Monday, November 29, 2010

Christmas is really coming!!!

We are only 26 sleeps away from the big day! We are renovating the house and that means all off our ornaments/decorations are in storage. So it might be and ornament less Christmas, and I am not sure how I feel about that. I really love unwrapping all of my little sparkle ornaments. Each one that gets unwrapped brings a sense of nostalgia, I remember the time, place or the who that the ornament came from. Also, all of my Christmas crafty-ness has been packed away aswell, who would of thought that our tiny basement reno would turn into a major waterproofing ordeal. So, to get me in the spirit of the season, since our outdoor lights are also in storage, I decided to make our front door a wreath. I have been inspired by all the lovely yarn and felt wreaths I have been seeing on etsy, so I said why not try it myself. Last night, while watching the very scary "Walking Dead", I wrapped the foam wreath with some scrap quilt batting and the two types of yarn, the cat really loved this part. Tonight maybe I will try to make some felt decorations for it, youtube has been very helpful with some how too videos. Stay tuned for some pictures of the final product!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

remember to remember...

Just a quick note, tomorrow is Remembrance Day, for anyone that has the day off please take the time to go to a ceremony in your neighbourhood. I know this post is going to sound a little preachy, but this is something I feel very strongly about. The weather in Toronto is supposed to be lovely, take the time to stand with the remaining veterans and think about the men and women still in service, and those that we have lost along the way. If you can not get the time off work, please make sure to take a moment of silence, one minute out of a year to remember.


In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

snails, and puppy dogs tails...

So we are off to Merlin today (north of Windsor) for another baby shower. As usual we are running behind, but on this chilly Saturday morning we are having trouble getting the engines running. It is definitely a warm tea and pajama day, but I just wanted to make a quick little post with some crafty news. Here is a pic of the baby quilt I made for the shower, boy quilts are HARD! There is not that much fun boy fabric out there that appeals to me, but I think this one turned out pretty good. The quilt is backed with a warm printed flannel, I love to back quilts with flannel, it makes them that much more cozy. A great blue dot bias tape was added late last night, hopefully the little one to be and his mommy will love it as much as I do.




On other crafty news, I have turned into a WIP girl, I'm usually pretty good with starting projects and finishing them, but the last couple of months I have started 3 quilts that are all at various stages of completion. Bias tape is my nemesis, so that explains one, the others well they are time consuming and my self diagnosed ADD as kicked in, I will use that as an excuse. One of the quilts I have started is the dresden plate block. This sort of quilt is new to me because it uses something other than squares or rectangles and is a lot of piecing. It's a bit daunting but so far I think it is turning out pretty good. I have a lot of vintage feel feedsack fabrics left over from another quilt I started, that I was not to afraid to chop up so I am using those.


Blades for the rings all cut and sorted, ready to be sewn together.


This time around I tried string stitching, I think that is what it's called. Instead of stopping and starting I just kept feeding another piece into the machine, it was scary at first, but the more you do the easier it gets, and it saves so much time!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

yesterday was a great day...

Yesterday was beautiful! The sun was out, there was a chill in the air, and my boyfriend and I went to the zoo! We both had a day off and felt like spending it outside. During the fall and winter months we have found that the zoo is quite, you have time to yourself watching the animals do what they do. With some of them the cool weather makes them more active. The otters are my favourite, and to my excitement they have a new one at the zoo, yippeee! James likes to watch the polar bears and during the cool months they are really active and playful. Here are some of the pictures from our lovely day.


We started in the new polar bear domain, they have really done a great job fixing it up and adding more animals and bigger habitats for them.


Then off we went to the otters where we found this great flower, I am pretty sure I could hear the tiny voices of "Whoville". (I am not really hearing tiny voices, but this flower did remind me of one of my favourite Dr. Seuss stories)


Also, the gorilla's were full of vim, and they seemed to really like fewer people. The little baby gorilla that was born there was perfect, so little and tiny and curious.


That was my pretty awesome day and after 4 hours of walking we still didn't get to see all the beasties in the zoo. The Toronto Zoo does so much great work, the re-population of the black footed feret's to name one. So, if you are at a loss for things to do this winter try out going to the zoo it is really great with snow on the ground too.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

super fun....

So my "boyfriend" (aka James, my husband) found a super great cartoon online. It brought a smile to my face so I thought I would post it here for you to enjoy as well. Hope you like it! Happy chilly Thursday...which really feels like Friday, even though there is still one more day of work this week!

