March & It's Spring! Get a Cuppa, Lots to Tell You!

 It's snowy slush today but the days are longer & warmer than last month.

The goat & tulip blocks were added to the chicken & eggs block, I now have the sheep block to work on to get caught up. I still have the Eeyore block to cut & sew together. So far the 100-acre wood quilt has been 520 pcs cut & sewn together! 

My Pfaff Quilt Expression 720 sewing machine, which was purchased in Oct 2020 went to have service done to it as I wore the feed dogs down & new ones had to be installed, also a thread shank, check spring, & a bobbin case holder had to be replaced. I've been sewing on my manual Pfaff from 1996 & I'm looking forward to using the newer one again with all the fancy add-ons I've grown accustomed to.

It was a hard week this week as we decided to get rid of Rusty the Rooster as he had grown large and was ruining the girls' backs & heads as he mounted them. The capes did no good with him grabbing their neck to hold on to them. 

I saw pink lines going up his legs & thought 'Oh no, lice!' but no it was hormones & this was only going to get worse with spring in the air. Rusty had already attacked Bill several times & I was getting fearful that it might happen to me. So, we made plans to take him to a family that ate chickens & they were pleased to have the gift of Rusty for their deep freeze.

Rusty never bothered with Henny, she has all her feathers & was always with Rusty but is doing fine with him gone & the three Reba's to keep her company.

Rusty grew to be a beautiful rooster, he's 10 months old when he left.

You can see how much smaller the Rhode Island Reds are next to the Plymouth Rock chickens. And how damaged wee Reba was from Rusty's mounting her.

All Reba's showed signs of Rusty's lust for them.

This wee girl is the smallest & survived the winter we had.

Rusty did well through the winter & only had a few frostbite areas on his waddle & comb.

Such a handsome rooster, but he was getting mean.

The Rhode Island Reds are the best layers & in June we will get six more babies to add to this flock.

They're so happy playing & pecking in the leaves from Leslie & Nick's city lawn grass clippings!

Baxter & Bridget went with Bill on the prisoner exchange of Rusty. They waited patiently in the back seat for Bill & me to load Rusty into the back of the pickup.

The late afternoon sun was warm as they took it in waiting.

Rusty was not happy being away from his girls.

A large dog crate was used for the transportation of this large rooster.

I so miss his crowing every morning, it always made me smile & feel the morning sunrise.

He was the first rooster I had ever known & I miss him but the hens do not miss the daily abuse they were going through.

Goodbye Rusty & thank you for being heroic & saving the girls from the eagle last summer. We have deer netting over the top of the outside run & the girls are now protected from overhead predators.

Oh, Rusty, you are missed. In your honour, I'm making a stained glass weather vain for the Chicken Chalet.

Up into the back of the truck you go!

Beautiful Rusty! I hope you taste as good as you look. :(  

You were an experience I will never forget. 

Rusty the Rooster   May 2024- March 2025

The swivel egg tower has been great for the storing of fresh eggs!

The chickens' eggs have such a wonderful colour & flavour to them!

We've egg salad sandwiches once a week to use up the fresh eggs & I give out 1/2 dozen eggs to friends when the tower of eggs gets too full.

The egg shells are rinsed out & dried then I crush them into small dustlike pieces for the chickens to eat for the calcium in them. Leslie & Nick save their shells for us too as those chickens eat the shells like potato chips, they love them! We picked up oyster shells for the same purpose but they prefer the crushed egg shells!

St. Paddy's Day has come & gone...

Those that have come to the house were greeted by the laneway gargoyle wearing his greens!

So stylish in his top hat & bow tie!

The Canadian geese at the front door were dressed in their best too!

Baxter was looking dapper in his top hat & bow tie!

And again in his Irish Anne hat! lol

Bill has been busy making old look like new again!

This is my childhood table, the one that was in our parlour & I would eat my supper with my dad. Dad was in a wheelchair & had his own try, I had this table. Bill is bringing it back to life & making it stronger as its legs weakened over many years. I'll show the finished table next blog when done.

Bill's still working on this labour of love for our family heirlooms that will be displayed safely on the shelves behind the glass doors.

This is the top piece with the shelves & desk shell. When together it is 100 inches tall! 

Bill & I have heirlooms from grandparents like this passport photo taken of Grandma with the three children she brought to Canada, my father is the baby in her lap.

They arrived at Pier 21 in Nova Scotia & then went on to meet Grandpa in Guelph Ontario. She was alone and sure had her hands full with this trio!! Joseph, Gaza, & Tebor Mitro.

Dad always joked that his parents' names were Mary & Joseph & he was baby Jesus. lol

This is what it looked like at the auction center from our antique dealer. It came from Fredericton & is around the 1850s. Beautiful piece of workmanship history to have our family history displayed in!

