Never Grow Up

Two years ago at the Quilting Cartel Retreat, I made my 5 year old Grandson a Halloween quilt from a panel. I cut it apart and using various Halloween fabrics created a lap size quilt. Needless to say he was thrilled and took it everywhere. When he went to Ottawa to visit his Auntie, he had it with him. She tease him and said she was going to take it. NOT ON YOUR LIFE.

Finished

Flimsy

Auntie came out to visit in August of 2011, and once again saw the quilt. She looked at ME and said "where's mine?"

Oh please - how old are you? She said "I am serious - where's mine?"

I am controlled by guilt I will admit; so for Christmas I decided to make her one.

Christmas came upon me and it did not QUITE get finished. I packed up her parcel with a beautifully wrapped box that held a gift card and fabric scraps - telling her the rest would follow. Cheeky that she is said "well I hope it doesn't take 5 years to get here" BRAT!!!! Well she should be getting it any day now.

WHY?

Why would a person leave the comfort of their sewing room to go and sit in a cabin by the ocean to sew. WHY?? I will tell you why - to sew with a friend that is why. My friend and I sew for The Gallery at Saratoga. We create quilted items for the home and for children that seem to be very popular. Mostly we sew in isolation but periodically we get together and create.

So (sew) here we are cramped and crowded but having fun and getting to walk on the beach with the tide out - HOW GOOD DOES IT GET. We did have a glass or two of wine in the evening. We did watch two interesting videos - The Bridesmaids - fluffy, romantic and slighty funny and For The Colored Girls - based on Ntozake Shange's Obie Award-winning play exploring the plight of black women. I felt that it depicted the plight of all women - watch it - it is thought provoking.

I did say walk on the beach - in January - on a sunny day. You can see forever. HOW GOOD DOES IT GET.

TenFold Sunday

Our group of 8 plus 1 got together on Sunday to play in Kathy's studio. She had a diversion for us. We were to gather some "ugly" fabrics - she suggested going to the thrift store and getting articles of clothing - light weight of no particular fibre. They were to be cut into 15 inch (approximately) pieces - to be cut down later. Plus we were to bring various other bits for the class. She promised no sewing and suggested a potluck lunch. The potluck lunch was FABULOUS. Fabric play was freeing - using fabric that we had not invested much in and we were not emotionally attached to was amazing. We created a template that we loosely used. By the time we had cut out our fabrics and started arranging them as directed we lost all controll and did our own thing.


 This is mine - my background fabric was an old polyester curtain - fusible interfacing ironed to the back. The next layer I think is upholstry fabric and it is the wrong side. I kept adding bits cut in the shape of my template then found bits on the table cut from others templates. I just kept piling it on. 

I added another piece under the first circle. Is it okay?  It will do I suppose. What am I going to do with it. Perhaps nothing but it was a such a freeing exercise.

 

Lois' Creation

Colleen's Creation



Norma's Creation

Christie's Creation

Oh Happy Day

I am in 7th Heaven - it IS snowing and I'd say we have about 3 inches or in the world of today 7.62 cm. And it is still coming down. I know, I know it will be raining soon but I will enjoy the day and what it gives me.

This corner of the world covered in white. It is a good excuse to play hookey. I think even if it rains it is a good day to play hookey.

Now I wonder, do kids now a days know what playing hookey is? There are a lot of sayings that I use that my grandkids snicker at - like "Brownie Points".  I asked my granddaughter if she knew what that meant and she said no. Interesting and an interesting conversation was had around that.

Oh NO I think it is starting to rain BUMMER. I am going to sit and knit for a bit and enjoy the view of the garden in the snow.

Winter on the Island

It is finally hear - sort of - we only have about 3 cm of snow but it is cold - cold for here anyway. Right now it is -7 C. Earlier when I was out and about it was -9 C. Okay I will admit this is not the coldest place in the world.

I love the snow, unlike most people who live on the Coast. It is pretty while it is white and fresh. The world seems like a better place. But it never lasts long here - before you know it, it will be either a slushy, dirty mess or it will have disappeared completely.

I am an eternal child; excited to see those first flakes and so sad when it is gone. I still remember when we had a fog horn at the lighthouse instead of the mechanical noise. You would lay awake at night and hear it and you would know by the temperature of the house that it was SNOWING. I would get so excited. I still get excited when I wake up and see the snow falling.

I see by the Weather Network we will have snow today and Thursday then rain on Friday. Oh I was so hoping for a snowday. While it does not help me much as I work from home, I know that my Grandkids would LOVE it.

And So It Goes

Onwards in the quest to get ready for this renovation!!! I decided to get a few more quotes for our cabinets in hopes of mitigating the exorbitant amount of money that I have committed to for the fixtures. The company that did our kitchen will be here on Monday to redo his quote. I am getting quote coming from Splashes, Home Hardware and I will seek another from another local company next week.

Now to flooring - so many choices and so much to learn - sanded grout and non sanded grout I did not know. Thin grout lines, no grout lines, ceramic, porcelain, vinyl, laminate; there are just too many choices and the only thing that we did finally decided on is heated floors (well that is we have ALMOST decided on). I have a sample of a ceramic tile at home but I do believe it will be the floor - I love it - I loved it before.

