Memory Relapse

This has been one of 'those moments' that I will not forget too soon!

Sandy & I were on a fun girlfriend day & the day after I was filling in my purchases in my spending book ( Gail V. from Debt Do Us Part, started me doing this habit) when I looked at the receipt there was an item of 5 hooks,  'what did I buy as 5 hooks, that cost me $16??' I racked my brains out trying to remember but the only thing I could remember was I lost my white knit tam in that antique mall.

I called Sandy at work & asked her 'what else did I buy?', she could not remember either!
So I called the Antique Mall to find out they did find my tam! & didn't know what I had purchased other than 5 hooks as stated on the invoice.

Lucky for me Bill was home & enjoys touring with me, so off to Strathroy we went to retrieve my tam & to solve this mystery of the 5 hooks.
I asked what booth I had purchased the '5 hooks' & went to see if I could remember, well I wasn't in the booth for long when ... OH YES!!! the antique rug hooks!! I forgot to even include them in the last post too!
Here are those beauties that I had forgotten about. Oh my, good memory, just not long! lol

 These two had the wooden handles & I was familiar with them...

 This one puzzled me...

 Till I pulled it out to find three very small hooks. What would something this small be used for?



The fun of the find was when I was leaving,  in a locked glass cabinet I found this hand carved Scottie, look at the detailing in fur & the wee collar.

Such a sweet face too!

I'm going back to my daily SUDOKU again, how frustrating when you just cannot remember something that you'd done & had no memory of it! This memory relapse has been embarrassing/frustrating too! Rug hooks!! Who would have thought! LOL

Antique Finds & Girlfriends

The past week has been one of fun with girlfriends & antique shopping.
I love to view all the past through viewing antiques...what's getting to familiar is me voicing 'Oh we had that'. I guess I like to look back at 'those good old days'. lol
So much more simple without all the technology, even today as I phoned for my hair appointment the stylist had to say wait till I get downstairs to write your appointment in the book. How did we manage with the phone attached to a cord...I know you were lucky if you had a long cord & that too would be stretched out as far as possible for mobility! lol
The first trip was with Deb & Bev at the One of A Kind Antique Shop in Woodstock, what fun we had viewing everything!

 With Easter coming & the arrival of Aunt Alice from Montreal coming for Easter, I've been thinking of all the Easter Decorating I could do. After seeing two vintage rabbit napkin rings, Deb found me two more on another floor! The Woodstock shop has three full floors of goods, I've still not made it to the third floor! How sweet are these bunnies that will grace our table.

 This brass beauty will be put away for Christmas, it has such a lovely ring to it too!

 My pie bird is no longer alone, I found a white one! It's just like the one I broke, I'll be more careful this time.

Then in booth #800 I saw in a locked cabinet this wee beauty. I asked to view her outside the case but the key that was left for that booth did not work. So I had to leave without her, I left my name & phone number & on the weekend Bill took me back to Woodstock to retrieve her for my own. She's going to go so well with the Civil War quilts & accessories I plan on making.

How sweet is she?!!

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Then it was time to get focused again & to get Mitchell's quilt off the rug so Bill & Nicholas could move furniture back into the room.
I sewed what felt like all day piecing the rows together.

The center & the outer sash are all together now. The outer border has been laid down but the top & bottom are short by inches, so now I have to get creative for the filler. I'm thinking 1/2 square triangles done vertically. Pictures to follow in the next post.

Here's a sampling of my creativity to fill two missing blocks for the 6" square. Mitchell loves the east coast so I put two tall ships in. This block took 36 pieces to fill in the 6" square to create the tall ship!!

This is the backing that I'm going to use. I got a little carried away with the size of the quilt by adding the sashing & borders to it. The fabric I planned on using was just not enough...for this quilt size. With the black batik binding I think the whole quilt, front & back will be stunning, in a masculine kind of way!


