Happy June! (or Good Lord I'm Sick Of Politics!)

 

After You-Know-Who's inauguration in January sh*t started happening.  Every morning I was glued to the news sites, my jaw dropped, often in shock saying "honey - did you see this???".  I kept thinking that once Trump got that (whatever executive order he'd just signed) out of his system things would quiet down and politics would go back to normal.  But no!  There was more!  Every single day!  

After four+ solid months of this I've decided to give it a rest.  The USA is not my country, and I cannot do anything to effect any kind of change down there.  I made a committment to myself back in 2016 when he was elected the first time that I would not travel there, and that still stands.  My two personal biggest issues are their free-for-all gun laws, and the steady withdrawal of women's rights.  But there are so many more drastic changes in progress that I can't even keep track any more.

I'm still planning to read the news over my coffee & breakfast in the mornings, but no more wasting my life until noon - which is what I have been doing.  Stupid, giving up my time to keep track of him and his antics.  WE'RE DONE, DONALD.  I'M DIVORCING YOU.  YOU'RE FIRED! 😆

The quilt above was a challenge for TWO guilds.  The Binbrook Guild had a President's Challenge to work with circles.  Any kind of circles.  Circle quilt, circle fabric, appliqued circles, pieced circles, quilted circles, whatever.  Maker's choice.  The Caledonia Guild let us buy a 5" strip of fabric for $2 that had to be used in any quilt with a max perimeter of 80" (I think 80"??).  80" would be too small for my intended space, so I played along anyways and simply disregarded that rule. 😯  The fabric is the mottled turquoise/green used for the appliqued leaves.  

The design was copied from a Dover copyright-free book on Art Deco designs.  I'm pretty happy with it, it looks nice hanging on the wall.  I didn't win the challenge in Caledonia, since I admittedly did NOT adhere to the rules but that's ok - I wanted to play anyways.

That was finished in February.  Next up are the March finishes:

These are the two small leader/ender quilts I've been working on for several (!) years,

Cute labels:  

Here's a Disappearing 9-Patch that took me several years to get around to finishing.  I don't like anything about this quilt except maybe the border. 🙈

The Super Bowl Sunday quilt is finished. I always like the way these turn out.

In April I made a big bag to carry a Tupperware Cake Carrier, as a birthday gift...both the Cake Carrier and the bag.

I also made a BARN QUILT.  Diane (beach girl, you know) made arrangements for us to have an early Beach Day at her place.  We took a class with KADI BARN QUILTS (check 'em out on facebook).  I still have to hang mine - I think it's going on the wall of the front porch.  Maybe this coming week.

In May I managed to get this little quilt pieced.  It's mostly from fabric donated by a customer and will end up going to the women's shelter with my other donation quilts later this year.  The pigs-on-motorcycles border fabric is from my stash. Cute.

There's also been a lot of this in May...

I'll close out this post with two of my favorite memes this year.

Asparagus & The Cost of Groceries, and the Current Quilt

 FOOD

I'm currently at the beginning of a couple months where I will pick asparagus every day.

This week I've made:

GREEN CURRY CHICKEN WITH ASPARAGUS  DH and I don't find it hot, but if you're not used to cooking with a curry paste you may have a different experience.

ASPARAGUS & CHEDDAR QUICHE (this freezes quite nicely, and I use a homemade pie crust).

I have to admit to being SHOCKED when I saw this...

Holy Mackerel!  $7.99???  I had to employ my mental coping technique of adding an imaginary question mark.  

Apparently this will "mentally" put you back in control, at which point you can say "um, nope" and walk away without causing any embarrassment to yourself.

QUILTING

If you follow me on either Instagram or Facebook you may have seen my last few posts about working on this quilt.  The top was pieced by my program partner in the Binbrook Quilters' Guild.  She used this as the sample while she ran the Block of the Month program for the guild, so there will be several of these quilts completed by the members over the next little while (quilt pattern by Phoebe Moon Designs, with permission granted to us to run as a b.o.m.).  LINK.  

