Social Events

I've had a busy week, with TWO social functions. (yes, when you work at home, two outings is cause for celebration).
Wednesday was sewing day at the Caledonia Guild. I made a postcard and a handbag. The handbag includes a non-centered pocket. I was so busy matching the pattern on the fabric I didn't realize just how far off the pocket was. Better luck next time, eh?
The postcard is a birthday card for a friend of mine. Hopefully she'll get the card before she sees the blog.Thursday was Red Hat day. One of our members had us over for spiked punch and cherry cheesecake. In typical RH fashion we had our dessert first, with lunch appetizers afterwards. We played this fun dice game (left, right, centre) and I won one of the games. Woo Hoo $6.75 !!!

Much to DH's delight, I have also given away 9 zucchinis this week. I may torture him tonight though. I probably have 4 more in the garden ready to pick. Hmm, shall I slice them? Dice them? Stuff them? Bake? Saute? Ooohh, the choices are endless. ....I wandered off here for a while searching the internet for a funny picture of mutant zucchinis taking over the world (or even a backyard) but I had no luck. You will have to use your imagination today. Sorry.

Last night's supper was healthy & yummy. Spinach-from-the-garden salad with hard cooked eggs & raspberries-from-the-neighbours'-garden, served with buttermilk biscuits-from-Reverend Ann. I am on a mission to eat our way to the bottom of the freezer. Tonight I think I'll make crock pot barbeque with some stewing beef that's been frosting up since probably January. And the zucchini, of course. :-)

Retreat Roundup

What a beautiful week at Margaret's in the Kawarthas. It was HOT and SUNNY and her deck looks out over a lake (of unknown name). The dock was installed but the boat was still in storage so we didn't make it as far as the water, but nevertheless...

The Buckhorn guild hosted me as the guest speaker. I presented a slide show of my trip to the Tokyo Great International Quilt Festival 2009. In the afternoon I taught a postcard workshop. You could entertain yourself for quite a while coming up with a caption for this photo.

I was on supper duty so I'm making sure the guests will enjoy their meal. Get 'em soused is my philosophy, then everything tastes good.

I was back at work on Monday. The first day back never goes quite as well as you'd like.

Mom & Lecture/workshop/retreat

Mom still likes to party on a beautiful day. Back many years ago that used to involve much beer. Now, it's yogurt. Note to self: call the home today and see if upper dentures have been found in the laundry. Note to YOU: if you want to do something nice for your mom, just take her out for a walk on a lovely day. Give her the gift of your time (and maybe a yogurt parfait from McDonalds).

I have been booked by the Buckhorn Guild to do my dog & pony show (slide show of the Tokyo Great International Quilt Festival). After the meeting I will be leading a workshop on fabric postcards. I'm staying with my friend Margaret (of the Kawartha Margarets) for the whole week (yippee!!!). Anne and Sue will be joining us on Thursday. The menus are planned and the toenails are painted (beach weather - OMG, how great is that!). Sayonara 'till Sunday.

Needing the fingers of BOTH hands to count

Back in high school (many, many, many years ago) I was very good in math. Now it appears I cannot keep count. Two mostly identical postcards - one with 5 candles, one with 6 candles. ??? Anyone???
The latest member of Sadie's Playpen Cleanup Crew. It even sweeps up it's own grass clippings.My brother picked up Mom on Sunday, then they came over to get me and we went out for a nice Mother's Day lunch. Mom thought it was her birthday. She was missing her top teeth, and was wearing her slippers instead of her shoes (it seems our standards get lower the closer we get to 90) but boy, she really enjoyed her pierogies. I love my mom.

Postcards, Dog Grooming, Moonshine

First I will give you a couple of postcard photos, in case you don't care about the rest of my blog post. Hard to believe, but possible I guess.Here is Sadie carrying some extra baggage. She is DEFINITELY in need of a trim but it's still winter and we don't want to give her the full treatment at the groomers.DH gets out the dog clippers. Sadie is really not sure where that extra part came from?Oooo - poor Sadie. That looks like a $5 cut from First Choice Hair Cutters - your ears appear to belong to two different dogs.Dog grooming is obviously not a career choice. Lets go back to making moonshine.

