Out of Business

Well, it's over.  The Quilting Patch closed its doors yesterday for the last time.  This was the shop I could get to on my scooter.  There are no other quilt shops close enough to ride to.  Now I will have to depend on someone to drive me.  But maybe I won't have to buy any more fabric for a while.

 My sister came over yesterday and we went over to the shop so she could get some fabrics for the backs of her cross stitched stockings that she makes.  They are gorgeous!  I really didn't need to buy any more fabric for myself.  I just looked around the store for some really bright fabrics.  I was inspired by some poppies I saw, growing in an empty field when I was out riding my scooter last Thursday.

Aren't they wonderful?  Very inspirational!  I have no idea what I will make with these fabrics, but I am sure I will think of something.  I love bright fabrics!

A busy day ahead of me.  Some laundry.  Some tidying up.  A plate of devilled eggs to make for tonight's potluck at our last meeting of our quilt guild for this year.  And a nap this afternoon because I know I won't be able to stay up until 10:00pm.

Caution, Knitters and Crocheters at Large

This morning I went over to the school where my DD teaches grade 6 to spent an hour with some of her students who were interested in learning how to knit or crochet.  There were 9 of them.  I made the mistake of showing them some of the amigurumi I have made in the past.  I guess I wanted them to be excited about creating something with yarn, but I really didn't need to do that.  They were already excited and when they saw the cute little animals, they wanted to learn how to make some for themselves.  I didn't think it was possible to learn to crochet an amigurumi without first learning the basic stitches, so they had to learn a lesson in patience first.  I think that was the most difficult part of the hour.   As  you can see, they all caught on to crocheting very quickly.

 I am already looking forward to next Thursday for another hour of knitting/crocheting club.

Not Much Quilting......

...but I have been doing a lot of gardening in the past couple of weeks.  Mostly pulling weeds and digging up and dividing perennials and also doing some planting.  Here are some box plants I have to plant out in my garden today.

I have also been working on my hexagon quilt and I have started, yes you heard right, started on a new quilt.  I saw this one on Rose Marie's blog.  Here are a few of the 28 blocks I am going to need.  I figure if I do one block per day I can have this top done in about a month.   I have 10 blocks done so far and another one to go today.

That leaves me lots of time to enjoy my garden.   My yellow Columbine in full bloom.

My chives are looking pretty.

And then there is my blue and white iris.  This is my favourite iris in my garden.  I was really worried about it because last summer some kind of fungus attacked it.  I had to pull a lot of leaves that had rotted away at ground level.  But it came up healthy again this spring.

And how can I post pretty things without putting in a photo of Mimi.  She is feeling much better as you can see.  Here she is in the cat bed I crocheted a couple of years ago.  Just napping away.

Crocheted Pink Hearts Baby Blanket

I have volunteered to teach the kids in my DD's grade 6 class how to knit.  Since I have lots of left-over yarns, I will donate what I can for the kids to use.   While tidying up my yarn and needle stuff, I came across a baby blanket that I started a couple of years ago.  This is 'Pink Hearts'.  I only had a few more rows to do, so I decided to finish it.

I also want to show you the first columbine that is in bloom.  It's a yellow one.  I love this one.   

45 degree angles!

I went to Bee Night last evening.  We had a blast and made table toppers.  It's always fun to get away and meet with other quilters.  These toppers are quickly put together.  If only I had asked my important question  about the cutting angle after putting the first strip on, instead of waiting until I was on the last strip.

:Look how wonky my topper is.  That's because I just cut the triangles off each strip after I had sewn them on.  I should have lined the seam lines up with the 45 degree line on my ruler. Well, live and learn.  No one told me to do that.  And we weren't even told to bring a ruler and mat.  That meant lots of getting up and standing in line to use the cutting station.  Oh, well.  I guess I needed the exercise.  I am also not too excited about the colours I used.  I think I will do another one using some nice contrasting colours and my 45 degree ruler.  But that will not happen this morning.

I am going to join my quilty friends for our Tuesday morning group. I also have to pull some rhubarb for a friend who will be at our group.     

Flowers to Match My Flying Geese

I was outside in my garden yesterday and I noticed that some of my plants are blooming in calming pinks and purples.  I couldn't help thinking that they matched my flying geese blocks from my last post.  I have a few Luminaria in a lovely purple shade.  My garden used to be overrun with these plants, but I think I have been keeping them under control.