Bill has been rebuilding it & keeping it with the natural materials, it will be gorgeous when done!

I got back to doing some needle felting!

I took a needle-felted mushroom & made it into a Fungi Fellow!

Those of you from a certain age will remember Cat Stevens album Tea for the Tillerman, this little fellow so reminds me of that album, that I had to put a tea set with him! lol 

Bridget has been suffering from arthritis this winter & has responded well to the COSEQUIN joint supplement that my girlfriend Sandi gifted me. It took a couple of weeks for her to get back to a more normal state & we're happy that she is! It was hard to knit or do needlework with her needing to be so close to me but I understood she just wasn't herself.

Bridget is back to sleeping with her babies & can get up & down out of chairs with ease.

Many changes are going on these days as we are all aging & moving forward. As Bill's dad used to say, 'It's good being on the top side of the ground & not under it!'

Spring has arrived & it feels so good, there is always excitement & a feeling of new life with spring.

Thank you for this long visit! I will try to do better with not being so absent with spring, I'm out of hibernation now!!

A Janet Clare design that I'm embroidering says it best!

Turn to the SUN and the shadows fall behind you

Have a wonderful weekend!

Hugs,

Cynthia

February's Furry!

 February has been so cold & now it's snow, so much snow, two storms within days of one another!

The wind off the Miramichi Bay has been non-stop for several days now. I go to sleep with the sound of a train, the wind makes its own sound & to me, it sounds like a freight train going by.

Hard to believe that next month spring will be here!

Flights have been cancelled or delayed with the airlines making Bill & Nick both home for this storm, which makes Leslie & I happy! 

I feed the chickens this morning with knee-high boots to go through the drifts from the house to the chicken coop/run. The temp was -12C but the windchill was -24C and it was hard walking there & back without dreading this weather.

I started the FarmFresh Sampler from Art East Quilt Shop, the first of my 26-week quilt project!

Carrots & Pig block & this will be a two-colour quilt, KONA black & burlap textured cotton.

I just got the pattern for the next block of a chicken with turnips!

Block 5 of the Hundred Acre Woods is done too!

Kanga & Little Roo! The next block will be released on March 1st & that will be Eyeore, it will be so cute when finished! This is a 9-month quilt project.

Having these projects helps keep me happy in my 'Kyrotime' frame.

The weekend had quite the storms & we are still digging out from the huge snow drifts.

We had company on the weekend to watch the Dayton 500 NASCAR race & Stefani took these photos I want to share with you.

Remnants of Valentine's Day that I just have not brought in to dry & put away, the geese in their winter attire & hearts. These photos were taken before the storm!

Bridget wanted to see the blanket that Stefani was crocheting, it was looking warm & cozy!

Baxter took Bridgeet's gingerbread stuffie & she's staring him down!

She settled for her Ruldolp stuffie & Rexton the cat. lol

Baxter was watching our every move as we put our snack plates together. lol

Our son Mitch joined the volunteer fire department in Elnora AB 10 years ago, this was him back then, & has now been made lieutenant to his station. His dad & I are over the moon with all of his accomplishments & wish we didn't have so many miles between us to join in with special celebrations & occasions.  Congratulations Mitchell William!

Grandson Liam is now enjoying puree food, he's growing so fast & I can't wait to meet him in April!

Bill's been working in his woodshop on a project that he found in storage. Years back someone gave this to me but I can't remember when or who! The table was in bad shape but Bill has brought it back to life!

It is made of walnut & once he sanded the shellac off it & saw how beautiful the wood was, he was right, it was beautiful!

The bottom was painted with chalk paint & I love how it turned out!

The two circular sides turn down making a small rectangular table but we leave one down & one up between our chairs, it is such a lovely piece of craftsmanship that will live on for many years to come.

Thank you for stopping in for a visit. I hope you are doing well this winter & it has not got you down too much. Spring is Thursday, March 20th, just four weeks from today! And on the second Sunday in March, our clocks spring ahead one hour. So much to look forward to next month! 

And that's why our eyes are in the front of our heads, to look forward!

Wishing you health & happiness & some warm sunny days!

Hugs,

Cynthia

   

January Is Oh So Cold!

 Yes I know I live in Canada & the winters are cold but this week is oh so cold with temps dipping to -24C at night. I worry about the chickens & their first Canadian winter, this is my 67th winter & I am still not used to the freezing cold!

I picked up yarn for my evening entertainment with the firebox blazing its radiant heat & the thoughts of spring to make the porch goose a new spring outfit!

I joined the Porch Goose Club on Facebook & saw this pattern & purchased it! It was so sweet & made me laugh out loud.

