is this crazy?

Good morning SUNSHINE! Hope everything is well will all of you out there, up to crafty-ness I hope. I have had a bit of a break from all things crafty this week. After last weekends art show I am pooped, and since everyone around me is getting the flew I figured I should just take it easy and have a little break from anything that required any brain cells. This meant a week of watching a lot of tv, some movies, playing some video games with James, choosing the fabric and cutting out the pieces for a couple more farmers wife blocks.

Also, and I am not proud of this last one...scanning the cat! yep, scanning the cat. I have seen these pics in a few places online and thought they look super cool, I wondered if my tiny beast would sit still long enough for the scanner to do it's thing. Well he did, and I must say that the result is way cool, the poor cat, I have now become obsessed! I even have thoughts of grabbing cats off the street to throw them on the scanner, that is not a sane thought! Our little Ollie is a cat we took in, he had spent a winter living outside my grandparents apartment, and you can actually see where his little paws had frost bite and will never fully heal. I also feel bad looking at his front paws, whoever had him first had him de-clawed, which seems so very cruel to me.


Anyway, not much crafty happening here, my hopes are today that I will be able to take a trip to my favourite fabric store in town, "The Workroom". I want to pick up some new embroiderey floss, the kind with sparkles, and I have my eye on a few fat quarters as well. My goal with the farmer's wife quilt was to only use things from my stash, ha, that really hasn't happened. Mind you a stash is ever growing is it not?!

Enjoy today!

two more sleeps...

Well, oh my, the weekend is fast approaching and my hands have actually cramped up a few times these past few days, but I think I am close to being ready for this weekends show. I am going to have a booth again this year at the "Danforth East Arts Fair", and no matter how prepared I think I am I never am totally relaxed, I am pretty sure my middle name is chicken little!



In between sewing and beading and fretting about everything we also had to save a mouse! Luckily the mouse was not in our house (hehe I rhymed) but he did come very close to getting gobbled up by the neighbours cat "tommy". "Tommy" is ferocious when it comes to catching and eating small furry things and we just couldn't let this poor little guy get eaten. I got James to scoop him into a box and it was then that we noticed that the poor little fella had only one eye! His fur was the most lovely shad of grey/brown and his little paws were so tiny. I admit that I did toy with the idea of keeping him, but figured that was probably not a good idea. So we took him down to the ravine at the end of our street and found a good little home for him. Trust me I know that he probably is not much better down there, but I have concocted this little idea that we reunited him with his family that has been looking for him. Please don't think poorly of me, I really don't have the mentality of a child but I was so obsessed with "Fival Mousekawitz" when I was a kid so, yeah anyway.

So if you are in the Woodbine and Danforth area this weekend pop by, it should be a lovely fall weekend in the city. Hope your enjoying the first tastes of autumn! I love the crisp chill in the air, it really does freshen everything up. oh and I do have more farmers wife blocks done so I will probably get those posted early next week.

restless...

Well, I really cant sleep tonight so I thought I would post this weeks blocks. I don't know what it is, I just cant seem to shut off the brain tonight. I'm thinking about next weekends craft show and all that I would like to get done. Also, that I really miss PEI, I just cant seem to get it out of my head this time as quickly. I know being on vacation is different and that you always miss it, but it's more than that. I miss the quite, just the chirp of crickets and the rustle of leaves, and how dark it gets there at night. I miss the trip to the beach at dusk, and the long country roads where the trees have totally grown over, and you rarity of other cars on those roads. I know it sounds crazy but I also miss, the smile on my dogs face after he is totally tired out from swimming, and we have just dried him off with the towels. Even the twinkle in James' eye, that even he is not aware is there. I also miss sitting down at the table for dinner with Grampa, listening to his stories about the days that have passed. My favourite this year was how he walked from Crapaud to the farm in Brookvale in snow that was up to his knees, just so he could see my Nanny. Sure, it was long, but he said the mickey that was in his pocket kept him warm for most of the walk. I know this feeling will subside until we make plans for our next drive down, but I wonder if...ah, I am actually not going to finish that sentence tonight. It is probably what the lack of sleep is doing to me but some things are just better left unsaid.

So it is kind of ironic that this week one of my farmer's wife blocks has a tiny little country cottage in it...

Week 15 : blocks #2 and #40



I am hoping with my next post I will show those of you reading this, some pictures of my most favourite place. Goodnight, sleep well.

More blocks

Not really feeling it this past week, kinda lost a bit o verve. It's probably the post vacation blues, so I will keep it short and just show you this weeks farmer's wife blocks. Oh, also yesterday was my birthday, and I totally cleaned up gift wise, thanks to all my lovely peeps around me. I have yet to snap any pics of the great gifts but I will definitely post again soon.

Week 14, blocks #4 & #44 (isn't it kinda weird all the fours happening? strange!)



So there they are...I changed the layout of block #4, for me i just liked it a bit better this way. Hope everyone is having a good week, I would love to know what you all do to help pull yourselves out of a funk. Like eating chocolate, reading a trashy book, going to the gym...I don't really do this last one but I hear it helps :)

farmer's wife catch up...

So we are back in the city now after a too short trip to PEI. My heart hurts I want to be back there so badly. I love it there, taking Fergus to the beach for swims every night, helping Jen pick the fresh organic veggies...and stealing some for myself throughout the day. BIG SIGH! Anyway the purpose of this post is to catch up to the group. Here are weeks #11, #12, and #13. I am still a bit bad at posting anything on this blog on a regular basis, so my mid year resolution is to at least keep up with the Wednesday quilt along posts. Fingers crossed.

I am also trying to learn new things about the blogging thing and posting to flickr. Man I find it kinda tricky, I have a whole new respect for those bloggers that post all the time and have funky stuff happening on there pages. Phew, just when I think I have it figured out something goes screwy.

Week #11, blocks #26 & #54


Week #12, blocks #1 & #30


Week #13, blocks #23 & #98


As always I would really love any comments you may have. I am finding it tricky these days to pull fabric, can you believe it. It is part sickness that I hate to cut into the big pieces in my stash, but I keep saying to myself, that's what it's there for, to get used!!! I talk to myself on a regular basis it seems, I just hope I am not doing it in public! How do you pick your fabrics? Any tips would be great...Also, check out the flickr group, there are lots of great things happening there.

Enjoy the the last days of summer...isn't the blustery day just lovely? If I close my eyes really tight I can almost believe I am standing in the red dirt fields just outside the farm, munching on a freshly pulled carrot. Dirt and all.

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.