Window on My World, Fans Finish, Beautiful Ukrainian Eggs

I've turned around my happy chair in the living area so I can face this window and watch the clouds glide by.  I can also keep an eye on the bird bath that is now up and running. So far, lots are taking a drink but only one American Goldfinch and a Robin have availed of a little wash up. 

But as you see, the ice has receded except for shaded areas, and the grass is already showing some greening which always happens surprisingly fast. It is still quite cool with freezing temperatures overnight so I'm holding off on any planting.

Or cleanup just yet.  

SIL dropped us off a little treat to have for Good Friday dinner, a Costco Fish and Chips meal.  It was very tasty and we had leftovers the next day. Costco is putting together more of these meals I noticed when we got inside the store finally after a year or so.

Look what's up on the wall in the back hallway. Yes, Fans is a finish!

I really only had the edging to hand stitch and a couple more embroidered butterflies to add. That did not take too long, one evening actually. Here I lightened the photo to show the butterflies but normally they don't stand out.

Anyway, nice to have another finish for my Done With It All year!

My good friend, Heather who lives at home and I miss,  posted these very lovely Ukrainian Easter Eggs on her Facebook page. She made them years ago using the wax resist method and they are still so beautiful.  And poignant too when thinking of all the troubles in that part of the world. 

I am surprised when I think of how far away I am from the Easters of my youth. Some of you remember too the new bonnets, outfits and gloves to wear to church and the big Sunday. very traditional meal following. 

But still I am so fortunate to live close to the daughters and be able to have family coming over for dinner tonight. We are going very non traditional for Easter and ordering in Indian food. We are all looking forward to it!

SO happy to share this post with the Slow Stitching party at Kathy's Quilts. Also sharing with Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Wendy's Quilts and More, Life in the Scrapatch, Creations Quilts Art Whatever, Home Sewn By Us and Alycia Quilts.

2 In Between Quilt Projects, Raisin Oat Cookies, Tulips For Planting Time

Emily's Quotes- Pinterest

I've just put another pan of raisin oat cookies in the oven. The smell is fragrant.  Make no wonder cinnamon is so prized among spices; it makes anything baking smell so delicious.  

Outside we have had rotating bouts of snowflakes, hail, rain and yes even sunshine all these recent days. There was snow on the ground when I got up Sunday morning...I suspected because the light behind the blind seemed whiter. That bit didn't last at all.  Today we have a promise of 12 C. 

Getting back to the cookies, I used partial whole wheat flour and also ground flax seed. Extra molasses and lots of raisins. I had soaked dates with the thought of   adding them to the dough but decided at the last minute, I had played havoc enough with the recipe. I'm saving them to add to my oatmeal tomorrow. Recipe is here at Sally's Baking Addiction.

Since I had the oven on and warmed up, I roasted chicken thighs afterwards for the meat to use in a curry dish too. Chicken thighs are good for that.  All of it was tasty.

Two IN BETWEEN Projects

#1   I have a few more blocks from my Tiny Trees project to show with the thought of stepping up the sewing of these blocks this week.  I've not kept up the six or so a week I had promised myself that I would do. Need to play catch up while using up scraps.

#2  I did test out the Confetti scrappy quilt block using foundation piecing I mentioned in this post last month. It really wasn't effective for me as I realized right away I do not have enough white fabric. Seems like a lot of cream, off white, etc. is in my stash.  I also wanted to use scraps and not many of my scraps are worthy of fussy cutting like Rachel did with hers that made them look so pretty. In the end, I went rogue and just sewed randomly with the smaller scraps especially.  Perhaps more confetti like in the end as I think of confetti as tiny bits. 

 The pattern is there if I want to revisit it but for now I'm just going to sew more blocks in a liberated style and try to use up as many scraps as possible in the process. The white fabric does showcase the colours well.  This will be a 9 inch square and the thing that really surprised me was how long it took to sew this. Putting it together so it doesn't look like a dog's breakfast takes time. Hopefully,the result in the end achieving an "unstudied, unpretentious, and more interesting" quilt...a quote from Gwen Marsden.

 And another  upshot, I need to buy more fabric!

The ground is softening up quickly. I have tulip bulbs I received as a birthday gift last year that I want to put into planters as soon as the threat of frost is over.

  I can't put them in the ground as the squirrels find them. Of course, they might find them in the planters too but I plan to keep them up on the veranda close to the front door. That may or may not help.

I have two robins combing the side lawn for worms already. They are off to an early start with the nesting. 

