Spring in Caledonia

 Spring is crazy around here. (You'd have to live under a rock to not be aware that I like to garden.)  My body has been talking quite loudly: "Lady - what the fark do you think you're doing??? You sat on your ass all winter watching tv. I can't do this stuff - and if you make me, you're gonna pay!"

And yes, I'm hurting. Bursitis in my shoulder, an awful knot in my shoulder blade, golfer's elbow, and a bad knee. Oh, and whatever is wrong with my neck, that I woke up with yesterday. Sigh. HOWEVER, I still manage to get out of bed every morning, and for that I'm grateful.

In early April the Bloodroot blooms. Such a welcome sight. When the blossoms fall off and it leafs out I remove the seedheads because I do not want a whole garden of them - I have just enough.

In early May the asparagus starts showing up on the kitchen counter.

All that healthy goodness needs to be followed by something not quite as healthy. Yogurt cake.

The cake (a loaf, really) was fun to make. First you make lemon sugar with granulated sugar and lemon zest. Then you make a bowl of wet ingredients that includes the yogurt. Then you make a bowl of dry ingredients and blend that with the wet ingredients, put it in a loaf pan and pop it into the oven.

The fun part comes when you are putting all the messy equipment into the sink and notice that the bowl of sugar is still sitting on the counter. 😳

About 18 bad words later, the loaf pan has been removed from the oven, the batter has been put into the bowl of lemon sugar and mixed up, then returned to the loaf pan and put back in the oven. The result was surprisingly good.

Did y'all get to see the Northern Lights last weekend? Friday night was supposed to be our big event, but I was so tired I was snoring by 9 pm. I guess the Universe is aware of my love of these celestial events and took pity on me...on Monday morning I got out of bed before 6 am and was treated to this sunrise.

The weather has been exceptionally warm and Nina was getting very, um, fluffy.  DH gave her a bath on Saturday, then on Sunday I got out the clippers.  About 2 1/2 hours into the haircut I sat back to see where I was at and got a silly fit of the giggles.  That usually has something to do with vodka, but I was stone cold sober... check out those front legs!

I got them fixed up so they look a little better now, but trust me - I'm no dog groomer!

There is so much garden work (euphemism for "weeding") that if I live to be 100 it will still not be done.  However, maybe these will make you feel better about your own plot of ground?

Happy New Year - UFO's and Stash Report

Aah, New Years Day. 🎆 Time for a reckoning.  I set some targets every year so there's an endpoint where I'd like to find myself.  I don't manage to fulfill ALL of my goals, but taking a few minutes early in the year to think about where I've been and where I'd like to go does help to give me some focus.

This is a quilt I started several (!) years ago.  It's a Bonnie Hunter leader & ender pattern TO THE NINES from one of her books.

Occasionally we have enough sleepover company that I need to put the sofabed to use, but I didn't have a quilt that looks nice in that room AND that fits properly.  So woohoo!  Problem solved!

My target for UFO completion in 2023 was finishing up any THREE ufo's.  I only managed to take two off the list but I'm still happy with that result. 👍 Especially considering that one of them was 25-ish years old.  Good Lord.

As for my stash, like many quilters I probably have more fabric than I will use in my lifetime.  I set a moratorium on purchasing but, well, that didn't work out for me this past year.  In 2022 I generally only purchased fabric that I needed for a specific project.  But in 2023 I got a bunch of stuff at the guild, either for free or dirt cheap.  I also bought some fabric just because it was pretty.  AND I bumped up my collection of reds.  When all that intake happens during a year when not many projects were finished, the numbers tell a sad story.  2023 target was net OUT 50 M.  What actually happened was net IN 1.8 M.

My targets for 2024 will remain the same - finish any three UFO's and a net stash OUT 50 M, along with a minimum of 5 donation quilts.  If you see me in a fabric shop, wandering around with a couple of bolts in my arms please make me put them back!

