Red & White Quilt Top Completed

I'm very pleased with the outcome of this project & I hope the newlyweds like it too! The size finished at 99" x 99" & will probably  shrink a bit with the machine quilting. The cornerstones were my doing as I didn't want to seam the top & bottom due to shortage in width...they look like 4 leaf clovers, lucky for me! it all worked out & the quilt is now part of their family heirlooms. A gift from my heart.

Sunflowers & Gladiolas

While in Miramichi this week , I purchased some fresh sunflowers at the Sobeys & at the Dollar Store some fake gladiolas. Gladiolas make me think of my Grandpa Haynes, he would enter his prize gladiola flowers from his garden in the London Western Fair for judging. I cannot remember if he won but I do remember how beautiful his flowers were & how after a visit he would send me home with an armful of these beauties. I smile at sunflowers, they're happy flowers & gladiolas make me smile remembering my Grandpa :-)

Project Stone Driveway Complete!

Large equipment looks small in scale to this driveway, but was a welcome sight to see that the work was going to be done.

Bright & early  Monday morning the heavy vehicles started to arrive for "Project Stone". The sand, large stone, & dirt that had filled the very large potholes so beautifully last year had turned into a nightmare of work for me this year. The east coast has had a lot of rain & if it doesn't rain there's night dew & morning dew that coats the green grass, surrounding the cottage, which then will coat the paws of my three pets...then as they walk over the laneway, the wet is now coated with sand...Boris, Tom & Jerry all wear 'sand boots' into the cottage, on my newly installed lament floor. It has been like living at the beach this summer...without the summer weather, sand is everywhere, I even tracked it into the cars. So the only solution that could be had was stone, asphalting would be way too costly on this size driveway.

One side of the hoop lane-way...not complete yet, waiting on the dump truck to deliver more black stone.

The other side of the lane-way completed ;-)

More black stone...last of the loads delivered this morning...that makes 3 1/2 big dump truck loads now.

The big truck leaves & the plow guy comes to push it down level, the lane-way looks beautiful! Thank you to Gene's guys. Looks Great!

Red & White Quilt

Here's the positive & negative blocks that finish at  a 8'' square.

This is two out of the six rows of the quilt, then a 1'' white border, followed by a 8'' red border, I allowed a bit more border as these pillow-top mattresses require more than the traditional length to cover the bed . 

The red & white quilt begins...

Raining Cats & Dogs...

 Nap-time in his basket

Too much camera flashing...woke the sleeping dog.

It's raining cats & dogs...again, there's no shortage of rain here on the east coast. Boris has been napping in his basket, seems like days now & I just let the sleeping dog do just that. The ovens on again cooking up the 'Spanish Bar Cake', the kind that I use to buy at the A&P a few years back. Bill's arriving tomorrow ;-) the cottage is ready,the mowing was done 2 nights ago too! It's going to be a sunny weekend, maybe, just maybe it won't rain.

Wild Life Sighting!

Looking out my kitchen window...this is what I saw this afternoon. The deer grazed around the yard & then disappeared into the backwoods. The return is becoming  regular, I tried to get a picture last time but my camera's battery was dead! I got this photo today...see what I saw!! 

A Pincushion From Orphan Blocks

What a sweet pincushion...it's made from an extra block, left over from a wall hanging I'm working on. The reverse side is another orphan block from another completed project.

Happy Birthday Francis ;-)

Kitty in the Basket

This vintage white wicker planter was brought to the cottage to hold my plant, well I found the plant to be too heavy & the plant is now on the slate table. This planter sits next to my wing-back chair, which Tom, my tabby cat, climbed on then into last night. The noise he made doing it made me look, then get my camera!

Once in the planter he looked out, then...

Tommy curled up & had a snooze in the planter. This cat loves any basket that he can squeeze into. Maybe it was the familiar cat underneath the planter that he feel at home...the cat is wearing his whiskers, yes I save cat whiskers! & when I made the felted mouse, I felted some of Tom's fur into it! 

July Calendar in August!

This was made last year when I was here in July...August has not yet been started. Hoping to get it done before September!

Little Sewing Basket

This is the bag closed & when open, it's like a little basket.

These little sewing bags are gaining popularity with the sewers out here in the east. I was first introduced to it when Robyn Pandolph was in London ON at the LFQG & had hers with her...she then told us it was on her website to be downloaded for free! it's made from 5" squares, yes charm squares. It takes me about 3 1/2 hours from start to finish to complete one. This one is being done for a girlfriend's birthday , to be given by another girlfriend...I'm making a coordinating pin cushion as my gift.  She's Acadian, so this bag was done in the Acadian flag colours of blue,white, red, with the gold star. This one is being bartered for some poutine's! Happy Birthday Francis. :-)

Made With Love

Three years ago when I first arrived at the cottage, I met a special woman named Valma & through her, her mom, Virgine. Well, we visit each other through the spring/summer/fall & Virgine & I  write snail mail through the fall/winter. Last winter, Valma emailed me to let me know her mom fell & broke her hip, so this spring  after arriving at the cottage,  I was visiting her as she recovered  in her 'peach coloured' bedroom...I knew I had something for her. Something that I made for me as I loved the colours & never used it...so now it was meant for her! I presented Virgine with the lap quilt this summer & she just loved it. Years ago she too had made quilts but many were lost in a house fire. I know this New Brunswick winter, she'll be a little warmer with her beautiful peach bedroom with a lap quilt that was made with love from me to her.

Forever Blue Quilt

The 80"x80" quilt top is now complete & I'll start the same pattern in red & white. This time I'll increase the size to a queen, the blocks are 8" so with 2 more rows down & 2 more over it will make a large quilt. It will be stunning in red & white...very Canadian.

Slug's Love Beer!

There's slugs everywhere these days, the shine from their slime are all over the patio stones...so onto Google I went & the smell of barley & hops are very desirable to the slug. So I tried it this morning with a full bottle of beer dumped into a shallow pie plate dish. 

Within one hour I had picked up over 50 slugs coming from all directions to sample the beer...none of them made it to the beer party. I had two spoons & scooped them up for their hot soapy bath in the bucket. I was amazed at how fast they responded to the smell  of fresh cold  beer. I used  Molson Canadian & it works well, I had Coors light but their waist line was not an issue. These slugs were caught within one hour!

The garden is a safer place for Lucy, the cottage garden mascot & my plants :-)