A Day in Toronto

This has been a busy week for me.  I hope to get back into blogging and blog-reading today - after I take a nap that is.  LOL  I didn't do any sewing this week either, so that certainly has to change today too.  This is going to be a long post - sorry.   

Friends from Japan were here in Toronto for a few days.  They came over for dinner on Tuesday evening and yesterday we took them on an excursion around our city.  We started off by driving around to see some of the places in our city's centre - the Eaton Centre, the old and new City Halls, University Avenue and Queen's Park where the provincial government sits and a few more interesting places.  The weather was not cooperative.  We only got to do the outdoor things when the showers held off.  At the CN tower we stopped and went to the top to view the city.  Even though it was raining on and off, the view was wonderful. 

Here are some gargoyles on the outside of the Roger's Centre, formerly know as the SkyDome.

We had to choose our destinations carefully.  They had to coincide with the rain and the dry spells.  So when it started to rain, we went to the St. Lawrence Market because it is held indoors.  This market is open 5 days a week and has many vendors selling fresh fruits and vegetable, meats, fish and freshly baked goodies.  There are also booths that sell specialties, like teas, rice, any household item you can think of and of course, souvenirs like maple syrup products and ice wines.  

Some gourds.

I love going to the St Lawrence Market at any time.  The atmosphere is very festival-like, but it was especially nice yesterday because outside the weather was wet, cold and windy.  Surrounded by food, we became hungry and decided to eat our lunch there.

Our visitors.

We stopped at the Allan Gardens Greenhouses next.  These are open to the public all year round and house a wonderful assortment of tropical, sub-tropical, local and dessert plants.  I love visiting Allan Gardens! 

Bananas growing in the central conservatory at Allan Gardens.

It is a wonderful place to go when the cold and snow of our Canadian winters creates fears of never seeing a flowering plant again.  There is no admittance fee, so it's a great place to spend a few minutes or an hour or more.

Leda and the Swan, a sculpture based on a Greek myth, at one of the ponds.

After Allan Gardens, we drove along the lake, taking in Tommy Thompson Park, a man-made peninsula that was created when rocks and soil were removed from the building sites of downtown skyscrapers and dumped into the lake.  This sounds like a dumb thing to do, but the dumped debris soon became the new home for wildflower and tree seeds dropped by birds. the wind and human visitors.  These have grown into a unique parkland surrounded by Lake Ontario and inhabited by local and migratory birds, several species of frogs, toads and other reptiles and squirrels and other small mammals. 

Waves on Lake Ontario.

The lake was very rough.  It was too dangerous for boats to be out in the water, but we did see a few adventurous surf boarders out there.  Crazy people who must love the cold.  We drove along the lake and stopped at Bluffer's Park.  It stopped raining long enough for us to walk to the edge of the lake and observe the incredible waves.   Usually the water is very calm and just laps at your feet as you walk along the beach, but yesterday it looked like an ocean.

On our way out of the park we saw some deer.  Viewing wildlife inside the city limits always makes me happy!



A deer at Bluffers Park.

We rounded the day off with a return to our place for some green tea and some 'shopping' in my fabric stash.  I think my friend was inspired by my quilty things and wanted to buy a kit of something simple to take back to Japan with her.  Unfortunately our local quilt shop was closed yesterday due to the activities at the Creative Sewing Festival this weekend, so I invited her to take a look at my stash.  We found a pattern for an simple quilt-as-you-go table runner and some fabrics and made up a kit ourselves.

Dinner was at a Japanese restaurant.  I learned about some new delicacies that I had never tasted before, as well as satisfying my craving for sushi - for a little while at least.   Afterwards we drove them back to their hotel.  They are flying back to Tokyo today.  With mixed emotions we bade them farewell, with promises for them to return to Toronto and for us to go to Japan.  Now, wouldn't that be nice! 



I Am Easily Distracted!

I've been AWOL.  This has been a short week because of Thanksgiving's Day last Monday.  Yes, I've been busy, but that is not the real reason that I haven't posted anything for over a week.  I found the book, 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn' in large print at the library.  I had read it before, but that was about 40 years ago.  I couldn't put it down.  So I just sat around and read. 

The only quilting I got done was on the Scrap Quilt that I was working on.  It is 40in X 40in.  That is as big as it is going to get because I ran out of the white fabric.  But I think it's big enough.

On Tuesday I found a huge bag of fabrics at my back door.  A quilty friend who is cleaning up her stash left them for me.  In the bag I found some beautiful pieces of Laurel Burch fabrics.  They were all cut up and ready to sew.  There was even a pattern sheet in the bag.  It's for a Grandmother's Braid quilt.  I had never done one of these before.  So, even though I had all kinds of things to finish, I whipped these pieces out and started sewing them together.  I am not easily distracted am I?  I mean, wouldn't any quilter get excited with these fabrics and want to sew them into something, especially when the pieces were all cut out already?