SLEEP AND DOGS

I used to be able to sleep like the dead.  My head hit the pillow and I'd be zonked out within about three minutes, falling into such a deep sleep that an atomic bomb wouldn't wake me up.  Now, I often DO manage to fall asleep in short order, and then within a half hour something...usually a hot flash, wakes me back up.  Aargh.  So frustrating.  Or, I fall asleep and then wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to dreamland.  Today it was 4 am, so I stayed in bed for an hour, then gave up and got out of bed at 5.  It's a good thing I prep the coffee the night before and don't wake anyone up when I flick the coffee maker on.

This is the vision I took with me to la la land.  10 or 1030 at night is when playtime starts.  Again.

I think Nina was trying to do a Thread The Needle pose, maybe?

I have NO idea what anyone was trying to do here besides creep me out with the whites of her eyes.

I will be spending today sewing with a friend, then we're having Chinese food for supper.

And, speaking of UFO's, maybe I'll get something done with this in 2024.

I hope you have a healthy, happy, and productive year!

Meet NINA ...or What Was I Thinking?

 Coco the rescue from Niagara Dog Rescue in the back.  Nina the rescue from Hamilton-Burlington SPCA in the front.  Two dogs who don't exactly like to wear Santa hats, lol. 😂

DH and I haven't had a puppy in probably 20 years.  Clearly I forgot how much work they are.  Most mornings Nina's been yipping & barking to go out between 5 and 5:30 am.  Did I mention that the dog crates are in the master bedroom?  She has been very good about going back to bed after one of us takes her out, but only for another hour and then she's up.  

We've had her for one month and she's definitely settled in - she and Coco are happily playing with each other.  By that I mean that Nina (being a puppy with only one brain cell) hops at, barks at, nips at, and barrels full speed at Coco, and Coco is more than willing to play along.  

The resemblance here cracks me up.  I guess we should've named her CHEWIE.

In between outdoor bathroom visits (no, not for me!) I HAVE been able to get some quilting done.  These have gone to Martha House, a women's shelter in Hamilton.  The quilt on the far right has been on my UFO list for y.e.a.r.s.  I started it back in the 90's - I didn't like my fabric choices (I was a know-nothing newbie at the time, AND this was a mystery quilt) and didn't like my quilting (again, a know-nothing newbie back then).  When I pulled it out two weeks ago I realized that although the fabric selection is not great, it's not as bad as I thought.  ** I ripped out most of the quilting and requilted it with a nice, generic, geometric design, and it looked ok in the end.  Should I have been surprised that after 25 years I still had enough of the fabric on my shelves to do the binding?

Three of those panels were free - I picked them up at the guild from the TAKE-IT table.  And I got another one at the December meeting!  Uh, obviously I'm not the only one who has fabric they really don't need.

A quilting buddy also dropped off a batch of kids quilts that she's made over the years, so I had quite a stack to deliver.

We had our Christmas dinner last night with 1-800-LUKE and his lovely wife.  Now we can stay in our jammies (probably taking turns having a nap) until Wednesday when friends are coming over to meet Nina.  Technically they're coming for dinner, but the puppy is the real attraction around here right now, certainly a bigger attraction than my cooking.

As I have for the last several years, I'll spend New Years Day stitching with a friend.  This year I think we'll both be working on the mystery quilt hosted by the CQA.  The mystery quilt is open to everyone, whether you're a member or not, so join in! These are my fabric pics.

That black fabric is a one yard piece that I purchased in November at Dollarama.  It was $4.00.  For one yard.  Four dollars.  Who knew that Dollarama sold quilting cotton???  It's in the aisle with wool and stuff and the selection changes...from store to store?  I don't really know.  I was in downtown Hamilton (when I dropped off the quilts) and went to the Dollarama in the mall there - they were selling Star Wars fabric, both the white fabric and the black fabric.  Even though I have so much fabric that I will never use it all, hunting for more is always on my list of favorite things to do.

I wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, hoping that you and your loved ones have a joyful season.

** If you want to be good at something, you have to be willing to be bad at it first.  Quote from, I think, Richard Bach's book ILLUSIONS.  Excellent book.