Good Bye March!

 March is going to leave us at midnight & I so look forward to April & Easter & the wonder of Mother Nature as the earth comes to life once more. 

I did a walkabout this morning thinking those thoughts...

Looking through the dining room window at the deck railing that I use as my snow gauge, it is covered again by the strong winds that grow the snowdrifts.

The sky this morning was glowing with a beautiful magenta/ mauve colour.

The weather is calling for rain this afternoon, 'Red sky in the morning, sailor take warning'.

Bill has kept the asphalt lane plowed & the sun melts it well on black asphalt.

The asphalt was installed in the summer of 2017 & this year needs to be sealed again, that's going to be a big job! Remember the hot day that it went in Sandy & you gasped at the size of the area being done?

It's now 5 years later & maintenance time!

The Anniversary Garden is still asleep under its blanket of snow.

I so want to go into my potting shed & putter but it's too cold & so much snow to trek through right now. Soon sometime in April, it will just happen & the snowbanks will shrink!

Baxter, our 28 pound Boston Terrier is still able to walk across the top of snow. When the weather warms up he'll sink into those banks! He does a good job keeping watch on the potting shed & sniffs for any signs of Mr. Fox & his travels on the property.

This is such an encouraging sight, the hydrangea bushes are no longer buried under the snow!!

Rexton the Manx now has a double!

I made this cat from Sarah Peel's book Luna's Friends. The face, paw & arms were then needle felted with Rextons unique markings. I gave her the pink nose!

The whiskers are Rexton's! I find them on the rugs when I vacuum, the folklore is that it is lucky for the one that finds them! Bill has now given me a whisker with great delight that it is lucky for him too!

I made her a sweet pink suit for Easter, the full-sized patterns are in the Luna books too!

How sweet is she?!

I find her to be so precious to me as she's now 8yrs old & will be the last cat I'll own. Bill is allergic to cats & more so as we've aged as I've never been without a cat in my whole life!

The bench cover is coming along with just the natural colour of Briggs & Little to be hooked!

This is my 2nd rug this year, I try to make one a year. Keeping my hands busy with the hook at night keeps me out of the fridge!

I was watching The Last Homely House on YouTube this week & she showed her vintage pattern dog that she made with her batiks. I had an idea as I had batik-looking jelly roll strips...

So I cut the jelly roll into 2 1/2" squares & made the dog. She made her's with English paper piecing.

Then I watched YouTube with Jenny Doan & on how to make the cathedral window with charm packs. 

I had leftover 2 1/2 inch squares from the sea dogs & scaps of blue that I cut up into 2 1/2" squares.

You then do a quilt as you go to make a table mat or cushion front. I'm not sure yet but the sewing experience was fun!

This was my two-day sewing class with 2 1/2" squares & I never left the house!

I enjoy time in the sewing room & making the vintage dog & cathedral windows was fun.

This is vintage! I made it in 1977 for my eldest son's Gendron buggy as a 'cot cover'.

I had no idea at the time that I was hand quilting a quilt, I found it in a book & made it.

My stitches were not so good & in time I would master this hand stitching of the windows!

The next project from a kit that was purchased on a trip to Vancouver Island, the year the huge storm took down a lot of trees in Stanley Park. I was in Vancouver for four days & never once saw a mountain due to heavy fog the whole time!

Our son Mitchell took us to Banff in 2014 for an afternoon & I would then see mountains for the first time! 

The windows are hand-sewn & you can see a difference in my sewing skills.

A testament that 'Theory informs - practice convinces'!

I made a cathedral window quilt all by hand 45 years ago as a pram cover for the Gendron buggy.

It took forever to stitch together, the machine way was quick!

I also med a colourful cathedral window from a kit purchased years back when I was on Vancouver Island & the quilt show had free shipping! A box came to me after I was home with all the purchased goodies.

Quilts are memories of days gone by, the colours & designs are a reflection of that time.

I'm always learning new skills every year & the colours are always changing to what is old...is new again! 

I'm done with the Sew-a-Long Mystery quilt with Fabric Cupboard in Moncton. I just need to add a saying & border then it is off to be custom quilted, it was a fun weekly mystery to do!

As I was doing this blog, look who popped on top of the snowdrift to look in the ding room!

Bridget startled me & then made me laugh! lol

See how frozen those drifts are with her 26-pound weight! She thinks she's a mountain goat!! lol

This has been quite the morning with all the outside activities & the birds singing their songs. 

Spring has arrived on the calendar now to be patient for it to arrive in this 4B zone we call home.

Oh, I forget to tell you, I found my earring!!

It had fallen between two bolts of fabric that were on the floor. When I put them in the shelf there was the earring on the floor! And that made my day!!!

Thank you for coming by for a visit, I hope you are well & adjusting to the new norm of living as we know it today.

I've never had so many vaccines in my lifetime, just in one year 2 Covid 19 vaccines, one booster, one Shingtex & the other next week. But I am healthy & will do whatever it takes to stay that way, even if it is with the help of vaccines. Oh & it has been 11 years since my tetanus shot, that is on the list this spring too as I like to play & make things that are rusty for the primitive ideas that come to life.

Thank you again for your time with me.

Enjoy the spring as it unfolds in front of us!

Cynthia xXx

Stay healthy, stay safe, wear your mask when needed.