It has been raining all night and all day. But that's good; it will help clean up the ground. The wetland on one side of the pond is finally free of ice and I flushed a pair of ducks when taking this photo last week. The Peepers are finally making their spring calls early morning. They can sound quite raucous and I read why...the females choose their mates by the volume of their sounds.
Yesterday I spotted these two on the pond so took this photo from a great distance and I wonder if they are the pair that made a nest there last year. It was pouring down rain but they looked comfortable enough.
I took this photo of another movie being filmed in one of the nearby towns, Carleton Place, where we go for Tony's hearing aids. That was the second one filmed there in March. They were using the local butcher's shop in this strip mall. It's kind of fun to see all the crew and equipment it takes for just a couple minutes of film.
Easter this year coincided with Brad's birthday so Beth brought over two cakes for our get together. We've been enjoying cake every night for dessert since.
The birthday cake was a Carrot Cake to die for. Yes and that is its' name. TO-DIE-FOR Carrot Cake. It was huge and heavy and shifted a little during transport. The recipe is found here on Trish's Mom On Time Out site. You will not be disappointed if you give this one a try!
And the Easter Cake was a cake that featured a favourite of mine, Peeps. It is the Peeps Sunflower Cake and the recipe is found here at Taste of Home.
Isn't it neat!
During my last ramble through a thrift store, I came across this sweet baby quilt. The edging was a new design to me and it was so striking, I took a photo to share with you. It added so much interest to a simple quilt made with a panel. Have any of you used this method for a binding? I'm sure it must have a name.
And my own stitching...more Flicker blocks featuring a few pinks, another colour I'm short on.
I'd hung on to this scrap of fabric below with the pretty tulips, debated using it in this project, and then decided it's time had come. You have probably done that very same thing.
I'm so happy the season is shifting even though so far it has been sunless and very wet, the latter I'm hoping will be good for the forests. LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color's prompt last week was if we like spring. That would be a resounding yes from me; spring is a very welcome season here in the Ottawa Valley. The Pussy Willows are starting to open and pretty soon I'll see green shoots underfoot.
I'll leave you with this photo Tony took of the three of us very lucky creatures last year.
I'm sending mental well wishes to you all wherever you are in this topsy turvey world. Try to stay calm while we stitchers ride out this storm together.
The world's oldest known bird, an Albatross named Wisdom, has returned to her southern nesting site for the 2025- 2026 breeding season. She is 75 years old at least now; this is an older video below. She had the same mate for 60 years but she is back this year with a new one. What a wonder!
And did you see there was a little fuss about the Pantone Color of the Year for 2026? It is Cloud White and some are calling it a cop out. White is a huge player in the quilting world that's for sure so maybe it's time to give it some praise.
LeeAnna, Not Afraid of Color's prompt this week is how do we handle stress especially this time of year. I don't do nearly the work I used to for Christmas like writing and mailing Christmas cards and buying, wrapping and mailing many boxes of gifts to relatives and friends. We always lived in remote places far from everyone we knew so it all had to get in the mail by a certain date too. My mind boggles when I think of it all. How did I do it with working full time too. And, of course, all the Christmas baking that had to get done too. And I know many women who were all handling the very same load, of course. But you know, it always all got done. Nowadays, for me, Christmas is a breeze in comparison. How about you?
But when I feel stressed in general, it's a walk in the fresh air that definitely helps. There is always something that will catch my eye and often I'll want to take a photo so that takes my mind off whatever I've been stewing about. Inside the house, my hand stitching is my go to relief. I've noticed that cross stitching, in partiuclar, which requires the counting and close attention, makes me forget whatever was bugging or upsetting me. I highly recommend stitching/knitting/crocheting to help you get out of your head and into your hands, as Kate at The Last Homely House always says.
I pulled out a little Christmas Stitchery called Merry Moose. It's a PDF download at StitchDoodlesDesign on Etsy. We have a lot of moose in Newfoundland to the point they are a hazard driving on the main highway through the province. But they are fun to stitch.
Here's a better photo. I had fun with those winter twiggy trees too and I have to redo one moose's nose; it's too pointy. There are colourful tiny birds to add to this too.
And more appliqued trees and these have a delicious name- Peppermint. At least to me perppermint is tasty; is it to you? They are very easy to applique though the hand embroidery outlining is slowing the process but I've finished too many like it to stop now.
I've been enoying the search for odd pieces of fun fabric just large enough to make a tree.
Here are my thrifted items that thrilled me. There were three bags of what I could tell was quilting fabric there and I picked up the blues bag. After seeing what I have here, I wish I had picked up the yellows too and in fact, yellow is a colour I need more of in my stash, not blues. Could kick myself. But these blues are not like any in my stash so that's a plus at least. I didn't measure but there are several yards of some of these. The bag was very heavy.