The guild is paying for all the materials, I'm donating the quilting, then the guild will donate the completed quilt to Glanbrook Community Services who will use it as part of their ongoing fundraising campaign. 

The last several days have found me working on computer designs to do the remaining quilting - the s.i.d. is pretty much complete, although I may do a bit more as I progress.  This is design version number...4?  It has taken an inordinate amount of time to figure out something here that made me happy.  There is a LOT of negative space on this quilt which will show off some beautiful designs, but I need to control that so it doesn't get too crazy/busy.  

I don't want it "quilted to death"  because that makes quilts pretty stiff.  This design should give me lots of quilting, but still leave the quilt with a nice drape. That inner white star that appears in the background is such a weird shape that it's been giving me fits. 

That's a terrible pic, I know, if you're trying to actually SEE what the quilting design looks like.  Sorry about that.  Anyhow... my basic plan was to stick to:

• straight lines
• feathers
• curls

Feathers are a little tricky sometimes because they're quilted in many different shapes, which can look (to me) like different shapes.  And that's what I'm trying to avoid... too many different things going on will ruin the cohesion holding the designs together.  The sashing design of pumpkin seed & line doesn't fit into my "plan", but it IS the same shape you see in the block pattern, so I'm calling that OK because it's repeating the same shape as something that's already there.  I may yet change the mid-size border design (curls & pearls) to something more... feather-ey.  I'll probably quilt other areas and leave that empty while I think on it.

BLOG POSTING

Why have I been gone since the end of December?  I dunno.  Had nothing to say?  Winter doldrums?  My brother being a stupid asshat and continuing to criticize me for no good reason, which put me in a crabby mood for months?  Sadly, yeah, I'm going with the brother theory.  He's my only remaining immediate family, and probably 50% of our conversations devolve into him giving me shit for something, or insulting either me or DH.  So once again I have had to put him on "ignore" status for the sake of my mental health.  If you have siblings who love and respect you I sure hope you appreciate how lucky you are.  Sigh.

 

I CAN'T leave this post with a tone of misery.  Here's one that makes me laugh at myself.  And that helps. 😄

A Winter Quilt & A Donation

 This is a beautiful quilt made from a panel.  As you know, Winter Is Coming.

I love this gal's work.  She cut up the panel, did some math, made lots of patchwork, then put it all together.

Even the back is lovely.

Back in the spring my friend and I were horrified about what was happening in Ukraine, and we decided to put our stashes together and make a quilt for donation.

Here's the final product.

A closeup of the quilting - sunflowers.

I also made some placemats to go with the quilt.

I'm pleased to say that I delivered the quilt and placemats to the Hamilton branch of the Ukraine Canadian Congress last week.

That must have worn me out...here's what I just finished.

Ha ha ha, that tiny little thing is for a guild swap - a mug & mug rug.

I've kept up my energy by eating lots of Kale Salad.  My goodness, that stuff is very resilient.  

DH said: (with a fake sad face) The kale is dead.  It didn't survive that cold snap.

Me: Uh, nope, you should go take another look.

DH:  What?  No...it was all droopy and wilted.

Me:  Uh, nope, it has recovered quite nicely!

DH:  mutter, mutter, mutter... 😖

RECIPE FOR KALE SALAD

227 g kale, chopped (massage with lightly oiled hands for a few minutes)

2 apples or pears, cut into matchsticks

56 g sliced almonds, lightly toasted

DRESSING

1 tbsp dijon mustard

4 tbsp oil

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Whisk dressing ingredients together.  Toss kale, fruit, almonds with dressing.

I'll close this post with a pic of my useless assistant.  She was stuck at home on a very rainy Friday instead of playing with her friends at daycare.  She's missing a tail, so she does a piss-poor job of sweeping up threads.