I spent sometime viewing tiles for the shower and for the back splash. This is another world too. I decided to have off white subway tile and a band of glass in the shower and probably the same for the backsplash. If we keep our existing mirror the tile will only go up about 12 inches or so but if we go with another mirror I may go up cabinet height. At this time there is a plan for a valance to hold lights but again, I have looked at other options. It is just too confusing

I went to our ReUse It Store and bought a small cabinet to house our bathroom items in the small bathroom. This room does not have any storage at all and I thought this would do the trick for now - and besides for $15 it is not a bad little box.

Bathrooms

I spent a wonderful hour at Andrew Sheret's showroom called Splashes. Interesting place - BEAUTIFUL stuff. I found out all sorts of information - somethings that although I am sure I should know I think I might have to forget.

It was so hard to make a choice. The choices are endless - size, finish, on top of counter, under counter, brushed chrome or not, rain shower head and on and on and on. My head was spinning. Thank goodness Kevin, the Showroom Supervisor was patient and obliging and knowledgable. After an hour was up - I had ordered a new sink, tub, toilet, glass shower doors and faucets. I also got a quote on heated floors which I know have to sell this idea to Michael. He is not really receptive to this idea right now but we shall see. 

I am not sure how a person can be so exited about bathroom fixtures but I left there giddy over them. Hey it should be a toilet is a toilet etc. But I chose a toilet with a concealed trapway - WHY you ask?Well I have a dog and two cats and the hair flys up onto the ledge that connects the toilet to the floor. I spend a lot of time wiping that down. NOW there is no more ledge. Such a simple thing it is but makes extreme sense to me. The tub I chose is deep - 23" and it has a sloped back rest. I will be in heaven.

Getting Ready

Christmas is done and all the decorations are put away. I seriously tried to eliminate one of our containers of decorations but was unsuccessful. I did however put the items that I trim the house with in two separate containers. My "plan" is to bring these down after the Halloween decorations go up to the attic so that they are ready to at least do up the house in early December. We never seem to get our tree up until a few days before Christmas and when all the ornaments are mixed together the house doesn't get down until the tree is put up. I sometimes wonder WHY am I doing this. But now I am ready for next year.

I love this ornament - there are so many wonderful ones that tell a story

The linen closet is NOW totally emptied of its contents. I would love to say it was all linen. There were some sheets, extra pillows and some blankets in there but the bulk of the closet was kid's board games, beach towels, sleeping bags and fabric and batting for quilts. Surprising how much was in that closet. I boxed up the sheets. The beach towels, pillows and batting I put into a space saver bag - amazing things that they are. I have these two hard bags now that take up hardly any room. The first time I used one we were going to visit family in The Pas Manitoba in February. We had to pack winter gear as well as indoor clothes for a week. I put all our winter gear into one bag and vacuumed out the air and all fit into one suit case.

The only things left to do are to wrap this mirror up for storage, move the dresser, the small chest underneath and to empty out the front hall closet. I think I will invite Michael to help. This will be interesting.

"BURIED ALIVE"

I have started removing "stuff" from the hall closets in preparation for the next reno. Oh what you find. I decided to keep only what I need in the future. There are two closets in the hallway. The linen closet/auxiliary fabric closet. You see I am somewhat of a fabric hoarder - mostly quilting fabrics. I used to buy fat quarters but a friend said why bother - buy at least a meter. What good is a fat quarter unless you are going to frame it. It was easy to sort through the linen, pillows and towels. Nice not worn or faded stay and I packed them into boxes - the rest into the Sally Ann bag. But the fabric, that is another story. I decided to leave that for another day. I need to have a plan for where to put (hide) it. So on to the front door closet. It houses snowmobile helmuts - we recently sold the snowmobiles; it also houses boxes of organized photos; jackets and "stuff". Oh my - OUR HOUSE is small and storage is at a premium. One of the goals of this renovation is to create more storage. THE goal should be to "get rid of" "stuff".

Getting rid of "stuff" - that is harder than I thought. I am following "THE PROCESS" as described by all the shows and all the websites on decluttering. Remove everything, do a quick sort - you know "keep, sell or toss". Okay I did a good job of that part. Now to really go through it. NOOOOOOOOOO!!! I hit a wall. I tried one more sort and got rid of a few more things. Then I got out those large vacuum bags and pushed in as much as I could and VOILA. Done I promise I will sort again once the removation is done YUP Promise!!

And now to the fabric stash. Most of this is for C & G Creations - can't get rid of that so where on earth am I going to store this. I will have to be creative with this.

Ukrainian Christmas

I live with an Irish/Ukrainian and this year he is bound and determined to celebrate it.  Well at least he wanted our $60 tree to stay up until January 7th. I think it was for Ukrainian Christmas but maybe it was that $60 was spent on the tree. Sixty dollars! CRAZY we live in the forest - but who am I.