Salesman Pete from Salesman Pete on Vimeo.



Here is a great video I found as well, super funny!!

Short Film 'The Black Hole' from PHOTOPLAY FILMS on Vimeo.


Just goes to show you crime never pays.

Friday, October 1, 2010

mmm chocolate....

We have to attend a mass tomorrow for my Nanny, really not looking forward to church, it is always so heavy and tiring. I thought I would post a couple more of my Nanny's yummy and simple recipes, since I am an addict for anything chocolate, here you go.

One Bowl Chocolate Cake (yes literally one bowl)
1 1/2 cup white sugar (I cut by half!!)
1/2 cup shortening (everything is better with butter!)
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

There were no instructions with this recipe, so I just sort of winged it. I creamed the sugar and butter and then added the rest. When it came to adding the flour and the wet ingredients I added them in batches. Since it is "one bowl" I am sure this was just me channeling Martha Stewart. Now, you can eat the cake as is, ooorrrr, you can use Nanny's chocolate glaze. Pretty much anything chocolate she put this glaze on top and in between when it called for layers of chocolatey goodness.

Icing Glaze for Choc-Cake - Bownies ETC. (that was her title...it needs some work)

In a microwave safe bowl, melt together the following
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup choc. chips
Melt at medium power (2 minutes, depends on microwave). Mix well. Add 1 cup icing sugar. Blend well. Let cool awhile, spread on cake etc.

Well that is the recipe, I had to wing this one to. So instead of the microwave because we don't have one in the kitchen, I used the double broiler method. Steel bowl over slightly boiling water...I think it's called a double broiler...I melted everything together took it off the heat and sifted in the icing sugar, I always have trouble with icing sugar clumping. It came out pretty good, be prepared it is very sweet! If you let it cool a bit you can use it like a ganache and just pour it right over the "one bowl" cake, less skill involved with icing a cake. Or let it cool a bit and you can slice and ice a cake. We had a lot left over so it went into the fridge for storage, with all the little bits I cut off the cake to flatten out the layers. MMMMMMM, just to yummy, the cake gets better with age and the icing firms up almost like fudge...mmmmm, did I say mmmm, enough?

Keep in mind that east coasters like there salt and LOVE there sugar in these old recipes, so I usually always cut sugar. I will try to do that in the icing a bit, and use a better quality chocolate. Hope you enjoy this, if you love chocolate, you will over dose with this recipe.


On another note, my very favourite season is starting, FALL! I had my first signs peek at me from the garden yesterday. I love the crisp clean feeling air and the lovely rich colours and you cant forget the perfect apple picking days, I just cant wait. I also started a new quilt, a dresden plate block. I have been wanting to try this for a couple of years now, but I am admittedly afraid of all the piecing and hand sewing. I will post some pics soon, I tried chain stitching the little blades, it was very fun and faster that stopping and starting.

Enjoy the chilly weekend...just think you get to pull out all of those great scarves, hats and jackets.

Monday, September 27, 2010

remember...


A year already...

Tomorrow will mark the first year without my Nanny. I really miss her, everything happened so fast in those few days. So much emotion packed into a few short, yet long days, and then we had to say goodbye. My Nanny left us September 28th, 2010...it feels like just yesterday. We all miss her so much that it feels like a bit of the family is missing. Some days it feels like I have misplaced something and just cant put my finger on what or where that thing is.

Over the next day and a half I will remember...I will remember the light that she brought with her as she touched everyone she knew in her own special way. I will remember popping in for tea after work for a quick visit, and always having a new recipe to try out...always something sweet. I will remember, "oh, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph" being exclaimed every time she was startled or a joke was made, or someone was just pulling her leg. I remember...her, and the kindness in her heart, thinking of others before herself, the long greeting card mailing list. No matter where you were, you always got a card for your birthday and anniversary. How she was ever able to find an address in her tiny little book I have no idea, but she always knew where to look. Curlers, bobby pins, homemade bread...Nanny buns! Leaving for church two hours before it started, prayers, and always making the sign of the cross when we drove by a church or graveyard.

She was the type of person that was happy with anything...our joke was always that if you gave her a dirty tissue as a gift, she would think that it was the best she ever got. I am hard pressed to sum up who she was and what she meant to so many, all I know is that there are a lot of people that miss her and remember...