New Collection of UFO's in 2022

 I'm sitting on the back patio, 8:30 on Friday evening.  Current temp is 24c with a feels like 30c.  Saturday and Sunday are both forecast to be 30c with a feels like 40c.  Given a choice between this heat or late January temps of -20c I will take this.  In the wilting heat of the day I'll stay inside and do whatever is on my necessary list but as it cools down a bit in the late afternoon I'm back outside.  I'm blaming this love of summer for my new little crop of UFO's.  The first one was a test run of the Modern Curves pantograph that two customers wanted.  At some point I plan to reload it and quilt it again on the crosswise grain - I think the resulting grid will be kinda cool.  Very 60's op-art-ish.

I'm not sure what I'll do with this...tote bags maybe?  Super cute fabric though.

As the Program Chairperson for the Binbrook Guild (fancy title - I was actually the ONLY Program person, ha ha ha) I made some samples of a fun quilt and shared a pattern for the ladies.  The first sample is made using a layer cake.

This second sample is made using a border print.

I'm also in the midst of making 20 flannel pillowcases for the hospice in Leamington.  And I've purchased 7 1/2 m. of fabric to make a Christmas quilt as a gift for someone.  But when it's nice outside I can't get myself to stay in the house and sew.  (or clean, but we won't go there, hmm?) 

At least once a week sleep eludes me - something wakes me up at 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning.  I lay there and I lay there trying to go back to sleep.  Sometimes I'll get up and read.  But usually what I want to do is go down to my workroom and turn on my sewing machine.  I never do though.  I assume that I'd wake up DH and since he doesn't sleep much better than me it wouldn't be fair to steal any of his precious shuteye.

Here's a shot from 5:47 am in mid-July.

In dogland, we're going to dog classes twice a week.  DH is doing most of the work with Coco, hoping to improve their relationship.  We're making tiny strides.

I did put her to work:

Coco helped me harvest the volunteer garlic.

Then she cooled off in the pool. 

 I haven't warned her that the potato harvest will start soon.

A Day In The Life (or five weeks worth of days)

I'm reading Her Turn by Katherine Ashenburg.  It's a good book, and I noticed that each chapter represents a week.  Since I haven't posted in quite a while I thought I'd borrow that format.

Feb 6 - 12

I started the week by giving myself another covid haircut.  I was due for a proper cut at the beginning of January, but it's not like anyone cares what I look like.  37 years married...if you get my drift.  Most of the time DH is happy if he notices that my shoes are still in the closet.  Coco is not settling in yet...some days she only has one pee, which freaks me out.  Everyone is stressed and she's still terrified of DH.  I talked to the rescue's dog trainer who had a few suggestions to improve her comfort level, we'll see how that goes.  

This week's treat was the spinach ravioli that DH brought home from Costco.

Feb 13 - 19

This week included both Superbowl Sunday when I make a wee quilt top, AND Valentines Day which often includes too much chocolate.  I'm burning off the chocolate by taking Coco for three walkies a day.  We are not letting her go out in the yard by herself because we're pretty sure she would not come back in.  Two seniors chasing a dog around the backyard, in the winter, trying to corral her is not something that appeals to us somehow.  So for now, I'm getting lots of exercise.  

The Beach Girls are scheduled to arrive for Winterruption soon, and I'm trying to clean up a lot of crap.  Several years ago my brother & nephew & DH installed built in speakers in the living room.  The old Technics speakers went in the office, and have been collecting dust ever since - but it is time for them to go.  I flipped them down on to a sheet and hauled them out into my workroom (friggin' heavy bastards!) where I vacuumed and wiped them down, then took photos and listed them for free on facebook marketplace.  Holy Sh*t - my devices immediately blew up.  Who knew they were a collectors item???  

More Coco walkies stories include stopping at the neighbour's, where she refuses to take a treat; turning her head away in that "I can't see you" move.  In the past two weeks we've stopped at their place twice for little outside visits.  Coco seems to think that's enough of that, and now turns around just before we get to their driveway.  Ha ha ha...Yah, uh, NO dog.

