Feelings, Stitching Progress, New and Fun YouTube Channel

 March, someone said, is the triumph of hope over experience...not unlike second marriages as somebody else said. So here we are cruising along through the month and I'm going to ignore the major snow and ice storm warning we have on the horizon. Perhaps it will not materialize; they've gotten these predictions wrong before. However, just to be on the safe side, I've filled both tubs in case we lose the power. 

The way down through the big woods path has opened up and I've been taking Ned there adding a further loop to our daily walks. He's been loving all the new to him smells down there.

 It's wide open to the skies there just now but soon millions of leaves will begin to emerge and close it all in.

 I watched a falcon fly overhead one day which made me smile and yesterday I heard a Phoebe' s unmistakable call...spring!

Indoors I'm feeling good about how I'm moving along several stitchy projects. Like my cross stitch piece, Quakers In England. I'm enjoying laying these tiny stitches. It's so satisfying to complete a little design. Sorry, I just can't seem to get a good photo of this that shows the true colours. That red is a cherry red and there is lavender there too. 

And I've been meaning to share this for a while...today it is then. If you'd like to try a Quaker cross stitched piece yourself, The Fat Quarter Shop offers this sweet Little Quaker ABC by Susan Ache project for free. 

And more of the Basket Love bottoms have been appliqued too. I'm enjoying choosing the fabrics for this. Two more thrifted men's shirts in this lot. Can you guess which two?

Tony is eager for his appointment on Monday and I'm really hoping we will get some answers. He is weakening steadily...he has to take rests while getting dressed and I now have to take his boots off for him. But I admire his fortitude...he continues to follow through on most of his routines no matter how much longer they take him or tire him. I could only hope to have such resolve if I felt like him. 

I don't particularly follow politics and I never talk about it here on the blog.  But after much consideration, I'll share this bit of news and for a couple of reasons...knowledge is power and it's something else worrying me and as you all know, I do share my feelings here in this space. A friend visited one day with sad news of Canadians getting harassed at the Canada/US border to the point of them turning around. There are many living in border towns who have been crossing for decades to work or do a shop and have dinners in Ogdensburg, NY, for instance. We have done that ourselves. We all found the news depressing and worrisome too. We wondered where is this all going. There just seems to be so much more unpleasantness generally in the world these days. But then a country always has the right to defend its own border whichever way or whatever form that might take. So be it I guess. 

It's making me think I should move back home to Newfoundland...being an island there are no borders. :) And that reminds me, we are following a couple who are starting to homestead on an island off the coast of Newfoundland, yes, an island off an island in the Atlantic. We have watched all Matty's past videos of him crossing the Arctic Circle in a boat he built himself and of his time living in the Labrador wilderness too. He is an unbelievably resourceful and hard working fellow. He met Kelly on an alpaca farm in Virginia, US- of all places, and fell in love. They are genuine and sweet together...and providing just the kind of entertainment that's needed in the world these days. And Ned is envious of the life Ronnie, their dog, is living too. 

On that bright note, I'll leave you today. Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and your stitchy fingers are flying!

So happy to link up with Kathy's Quilts and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

Two Quilt Patterns I Won't Be Making Right Now -But Would Love To

We had a fresh 2 cm of snow overnight Monday. In the morning it was -2 with a windchill of -11C but it didn't feel as cold as that when I went about my chores of filling the bird feeders and putting out the garbage. This morning it is the exact same wind chill so we'll see how that "feels" when I go out in a little bit. Our annual spring problem is the snow off the roof fills in our front walkway and we never get direct sunlight in this area to help speed up the melting. I had to use an ax to create steps in the snow that hardens during the overnight freeze ups. 

I still have my Deliveries box at the bottom there as I really don't want folks trying to climb the stone steps at any time of year but especially now.

Anyway, let's focus on how the season is moving along. Below is what I think is a juvenile White Crowned Sparrow I photographed in Amelia's backyard last week which gets full sunshine all the time. The light in her little house is always lovely. I was amazed by how this one blended in so well with the early spring frozen ground cover, I almost missed him.

