Beautiful Morning Sunrise

It was a beautiful morning sunrise that I awoke to at 5am this morning...
Red sky in the morning is the sailor's warning! It was beautiful to gaze upon.

 This was a at 5am this morning...

This was just 1 hour later at 6am. See the things that happen while your still sleeping. What a difference the day makes!

Boris & I were swarmed by mosquitoes this morning as I took these photos of the breaker wall from the waters edge on 'the other side'.

 Boulders all piled up, as I'm on shore & looking east

 This is the black blanket covering that was laid down, then the stones were added.

 Look up - Look way up & I'll call ... "to many mosquitoes let's go Boris."

Now I'm looking west & heading for the opening to leave this mosquito infested day! Oh I really don't want to mow today. :-(

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I'd rather have a sewing day.
This is what I accomplished sewing this week.
I made kitchen drapes that had to be seamed together to get the width I needed & the checkers had to match up. I know how heavy, very long (87"), can slip as your sewing & the lines no longer line up!
I had an idea...for my applique projects I used Roxanne's Bast It Glue, to hold the pieces in place while I hand sew them. So I tried it for matching the checks & it worked!

 Just a little dab where the seam would be. This duck cloth by Marcus Brothers was a dream to work with. I found it on line for $5.99 yard & purchased loads of it as you will see when I keep going on all my sewing projects for the windows.

 After glue basting I pinned it together with large flower top quilting pins. I left the selvages on for the sewing & serged them off when I saw that the pattern matched.

 Voila! seams are matched. An idea for you the next time you have to match a plaid or pattern of fabric together.

 I used the twisted cord tie backs I purchased at a Laura Ashley in England in the 90's, I thought the old tiebacks might add some interest of texture & colour on the new drapes

 The baseboard heaters are all installed under a window, making it very hard to have long drapes. I'm here for the summer months & will pull the drapes to a chair if I need to put on the heat.

 The drapes were lined with blackout lining & I did a miss calculation on my numbers & had too much lining -- so there was some unsewing to do to fix that challenge.

 A woman at the Fabricland London, on Wonderland, in the drapery department gave me this tip when I purchased the shirring. Make a small bag to place the ties in when gathered up, that way when you launder your drapes you can release it, making it a flat piece of fabric again & easier to iron too.

 My lovely tie backs, my husband Bill has always been very patient with me in the fabric and decorating departments. I just love that he has his Blackberry now & never stops reading it, giving me more viewing time when shopping.

 I had to release my drapes from my tiebacks as the weight of the fabric & lining was wrinkling the fabric. I set them free from their bondage.

 I love floor length drapes & these baseboard heaters do present challenges. The cost of heating with them is also challenging on the budget. When the time comes to become a permanent resident the 'heat pump' sounds good. And if that fireplace was CSA approved I'm sure that would warm this place too. All in good time, I don't like wishing my life away. Today is my present, a gift - just look at the way the morning greeted me today!
Have a great day for those of you that have stopped by & remember to enjoy this day, it too is present, your gift! :-)

Last Thursday's Adventure's & Finds

This is the last of the breaker wall photos

I forgot to take my camera down to the water when my girlfriend Doris & I went down to see the other side.

 I'll be sure to show the 'Other Side' next blog.


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 I've finally hung the Emily Carr prints that I had at work last decade. She is one of my favourite artists. While in art school , in the 1980"s, I did an "Art About Art", a painting of The Church in the Woods by Emily Carr & made a sculptural fabric version. That sculpture piece made it into an all women, juried art show. It's now in the back of a closet & I think it's time to bring it out east here to be viewed & talked about.

 The Carr pictures were quiet big - however they look in scale with the wall's size & height.

 I hung my hand tuned wind chimes that Nick gave me for Christmas one year. The sound is so beautiful when the wind moves them.


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Now The Finds!

There's a church, in Kouchilbouguac(I still cannot pronounce that name) that has been changed into a craft selling store of new & used crafty things. I went to see it last Thursday before my rug hooking day & I found two vintage canvas's to hook.

 This one is so beautiful on its own that I'm going to copy the pattern & transfer it onto another piece of burlap linen & frame this piece. It's a vintage piece to be admired for years to come.

But Wait! There was more...
You cannot see this clearly but it's the Canadian Centennial Rug 1867-1967 & it's a good size!
The corners have maple leaves & the borders have all the territories & provinces flowers around it.
Inside is circles of what made Canada during that time. It's a step back in time for me as I remember that year 1967 as "The Centennial Train" was parked in walking distance to our home & it was FREE to enter. A real treat for a 10 year old child with no money!

 This is it in its entirety, what a find!

 This is the corner with 1967

 All I can think of is that Centennial Maple fabric I made the bedroom drapes from, this my take its place in that bedroom when done.

 Here's the 1867 side of the rug.

 Totem-pole, canoe, fish, bear, flower, church...Oh Canada!

 Thistles(Scotland), maple leaf, lefluer(French), evergreens,clover(Irish),apple tree, oh the influences that our country had at that time.