The Phoebes are back; it was music to my ears to hear their familiar calls. Migration is such a miracle. How in the world do those tiny birds manage it! 

I'll leave you with a photo of one of the red squirrels.  It was munching away on last years' spruce cones sitting on a branch outside the dining area window. It's a good thing they're so cute!

Hope you are having a great week!

Sharing this post with Not Afraid of Color, Life in the Scrapatch, Texas Quilt Gal, Quilt Fabrication, So Scrappy, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework and Love Laugh Quilt. 

Canadian Spring, A Gardener's Alphabet, Links, Free Patterns, Inspiring Quilts

Crabapple Hill Designs A Garden's Alphabet BOM, pink crayon tinted and embroidered. Blocks all done; assembly required. 😄

 I really don't mind winter; in fact there are many aspects of it that I love. But there is something magical about spring and the way the earth awakens as it were after a long sleep. And all the little creatures along with it. It's all happening right now outside my wooden house in the middle of our eleven acres. I'm taking the time to note it and be amazed at what a miracle a Canadian Spring truly is.

And I'm trying to feel these things below I wrote on this photo with thanks to so many of you who left me such encouraging words in the comments 0n my last post. Sometimes we think we are unique and alone with feeling a certain way which adds to the sadness. It helps to know others are feeling similarly so thank you for sharing your experience and also what helps you to feel better. It is hard to believe that even at my age, I'm still a work in progress. 

This pair is back; I think it might be the same two from years past.

Enough about that. On to other noteworthy things. This is interesting. I'm finally reading James' book and enjoying it very much. I'm finding out that I've been practising a lot of these things most of my life. I do wish I could have had this book when very young. There is a great lesson in it all.

I'm still loving the cross stitching of this piece, The Scarlett House, Floral Motif Sampler. I've made it across the top and down the side a little. It is almost 20 inches across and I'm nearing the half way mark. 

Talented and generous Sarah at A Little Happy Place offers a free pattern and tutorial for a very cute mini quilt for spring. Be sure to check out her bank of lovely patterns with tutorials that include applique and embroidery with the quilting. I especially love when designers do that!

I want to also share this post at Magpie's Mumblings. Mary Anne is stitching a quilt from a photo of an old barn. Her perfect rendering is quite remarkable!

Also Gladi at this post shared her photos of quilts at the New England Museum including several amazing quilts from Barb Vedder of the Fun With Barb blog. So much inspiration; I am in awe which goes without saying. 

Here is just one of Barb's amazing works. I love the idea of using motifs that are personally meaningful to create a quilt.

We finished the last season of Shameless and while some of the scenes are over the top and a bit much, let's just say, we enjoyed following this remarkably scrappy Chicago family and friends right to the end. 

Here is sweet Ned with a stick he very happily recovered from the bottom of the ice free pond. I had to sneak it from him because he could seriously stab someone with that and since I was the only one with him, I mean me. LOL

That's my little roundup for this Thursday. Check out Not Afraid of Color and the gang there who share thankful, likeable things too. Also sharing with Brian's Home Blog, It's A Small Town Life, Alycia Quilts, Creations Art Whatever, Kathy's Quilts, So Scrappy, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts and Life in the Scrapatch. 

Pond in April, To Do Applique Finish, Crazy Feelings

The pond is gradually losing it's icy surface and the water level has dropped. This morning I heard a frog, a sure sign of spring.

Prelude to this comment...I can make my clothes dirty eating an apple; not kidding.

That moment when you put on a brand new blush pink t shirt and remember you were going to make spaghetti sauce for Saturday night dinner and also transplant some flowers so going to handle dirt.  

Took it right off!! Hubby and I both wear aprons...his a manly one, to eat our suppers. 

Speaking of Hubby, he was confused about the flying geese comments on my last two posts. I don't see any geese he said. Where are these geese people keep talking about?  LOL

Not a goose...just got a quick shot of a retreating turkey. The tail feathers are really magnificent. The two females with him didn't appear as impressed as I was.

This week I need to put away the shovels and winter gear, boots, and what not and get out  the spring jackets, etc. Seems like only yesterday I was doing this in reverse.

I enjoy reading Jackie's posts at In the Land of the Living Sky II. I especially like her meal planning, organization and general frugality. Though I know I am not wasteful, I need to make the effort to be more like Jackie. 

My next OMG at the Elm Street Quilts link up involves applique and is a runner I almost finished, also from 2017 or thereabouts. It's Angie's Pots from Angie Padilla Quilt Patterns and here is my favourite of the motifs.

