Feathered Star Quilt & Spiders

I finished a beautiful feathered star quilt last week.

I gave it feathers (appropriate, don't you think???) & continuous curve & bead board in the outer border.  The setting squares have stars quilted with the Circle Lord. 
The green inner border has ric rac quilting. 

Spiders.  I stepped on one last night after it FOOLISHLY scurried out from underneath my bottom thread drawer.  It was one of those Hallowe'en spiders - the black ones with the pointy, strong looking legs.  It was kinda twitching after I squashed it, like bugs do.  They always say that a headless chicken is running around just from 'nerves' that haven't realized they are dead yet.  Bugs seem to do the same thing, right?  So I wiped it up with a wad of toilet paper and tossed it in the potty.  This morning, I went to USE the potty, and guess who was swimming around in the bowl?  Correct.  Mr. Inky-Dinky.  I flushed before I sat, just in case the little bastard could jump.  And that is today's tale of life in the country.

Quilting & Laundry

Here's a beauty of a Log Cabin quilt from last week.

One of these is on my to-do list.

I even have strips partially cut.

I am very lucky to be married to a man who can fix things. I bought our washing machine (and dryer) used, from a quilting friend in ... I think 2000.  That was the year everything in the house broke.  Even Mom landed in the hospital and got a pacemaker that year.  Anyhow.  The washer has been fixed by DH a few times already.  The dryer too.  Just little parts.  But if it's going yii, yii, yii instead of shukka, shukka, shukka, then you're not getting clean clothes, right?  Last weekend we got the yii, yii thing and a load full of soaking wet, unspun, clothes.  DH heads down to the appliance shop, gets the teeny parts, comes home and turns Bessie on her side.  Or whatever he does (I dunno, really).  His little report afterwards includes the detail that there was a pen, outer casing and inner refill, stuck in the pump.  Well, I can guarantee that did not come out of MY nerdy pocket protector.  Yeah, yeah, I know I should not be husband bashing.  But in the laundry department?  Trust me, I'm entitled.

Example:  here is a shirt.  Not mine.  And not a Vicki Welsh tie-dye.  That is grease.  Oil.  Something similar.  Possibly toxic.

I often think I should just skip the detergent and wash his clothes completely in Spray 'n Wash.  However, S 'n W didn't budge this stuff.  This shirt has actually already been through the treatment.  What you are seeing here is a SECOND treatment with Mean Green Degreaser.  Ooo - I love that stuff.


Am I a miracle worker, or what???

Another early morning

When I can't sleep, sometimes I like to play with my blog.  What do you think of the new design?  I also learned how to post a YouTube video.  Enjoy.

A musical interlude: David Myles - When It Comes My Turn-w/ Alan Jeffries

Last Week's Action

Horse wall hanging.

Straight line quilting shows off the silk beautifully.

Applique quilt.

Meander with flowers, leaves, hearts & stars.

Friday was the Great Tricycle Race at Haldimand Motors in Cayuga.  There is a parade of floats by the local service clubs and the local fire departments, a tricycle race by the same groups (that is just TOO FUNNY to watch - grown  OVERgrown men zipping around a track on these teeny tricycles), a wheelbarrow race by the firemen, a zillion draw prizes, and a fabulous fireworks display at 9 pm.
This is the Caledonia Kinsmen float.  The space shuttle was welded up in our garage.  It was pointed out to me - it's a clear demonstration as to why it is totally necessary to keep the two old water tanks and the old tv tower, never mind me and my female "throw it out" nonsense.  Sigh.  Apparently I've been proven wrong, yet again.
At the end of the Kin-adarm is a large glove (stuffed with batting courtesy of moi) holding a Tim Hortons coffee can.  You can't get more Canadian than that.

Saturday I worked for a couple hours, had lunch with family, visited Mom and took her for a walk, then did the grocery shopping.  Sunday I spent in the yard spreading mulch, and planting a volunteer bed.  Two volunteer spirea shrubs, three volunteer lilac bushes, two volunteer poplar trees, one volunteer oak tree, and one volunteer blue spruce tree gifted to me by Margaret.  By the time I came in I was so tired I couldn't even wind up the hose.  I had trouble holding a fork to eat my supper.  I think I'm heading off now for a girly bath with bubbles and lots of mineral salts.

Retreat Roundup

Departure, and I'm late (as usual).  2:30 at Anne's house.

