A Summer Weekend and Beyond

I didn't get any sewing done this weekend.  But I did have a lot of fun.  On Saturday afternoon we went to my aunt's house for a sort of family reunion.  It was very pleasant.  Saw lots of cousins I haven't seen in a long time.  The bags I had made were very well received.  I was glad I finished them and gave them to their new owners.

On Saturday evening we went over to my DD's place for dinner.  The Japanese students she has staying with her cooked us a delicious meal.  It was fantastic.  And there even was a bit of chicken left over so Schroeder, my DD's cat had an enjoyable treat also.

Then on Sunday morning we drove to the beach on Lake Simcoe.  The weather was fantastic.  We sat on the beach and built sand castles, ate a picnic lunch and went into the lake for a swim and some ball playing.  (Yes, even I went in.)  It was very busy on the beach, but it always is on weekends when the weather is perfect.  Here are some fellow sun-seekers.

Playing ball in the water.

Floating on an air mattress.

Exhausted and getting ready to go home, but no one wanted to leave.

Then for dinner we went to our fishing club.  Ate too much, but it was delicious.  We watched the sun go down and drove home along with all the other weekend traffic.

Today I am doing laundry. Lots of beach towels!  And I have a whole fruit bowl full of ripe bananas, so I think there will be a banana bread somewhere in my day.

I was over at Erin's blog, kniterly.  She has been knitting some cute little dolls for a special project in Africa.  I have made several of these dolls in the mid seventies, when my kids were young.  I think I will make a few more to send to the Duduza Doll project.  Go here if you want to read all about it and get the pattern.

Bags!

I made a couple of bags.  They are gifts, but I don't think the people they are for will read my blog anytime  today.  Here is the first one.  This is made from a horse panel fabric.  I think this was supposed to be made into pillows, but I think the panels look great on the back and front of a bag.  It is my own pattern,  I lined it with some cat fabric.

The next one is an Oak Park Bag.  I still love this pattern.  I used mostly flowery fabrics and a few scraps that someone gave me.  I used a black and white rose fabric on the inside.  I hope the person who is receiving this one will like it.

Wednesday's Flowers

It's Wednesday again and I have some hexie flowers to show you.  I love working on these when it is hot.  And it has been hot!  The fan on our air conditioner stopped working and we were without AC for the entire weekend.  Luckily the guy came to fix it on Monday so by bedtime the house was cool again.  This first shot is of some of the sections that will go around the outside of my latest hexagon quilt.

And here are some of the flowers sewn together.  They will be in a basket made of brown hexies.  I have come to realize that hexies can be sewn together to represent anything you wish to display.

I now have to go and get some things ready for dinner.  My DD is coming over for dinner and bringing a couple of Japanese students that she is hosting his week.  I am in the middle of making potato salad.   I will serve them hamburgers and corn-on-the-cob also.  I even baked a zucchini loaf, not especially for my company but because I have so many zucchinis in my garden that I have to do something with them.

Doesn't it look delicious?

And here is a picture of Felix, trying to keep cool.  He is sitting on the register taking in all the cool air.  What a smart pussy cat.

A Garden Post

My aunt asked me if my garden is really as beautiful as it seems from the photos on my blog.  It really is.  Right now it is a riot of colour.  In every direction I look there are flowers in bloom.  Here is my east raised bed.  This one has vegetables in it too.  You can see the pole beans growing up the stakes.

And here is my west raised bed.  This one has mostly perennial flowers in it.  I love this flower bed.  I have lots of lilies and delphiniums.

And here is a shot of the west flower bed.  It is not a raised bed.  That makes it more difficult for me to work in.   But next year I will move some of the plants that are getting crowded out.  I will leave some of the plants that need less work.  There is a peach tree in there too.  It had two peaches on it this year.  Our spring was too early and the blossoms came out when it was still too cold for the wasps and bees to be out.   If I had thought of it, I could have pollinated some of the blossoms by hand.

More Great Grannies

I made a few more blocks in the Great Granny Along.  These have not been trimmed yet.  I am working on block number 6.

But is too nice outside and I have to go out and do some gardening before it gets too hot.  The quilt blocks will have to wait.

The Great Granny Along

Have you seen the Great Granny Along blocks that are out there in quilt land?  Terry of Terry's Treasures has been making them and I think I am in love.  I decided to make one block, just to see how difficult they are and how much of my time they would take up.  They are not difficult and they take very little time and best of all, they use up scraps.  But I couldn't stop at just one block.  I had to make another.

I am having to use different background fabrics for each block because I do not have enough of any one fabric.  But I like the scrappy look, so I will continue.  Oh, did I say 'continue'?  I guess that means there are more of these fabulous blocks in my future.

