Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Fall Is Upon Us

 It sure feels like the season it is, fall these days. So much rain has fallen, making the leaves heavy and falling off the trees. The wind is changing just to reassure us that it is autumn!

The colours are so beautiful when we drive to town, even in the overcast the colours are there!

The chickens are now doing what we wanted when we got them last May 6th: The last of the Rhode Island Reds has laid her egg! For now, four eggs a day will be the norm, but this will slow down as winter approaches.

Nick & Leslie gave me this for my birthday in a full bag of 'chicken surprise gifts' this is so fitting right now, thank you, kids!

Bill made us a Sunday breakfast of scrambled eggs! They were delicious!!

The colour of the eggs is perfect & the shells are thick and healthy, the girls are happy and Rusty the Rooster seems to be always muttering about something, he is such a good rooster, a gentleman to his ladies, & a hero protecting them too.

I started Liam's Winnie-The-Pooh quilt with Art East Quilting, one chapter a month to make the quilt, this month is Winnie. I'm making two Winnie's one for the quilt & one for a crib quilt.
I'll post when I get them done.
Sew many pieces to get this block done, this block is 19" x 37.5", so perfect for the crib size, just borders to enlarge the end.

This is the whole quilt when finished, there are nine chapters & will finish at 70" x70".


This just makes my eyes swell as a friend of mine recently found this & a handwritten letter from his mother when going through her things after her passing. 
Winnie-the-Pooh is timeless and has no age limit to it. 

Some autumn pics of the property here, it was Blue Box day & the walk to the end of the lane inspired me to go & take these pics to share. This is my favourite time of year, sweater weather. lol

This is approximately halfway down the lane. Where I stopped is where the new garage will be built, this spring 2025.
Such colour always reminds me of plaid fabric!




This is the new garage area and the lane that goes to the house.

We planted a new garden along the lane to add a shot of colour & texture with the limelight hydrangeas.

So many maples that are showy at this time of year!

I have started drinking rosehip tea since the new meds I'm on have me avoiding tea, coffee, & chocolate! I'm enjoying the flavour & my body likes it too!

Bill & I picked these and the jar was full, he likes the flavour as an evening drink.
I picked more this morning so I'll clean them & put them in a jar once they are fully dried.
Well, Bridget, Baxter, & I are going for a walk down the laneway to drag the emptied big Blue Box back home, this time it will be lighter!
Well, I must get on with my day, this was just a post to let you know how happy I am with the chickens now that they're laying eggs!

Thank you for stopping by & I'm hoping you have a wonderful Happy Thanksgiving!
We will be having our Thanksgiving dinner in Chatham, Nick & Leslie are hosting it this year!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Hugs, Cynthia













Friday, September 27, 2024

September Is Exciting!

 It"s been a while since I have taken the time to sit down and visit with you so now I will show you the busy treadmill of my senior days this month.

Our grandson Liam, is named after my husband, his grandfather William. The naming was such a wonderful surprise, I cried tears of joy upon seeing him with DIL Nicole & our son, Mitchell, & baby Liam.

Nicole did not have an easy time with the breech birth & the doctor decided that a cesarian was to be scheduled. The three are all doing very well. 

Liam was born September 5th, 2024 weighing 7lbs 1oz Beautiful baby boy!


He is growing daily, and they send pics via messager.

I made Liam this growing mat from a panel by Northcott and I  made four bibs and a vertical hanging growth chart from another panel from the same collection. 

Ok, that was my great news from the Alberta kids and the new branch on the Richardson Family tree!

Now the the terrifying experience I went through with the chickens!
It was 7:30am early morning and Baxter went crazy at the front door & really wanted out.
I opened the door to hear a chicken screaming for its life! I put my boots on & went after Baxter who had got to the chicken area before me & frightened an enormous bird of prey off of Rusty the Rooster. 
OMG, the bird flew over my head & its wing span was huge!! I had adrenaline running through me & I chased it with a rake flaring it in the air as it sat in a tree & watched & listened to me calm the chickens down, my heart pounding and feeling so bad for Rusty who was the gentleman rooster I knew him as but now he was a hero to his girls!
His comb had been yanked and he was bleeding for about 2.5cm but what I saw next made me cry.
There he sat on a log exhausted from the fight of his life & his eyes opening & closing from that exhaustion. The four hens gathered around the log he was on & held him up with their bodies to warm him and be together, the united flock they had become. 

