Mall for an irregular dinner date, maybe a half dozen times a year?  We met through our work at Royal Bank ...so many years ago I don't even want to think about it.  Somehow these new shoes managed to come home with me last night.

Today's completed wall hanging, not quite in time for Valentines - the hand stitching won't be finished, but I CAN take it to the guild tomorrow for Show 'n Share.  In the fall of 2021 when things were starting to open back up after the pandemic, our guild meetings were being held in the church gymnasium.

We all had L O T S  O F  R O O M  T O  S P R E A D  O U T.  

I couldn't book speakers at the time, so I did a lesson on one-patch quilts.  This is all 2.5" squares, from stash/scraps.  Any simple shape can be pixellated like this - it makes a fun, easy project.  The first one I made was a Christmas tree, but the heart has been on my to-do list for the last few years.


Did you watch the Superbowl?  My sewing machine was by the tv - I stitched during the "game", then watched the commercials and the half-time show.  I make this "Simply Squares" quilt every year during the Superbowl....it still needs two borders, then it will be ready for quilting.  I buy one charm pak, then cut up another 40 squares from my stash and use all 80 in this top.


I saw a quilt online that was made with those triangle blocks on the right.  I had to google the instructions, then I made a sample for myself.  This is another quilt in my "To-Do" file.


I unthinkingly put my hand up and volunteered to do a quilt ruler demo for my guild.  When I got home I realized that I had to MAKE something so I could do the demo.  This is a Double Four-Patch quilt and I really like the way it turned out - all scrappy, using light (all the creams), medium (all the yellow/golds) and dark (all the blacks).  Hey - did you notice that my NEW SHOES match this quilt?


I'm also doing the Mystery Quilt that is being hosted by the CQA.  Duh - the last mystery quilt took me 25 years to finish...is my head actually screwed on????  Instructions said "do not use directional prints" (whoops - my black is directional).  And "do not use large scale prints for the background" (whoops - my red has large snowflake-ey motifs in different colours).  Apparently I'm a rule breaker?
  


Knowing that I sometimes forget what my intention was when I put something in the freezer, I guess I recognized my limitations last fall, when I wrote the name & page of the cookbook.  lol...  The apples, btw, were from my same egg-neighbour. ❤

 Pretty, calm & sedate Coco.


Nina.  Hellraiser on four paws - now six months old.  My theory:  puppies only have two brain cells, and one of those doesn't work.

Lots of things to be grateful for so far this year. ❤


Monday, January 1, 2024

Happy New Year - UFO's and Stash Report

Aah, New Years Day. 🎆 Time for a reckoning.  I set some targets every year so there's an endpoint where I'd like to find myself.  I don't manage to fulfill ALL of my goals, but taking a few minutes early in the year to think about where I've been and where I'd like to go does help to give me some focus.

This is a quilt I started several (!) years ago.  It's a Bonnie Hunter leader & ender pattern TO THE NINES from one of her books.
Occasionally we have enough sleepover company that I need to put the sofabed to use, but I didn't have a quilt that looks nice in that room AND that fits properly.  So woohoo!  Problem solved!
My target for UFO completion in 2023 was finishing up any THREE ufo's.  I only managed to take two off the list but I'm still happy with that result. 👍 Especially considering that one of them was 25-ish years old.  Good Lord.

As for my stash, like many quilters I probably have more fabric than I will use in my lifetime.  I set a moratorium on purchasing but, well, that didn't work out for me this past year.  In 2022 I generally only purchased fabric that I needed for a specific project.  But in 2023 I got a bunch of stuff at the guild, either for free or dirt cheap.  I also bought some fabric just because it was pretty.  AND I bumped up my collection of reds.  When all that intake happens during a year when not many projects were finished, the numbers tell a sad story.  2023 target was net OUT 50 M.  What actually happened was net IN 1.8 M.

My targets for 2024 will remain the same - finish any three UFO's and a net stash OUT 50 M, along with a minimum of 5 donation quilts.  If you see me in a fabric shop, wandering around with a couple of bolts in my arms please make me put them back!

SLEEP AND DOGS

I used to be able to sleep like the dead.  My head hit the pillow and I'd be zonked out within about three minutes, falling into such a deep sleep that an atomic bomb wouldn't wake me up.  Now, I often DO manage to fall asleep in short order, and then within a half hour something...usually a hot flash, wakes me back up.  Aargh.  So frustrating.  Or, I fall asleep and then wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to dreamland.  Today it was 4 am, so I stayed in bed for an hour, then gave up and got out of bed at 5.  It's a good thing I prep the coffee the night before and don't wake anyone up when I flick the coffee maker on.

This is the vision I took with me to la la land.  10 or 1030 at night is when playtime starts.  Again.


I think Nina was trying to do a Thread The Needle pose, maybe?

I have NO idea what anyone was trying to do here besides creep me out with the whites of her eyes.