I think I will but them together with a dark blue sashing strip between them. 

This and That

I have lots to show you today...

First up are my hexagon flower blocks for this week.  I only made 2 and last week I didn't make any, but I am still making progress.  Got to stay on top of these. 

I have been playing with my scraps and decided to put the finished blocks together for a quilt top.  Here is my progress so far.  I think I will add a few more rows.  I don't have much of the white on white fabric, so when I run out, the quilt will be done.

Now for something different.  Last Monday I went over to our local library and joined in on a 'drop-in program' for knitters.  I haven't knitted anything in a long time.  I used to make toques, scarves and mitts for the kids at the school where my DD teaches.  I haven't done that for a long time either.  So I started making some mittens.  I'll try to make a few more things in this 2-hour, twice a month program.  It was fun.  Here is what I have so far.

I have also been busy in my garden.  A while back, I discovered that there was such a thing as fall crocuses.  I was able to get some at a local nursery.  They have to be planted in the fall.  Next spring they will come up and show some leaves.  Then by August or September the leaves will disappear and beautiful pink or mauve flowers will appear. 

This one is called Colchicum Byzantinum.  It was already starting to flower in the package.  This one has a very large bulb and the package said that it would have to be divided after a couple of years because it grows very quickly.  That's a good thing!  I also planted some small bulbs of a different kind of fall crocus.  But I could have saved myself the trouble because when I went outside this morning I discovered that my resident squirrel had dug them up.  I forgot to sprinkle some cayenne pepper on the soil.  That is the only thing that keeps my squirrels away.

And last, but not least, I did some baking.  I made a banana chocolate chip bunt cake and a marble bunt cake which is pictured here. 

I also sandwiched a quilt that I hope to finish in the next couple of days.  So it's back to the sewing room for me. 



Lots of Scraps

It is dark and dreary outside today.  So I had to take my photos inside.  The colours are actually brighter than in the photos.  I will post another photo when it is done.

You'd think my scrap bin would be going down, but no!  It seems to be growing and I have even been leaving the lights on at night.  The good thing is that I have been able to get a lot of things constructed.

Here is my Scrappy Squares quilt.  It's a flimsy right now, but I plan to quilt it soon.  It's in line.   I have a couple of quilts that are ahead of it. 

I have also been working on a Crosses quilt.  Wanda from Exuberant Color has been making one and I just couldn't resist.  It uses 2 1/2 inch strips and I have lots of those.  This is about 1/4 of the quilt.  I made myself a small design wall.  It's not big enough, but I think it will work if I do a quarter of the quilt at a time. 

Where Did the Summer Go? Garden Shots

Fall arrived last Friday.  It's only three months until Boxing Day.  Where has our summer gone?  I have been doing lots of sewing, but have only some scrap blocks to show for it.  Nothing I can share at this time though.

I thought you might like to see a bit of my garden.  Just a bit, because almost everything has finished blooming.  There are still several Geraniums (Pelargonium) in full bloom.  I love the colours on this one.  I might try to take a few cuttings or move the whole plant inside for the winter.

And here are some Ipomoea.  The first one is a sweet potato vine.  And the second one is a morning glory.  The morning glories volunteered themselves.

This wonderfully large bloom is a Rose Mallow.  I bought this plant at a variety store just a few months ago.  It is supposed to be a perennial.  I've never had one of these before.  I'm hoping that it will come back next year.

And do you remember my Leopard Lily, sometimes called Blackberry Lily? 

They have finished blooming and have formed seed pods.  They really do look like blackberries. 

Mimi is still happy to be able to look outside and see the sunshine.  I took this photo as a practice shot with my new camera.  I still have a lot to learn about that thing.

A New Camera

My old camera stopped working on the weekend.  I had taken it with me to Edward's Gardens (a beautiful park).  I wanted to take some photos of the fantastic scenery and gorgeous flowers that are there.  But it seems that my LED screen stopped working.  It showed some bands of colour, but not what was in the view finder.  It wouldn't let me take any photos.

So I stewed about my camera for a couple of days and then went out to Staples and bought a new one.  This camera has a few more bells and whistles, so I am spending all of my spare time today, reading the manual.

I did manage to make some fabric this morning.  I am going to make another bag and maybe a baby quilt with these string blocks.

I have also been busy with my hexies.  Three more were sewn into the quilt top last week and 6 more hexies were made this week.