In my internet rambling I found two quilt patterns I would love to stitch right now. I had to hold myself back from giving each of them a go. 

One is a Jen Kingwell design and I know you think of bright multicoloured fabrics when Jen's name comes up. But this one uses much more subdued shades and is a pattern I think even I could put together. It's called Sunny Day.

Here it is at the Fat Quarter Shop that offers the pattern in a free PDF form.

I subscribe to Rachel Hauser's lovely Substack Stitched in Color column and she recently made a gorgeous log cabin quilt that I fell head over heels in love with. You can take a better look at her finished version there...Rachel's Scrap Cabin Quilt. Rachel is a real pro at using scraps beautifully. 

But with only two hands and hours in the day that seem to absolutely fly by, I must stay strong and stick to finishing what is here on my plate right now. 

And I am pleased with how my own present projects are moving along. More of the stars and hexagons have been prepped and stitched. I'm cutting my diamond templates out of old calendars and flyers.

And it's really fun to stitch this appliqued border for one side of the Baskets Love project too. I love this chocolate and camel woven fabric that is so soft to handle. I'll try to get a better photo of it. 

On a completely different topic, I've been meaning to ask...are any of you ordering from Temu? I've not yet as I'm not sure I trust it. Items seem ridiculously cheap even in Canadian dollars. But I did watch a lady on YouTube who shares what she buys from there all the time. It appears like she is getting mostly amazing bargains.

Tony was just on the phone to the local hearing aid folks inquiring about how to get one of his hearing aids fixed. He had to repeatedly ask the girl to speak up as he's hard of hearing and his hearing aid is broken.  ha ha

I used to think of March as a very long month, but this one is zooming by. Is it just me feeling like this? 

Happily sharing this post with The Inquiring Quilter, So Scrappy and Alycia Quilts.

Stitchy Gift, Applique Projects, Free Patterns, Update

The ground is starting to get that in between seasons look...grimy snowbanks and patches of old grass showing through here and there. Freezing temps overnight still and it was -14C here yesterday morning for a windy walk with Ned. They keep promising warm ups that don't happen. I gave my Geranium a deep trim-all my plants are getting a little "leggy" as they reach for the precious light. You can glimpse our snow free gravel driveway here so the sun is working it's magic even if the air is cold. Yah!

We went to Robbie's last hockey game of the season, part of their tournament. They won their game which was fun. They've played together well in the Under 13 league but some of the players will be moving on to the next league in the fall so it will be a different team then. His Dad built him a marvelous backyard rink again this year and he spent hours on it practicing...great exercise in the fresh air. 

I cooked a roast beef dinner for us on Monday and we had leftovers for Tuesday. I got the beef at Farm Boy and it was good. We are not big meat eaters and I always worry we are not getting enough iron. I did a little checking online. I was reassured to see that nuts and dried fruits can help in that regard. I keep dates, prunes, apricots, and raisins in the house most of the time to have with cereal and oatmeal as well as little snacks. Apparently they are fairly good sources of iron. 

I did get a photo of the oven roasted potatoes and carrots I made to have with salmon one night. I'm trying to include fish in our diet once a week. 

That's a spinach and kale salad with lots of dressing for Tony and he said he actually enjoyed it. 

This week I"ve been working on prepping more of the Liberty's Birds blocks. The Cardinal and the Bluebird have been readied for stitching...mostly. These are large pieces and not fiddly at all to applique. Just like the Everglade blocks that were fun to hand stitch. 

And I also prepped the side panel for the Baskets Love project. I took a photo but for the life of me I can't find it.

💓  I got some lovely stitchy mail from Magpie's Mumbling's generous Mary Anne. She sent me her grandmothers set of the Canadian provincial flowers stencils. Looks like they were the Aunt Martha's set which was so familiar to all us older folks. I was able to order the American version from Amazon and am looking forward to embroidering these pretty flowers. What a great summer stitchy project that will be. 