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More antique shopping, this time at the Strathroy Antique Mall with Sandy. We drove through a snow stream to get there! I'm really getting tiered of all this snow. I know the east coast is getting slammed again today with wind & snow!! Everyone will be so glad when this long wintry season is just a memory.

 I came upon this vintage lace from Eaton's - Oh how I loved that department store back in the 60's & 70's!

This bundle was with it too, I think I'm going to use it with my Civil War fabrics somehow.

 Here's a close up of the quality work done then, so hard to find these days.

Sandy found this anchor doorknocker! How perfect on a door at the east coast cottage.

Well the borders need to be sewn on Mitchell's quilt, enough procrastination.

Hope you enjoyed viewing things from the past.

Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, today is a gift!

Enjoy your day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Here's some photo's to put a smile on your 'Irish side' today!

Lucy is all decked out in her hat & bow/ties to greet you at the door.

The door has a collection of green & the lucky four clover on it.

And why should Lucy have all the fun of this 'Irish Fun'?!!

 Smile if your Irish!

What fun it is when you can dress your Boston Terrier up too!

 Isn't he handsome, Boris is already wearing his black/white tuxedo. ;-)

If I would have know he was so eager to play dress up... Oh Boris wait till next month when you can be the Easter Rabbit!!

I borrowed the hat off of the brass ram. lol

OK I love St. Patrick's Day because of my proud grandma Haynes(Taff) as her family was from Ireland and a visit to her house was done every March 17th, I once took my one month old son over wearing green/white sleepers...it made her day!
She was a very feisty woman, I just loved her & I know she loved me.

 Here she is in her baseball uniform, way back in her younger days. She really looks like a flapper style girl. Grandma died in her own bed & was active till the end, she passed in 1999.

Jerry will be remembered too as he died this day last year. He was born 1999-2013. He was my three legged. one eye, wonder cat, oh yes he also had a heart murmur too.

But as it is said 'Better to have loved & lost, then to never have loved at all.'

Still remember & miss those that I've love though.
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Mitchell's quilt is coming together with quite the challenge.

This is how a block looks if your NOT paying attention....

This is what it's suppose to look like! now to make 14 more just like it!

 This is what has been done so far. I'm so glad the spareroom is done & has nothing in it! It makes for a great audition wall. The quilt will finish nearly the size of the rug. lol

Here's a closer look at the 'Wildlife Swirls'.


More pet talk...

I saw Tommy sleeping in what I would call 'the fetal position', he was snoring away having a great sleep. I though he looked uncomfortable & then thought again, this is how he must have been as he was a kitten.

Happy St. Paddy's Day to all that stop by today!!

Surprise! & Sewing with Scraps

This week I was quite surprised while I was visiting my girlfriend Lynn, she presented me with a handmade birthday gift that she had finished! What a surprise it was!!  :-)

 

How sweet is this angel?!! I just love her Lynn! Your talents never stop surprising me.

 This sweet angel has detailing that is so special, she has bells on her wings & toes & so much hand sewing on her. Thank you Lynn, I love your labours of love for this birthday of mine!

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Sewing with scraps!

This was put together from the table runner that is now in Russia.

Years ago I purchased a perpetual quilt block calendar...I did blog about making the end blocks of this runner. It's from January 1st block & I enjoyed doing it so much I made two! with the intent that year to do 'a block a day'...how easy that would be...NOT! Life does get into the way of our best made plans. lol  

I do go to that calendar when I'm looking for cornerstones pattern or a special block size. I'm just glad that it's a 'perpetual calendar' & I can use it year after year! lol

 More orphan blocks were found from other 'project leftovers'. These were originally half square triangles that I cut & resewed into the hourglass squares to make this block.

This one didn't line up too well, my squaring was off? Oh well it's meant to be used not displayed! Only a quilter would notice this little misfit. lol I'm just glad that the scraps left now go into the scrappy strip bag for the beach blanket. I'm doing it on the side from my sewing project scraps that are just strips now.

