Tuesday, November 28, 2017

(Backup) (Backup) On The Road Again

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?lyrics=2035


Ok, telle me the truth...are you humming thatsong now? Cause I am and I fear it may be running  through  my head all night!

Back in February of this year, I convinced Mr O to agree to spend winter in Arizona again. He liked Arizona but he always says, “I want to go somewhere new, somewhere I haven’t been before.” I on the other hand like familiarity, and I liked the place we usually stayed at, I had a large circle of quilting friends there, I was comfortanle with the area...why wouldn’t I want to back? I love having familiar things around me. That’s why when we go on a road trip I pack so much...I think I suffer with separation anxiety.
If we were travelling there in a U-Haul I would have had no trouble packing but alas we were driving there in our personal vehicle, so many choices had to be made. I had no shortage of fabric at home so Mr O “urged” me to figure out what projects I wanted to make and make kits from what I hadcts for  on hand. Brilliant suggestion, but also a lot of work, and what if I forgot something important and necessary for the project? It takes a lot of time and energy to assemble kits for each project and to make sure I prepared enough projects for 4 months; and projects and tools needed for a couple of workshops I was asked to give. 
The job seemed insurmountable, especially to someone who was recovering from whooping cough but thankfully I have been blessed with very good friends, one of whom came to my rescue. She offered to come and help me prep kits and it was just the kickstart I needed because as you know, starting the job is half the battle.This friend came to the house 2 or 3 times and helped choose fabrics, AND cut fabric amounts for each of these big projects. Once these projects were prepped, I felt like I was on my way and slowly but surely I managed to get the rest of the kits ready. Thank you Sue!

All totalled I think I packed about 25 different projects for the winter! That does not include my knitting project or the projects I prepped for working on in the car, because it is a long way from New Brunswick to Arizona, especially when you make lengthy stops in Ontario and Colorado!  Hope I have enough...I will keep you updated as I check them off my list. ( I even packed printed sheets off the internet for oraganizing my projects and keeping me on track) Genius or insanity?
I saw this little quote on line one day and it made me smile, because I do exactly that!

Along the way I had a lovely visit with my brother, and other family members. My brother lives in a nursing home and is always thrilled to go out on outings. We were able to rent a little cottage and that allowed us to have him come and stay with us for five days. He was thrilled with his mini vacation!
















When we brought him back home it was with a new warm winter jacket and boots, a batch of homemade fudge, photos of his mini vacation and a touch of Christmas decorations for his room. All in all a good visit!



I miss you little brother; stay warm, enjoy your treats and have a Merry Christmas. I love you. xx

I told you I brought a few projects to work on in the car. One of them was a sewing box. I painted the box before leaving home and then did the wool cover for it along the way.
The project is from this book. Civil War Sewing Circle by Kathleen Tracey. This is just one of several projects that spoke to me. 







The little piece of gold wool that you see here is very special to me. After Mom passed away and we  cleaned out her apartment we gave many of mom’s clothes away, but my sister and decided to keep a few items that we thought we could incorporate in some of our special quilting projects. This piece of gold wool is part of one of Mom’s blazers. I miss you mom!





This is the finished project and it holds tiny scissors, needles and thread for whatever project I am working on.  I was only 2 days into the trip and already I was finished a project, so on to the next one...a little hand stitching kit I purchased a couple years ago at an amazing little quilt shop in Bethany Ontario. From The Heart. If you haven’t been there and you ever get the opportunity to stop, you wont be sorry.

This is the kit I bought.

The pattern has you making 1/2” hexies and then joining them together then appliqueing them to a background piece of fabric. Sandwich, quilt and bind and then it fits inside this tiny tray. It is great to sit beside your work area and corral you frequently used tools. 






I am feeling pretty good about this project. All hand stitched! Not a machine stitch anywhere! All the hexies, made and pieced together, sandwiched and hand quilted and then I attached the binding all around by hand and then sewed the binding down. That was the trickiest part, but I channeled my inner pioneer spirit and soldiered through. I love it! It is about 4.5”.  8.5” and fits the tray perfectly!
My third project is a woolie project. 
Pattern  by Threads That Bind



I have taken it as far as I can go, because I put the wrong backing piece in my work bag, so I am left with only a knitting project to work on. All in all I am pleased with my progress. All of this was finished before leaving Colorado.(more about Colorado happenings) 
It has been a great trip so far. Weather is perfect and accommodations have been good, and Mr O has had lots of interesting activities planned all along the way. The only complaint I have is that wifi is not always the best so I am behind in my posts. Hopefully I will be almost caught up by tomorrow.









Sunday, November 19, 2017

(Backup) LAZY HAZY CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER...WELL SORTA




I’m not sure if they were lazy or hazy but I do know they were crazy. 

Travel, and company kept us busy, but a few other things thrown in made it a little crazy some days. Moving to the beach each summer is always busy and there are always lots of jobs to be done. 

Because of the huge ice storm in the winter there was a ton of cleanup and burning to be done. Mr O was also working at consulting which included several trips away. He always tends to things to make things as easy for me as possible. We had a board on the deck that was quite weakened and I was concerned that it might break before he returned so he said he would replace it before leaving the next morning. 
While I was inside unpacking, dusting and setting things up, Mr O called me outside; naturally I just assumed he need a hand with something. He looked at me pointed to the gap where the faulty board was and smiled. Naturally I was puzzled..on closer inspection, I saw what ne wanted me to see. A litter of 4 tiny kittens! There are several ferral cats in the area and one of them chose to have her litter under our deck! 


Obviously they needed to be moved while the deck was being repaired. We gently placed them in a box. Mama was no where to be seen all day and we were a bit concerned as to our next move. A cat made a brief apperance but quickly disappeared, we tried setting out food but to no avail. With Mr O leaving the next morning for two weeks, we  decided to remove the new deck board and put them back under hoping mama would return.  After a day I lifted the board to see if all was well, and lo and behold they were gone. Mama had moved them. Not far though...they were hidden away under the guest house aka my quilting studio.





Mama was so thin and scrawny looking and she was feeding her babies, I caved and started feeding her a bit here and there...long story short; we had cats all summer long. They thought they owned the place!













By summer’s end I was concerned that they were not moving out and we would be moving home and the food bank was closing. They needed to learn to hunt and feed themselves before the snow came. I had to be brutal and stop feeding them and “encourage” them to leave home. My weapon was a water bottle. After many days of unwanted showers they finally moved on, but I have to tell you that I was getting pretty attached to them. It was harder on me than it was on them!
I worked several days at a local quilt shop which lead to a bigger project that was so much fun and in turn helped the shop owner make some great changes to the shop. Needless to say I was in my glory!






THANKS NADINE!

Throw in buying a new boat with our son,




Furniture painting class with friends,








berry picking, 







a Blue Jays game, 


 a very long bout of Whooping cough, and you can see why I say summer was more crazy than lazy. 

One for the books! I loved it and wouldn’t change a thing...well maybe just one thing!