And these scraps...
And these different fabrics as well, all good quality. I had fun sorting all this.
So do you think I did good for $6.99? Yes, I should have picked up all three of the bags. Sigh
I've always wanted a copy of Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke's book Material Obsession. Now I have one! $4.99
And there was a shelf of these Australian Homespun magazines; all were pristine, never opened. I chose three celebrating the seasons. $1.97 each
I always think about the like minded owner when I find stitching items like this at a thrift store. And I'm thinking the scraps, book and these magazines all came from the same person's stash or at least, the book and magazines did as they're both Australian. What do you think?
I think I scared some of you last post by telling you how cold it is here so early in the winter season. Thank you all for your concern. Yes, winters here certainly are remarkably cold and coming from St. John's in Newfoundland to here I wasn't used to such winter frigid temperatures. There, it is cool and brief summers and mild winters because of the ocean providing a classic maritime climate. Here in the center of Ontario, far from any ocean, it is just like Labrador west winter weather which I do remember well. The key is to dress for it. And we have all the gear - lots of warm hats, mittens and boots so it is bundle up time if going outdoors. I'm one of the weird ones who enjoys this kind of cold, fresh air and find it invigorating. And certainly prefer it to summer's heat and humidity. (It's the ice storms, tornado warnings and freezing rain here that I really hate.) For the record it was -24 C with the wind chill when I got up this morning; make no mistake, winter is in full swing here in the Ottawa Valley.
I bundled up to put out the garbage and made two trips up the laneway and back with my gorilla cart. I came into the house, into warmth and it felt so good to have worked my body a little in the cold air. Then for a cup of hot Red Rose tea.
I thank you for staying with me on my journey in blogland. Hope you are able to keep cool or, like me, stay warm where ever you are in this great world of ours.
Well we celebrated Tony's 86th birthday in fine style. It was a hot, sunny day and the family took us to a restaurant in a nearby town. We had a feast of surf and turf, oysters, tuna tartar, shrimp and a bread choice I really liked. It was sourdough bread with whipped feta cheese and honey, a concoction I could make at home. It was all delicious.
And Beth made him a wonderful Black Forest Cake so the feasting will continue.
I planted these tiny little flowers for ground cover in a shady spot in the back garden, an area that doesn't get walked on. After a couple of seasons of little growth, they are finally making a much better show of themselves which pleases me no end.
This was a sentimental choice for me as Forget-Me-Nots were Mom's favourite flower. Also Newfoundland has a special connection to this little flower that grows wild there. It is worn on July 1 which is Memorial Day in Newfoundland, a day to formally remember the tragic losses at Gallipolli during the first world war whereby the Newfoundland regiment was virtually almost wiped out. Folks gather at the Cenotaph where the tomb of the unknown soldier from that war is interred. I took photos of it last year when visiting.
There are two Tombs of the Unknown Soldier memorials in Canada, one is the National Tomb in Ottawa and the other is in St. John's Newfoundland. Because we were still a dominion of Great Britain at the time of the Second World War, our soldiers signed up with British forces. That included my grandfather, Mom's father. He was a seaman and the ship he was on, the Europa, got torpedoed. He survived this and was taken to a hospital in England which then got bombed during the Blitz in 1941 and my grandfather was gone. My grandmother had first gotten a telegram saying he was injured but would be coming home so there was much jubilance in the house, then got the awful second telegram with the news of his death. My grandmother, to honour him, never remarried and received his British war pension all the rest of her life and she lived to almost 89 years. ( If she'd remarried, she would have lost it...for a number of decades, they would send a fellow out from England to check the status of these Newfoundland war widows.) So Mom grew up without a Dad and, while always very sentimental about many things, especially so about anything related to the war. Her wedding ring had a circle of engraved Forget-Me-Nots on it.
I've been trying to remember to swap out my small tabletoppers and mug mats. I have them tucked away in various drawers and it seems with me more and more, out of sight is out of mind. Here is one featuring the Disappearing Pinwheel With Arrow block, a pattern new to me.. A little wonky on the sides but not as wonky as it shows here. This was a rare thrift store find...I always look but have found real quilts only a couple of times which I hope means folks are enjoying and keeping them.
The fabric up close is so pretty. Anyone recognize it?
LeeAnna's Not Afraid of Color prompt this week was do we shop at thrift stores, flea markets, etc. Well I guess we all know by now my answer!
Becky at Patchwork Posse has a good video showing how to sew this easy block.
I'm making good progress with machine stitching more of the blue strings blocks. I need five more to complete the forty I need for a yet to be determined design.
The heat wave is continuing here. Very hot with high humidity making it feel like 40C or more at times during the day.
