Defiant or Delulu?

 Ha ha, love the word 'delulu' which was added to one of the dictionaries this year. 😄

I was cleaning up the garden yesterday, November 8th and took these photos of some very determined flowers.

Today, November 9th, they're faced with this:

This was the evening horizon on October 30th in Tobermory.  Just, you know, to make you jealous:

I came home on November 1st.  A coupla girls were happy to have me back:

Since then I've completed the quilt I was working on at retreat.  

That quilt represents four years of block swapping at the Binbrook guild - two years of half-squares, and two years of 4-patches.  When you combine those they make Jacob's Ladder blocks.  

Binding and label finished, too!

 Coincidentally, Border Creek Station Pattern Company runs a stash-buster every year.  As I was scrolling through their site I discovered that this was their pattern from 2020 (although they are called Cross-Eyed Switcheroo Blocks on the site...admittedly, a much more fun block name!), so I had an actual pattern to follow.

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I've been OBSESSED with this quilt since I first saw it at Quilt Canada several years ago.  It's by Terry Rowland - you can find her on facebook and youtube.

Look at how cute those blocks are!  Every window has something 'fun' in it.

I have managed to convince four of my friends to join a monthly block swap of houses with me.  The blocks are 4 1/2" unfinished which meant I had to do a little persuading.  When dealing with recalcitrant humans, the dogs have taught me to make cow-eyes while you squeek out a quiet, pathetic whine.  

This helps to make humans go along, even when they're not really convinced.  Because the blocks are small they're a little finicky to make, so I didn't want too many participants.  The five of us are all pretty good piecers and I don't expect any, um, surprises. 

Here's my organizational setup - four ziploc bags (one per person), plus a box for mine, which is big enough to hold the ziplocs until I can distribute the blocks.

Now to go find some more cute animal prints...

In the Dark (or how to entertain five longarm quilters when the hydro goes out)

 Retreat is half about socializing and half about productivity.  I was plugging away and got the braid border finished for a Round Robin.

I finished the Block of the Month for the Binbrook guild (two blocks, really).

I also finished a sample block to see if my instructions were workable, for the house block swap group:

We were enjoying ourselves in the afternoon sunshine:

When all of a sudden - POOF!  NO HYDRO!

We looked at this for a while:

Then, we decided that since my laptop was charged up I could show them my pics from Birmingham Quilt Festival.  EXCEPT...(there's always a "but", right???) the laptop wasn't charged up - it was down to 25% because I'd left it turned on.😖  However, fearless leader Diane had brought a power pack with a zillion cords, so we plugged the laptop into the power pack and were back in business.  That lasted for quite a while, until the laptop swore and walked out, like a bad loser.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.  By now it was dark and we had to entertain ourselves like the little 12-year-olds we are at heart. 

We could have given up and gone to bed early, but... WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!

There are a few Jays fans in the group and there was a game on, that couldn't be watched.  But also couldn't be missed.  More technology brilliance - hotspotting from a phone to a tablet got the girls a watchable screen until the bitter end.

Supper never happened because the hydro was out until 2 am.  We had sandwiches from Monday's leftover salmon using the rye bread that was intended for the ruben sandwiches that were supposed to be supper.  We finished it off with cheesecake, which has the magic ability to shut up anyone who was thinking about complaining. 

Is It October Already?

 I have temporarily exchanged my horizon, from this:

to this:

so I could spend time like this:

and like this:

I'm planning to get the borders on this:

I've also convinced four friends to join me in a monthly House Block swap, to copy the Terry Rowland quilt.  So stinkin' cute with all those little critters in the window(s):

Blocks will be 4 1/2" unfinished:

sample made by Janice:

Good lord, it looks like a bomb went off in there. 😳  We were cutting kits for donation quilts, to be made up by members of the Binbrook guild.

Stay tuned.  There could be more goings-on to share this week...

Working on Recovery

 Yes, I mean recovery from Covid.  (I have not entered a 12-step program to disengage from my sewing machine.)  It's October, which means a week in Tobermory with the Beach Girls, and that seemed to me like a perfect place to recover!

I figured a Limoncello Spritz would be a very healthy cocktail, right?  Served with short rib crostinis for our afternoon cocktail hour.  Sadly (or not??) the spritzes weren't a huge hit, so Deb and I had to drink two each.  

We've done some practice with our Zentangle skills...

There's still one more wedge space to fill. 

