Little Things

I have made one little letter in the past three days.  That was the 'K' and it was kind of difficult so it took me a while.  I have also started to join them together, but I already had that done last week. These blocks are the ones I did in the second colour combination.  Still have to do the first combo. So maybe in another three days I will post those.  LOL

William is doing well.  He is eating well and growing.  He gained 105 grams in two days.  He is also sleeping well, but not at night.  Why is that?  I guess he just wants to be held in the dark.  I can't get over how cute he is.  Just like an angel.

October 16, 2014

Thankful for William

Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends!  Today is Turkey Day for us!  You guys south of the border will have to wait until next month.

Do I have to tell you what I am thankful for?  I think you probably guessed it!

I won't bore you with more William photos!   But he is so photogenic I can't help myself.  Mom and baby arrived at my house about an hour ago.  They will be spending a few days here until my DD is feeling better and can do things, like stair climbing, lifting, cooking and laundry for herself.  I'm very excited!  I am going to enjoy this time!

 My daily photos have sort of fallen by the wayside.  I have just been too busy.  Here is yesterday's photo - an outdoor, rose picture.  Fall is here and there will not be many more garden shots.

October 12, 2014

Bonding Time

Sorry, I am not keeping up with this 'photo a day' thing very well.  There is just too much to do.  I slept 5 hours on Friday night.  It wasn't enough, but I just couldn't sleep any longer.

Went to visit DD and grandson.  Both are doing very well.  Here is a photo of the two of them after William had his first 'meal'.  He was very content.  Such a good baby!  He only cries when his diaper gets changed.

After our hospital visit, DH and I went grocery shopping, then home to eat left-overs for dinner. I barely got through my dinner, when sleep over came me.  I guess I must have gone to bed, but I don't remember anything until I woke up there this morning at around 2:00am.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone, for all of your wonderful comments.  I loved reading all of them.  It's still very quiet around here right now, so I think I will go back to bed for a few more hours.  Gotta get my beauty sleep, don't cha know!  I love being a grandma, but I don't want to look like one!

Photo for October 11, 2014

Welcome William

It's been a long week, but I now have a new grandson.  He is such a sweet baby.  After 50 hours of labour the doctor determined that the baby was not cooperating.  He seemed to be holding onto my DD's rib cage and refused to budge.   So they performed a Caesarean Section.  The result was this cutie they are calling William.  Mother and baby are doing fine.  I, on the other hand, am a tired, blubbering mess.

October 10, 2014

A Ghost for Halloween!

I spotted the cutest little ghoul on Dunham Girl's blog this morning.  She had a link to a sew along for it.  You can find it here.  I decided I had to make one, even though I have a million other things to finish up.

A lot of things came up this afternoon, so I didn't get it done.  But hopefully I will be able to finish it tomorrow.  Cute, isn't she?

October 8, 2014

Fall Crocus

My fall crocus is almost finished blooming.  This plant is so pretty.  Fall crocuses have to be planted in the fall.  Then they send up some very large green leaves in the spring.  The leaves die back and the plant goes dormant by the time July rolls around.  In the fall it sends up pretty pink, white or purple flowers when you least expect them.  I planted this one a few years ago.  It was a very large bulb.  I thought I had saved the package it came in so that I would be able to identify it.  But the package is gone and I have no idea which variety this one is.

October 7, 2014

Charming Star Blocks for October

I made 4 more Charming Star blocks for the sew along at Terry's.  The top 4 blocks are last month's creations and the bottom 4 are this month's.

 

October 6, 2014

An Early Thanksgiving

I decided to cook a turkey dinner today.  We have no idea when the baby will arrive and we wanted to get together for a Thanksgiving meal as a family before that happens.  Turkey, gravy, potatoes, salad, green beans, corn-on-the-cob, stuffing, cranberry sauce and apple cider.  Yummmm!

photo for October 5, 2014

I had to bring my tropical plants inside yesterday.  The temperature went down to 3C (37F) last night. I noticed a beautiful white blossom in one of my big outdoor pots.  On closer examination I discovered that it was a climbing sweet potato flower.  It looks like a gigantic morning glory.