I will leave this post with one of her recipes, one that is easy and tasty...and for a bit more maudlin...one that just doesn't taste the same without her hands making them. But...I will bake and remake and try all of her recipes, over and over again so that someday they may just taste a little as they did when she would mix and measure and bake and love.

Currant Butter Tarts

1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup currants

Beat butter - add sugar, egg, vanilla, milk and currants.
Fill tart shells 3/4 full.
Bake 12-15 minutes (at the temperature it says on the tart shells your using)

(as with all her recipes there are little notes scribbled on the cards...this one had one as well)

*I usually add a few more currants to the bottom of the tart shells before I add filling.






Make sure that you tell the people that you love, as often as you can, that you love them, and that you are happy that you have them, that you appreciate them, care about them,and are thankful that you know them.

...and remember, just remember.

Friday, September 24, 2010

its been awhile...

I really have to try and not start every blog post with those three little tiny words! Life has been very busy since getting back from our vacation. I am missing the tiny island very much, and dreaming of next summer already. Three is lots to post about...my first craft show, my birthday was this month, lots of sewing...but I am oh so tired tonight so I will only post some pics I have been meaning to post and tell you to head to the bottom of the page to the music player and listen to my latest obsession "Mumford & Sons". I love em' I quite like the entire disc and we are actually thinking about going to Montreal for there concert...keeping fingers crossed for that one.


I am very intrigued by these hanging gardens...and I am wondering if it is very hard to you yourself. I am very bad at actually keeping potted plants alive though, and I would think you have to be very vigilant about keeping this watered.


Enjoy the blustery night!

Sunday, August 29, 2010

down home...

I am sitting in the cottage listening to my favourite 40's music station and just loving it. There is a cool strong breeze blowing, the sun is out, I can hear the horses talking in the field out the back door.

We got here safely on Monday, August 23rd. The first part of our drive was a bit iffy. I took the first shift of driving, being a new driver I wanted to be fresh and rested, and also not have to drive through Montreal. Well, we drove smack into the heaviest rain ever, well at about the third our of me gripping the steering wheel so tight, my fingers were losing feeling, I decided it was the heaviest rain I had ever seen. We switched driving when we pulled over in Cornwall, I was a bit shaky but I did it! This was a very big deal for me. The rest of the drive was uneventful, we did learn not to trust the navigation system...even if it did have a slightly sexy British accent. Fergus started to wig out about an hour away from the bridge to PEI, he always seems to know when we are getting close, it must be the ocean smell. Once we crossed the bridge we were greeted with the island smell, a mix of fresh fields and manure....I love it!

Our time is winding down here, we are starting to get a bit sad about packing up and leaving. We just seem to be happier here, mentally and physically. I have been trying to dream up a way to make it last longer....we have even been looking at the real estate pages...someday maybe....


My old guy is pretty happy here, swimming for a couple of hours at the beach every night. Before we left the vet told us most of his left elbow joint had osteo arthritis in it. So all the limping he was doing is from that, here, we can swim him for hours with minimal limping! We actually have to make him stop, he would go all day. He is still not quite sure what to make of the horses, but they don't seem that bothered by him.


Me in the car mirror on the way back from the beach...I have always loved driving fast with the windows down, my hair flying around...


Mmmmm, sour late summer rhubarb picked fresh from the garden across the way. I was able to find some east coast strawberries at the market so I cooked them down with the rhubarb to make some yummy tart jam. Just some fruit and a little bit of sugar....yummy on buttered toast or even on icecream! James just like to eat it by the spoonful out of the jar. The three horses come to visit often. They hear the screen door snap and they come running sometimes, you can here them coming from a couple fields over. I would like to think they come to just say hi, but I am pretty sure they just come for the carrots.

Friday, August 20, 2010

sigh....

I have been a little busy this past couple of weeks but I did manage to do some preserving. My Mom taught me when I was young the basics to making preserves...we come from good Ukrainian stock so we would always make our own pickles. I digress, so as I was biting into the fresh summer peaches, warm from the car, a light bulb went on and I decided to jump right in and do some jarred peaches.

In progress, the colours were just so fantastic, so rich, they just made your mouth water. The yummy smell filtering through the house and the warm glow from the jars. The first batch was "tested" by James and got a very big thumbs up. So away I went, stocking up on warm summer peaches that we can eat during the winter when we want a bit of warmth.