The Jolly Jabber is a fabulous site for us stitchers to hang out and ogle lovely projects of all sorts. It has several sections of free quilt patterns. I enjoyed looking through the one labelled Vintage and Classic Quilt Patterns- the link to that is HERE.

Update on Tony

We got a second opinion report on Tony's CT scan. This doctor confirmed everything from the first fellow but also noted what he thought was a slight collapse in a small area in one lung. So we have an appointment with a respirologist on the 31st to check that out. We also sat down with our GP and had a good talk. He brought the conversation around to something we had not really thought about. And that was should Tony have an operation, one that requires opening the chest, even if the specialist thinks so. I guess there could be ramifications for recovery, etc. in light of his age. He favoured the idea of waiting three months, having the scan again to see if the tumour will grow. That certainly gave us food for thought.

I am enjoying seeing your photos of the pretty early spring flowers appearing in your necks of the woods. Please keep them coming. Mine will definitely be a while. 

I hope all reading this are having the best kind of weekend, one with treats and stitching time too. 

I love the wonderful link ups at Alycia Quilts, Quilting Patchwork Applique, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Creations Art Quilts.

What I've Been Up To The Last Four Days

 We had it very foggy with wild wind and pouring rain here in our corner of Ontario this weekend. There was a fog and rainfall warning -there are always weather warnings these days it seems. It is still very gray and windy this morning. Ned and I were sorry to see so many of the trees have lost branches. The white snowbanks are littered. But it is an old forest here on the property and we have to have these March winds to bring on those May flowers...eventually. The path along the left fence line always floods in spring. It's the spot where, with one step I went up to my thighs in icy water one spring. Though a pretty walk normally, I don't venture down that one when it looks like this.

I've been busy in the house and actually did a lot of sorting of old stuff in the basement. And "stuff" it was. A lot of things came down from the farm with us that probably should have been sorted then. There are the 9 bankers boxes of Tony's old business papers that came with us, for instance, and have still never been opened.  He just might be ready to have rid of them. 

I've been stitching too. My Queen has her crown.

I caught up with several of my favourite flosstubers while stitching yesterday. That includes, Country Stitchers, Deb and Liz, who share their love of all things flossy. And for you American stitchers, they host a lot of fabulous giveaways. 

That is my cross stitch basket there for toting the current project and this bad photo is actually showing the true colours of this motif. 

 That reminds me of all the practicing Princess Elizabeth had to do before her coronation ceremony. The crowning crown weighs almost 5 lbs so there is a trick to keeping it balanced on a head especially when it has to stay there for 20 minutes. 

Meanwhile,in my mundane life as far from crown anxiety as you can get, I've also been adding to my EPP stars, steadily turning them into hexagons. I'm still mostly working on the February Blues with a couple of March yellows in the mix. These are fun slow stitching too. You can see lots more lovely yellow stitching over at the So Scrappy weekly party. 

I am so sad to see the Crabapple Hill Studio folks are retiring. I've stitched many of their projects over the years and am currently stitching their Snow Day project. I did take advantage of their sale and downloaded five PDF patterns...no paper ones left at this point. The link is this one Crab Apple Hill Studio PDF if you'd like to check out those. Btw, I bought these online one after the other which triggered an alert with the credit card folks. I spent twenty minutes this morning in a telephone queue before speaking with a very nice lady that helped clarify the situation and release the hold put on my card. She told me it was the small amounts plus number of transactions in a row that caused the issue, just a heads up there. 

I put on this audio book to listen to while I pinned another Liberty's Birds block.  Alice McDermott's After This and I am enjoying it. 

It was a 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Families are seldom easy it seems. I read one of Alice's books back awhile, really enjoyed her interesting writing and then forgot about her. In my old days, that would never have happened. 

LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color asked, in light of St. Patrick's Day, what is our favourite shade of green. I had to think. I don't wear green very often but I use it a lot in various stitching. I actually love all the shades ranging from the sages to the deep forests. I love trees with all the leaves and the needled trees too. When I lived in Canada's far north on Baffin Island, I really missed trees and all the beautiful greens they add to a landscape. 

Hope you had a good weekend and your week is off to a good start too!

