Home from the National Juried Show

Departure from Deb's at noon on Sunday.  Rainy.  We are heading to Karen's for the night, then go to London on Monday morning.

Karen knows how to entertain her overnighters.  Mojitos.  heart :-)

This is our dorm room at the university.  Karen does not know how to take a normal picture.  Ha ha.

Carol Anne is surprised that our new friend Gwen has not run away.  Perhaps it was the allure of two-day-old pizza we offered her for supper?

Diane and Pat at our table.  Breakfast of champions:  Cheerios and a wide assortment of alcohol.

I met the author of a blog that I regularly follow (the Quilt Rat - great stuff!!!).  I looked like hell (previous photo of breakfast explains everything) but had Jill (blog author) take a group shot of us on our last morning, regardless of my appearance.

Now I'm back working on my UFO for May.

Baptist Fan, Multiple Borders

I love the look of Baptist Fans on traditional type quilts. It lets the piecing take the spotlight.

Multiple, pieced borders can present a wonderful challenge.

I just LOVE the spring colours in this qullt.

I'm heading off for my week of volunteering at Quilt Ontario in London.  There is no need for me to pack my sunglasses.  The forecast, and in fact the current weather conditions, is rain, rain, and more rain.  For the whole bloody week.  Geez, Mother Nature, GIVE IT A REST.  But I have to say, it has kept me in the house working.  I'm actually up to date on my quilting work.  I have - get ready for it... - one of my OWN quilts on the rack right now.  This is a ufo challenge from the Binbrook guild, which will be due by our June meeting.  Lord willing and the creek don't rise, I will have it finished waaay early.  (If you check the UFO page at the top you can see a pic of the MAY project.) Then I can get back to the commission which also needs to be complete in June.

I'll see y'all in a week!

Retail Therapy, Commission, Driving Cautions

Sunday was my day out with the girls to the Halton Quilt Show. And an excellent show it was. I fell off the wagon a wee bit and bought 4 of the Grinch panels and 2 fat quarters.  The FQ's were purchased to go in my 'writing/letters/words' collection. I was pretty surprised at how many people I bumped into - it felt like I spent more time talking than looking at the quilts.

Since it was pouring rain, when I got home I went to work on the commission quilt. I love these Goose in the Pond blocks. But if you look closely, the brown centre square is a striped fabric. Did I pay attention to the direction of said stripe when I was connecting the blocks? Um, no. Crap. My stitch ripper got a bit of a workout.

Here are two rows complete (with the centre squares all pointing in the proper direction).

As for the Driving Cautions... the OPP currently has a blitz on to (ahem) REMIND drivers to pay attention.  No cell phones, no texting, no eating, no makeup applying, no map reading, etc.  Thank the good Lord they were nowhere near me on Monday.  I was bringing Mom home from her appointment at the pacemaker clinic, and in spite of her hearty breakfast at 'the home', she told me she was hungry.  I mean, she told me every two minutes for an hour and a half, because she forgets every two minutes that she just told me.  Oy yoy yoy.  How many times can you listen to someone tell you the same thing???  Add to that the situation where she is really, really hard of hearing.  What?  Hard of hearing.  What is part of cleaning?  No - HARD OF HEARING.  What do you mean earring?  And by now, she's forgotten, so she tells me again that she's hungry.  Solution?  A pit stop at Timmies for tea & timbits.  I get her a small steeped tea with double milk & double sugar, and two timbits so I hopefully don't spoil her lunch.  The drive-thru gal hands me the tea and I check it, since Timmies is notorious for screwing up your order.  Sure enough, the tea is black, and I have to give it back to be fixed.  Then I drive over to an empty area of the parking lot where I can undo the lid and open up the little sippy opening part.  So, I hand Mom her tea, and pop open the bag and show her the timbits, and we head back out on the road.  She gets a timbit and eats it, then takes the lid completely off her tea so she can have a drink.  Aaargh - you KNOW how much of a mess she's making now, right?  So I'm driving and trying to put the lid back on her tea, when she tells me she's hungry and wants to get something to eat.  Aaargh - she's forgotten that she has a bag of food sitting on her lap.  I stick her tea (with the lid ON) in the cup holder beside me, grab the bag and show her the food, then reach over and get a napkin out of the glovebox and wipe the spilled tea from her coat.  Then I gently rip the tab off the lid opening, replace the lid and hand her the tea.  All the while I'm madly weaving from one lane to another, and back again.  The gods were smiling on me, though, with no traffic anywhere near me.  Sigh.  I'm staying home the rest of the week. 

Wet dog, Quilt Shows, RAIN

My assistant is 4 years old, and still a juvenile (as you can see).  Right now she's actually kinda smelly.  Wet dog smelly since it is pouring rain.  Again.

Yesterday I took advantage of the lovely warm weather and got some gardening done.  And since I'm so nice I fed the blackflies too, arrrgh!!!  note to self:  do not feed the insectum.

I am having a real hard time getting motivated these days.  I don't feel like working, I don't feel like sewing, I don't feel like getting up in the morning.  I sure hope this is just a phase.  Maybe my week in London for Quilt Ontario will be the break that I need?  Perhaps I'll come home inspired?  Will my longarm buddies whip my arse into shape?  Diane (Beach Day Diane) 'voluntold' a few of us last year that we were going to help her hang the quilts so I'm working on my biceps and triceps.  Pfft - yeah, right, har har har.  Bending the old elbow does not count, silly.

