Our little pond is ice free (though brushed with snow again) and already the water level is lowering. We've disturbed ducks there most mornings. Wish they weren't so skittish. I've yet to get a photo.
However, there is no problem catching these active little guys. Look out any window and there they are. I wonder what exactly they find to munch on...other than my sunflower seeds that is.
King Arthur Flour is running a baking series on Facebook called The Isolation Baking Show. It's wonderful to see this return to baking happening all over. I've been tempted to make sourdough bread starter which uses very simple ingredients. Anyone tried it? I used to make it decades ago when I lived in the far north; a friend had brought the starter with her and shared it out. We enjoyed homemade sourdough bread for a couple of years from the starter I kept in a jar at the back of the fridge.
Pam at Heartspun Quilts is hosting a small sew along, about 4 blocks. It begins tomorrow, Friday, April 17. She is calling it Safe Keeping and it will be scrappy with the purpose to make a little mini runner.
I've stitched two versions of Penelope, the block for this week in the Book Club Hand Pieced QAL. Another easy one and I think I will change up the fabrics to make another one. Information about this block and the QAL provided by Kristen is HERE.
I hand stitched two little baskets from Michelle Ridgeway's Basket Case stitch along. I tried out freezer paper templates and decided to use these grey fabrics for backings just for added interest. I've been sticking with cream for so many of these projects; time for a change.
These stitch up really quickly.
I've been eyeing my wool and thinking it's time I got something on needles. I get a real hankering to be knitting or crocheting from time to time. We still have one of my afghans on the bed. Someone- sorry, can't remember who, chatted with me about toile and I mentioned my red toile curtains. Here they are.
Hubby has been pruning the trails and clearing brush in the afternoons. Though it tires him, it's good to be in the fresh air, moving the body and keeping busy.
And hopefully burning off some of the calories from his Christmas chocolate stash!
It is not unusual for us to not know what day of the week it is or to not have to be anywhere for three days in a row. But even for us this is going on so long we are in a suspension-like state I'm calling forever Saturday.
So this happened...the virus is now in our little town, notably one of the senior's homes has been hard hit. Since the virus is in Ottawa and the surrounding towns, it made sense it was here too. Just a matter of time. In the meantime, we are comforting ourselves as much as possible in our own little wooden house bubble. The only thing we can control is how we spend this time so we are doing our best to keep busy and sort of productive. A new puzzle and just look, no snow in the back yard as of today!
Pussy Willows have blossomed...this too, weeks earlier than last year. I'm surprised because we haven't had that much warmth or sun. And the two days of flurries this week didn't dampen their opening. I hope to get out and about more with my camera in the coming days. Ducks are on the pond again and I would love to get some photos.
My time this week has been spent on two projects mostly. It is nice to look again and up close at the pretty fabrics that went into the baskets. I chose this photo because I loved to see a ray of sunshine last week. I'm using Sulky variegated thread in pale pinks, blues and creams to hand quilt a line around each. I'm working on the fourth panel now.
Meanwhile I downloaded a new basket pattern. This one offered for free from the talented and generous Michelle at Michelle Ridgeway Designs. She is calling it Basket Case and I got the bright idea to use it as a way to use up scraps. I shrunk the pattern till it was 4 inches and got out my tote of scraps. Didn't take me long to figure out I did not have enough scraps large enough to accommodate even this size. However I did find this little pile in an old biscuit tin so I could start with these but maybe not as I think I readied these squares for something else. That'll come to me later. Never mind, I've got lots of fabric and perhaps this week will be a beginning for this anyway.
I finished another Flower Garden block from Melva Loves Scraps free pattern. I'm using freezer paper and a ladder stitch to join the pieces. I changed my mind about red centers and am testing out yellow. These are scraps from a deconstructed shirt and are a very pretty shade of yellow. Or maybe different coloured centers for all of them. Decisions.
My second turned out better because I didn't pull the stitches quite as tightly. When hand stitching, I'm conscious of keeping a certain tautness to make sure the cloth will hold together in the end. Mustn't overdo it though.