This evening is that start of our vacation, I cant wait. We will be driving to PEI sunday night, we are going to try driving straight threw. Lets see how that goes...I love the excitement of packing up the car, even the dog starts to feel excited. I will pack a cooler with drinks and sandwhiches and another bag for treats. I love seeing the country, breathing in the cool fresh air. As we get closer and closer to my grandparents little cottage, my heart swells and feels a little lighter. We will have two weeks of being unconnected...even though the farm finally got WIFI...ain't progress grand...actually I am still undecided on that. Long walks on the beach when the tide is out, Fergus will get to swim and dig for his tennis ball, and I will get to dream of a small little shop all of my own in "Victoria by the sea" or what ever other idea I have come up with on the 20 hour car ride.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

lots to add....so i will start here

"So I think it's time we finished the basement..." That's the sentence that started it all at the beginning of the year. James just nodded and said sounds good, so we packed up the basement, rented a storage unit for all our precious stuff (aka JUNK) and realized, yep, the moisture issue is worse than we thought! The fuzzy white mold growing in the corner, the new electrical boxes put in 6 years ago, already rusting and corrodin, yep, this is going to cost us! After 5 contractors with quotes later, hoping to dodge the bullet of a major waterproofing job, which we didn't, the job of getting our house water tight is done! I we documented the jobs the entire way.


It started with replacing old plumbing, because if your a going to make a livable basement you don't want concrete floors, you want something nice. Old plumbing wont do because what if there is a flood. So you dig down 5 feet replace the pipes and then fill in the giant hole to hell. Yes, that's what I said hole to hell, well more like trench I guess. Man those guys worked hard, all this digging done by a couple of guys with shovels! Totally necessary we found out because that stack pipe that take all the bad stuff out of the house was totally corroded shut. Hmmmm how was anything getting out?

Well that was the first step done about a month ago, my next post will outline how the waterproofing company had to then dig out the basement, which involved digging out 9 inches of concrete and sand, while also digging around the four sides of the house! WHAT FUN!

Also, the last of the summer strawberries, and mmmmm peaches, I never can do anything in small amounts, nope not my style. My fear, just humour my ramble, is that I will be featured on one of the hoarding shows at some point in my life.

Monday, August 2, 2010

this seems to be a common theme....

Here I am starting another post off with, "it's been so long...."! I am not a super busy person, even though I may think that I am. Only 3 hairy beasts in my life to take care of, James (husband), Fergus (lovely cuddly big old dog), and Ollie (super suck of a cat). Yes, I work but really that doesn't take up that much time...and to quote a line from a movie "there are 24 usable hours in every day". So where is my time going?

So that is my rant for the last month, on more exciting news I have been accepted to my very first craft/artisan fair. I will post more on that later but here is a sneak peak at one of the things I am getting ready to sell at that market.



Oh and on a side note...thanks to those that leave me comments, it really brightens my day. To R&B please leave me an email address so that I can answer the questions you had for me. Thanks.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

quilt has a new home....

Well I gave away my latest baby quilt a couple of weekends past. We had to drive to Merlin, Ontario...the weekend of the class 2 tornado. It was a little windy and rainy...putting it mildly! I hope the baby actually is a girl...you just never know until they are actually here, fingers crossed. Here are some pics from our overnight stay and the finished quilt.


Here it is, it turned out alright...I really hate all the rotary cutting involved in doing squares like this but, love the boxed in look. I also made a little label for the bake. One of the things I never remember to do is put labels on finished quilts. My hand embroidery needs a bit of work!!




We spent the night with James uncles house, he has a lovely big back garden with plenty of animal visitors and a lovely run down barn in the back. My heart was day dreaming about fixing it up into a lovely quilt studio on the main floor and a cozy place to have tea a read a book on the second floor, that would be used on those rainy days...sigh. We were trying out a new technique called HDR imaging....basically you take three pics at three different exposure settings and you layer them all together. You get some really fantastic images...the colours just get totally saturated...to the naked eye the red did not pop as much as it does in the picture. To cool...we will be playing with this a bit more.



A wee little friend, hopefully we didn't scar him too much!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

a perfect day....

I was lucky enough to get all three days of the long weekend off. Juicy watermelon bought and all the supplies for a great few days of barbecue. The weather was wonderfully warm, but, there is a but, I came down with some sort of bug that just took all the wind out of my sails. It started on Thursday night and just zapped me, so out of my three days off, two were spent in the house on the couch watching movies.

