Inpections All Passed!

With the inspections, all passed the tenants are starting to move in.

I've not taken any photos lately but will post some soon.
I've been putting some artwork of my passion, The Group of Seven & Emily Carr, throughout the hallway of the apartment hallway. Bill will install them when he returns from China in a couple of weeks.

The Common Room/ Le Salon is taking shape too. I've drapes to hem for a more custom look as somehow the length was 96" & 84" were ordered, love the internet shopping but returns are a bit of a hassle. I'll just customize the drapes for the areas that they're to be installed. My sewing machine is set up in the Air B&B & I'll get that done today with photos to follow.

Sewing has taken up time too. I've finished the Gnome For The Holidays & have order Christmas cards to be made up with the quilt on front, a Christmas greeting inside & on the back acknowledgement of the designer & her company.

The outer plaid is our New Brunswick tartan & the cornerstones are Boston terriers, my fur babies.

The tabletop that I designed from orphan blocks left over from a Christmas quilt & a Christmas panel that Liz gifted me in the trunk she sent me before she died. I received the trunk the day she died. Some people just leave footprints of love on your heart, she would have loved this design I made.

I also have been busy with an open house for the new business I will be starting in the New Year, called Hardwicke Stained Glass. It is going to be a busy year in 2019!

I'll post photos of a more complete idea of the apartment.
There are still 3 openings, one 2 bedroom & two 1 bedrooms. It will be time to advertise them soon.

Thank you for visiting & sorry for my tardiness! Life sure has been a busy one this holiday season & another 15cm of snow is on the way! I don't like shovelling hence why I like rainy days, you don't have to shovel them! lol

Have a great week!
Cynthia

A Week Of Lows & Highs

On Tuesday morning I was putting out the Boston terriers,  Baxter & Bridget. Bridget didn't want to go out but it was 6am & she had been in her crate all night. Baxter went out & so I bent over to pick up the 23lb Bridget & felt a snap in my lower back like someone hit me with an elastic. I stayed bent & put her out. Then all hell broke loose, I could not stand straight nor could I walk without excruciating pain. I threw my back out again! Something so trivial but I must have bent the wrong way when picking up the dog. My whole day would be in bed with Aleve, ice, heating pad, & tears. It hurt so much & not having any movement without pain was doing me in.
Each day after that got better & better & today I had the Christmas bug bite me!

Let the decorating begin!

 Lucy I & Lucy II are at the front door to greet you. Right now they're covered in snow from the snowstorm that went through New Brunswick today.

 These little lit trees use to be in our parlour in London. They're so at home here in the front foyer.

                          The trees really give off a nice warm light in this area.

                               This is a Santa from the Price Club days! lol

    The great room is beginning to fill with a nice warm red hue!

    I will keep looking for pillows that have a Christmas theme to them. It will make the sofa much easier to sit on as it is very wide.

 The Royal Doulton Christmas Ladies are now in the grandfather clock with dad. I placed mom's quilt next to the clock, there's something about cardnials at Christmas & I do miss not having the real ones here.

 Thank you, Nick, for packaging these, they all made it in one piece through Plaster Rock & Renous!!

       Liz's embroidered cover page enhances the antique toys & furniture.

                                The Christmas joy these toys must have brought to children back in the day.

                                       The Christmas tree with knitted gnomes inside it.

                                                     The Christmas tree with the lights on!

 Ginny the bronze rabbit from Newfoundland, looks at home in the natural setting of berries & cones.

                    Week 2 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas is finished & on the granite coffee table.

                            A knitted gnome in the Christmas tree. Did you know that a proper dress gnome has a red hat and brown coat? I'm going to try to knit one in those colours before Christmas.

 Scentsy has a new melting pot this year. Jocelyne & I were at the craft sale in Baie-Ste-Anne & I spied this sweet new addition to our Christmas decorating. The sweater so reminds me of a Charlie Brown sweater!

I love Jim Shore's pieces, this is a cast iron door stop from his earlier days of designing.

 Don't these flowers look like hexi's? They were left over from the Christmas basket quilt I made last month. I carefully cut them out wanting to use them for something & here they are!

This is where those pieces came from, the inside of the baskets! I need to quilt this together too!
Sew much to do with sew little time.

                          I embroidered the Santa on a sheep during our power outage last week.

 And the sheep border print was a perfect fit for the embroidered Santa! This Santa is a piece that I wanted to do since 2016. I'm glad I waited because it all just seems to come together now.

 With my back out & feeling better this week I was unable to sit for any length of time so I spent time in front of my ironing board preparing the border & cornerstones for the Gnome For The Holiday's quilt.

 I wanted to personalize the quilt so I added in a Boston terrier in each corner wearing a different collar.

 This is my attempt at quilting a holly & berries border to the outside of the quilt.

 I used old fashion white chalk to do my stencil markings. I tried to drop the feed dogs but I did not have the control that I'm used to having so my berries are a little squished. lol

The snow was heavy & the winds picked up now I can't see outside anymore through my sewing room window.

I'm so glad I decorated inside! Oh, the weather outside is frightful & the fire inside delightful...

 I started clove oranges today. The kitchen smells heavenly with the smell of all the powdered spices that the orange is rotated in. Another standing project that I can do listening to the radio or watching programs on my laptop.

I hope the Christmas spirit is making itself felt in you, wherever you are.
Thank you for stopping in & remember it is just 39 days till Christmas, don't blink because it will be over before we know it!