It is Easter Sunday; this whole weekend was very important to us when growing up. A lot of church going was involved and it kind of marked the official start to spring. Today I hung up my Spring project from the past, In the Garden of Contentment...patterns by Allie at Allie Oops Sweet Happy Life. I plan to hang a couple more this week.
Google is playing me lovely violin music this morning and a ray of sunshine is trying to break through the clouds. I lost some sleep in the middle of the night worrying about all the wrong things so I'm going to soothe myself a bit just for now with the right things. Basic but comforting.
It's comforting to have all the folks heading this battle working together; our prime minister and the provincial premiers are sharing and offering each other all the help they can.
I especially like that the prime minister has twice now addressed the children of our nation and funded extra services to help any in distress so they can have someone to talk to day or night. He has also increased funding to women's shelters knowing that it is not only the sick who need extra help in trying times like these.
I love that a Winnipeg dad made a Lego version of Prime Minister Trudeau's speech to the children.
I liked that our Queen addressed us. Ninety-three now and still doing her bit to buoy spirits. She sported her 1897 turquoise and diamond broach, inherited from her grandmother, to signify survival through hard times. I bet there was much discussion about that pretty aqua coloured dress she wore too.
We heard the peepers in our wetland area for the first time several days ago and spied the first frogs in the pond three days ago. Could they have hatched under the ice? This is almost a full month ahead of last spring. It seems especially wonderful to see the earth come alive again. Spying three kinds of birds under the feeders was joyful to me. Can you name them?
Update: Florence at Buzz and Flutter tells me there are two kinds of birds here, male and female goldfinches and male and female purple finches. I thought the striped brown birds were one of the sparrows.
Birds inside coming together. I have my own complex method of organizing pieces. LOL
I love seeing bits of green peeking through the mud even as there are banks of frozen snow here and there.
Spring will be a real season this year it seems, unlike last year when we skipped and moved right into summer. I'm enjoying rambling around the property with my camera. Mitts Free! Itching to rake but want to let it all dry out first and allow whatever critters have hibernated during the winter get away first.
I made another block in the Pieces From the Past stitch along hosted by Melva Loves Scraps. This block is often called the Sailboat or Schooner Block; in this case it is the Mayflower Block.
And here is version 3 of Louisa, the Book Club Hand Pieced QAL Block. My version 1 was not bad, version 2 had a pucker where the six points meet that I couldn't quite get rid of, so version 3, also slow stitched, got made just to try it again. I like this one.
I heard that the Lion in the Living Room video was giving problems opening internationally. Here is the same video on YouTube. Secret Life of Cats-Details You Didn't Think To Ask Did you know that when cats walk, their hind paws step into the same print made by their front paws? I can't help it; these kind of facts amuse me. 😊
Sunshine warming our shoulders lately so April has been kind to us. March went out like a lamb; it had come in like a lion so, for once, the old saying stood up. Look at all the leaves revealed now down that trail.
We had our grocery order delivered by SIL. Hubby watched the video on how to handle it so we got him to drop it at the bottom of the front walkway. We used rubber gloves and removed it all from the bags, put it in my own bags, then wiped it all with a bleach solution and rinsed well in water. I plan to make a cabbage and carrot soup tonight and I wondered if boiling would kill this virus. So many questions about it.
It's turned out to be a great time for stitching projects with loads of sew alongs and free patterns cropping up around the net.
I downloaded the pattern for this block at the Melva Loves Scraps Sew Along and made cardboard templates.
It's called the Flower Garden Block. I love the pattern and am working out how to handle those y seams while English paper piecing. I'm using freezer paper.
This particular video made by Linda Franz was a help. She is also a fan of freezer paper templates. I find I learn something from each of these wonderful sewists who offer these videos.
Hand quilting around the baskets is taking up a chunk of the evening stitching time. One panel is completed and I'm halfway around another of the four.
I checked on my linen order and sure enough, the little company I'd ordered from is temporarily suspending business, as one of you had mentioned. But they had refunded PayPal so all good. I've since repeated the order with a company that is now dealing in only online orders and following Corvid 19 practices.