The Binbrook guild will be meeting in person again at the end of the month, so I've started working on a small quilt as a sample of a 3-patch block.  Flying Geese blocks make an excellent chevron design.

Feb 20 - 23

Continuing with the sh*t-shovelling before Winterruption, I'm purging old paperwork.  The idea of names, address, account numbers, etc going in the garbage freaks me out a bit.  Well, ok - maybe more than a bit.  I don't want a Nest thermostat, or security camera, or Alexa...all of which can SPY ON ME.  1-800-LUKE just shakes his head and smiles.  For paperwork disposal, I tear off the personal information and burn it then put the rest of the stuff in the recycle bin.  

Guest speakers for the Binbrook guild for April and May have been confirmed... yay!! 

 Neighbour Sophie gave me some focaccia bread, so I've been having runny eggs on bread.  Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Feb. 22 get a real haircut!  The biggest housecleaning chore before Winterruption is cleaning the office, where one of the girls will be sleeping on a blow-up bed.  All the storage totes, file boxes, travel bags, piles of photos, etc, etc, have been moved down to the basement.  I vacuumed within an inch of my life and then got out the Murphy's Oil Soap.  I washed the baseboards and both desks.  Really, I should probably do that more often (she says rolling her eyes).

Feb. 24 - 27 the girls are here.  Thursday afternoon and evening was catch-up time.  This past year we implemented Video Cocktail Hour on Friday afternoons, and it's been great but it sure doesn't take the place of a real hug. We spent Friday at the Van Gogh exhibit, then headed out to Waterford for lunch & Quilt Junction & the antique mall (where I picked up a cute little gift for Margaret's birthday).  Saturday was spent in my workroom talking shop and doing quilty-things.  Sunday morning breakfast of Eggs Benedict (my birthday!), then they packed and headed off for home.  Coco was pretty good with them but mostly tried to follow me around while staying out of their way.

Feb 27 - Mar 5

Much of my birthday was spent cleaning up after the girls left, then the rest of the day I finished the prep for the 3-patch block presentation I'll do on the 28th.  

Coco has had a breakthrough and is coming downstairs in the morning all by herself, without prompting.  She's still really freaky and prancing around the house, but at least she's willingly coming for walkies.  

A birthday lunch out with a friend included a couple stops at quilt shops and more word fabric in my shopping cart.  I also got some anti-anxiety dog treats that were recommended by the dog trainer, hopefully they will help.   I booked an appointment with a dog groomer who comes to the house for nail trims.  I'm pretty ticked at her...she got lost on her way here, and now will not return my messages to rebook an appointment.  WTH.  It's not MY fault she got lost.  sigh.

Mar 6 - Mar 12

I'm in charge of the Red Hat outing in March, so I made the arrangements for that.  We're going to the movies for the first time in two years.  For an afternoon matinee the cinema should be empty (and post-outing I can report that it WAS empty).  I felt like such an ass though, one of our gals was not on my email list so I neglected to invite her.  I definitely owe her a little something by way of apology.

I had my blood pressure checked at the doctor's office and it's good.  Normal.  Within a tolerable range.  Thank God.  After my appointment I took a drive in to town, with the back of the car filled with two years worth of booze empties.  A couple people have organized a bottle drive with proceeds being donated to the Red Cross in support of Ukraine.  I was crying in a restaurant this week over the atrocities taking place in Europe right now.  Giving away my empties won't make much of a difference, but every little bit helps.  Here is a link to the Red Cross if you want to make a financial contribution.

Back in January I was up late scrolling through the Costco website, and in a weak moment ordered new bedroom furniture.  I was 15 years old when Mom bought my current bedroom set.  I just turned 66.  I will not be living with the new stuff as long as I did the old stuff.  Anyhow, the new stuff was delivered on Saturday.  I was really worried about how different things can look in real life, as compared to online photos, but I'm very happy with the real stuff.  Yay!  Please, let this motivate me to finish the bedroom drapes that have been lounging on my pressing table for (omg, embarassing...) a few years now.

Let's Get Caught Up, Shall We?

