down home....

14.5 hours and we are here, something pulls us every year,
to this place of sunny blue skies with big puffy white clouds, red earth and green grasses.

Visiting with old friends, made some new ones,
pulling veggies from the ground by there green tops,
did you know broccoli leaves look silver under water?

Late afternoon drives to the beach, don't forget the tennis ball.
Soon our visit down home will end,
but for now we are content, to sit, to chat, to share a meal with friends,
to watch the sky at night instead of the television, to marvel.

all caught up....

Well after posting my first 14 blocks on flickr awhile back I had a look at the chats that the group was having regarding various aspects of the quilt. After reading one about the size the blocks should be I realized, to my horror, that I had miss-interpreted the book and trimmed all my blocks to the wrong size!! %$#@*! So after a marathon of cutting and sewing I re-did the first 14 to the proper size....so I am back on track and here are my blocks for weeks #9 and #10. Let me know what you think, but I have a new favourite.

Week #9 : blocks #58 and #77


I was so excited when I finished block #58, it has moved to the top of the leader board for favourite block!! I love the orange dog fabric and the best part for me is the way the beagle-ish dog is cropped and looking in at everyone else.

Week #10 : blocks #72 and #111


I am still on the fence about week 10's blocks...like the fabrics on there own, but I am not sure I love them together...hmmm

Hope everyone, is enjoying there summer. At work we just had the annual "Taste of the Danforth", CRAZY!! So now that that is done we are officially heading into our "fall" season! Can you believe it? James, Fergus and I are off at the end of the week for 2 weeks in PEI, I cant wait. I just picked up my new sunglasses for the drive, they should be a lot better than squinting into the sun.

I am a Farmer's Wife...

So just to warn you if your reading this, that this post will be a marathon, and because we are hitting close to 50 degrees here in sunny Toronto, I may also ramble a bit. Blame it on the heat.

So...I jumped on the band wagon and joined my first flickr group this past week, the "Framer's Wife Quilt Along". I must say when the book came in the mail I felt a bit anxious about my ability to make these blocks. It looked like a lot of tricky sewing, and I have been a bit scared about trying anything this involved, but I have to say that it's been a blast! I can really see the progress from block to block as I have become more comfortable with the templates. So, one of my many flaws is, when I decide to do something I go all out and within the first week I had made about 6 blocks! It is also the only thing I am really thinking about!! I have decided to calm it down a bit now that I am caught up to the rest off the group.

So here they are starting at "week one", blocks #6 and #66.

"week two", blocks #83 and #105

"week three", blocks #39 and #85

"week four", blocks #60 and #103

"week five", blocks #20 and #86

"week six", blocks #17 and #107

"week seven", blocks #56 and #69

and at last "week eight", blocks #82 and #101


Pheww, well that's all of em' so far, I love how they are all so different, but they really work together. I am just working through my stash of fabrics, some that I have had sitting around for a few years, and some bits that I cant part with because there might be just enough to do something with.

I hope this post finds everyone well, enjoy the rest of the week, keep cool! Please leave any comments you may have, I am always happy to get them!! Also, check out all the other blocks being made over here.

on all things wet...

I know I should probably be complaining about another weekly forecast with rain in it but, I just cant, I LOVE the rain. This Thursday night, after watching the American Idol finale, yes I am a junky for junky tv, a thunder storm moved into the city. I love the puddles that are made in the street, the sound of the drops hitting the bedroom window, the thoughts of how lovely and green everything will look in the morning. I love putting my feet in my pink elephant print rain boots, and going for a walk under my umbrella. When it rains I think of Gene Kelly...so on this rainy evening I leave you with this video, and if it is still raining tomorrow, maybe it will help put a spring in your step!



We can't control it, so we might as well sing and dance in it! Goodnight.

beautiful day....

Spring is in the air today. The gardens, both front and back, have plenty of things popping out of the ground, I am so excited to see what has survived the winter hibernation! The birds even seem happier with the day. I am always trying to keep busy so here are just a few pics of what I am working on right now...Enjoy your spring day!



I joined the Umbrella Prints competition for a challenge, and let me tell you it has been! I look forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with for the contest. I am still sewing things up even though we are very close to the deadline!

OH MY, has it really only been a week....

Well I find it funny the last time I posted a little snippet on this here blog, was another day of unexpected snow, today is the same. What a week we have had, so crazy I cant even believe it has really only been 7 days of crazy. We both feel like we have aged about a month or so, we need a vacation just to recoup from the stress of this week.

It started last Sunday, when we ended up with our big hairy beast, Fergus, at the 24hr Emergency Vet downtown. After finding blood in a few spots all over the house we discovered that the tumor on his tail, that we had been told to "monitor" had ruptured! Or as James liked to say exploded!! Yep, ick...and after about 4 hours and a really stressful visit with the vet we left with Fergus' tail bandaged up and the thought that we may have to amputate his tail!! Yep, they actually said maybe have to CUT OF my poor beasts tail!! On the Monday our vet gave us a much better prognosis, but it still meant surgery. It was a one day in and out and the poor guy came home groggy and still wagging his tail early evening on Tuesday. We moved the spare bed down to the living room and will be camping out until the staples get taken out of his tail in a couple of weeks.

I am posting a picture of his incision for posterity, so you may want to quickly scroll down if you don't want to see something icky, we find it quite interesting and stomach flipping at the same
time.

It was such a upsetting few days that we both didn't think to get a snap of his tail when it was wrapped up so here it is after we took off the protective bandage. On a funny note, the hairy beasts hair has already started to grow back!

The crazy start to the week was helping to keep my mind of my final driving test, but come about Thursday morning I was really starting to freak out again. When I was young I grew up close to a subway line and never really needed to get my drivers license. Plus, if I am being totally truthful, it always freaked me out. I have had my current learners permit for the last 4 1/2 ish years and had done the G2 test but needed to go back for the final G license test. Well I know it is already to long for a "long story short", but I PASSED!! Thank goodness, I tried to relax while waiting for the test giver to get in the car by blaring Adele's new cd in the car, it worked a bit I guess. Then after about 20 minutes of nerve racking, anxiety causing highway driving, parallel parking it was over, and I felt like I could just throw up from the anxiety!! BUT, it's over and I will not have to do another driving test EVER!!

You may be saying okay well that is not so bad, what are you whining about? Well we also have a two day wedding to attend this weekend. It is going to be a very interesting experience. Neither of us have ever been to a Sikh wedding and we were looking forward to a beautiful and new experience. The anxiety comes in because I decided to wear a sari! Yep, a sari! So yesterday was the ceremony part and it was beautiful, the rich culture, yummy food, warm people and rich colours were amazing. Tonight, is the reception with lots more food and people, and a chance to wear my sari once more.



On a side note I have been up to some crafty goodness...I will post again soonish to share pics from the wedding and to talk about this trimmings contest I joined...

Enjoy your snowy day...

SNOW...it's kinda nice.

Somewhat wordless Wednesday...
Yep today we have snow, which I am pretty happy with. Winter never leaves without a swift kick you know where, and lets face it there are worse things happening in our world right now. Luckily we were a bit lax on getting the snow tires switched out, thank goodness for that. This is the colour we painted our fireplace mantel...I love how the pigments have seperated...I must say the colour was rather shocking at first but now we LOVE it. With the super cheesy electric fireplace insert we bought it looks great. The reno is almost done!!