And it's good to share...joining in wonderful linky parites at Songbird Designs, Kathy's Quilts, The Inquiring Quilter, Life in Pieces and Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

Videos, Norma's Baskets, Best Free Pattern, Birds are Back

The trails are providing all the workout I need these days. With melting and overnight freezing (-15 windchill -glad I wasn't out there), they are slushy, bumpy and narrow in places. Like walking a tightrope which is good for my balance. But I've had to take a ski pole along as I really don't want to turn an ankle. On the up side, the slightly warmer daytime temps mean less clothing is needed which is enjoyable. And surprise, surprise, the song birds are singing. Last Saturday, early morning, when I was gathering wood at the back basement door, I heard the unmistakable sound of chirping/singing that stopped me in my tracks. I stood listening in awe. How nature surrounds us with moments of beauty and is so uplifting. 

Spring Sunshine on my indoor plants makes me happy too. At this stage of the long winter, they are all survivors, LOL.

Been keeping busy moving a couple of projects along. I'm still machine stitching Everglade blocks together and "faired up" as my grandmother would term it and I find this part of quilting soooo boring. I spent the better part of an hour one day arranging these, and no, this is not the final arrangement below...I did take a photo of that. 

I also have this project from Norma Whaley at Timeless Traditions which was a gift to me years back. I had a start made on Basket Love, one of her basket quilt patterns, which involves applique so will stitch another now and then.  I have this many bottoms stitched to date. These are fun. 

 And when I just need something to keep the hands busy, more scrap sorting gets done- this latest by colour. I keep expressing bafflement about how many scraps I have but it is something that does amaze me. I really haven't made that many quilts with that much fabric.  

I've been more impressed with what many of you are stitching. For instance, a lot of beautiful arrow stitching has been occurring around the web for the Project Quilting Follow the Arrow challenge. I've enjoyed seeing the imaginative projects and in the process found a link to a free pattern that I really like. It is called Anita's Arrowhead and the link is there at Quilting Daily. And Carol Thelen has a YouTube video of exactly how it is formed which is absolutely brilliant! You have to check this one out. This colourful quilt shown here really appeals to me. Do you like it too?

I was happy to see the Cornell Labs folks have Jim's Indiana Barred Owl cam up and running. I notice work has been done to further secure the box to the tree and also fancy stitcks at the entrance for the young owls to perch on. The female has already laid two eggs and the male has been fabulous in his duties keeping her well fed. It is always interesting to me to see what she eats..so far a rodent and a crayfish. I check in most days to see what they are up to and fingers crossed it will be another successful breeding year for these beautiful birds. 

On that hopeful note, I'll close this post. Enjoy the rest of this week... 

Linking this post with wonderful linky parties like the one at The Inquiring Quilter, Alycia Quilts, Quilts Art Whatever, Quiltery, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and My Quilt Infatuation.

Stitching Challenge, Liberty's Birds, Food Hack, A Little News Too

So what's new at the wooden house. Last weekend our fridge died. It came with the house and is old. I've moved things down to our freezer and the tiny drinks fridge downstairs. And this house came with a cold room intended for wine (our little joke is how ridiculous Tony's monthly box of wine would look in it) but now has come in handy to house most of the fridge stuff. Actually I'm quite settled into a routine of going downstairs with my basket for whatever I need in the kitchen. Logging more steps is a good thing so I've not been in a rush to get a new fridge. And they really would have a challenge getting it up the front steps which disappeared under all the roof snow. Anyway, we have ordered a new one to be delivered in a couple of weeks when, hopefully, most of that snow will be gone. 

I've been stitching on a tiny scale lately. I kept thinking I would like to try higher thread count fabric like so many of my cross stitching idols use. In my new determination to make Sometime Now, I ordered a small piece of 36 count fabric to cross stitch the England Quakers piece. But with the caveat that if I couldn't manage the tiny-ness of the required stitching I would not get down on myself and happily pass it along to another stitcher. So I began with a little trepidation and what do you know, I am doing just fine with it. Here is my first little motif...one I substituted for the St. Georges Flag, the flag of England. I'll see if I can fit that in somewhere else. 