Christmas postcard

Earlier this year I went to Asia, where I visited with my niece. I filched many feathers from Jurong Bird Park in Singapore (bad Helen, bad!). These pretty red & white feathers are my favorite and they made SUCH a lovely Christmas tree. Then I added some beads, gold sequins, and thread junk.

The back of the postcard is a pocket with a little surprise tucked inside. The whole thing was mailed to Singapore in a clear envelope.

I've entered this postcard in a challenge over on Vicki's blog. Wish me luck!

Stinky in Caledonia - update

CRAP air update: I spoke to the Ministry of Environment this morning. Ms. Ministry was initially incorrect in her information to me. The 'product' going on the farm field is Hamilton's Green Bin Compost. The farmer can buy it 'off the shelf' (so to speak) so it is not regulated by the MOE. After this is spread, farmer brown will be spreading Nutrapel (sp?) which is a highly treated, pelleted sewage sludge. This is also 'off the shelf' and is not regulated by the MOE. Only after these two products have been spread will they be tilled in to the soil (which will knock down the odour substantially).

This means I am shit-out-of-luck. No pun intended. Both items have incredibly noxious odours and the wind just keeps blowing towards our property. Why couldn't they spread nice friendly horse manure? (seriously - that usually does have a sort of pleasant country odour)

This afternoon I MUST go out and put the second top coat on the garage doors. I sure hope my olfactory gland gets very tired very quickly and stops noticing the stink. Makes me feel like I wasted my time washing my hair this morning.

I don't want to leave you feeling like I'm totally grumbly today. Funny marriage story:
Back in the early years of our marriage I was cooking a turkey, likely around Thanksgiving. I could not, for the LIFE of me, find the turkey baster.
Me: "Honey, have you seen the turkey baster? I can't find it it any of the drawers."
DH: "Yea, it's downstairs on my work bench."
Me: "What??? Why?"
DH: "I needed it for the car."
Me: " " (silence)

Last weekend I wanted to wash out the cast iron frying pan that had leftover burnt hot dogs in it (a true gourmet weekend!). I normally don't use soap on the cast iron, just hot water and a plastic pot scrubber. You guessed it, I could not find the pot scrubber.
Me: "Honey, have you seen the pot scrubber? I can't find it anywhere."
DH: "Yea, it's in the garbage."
Me: "What??? Why?"
DH: "I needed it for the toilet."
Me: " " (silence)

There are some questions you just shouldn't ask.

And I'll leave you with one of my postcards.

Postcard and Quilt Exhibition

My poor friend Marion is having surgery this coming Wednesday for an aneurysm. This is her get well postcard, representing a 'recovery angel in the fast lane'.

Yesterday was Micheline's exhibit opening at the Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph. It was a very festive event, in part because her quilts are so bright and colourful. Artsy quilts, not bed quilts. The quilts look fabulous hung on the walls. Try and get out there to take a peek. Her exhibit is on until the end of July. Click on the link for the store hours, the gallery is upstairs.

She very kindly gave me credit as her longarm quilter. Following is an excerpt from the bio she drafted:
The technical skill of manipulating the Longarm machine is one aspect of Helen’s talent, the other being her sense of design and imagination with respect to ideas and suggestions for quilting patterns and thread colour. It’s fun to work with Helen; she has a knack for interpreting what you are trying to convey with a particular piece and accommodating to your vision and, if you are at a loss of where to go next, she is never short of ideas or suggestions. Helen has the knowledge and technology to mock up stitching patterns over photos of your quilt and email them to you where you can view various options and make decisions with confidence from your home (or office). Helen’s work is impeccable and her anticipated turnaround time for work completion is accurate.
That's almost enough to make me afraid of myself. ;-)