That's because they are in the same family.  Here are some little blue morning glories.

Even with the temperatures going down so low, there are still some very pretty flowers in my garden.

Pillow Case

After spending so much time in the Neonatal Department on Thursday, my DD decided that she will need to bring an extra pillow from home for the delivery.  That is allowed, but the pillow case has to be very distinct so that it doesn't get mixed up with the hospital pillows.  So I made her one last night.

This is the case that is demonstrated on the Missouri Star Quilt Company video.  It only took me about half an hour, but choosing the fabrics took much longer.

October 4, 2014

A POTC Update

Sorry, I do not have a photo for yesterday because of circumstances beyond my control.  But I do have a few hexies to show you today.  I took all of the POTC blocks I had made to see what colours I should use next. I discovered that I had 9 blocks made already.  I think that is enough.  I wanted to make this pattern, but I did not want to make a full size quilt.  A wall hanging will be just fine with me.  My blocks are not completely done and they are not in any particular order.  But this is what I have so far.

Now I am off to do some chores and catch up on yesterday.  There are so many things that have to get done that I had to make a list!

October 3, 2014

 

 

A quilt with a cat on it always looks cuter!

 



 

 

I am linking up to Angie's A Quilting Reader's Garden.

A Blooming Cactus

My Christmas October cactus is in bloom.  I don't think I have ever had one in bloom this early. It's a light peach colour.  Very pretty!

Maybe it's a Thanksgiving cactus.  We celebrate Thanksgiving on the 13th of this month.

October 1, 2014

Galloway Road's Adopt a School Book Contest

I received an email from my DD this morning, so I am posting my second post for today.  I usually don't have enough to write about for a single post, but this is important.  And funny.  So please read on and watch!  If you came to see my daily photo, just scroll down.  It is right underneath this important message!

My DD's school is taking part in the Indigo Adopt a School Book Contest.  At the moment, her school, Galloway Road Public School in Ontario, is in first place.  But their lead is getting smaller and smaller every day.  The contest is over on Saturday and the school who has had the most votes will win $10,000 worth of books for their school library.  That's a lot of books!  And believe me, this school could really use them.

So please watch this video.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OHMJ-S8S9U  And then follow the message at the end of the video. 

This is what it says to do...
Click on www.adopt-our-library.com
Click on 'Find a School to Support'
Click on 'ON' for Ontario
Scroll down the list of schools until you come to 'Galloway Road PS'  It is in the 3rd row (row on the right) about a third of the way from the bottom.  This is important.  You don'\t want to vote for the wrong school.  Click on Galloway Road P.S.
To log in you must create an account.  Just follow the prompts.
This is all free.  Yes!  FREE!  You can vote once, every day until Saturday.  I hope you will support our school.  It means a lot to me.  This is where I have volunteered my time in the past.

Thanks for watching the video and thanks for voting!

 

Feeling Blue

My DD was feeling tired and frustrated a couple of days ago.  I guess that's what being 9 months pregnant will do to you.  (She is due any day now.)  She had planned to bake some cupcakes for the kids in her class - a sort of goodbye treat because yesterday was to be her last day at school.  But she just didn't have the energy for baking.  So I baked them for her.  48 little blue cupcakes.  Don't they look disgusting? But the kids loved them!  I'm telling you... 12 and 13 year olds will eat just about anything.

September 30, 2014

Perfect Fall Weather

The weather was perfect for an outdoor adventure yesterday.  I don't know how many more nice days we are going to have before the cold sets in, so I put my sewing away and went out for a ride on my scooter.

This is Curran Hall Creek that flows through Scarborough, just north of us.  It was beautiful back there.  Lots of birds and hundreds of squirrels.  They all ran away from me as if I would hurt them.
Silly Squirrels!

There was Golden Rod growing everywhere.  I love this bright yellow weed along the side of the creek. Some of the trees were already starting to change colour, but most were still green.

