Diesel's Homecoming

 The London Airport was most helpful & friendly upon our arrive for our flight to Calgary. Diesel sat patiently in his crate as he was sticker-ed up a looked at by the curious.

 Once on the 'oversize luggage' conveyor belt, my heart sunk & the anxiety for me to know he was going to be alone & confined. 

 The last "I love you & I"ll see you in Calgary" & I walked away...not feeling so good. All through the flight I was thinking about him & how this was so different than being in the back of the Ford 350 diesel trunk on our 16 hour adventure to the cottage. Diesel has made that trip twice & back home again, this was so different.

 In the Calgary Airport we were greeted anxiously by our son Mitchell. As I hugged him I couldn't stop wondering were time has gone, he's such a handsome big guy...not my little cub anymore,  I would call him Boo Boo from the Yogi Bear Show. He's still cute & cuddly!

 The Kodak moment :-)

 Diesel was so out-of-it, in a daze or maybe the silence in the air & not the flight ears or that feeling of just being on the ground. Once in the truck he ate & drank and started act more like himself.

 Mitchell made his boy this house...he will not go in it yet. Under the porch is a wasps nest that he found yesterday & got stung several times. I tried to do some hand stitching outside in this gorgeous fresh weather  however when word got out to those wasps that the dog was back---several would come out circling him & he & I would run back into the house!

 Diesel just loves birds & he was sitting quietly at the garage staring. I went to investigate I saw this lovely little birdhouse at the end of the garage, hidden by a large lilac bush.

This is so cute! I could not take good pictures as I'm vertically challenged with my 5'2" height -- there are wicker baskets in the center opening & hand painted landscaping on the front.
After seeing this...and knowing Diesel's love for the birds, I asked Mitch to move his house under theirs.
He was out this morning & went into his house all on his own! Birds of a feather will flock together.
I'm loving the fresh air here & the bizarre weather, it rained twice yesterday, sunny, cloudy, windy! all in the same day. Today I hope to see at least one of the seven quilt shops here. I wasn't going to & Bill has on insisted that I should. Mitch wants to go to IKEA with me so I can get him organized a bit more. A fun, fast evening tonight! Dinner reservations too. :-)

Diesel Gets Sprayed By A Skunk!

 I cannot believe my luck today! First thing this morning at 6am I motioned to turn the light switch on & missed the switch, I over guessed the height & brought down my country ceramic cross with the Lord's Prayer on it. I've turned that light on thousands of times...I picked up the many shattered pieces from the stone floor & put the pets outside for their morning whiz. With this being garbage day I put the blue boxes out & as I was coming up the laneway---NO the too familiar smell of skunk!
Looking at the two dogs, which one? Cringing Boris (whom has had several spray's) or Diesel, yes the blonde face had dark yellow areas to it, Diesel it is! What luck for him, he's flying to Calgary tomorrow. Boris knew the ritual, Skunk-Off, the paper towels, & the gloves came out ! 
Thank Liz for getting me more Skunk-Off from Boris's last spraying & Diesel's introduction to this ritual.

Lucky for him, he was sprayed only on the right side of his head. He's had the Skunk-Off on 3 times already, as soon as it dries, my gloves go on again & his head is rubbed down.

He has a real punk rocker look going on right today.

 I finished his blanket for his plane ride...he's not riding with this blanket yet, I'll get an old one that can be disposed of, for his crate tomorrow. Sierra's Hope is the kennel that he was breed from & Mitch (whom I've heard is laughing about this spaying) gave him the name Diesel. I'll be laughing the first time Diesel gets his coat wet & he has the skunk smell back!

I had him sit, he'd rather lie, on his blanket for a photo shoot. I'm going to miss you Diesel, he has certainly given me memories upon his leaving. And your 'Ode To Skunk' smell will linger throughout the house, long after your gone. I'll miss you big guy. I think Boris will too...not so much the cats, nor the Squirrel. Both cats & squirrel will miss being terrorized by your bark & stare, no I don't think so. :-) 

Squirrel Gets A House Cleaning

This was the day to 'house clean' Squirrels cage. First the bricks had to be removed from the front to get to his door. With the door open & another small cage for him to run into(with the coaching of nuts) his cage was clear for the big cleaning.... 

 This is a view of his quilt batting & selvages house, years of packing this house, the little hoarder!