I had some yellow Red Heart acrylic yarn left over from their bumble bee outfits some years back & the green was left over from the baby Yoda's I had made. Using up my craft stash, this outfit came together beautifully, right down to just 24 inches of yarn left!

The Bumble Bee Outfits

Looking at the red chair pads that they are standing on, I will make them green ones to compliment the green grass around their feet. A new idea from an old photo!

I'm so glad Bill is going to refresh them this summer with cement patching & new paint, a day at the spa is booked for them! lol

January was the Owl for The 100 Acre Wood quilt,  I am making for Liam's big bed.

Month four is done! There will be nine months of character blocks. I also signed up to do Art East Quilt SAL with The Farm Fresh Sampler & if that's not crazy enough I plan on doing Piecing the Past Quilts SAL of Sweet Little Baltimore. I'm planning to stay busy this winter with the piecing & creating of these quilts. 

I made Liam a Piglet to go with his quilt. I had remnants of fabric left over from making Gordo's pig costume & there were just enough larger scrap pieces left to make Piglet.

Gordo in his Halloween costume two years ago now, sweetest Bulldog I have ever known. RIP Gordo.

His costume was made from a thrifted child's costume of a unicorn that Don brought home & I remade it into a pig costume for Gordo, then with the scraps into a Piglet for Liam. I love making something from nothing! All were done as a labour of love, that is my sewing for others.

The price of the fabric is atrocious in this country & if the tax tariffs go on the imports from the USA, a lot of people, myself included, will not be ordering again. 

Hence, I am using my stash this year & using my creativity to do so.

Bill & I had fun doing puzzles this year!

A Christmas gift from our Chatham kids Nick & Leslie, a 1000-piece tartan puzzle & it was a challenging puzzle!

It was one that I thought to be easy but boy, was I wrong!

It sure was satisfying to finally complete this beautiful puzzle!

And also gave Bill an idea for the next one, since this was so much fun!

Two summers ago, my girlfriend Sandy came for a visit & gifted me this 1000-piece puzzle, it finally got taken out of the box and bag! I was ready to look at a glimpse of summer if only through the pieces coming together.

Our Chatham kids had this gizmo for putting their puzzles together & Bill ordered it for us to do ours.

There are four pullouts, and removable drawers & the tabletop itself rotates like a lazy Susan!

There is also a rubber mat the size of the tabletop to place on top when not in use, it's really needed if you have a playful cat.

We placed it on Fran's old breakfast table, Fran was my next-door neighbour in London ON & she moved away, selling/gifting many of her items, so we added two of the dining chairs to it & voila, a puzzle center was made. We do this in the great room & have the firebox on to keep us cozy & busy in our evening hours.

It's also done next to the sunporch plants adding to the feel of warmth & life on these dark cold days of winter. The days are getting longer but winter is now upon us & the Miramichi Bay is frozen over & busy with the smelt fishermen once more.

Thank you Sandy for such a beautiful puzzle, I'm going to have this one framed & place it in the potting shed to admire all the goodness of having bees!

It was a fun puzzle to put together & we named the flowering bushes & bulbs that we will see this spring & summer in the coming seasons.

With the cold outside, my thoughts are of the chickens' first winter so I made them lined drapes for the vintage windows that were installed & did not have storm windows.

Inside their coop above the nesting boxes, the first pair were installed, this window faced the outside.

Then in their run area, the second pair were installed. I hope this helps keep them warm through the cold bitter days of winter, I think I'm more fretful than them but it's so cold.

Sorry for not posting sooner but we had a death in the family, Bill's 88-year-old father, Ernie passed away on January 3rd, and he was hospitalized for the second & last time on December 24th.

RPI Ernest William Richardson 1937-2025.

Several years ago Ernie gave Bill his Harley Davidson bike, they did do a bike ride together when Bill was much younger, before he met me in 1985. That was their only father-and-son outing together maybe that's why Ernie wanted Bill to have his bike, memories for Bill now.

He did live long enough to know that a new baby Richardson has joined the family tree, wee Liam, born September 5th, two days after his 88th birthday on September 3rd, and two days before my 67th birthday on September 7th. September was a special month, a joyous month!

As the beautiful Rankin Family song goes... Rise Again.

Liam is four months old now & has started rolling over, he is such a joy to see in photos. I can't wait to meet him in April, he is so familiar to me. I see his mom & dad when I look at him, so precious, so loved.

Thank you for visiting today, I am trying to stay busy & positive through these cold frigid days with the saying that goes with everything...this too will pass. This is not one of my favourite seasons but it too holds a silent beauty that no other season has, making living in the country of Canada wonderful!

Thank you again for reading to the end. 

Have a wonderful week!

Wishing you health & happiness in this New Year of 2025!

Cynthia xXx