But, my how the garden flowers are just loving it. All the beds are looking lush and this may be why those Forget-Me-Nots bloomed so well. Here the Hydrangeas are overflowing and blocking the shed door in the back yard.
Just a glorious mess!!
Hate to cut them so I'm trying to figure out how to tie them back. Suggestions? This has never happened before.
Okay rambled on so long I've had to divide this post into two. So more to come soon. Hope I've not bored you to tears! And hope your week has gone well with more to look forward to. Take Care All!
Spring is trumping winter-at last- as I write this. I saw our first robin on Sunday last. And the little chipmunk has emerged from the underground winter den, the one I imagine lined with my sunflower seeds.
Just after the snowstorm this guy below appeared acting like this, a sure sign of spring. The flock of females that were with him had wandered off but he hung about showing off, just because he can, I guess. I'm curious about the mechanics of this- being able to lift all these feathers and change certain body bits to different and bright colours is amazing. Nature is always so interesting.
Our bank of ice/snow here at the front door is still there, sigh. It's in the shade so we joke at this rate it might be May before it's gone. Still below freezing temperatures overnight coaxing this thought. It also means we still can't order a new fridge because getting the old one out and a new one in over that snow bank would be dangerous. On the up side I'm getting in lots of steps going up and down stairs to the cold room. I hate talking on -and on, about weather and I know before too long I will be complaining about humidity....
I just read someone's post who shared the 102 hst's she had cut, prepped and readied for sewing. My mind just boggles at the thought of all that measuring and cutting in one go. I am in awe of you folks with your prolific cutting and machine stitching abilities! But it did spur me on to spend more time practicing accuracy machine stitching a few more of those 4 at a time HST's into blocks myself. So much stopping to measure and trim though! But here they are...I wish I'd pressed them for the photo but I think they look okay. I'm going to call this my closer counts project, LOL. I wonder what the name of this block is. I plan to make more in reds for the April RSC colour.
More about my Liberty's Birds, ...I think I showed this one prepped, ready to be stitched down before. I got sidetracked when I decided to swap out this brighter yellow fabric for the beige print I'd originally chosen. Why not go bright, I thought. Such nice easy applique. This is the Bluebird block.
That snarl of embroidery thread there is an example of thrifty me. I keep all leftover threads from old embroidery projects and have several unruly "balls" of them. I pull out the colours I can reuse in these applique projects. Yes, I know these should all be individually rewound onto bobbins or something (which does happen at the start of new projects), but no, not in this house.
Update.. this week I spent a few hours stitching and embellishing this block.
Just need to have a think about the eye, the feet and I also debated adding a wing. Do you think he looks a little bare? This is a first for me... With three blocks basically finished, I'm ahead on this project as per the SAL. Don't think I've ever been able to write that sentence before.
Someone asked what have I been cooking. I seem to be doing a lot of assembling these days. For instance, I put together a massive mostly vegetable soup in the Crock Pot (which I've been calling the slow cooker). I put in carrots, onions, celery, chickpeas, tinned tomatoes, chicken broth and sausage meat from a couple of leftover sausages. It made dinner with cheesy bread and then lunch the next day. And, btw, there are two great thrift finds in this photo below. The tablecloth, brought out for April, is April Cornell and a big find for me several years ago. Love the colours. It's getting that well washed/ well loved look.
I'm forgetting some things (unlike Tony whose brain is so sharp). Here is an example... this Royal Stafford bowl which I'm pretty sure was a thrift find as I can't think where it would have come from otherwise. I would have paid around $3.99 for it. It features many fruit and flower details and an old fashioned English haying and mill scene. I found an identical used one on Etsy for $24 Canadian. So perhaps it was a great find too???LOL
These loon babies look soooo comfortable they put a smile on my face and did you know they are called loonlets, which I find hard to pronounce. I also noted how vigilant the mother was. I'm discovering how wonderful most bird mothers can be...not all of them mind you, but by far the most.
I notice birds seem to be featured in this post. With that in mind I'll share the link to the cutest little chicken cross stitch free design at our generous friend's latest post...Melisa at Pinker n Punkin Quilting & Stitching. She also shares a beautiful Easter quilt in that post.
And it's time to share this video I've had in my queue for awhile...Corrine shows how to slow stitch a little bird. She approaches it like solving a puzzle. This method just requires basics...scissors, fabrics, ruler, needle and thread. Corinne's YouTube channel is called To Be Loved Treasures By Corrine.
The free pattern for this particular bird pattern can be found at Charming TribeHERE. And I think I've seen it in various forms other places too.