But wait there's more..............

As I was sorting out my reproduction fabrics I found more orphan blocks from the Underground Railroad quilt that I had made for Nicholas years ago. I do say 'years ago' a lot lol! I'm glad I have that perpetual calendar,  I get tied up in my Kyrotime daily, giving time wings & having it fly by.
I don't know how or why people say they're ever bored!

 This was done with leftovers from one of the 12" blocks that are in the quilt, the block was intended to be a 12' pillow. Not now,  I used canvas on the back & Liz's experimental sewing on the inside. My girlfriend Liz, is a longarm quilter & sandwiches castoff fabric to try new patterns or to check her tension. She saves some of these pieces for me & the animal shelter, some pieces are too small to use as pet blankets for my yearly trek out east with cats in crates & were remade into the batting for these bigger potholders.

This one was really scrappy.  I used every little piece leftover that day!  the fabric was very expensive & nothing was going to go to waste. I like this one better! sew much design to view. :-)
It's fun designing without any boundaries & the design just talks to you for placement.

 Here we go again... Years ago lol I made Winter Memories, a small redwork embroidered quilt. Well, the skates were not done right & I redid that block but had this one left over. So I thought it would make a cute little pillow that would enhance our winter sport of skating. I watched a lot of skating in the Winter Olympic Games this winter.  So with all the wee leftover scraps I came up with this design & yes those hourglass squares came from half square triangles!
Hourglass squares to me represent time, I use an hourglass to let me know & appreciate what an hour really is as the sand of time shifts...wasn't there a soap opera that used it, yes! Days of Our Lives! LOL

Again I used canvas for the lapped over back, now I just need to make a custom pillow for it. The self satisfaction from making something from scraps that most would just throw away makes my day & satisfies my creativity.

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Ideas are flowing....

 Cousin Ann was working on one of her quilts & I saw this pattern called Blueberry Swirls from Fons & Porters, Spring 2014 magazine, she popped over for tea & surprised me with this pattern & another that I'll blog over later as it's made into a 30's fabric quilt.

Here's my fabrics for this quilt.

The swirls are done in cream colour & a black/grey batik.

The stars were to cut 6" finished, that's were your 6 1/2" squares come in handy!

How gorgeous are these bears! This quilt is for Mitchell & he's one to give me the tightest 'bear hug' I've ever felt! lol
As I fussy cut these bears & other wildlife out, the sides of the fabric will be used for the border. The original quilt had no borders but this one will. I'm going to use the flannel wildlife  camouflage fabric for the backing, making it a good warm & cuddly quilt like the one it's made for. ;-)

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 I notice the sky differently now since I've done painting classes, before I use to take in the colour now I notice the design & structure of the lines.  Last week whilst brushing my teeth I looked out the window to see this truly unusual sky. The white streaks went horizontally & vertically! something I've never seen before.

The weather has been crazy this winter & it continues! Today it's sunny & 6 C. & tomorrow the temp is dropping 20 degrees with 10-15 cm of snow! with a NE wind of 50 up to 70km , making driving difficult, it's cold & crazy here this winter.
SW Ontario is usually warmer? Records have been broken frequently/nearly weekly, this year. Nasty little groundhog with his predictions of a longer winter...it's going to be spring in a week & a half & were still getting a lot more snow!!

Well I'm planning on cutting out a quilt tomorrow & maybe having some time to sew together some of the blocks. I know what the pets will be doing!

 Boris will whine till I put the fireplace on & Tommy will cozy in next to him, just like they do when it's cold outside.

Then they ignore me & take in all the warmth of the gas fireplace.
That will be OK because I too will be busy in my Kyrotime! ;-) Waiting this winter out.

Thanks for stopping by & stay safe & warm as this winter comes to its end.