Murphy got a new bed for the bedroom, one of those supersoft furry warm ones. We thought it would be nice for her old bones. She loves it and occasionally takes a day time nap there which she never ever did before.
I used to read a lot of biographies; maybe trying to figure out my own life, looking for answers. Find behaviours I could adopt or patterns I could follow. In particular, the women. This week I've watched two interesting videos, one about Anne Lister (all Annes are always so smart!) and this one about one of my favourite poets, Edith Sitwell. Both these women defied convention in times when it was socially daring to do so.
But Edith's words were meaningful to me and I did finally arrive at my own great conclusion.
Our concern has heightened just a bit with the news that the virus has hit a nursing home just one town away from us with 4 people infected. We were going to do the grocery pick up this week but have decided SIL will do it for us. Basically we are not going off our property. We are so fortunate and grateful to have our space to walk and roam and more than enough hobbies/activities to amuse us in the house.
With that in mind, we intend to maintain our twice daily walks. We both enjoy the fresh air and Murphy can't live without them! I intend to keep using the elliptical trainer indoors for a little fitness boost as it's a bit icy underfoot outside for jogging just now.
Though wet yesterday, there was a definite smell of spring in the air (you know that earthy wonderful smell!), more of the paths snow free, birds chirping and the chipmunks and red squirrels running about. Life in nature going about its business as usual which is always wonderful to observe.
Here are some specific things I hope to accomplish this week.
I plan to make a list of my projects on the go and those that are in the queue requiring quilting. I can think of four including my cross stitch/embroidery currently being worked on. I also want to list those I would like to start next as that is kind of fuzzy just now.
Return emails to friends to catch up with them.
Make nasi goring for supper with the left over roast beef and some of those brown eggs. One of Hubby's favourites...Here is the recipe I usually follow. (I use a little sriracha sauce instead of the terasi.)
Finish reading this book which I finally received as an ebook from the library.
I reattached the walking foot to my newer Singer and am running quilting lines in the blue scrappy strings blocks. I can work for about half an hour without aggravating that one muscle on the right side of my back. My aim will be to have this all done this month, the quilting part I mean. That would be a good OMG for the Elm Street Quilts link up. I would love to have the baskets all hand quilted too but that is labour intensive slow stitching so I can't promise myself that.
Yes, that is the instruction manual there as I had to do a little machine maintenance adjusting the top thread tension. On this machine, that involves screw drivers, albeit, little ones. :)
Louisa is the next block in the Book Club Hand Pieced QAL. She features that pesky 8 points meeting in the middle thing which made her a tricky one. Here is one version; I intend to make another to work on that accuracy. Oh I should have snipped off her dog ears for her photo.
I found this great video from Wendy's Quilts and More very helpful for dealing properly with these points.
I have an interesting group of projects on the go, some with challenges which is a good thing. I love them all and that never changes for me...as in I usually almost always love what I work on. And that's what it's all about isn't it...spending our precious minutes, hours and days doing what we enjoy.
I was thrilled to have a little flock of American Gold Finches visit the bird feeders a few weeks ago. They are just starting to brighten up a little by the looks of it. The males will be such a beautiful lemon yellow in a short time. Taken through my kitchen window.
Week 3 of self- isolation and all's well.
The season is striving to change. Raining heavily as I write but with all the freezing rain we get here, there are banks of hardened snow and ice that will resist. We are still wearing our cleats as the trails, tramped down by us, are icy in patches. That's the underfoot news. Above, we've been enjoying warmer temperatures for our walks, occasional sunny breaks that I insist we put our faces into. How good to be alive and feel the warmth out in the fresh air.
I have joined Melva at Melva Loves Scraps for her Pieces From the Past stitch along. I was intrigued by her stories and being such a sentimentalist, love reading about the past and all the old things. This little block appealed to me so I downloaded her free pattern and set to work. The Lost Goslin'. Another great one for me to machine stitch and practice preciseness. More blocks to come and Thank You, Melva for generously sharing.