It looks dark when its wings are down but what I saw fly over me looked like the spotting of an owl!
Maybe it is the baby eagle that the parents were teaching to fly a couple of months ago?
Of course, this is all happening when Bill is working away! I told him what had happened & he said that deer netting would go over the open area. He did install it & it looked great & I feel at ease that the chickens are safe from birds of prey. We thought that the trees would have been protected...we thought wrong and it was the raccoon & fox that I was worried about!
 
The same week as the attack, I awoke to find this in my dressing room! That was a downstairs mouse trap that had no food in it?!! Rexton may be 10 years old but she still is playful and a good mouser!
I screamed & Baxter came running & the mouse then moved its feet & I screamed again & the dog was frantic & barking. I ran & got my gloves & an empty bread bag to be rid of it. 
I placed it trap & all in the bag...what to do next. I couldn't kill it so I took it outside & released the trap in the outside firepit, it ran under debris that was already in it. I told it if it lives it is free, if not then a cremation would take place next burning. What a week!!

I wanted to do something with the chickens' empty feed bags & came up with the idea of making outside pillows making something from nothing, I stuffed it with selvage fabric scraps so it had good weight & will not blow away.

Stuffing it with fabric scraps & if they're mine they are truly scraps! LOL

This was their first feed bag when they were chicks. :) I found the wrought iron chair at Open Door Antiques in Chatham & it's perfect for the pillow!

The empty areas are for the planting of thyme but that will be next spring now. The geraniums did great back by the coop!

This was their 2nd feed bag, I put small pompoms on the ends & lined the inside with bubble wrap & brick for a filler.

My girlfriend Debbie sent a wonderful hydrangea wreath idea & I made grapevine wreaths & cut many limelights to dry for this project next year for us to do.

Sitting on the front porch you only see these limelight beauties now! Those are the three bushes that have filled out.
They are starting to change to pink so I cut many to hang & will do the same with some pink ones next week if all this rain doesn't make them have rusty-coloured flowers.

That clipping didn't even put a dent in those large bushes!

We were at Atlantic Auctions Inc. in Loggeville last weekend I got this maple hutch & table with chairs for $35! Yes, thirty-five dollars!!

The hutch is perfect for storing & displaying planting pots & seeds.

This is the limelight hydrangea bush that was moved there two years ago, it too is thriving!

And the one by the flagpole, well just look at it this year!

I placed the loose bits in the metal bird bowl to dry out.

And hung the other full stemmed pieces from the pole to dry out. I hope this works & it was not too early to do this, time will tell. 

Now for the drum roll for the excitement I had this week...

Henny laid an egg!! Her very first egg was on Tuesday but not in the nesting box, then again on Wednesday but again, not in the nesting box. I took two marble eggs and some lavender & placed both in the nesting box. Thursday she laid her egg in the nesting box and a Reba, the Rhode Island reds laid one in the same box that afternoon!! Two hens lying with just two more to go. 
Since May 6th, this is what we've been waiting for!

I had placed the baking sheet/towel with cherry tomatoes on top of the cat tower, she wasn't using it until yesterday and what a mess I had to pick up. I heard a noise when vacuuming but couldn't find anything that would cause it, and then I saw Rexton playing & chasing something, a mouse again?
No, it was a tomato!


Oh my, it seems my days have such excitement in them these days. What was I thinking placing those tomatoes on the cat tower? Well, last year it was the cranberries & she had them everywhere, so I thought high & out of sight. Wrong. LOL

I also made two grapevine orbs, this one is quite large & I had Bill nail a stake to hold it from the wind as it will sit outside all year to keep the gargoyle company.

It is hard on my arthritic hands to clamp the hog clamper but I had an easier time this year than last so I hope my hands are getting stronger but I was told it is only going to get worse. So I really keep my hands busy! I love seeing artistic sculptures done with nature, it so belongs there and warms the area with interest.

This is the second one, I think I will wrap it some more with the grapevines.