Doesn't that look like it could be made into fabric?!   I don't want things to change colour too quickly. That would mean that winter is on its way and who wants that?  As I drove along I found some beautiful red leaves growing on a fence.  I think they are Boston Ivy.  So pretty and bright red. The same leaves are on my header.

Then I saw this tree.  It was like a tree on fire.  The colours are really wonderful this year.  And look at that sky!  Such a beautiful cerulean blue!   Does it look as if there is rain in the forecast?

This is the kind of weather that makes everything worthwhile.

September 29, 2014

A Trip to the Library

I got an email from the library to tell me that my books were due.  That was nice of them to remind me!  So off I went.  I love going to the library.  It was quiet in there.  Most people were on the computers.  I wonder if there will come a time when no one will read a real book any more.

Perhaps I'll be the only one left and then all those books will be mine!

September 28, 2014

Look Into My Eyes

Felix is a changed kitty now.  Last winter he was diagnosed with diabetes.  At that time he was lethargic, unable to walk properly and he had lost a lot of weight.  I have been giving him insulin twice a day for the past 9 months and now he is doing very well.  He can once again jump up onto my bed, the couch and the arm of my chair.  He's back to his chunky self and he is happy and smiling all the time.  So why is he not smiling for my camera?  

 Silly cat!

A photo post for September 27, 2014

Jungle Applique

Working on machine appliqueing my jungle quilt.  I find this quite boring, but it has to be done and someone has to do it.  So, I guess that would be me.  When I am finished with this, I will continue to draw, cut out and fuse more plants, animals and birds.  That is the part I love.

September 26, 2014

What I Did Yesterday

I baked a lemon cake.  Yum!

September 25, 2014

Little Letters

These are so cute!  I have become addicted to them.

September 24, 2014

It's Fall

Fall started on Monday evening.  I can't believe it!  Where did the summer go?  We had lots of rain and very cool weather in September.  But now that fall is officially here, the weather has turned warm and sunny. This is my kind of weather.

We started up our Tuesday morning quilting group a few weeks ago.  This really makes it feel like fall again.  Here we are sewing, reading, chatting, knitting, eating and drinking tea.  It's a wonderful time to get together!

September 23, 2014

I am now off to my sewing room.  

Our guild, the Rouge Valley Quilter's Guild is holding a challenge.  It's called the PhD challenge. PhD stands for Projects half done.  This is how it works.  We have to register an unfinished project that we want to work on.  We have to finish this by next May.  If we finish it we have met the challenge.  If we don't finish it we have to donate $5 to our local women's shelter.  Heck, that's a win/win situation!   I am going to enter several of my UFOs into this challenge.  It will be so nice to get some things done!

Meet Giselle

I finally finished the giraffe for my soon-to-be-born grandson's room.  Her name is Giselle.  Giselle the giraffe.  Cute, eh?  The pattern was free from Red Heart .

The garden is overgrown, so she has lots to eat.

Gotta pull up some weeds.  But that can wait until another day.  Today is Giselle's day.

September 18, 2014

I am linking to Sarah's Happy Dance today.   

Yellow Sunshine

Another beautiful day.  Lots of sunshine with low temps.  It feels like fall.  I am busy with my unfinished stuff.  Here is a picture for today's photo challenge.

Beautiful yellow sunshine.  September 17, 2014.

A Photo a Day for 365 Days

After a lot of thinking and trying to see if I have time for this, I have decided to post one photo per day for the next year or so.  This will keep me focussed on the present and allow me to look back and see where I have been and what I have done.

Yesterday I went for a ride up to the mall.  I had to take the back streets because our main road is under construction at the moment.  They are upgrading the water system and putting new curbs and sidewalks in.  As part of the daily photo challenge, I was instructed to take my camera everywhere I go.  As I passed by some colourful berries against a beautiful blue sky, I stopped to take a photo.

So this is officially my first photo for the yearlong challenge.  September 15. 2014.