Being Sunday, old habits kick in and I have a beef roast thawed to make a cooked dinner- mashed potatoes and vegetables. I am going to try Rock Recipes recipe for Perfect Yorkshire Puddings to go with the gravy. That got Hubby's attention! I wonder will mine look like Barry's. He put a recipe for Peach Compote there too because popovers are not just for dinner.
I showed you my Year at Hawk Run Hollow cross stitch pattern I was hoping to begin. My fabric has yet to arrive (sigh) which is worrisome. I keep thinking I must check on it. Meanwhile I've picked up an embroidery piece that really should be finished after making a small start two years ago. It is a downloadable pattern from Nancy Nicholson called Bouquet Sampler.
And here is what I achieved so far. Thought I'd start with the leaves. The fabric I chose is not dark as this photo shows and has butterflies here and there which I thought appropriate for this flowery piece.
Thank you all for the kind remarks about my Pandemic hair do photo in the last post, It is definitely minimalist but I'm liking it.
Staying home means staying safe for now. Make sure to heed whatever advice your country is providing. Some of the best medical minds in the world are leading this fight.
Happy to link this post with Kathy's Quilts and Love Laugh Quilt.
Well, I don't have to ask because I know the introverts and the stitchers especially are faring well with our imposed isolation. The sewing machines are being given quite the workout these days. Including mine.
But for today I'll show my hand stitching results.
Final look at my scrappy Log Cabin in the Woods piece which is all finished. This was a goal to finish as declared at Elm Street Quilts OMG for March. I hand quilted diamonds in the bottom using a masking tape guide and decided on a starry, starry night for the sky.
A fun piece to stitch by hand. (Yes, it is a lot of stars but can you have too many stars.)
It's covering the top of the trunk in the t.v. room for now.
Here is Jane, another block in the Book Club Hand Pieced QAL (hosted over at the Elm Street Quilts) joining Evelyn there. I fancy Jane Eyre in more muted colours, hence the greys. She is an easy block; a great one to start with if you'd like to give hand piecing a try.
Here are a few links I've found to keep myself amused. Hope you like something in the group.
I received loads of questions and emails about the hair cut. There are many videos on YouTube of how to cut your own hair. I liked this one as Carmen really took her time with the process. I had no problem with following along. I also used number 6 attachment on the clippers.
And here is my spare bathroom selfie; the light is surprisingly flattering in there. I put on a little makeup for you. No two hairs on my head are the same length but the great thing about hair is that it will grow! My hair continues to thin in the front so perhaps this is the length it should be now.
Why am I wearing a scarf with a turtleneck? Nothing to do with fashion. This is a worsted wool sweater which I love but is kind of itchy. The scarf prevents my neck from itching. 😄
How to hand tie a quilt...certain quilts suit this method. Jordan's Quilts made an excellent video of exactly how to do it properly and done in this manner, would definitely secure your layers. The little ties would add an old fashioned charm to a quilt, I think. At the Jordan Fabric site you can find a very nice bank of free patterns for all sorts of quilting projects too.
The Fat Quarter Shop has this free downloadable pattern for the Carolina Lily classic vintage block I mentioned in the last post. Someone, sorry I don't remember who, asked about a link.
Many, many of you are ardent cat lovers. I like cats too. This documentary on household cats is fascinating. I learned so many amazing things about cats, like what they can do with their bodies to prevent injury when falling from heights- things I'd never heard of before or dreamed that cats could do. It is a CBC Nature of Things episode.
I showed a photo I'd taken of a bunny in our back yard recently.
Multi-talented LeeAnna in this post at Not Afraid of Colour shared a watercolour painting she had made of it.
Check out that post to see a large version of her painting which really shows her details better. Her Snowbunny is so beautiful! Thanks LeeAnna!
We must try our best to stay positive and do our best to listen and follow the advice of the health experts. I'm impressed with all the stories about community spirit that are emerging and of course, so thankful for all the health care workers, including my daughter, who are on the front lines.