We will have perogies for sure and meatless cabbage rolls and kielbasa. I don't think we will have wheat, everyone says it has a different flavour. If my sister-in-law from The Pas, was here I bet we would have things like Beet Leaf buns and all sorts of yummy food. This however is Michael's gig so I will just attend.

  

The first meal Michael ever cooked for me was homemade perogies - he told me to have some cold mashed potatoes, flour, milk and an egg and he would make them. And he did. On rainy mornings he gets up and makes bags of them for the freezer. He takes a wonderful bowlful of these morsels to potluck dinners. I don't know what it is about perogies but we all go nuts over them - a mass of dough, filling - potatoes, cottage cheese, sauerkraut, potatoes and cheese, - and then the butter and onions that is poured over top and then the sour cream. But we do go nuts over them. He has made them in the middle of nowhere, made them in a campsite by lantern light. He made them on our trip to St. Lucia last February- my perogy maker.

Easy Peasy

 

Thank you Michael for the wonderful garden we had last year - thank you for all the tomatoes that you lovingly grew. I took them and canned them, made them into salsa AND thankfully made them into spaghetti sauce. YUMMY - I used those awesome zucchini's, and the marvellous onions and married it with the oregano and basil and garlic that I grew in my kitchen garden and VOILA the spaghetti sauce - so last night - no fuss, no muss - a tasty lasagna.

So lucky -  so wonderful. So easy - now I can get on with the packing up of all the "stuff" that is in the hallway in preparation for the renovation or as Michael says "ripping and tearing".

Our hallway has become a gallery of souvenirs from our many holidays and pictures of grandchildren. It also is the home for some amazing black and white photos that came with the house. They were taken by the son of the owner and they were left behind - too beautiful to get rid of.

?? Living with Purpose???

Now I thought that would be a great resolution that I would be able to do every day. The last two days are going to PHISH! Yesterday I felt like my foot was planted and I was going around in circles. Today I have absolutely no focus what so ever. I need to ground myself somehow and focus on the tasks at hand. I think I am juggling to many balls. ??? I can't juggle more than two - what does that say. I am trying to work but my mind is now flying away on getting organized for our holiday. I booked our return hotel using AreoPlan air miles - good use them up. I tried to use Air Miles to book a rental car - OMG! That was 17 minutes of telephone music and then to find out I don't have a pin AND my birthdate that is recorded with them is wrong. REALLY! I think I know when my birthdate is. I was told that it may have been entered wrong when I applied for a card - I applied for the card in the days of paper applications. Okay so calm down now - focus. Here is something to focus on - this is sunset over the ocean - calm and peace.

 

Back to work - Back to a routine

Business as usual today - walk, yoga and work. The WALK - in a sprinkle of rain but a blustery wind, totally invigorating - the YOGA - with my new mat and jasmine tea afterwards - making me mindful today I will concentrate on joy and WORK - quick responses to the new year requests - on it - with pleasure.

Yesterday was a wonderful day. The start to the year. Isn't it grand to have time to sift through things, organize, review calendars and let go. I dug through an old file box. It revealed old knitting projects, some lovely wool forgotten and a shoe box full of wonderful photos. I think a task for this year is to organize the many shoeboxes of photos into something - can't decide if I want to scan them or scrapbook them - both seem onerous. There is also many canisters of slides I would love to digitize. This will require a scanner that will scan slides. I do want to make a scrapbook of all the pictures of my son. I did this for the girls when they graduated but the one for my son was left to his father and a few years ago it was passed back to me - hence I really need to go through those slides - most of his life's pictures are in slides. Back to my search for a scanner for this purpose.

Mike wants us to continue on with our house renovations. We took a break last year because of the flood in the yard. So you will be watching our progress soon. The plan is for the main bathroom, hallway and entryway. Sometime this week I will go and find the bits for the bathroom - new sink, faucets etc.
And here it is - our current bathroom - the footprint will not change however. We will add a shower to the tub.


Some things I will miss about this room

 - I love the yellow - bright and cheerful; I love the 50's plastic pearlized tile; I love my funky cabinet handles. We may have to keep those - not sure - the cabinets will be changed so they may not go back. Do like them though.

HAPPY NEW YEAR - 2012

New Year - New! - start fresh. Any New Year's Resolutions? I think for me I am going to live this year with purpose. What will that mean? To me it will mean doing things with thought and purpose - to put meaning into every action. 

Yesterday, I took my Grandson and his stepbrother to Courtenay. It was fun spending time with these two - a 14 year old and a 6 year old - we laughed a lot. We poked around in some techy stores. The 14 year old was on a mission - he is looking for somekind of powerpack to keep his iPad and iPhone charged when he is camping. AND he wanted to buy party food for his New Year's party that he was hosting. Interesting selections - but I did manage to get him to buy a tray of cut up vegetables. I am sure they had a great time. Not sure about the noise level that his parents had to endure.

Now Mike and I on the other hand spent a quiet evening - good dinner - baked potato, acorn squash (still from our garden) and chateaubriand with bearnaise sauce - some good wine and then a bottle of bubbly at midnight.