Winter's Coming

Wow it sure is getting cold & the winds by the water intensify the 'bone chilling' cold. As Margaret our secretary would have said  ' Puts colour in your cheeks'. lol
My felted hat is very warm & the wind doesn't get through it.

The faccia & soffit's & vents are now done. I was told that the insulation was placed next to the old vent...and it must have been hot sleeping upstairs in the summer. I used the term ' like sleeping in an attic' - makes sense now. Next year is going to be a great year, the house is breathing again.

The new shed looks great too & Home Hardware made it right with me by having the siding installed for me. :-) It's really coming together here & now I'm to leave. It really does feel like I had no summer
as it was full of 'getting settled'. Like I said before...next year is going to be great!

Well I started the Storm at Sea paper pieced wallhanging & what a job that was...

 It's done in three pattern blocks that come together. The largest block is 5" the smallest block is 2 3/4" & a rectangular block, 24 of those needed!

 I'm glad I've a photo copier, it's low on colour ink but it's just the black that's needed to copy the pattern pieces.

This is what it should look like when all put together...

And here is a glimpse of what I've accomplished so far.

 Rectangular & 5" blocks...
But wait there's more!

 The small blocks are now done too!

On the left are the borders to be added & the blocks need to be sewn together, right now they're on my audition wall.
My sewing studio is so cold as it was originally the mudroom & has no insulation or anything under it. I'm wearing wool socks & slippers & it's just too cold to sew in there anymore...until next year in the spring when I return. And what a great year that will be!

In the evenings I cover myself with my warm wool rug & hook. I've now started to add the design to the borders edge...the quilter in me is coming out. lol
I put 2014 on it because I know it will not get finished this year! It will great done next year & what a great year that will be...

I know why are eyes are set in front of our heads...so we can look ahead! LOL

Have a great week everyone, mine is a sad one as my summer adventure has come to an end & I must go to southwestern Ontario to winter. High efficient forced gas heating & three fireplaces are waiting for me, much warmer than an electric baseboard heated cottage right now. But the fun I had this year...I can't wait till next year but I mustn't wish my life away. One day at a time.

My bags are packed...I'm not ready to go on that 16 hour car ride.
Bill laughed & said he's going to have to start sedating me to get me back in Ontario. LOL

JOY - Paper Piecing Done!

The paper piecing is now put together in this small wall hanging that looks like a placemat. It was way too much work to have it on the table! the borders are a labour of love, each block & there's 12 per row! finish at 1 1/2"! I was pleased at the effect when each block was joined.

This project was a kit I brought with me in the summer of 2009, it's now off my UFO list AND...

I was able to make three from this one kit. Connecting Threads always has such generous kits, for example this 11" x 18 1/2" wallhanging  was mostly done with fat quarters & with one fat quarter you were to cut one 'J' or the tree trunks at the base of the trees. So with so much fabric left I just pushed it to make three! The backing was from left over fabric from other projects. 

You could say it put the JOY-JOY-JOY...down in my heart, where? down in my heart! LOL

Gives me a bit of a Christmas head start on gift giving too!

  

Where? Down in my heart! Speaking of heart, here's a pet near & dear to mine...

 My handsome 'Little Man' Boris Loree, is taking on such a mature look these days.

 I just love the look of him & hope to capture him on canvas one day.

 So I take many photos of Boris Loree, to capture all his markings, my handsome ' Little Man'.

 I've been working on the rug hooking in the evenings, AND wow does it ever get dark fast now!

 I added the stars to the ground because that's how they hang in the sky on the east coast! When I'm back in Ontario in the populated city of 365,000 people, I don't see the stars the same as here.
I also added the sun & blue moon, in my world if you have 'the sun, the moon, & the stars' you have it all, so this rug shows it all!
I also added a rooster as I was born in the Chinese 'Year of the Rooster', that could explain why I love the mornings so much. The rabbit was already printed on the Lib Callaway design & that was perfect as my husband Bill was born in the year of the rabbit! I'm working on the pineapple that I added, a pineapple is the symbol of hospitality, so it's next to the house. I'm doing both wool strips & Briggs & Little yarn on this rug.

My first acrylic painting is now done & tomorrow I start a new project on flowers. I'm going to do a rose & apply the techniques that I had been taught this summer with rug hooking. I just love how colour & design lend themselves to one another.

Summer sure has come to an end & the trees are getting bare & I can see into the woods for the first time. Fall is upon us now.
But when the sun shines here it's still so beautiful & the air is cool & fresh as you inhale the Fall air it into the lungs, it's rejuvenating.

Hope you too are enjoying the Fall days...wherever you are.

Thankful Thanksgiving :-)

My Thanksgiving weekend started a week earlier with the arrival of Mitch, my son from Calgary. The 'Call Your Mom' son. He came for a week visit & was so busy with making things good for me. He started the day after his arrival & never stopped till Thanksgiving!