Sunday night I was getting a bit more energy and was feeling a bit lousy about not getting any sewing done. I have a baby shower to go to in June and I have a ton of scrap fabric left from a baby quilt I made about a year ago, so I decided to try and whip something together. James new that I was feeling bad about spending such a gorgeous weekend cooped up in the house so on Monday morning he moved my sewing room outside to the backyard. So there I sat under our 90 year old maple tree listening to music and the birds, and sewing away. It was the most perfect peaceful day I have had in a long time. Good for ones soul, this will definitely happen again!


Now, I didn't know he was doing this but James snapped a couple of pics of me while I was out enjoying my day in the backyard. So here I am enjoying the great day of sewing. I was only disturbed a couple of times, by ants peeking at me from the top of my sewing machine, and one other time that was a little more traumatic! I wont share it was terrible. The baby quilt is almost done, I will post pics when it is all finished...I had a very productive day!

Hope you all enjoyed your long weekends as well!

Monday, May 10, 2010

cant sleep....

Well this seems to be happening more regularly than I would like. I come home from work, cook dinner, and then it's like someone has pulled my plug, I have to spark left do to anything. Then around 11:30pm I start to get some juice back and then I am restless until about 2:30am. AAAGGGGHHH. So I surf the net, tidy now and again, very rarely tidy, or read. Tonight is one of the tidy with a hole lot of computer. Here is a lovely pic that I found surfing the net...I forgot to grab the picture info before I closed the window, so sorry to whomever this picture belongs to, it really is lovely.

I am going to try something new, a song of the week. This weeks song is very hauntingly beautiful, with lyrics that are sad and loving all at once. Sometimes how life is I guess.

Some back story on how this song came into my life. James and I, on a whim went to New York in January to see the Swell Season at Radio City Music Hall, what a treat, we had a time that will never be forgotten or repeated in quite the same way. The Swell Season put on an amazing show, they are wonderful in concert...the best concert I have EVER been to! Their opening act was this guy named Josh Ritter, this is his song it's called "The Curse" from his new album "so runs the world away". I will play it until I cant stand to listen to it anymore...and then I will stop playing it for awhile....

I was trying to figure out how to plunk the song in the post but alas, I am not sure there is a way to do that soooo, I added the "blogy song play list thingy", I am sure that is the technical term, at the bottom. Right now it only has one song, but I will try to have a song of the week every week. That may be to much commitment but I will try. Please scroll down and leave a comment or recommendation if you like.

Saturday, May 8, 2010

windy, chilly, gloomy....oh my.

Wow, today is a bit of a shock to the system, it's so chilly and windy. Mom, Zoe and I went to Humber Nurseries to celebrate mothers day early, I have to work tomorrow. Picked up some really great hostas for the garden...love them, hopefully they will survive the dog, and squirrels! They also have a big selection of pond plants and koi fish, I love when they come up to the surface of the tank looking for food. Forgot my camera but took some snaps with my camera phone, now I just have to figure out how to get them out of the phone!


I finally asked James (IT support) probably would not have figured it out on my own without much screaming at the various electronic devices, here is a pic of the little tiny koi, they cost about $15 bucks each! For a fish, there cute, but a pretty pricey meal for our neighbourhood racoons!

I love a gloomy day, warm cups of tea and a good book, although the one I am reading right now is a little to weird even for me. Something has my hackles up, and I don't know what...hopefully today will end the last month and a half of unexpected drama which will make life seem a bit more sane. One can only hope. I am also without a sewing project and feel a bit lost. I did splurge a bit this week and bought a couple of new inspiration magazines, and the big Martha Stewart Craft book. I love the pictures and ideas in the "Marie Claire" magazine but it's in french, but I couldn't walk away from it. My french is okay but not that okay, hopefully this will help make it a bit better...ha, I doubt it!

The big debate right now is do I want to spend the money to enter my first craft show in our neighborhood park?! Hmmm, I don't know, nothing ventured nothing gained I suppose. Oh and I found something that made James and I just cry we laughed so much. Sometimes after you laugh so hard you don't really know why you found it so funny but it's still great to laugh, so here it is...hopefully you see what we saw.

Snuggie for your dogs!! Here is the front of the box....


Here is the back, which got even more laughs! Since I didn't have my camera this day either, we were just doing some mundane household shopping. I had to use the camera phone again as well so the pics are a little fuzzy but look closely. Yes, that is a dog sitting with the remote, and another pair playing a game of backgammon!