My early irises are in bloom.  I moved these plants a few weeks ago in order to clear out a patch of garden that had very poor soil.  They look kind of crowded, don't they?  I will move them back to their original spot next year. We are supposed to get a few yards of triple mix delivered today, so that I can get on with my planting.

Here is a pretty pink Bleeding Heart.  It is growing in some heavy shade, making them late in blooming.  I have plans for this plant too next year.  I feel like I am always digging something up.  I guess that's why they say a gardener's work is never done.

Although not a purple or pink plant, I want to show you my Euphorbia.  There are 2008 species in this plant's family.  Those pretty yellow flowers are really not true flowers, but rather, yellow leaves.  This plant is to Poinsettia which are also in the Euphorbia family.

I had to water a few plants that were recently transplanted, so while I had the hose out, I cleaned out the birdbath and filled it with fresh water.  No sooner had I turned my back when I heard loud splashing sounds behind me.  It was a robin who had come to take a bath.  A couple of his friends were waiting in the apple tree for their turn.

It is going to be a beautiful day.  The sun is shining and the temperature will be around 23C.  I think it is going to be a gardening day and not a sewing day.  I still have a lot of applique work to do on my Queen and Her Court quilt.  I have until the 11th of August to complete it.  That's a long time, but it is getting more and more difficult to cram all of my hobbies into one day. 

Flock of Geese

Here are my flying geese blocks.  I have made 10 of them so far.  Thanks Em, for letting me play along.

My Brave Kitty

Mimi is home and she is doing well.  I had to take her to the dental hospital yesterday to have her teeth cleaned and perhaps have some pulled.  My DS took me over there in the morning.  I kissed Mimi and told her I would be back soon.  She was very unhappy.  A few hours later the vet phoned me and said that they had found a lot of inflammation in Mimi's throat, cheeks and under her tongue.  They wanted to do a biopsy and take some x-rays to rule out any cavities.  At 5:30pm we were able to pick her up and take her home.

She has a condition that is called Stomatitis.  It is often caused by plaque on the teeth.  Hopefully now that Mimi has had her teeth cleaned this condition will go away.  If it doesn't they will treat her with steroids because it is also sometimes thought of as an auto-immune disorder.  They sent the biopsy to the lab and will let me know what they find as soon as they get the results.  Luckily Mimi's teeth were not decayed, so she didn't have to have any pulled;

The minute she got home she demanded food, so that was a good sign.  She jumped on my bed and became her ordinary bothersome self when I tried to read and she kept sitting on my chest in front of my book - another good sign.  Today she followed the sunshine around in the solarium.  Here she is on top of the banister, 'hiding' behind the plants.  She seems happy, so that is another good sign.

Because my DS had the day off yesterday, he drove me around a bit.  There is a quilt shop in our neighbourhood that is going out of business.  Too bad, because that was the only quilt shop close enough for me to get to on my scooter.  They were having a 40% off sale on everything in the store.  So I bought myself a few metres of batiks.  When I put them on the floor to take a picture, Mimi right away came over to see what was going on - another really good sign, don't you think?

I am planning to make a New York Beauty quilt with these and other batiks that I have collected.   I love these fabrics, but I think I will not start it until after the summer.  I have to much gardening to do now.

Mimi started rolling and purring and trying to get under the fabric, so I took a piece and placed it over her like a blanket.  She loved that!

I Love Blue Flowers

The sun is shining this morning, but who knows what the rest of the day will bring.  Last night it rained all night, with lots of thunder and lightening too.  My plants are happy, so why are they so blue?

Here are my Myosotis or Forget-me-nots.  They have taken over my gardens, but as soon as they are finished flowering, I will pull some of them out to make room for some annuals.

Next is my Muscari or Grape Hyacinth.  I planted these over 10 years ago and they still come up every spring. Aren't they beautiful?  I love blue flowers, or did I say that already?

Mertensia, or Virginia Blue Bells are next.  This is my favourite plant at the moment.  I love the blue bells which change to pink as they age.  This plant comes up in early spring, but by July it has gone back into the ground to await the following spring.

And last I want to show you my Viola, or Violets.  I have several varieties.  These are almost a purple blue colour.  They have multiplied and almost taken over my garden  But I love these little beauties.  If I get too many I will pot them up and put them at the foot of my driveway with a 'Free to Good Home' sign beside them.

I also have a light blue variety.  They look white, but there are little blue specks on the flowers.  I think it is very pretty.

And last, but not least, I finished my flying geese block on Em's blog..  Here it is in with my Forget Me Nots.   This is block #8.  When I finish block #9, I will post them all.