He also surprised me at the Moncton Airport with a gift for my birthday/Christmas...a Pandora bracelet with three charms! the mother charm, the Canadian Maple leaf ( very near & dear to my heart, Canada. When I raced in the USA with NMRA, I was known as 'The Maple Leaf Lady' as my fire suit was white with a large red maple leaf appliqued on the front & my Mustang race car was also white with a large red maple leaf on the hood.) the third charm was St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, I was there a few years ago. Wow Mitchell surely caught me by surprise, I never thought I'd have such a beautiful bracelet! He also told me that it was to be from him as I'm so hard to buy for & told all his siblings that they were NOT to buy me any charms. I'm one that is hard to buy for & he knows he's good for years to come with so many choices of charms to choose from.   

Mitchell, you never stop surprising me!

 Well Mitch's first day of vacation was fixing that sub pump hose that I sucked up into the blades of the ride on lawn mower!

 See that nasty spade, that's the one that I tried to jump on & fell off of!

 He dug...

 And dug...

 And dug...

 The trench was now dug

 Oh my, what a job that was & one less thing 'to do' off his dad's list!

 I had a couple of tree trunks removed, it's hard to mow with them & the spreaders sticking up!



Well here begins the shed project...

 The materials are delivered on Tuesday, yes Mitch has just repaired my sub pump hose & gets into the construction of the shed.

 He begins digging again, there's a country song called Dirt - it's so Mitch!

 He knows that he can't dig that much...

 He calls on help from neighbour Deli with his big back hoe & has two trenches made to put the cement blocks down. Boris watched Mitch the whole day!

 The floor was down & by Wednesday night three walls were framed. Thursday afternoon Bill had arrived with Nicholas. Nick had a very swollen infection in his elbow, it had spread to his arm & hand & he was on heavy antibiotics. The hospital in Brampton wanted him on intravenous antibiotics but he wanted to see his mom in New Brunswick! Nicholas did just that, God love him, I know I do!

 Bill changed into work clothes & had the fourth wall up, that would be the wall with the garage door, the man door, & the window.

 Looking good!

 This father & son team are pretty dynamic when put together!

 Nick was feeling bad that he too could not help. Friday morning I took him to the Miramichi Hospital & he was put on intravenous antibiotics as the staph infection had now developed into cellulitis - he was swollen from his elbow to his finger tips! & was to have intravenous antibiotic done every morning till Monday morning, the day he would fly back to Ontario. He was also told to keep his arm above his heart, when not in the sling & to take it easy!
My ribs were still hurting a week & a half later so when I had Nick in the hospital, I tended to myself & had x-ray's done to find out that I had fractured my ribs & my iron count was no longer low but too high!  I hadn't taken any iron pills in months. Good thing I had asked for that blood test or I would have thought it best to keep my iron up while I healed my ribs.
So with Nick & I both out of commission with helping with the shed, Bill & Mitch went to work.

 The roof was now on...

 The weather this Thanksgiving weekend was beautiful!

 This is our laneway to the cottage, 700 feet long, to get to the top. The colours just make my heart sing, I love it here!

 Look at the laneway, what a greeting to come home to -  with the blue sky & the water too is so blue they meet each other!

 Did I mention...I love it here!

 The shingling begins & it too is looking good!

 Door & window look good too guys!

 They take timeout to wave to me!

 Sunday was our Thanksgiving meal.

And Mitchell worked up an appetite for this feast!

 Nick did his best with an infected arm & the good arm with a IV stent stuck in it.

 He did eat all his veggies though, rare pic for sure!

 Bill was just happy to be back at the cottage with me. I do miss him, hope all goes well in Germany sweetheart! then he's off to China & then next month will fly to Moncton to drive me back to Ontario. You see I'm never with him anyway, he travels so much. I've found my oasis here in New Brunswick, all is good in my world. :-)

 The garage door is now on! it was too high for me so Bill installed a hand pull for me. At being 5'2" I'm vertically challenged with most things, I don't feel like I'm that short though. lol

 With the shed project done as far as it can be...the Home Hardware missed ordering the four corners for the siding!! so the siding will have to be contracted out at my expense! Bill & Mitch could have had the whole shed done, I'll be having a chat with Home Hardware. I went there three times to make sure everything would be delivered & everything was ordered as I explained to them that I only had three days to construct this shed, they understood & reassured me everything was done. NOT...

 Well, Thanksgiving Day everyone was to fly out, Mitch back to Calgary, Nick to Brampton to get ready for Durham College & to get healthier, & Bill to travel with them to Pearson Airport then he'd take a flight to Germany later that night.

 I'm so pleased with the new shed. Everything has left the side deck & is neatly tucked into the new out building.

 The boys with their mom . :-)  This picture is taken in front of one of my favourite tree next to the new shed.

 Very thankful for our time together, it will be Christmas the next time we're together again.

 The love of my life!


I had a very thankful, lovely Thanksgiving at the new cottage. It hasn't even been a year since the purchase of this cottage was done & so much has been done inside & out!

I hope everyone of you too had a Thanksgiving that makes you smile when you think of 2013's Thanksgiving.

 It's wonderful the way life just keeps evolving for our family, never a dull moment that's for sure!