What I HAVE been doing is cleaning up crap that has piled up in the basement, in the office, and in my workroom (who knew there was a sewing table under all those fabric scraps?).  I have to throw out a broken printer, broken humidifier, and broken dehumidifier.  Why, oh why, do we keep this stuff?  I have to sell a perfect little fax machine (now that I have a new multi-function printer).  I have to take a full recycle box of empty beer/liquor/wine bottles back to the beer store.  And I have a full recycle box of cardboard for garbage day.  I have already dropped off a pile of stuff at the Goodwill, too.  Check out Flylady.net if you want to learn how to do a 27 fling boogie.  I hope Revenue Canada does not decide to audit Mom, 'cause I have now burned all her income tax papers from the 90's and up to 2003.  And I've been cooking... creatively.  And once in a while it gets sunny and warmish, so I've been weeding & clipping.  Tomorrow I am going to the Halton Quilt show at the Royal Botanical Gardens.  Yippee - a day out with the girls.  When I get home we'll have leftovers for supper, then perhaps I will do some sewing on the commission quilt I'm working on.  'Cause so far, Environment Canada is calling for more RAIN RAIN RAIN.

Applique Quilt & Marriage "don't" recommendations

This was such a fun quilt to work on, with fat cats & houses & flowers.

I love this border treatment.  I chose it because it echoes the shape of the vine in the appliqued borders.

I'm always a little stumped when quilting fences.  This got 1/4" outlining.

DH was out of town for a couple days last week.  He took my car to his brother (the mechanic) to have my brakes done.  I made myself a to-do list that I hoped to accomplish before hubby returned.  Well, he came home half a day earlier than I expected, so I was still working on my chores. 
THE WINDOW CHORE:
Every fall I remove and wash all the window screens and store them in the fruit cellar, then I wash all the windows so we can watch the crappy weather outside.  In the spring I just need to clean the windows again and pop the screens on.  When we had our windows replaced we did the front of the house one year, then the back of the house a few years later, by different companies.  The screens are different - one set has little spring loaded side bullets that you pull, slide into the window channel and release.  The other set has friction fit tabs - you just slam them in, and that style is hard on my hands.  I've been doing this spring/fall routine every year, for MANY years.  So, DH is watching me and I'm whining about the slamming and how it hurts my hands, and I can't reach the top of the window to slam that edge in, and would he please do the top edges for me.  (note - these are the last 2 windows to be complete - every other window in the house is done) 

"Don't" Recommendation #1:

• Do not ask your wife if she has the correct screen on the window.  You are liable to find the screen inexplicably torn, with your head sticking through it.

THE BATHROOMS CHORE
Every Friday I clean the potties.  We've lived here 15 or so years, and I've been cleaning these every Friday for all of those years.   We have four potties, and we have well water, so I really need that on my weekly calendar, otherwise it gets totally out of control.  I was working on the toilet in the main bathroom.  The procedure is:  toilet cleaner stuff in the bowl, let it sit for a few minutes, clean the bowl with the toilet brush, clean the rim (top, inner side, underneath) with the toilet brush while trying not to spray water all over myself and the floor, then take a wad of toilet paper to dry off the rim, toss paper in the bowl and flush.  No muss, no fuss, no now-toxic t.p. in the garbage can that the dog will decide to eat on Tuesday.  DH is watching me (you heard me say WATCHING, didn't you?)

"Don't" Recommendation #2:

• Do not tell your wife "that's not the right way - it doesn't work" while she is cleaning the toilet.  You may have to duck pretty darned fast to avoid the toilet brush that is, oddly, winging it's way towards your head.

Spring Greenery and UFO update

For the UFO update, check the UFO Challenge Page (see above).  I'll warn you now, it's kind of pitiful.
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I've taken cuttings from my geraniums. Some of the geraniums live in a planter that goes outside for the summer then moves in to my workroom to keep me cheery for the whole long dreary winter. DH is a big proponent of anything that will keep me cheery. For some reason, he thinks he takes the brunt of my non-cheery bits.  Although,  honestly, I don't know what the hell he's talking about.  I'm always an angel.

Here is a good example of why you should not throw anything out.  I've reused styrofoam trays from meat and styrofoam cups from ??? (memory loss) for my tomato transplants.  On the right is the geranium planter mentioned above.  In the little cell paks are leeks, a couple of lettuce, and some basil.

Here are the geranium hanging baskets that spent the winter in the fruit cellar.  I cut off the plants, let them mostly dry out and then downstairs they go.  Keep them dark so they don't try to grow, and if the soil gets really bone dry give it a wee bit of water.  In the spring it is a crap shoot as far as survival.  This year I seem to have made out ok.  In the old, frightening, roasting pan which has been lined with two layers of plastic you can see used Tim Hortons cups.  Last night I transplanted a couple bunches of cilantro into the cups.  Tonight I'll do the other two bunches.  Paper cups are great for the garden - just  rip off the bottom and plant the whole cup.  There is also a used styrofoam tray that came with... mushrooms (?) and I've used that to start up a batch of mesclun mix.  I will transplant that soon, too.  On a side note - spell check wants that word to be MESCALIN.  Hah!  Then I'd really be cheery, eh??

It's getting very crowded near any south facing window.  If the sun ever comes out (!!!) I'll get my plastic cloches out to the garden and warm up the soil.  Then I can put some of these things outside.  The sooner they go out the sooner I'll be eating.  Yum yum yum.