Enjoy the blustery day, and the angry clouds, just cuddle up with something furry on the couch and watch a good movie, and don't forget to laugh...really laugh!

Sunday, May 2, 2010

it's been so long....

I have been away from my blog for so long, time really is so fleeting. It was partially because I was in such a funk...so bad that even a good walk with James and Fergus, and a cuddle with Ollie didn't help. There is something in the air that's for sure. However, there were a lot of good things in the past month that I would like to share as well.

There are two things that really jump out. Firstly, my sisters 16th birthday! Oh my, I cant believe that she is that old already we always joked that someday she would be 16 and I would be 32! I am not quite 32 yet but it will happen this year! Mind you I still feel like a 16 year old myself. A 16 year old with a mortgage and bills, but a kid none the less.

But I digress, I received a giant order of Echino fabric in the mail from Superbuzzy, thanks to our dollar being so good I got dinged for the duty and it sat in a customs warehouse for a few days longer than expected. It arrived very behind schedule giving me only 2 weeks to get her quilt done!


So a stack of echino fabrics, bright kona solids, and a quilt plan = happy and only 12 days left! The plan, simple big blocks, 11" squared to really show off the great colourful prints and minimize how much fabric is wasted. Then to add interest, window blocks scattered randomly throughout the quilt. I needed a total of 22 window blocks and thanks to James the math for the wonky and centered ones was very easy...law of smidges be gone, haha! I also made one of Zoe's pictures into an embroidery, her signature image, a robot, I totally love those iron on pencil thingies, to cool, and so smart.


So a few days later the window blocks were done and it was time to lay it out on the quilt wall. The layout went very fast and so did sewing the rows together. Then it was back to "The Workroom" for the back material and batting. With help from my special consultant, James :), we decided on Anna Maria Horners flannels. So soft and cozy, two different prints were picked out, just too many options! Then it was home to vacuum, mop and lay it out. T-minus 5 days and counting! I got it all basted and quilted, just a simple in the ditch straight line down all the rows and around all 22 window frames, both lines. That took about a day and a bit leaving me with only a day and a half to bind it. My Mum was kind enough to help with the finishing up of the hand sewing of the bias tape, I really hate that part so it worked out well. So here it is...she loved it!


So there it is, all done and sadly I did have to part with it, that is always the hardest part for me, selfish I guess! I have some scraps left and I will make my own echino quilt for sure, maybe the same or at least slightly different.

So as not to make this a marathon post, probably already to late....I will simply try to post again tomorrow, with my other highlight's of April. Right now the sweet smell of rain is calling me to go sit out on the porch in the dark with a cup of tea, or maybe even some mint chocolate chip ice cream...or heavenly hash, I cant decide...maybe a scoop of each!

Goodnight, sleep soundly and love the people around you...

Monday, March 29, 2010

hair, hair, HAIR !


I will start by saying, I LOVE MY DOG, I do, but at this time of year I wish that I had an in house maid that would vacuum a couple of times a day, or that Fergus could actually vacuum up his own hair. I cant keep up, and I cant believe that the old guy isn't bald, but he is just to cute to get that angry with. He snores just as loud as my husband, has the softest ears ever, and yes I admit I am one of those people that loves the smell of dog paws. He is happy to see me no matter what and he will listen with great attention to my complaints no matter how crazy and insecure they are. So even though the season change means a boat load of more dog hair everywhere, and that I can pull it out in clumps faster than the brush can take it out, I still LOVE MY BEAST!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Where are the weeks going?

Here we are and nearly April, with easter just around the corner. I had a busy week full of life's big, little, confusing, things, with a little anticipation and worry thrown in. I did finish another quilt! Using my $2.95 a yard Ikea bird fabric, I tried out an old quilt block style called a "snowball". It went together pretty quickly (which having a self diagnosed case of mild ADD) it worked out rather well. After I finished the inside of the topper I decided it needed a bit of something so I added the bright inner border, a vibrant Kona solid, and the larger printed outer border, that has lovely flecks of gold throughout.



I hate the binding stage, I did have a helper though, he is not a very fast sewer but he sure is cute! It does not fail that every time I am binding or laying out a quilt to baste, that I always have the cat and my 80 pound lab Fergus, as my trusty sidekicks, I keep trying to teach them how to baste! No such luck yet.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

I had a thought....

I declare...well I feel anyway, that when we have a day in mid march that the temperature hits 15+, and the sun is shinning, we should all have a mandatory free day!!!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Blogs I love....