I paused this project because of the space between that pot and the pink flowers. I can't remember what Angie had shown, I think a card, but I didn't care for it. Then I couldn't think of what to put there. So the old thinking cap will have to go on to get this one all done. Any suggestions of something kind of small/skinny that could fit?? To Do this week.

Do you ever get an overwhelming anticipatory feeling thinking about what is on the agenda for the week?  I've noticed this lately about myself. Now I am a loner by nature so outings have always been a teeny bit stressful sometimes. But I wonder if now it is just where we went almost no where for a few years.  Now we are back to in person appointments and get togethers, etc. so have the usual  things lined up for the week. Nothing crazy mind you. But still enough to ramp up my "fight or flight" feeling. I know, crazy, right.

I hope your week is off to a great start with absolutely no angst and only happy thoughts. 

Happily linking with Love Laugh Quilt, Texas Quilt Gal and Life in Pieces. 

Tremendous and Trite Thursday Things From Me

March Moon with planes flying again and UFO, LOL.

 Raining as I write, but Ned and I had a wonderful rain free walk early morning in the cool but invigorating fresh air. Saw three American Robins and two little Downy Woodpeckers while being seranaded by bird song all around. I sat on the skating shack steps, took time to breathe in the air and reminded myself of wonderful things I am very thankful for. 

                         I love that the Indiana Barred Owl live cam is back up and running. I've lost track of how many years I've watched.  She has laid her usual 3 eggs. With the way the male and female hunt and feed the little ones, I'm confident they will all three survive and fledge just like other years. 

Thanks again for all the wonderful comments about helping me sort the border for my embroidered Hazel's Summer Wildflowers.  After unpicking the arrangement I had sewed, I resewed them the conventional way. Since I had both sides heading in the same direction already and was really opposed to unsewing one of them, I did this... I do think this looks okay and better than it was before. I messed up one side there and wound up with a baby goose on one end and a stouter one on the other! Imperfect just like me!

This was my March OMG at Elm Street Quilts and I'm happy to have moved this project along to this point.  Haven't a clue how to quilt it and I'm going to retire this again for the time being. My April OMG will be completely different- finishing an appliqued piece.

I love this mug from The Pioneer Woman. It is Sweet Rose from her Floral Medley line. It has the most comfortable handle, holds lots of coffee with room for frothed milk, and has a pretty colour palette. From Walmart. 

I wanted to show you that planter with the twigs. It's the remains of the Poinsettia I'd taken from daughter's house. As you know, I'd cut it all the way back and it is finally sprouting a few leaves. Someone told me this would not work because commercially grown plants are treated somehow to not regrow. Have you ever heard of this?  I think it is true with potatoes. 

I enjoyed reading this CBC article about Joyce Roberts of Alaska and her bead work. Here are her Dancing Boots she made. I think they are incredibly beautiful. No messing up there!! And that all put the song "These Boots are Made for Walking" by Nancy Sinatra in my head. 

From Low Carb Zen... 

Here at the Wooden House, we could add---what day is it?, what was it we had for supper last night? where did I put my ______?

Anyway, hope you are keeping your wits about you which is no mean thing these days, and enjoying your pastimes. 

As always happy to link with Not Afraid of Color, For the Love of Geese, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Sum of Their Stories and My Quilt Infatuation.

 

All Time Best Thrift Store Find, Scrappy Table Runner, Crocheted Olympic Bouquets, The Beautiful Butterfly's Ball

 Time to share with you all (if I haven't done so already; my memory for past blog items is fuzzy) my very best bargain from a thrift store.  I was told the set had just been brought in from a farm house about to be sold. The sugar was still in the sugar bowl. This is Petit Point by Royal Albert, a pattern discontinued in 1997. 

 I paid $130 for the set and at the cash got a 10% reduction for spending over a hundred dollars there.  I examined the pieces well, checked the backstamps, etc. because it all seemed too good to be true. But to my untrained eye, it looks to be genuinely Royal Albert. 

There are 20 dinner plates and I imagine this was to accommodate large family dinners which is a nice thought. Both my mother and mother in law had Petit Point for their good dish set so I know what these pieces cost. And of course, they are the perfect dish pattern for a cross stitcher too! 

I finished my scrappy table runner- one nights' stitching to sew around the binding, and am pleased with it.  The extra hand quilting is so enjoyable on a small, manageable piece like this. I washed it to remove the washable marker lines and dried it in the dryer. I really like the crinkly kind of feeling hand quilting gives a piece.