I want to honour the late Queen with her own little pattern and this one features a crown so will be just right. 

I found it in my Brenda Keyes Ultimate Sampler Motifs Source Book which is proving to be very helpful for switching out tiny patterns. 

And I am managing this without eyestrain-so far- thanks to my Ott light and its ability to go to a third level of brilliant light. 

And here is a better photo of Tudor Bee finished. 

This pattern is one of a Tudor inspired series from The Blue Flower. There is a Tudor Ermine, Goat, Swan, Maiden, Hare and Hound. HERE is a link where you can look at these gorgeous patterns. 

I've also been stitching more EPP Stars in yellows, March's colour at the So Scrappy challenge. This was taken from my stitching chair in the tv room. (How many quilty things can be spotted here?)

Tony's spot is at the further end and Ned's is this end, close to me always.

And I've started to make the applique patterns for Barbara Brackman's Liberty's Birds Block 6 which features a bright yellow bird. 

 I saw a hack, as they call them, for how to upgrade Cinnamon Roll Grands so I gave it a try. You just have to carefully unroll each bun and add a mixture of dried fruit and then reroll. I used cranberry, raisin, ginger and lemon bits. It added more flavours and worked well. Will definitely do again with maybe a little butter and brown sugar mixture added too. If you cook for someone who has a sweet tooth, then these make a very quick little treat. 

On a personal note and as promised...five days after Tony's CT scan, we got an email from our family doctor. He forwarded the results which consisted of three pages of examiner's notes. We were both surprised by the thoroughness such a scan can achieve. Every organ had been examined from different angles. The worrisome news-it did reveal an issue in his right lung- a tiny tumor about 1.3 cm. He now has to see the Lung Cancer Clinic folks to determine treatment, if any. Initially we were both naturally upset but then realized we needed to adapt a wait and see attitude because we don't know what we are dealing with of course. And in a way, Tony feels vindicated for complaining so much about feeling tired, an issue that appears to be worsening by the week. Thank you all again for reaching out with kind thoughts and suggestions. We both appreciate it very much. 

So happy to be able to share this post with wonderful linky parties like the one at Kathy's Quilts, Songbird Designs, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

March Quilt and Slow Stitching Update, Food Chat Too

We had a snowfall warning yesterday which didn't materialize and now are under a rainfall and freezing rain warning. The ground is still very frozen so where will the water go is the worry. I'm hoping it won't get as icy as we have had it so often in winter. Turkeys from my sewing room window...

Yes, I've been busy in the sewing room stitching more of the Everglade blocks together. This project is entering its second year? but I'm no longer berating myself about timelines. My stitching world is just for me, myself and I and the three of us are fine with it. ;)

 And I've been choosing fabrics and cutting out the initial templates for Liberty's Birds. I notice the original photo showed mostly the primary colours in solids were used. But I don't have many solids so I will have to use more prints. The yellow fabric below is gorgeous and I do want to use it for the Yellow Goldfinch. 

How many of us said prayers at night before going to sleep, I wonder. I know I said a prayer every night that Mom had taught me. I don't know when she stopped listening to it but I continued to say it long after she stopped hearing it out loud. At the end, I would always add family names for God to bless. I came across a sweet cross stitched version of it at This Etsy Shop. Past Pattern Palooza is a great place to visit...lots of familiar items us older folks would recognize. 

It's thought this prayer originated in 1698!

 Meanwhile in my cross stitching, I'm finishing up another of the bees. This one is Tudor Bee and I'm enjoying putting in the finishing stitches. I wanted this one completely stitched before my new start which I'm itching to begin. 

Wanda over at Exuberant Color shared her lovely Tilda Whimsy quilt. Such a neat and simple pattern and perfect for showing off pretty motifs in fabrics. The free pattern is found at Tilda's World; actually I think that is a link to the pdf of it. How generous these fabric designers are!

