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.

Enjoying the Garden

We had a lovely day today.  Lots of sunshine.  In fact, there was not a cloud in the sky.  I was outside for most of the day and my nose is probably sunburned.  I worked in the garden all afternoon.  There is so much to do.  I transplanted a few things, but mostly I pulled and dug out weeds.

The garden was full of butterflies today.  I was able to take a couple of great photos.  This first one is of a Question Mark Butterfly.  I had to look that one up.  I don't think I have ever seen one before.  Well I probably have.  I just didn't know the name of it.  At some times there were 10 or more of these fluttering around my early flowers.

There were also a lot of Red Admiral butterflies.  Here is a photo of both the Question Mark butterfly and the Red Admiral butterfly on my cherry tree.

I decided to update my header.  These butterflies make me so happy!

Some More Rose Star Hexies

I completed 3 more Rose Star hexagon blocks this week.  I just love doing these.  They are great for evening hand work when I am watching television.  I am trying to finish 3 of these per week and so far I am doing okay.

White Stuff in my Garden

We had a blast of winter the last couple of days.  It was cold, cold enough to wear a winter coat.  We had a lot of rain, but also sleet, hail and snow.  The wind was fierce at times.   It was very depressing.  Nothing stayed on the ground though.  But there is a lot of white in my garden.  Good white, that is, as in flowers.  My cherry tree is in bloom.

My Iberis is also in bloom.  This is commonly known as Candy Tuft.  I love this little plant.  It gets bigger every year.

And then there is my Lunaria, commonly known as Silver Dollar Plant.   Usually this plant has pink or purple flowers.  But I also have a few that bloom in white flowers.

And last, but not least, is my flying geese block for this week.  Thanks Em.  I thought this one would be difficult, but it wasn't.  Can't wait to make the next block.

Some Applique Work

You may have noticed the 'Vintage Sampler' icon on my sidebar.  Reeze Hanson is posting some applique blocks from her sampler each month, one on the 1st of the month and another on the 15th of the month.  I have been doing her blocks and I am actually up to date with them.  I really love to applique, so this is right up my alley.  

These blocks are in no particular order.  They haven't been trimmed yet either.  I just wanted you to see them, not only because I have nothing else to show, but also because they are rather pretty.  Go to my sidebar and click on the icon to see more.

Flying Geese in the Sunshine

The sun is shining today.  Mimi is happy about that.  She loves to find a ray of sunshine and curl up in it.  Just look at that satisfied smile!  She is feeling much better and says 'Meow, Thank you for all your best wishes, Meow.'

I am going out for a ride on my scooter.  It's fixed and I have it back!  Or did I tell you that already?  But before I head out, I want to show you the flying geese block I made for this week with Em.  I think I like this block best of all so far.  Don't you?

BOM - The Queen and Her Court

I have been working steadily on my Queen and Her Court quilt.  So far I have finished nine pieced blocks and I am working on the tenth one.  Sorry no picture of that one, but I can show you what I have done so far.  Tomorrow is the next class, so I am trying to finish what I have to date.  I hate being so far behind.

These blocks are not arranged in any order.  The quilt is going to be a huge one and these blocks will be spread around with applique blocks in between.  I managed to do one of the small applique blocks.  Since I am doing them by hand, (my machine still doesn't want to zigzag without dropping stitches)  I had to fudge the pattern a bit to make it easier to applique.  There will also be some background blocks done in 1 1/2 inch squares as in the picture.  The applique is not finished.  I had to leave openings for the stems that will tie all the applique blocks together.

It is Friday and the sun is shining!  The high temp for today will be 15C.  Shopper's Home Care phoned me this morning and is delivering my scooter between 11:00am and 1:00pm today.  I hope to be able to go out for a while after that.