This is the one that I made last year & you can see how the colour of the vine lightens with age.


The paper-pieced dragon was a lot of work but so worth it when it came together!

I plan on putting his name on the bottom & making it a wall hanging for Liam's room as he ages. 

I have been working on the garden door insulating quilts & have the Christmas one done! It's called Hanging Stockings by Lori Holt.

The colour looks drained from my phone photo. I plan on rug hooking small stockings for the presents that will be wrapped in brown paper this year. I want an old Christmas feel to the house, it will also mean less work! 

This pic from my phone is so washed out from the light in the foyer. I will take a proper photo when I have the border on it. It is called Crows In The Corn by Lori Holt. 

You can see that I'm working with bright colours these days to lift my mood. I do feel more comfortable with the darker natural colours that will probably come out through the winter to ground me.

I am so happy you have stayed til the end, it was a long blog and much has gone on this month with highs & lows in my daily living that are moving way too fast for my liking. I think that is why I'm seeing so much about 'Slow Sewing' on Youtube, I like listening to books, and I'm on the second 10-hour tape of Black Ink Heart, one of the Strike series that aired on TV made from the book.

I can sew or prepare meals and listen whilst being read too!

Have a safe weekend this long weekend and I will try to be more proactive with doing my blogs. 

Hugs, Cynthia

























Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Dog Days Of August 2024

 The days are hot and humid, each day in the high 20's Celsius but the humidity pushes us into the 30's making for a scorching & humid day when the sun is out!

Bridget & Baxter are having a sit-down with us under the birch trees.
A favourite sitting spot with our old plastic resin furniture used as living room furniture in the cottage back in 2009, it has been a good purchase from Zellers in London On. 
Back in the day, it was Boris who would have enjoyed a lay down on it on these hot lazy days of August.
 
The limelight hydrangeas are enjoying this humid sunny weather too!

They are bursting out over the wall and enjoying their space with the other two bushes that were moved a couple of years ago. One went to be next to the potting shed and the other is at the base of the flagpole both are doing well also!

The sunporch plants are enjoying the heat in this room too, even with both the garden doors to the kitchen & great room, with its eight windows and full garden door the sun pours through warming this unairconditioned room.
This is the other end of the sunporch, all these plants will have to migrate into the great room for the winter as this room will be closed for the winter season. It is my favourite room come spring to fall!

I pick up my knitting in the evenings & when I can do a row or two, this is for our new grandson, Baby Richardson, who will make his arrival next month. 

His soft pinwheel quilt came out beautiful, Rose did a fantastic job on the quilting of it, she always does such fine work on her longarm quilting frame.

I tried something new with the binding & did it in the cuddle fabric too! I remembered back in the day...yes, I am going old, when it used to be satin trim & the babies loved that soft feel as they were discovering their world through the sense of touch.

I made a sleeping gown & cap for him, I remember changing the diapers in the wee hours of sleep deprivation & found gowns so much easier to get at that task when my eyes did not want the snaps to
align. lol, This gown reminds me of Popeye's Sweetpea. 

 
His room is a soft grey & has Winnie The Pooh black/white photos in it. I had four fat quarters & used them in this design.

It's off to the longarm for quilting, I'll use the soft grey daisies for the binding of it.

I was pleased with how the scraps all came together in the 3-yard quilt design. 

From the leftover fabric from the soft tactile quilt, I made a cot quilt for his wee bed. Rose quilted it together for him as a gift for the baby, thank you, Rose. 

Today I am going to tackle a large dragon paper pieced quilt done in the baby's month colour of the bright blue sapphire colour of his birthstone. He & dad are in the Chinese zodiac, the year of the Dragon, so I thought of this idea for the baby.
It will be a lot of thinking cutting & placing it together & this week is perfect with Bill in Italy on business & Don in Las Vegas with his daughter on holiday. 

These are my colour choices for the dragon & the soft blue for the background. I have been procrastinating on this project long enough, let the day begin as I start to play with the idea in my head & make it appear...photos to follow in the next blog.

Thank you for stopping in for a visit on this hot sunny August day, with three weeks & 5 days until Autumn makes its appearance. Enjoy your summer!

Hugs,
Cynthia


Just the eight pets to look after & the day is mine!