For tonight's meal I'm trying out the Easy Baked Spaghetti recipe from the Feel Good Foodie. I love when you can eliminate pots and pans. Since I'll have the oven on, I'm going to try the roasted potatoes recipe I saw on Instagram. You just put potatoes, olive oil and an envelope of dry onion soup mix all together and bake. It's been years since I've used this soup mix in a recipe...I used to make a chicken recipe with it that was tasty. I'm going to be adding carrots to this as I have some that need using up.  I'm making this much food because with a freezing rain warning we might lose power. Always good to have leftovers in any case. I'll let you know how these recipes worked out. I love to read about what is cooking at your house. 

We are almost finished the latest batch of Raisin Buns or Biscuits or Scones, whatever you call them in your part of the world. 

I used my old recipe and they were fine, a little dry maybe but we eat them with butter and jam so that helps, washed down with tea. I cut back the sugar as always. I don't know if that affects dryness; you wouldn't think so. 

Well, I'm eyeing the weather out there trying to decide about a walk which I badly need. Should get it in now, says Ned, who knows what the afternoon will bring. Good advice.

Hope you are warm or cool in your part of the world and your stitching fingers are flying!

Sharing this post with The Inquiring Quilter, Sew And Tell, Creative Crafts, Alycia Quilts, Days Filled With Joy, My Quilt Infatuation and Quilts Art Whatever.

Art, Sunny Stars, Ned News, Comfort Soup

 From reading blogs, I'm quickly realizing I'm not the only one thinking February flew by. The weather outside my windows is back to frightful so nothing is indicating a new spring like month. Here March is an in between month anyway and can go either way, keep us snowbound or bring on rain and melting. Weather is not that important to me. I would never move somewhere just for weather though I might avoid some areas because of the kind of weather they have. I don't think I'd do well where there is high humidity a lot of the year, for instance. I wonder is there a place on earth that does not have acts of bad weather/insect/animal/civil unrest/gun issues, etc. challenges. 

I love The New Yorker iconic covers. This one below is the March 10, 1980 one-the artist is Eugene Mihaesco who designed more than 70 New Yorker covers. This looks like a watercolour piece, my favourite art. 

I enjoy their online site where you can find many interesting things such as podcasts, cartoons, do the daily jigsaw puzzle of these covers and also a crossword puzzle, all for free. At this link, The New Yorker, you have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to find these items if you'd like to check them out. 

I've been doing some prep for my ongoing projects. Lots of diamonds and some in yellows for my EPP Stars. My side work table in the tv room. I am so pleased to keep using up scraps for these.

Two finished. Yellow is definitely a sunny colour.

I've started tracing the templates for Liberty's Birds. In the spirit of sometime is now, I've gotten out the fancy freezer paper that I've been hoarding for years, to press into use. I'll share the fabrics I've picked out next time. Among my quilting books is this one below by Kay Mackenzie. I sewed a number of these simple flower appliqued blocks a while back. Kay has a book of wonderful teapot applique blocks that I love. You can take a look HERE.

We took Ned to the Vet yesterday for his annual checkup. He got three shots; the only one I can easily pronounce is rabies. He also got his medication to take monthly that prevents heartworm, ticks, etc. (Wish there was a medication for humans to repel ticks.) Ned was so good but we had a long wait and then both the practitioner and the vet saw him and he became very, very stressed. They were tied up with an emergency and operated on a dog to remove an athletic sock, a big one, from him (second time having to do this!) and there were a lot of stress smells in the air. Poor Ned! I took him outside as soon as they were done so he could have a walk about before getting in the car. He slept all afternoon and is still low key this morning. 

I have my crockpot out to make a pea soup with leftover ham. True comfort food on a windy, wintry day. I plan to make tea buns later this afternoon. Comfort food is still needed...how about at your house? What would be comfort food for you?

I always add chopped onion and carrots.

The Alberta Clipper that arrived overnight making March blow in like a lion is still making the wind whistle around our windows. Sounds worse than it really is so Ned and I are heading out. 

Hope your weekend is going great!

Also great to link up with amazing linkie parties like the one at Songbird Designs.