I will be spending today sewing with a friend, then we're having Chinese food for supper.
And, speaking of UFO's, maybe I'll get something done with this in 2024.

I hope you have a healthy, happy, and productive year!

Sunday, December 24, 2023

Meet NINA ...or What Was I Thinking?

 Coco the rescue from Niagara Dog Rescue in the back.  Nina the rescue from Hamilton-Burlington SPCA in the front.  Two dogs who don't exactly like to wear Santa hats, lol. 😂


DH and I haven't had a puppy in probably 20 years.  Clearly I forgot how much work they are.  Most mornings Nina's been yipping & barking to go out between 5 and 5:30 am.  Did I mention that the dog crates are in the master bedroom?  She has been very good about going back to bed after one of us takes her out, but only for another hour and then she's up.  

We've had her for one month and she's definitely settled in - she and Coco are happily playing with each other.  By that I mean that Nina (being a puppy with only one brain cell) hops at, barks at, nips at, and barrels full speed at Coco, and Coco is more than willing to play along.  

The resemblance here cracks me up.  I guess we should've named her CHEWIE.


In between outdoor bathroom visits (no, not for me!) I HAVE been able to get some quilting done.  These have gone to Martha House, a women's shelter in Hamilton.  The quilt on the far right has been on my UFO list for y.e.a.r.s.  I started it back in the 90's - I didn't like my fabric choices (I was a know-nothing newbie at the time, AND this was a mystery quilt) and didn't like my quilting (again, a know-nothing newbie back then).  When I pulled it out two weeks ago I realized that although the fabric selection is not great, it's not as bad as I thought.  ** I ripped out most of the quilting and requilted it with a nice, generic, geometric design, and it looked ok in the end.  Should I have been surprised that after 25 years I still had enough of the fabric on my shelves to do the binding?
Three of those panels were free - I picked them up at the guild from the TAKE-IT table.  And I got another one at the December meeting!  Uh, obviously I'm not the only one who has fabric they really don't need.

A quilting buddy also dropped off a batch of kids quilts that she's made over the years, so I had quite a stack to deliver.

We had our Christmas dinner last night with 1-800-LUKE and his lovely wife.  Now we can stay in our jammies (probably taking turns having a nap) until Wednesday when friends are coming over to meet Nina.  Technically they're coming for dinner, but the puppy is the real attraction around here right now, certainly a bigger attraction than my cooking.

As I have for the last several years, I'll spend New Years Day stitching with a friend.  This year I think we'll both be working on the mystery quilt hosted by the CQA.  The mystery quilt is open to everyone, whether you're a member or not, so join in! These are my fabric pics.

That black fabric is a one yard piece that I purchased in November at Dollarama.  It was $4.00.  For one yard.  Four dollars.  Who knew that Dollarama sold quilting cotton???  It's in the aisle with wool and stuff and the selection changes...from store to store?  I don't really know.  I was in downtown Hamilton (when I dropped off the quilts) and went to the Dollarama in the mall there - they were selling Star Wars fabric, both the white fabric and the black fabric.  Even though I have so much fabric that I will never use it all, hunting for more is always on my list of favorite things to do.



I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, hoping that you and your loved ones have a joyful season.

** If you want to be good at something, you have to be willing to be bad at it first.  Quote from, I think, Richard Bach's book ILLUSIONS.  Excellent book.


Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Working on Recovery

 Yes, I mean recovery from Covid.  (I have not entered a 12-step program to disengage from my sewing machine.)  It's October, which means a week in Tobermory with the Beach Girls, and that seemed to me like a perfect place to recover!


I figured a Limoncello Spritz would be a very healthy cocktail, right?  Served with short rib crostinis for our afternoon cocktail hour.  Sadly (or not??) the spritzes weren't a huge hit, so Deb and I had to drink two each.  

We've done some practice with our Zentangle skills...

There's still one more wedge space to fill. 

We've had nice cheesy lunches.  Cheese and yogurt seems to be the thing that we still bring too much of after 15 years.

Honestly.  There are probably six more packages of cheese in the fridge.

Three of us have gone for walkies every day.  Yesterday was maybe not the best day to notice that it was thundering after we'd already left the house.

Diane was still at the cottage.  When she realized it was POURING and that we were likely getting soaked, do you supposed she giggled a bit before she called us to find out which direction we'd turned when we left the driveway?  Whatever.  She came and got us. ❤❤❤

Monday was my cooking day, so not much stitching happened for me.  However I have managed to finish up some little things that I need for the guild meeting next Monday.

And for my other guild I've got the borders on these two donation quilts.  These have been hanging over my head since June.


Now I can start working on my own projects.  Or take another nap? 😁

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Guilt By Association

 Janice and I are spending our last five days in Italy quarantined in our hotel room.  Because I have Covid.  I tested positive on Friday morning, and yes, I feel like total crap.  I've had the worst headache, that does not want to go away without drugs.  Tylenol to the rescue.  Janice is NOT sick, but because she's traveling with me she is automatically considered infected too.

