The 'other' Cellar

Angela over at The Country Cellar has some amazing goodies on her Etsy site. She also has a great sale going on to celebrate her grand reopening. Go here to check out her goodies http://www.thecountrycellar.com/ and tell her Claire sent you!

Lazy Summer Days

Well, the Canadian National Exhibition started yesterday and in honour of Toronto's 175th birthday, admission was just 1.75. Did I go? No way! Too busy, and hot for me. To a lot of people, this marks the end of summer.

A few weeks ago I was at the African Lion Safari. These two lions have the meaning of 'lazy days of summer' down to a science.

Todays is my mums' birthday. She is 75....and she'll probably threaten to kill me if she reads this post....

The 1930 quilts are almost finished! By tomorrow night they will be complete. There is one more that the lady asked me to just tie, it's really heavy and made with wool and a tweed like material. I think I am going to back it in flannel with no batting and add a few buttons along with the floss. I think it will be a trunk quilt.

After the storm

What a mass-hu-sive (is that a word?) storm we had late yesterday. We went on a bit of a mini quilt shop hop and within an hour of leaving one of the towns (Durham) a tornado touched down. This happened in several of the towns we visited. Seems the storm was just to the west of us all the way home. We got home just in time to make a quick grilled cheese sandwich and fill our bowls with homemade beef stew (I love my crockpot!) and then the power went out. And, the rain came down. And, the wind? That was the scariest part. I thought we were going to loose our maple tree in the backyard at best or the deck at the worst. It was just 7:30 and it was so dark out, it seemed like midnight.

My daughter bought me a rose bush for mothers' day and it has taken quite a while but here is the first bloom. Isn't it gorgeous? I am so glad the storm didn't damage the bush. After all that rain and wind, what a special treat to wake up to.

It's been a busy, cool (as in weather ) summer. I gotten a few projects finished and twice as many started. Now, how does that happen?

A while back I posted about a lady at work who wanted me to make her some memory quilts from a few blocks and material found in her mum's basement. This is one of many blocks that I received. None of the centers were done and not one of the blocks would lay flat. Technically you can't call them blocks as they were not stitched onto anything (or can you?). I removed some of the wedges (shiny stuff, thin gauzy stuff, wedges that had peices added to make them the same size). Some of these blocks had 10 wedges, others had 12, still others had 15...what was the original quilter thinking? And, she stitched them together with BLACK thread!!! Most of this material was original 1930's fabric. The pic on the left is of the wedges after I sewed them. On the right, well, they didn't make the final cut. You can see the shininess on the dark green one. I really don't know what kind of fabric that is/was.

This is the final result, a bit hard to see, but I think you can see the wedges. The border has not been added to this pic, but it 3 inches wide and a 1930's print as well. I quilted a flower in the middle of each block, quilted the wedges along the top and the centre circles as well. I then added random white buttons on the sashing. I was asked to make 3 of them and then tie a quilt top after a backing has been added. I don't think I will add batting as the material is a really heavy wool suiting fabric.

Argh!! We have been glittered!

Who invented glitter? Ethan was over on the weekend and we did arts and crafts.....and now there is glitter everywhere! On the dog, on the floor, on me, in the washer....did I mention it was everywhere? He wasn't being bad with it, but oh wow! At one point he went to check on the dog and added even more! And his dad and stepmother think it is hilarious! Guess what they will be getting in the mail? And the best part? We get to do it all over again next week. Grandchildren are so much fun....I'm treasuring every moment.
Ethan has a bottom tooth loose, so a visit from the tooth fairy is imminent. I sent him home with the 'tooth fairy' pillow my boys used. And, he has been fitted for glasses! Our little boy is sure growing up fast.

Where does the time go?

I can't believe it has been 6 weeks since my last post. Some things have changed, some have stayed the same.
Lucie is home, came home late February. Life for us now is the 'new normal', whatever that is. Innocence has been lost, but with that loss comes a new realization of just how precious life is. Savour every moment.
I'm still working part time at a local coffee shop, cleaning, no full time job yet, despite 400 + resumes. My arthritis is particularly bad, especially with this cleaning job~~scrubbing floors, hauling garbage and cleaning bathrooms does nothing to help it. I work 2 days a week and it takes me the other 5 days to recuperate. For this I earned a degree?
One of my managers at work lost her mother earlier on this year and while cleaning out the house found some 16 quilts blocks, some hand stitched, some machine stitched. I have not gone through them all, but what I have seen are authentic 1930's fabric. The blocks are 'Dresden Plate'. She would like me to 'do something' with them for herself, her sister and her brother. She also found a lot of fabric~~4 large boxes, 7 or so green garbage bags. She would like to go through them with me and pick out fabric to make quilts for the 5 grandchildren (her mothers'). This should be interesting. I am excited to get started!
Not much else happening here~~I have been working on BOM's and a mystery quilt, but did manage to get 2 tops pieced over the weekend. Hopefully, I'll get to them in the next week or so and get them quilted.

'Summer of Sorrow'

That was the name of the documentary that I watched last night. It was on the Irish immigration to Canada and documented one family's journey for a better life. I researched the Irish Diaspora in university and retraced my ancestors steps when I was in Ireland 2 years ago, but nothing prepared me for this...it was so sad....what a wrenching decision for this and many thousands of other families....stay in Ireland and face certain death from starvation and disease or risk an ocean voyage of 2 plus months in cramped, unsanitary 'coffin' ships and face an unknown future and probable death. You'll have to watch it next time it's aired.
Saint Patrick's Day...the one time of year, that I reflect on my ancestors and silently thank them for taking that journey into the unknown.