 I also found this sweet plaque that I've hung in my studio. It is a wall paper piece placed on a piece of painted wood, how clever was that!
See the quilts blowing in the wind, well I've a story for you...
Last Thursday I hung out my blue & white Ralph Lauren comforter that I've had & treasured for years. It was in the spare room in a large plastic bag & before that in the 53 foot trailer so it had some funky smells to it.
I love my new line & put 8 clothes pins to secure it as it aired beautifully in the waterfront breeze.
I had a UCW meeting & got home around 9:30pm & thought I'd just leave that comforter out for the 'night air' now & enjoy the fresh smell come morning.
Well the wind howled through the house that night & the windows shook! Oh my as I awoke I remembered my comforted pegged to the line! I looked out the bedroom window - it was gone!
The clock chimed 2am, it could not have gotten far, so I put my shoes on & my windbreaker & went outside. Luckily I've a 'Dusk to Dawn' light on the property but looking around the blue & white quilt was no where to found. Looking all around I glanced into the woods to see something lighter in colour, could it be? I approached it hoping nothing was around & yes! it was my treasured Ralph Lauren blue & white comforter. I grabbed the corner of it & ran, yes I ran back into the house. Relieved to find it & my heart beating from having to go outside in the middle of the night in a wind storm, glad too that all the neighbours were sound asleep & not witnessing my 'learning curve' of windy nights!
So you see when I look at that wallpaper border plaque, my eyes see & feel something else & I giggle to myself.
I'm learning that the winds next to large bodies of water are quiet different then living inland & I will not do that again!

 I've many, many tree stumps around the property & last night spent time watching a redheaded woodpecker, peck away at the stump.

All these stumps are hard to mow around, I've hit a few since I've been here. The guys are talking about removing them, I think it's going to be a big job - however riding the lawn mower will be easier! I spent 7 hours last Saturday, raking & mowing both the properties before the Sunday rain.
Yes Julia, it is getting better for me & quiet the feeling of accomplishment when I'm all done & look at how beautiful & green it all is. My neighbour said "you've got your work cut out for you this summer" I just smiled & said "I'm a make work program" ;-)

Breaker Wall Begins...

 Last Sunday evening I looked out to see some of the tall ships heading east, wow they sure look small but with the zoom this is the best I could get.

 It was certainly an awe moment for me.

 There were three total that evening.

 I sure am living the dream out here!

And today the large machinery arrived...

 And more machinery arrived as today was the beginning of making the breaker wall on the lands edge

 You get a better scale of the size with the man standing between the machines

 The erosion here is happening at a rapid pace with the strength of the water with the storms

 The men that are working today did the next door neighbours wall last year & said that there was erosion in just a year on our property.

 The water looks so calm & beautiful today but when mother nature acts out...it's a different story.

 Boys & their toys...

 The rocks are being delivered, look at the scale of them!

 More boulders...

 A black material tarp is layered down first, & then the boulders

 I cut the lawn the other night, timing has been everything these days.

 I'll post more after the process is completed.

I started to sew a small drape to go into the window behind my sewing machine. The morning sun is quiet warm & bright. I love my new studio & hope to do a lot of creative things in here this summer

 These old drapes came from my dad`s bathroom 13 years ago. When I left home in the 70`s he turned my bedroom into a bathroom & I made him these lace drapes & lined them with polyester & cotton. They`ve been washed & used for years. I used the top half for curtains at the cottage & found this bottom remnant in a drawer at the cottage the other day. I`m so glad I didn`t throw it out, it made a cute & functional cafe style curtain in the studio! Yes Bill I don``t throw anything out unless it has no value left in it!

 I hung the stain glass piece I made for Namama in the early 90`s when I was doing so much stain glass. That is a craft I want to bring out east here to teach, once that leaky basement is fixed! I`ve several interested students already. :-)

 The Billy bookcases fit perfectly on either side of the window, I`ve not had any leaking since that horrible storm a couple of weekends ago.

 My design wall, holding a few of the embroidered pieces up & two small, vintage children chairs holding up the end of the design wall. These baseboard heaters are causing me to be creative, sure different than forced air heating.

 I did get creative yesterday & made a custom quilted cushion, with matching piping, for the animal chair. Monkey has his, now the elephant is next! Nicola, a girlfriend from England gave me this fabric on one of my visits overseas, now that woman knows how to shop at thrift stores & fabric stores! Oh the finds we found on our outings, she introduced me to Boot Sales. (that`s a flea market of cars, selling out of their trunks!)

 I did take a whole can of Kiwi black shoe polish to them & look at the shine on those craved animals.

 This is Bose, she`s was Bill`s cat when we had our office, then she was Nick`s cat & now she travels with Boris, Tommy, & I.

 I named her after my Bose radio & called her sister Buttons. Buttons & Bose lived at the shop in 1998, they arrived as kittens & would feast upon the mice that lived in the shop. Buttons went missing in 2002, we thought she might have gotten onto a transport being loaded & ended up somewhere...then there was just Bose.

 She has taken residence on my bed during the day & leaves the night shift to Boris, Tommy, & myself. Once the bed is made, she takes her place & stays there only to come downstairs to eat.

 Boris upstairs on the mezzanine

 I visualized my quilts hanging from the railings last year, yes I`ve been to Epcot & the slogan there is - If you can dream it...you can do it!

 A vignette of some of my favourite things

 And some more, I found this Norman Rockwell figurine at the Goodwill. Oh I love a good find! My grandson Sebastian gave me the cross stitch for Christmas one year, it all harmonizes together in the shelf.

 Fragrant lilacs, add a splash of colour.

At the last rug hooking workshop, in London ON, I met a woman that had her own secondhand store & I went for a visit & found this great sign! Oh yes---the pleasure of the find.

Thank you for stopping by. Have a great day! :-)