Mimi is feeling much better.  Last week she jumped on my bed and meowed in my face.  Her breath was stinky.  I also noticed that she had some brown drool coming out of the corner of her mouth.  I checked her teeth and found one that was totally brown.  The gum was very red and looked as if an abscess had burst.  I took her to my daughter's vet.  They agreed with my diagnosis of tooth decay and tarter build-up.  I was given some more antibiotics.  The first vet's diagnosis was way off base. even though they charged me over $700.. There is nothing wrong with her stomach or other organs.  Poor Mimi!  She's had a toothache all this time!  She will have to go in for some dental work soon.  But I can tell that she is feeling better because she has been grooming herself.  Here she is 'hiding' from me behind the stair railing.  She loves this spot because I can't get down there to pick her up and give her her meds.

I'm Back

Did you miss me?  I certainly missed all of you.  I have come to the realization that I cannot go without my computer for even a day.  Last weekend I tried to install an antiviral program.  I got it downloaded and then went to install it.  I left the computer because it took so long, and when I came back, there was a message that the program installation could not be completed.  Because it was midnight and I was brain dead, I decided to deal with this issue in the morning and turned my computer off .  When I turned it on again the next day, I discovered that my computer was frozen.  My cursor would not move and my mouse seemed to be stuck.  Luckily for me I have a wonderful quilty friend whose son is a wonderful computer geek.  He came over last night and fixed my computer!  :-)

Now for my quilting news.  You'd think I would have gotten a lot done seeing as I was without a computer.  But the opposite is actually the case.  I worked on a few things, but have nothing to show you.  Except my flying geese blocks from the past couple of weeks.  So here they are:

The one on the right was the block from two weeks ago and the one on the left was last week's block.  Em has posted her next block.  If you want to see it, or perhaps join us, her blogsite is here.

Earth Hour and More

Hope you are celebrating Earth Hour by turning off your lights for an hour this evening.  For us that will be 8:30pm until 9:30pm.  We will be at my DD's house.  I plan on taking my hexagon stars to work on by candle light.  In order to do my part for our planet in the coming year, I will try to give up plastic bags for keeping left-overs fresh to using re-usable containers instead.

In case you are wondering how they look (my hexagon stars, that is), here is the latest photo.  I am really enjoying these blocks.  They look complicated, but they are just as easy to do as any English pieced project.

 I also finished another block for my 'The Queen and Her Court' quilt.  This is definitely not my favourite block.  I still have three more blocks to do and then a lot of applique blocks.  It doesn't have to be done until August, so I have lots of time.

Enjoying My Special Day

No sewing going on today.  I've been shopping and driving around on my scooter, enjoying the spring weather.  I am 23,377 days old today!  So I have been getting lots of emails, phone calls and regular mail.  It's been great!  Everyone has been singing to me!  I love it!

Want to know how many days old you are?  Go here.  And because I can't post anything without a picture, I will attach my Pulmonaria (Lungwort).  I have never had this flower look this beautiful on my birthday.  Usually it is still covered in ice and snow.  This definitely is special!

A New Hexagon Quilt

I wasn't able to go to Fabricland on Friday.  My scooter was willing, but the weather did not cooperate.  It rained all morning.  Even in the afternoon the weather people said to carry an umbrella.  So I didn't go.  And in my depressed, irritable state, I wasted spent a couple of hours exploring blogland.

To my great delight, I came across a new hexagon block. It's called Rose Star. There is a tutorial for it here!    And it's a wonderful, portable, handwork project, perfect for the summer.  I made a couple of blocks and I just love them.  Don't you?

Where Did Spring Go?

It was another beautiful day.  The sun was out.  The sky was blue.  The temperature was hot.  It seems we have gone from winter directly into summer.

I have some news regarding my scooter.  Someone finally came yesterday afternoon to pick mine up.  It needs some bearings replaced and other miscellaneous things done to it, at the shop.  It may take a few days or several weeks, but the good news is they gave me a loaner for the time being,.  That meant I was able to go out!!!!   Tomorrow I want to try going up to Fabricland.  They have a 50% off for membership holders only.  I really don't need much, but what the heck.  Now that I have a scooter, I want to go places!

Here are two of my flying geese blocks that I have been doing with Em from Em's Scrapbag.  The one on the right is week 2 and the one on the left is week 3.  I did week 2 in reverse, but I don't think it will matter.

Mimi sends her love and thanks everyone who left such nice comments about her.