When I went outside to take the photos, Felix tried to follow me.  He only goes as far as the doorway.  Then he gets scared.  It's a big world out there and this morning there were several cats who came visit.  So he placed himself at the top of the stairway so that he could keep an eye on me.  When I came inside I still had my camera turned on - and like I said before - I need all the practice I can get. 

So I took a photo of Felix.  He is a big cat!  I am sure he would qualify as a watchcat.

Flower Power

Remember this quilt?  I think I was working on it last year.  I decided to take it out and try to finish it.

 So here are three more flowers.  They are not sewn together yet, but they are prepped.  I will sew them this evening in order to stay awake while watching television.

Yesterday I told you that my sewing room was a huge mess.  Today I found Mimi in the midst of all that.  She looks pretty comfortable, doesn't she?   

Playing with Scraps

Hi Folks!

Our summer is over.  It is still very warm, but school has started and our mini quilt group is back to meeting once a week.  We met this morning and it feels like we have been doing this forever.  Where did the summer go?

I am still playing with scraps.  I have several Oak Park bags at various stages of completion.  And I also have been making these cute little square within a square blocks.  They measure 6 inches before being sewn together.  The blue and red ones were started about a year ago.  I just keep making them whenever I have some blue scraps.  No two are alike.  I have no idea how big this will become.  So far I have not had any desire to sew them together.  I have about 75 of them so far.

And here are some more square in square blocks.  They are also 6 inches X 6 inches.  I am using up lots of scraps.  As long as a piece of fabric measures 2 inches wide by at least 14 inches long I treasure them and turn them into these blocks.  The narrower scraps are being made into scrap fabric.  It's the mindless sewing I need sometimes.  As you can imagine, my sewing room is a huge mess!  Sorry, my camera refused to take a picture of it.

A Scrapbag or a Bag Made of Scraps!

I had a few low days.  Not feeling much like quilting, yet wanting to sit and sew.  So... I made some fabric with my scraps.  Then I used that 'made fabric' to make another bag.  This is not an Oak Park bag.  Oak Park certainly inspired me, but this one is more or less my own design.  I took it shopping yesterday and was amazed at how much I could stuff in there.

I took the first photo of the bag in my garden, but then decided that a close-up would be better.  Anyway, most of my perennials have finished flowering for this year and my garden is not looking as good as it could.  I still have a few things that look nice though.   That is a perennial rose mallow in the front.  These things are fantastic!  The flowers are at least 6 inches across!  The blue flowers on the right are an annual sage or salvia.  I planted some last year.  These came up from the seeds.   There are also some morning glories that volunteered themselves.  But they have all closed for today.  I guess I wasn't early enough with my camera this morning.

We are having a long weekend.  It's Labour Day tomorrow.  That marks the last unofficial day of summer for us.  On Tuesday schools will be open again.  My DD has already been in her classroom for the past two weeks, cleaning and decorating the cork boards etc.  And my DS will also return to his teaching duties at Centennial College.  The support staff are on strike there, so I hope that it won't be too difficult to cross the picket lines.

Okay - So I'm Addicted......

Didn't sew much this week.  But I've been reading and reading some more.  I did, however, finish another Oak Park Bag.  I just can't stop making these things!  Very addictive!  I used a lot of scraps for this one.  But in order to make a dent in my scrap bag, I would have to make a hundred of them.  Hmmmm... maybe.

We have a bit of sunshine this morning, but it is still early and we are supposed to get showers this afternoon.  Here is what the inside of the bag looks like.  Don't you just love the Kaffe fabric I used for the pocket, handles and bottom of the outside of the bag!

Happy September everyone!

Another Oak Park Bag!

These bags are addictive!  I finished my second Oak Park Bag and have started on a third!  Number 2 is done in black and white fabrics.  I have quite a collection of them and this was a great way to use some of them.  I changed the the pattern to make this one two inches wider.  The pattern was easy to adapt for this.  Notice the red button?  That's because...................

The inside is red!  I even patched the pocket.  I love this bag!

Oak Park Bag

Look what I made! 

Simone of the Quilting and Stitchery Diary selected me in her give away.  I choose the Oak Park Bag pattern as my prize!  Boy!  Am I ever glad I did!  It is a fantastic pattern by Stephanie of Loft Creations,  so easy to follow and everything fit together exactly.  The hardest part was finding the rings for the handles.  I made mine in some fall colours from my stash.   The name Oak Park made me think of trees and fall.  It soon will be fall.  In fact, it looks like fall outside today - overcast with showers.  Tonight the temperature will go down to 14C, so it will be cooler.  Great for sleeping!