And for today I want to show you some letters I have started to make.  This is going to be an adorable quilt made up of letters and other blocks.  It can be colourful or neutral, depending on which fabrics are used. The tutorial is on Temecula Quilt Company.  It started last week.  Sheryl Johnson offers a new letter every few days.  Tomorrow it will be the letter 'D'.  I am looking forward to it.

September 16, 2014

Goodnight Irene is a Flimsy!

It's done!  Once I was determined to finish the top it went quite quickly.  This had been a leaders and enders project, but it would have taken me another year to finish it if I had to do it all that way.  I am now looking for another leaders and enders project.  Maybe I should finish another UFO project.

Here is Irene.  She measures 64 by 80 inches.  I will send her out to be long-arm quilted.

I am happy with how this turned out.  Thanks Terry, for hosting this sew along.

I Made Some Charming Stars Blocks...

I said I wasn't going to do this sew along with Terry, but she put me on the list anyway in case I changed my mind.  And I guess that's what I did.  So here are the 4 blocks I have made for this month.

I didn't use a charm pack because I didn't have one.  So this is busting my stash.  That's something that I can use!  Busting my stash before my stash busts me.

I have been busy canning stuff this week.  I made three batches of tomato sauce and one batch of low sugar peach jam.  I think my canning days are done for now.  The weather has turned cold and my tomatoes aren't producing any longer.  My garden is just about ready to be put to bed for the winter.

What I really wanted to show you today was my Goodnight Irene quilt top.  I am almost finished but this morning as I was sewing the last border onto the quilt, I noticed (just before the end of the row) that I had run out of bobbin thread.  Very frustrating!  I had to re-pin everything and just as I was starting to sew again, the phone rang, so I lost my concentration.  I will definitely sew that sucker on this afternoon.  Then I will be all done with the top.  I will have to decide if I will quilt it myself or send it out.  I am leaning towards sending it out because I am really busy at the moment.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

This and That

It's been a busy week.  School started last Tuesday.  And even though I don't have to go back to work, I always feel the crunch.  I worked on my 'Irene' quilt on several days.  Then made a few bibs and a burp cloth.  Sorry, I forgot to take photos of them.  I hope to make a few more, especially burp cloths. I 'll take a photo then.  Also worked on the Jungle Quilt, but didn't get much done on that.  Yesterday a friend of my DD's held a baby shower for her.  There were close to 40 people there.  I lost count. All of them teacher friends!  We had a delicious lunch and there was lots of talking and reminiscing. Because I had done some volunteer work at my DD's school, I knew most of the guests.  It was nice to catch up on their lives.  She got lots of great gifts.  Two cars were needed to get all the presents back to her house.

Today I am making tomato sauce.  Last week was just too hot to cook anything.  But this morning it is nice and cool.  The tomatoes have been sitting on my kitchen table all week and I think it is time to get this stuff made before the hot weather comes back.

After that I am going to tidy up my sewing room and see what I can sew up.  Hope you all had a great weekend!

Still Working on Irene

This is the quilt I started with Terry at the beginning of the year.  It has been languishing in my UFO bin all summer.  So now that summer is over I decided to finish it.  Oh, yeah and also because Terry is starting a new sew along.  I showed you a few of the blocks from that one last time, but I thought I should finish Goodnight Irene before I make any more Charming Star blocks.

I know this is not a good photo.  The top is just sitting on my design floor.  And the sun is shining into my living room.  It's going to be a hot day today.  Did I tell you my AC is not working?  Well, it's not.  I have all the fans going and I hope my house will not be too hot by the end of the day.  I only have one more row to go on Goodnight Irene.  And then just the borders to do.  So I am sitting in front of a fan and sewing like crazy.  I hope to have this done by tomorrow.

Linking up to The Needle and Thread Network.  

What to Do?