Thank you for stopping in for a visit. It is very snowy here & feels like Christmas!
Cynthia

Not Much Happening This Week

As you probably heard, we had a huge power outage in New Brunswick. Not much happens in rural
areas with no hydro or water. We have no water because the water pump needs electricity.

The trades were off on other projects on the power on days.

With being in the 11th hour & painters returning on Monday, it should finish up what is needed.

Bill installed the foyer monitors in the apartments & the curtain rods, bathroom towel rods & accessories will be installed today.

Oh, the orange outhouse has been removed this week!

See you next Friday!
Cynthia

Stitching Away

This week was one without hydro. I was without for just under 48 hours & today there are still nearly 1000 without power still. The storm on Saturday night put nearly the whole province in the dark with all the down trees on the hydro lines.
I have a generator so there was light, heat, & water for me. Living in rural areas you need to be prepared for these type of long outages.
I stitched & listened to Stuart Mclean & laughed & stitched hours away.

 This Santa embroidery was from Primitive Quilts & Projects 2016 & was one I wanted to do.

I'm still working on this little quilt & will quilt it as I finish it. There's still stems, leaves, & buttons to be sewn on before the binding.

 Then I worked on this sweet piece & added colour to the Christmas items in it.

 Glass beads were added to enhance the holly berries. This little piece is for my sewing room.
I'm thinking of putting the colour of red & green it too with pencil crayons, to enhance the Christmas feel of it.

 Another 12 Weeks of Christmas project done, still not caught up but I should be soon.

                     It fit very well on the goose!

I couldn't find the black knitted toque for the outfit for the goose. The Santa wool hat did the trick.

I took the orphan blocks from the Prancing Noel quilt & put them with the panel blocks that I cut apart. This piece will look great on the marble coffee table, now to get it sewn & quilted before Christmas...

The November block is done, Ho Ho Ho!

Just the border to put around it now. I'm going to put a six-inch border of our province tartan around the outside of the Gnome For The Holiday quilt.

 A sneak peek at a project that I am working on, a project that  I've wanted to do for years.

When it is done, it will be an heirloom piece. Lots to still do on it.

 I found this small quilt that has never been backed & quilted, yes, I made it in 2010!

 Then I thought maybe to just add to the date to update it...

 Then I thought again & added the new date to the bottom to be embroidered, then I'll take the time to finally quilt it.

 A Santa Snack mat! I made it from 2 1/2 inch strips & a 60-degree cut.

This Downton Abbey fabric has been fondled for the past several years & finally made into a project!

It's so nice to see a burst of colour from this Christmas cactus.

With all the wind & it has been 100+ km winds have stripped the trees down to their bark. It makes for a dark day & with the daylight so short, a splash of colour goes a long way.

We're bracing for another storm this weekend, this time it has snow in the forecast.

Have a warm cozy weekend, wherever you are.
Cynthia

Christmas Memories - Past & Future

Whilst rummaging through Bill's shop last week, we came upon Bill's Hungarian grandmother,  Namama's Christmas tree.
I remembered that tree from Christmas' Past, sitting on a side table in her home.
I removed all the crushed & fallen decorations from it, fluffed ou the branches & dressed the tree again. I did not put the electric 'hot' lights back on it.

                             This little tree stands just 30" tall.

 I loved the foil pipe cleaner decorations on it.

 The Santa with his yarn legs & arms reminded me of the braided yarn dolls I made as a child.

 The frosted bell brought back memories too!

               Santa's elf

 These foiled & tissue wrapped candies are a Hungarian tradition. I asked Bill if his Namama ever used real candy when he was small & he told me how disappointed he was when he opened on to find it was just a decoration. lol

 I have placed this memory tree in my sewing room on an antique sewing table that I purchased a few years back in London ON at The Red Door Antique Shop.
I'll take a photo of it in there & share on the Christmas home tour next month.

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This is  Christmas fabric kit that I found at Edge Square Quilting in Barnaby NB.
It was just too perfect to pass up for the master bedroom!

I will have to wait until I have the Christmas presents made, then I shall play with this kit!

The Christmas cactus is being really showy this year, I think it missed me! I'm glad to see it back with me again. It was an inherited gift to me from Margaret Ann many years ago. She had willed me several plants & her daughter contacted me to pick them up as she was not a plant person & her mom knew that I was. Margaret Ann's plants have blessed me with their ongoing life & memory of her.
Isn't that just like a Christmas gift in itself, remembering those that have pasted, and you smile?!

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What to do with kickboxing bags when a breakfast & craft sale is being held in that area?

 Donna our exercise instructor was asked to take these bags down to allow room for the tables

And to stop children from the temptation to want to kick & punch the bags. Problem was...
Bill had used lock-tight on them as they kept opening up with the swinging from the punches & kicking. So Donna asked if she could wrap them in a Dollar Store table cloth & they agreed.

I had an idea... it worked!

Jocelyne & I wrapped them with my quilts & tied them with cable ties at the top.

Dorice said she could have sold every quilt in my collection! lol

The quilts really did add interest to the room & five of the quilts were Christmas quilts!

Each of these quilts from my collection has a story behind them & what I was doing when I made these quilts. So many of my quilts are with friends & family too.
And this 2018 will be that gorgeous gold/yellow/black quilt for my side chair in the bedroom.

Thank you for stopping by & enjoy this season of merriment!
I heard my first Christmas song this year at the craft sale & purchased a few local-made gifts.

Take care as we turn the clocks back tonight, studies have shown people need that hour. I just want to see daylight before 8am!

Have a great weekend.
Cynthia