My day in photos

Bath the dog. Doesn't she look thrilled?

Clean the bathrooms. Why me?

Vacuum. As if the dog wasn't already mad at me.

Dust. OK, this really IS my mess to clean up. Longarm quilting at home = lint manufacturing facility.

Wash floors. This nasty bugger crushed my thumb today. Housework is dangerous.

Do laundry. I like this job when I can use the solar dryer.

Make mess. Two birthday postcards, actually.

Plant 60 onions.

Plant 100 leeks. (why???)

Curse the blackflies. Bastards.

Take medicine for blackfly bite. Uh oh - looks like I need to replenish medicine.

Make nutritious supper. (???)

Turn the tv on.

Watch educational program. (huh??)
La la land.

Bear's Paw quilt

This Bear's Paw was quilted with x-hatching in the outer borders and herringbone in the sashing. The blocks were done with Circle Lord using the Bowl template, then I echoed the design to fill the space. I like it!!

I started planting the garden on the weekend. Seeds: carrots, beets, spinach, parsley. I'm experimenting with a couple of my seedlings (boston lettuce and tomatoes) by planting them under cloches made from water bottles. Very green of me, don't you think? It's a good thing they're under shelter. It's been so windy here the last few days I keep checking the sky for Toto and the Scarecrow.My Binbrook Guild is hand quilting to earn a few dollars for the kitty. The guild member who offered her basement for quilting is also an egg farmer. Even though I feel like a fraud when I go hand quilting, it's worth it for the goodies I bring home. These are big, double yolk eggs that won't fit in her normal egg cartons. Since I know bugger-all about fresh eggs I came home with my prize and got on the internet (source of all information - good AND useless). How do you clean eggs? Do you need to clean eggs? Should you clean eggs? I've decided to refrigerate them as they are, then wash them in warm water as I use them. Apparently when they pop out of mama chicken they have a protective coating on them, that when washed makes the shells porous. I also learned that double-yolkers are laid by young'uns who haven't figured the system out yet.

Log Cabin Quilt & Red Hat Day

Sometimes, mornings are just sooo hard we need to go back to bed.
I love Log Cabin quilts. This was done with clamshells in the body, feathers in the outer border and leaves in the inner border.The backs are always so pretty.Yesterday was Red Hat day. We lunched at Angels Diner in Waterdown. For dessert I ordered what turned out to be the HUGEST piece of chocolate cake I've ever seen. I brought three quarters of it home. It was only, like, five bucks. After lunch we split up - some of the girls went to Quilters Dream in Waterdown, and a few of us went to see Alice in Wonderland. Johnny Depp is so cute. My hair is not that colour, but some days I manage to have the same 'do'.

Double Wedding Ring

Situation: the customer and I have discussed quilting and decided on feathers for the insets and continuous curve for the background plaid. Now, it's up to me to work out the actual feather design. I flip open my catalogue from The Stencil Company looking for inspiration. I find what I'm looking for and convert it to a single line design that I can quilt using only a few chalk registration lines.

Step 1) get out the Pam Clark stencil and the Pounce Pad. Center it on the inset and pounce away.

Step 2) this has been practiced several times off quilt until I'm comfortable with my design placement. Quilt all four quadrants.

Step 3) get out the Miracle Brush and swipe off the chalk.

Ta da!!!This evening I picked my first bouquet of the year. I'm not sure why I waited so long, the daffys have been blooming for two weeks or more. The pink is quince (watch out for the thorns - ask me how I know?) and the greenery is white pine. The fragrance is heaven.

In Progress

What I'm working on.

What will go in the square-in-square blocks. Yummy hand dyed thread from Linda Palaisy.

What I'm listening to.

Today I'm feeling very "nobody likes me, everybody hates me (c'mon, sing along) goin' to the garden to eat worms yum yum yum". I chase away these bad emotions by cranking the stereo up much too loud (manifesting my inner teenager) and singing. It's the singing that scares away the boogey-man. If you heard me, you'd understand. Today is a beautiful crazy warm day so I've opened the windows to annoy the neighbours, too. Well shoot! I live in the sticks and there is only the birds to annoy. Maybe I'll make the dog come back in the house.

Tablecloth finished

The embroidered tablecloth is finished.

These old pieces are never quite square so it's difficult to space the motif correctly. I just do the best I can.We took a road trip on the weekend to visit the inlaws. Sadie is good as gold in the car. She stays in the back seat without any to-do, even when we leave her alone during a pit stop at Timmies. Long term, I'd like her to be a Therapy Dog. This weekend was sort of her initiation and she was just perfect. She might fail the test big time if she is required to socialize quietly and gently with other dogs. They are just way more fun than creebly old people.

Embroidered Tablecloth

I have a lovely little tablecloth here that is getting 'the treatment'. I have drafted up a design on cello wrap. The next step is to mark the fabric.

I need this.

I have to do this to find it.

I can see through the fabric and mark dots for the orange peel quilting.

Save tubes much????

Nope - no quilting here

Anything yet???
The weather has been so crazy nice that I've been outside doing spring cleanup-ey stuff. The rabbits and/or mice/moles/voles have moved some of the crocuses around. I know for certain that I did NOT plant stuff in the ditch on the farmer's side.

I also spent a couple hours (it seems) on Craft Gossip, and from there... on to where I found the recipe for home made deodorant. I whipped up a small batch of the powder version yesterday morning because Shoppers Drug Mart is no longer carrying the brand I was buying. I have an emotional (mental???) problem with anti-perspirants because of the aluminum in them. More than you wanted to know about me, eh? But I digress. This is day two and so far no one is backing slowly away from me.

On Sunday I made a yummy teriyaki marinated roast beef for supper. Hopefully tonight's incarnation of beef stir-fry will be the last of it.

Today at the Morning Out class I had the students practicing machine applique. They were amazed at how much BETTER their results were when they added a piece of paper to the back before they stitched. It prevents that nasty tunneling that can happen, and tears away easily afterwards.

Window Cleaning

The weather is so incredibly warm - we broke a record today with 26c. Tomorrow is forecast to be 27c. I've been taking advantage - washing windows and putting the screens back on.

Here's my window cleaning formula - it costs about a nickle for a bottle full. The Windex company makes no money off me.

WINDOW CLEANER
1/8 C. ammonia
1/2 C. rubbing alcohol
3/4 tsp. dish soap
water to fill up a 1 L. spray bottle (about 3 1/2 C.)