Meals:

• Thursday supper - lasagne, salad, apple pie, grog for Helen*.
• Friday breakfast - whole wheat english muffins with butter & apricot jam.
• Friday supper - ham, scalloped potatoes, salad, chocolate cake with poached pears & devon cream, grog for Helen*.
• Saturday breakfast - French toast with fruit salad.
• Saturday lunch - homemade butternut squash & apple soup with ham & cheese panini.
• Saturday supper - coconut curry chicken with jasmine rice and mango salad, leftover chocolate cake & devon cream, grog for Helen*.
• Sunday breakfast - Sue's baked oatmeal with blueberries & peaches.  We had to manifest our inner Sue since she was not able to join us this weekend.  But it is her recipe.  And it is delicious.
• Sunday lunch - english muffins broiled with leftover ham, cheese and fresh tomatoes.  This took me back to my youth when Mom used to make us Cheese Dreams for a bedtime snack.

* Helen (that's me) DID share her grog.  However, Margaret and Anne drink tiny little 'two fingers' drinks.  If you know my background,  you will know this does not even count as a drink.  I think my dog drinks more licking up the occasional drip on the floor.

This was my project - another copy of the Jelly Roll quilt.

Uh oh - reverse sewing.

Here is the progress by the time we leave.

This was Margaret's project.  She didn't get much done.  Well, maybe she did - considering the size of this little bitty thing.

She was treasurer of the quilt show so she left Anne and I on our own for a lot of the weekend.  I wonder if she's counted her silver yet?  heh, heh, heh.

Sunday noon.  Margaret is heading back to the quilt show.  We look like the Black Bottom Gang.

Retreat Weekend

I'm off to Margaret's (of the Kawartha Margarets) for a nice long weekend retreat. We will be attending the Buckhorn Quilt Show. It will be interesting to see if they still think Margaret's quilter is Helen Hunt, or if they've figured out it's actually non-famous Helen Hubert. I have my sewing stuff all packed up and my menu items planned. I'm picking up Anne at 2 pm and we'll be heading on down the road...

Leaf Quilt

Green and brown are not really my colours (although I do have two rooms painted green). This quilt came to me with almost perfect piecing. And the quilting turned out so pretty ...I went with a leaf & curl theme.
Continuous curve in the leaf blocks.
As usual, I'm just all about the back.
I don't normally post photos of quilts that have been quilted with a pantograph. I prefer to showcase my 'fancy' quilting. However, I love the colours in this quilt so much. Working on it just sent a frisson up my spine.It's Labour Day weekend and I am certainly labouring. Labour of LOVE, that is (ha ha ha). I'm trying to get caught up since I'm several quilts behind schedule.
DH cooked Friday & Sunday nights. I'm not allowed to tell you how badly the potatoes were burnt, or about the ruined pot, or about the range hood that smells like a burning tire and may have to be replaced. I have certainly had my share of disasters (ask me some time about my infamous Freightliner Porkchops). On Saturday we ordered in Chinese and had supper with the neighbours. After explaining the odour in the house, I had to listen to the ENDLESS story of MY cooking, and the smoke alarm that performed double duty as a dinner bell in our first house.
In his non-fumigating time, DH was in the garage working on a float for the Caledonia Kinsmen, which will be entered in the Great Tricycle Race parade. When I checked the event schedule, I saw there is a contest "How Many Students Can You Squeeze in a Car?". Not surprising, it's a challenge for high school students. When I was in high school we had mom's old boat - her Chrysler Newport Custom. We crammed in 11 on a return trip from the Waterford quarries where we'd been illegally swimming and drinking all day. That was back in the day when I was skinny enough that I could sit on a guy's lap for an hour and not squash him, and even if I did squash him, he really didn't mind (if you know what I mean?? - wink wink).

Drunkards Path Quilt & Barbeque Disposal

Here's the beauty I finished up this week.
I went with a theme of feathers and curls.
The straight lines add a nice contrast.
I love living in the country. Old BBQ out at the road - 9 am.
Old BBQ mysteriously disappeared - 1 pm. This put me in mind of Bert from Soap (a 70's sitcom) where he thought he was an alien. He would snap his fingers and believed that he had disappeared. I find myself doing that and I'm oddly surprised when people can still see me.

I was out with some of my Red Hat gals on Tuesday night. We went out for supper and a movie: Eat Pray Love. The book was better than the movie, which is pretty normal. You can't substitute your own imagination for someone else's condensed version of a story. We had a grand time anyways. I had ribs - yum, yum, yum. I had my bloodwork done the next morning - it was likely so full of salt & fat that I'll have to go back for another test.