And you can see I received my Cobble Hill Dogs jigsaw puzzle and have a little start made. I like to photograph items on this table right in front of the patio door window-brightest light in the room there. 

I saw this article and was intrigued...Hand Crocheted Bouquets at the Beijing Olympics.  Over 1200 hand crocheted bouquets were handed out to the athletes and dignitaries at the 2022 Olympics in Beijing. 

Lucy at Attic 24 has shared a number of tutorials on how to crochet flowers to create wreaths. That link will take you to her post about flower motifs to stitch a Japanese Flower scarf. And here is a book on Amazon that is close to what she could not share for copyright reasons. 

Japanese Crochet Motifs, Volume 4  The scarves are really beautiful. (BTW, Yuletide is finished and put away for the season. I'll show a photo next fall.) 

I enjoyed this documentary about Eleanor Roosevelt while cross stitching on Sunday.

 I love all the First Ladies and I always felt Eleanor to be special. It is wonderful when people use their fame and fortune for the good of others. 

To do this week 

Continue my outdoor fitness...with the trails clearing, I can jog more safely on them. This always makes me feel better physically and mentally...nothing of an exercise nature comes close. Someone asked...yes I'm still enjoying using my Cubii very much. 

Shopping Around

Since Neddy chewed my old house summer sandals which I loved, I must look at ordering a new pair.  They were Crocs, but since so many of you mentioned Keens when I was boot shopping, I'm going to check them out. 

I've been exploring the patterns of Susan Smith, the Australian quilter and designer. Her quilts have been used in movies and her online site is Patchwork on Stonleigh. She has several wonderful new patterns like this one...The Butterfly's Ball. Do you like it?

I remembered I still have the patterns to make Susan's famous Stonefields; yikes!

Garden shopping. I have a tendency to procrastinate and things sell out really fast here and are not replenished...stores move right on to the next seasonal event. So I mustn't let that happen this spring. Does that happen where you live?

Lastly and highest on my TO DO list...Get my OMG for March, the Hazel's Summer Wildflowers hanging, finished. Thank you all so much for answering/commenting on the question I posed in my last post.. It was very helpful to me as I have no stitching friends here to bounce things off. I have worked out a compromise which I'm hoping will be done and ready to share in my next post just in time.

I hope your week is not off to a wintry start like ours. I hope you are all safe and satisfied with your life this last Tuesday morning of March, 2022.

Linking with Texas Quilt Gal and the others joining the TO DO party Linda is hosting. Also linking with Life in the Scrapatch and Inquiring Quilter.

 

Morris Strawberry Thief, UFO Scrappy Runner, A Question, Ugly Gardening Perks

Hello all! The Fur Papa and I are well and thankful to have our health and strength to see us through all our daily activities this week. That there is the first bread from our new bread machine. It worked so well-much quieter than the old and gave us a lovely loaf.

A quick question for you???? With a flying geese border, should the top and bottom be like the sides? I sewed a row together like this and now think it should be the same as the side strips. Is there a rule I wonder. 

I love these Ginger and Honey Crystals packets...a little in tea is nice or just hot water for a warming drink to sip. I believe in the good properties of both ginger and honey ( but have to watch out for sugar no matter what form it's in of course).  We bought a huge bag at Costco.  Also love my Morris Mug.  

I cross stitched this famous Morris motif on navy linen back in 2017 when I was living at the farm. I enjoyed the stitching so much even though the dark linen was a little challenging. The Strawberry Thief. My pattern was from a book I own but you can buy a small kit at Amazon that features the famous bird and strawberries.

I sewed together several table runners last year when I was in a yellow and also scrap busting mood.  I showed you a little table topper I finished using grey and yellow and some hand quilting.

At that time, I also stitched together more scraps to form a longer rectangular runner which has rested in a drawer unfinished since. Its' time has come! It is all layered and I'm adding quilting lines in between other stitching. The black and white polka dot print seems to suit the colourful front and is looking good for the backing and borders. I have a table in mind for this. 

So happy I am able to practice ugly gardening. Many birds find a little nourishment throughout the winter in my garden leftovers.

Including the ever present American Goldfinches whose colour palette up close is so pretty.                                       

We are off to do a few chores, banking and the like. Hope your Thursday is going well too!

Read about other things to like at Not Afraid of Color. Also linking with So Scrappy, Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Small Quilts and Doll Quilts, Love Laugh Quilt and Quilting Patchwork Applique.