This blog thing is kinda new to me, the thing I like the most is just stumbling upon blogs by people that just inspire...here are two great finds.

a real gentleman
full of pure thought...and loveliness...i will try and ice cakes like this...sigh

Is it really March...


This week in Toronto we are having some pretty unseasonal weather...hitting 15+ somedays...it wakes you up a bit and is helping pull me a little out of the darkness I am in. I was poking around the garden a bit and found this little guys shooting out of the ground! Does this mean spring is really here? I also watched the ivy on the side of the house a little, it is home to numerous families of sparrows...they are just to button. I really have to trim the ivy back because it is growing wild but I am afraid of disturbing the sparrow families. In the mornings you can hear them chattering and if you are watching from outside you can some them dancing around and then exit there homes all at once! We have a little side window on the second floor and the ivy is starting to cover the over the space, my hopes is that a sparrow family may make a home and we can watch a little family. Our cat really loves watching the goings on out that window.

happy St. Patrics Day!

To celebrate the day I found a few things green....

Hens and chickens wall art! I love the look of this and I am inspired to try this during the summer on the front porch. I have a very empty wall in need of some green art.

I found this pic on flikr in "ecstaticist" images. Love the macro photography. The final picture of the day is an art installation, green graffiti by artist Edina Tokodi. So creative and super cute! Brought a smile to my face, I wonder how it was done. I love when people come up with unique ideas.

Friday, March 5, 2010

must do this more often...


I walked home from work this week, it was great! The cool weather blew all the crap straight out of my head. On the way I picked up some "Spring -celebrate the season change" tulips. For $5.00 I got a vase full of pretty, must do the walk more often...not a very pretty walk but I put the IPOD on and just trucked it.

Quilt #1 of the year!

I have a few things to record for this week, I am a little proud that at least I have tangible things to put my thumb on to show for the week. Feel free if your reading this to just look at the pictures.

Last week we handed over the memory quilt to a special friend, today is the day it gets past on to the birthday girl. I cant wait to hear how she reacted to the surprise. Here are some poor quality pics of that quilt, I cant figure out how to get good shots of quilts to really get across how fantastic they look, so I just took a close up.

I have a few favourite pictures from the quilt, it was great to learn the stories behind each one, here are my two favourites.

Ann and Lloyd in a field somewhere...in my head I have created a little story that goes along with this picture, I wont share it, create your own. I love the tree line, the newspaper she is sitting on, the sock line he has on his ankles and of course the kiss...everything seems just perfect.
Love it! Just the look on his face gets me everytime...this was there very first date, taken in a photo booth. I think they booth new they were going to be together...the twinkle in both of there eyes and the way he is holding her hand...

On a sad note we lost Lloyd in October 2009....was a very bad year for our families (more on that later) He was, I hate usuing past tense because he is a good man not was. From there first date they started to build a life together, one that lasted many years.

In a fog...

This week just flew by and I really don't know where the time and days went. Sometimes I feel that I wake up wishing the day was over, even before it has begun. This is not the attitude I want to swim through life with.

I guess sadness is just going to take some time to get out of my system. I know it will show up now and again just to remind me of the people that I have lost. I have been humming this song in my head and I was told also out loud at times. It's by the Swell Season and as of the past year they are my favourite group. Here is the song from there performance at Radio City Music Hall in NY.(I was lucky enough to attend!! More on that later)




If you like this PLEASE check them out and support them, so wonderful.

Monday, February 22, 2010

twizzles?

Twizzle, twizzle, twizzle...and doubles in unison twizzles.

Little sleep is happening, those darn Olympics. Ice Dancing finals...our Canadian couple Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir just finished there skate and it was beautiful...I hope gold is on the way, but while they are skating the commentators are talking about twizzles...is that a technical term? Just the fact that they are using the word twizzle makes me love the sport!

more snow day pictures....


patriotic footprints, the outdoor christmas lights are still up

snow...

hello there snow, it's been so long.
where have you been?
have you been visiting other people?
i have missed you so...


your fluffy chubby flakes, that fall like soft kisses on my cheeks,
the way you wrap yourself like a blanket around the city,
your tiny ball like flakes, that glitter in the light.
the way you make it feel calm and quite,


playing in soft fluffy until your nose is cold
inside to warm jammies
hot chocolate with mini marshmallows.
next time don't go for so long...i miss you.