Oh, fer crying out loud.  Now Blogger has gone and changed the posting format.  I hope this all comes out the way it usually does...

This started out as a bunch of butterfly blocks from a guild Block Of The Month.  Whoever won the blocks donated them back to the guild.  I thought (?) I had given all the guild donation quilt stuff to the new chair of those projects, but apparently my organizational skills are not what they should be.

I had a cute lilac print in my stash that worked well with the blocks.  I needed to add some of the little antennae to a few blocks.  The back is a girly flannel, printed with a shoe design.  You'll have to take my word for that. 😀

Here's a four-patch posie quilt done by one of the Binbrook Guild members.  I led a demo station at the February meeting and this gal either had hers already pieced at home or was inspired to get one made after seeing the demo...I'm not sure which.

Looks great though, eh?

The same quiltmaker owns this.  She made this in a class I taught many years ago.  Her setting is different from the pattern, but it looks good - I like it!

Here's the sour cream coffee cake I mentioned in my last post.  I still have a tub of sour cream in the fridge so I may have to make another one of these.  Note to self:  For Gawd's Sake Woman!  Cut it in half and put some in the freezer instead of eating the whole thing in the space of a week!

Here's my Covid Journal up to May 22nd.

5/4 Worldwide 3.5 million cases and 274,000 deaths. Considering that situation occurred over four to five months, the numbers are mind boggling.  Canada 59,474 cases with 3,774 deaths. The U.S. has 1.1 million cases, 67,000 deaths. Dr. Birx is seemingly against the reopen protests because of the danger of virus transmission. The Republican-dominant Senate is reopening today, while the Democrat-dominant  House of Representatives is staying closed. The U.S. estimate on number of deaths has gone up to 100,000. Effective today, Longo's grocery stores (southern Ontario chain) requires all customers to wear a mask. In the U.S. a security guard at a dollar store in Michigan was shot and killed over this policy. Dear God, USA. Will you ever get your shit together?

5/6 Ontario will allow garden centers and hardware stores to fully open this weekend. Low rate hydro will continue until the end of May. Otherwise, emergency orders will stay in place until May 19th. After a failed experiment (on my part) with Zoom, I had a practice session with a willing friend and figured out what my audio problem was. Now I'm ready for the next Zoom birthday party which is planned for next week. Fyi, Zoom is no better than Messenger video chat (imho) although the paid version has a lot of features. Customer porch dropoff today - we managed an in-person chat 70 feet apart.

5/7 Donned my mask and made a grocery run for milk, veggies and fruit. Made a great score with a tub of Lysol wipes. Woo hoo. Whoops! One of Trump's valets tested positive yesterday.  Hamilton reporting 474 cases and 23 deaths.  Haldimand is at 196 cases with 30 deaths.

5/8 Mike Pence's press secretary tested positive. I was up around 5 again this morning (two days in a row, grrr). Early morning scrolling through my IG feed...those recipes look too good. So, this afternoon I made a sour cream coffee cake, a la Barefoot Contessa. Two hours later I got a message from a friend offering us some of the cinnamon rolls that she'd made. Well sure! We'll eat them too!  Here is a link to a news article outlining how the White House buried the CDC'S  guidelines for reopening.

 https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cdc-report-reopen-white-house-1.5562558

5/9 Mother nature is on a tear...freezing temps and SNOW. Fuddle duddle. Ontario gov't is permitting education workers to voluntarily & temporarily move over to the health care sector, with wages & benefits continuing.

5/10 A Quebec based Cargill meat plant will close...64 workers are now positive. U.S. Coronavirus Task Force- three members in self quarantine due to exposure. Dr. Fauchi NIAID Director, Dr. Richfield Director of the CDC, and Dr. Hahn FDA Commissioner.