I had to take the photo inside, but I think the colours are pretty close to the real thing.

Journal Quilt

If you stopped by to see my Pets on Quilts Show, please scroll down to yesterday's post or click here.  And if you can, please leave a comment.  Mimi loves to hear from everyone, especially when they say nice things about her.  Like that she is cute, for example.  Oh Mimi!  You're so vain!

Nothing has been happening on the quilting front these days.  I got my sewing machine back, but it is still giving me some problems.  Sometimes it doesn't pick up the bottom thread and then the seam just opens up and falls apart.  But I did make this little Journal Quilt.  It measures a mere 8in. by 11in.  I used it to try out my machine, so don't look too closely.

This quilt is based on the book of Calendar Quilts by Kim Shaefer.  I don't have the book yet, but I loved her little quilt for June.  So I sort of did my own interpretation of it.  It feels more like a journal quilt for July or August.

And here is another mystery vine that grew in my garden beside the pumpkin vine.  I think the squirrels are responsible for this one too.  But that's okay.  I love this blue morning glory.  This is the first bud to open.

Cats on my Quilts

 

Sew Cal Gal is having a 2011, Pets on Quilts Show.  I'm joining in.  My fur babies always help me when I am quilting.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.  How else would I know if my quilts are soft and warm and perfect?  Felix loves everything I make.  He just can't get enough of my quilting.  See how eager he is?

Mimi on the other hand is very fussy.  But she loves bright colours.  She is especially helpful when I put my blocks on the floor.  Then she rolls in them and moves them about as she pleases.  The layouts usually look better when she has had her say, than if I just lay them out myself.  Oh, yeah.  I almost forgot.  She also loves to play 'catch my tail' when she is busy helping.  It seems to help her artistic concentration.  Thanks Mimi and Felix!

Gardening

I spend a couple of hours in my garden this morning.  I decided to go out while it was still cool.  There was a bit of a breeze, but it was not as cool as I thought it would be.  I harvested my pumpkins, pulled some weeds, trimmed some plants and tied up a few that were falling over. 

I still have some beans to pick. The hot weather seemed to have stopped the flowers from forming, but over the past week it was a bit cooler and now I have beans again!

I also have to tackle my tomatoes, especially the little grape ones.  They have grown very large and are falling over.  I have some red ones and some really tasty yellow ones. 

But they will have to wait until later.  It is getting too hot out there.

Good News, Bad News

The good news is:  I have found a home for my 'Goodnight Moon' quilt!  My neighbour across the street from me has become a grandmother, so I decided to give her new grandson this quilt.  I started it a long time ago and just sewed the label on this morning.  I hope she (and he) likes it.  I may have posted it before.  The pattern was created by a quilting friend who belongs to our guild.  Such talent!

And now for the bad news.  My machine is going back to the shop for service.  It's not the same shop that I took it to the last few times.  This is a new place.  I talked to one of the salespeople there yesterday.  (Also a quilty friend who belongs to our guild)  She told me that the repair guy there has had a lot of experience with Bernina, so I hope he can fix it.  All I am able to sew right now is straight stitching - forward and back.  None of the special stitches work.  I can't even do simple zigzag to machine applique some blocks I have been working on.  This is so frustrating!  I think I am going to get a lot of reading done this weekend.

Progress Report

We had some really hot weather this summer, which brought my quilting to a virtual stand still.  But yesterday it rained - not much and not enough.  But that brought the temperature down a bit and I was able to sleep last night. 

I had a chance to visit some quilty friends yesterday and I was inspired by them.  Hurray for friends!   I had been working (sort of) on this hexagon I Spy quilt.  I still have a few more rows to do.  The hexies below the flimsy are fabric that was given to me recently.  The two on the left were from Connie (no blog) who gave me these when we met at her house yesterday.  The white one with the dog came from Nynke, the Dutch Purple Rabbit.  She sent me a package with some remnants she didn't need any more.  Thank you Nynke, you're the best!  I love other people's scraps!  I right away made a few more hexies.

There was also some red fabric in Nynke's stash.  Right away I made some blades for the Dresden Plate quilt I started recently.  This is to be my 'goto' quilt.  Whenever I don't know what to work on I will do a few blades.  They are English paper pieced.  I am kind of hung up on that method at the moment.

And last, but certainly not least, is my Wannabe Quilt.  I made this small section, from the purple down, in order to square the quilt off.  I had a lot of trouble doing that.  It seemed as if I was making it crooked.  It has sort of become a UFO over the past few months.  But I feel excited again!  Inspired by the energy of my friends!  I only have three more of these triangle sections to do.  And now that I can see a pattern, I am set to go.