Terry is hosting another sew-along on her blog, Terry's Treasures.   I did not think that I should join in since I still haven't finished her last sew along, 'Goodnight Irene'.  There are only so many hours in a day and I don'y think I can stretch myself any further.  Having said that, I took out my scrap bin this morning and found some 3 inch colourful blocks and some 2 inch light blocks.  I don't have any 5 inch blocks that the pattern calls for.  I cut the light fabric into 1 3/4 inch squares and made a few blocks using the 3 inch blocks.  They are very easy and I love them.  But now I have run out of the colourful, 3 inch. fabric squares and I will have to cut some more.

I have many other projects to finish right now.  So I think I have made up my mind as to what to do.  I will put this project on hold and finish some of the other UFOs.  It only makes sense.  No use making up another bin with an unfinished project in it.  But it was fun playing with these blocks this morning.

Jungle Quilt Update

I am still working on the Jungle Quilt.  My DD has requested some more jungle creatures, so I am complying - more leaves, plants, flowers, birds, frogs, a snake etc.  I have almost everything stitched down so far.  Today I am going to tackle the hippo.  Only a couple more HST to make.  Will do that today too.

Here is a close-up of the frog.  It's kind of blurry because I enlarged that section of the photo above.  I\ll post better pictures when I am done.

I have decided to link up to The Needle and Thread Network.

Some More POTC Blocks

First I want to thank all of you who gave me advice on my spider bite.  I really appreciate your caring and it was so comforting to feel that I was not alone in dealing with this.  The redness and swelling have gone down and it no longer hurts.  Sometimes the itching drives me crazy, but I can deal with that.

Not much sewing lately.  I have been working on the HSTs for the jungle quilt.  I think I have enough now to complete the background.  Also did a bit of machine applique, but still have a lot to do.

The only thing I have been working on are the POTC blocks.

These are an easy-to-carry-around project. In the evenings I can work on them while I watch television.  I am at a standstill now though.  I need more freezer paper templates, but I can't find my freezer paper.  Guess it's time to clean up in the sewing room.  See you later.

What the...Hey! Something Bit Me!

A few days ago I was out doing some gardening when I decided to get a few tools out of the shed.  I opened the door and something fell on me.  I didn't see what it was but in about a second and a half it had bitten me on the inside of my upper arm.  Gosh it hurt.  I don't think I have ever been bitten like that before. I thought it was a wasp because we have some of those in the shed.  Usually they go about their business and don't bother anyone.

I started to feel dizzy and my arm felt as if it was on fire.  I got an ice pack from the fridge and placed it on my arm and then went to bed.  I don't remember anything after that.  I fell asleep for over 2 and 1/2 hours and that was in the middle of the afternoon.  When I woke up the bite was red and swollen and still hurt like crazy.

Ignore the wrinkles!

Last night I lay in bed trying to figure out what to do about the pain.  It still hurt as if it had just happened and it was very red and still swollen.  The centre where the bite was had become infected looking. That's when I decided it must have been a spider and not a wasp.  We have lots of spiders here in Toronto. There are Black Widows, Brown Recluses, Wolf and Hobo spiders.  Usually these arachnids hide in dark out-off-the-way places.  My shed is dark, but not that dark and we go in and out of it all the time.

My neighbour had installed a new shed in his backyard, right beside our fence last weekend.  He had to clean up all kinds of stuff that was in the way - firewood, cardboard, branches and other trash.  I think that a spider was hiding in that stuff and came to find refuge in my shed.  Then I knocked it down from the rafters and it bit me.  I have never knowingly hurt a spider.  I respect them.  I love the webs they form and the way they eat nasty insects.  So why did this thing bite me?  I think it was just a misunderstanding.

Does anyone have any idea what could have bitten me?  I would really like to know.

Jungle Baby Quilt

I spent the better part of this week trying to figure out how to make the jungle baby quilt I showed you a couple of posts ago.  First I drew a very elaborate African scene, complete with jungles, savannahs and rivers.  It was nice, but way too complicated to applique.  Also, I didn't have enough fabric for the background.  I changed my direction and decided to make the quilt more or less as it was in the original. I started to make HST for the background.  They were fun to do and I just kept making them.  Then I started to sew them together and decided that they were too thick and heavy behind the applique parts.  I was still planning to hand applique them at that piont.  So I left some plain strips where the animals would go.  Then I decided to machine applique everything.  This is to be a baby quilt and it will get washed often.  Machine applique will stand up better. So that is what I am doing.