We've had nice cheesy lunches.  Cheese and yogurt seems to be the thing that we still bring too much of after 15 years.

Honestly.  There are probably six more packages of cheese in the fridge.

Three of us have gone for walkies every day.  Yesterday was maybe not the best day to notice that it was thundering after we'd already left the house.

Diane was still at the cottage.  When she realized it was POURING and that we were likely getting soaked, do you supposed she giggled a bit before she called us to find out which direction we'd turned when we left the driveway?  Whatever.  She came and got us. ❤❤❤

Monday was my cooking day, so not much stitching happened for me.  However I have managed to finish up some little things that I need for the guild meeting next Monday.

And for my other guild I've got the borders on these two donation quilts.  These have been hanging over my head since June.

Now I can start working on my own projects.  Or take another nap? 😁

It's 31.4c in the shade

So, yeah.  This is not where I am.  It's where I WAS on the weekend - up to visit my friend Margaret in the Kawarthas.

We went to the Lindsay quilt show one day, ate too much every day, hung around the dining table gossiping catching up, and of course sewing.  I got this stitched together - it will be the center of my version of the guild Block of the Month.

Here is the whole quilt, made by my Program partner.  I donated the quilting. The guild will give this to Glanbrook Community Services to assist in their fundraising efforts.

It's hard to see the border quilting...a side light helps.

THE GARDEN

Fresh veggies are on our plates... lots of asparagus.  And look at all that fresh lettuce!  

I am a messy gardener who would rather pull weeds or cut flowers rather than deadhead stuff.  Which means that after the lettuce is finished, I turn a blind eye to the flowers.  Then I turn TWO blind eyes to the seedheads that are blowing all over the place.  The benefit to that is early spring lettuce that I didn't have to plant.  DH rototills the garden but he leaves this swath where the asparagus comes up.  And it's coincidentally full of lettuce.  For many years I would start lettuce seedlings in the basement under lights, until I finally realized that those plants were edible at the same time as the lazy-man version.

Up in the top left of that photo you can see the garlic is looking very very happy.  In front of that, today I planted onions & beets, then some beans over to the right.  Yesterday I put in cabbage seedlings.  About 10 days ago I planted pea seeds but so far they are still hiding.  Unless Peter Rabbit is eating them as they sprout. 😒

Now, I'm taking a break and having a "Mommy's Special Drink".

Here's your giggle for today...

 

Seasonal Quilts & Tales From My Boring Life (boring is good)

I quilted these two back in July.  One for Christmas. 

One for fall.

This belongs to a friend of mine, for winter.

This is one of mine that is planned as a Christmas gift.

My life is generally pretty boring and I'm ok with that.  Boring is good!  Boring means you don't have to call your friend and repeat yourself because she can't understand what you're saying while you're crying and hiccupping and blowing your nose.  I actually had a not boring, really FUN week in October, though.

In my last post I mentioned that I was going to see Michael Buble.  He was excellent!  And what's even better, I was in a pretty big arena and did not get covid! I left the next morning to spend a week with the Beach Girls!

I have been watching Only Murders In The Building for the past couple of months.  It's a very entertaining show, with Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez.  Season 2 featured Shirley Maclean, and she was always drinking Cocotinis, so I decided to make Cocotinis my featured cocktail for the girls.  They are quite drinkable. 😋 The cocktail on the show has a layered appearance, showing pink on the bottom so I started with maraschino cherry syrup in the bottom of the glass, then ever-so-gently added the mixed cocktail on top.  I don't know what happened, but I did not get a photo, so you'll have to use your imagination.  I apologize for making you do the work. 

How we entertain ourselves whilst sewing.  Identities have been disguised to protect the innocent.

The only lovely sunset was our final evening, while we were trying to eat up all the leftovers.  Even though we reduced the number of meals we brought this year we STILL had too much food. 

I came home three pounds heavier than I was when I left. I decided to confuse The Universe with reverse psychology.  Fingers crossed that it works.

OMG, those are ridiculously good.  Apple Cinnamon Rolls With Maple Cream Cheese Icing.  People need to stop giving me produce and fruit.  I feel compelled to BAKE something to share with them as a thankyou.

In the week I've been  home I have managed to finally finish the 20 flannel pillowcases for the hospice that took care of my s.i.l. during her last days.

Tomorrow it's back to normal...guild meeting on Monday, quilting work for two weeks, peel the remaining apples and make applesauce, do something with the butternut squashes, plant the garlic, ...