5/11 Here is a clip from the news: But the director of the University of Washington institute that created a White House-endorsed coronavirus model said the moves by states to reopen businesses "will translate into more cases and deaths in 10 days from now." Dr. Christopher Murray of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation said states where cases and deaths are going up more than expected include Illinois, Arizona, Florida and California.
And another: China, where the pandemic began in December, was the first country to reopen factories and other businesses after declaring the disease under control in March even as infections rise and controls are tightened in some other countries.  However, a spokesperson for China's National Health Commission says a rise in newly confirmed cases is a growing concern.  "In the past 14 days, there were seven provinces reporting new confirmed local cases," Mi Feng told reporters at a briefing on Monday. In Ontario, bad, bad Doug Ford entertained his daughters - who do NOT live with him - on Mother's Day. That’s against all your own rules there, Dougie.

5/12 This morning's news is reporting that today Dr. Fauchi will caution about a rushed reopening of the economy - which is at odds with Trump's urgent demands. Canadian premiers in BC and Ontario want the borders to stay closed. Me too!

5/18 We had LifeLabs come to the house and do our bloodwork.  We’re both overdue and we have a doctor’s appointment scheduled in a couple days.

May 19 Ontario schools are staying closed until at least September.

5/20 Virtual doctor’s appointment for DH and I.  Our doctor passed away in February but his sons are all doctors, and they are taking over his patient files.

5/22 Canada 82,480 with 6,342 deaths. Ontario 24,628 with 2,100 deaths. Daily cases in Ontario have been going up for the last 10 days - Mother's Day?

Here's ME, PERSONAL news:

• My back/hip are giving me no end of grief.  The virtual visit with the new doctor has given me some relief in the way of "better living through chemicals".  I'm on a stronger anti-inflammatory but I still don't know what's going on.  It could be a flare-up from the car accident 20+ years ago when I was bedridden for the better part of three months with a herniated disc.  Up to yesterday, the longest I've been able to work at a  single stretch is 2 1/2 hours.  However, that's up from ONE hour a couple weeks ago.
• Much of the veggie garden is planted, and I noticed yesterday that the beans have started to sprout.  I'm picking asparagus every day, which gives us a meal's worth every two days.  I've already got a couple loads in the freezer for winter soup.  The past couple of days I have also been picking lettuce.  Every year I start a few lettuce plants and get them out super early under little cloches, and every year the plants that sprout all by themselves are ready for early picking at the same time.
• Last Saturday a crown on one of my molars decided to break.  Half of it flew the coop but the other half is staying put (so far).  Dental clinics are still all closed, so I phoned the office to see what message they'd left for patients on their voice mail.  I was directed to email the dentist, so I did that with a description of my problem.  She replied within an hour:  My office like almost all other dental offices has been ordered close during this outbreak and all of our PPEs have been ordered to be donated already. At this point I can prescribe you some pain medications, or perhaps some antibiotics if needed. However, last night, we were sent an email from Royal college of Dental Surgeons permitting us to reopen partially to treat urgent dental needs, we are getting prepared for that purchasing new PPE and equipment, I think  we are ready to screen our emergency patients by the end of next week, and then book for treatments asap after that if you could wait until then. If you feel you need  to be seen sooner, there are some emergency dental clinics that are open in Hamilton. I will attach a list of them with this email, if you have to get a tooth fixed, it needs to be classified as an  “emergency” care, so, please,  contact them so they can evaluate the situation and let me know if I can help you in any ways, regards, Since my tooth didn't hurt, that was all fine with me.  I had my emergency assessment yesterday and will hopefully get the replacement crown this coming week.  That is all dependent on dental clinics getting the go-ahead - because the tooth does not hurt and is not infected it's not considered an emergency.  My Tuesday appointment may, or may not, happen...we shall see.
• Since I was already out, after the dentist I went to the bank, the liquor store, the pharmacy, and the garden center.  I came home kind of stressed.
• I'm r.e.a.l.l.y. tired of the bad news.  Now the USA is basically on fire because another bunch of cops murdered a black man.  Dear God, when will it stop?  I am honestly starting to get depressed, and that is not like me.  Maybe I should order some new shoes.