Here is a photo of what I have accomplished so far.  Still have to make some spots for the giraffe and more grasses.  But I think that working on small areas like this is the way to go.  This is a fun quilt to make.  I love all that wildlie!  I hope my DD loves it too.

Hope everyone has a terrific weekend.  The weather is cooperating - a nice, warm. rainless weekend for a change.

I am linking up with A Quilting Reader's Garden.  I know this isn't EPP, but maybe someone out there would like to see my progress.

Update on POTC Blocks

Just a quick post to show you my progress on the POTC blocks.  I want to link up with Angie's blog.  I think there is still time.  Not much quilting went on around here for the past couple of weeks, but now I am into EPP again.  I love this method.  I have lots of hexies prepped and ready to go.

I know it's Monday, but we are enjoying a nice long weekend here in Ontario.  Today is a holiday.

Linking up with A Quilting Reader's Garden.

Take Time to Relax

After we dropped the Kamajo students off yesterday morning, so that they could start the next leg of their trip, my DD and I decided we needed some time for ourselves.  It has been a busy 10 days!  So we went to Babies R Us to add to the registry she started a few days ago.  Gosh! There are so many lovely things for babies now-a-days.  I was just blown away!  We saw a cute little quilt that I would like to use as inspiration. My DD laughed as she wondered how many quilts this baby will have.  I thought about something as funny as a barrel of monkeys (I guess it was that little monkey on the quilt) and I said, "As many as .......?"  "A quilt shop?" my DD suggested.  No, that wasn't quite what I was thinking about.  So I said, "As many as are in a Grandma's attic".  That would be about right, I'm to be his grandma, after all!  Got any other ideas?  This quilt would be all applique.  I wonder if I could do it.

I am not sure about the colours I would use.  This would take a lot of drawing and planning, not to mention the stitching and sewing.  I only have about two and a half months left.  Yipes!  I think I will start the drawing stage this afternoon, after my DH and I go back over to Babies R Us to pick up the bed I bought.  They had all the beds, dressers and change tables on sale.  I had to buy it and lay it away because it was the last one they had and my DD's car is a little Honda Civic and we didn't think it would fit.  The bed is a nice natural oak finish.  We thought it was perfect.  I bought the change table to match.  And a comfy mattress. Everything will stay in the box for a couple more months, until the baby room is painted.  Do you think I am spoiling him?  That is not what I want to do, but I do want him to have a comfortable place to sleep and I promised my DD that I would buy the bed.  Okay, so where does the relaxing part come in?

Oh, yeah, now.  After our shopping spree, we went over to the Lone Star for lunch.  Fajitas. Very relaxing and yummy!

Hope you are having a great weekend.  We have a long weekend.  Monday is a civic holiday. Here in Ontario this day is known as Simcoe Day, in honour of the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada.  Have a good one!

A Couple of Finishes

I sewed the 16-patch top together yesterday.  I really like how it turned out.  I know it is August 1st, but I am counting this top as a finish for July.  Now I still have to quilt it.  Wonder how long that will take me.

Another finish is the home stay with our Japanese students.  We took them to the school this morning, with all their suitcases.  They will take a bus to Bark Lake, where they will spend the next 5 days or so doing all kinds of Canadian outdoor activities, like swimming, canoeing, rope climbing and archery.  It was a very emotional goodbye.  The girls were sad to leave, but I know they will love camp once they get there.  I know I would!  I am sitting down because I think I have overdone things a bit lately.  Too much walking.

The bus was all ready to go, but the girls did not want to leave yet.  There were lots of tears and promises to return one day.  These were a terrific group of girls.  It was such fun to have them stay with us.