Bathroom Refresh

The downstairs bathroom was decorated in the mid 90's & it was done in a classic style, making it timeless in the near century house. But with the raising of four kids...3 being boys, the bathroom walls had been washed so much that the gold stripe in the wallpaper had washed off. I really liked the look of the bathroom & it has a nice flow with the downstairs decor but that wall was an eyesore for me.
I was downstairs in the basement (I'm 5'2" & I have to duct in areas, it's a very old house) putting away Christmas decorations when I came upon the bag of left over wallpaper from the downstairs bathroom & yes I had enough to do the wall behind the toilet & the wall next to the toilet!! Let the bathroom refresh begin! Bill would you? could you? remove the toilet & trim for me?

The old wallpaper had to be removed. I know why people don't like wallpaper & the process of removing it!  A spray bottle with dish soap helped remove the paper backing & the handy plastic pot scraper did the job of scraping.

 Oh my what a job removing old wallpaper! It's such a small room to move around in too!

 Now that I had it all removed, I needed to prime the wall again so the wallpaper would adhere properly. I had made a mess of the wall & the green drywall board was showing again.

 All primed but I waited another day to make sure that it was really dry before apply the new wallpaper.
Did I mention that I had Bill remove the toilet to get to the wall behind? Well I didn't realize how convenient that downstairs toilet was...until this week! Upstairs has two full bathrooms but like I said 'upstairs'. The last time the toilet was removed was for the floor, it was being finished the day I arrived home from the hospital with Nicholas in 1989!  I have to have this bathroom done this week in order to have the toilet re-installed by Bill before the end of the weekend.

 The striped wallpaper was all measured out & cut & I smiled to see that this wallpaper was indeed 'Made in Canada'.  The top wallpaper had to be installed first, so I measured out two pieces & filled my wallpaper trough to begin hanging it. To my surprise, the wallpaper after being stored in the basement for 15 years...had NO GLUE left to it. Oh my !@#  this has been a trying job.
No worries, I usually use Laura Ashley wallpaper from England & it has to be pasted. I've done that before, so off to the hardware store with Bill to do a Mike Holmes & 'make it right'.
The walls are now finished & I'm so pleased. Oh yes... let me tell you about my stepping off the small ladder & onto the wallpaper trough that I had filled with water to hang the first piece.  Grrrrrrrrrr,  As my foot came down I upset the whole trough, it emptied all over the floor & flowed into the hallway & down into the basement.
I cleaned everything up & downstairs too!!

In this black/white bathroom I was beginning to see red! I just wanted it done!! For such a small room it had created havoc to my daily living. With the wallpaper finished...

 Bill started doing his job of baseboards.

 The toilet was re-installed, the chair rail, cove moulding on the ceiling & the roman shade. Yes at the time of doing the bathroom in the 90's I had found a small piece of matching fabric to the wallpaper, just enough for a roman shade.

 The sun is shining too bright here to see the stained glass window insert I made for this room. It provides privacy & allows the light to shine through too.

It's a small room, the width of a bathtub

 I'm so glad to have everything in its place again! For being one of the smallest room in the house, it sure is filled with things that make it an enjoyable soak in the tub!

I may do just that tonight...have an enjoyable soak in this newly refreshed room.

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This week I had some fun embellishing a pair of oven mitts for Mitch & making a rug mug quilt for his morning coffee.

He really likes the Real Tree fabric, so that's going to be his theme from me for his new house this spring. The wildlife theme from oven mitts to quilts...


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This weekend has been one of sewing too. I made a table runner & potholder for Marnia, my Russian girlfriend. He husband is in Canada on business & will take this gift back to her.

I'm really pleased with the look of this table runner. All the flowers were hand appliqued & the top was machine quilted.

 The colours were such a delight to work with, after seeing all the black/white wallpaper. lol

 I quilted it even more, for more durability.

Leftovers turned into a potholder

I doubled the batting for more insulation as a potholder.

Next week this will be in Russia to brighten her day.

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