I'll share a bit of our LAST day out...

The 5th was a free morning so we wandered around town, went to the post office so I could mail some postcards, and did some shopping.


In the afternoon we piled on the tour bus and headed off to the town of Lucca.  Our first stop was the Villa Reale.

We got quite a bit of history during our walk around the gardens.  Napoleon sent his sister here, much to her chagrin.

She renovated, built gardens, and kicked out the Bishop who lived in the villa behind hers.  She removed all the separation(s) between the two villas and put in a really big yard. 

I wish we had the opportunity to go through the residence, I would love to have seen inside.  It was bought and sold a few times - one guy bought it for his wife.  Um, honey... you might need to up your game!!  The most recent purchase - 2015 - was for 45-ish million euro, and the renovations were completed over two years.

After the grounds tour (the maintenance guys were zipping around on John Deere Gators, for any of you farmer/country folk) we got back on the bus and went to the walled city of Lucca for a tour and dinner.  

After dinner is when I mentioned to Janice that I didn't feel very well and might be staying home the next day.  Well, when morning rolled around and I confirmed that I was staying here she reached into her little bag of tricks and threw a covid test at me.


FYI, if you're lucky enough to have avoided taking a test, TWO lines is a bad sign. 😷

We have been told that Italy has very loose restrictions around covid.  We are apparently (?) allowed to go out if we're masked, as long as we get the hell off the hotel property and don't associate with anyone else from the tour group.  I am #6 from our group of 38 who I know have tested positive.  And I'm pretty sure I know who I got it from - a fella I sat beside at dinner on our first night.  He seemed perfectly healthy but didn't come out with us the next day and was then in quarantine for several days.  I've been in no condition to go anywhere, between sleeping and coughing and zero energy.  Janice has gone out a few times to the shops; after all someone had to buy us a thermometer and more rapid tests.  Oh, and parmesan cheese.  It seems we needed that too. lol.

Friday, September 29, 2023

Genova - Liguria - Italy

 The hotel we're in was built in 1897 (we think - it might have been 1891?).  It has operated as a hotel that whole time and was the first hotel here.  They still use the old phone.



Hah, just kidding.  That's the phone in the ELEVATOR.  One of those fun ones where you have to open the two doors, then close the two doors before you push your floor button.  When you arrive at your floor, you have to open the two doors on the OTHER side of the elevator, get out, then close those two doors again so the contraption can carry on it's mission of making people slightly nervous about whether their will is up to date.

And, btw, that's the ONLY elevator for the hotel.  If we were closer to the lobby instead of being on the 5th floor, I'd be giving the stairs more of a workout.  As it is, I'm only taking them to go down.  Not up.  Lazy - yes, and cranky knees.

I didn't sleep last night.  Suffering from jet lag I guess.  I also like to read for a while before bed, and what do you supposed landed in my inbox from the library just when I was leaving home?  Yup - Steven King's Fairy Tale.  It is very good so far, which also makes it a challenge to fall asleep.

And, we are eating supper very late for me - 7:30 last night is when we sat down for a wonderful meal of pesto gnocchi, then sea bream, then coffee flavour semifreddo for dessert.  We got back to our room at 9:50 pm with a full stomach.  

I can't even talk about our first night meal in Milan - it was at Casa Tua, and consisted of eight courses, along with many bottles of wine.  That night I thought I was going to explode.  But running on zero sleep over the previous 24 hours I fell into bed and konked out.  In the morning, Janice remarked that at one point she wondered if I was dead.

Here, our little breakfast cafe in the hotel is really cute, done in reds and pinks.  This is the first time I've seen any hint of vegetables.  At breakfast???


Today we had a morning walking tour over to the waterfront, which finished at noon.  We travelers (37 of us) were released on our own recognizance until dinner at 7:30 tonight.  Janice and I browsed the shops for a couple hours - look at the beautiful floors on the outdoor pathways!

We didn't buy anything and both of us were kind of running out of steam.  First we got lost in that downtown area, but managed to find our way back to the waterfront so we could retrace our morning tour to get back to the hotel.

Unfortunately, we took a wrong turn somewhere and got lost as f**k when we were within 5 minutes of our hotel.  We came upon a nice lady & her husband who were taking their two dogs for a walk.  The wife convinced him to lead us in the proper direction while she continued on with the dog walkies.

When we manged to get back to our room, I had a couple glasses of water and we both passed out for a nap.  The weather is gorgeous, sunny & warm.  This is the view out our window.  It's on a rather busy road, so every couple minutes "Anthony" lets "Vincente" know that he's a terrible driver, if you get my meaning.  And emergency vehicles are also running by regularly with their horns blaring.
Tomorrow we have another half-day tour and then we'll be heading to Chiavari for two nights.  More adventures await!