Another Flowery Wednesday

I made a few more flowers this week.  It is really too hot to do anything else.  Now have to make dozens of white hexies which will go in between the flowers.  It's a boring job, but someone has to do it.

Last spring I bought a bag of three liliy bulbs and planted them in my raised flower bed.  By the next morning the squirrels had promptly dug them up, along with a dozen anemones I had also planted.  The anemone corms were gone, so I assumed the squirrels had found them to be a tasty treat.  I replanted the lilies and covered them with cayenne pepper.  A few days later the squirrels had dug them up again.  I replanted them and put some pieces of a broken clay pot over top of them.  And of course, lots more cayenne pepper.  When they started to come up I removed the clay pot pieces and they started to grow.  Now they look like this.

I am glad I didn't lose patience.  I'd be missing these beauties.

An Appreciated Summer Storm

It has been very hot over the past few weeks.  The humidity has been high too.  So it shouldn't come as a surprise that we had a thunder storm yesterday afternoon.  I looked out and saw that the winds were starting to pick up and that my patio umbrella was leaning to one side.  I could hear the sound of thunder rumbling in the distance.  I dropped everything and ran outside to take the umbrella down.  Then I gathered up some of the plastic chairs and stacked them so they would not become flying missiles.  It was already starting to rain by then.  Large drops hit the pavement and dried up almost instantly because everything is so hot.  I was soaked by the time I went inside.

It rained for about 2 hours.  We got 88mm of the wet stuff during that time.  I danced around in my living room - we needed that rain so badly.  The leaves on my maple had already started to dry up.  Everything got a good soaking.  It was a much appreciated summer storm.  But it did not leave my garden untouched.  Here is a picture of my Feverfew before the storm.

And this is what it looked like this morning.  Everything is flattened to the ground.  

The storm caused all kinds of destruction around us as well.  In Whitby some people were sitting under a huge tent enjoying a Ribfest.  17 of them were taken to hospital when the tent was hit by lightening and they were injured.  There is a huge sink hole in a local park.  A whole hill came sliding down.  I am sure I will hear of other destruction as the day goes on.  There are lots of branches down in my garden   A couple of squirrels' nests were rained to the ground.  Poor squirrels.  They will have to start over, but I am sure they will be able to rebuild before the weather turns cold.

I will have to go out and clean up this mess.  But that may have to wait until another day.  Today will be another hot one and tomorrow our high temperature is forecast to be 37C.  That's body temperature right?  This summer weather is crazy.

A Wednesday Flower or Two

I want to express my deep-felt thanks to all who left a comment on my Oscar post.  Your kind words, cyber hugs and positive thoughts helped me through this past week.  But now I realize that I have to get on with my life.  Quilting waits for no one.  My scraps are calling me and all of my UFOs want me to pick one and get going on it.   But instead I decided to do, what is for me, a mindless activity - making flowers.  They are all I could manage.   Here are my first two.

I think I will do a flower basket hexagon quilt.  I may not finish this one soon, but I just need something to get me going.  Usually I work on some scraps, but it is too hot in my solarium and sewing room, So these will have to do.

We are having a couple of cool days, but by tomorrow the humidity will be back and the temperatures will go up into the 30C range again.

I have to water my garden every day.  We have had very little rain lately.  It would sound like my garden is turning brown, but with the water I have been pouring on it, my garden is actually entirely pink.  That is due to the coneflowers and phlox.  Photos to follow.  Here is a shot I took this morning in the west raised bed.  The coneflowers had Red Admiral Butterflies all over them, but they were busy drinking the nectar and didn't want to open their wings for me.  I did manage to get this pic.

Now I am going to have lunch.  Yesterday my DD came over and made a delicious salad, with mangoes, avocado, sunflower seeds, mixed greens, tomatoes, red and green peppers and some basil from my back yard.  She sprinkled cheese over the top.  It was delicious!  Today I am going to have to make my own lunch.  Think I'll probably have a peanut butter sandwich.

Oscar

2004 - July 3, 2012

Oscar passed away yesterday, suddenly.  One minute he was fine and the next he had a seizure and died.  We are all very sad.  He was a funny cat and always managed to make me laugh.  When I made myself a piece of toast this morning, Oscar was not there to beg for a small morsel.  I had to sleep by myself last night.  Oscar was not there to curl up by my feet.  And when I came home from taking him to the vet's, he was not waiting for me at the top of the stairs, waving me in like  'Hello Kitty'.  I will miss him.

Happy Canada Day

To All of My Canadian Friends!