I've been puzzled why I feel so much more energetic some days than others. As I've said I keep notes and they don't provide any real answers. I like to be up in the mornings an hour before sitting...that's easy here with chores and Ned but it feels like some mornings I have to push myself. I remember my younger grandmother saying this too. She said some mornings she felt like she could jump over the moon and then others barely move. So maybe it is a natural ebb and flow. What about you?
Easter plans are for a ham dinner. Anything special happening at your house?
I had to give up my quilty table for a couple of days. It sported the thrifted vintage Santa table cloth and displayed my second hand store Petit Point dish set. Both big bargains and well loved by me
I received the annual Christmas planter from Tony's kind former inlaws. They specify it be a plant or two I can grow and it never fails to make me happy. More about the plants later. There is Ned snoozing away in the background.
My retired librarian sister always sends me a book and it is always completely appropriate. It is a treat to receive. Isn't that owl gorgeous!
Below...A present to myself. I clearly have a thing for anything vintage. I adore these pictures so just had to buy this jigsaw puzzle found at Value Village. I'm loving putting together the little scenes. I always listen to podcasts while doing this.
*Someone asked isn't it frustrating if there are pieces missing. My answer is I've been very lucky so far...the most pieces missing from one was 3 and I had Petey here at the time- a piece or two may have flown off with two big dogs running about. One had one piece missing but most still have all the pieces which is surprising. Often the bag hasn't been opened or if opened, you can tell the puzzle has never been put together...the pieces have that brand new stiff feel. Jigsaws seem like a good gift but maybe not for everyone which is why there is always a good selection at thrift stores. This one definitely has been put together before; if I had to guess, many times.
And now to my quilty Christmas Presents project- my blocks are finished and I've started to add white sashings. Here they are on my design wall in the back hall while I consider final placement. I just realized counting them, I think I have four more in the sewing room somewhere...maybe.
The fabrics are pretty...I wish you could see them close up.
Now that most of the Christmas treats have been eaten...
I've watched a number of Instagram videos with folks using those Pillsbury frozen biscuits in the most creative ways. I think I'll buy a tube of the Grands and make them as a treat for Tony. He loves Cinnamon Rolls and we haven't had them for a very long time. Have you tried them?
And here he is relaxing by the fire on this the second day of the new year.
2025 has a nice ring to it, doesn't it. We wish you all the happiest of New Years! And a huge thank you to you who stayed with me throughout my ups and downs of last year. Your words meant the world to me.
It is always a treat to open the kitchen curtain in the morning. I never know what I might see. One morning recently -back when the sun was shining- this fellow was sleeping in the driveway. I watched him idly glance about, yawn and tuck his head back down for a few more zees. I wondered how long he'd been there; overnight would be unlikely as I know foxes have dens. I'm always surprised by how long and thin their snouts are and their bodies too. And what colour! Note: taken from a great distance and this is not the first time a fox has chosen the big garage driveway for a nap.
Two things... #1, I didn't brush them with egg or milk and they were very pale on top but golden on the bottom. If I could just serve them upside down...
#2, I used the amount of sugar as called for in the recipe and these were too sweet for me. But you know who loved them. I will use this recipe again but I will cut the sugar by a third.
That plate is a thrift find. I love it when I spy pink plates which are rare and especially ones with the pretty dense double edge of leaves like this one had. Unique. It is Mason's "Vista" featuring a typical English scene. And what shade would you call that deep red?
I haven't yet shared my hand stitching on this colourful quilt below. This is the scrappy blocks project I'd layered and readied for quilting back in ???
I decided to use a star design for the middle of each of the black blocks. I cut out a cardboard template and used my erasable pencil to outline a wonky star.
I used different colours of Perle cotton to outline each one.
Though I have the stars all stitched now, I quickly realized summer time is maybe not the best time to be working on a quilt in your lap. But I do hope to add more quilting lines outlining the blocks and finish it this summer to have as my very own lap quilt for the fall.
It was too wet to do much in the garden work or sit outside stitchingthis weekend but the best excuse ever to sit and stitch inside.
In particular, enjoyable cross stitching moved along my Pileated Woodpecker. I had a stitchy dilemma about that grey. Somehow the called for DMC 646 had been swapped for a Simply Shaker Aged Pewter. Because it wasn't quite as dark grey as the photo showed, I worried about it. As more stitches got laid I realized it shades darker depending how you look at it. It is more closely resembling the picture than can be seen here so I'm okay with it.
I have had to dress like a mariner to venture outside. Rainfall warnings every single day. Huge downpours, the kind that bring down weak branches and bend over my tall plants. Photos of the mariner and her brown dog next time.
Hope there is something sweet and wonderful in your week!
Easter this year coincided with Brad's birthday so Beth brought over two cakes for our get together. We've been enjoying cake every night for dessert since.