 Many thanks to those fellow quilters that saved these scraps for Squirrel over the years. And a big thank you to Liz who also collects walnuts for his long cold winter. :-)

 He doesn't seem too stressed in his little cage with new batting a afresh batch of nuts.

 Bill pulling the old batting out...

Bill & Nick together pulling more of the batting out...and the bees nest that they both ran from, oh my!!

They got the bees settled down with Off repellent & continued on the purging of this cage. 

 The bottom of his cage was five inches thick with nuts, they were shoveled & dust panned out. 

 WOW for such a wee rodent he had three & 1/2 bags of garbage, yes pure heavy garbage. The worst is now over in the cleaning for Nick & Bill. I swept the garbage up & then entertained Squirrel as I braided him a new rope to swing from.

 His empty house, this may be the last time I see it this bare... till the next time it's cleaned!

 Here's his cage all done & new batting added inside, He can now rearrange to his liking. He also had a healthy dusting of Fossil Shell Flour (Diatomaceous Earth) added around his cage for disinfecting against  parasites.

 He looks lovely for being a 7 year old squirrel. He's probably the eldest in our neigbourhood. The foxes have kept the population down the past couple of years.

 His house is already showing signs of batting rearranging. He should sleep well tonight in his fresh bedding.

I know Boris will... the whole house cleaning ordeal wore him flat out. Sweet dreams Boris Loree. Night Night.

Colouring With Crayons

This weekend is about getting ready for a new project. A colouring project that is then embroidered. I need crayons & I have no crayons, so ask Nick to pick me up some at Staples when he's out & about. He found this really neat telescoping, removable crayon sharpener, 150 crayon set!!! I asked for the 64 crayon box & thought that would be grand. As a child my mother would present me with a 'new colouring book & a box of 8 new crayons' on my visitation day with her. I loved to use my new crayons with there precise points to colour in the colouring books & would go into my Kyrotime as a child.

 Look at the wonderful invention...it collapses down and with the cover, it keeps your crayons clean till there next use! What fun, I could hardly wait. Nick was asked at the Staples till "Do you have a little one going to colour?", no replied "These are for my mom for some quilting thing she's doing." The sales person was quiet after that & wished him a good day.

 This is the pattern that I've been holding on to since last summer...time to put it to work and colouring is involved! I've never done such a project.

 So on my 24" x 29" cobblestone fabric, I trace out the pattern & started to colour it...first all areas that are to be coloured are heavily filled in with the white crayon. Then the indicated colours are added on top of the white crayon.

 Now it is all coloured, and I must say I enjoyed the process with my 'new crayons'

 Then it is heat set with a very hot iron & paper towels. This is a quick process & it melted beautifully into the fabric.

 Here's a bit of history. In the winter of 1963 I won a Santa Claus colouring contest & was in the Santa Claus Parade. It was a huge thrill for this little eastend girl to be in a convertible with a fur blanket to keep us warm & waving to everyone. I also had dinner with the parade people & was presented with a transistor radio. Avery big deal back in the day! I'm the little one with the hairband. My 80 year old mother recently gave me this newspaper clipping that she had keep all this time. I was thrilled to get this little piece of my history, I was 7 years old.

This has been such a fun weekend for me, outside under the sun umbrella colouring & having tea & biscuits.
What fun & wonderful feeling today.

Tea Time

 I love my Tea Time & having the the tea hot. This week I had an idea to use the Country Cottage pattern - free monthly download pattern from Shabby Fabrics - to make this tea cozy.  I added window boxes on the front & added more flowers - polyester ones by removing all the plastic bits & used  yellow shank buttons to hold them on...& it can even go into the laundry.  I used a thick batting & flannel underneath.  Now my second cup of tea is as hot as the first. :-)

Nautical and cottage creations...I know what I've been thinking of these days. 

Have you ever been somewhere - somewhere where it just feels like home and you come from way far?

Ahoy Sailor Kids

These cute little nautical pillow patterns are from the Connecting Threads 'Free Patterns'. The 16 hour cottage trip  is making me think of - what to do to sit/stay & not drive my husband nuts. However my evening/day get-together time with my quilting friends, has me completing these projects. They're only 7" x 8", & work up fast being in only one colour.
Last year was the 'Over The River...' project. I think this year will be the Witch Boot...now to get myself organized.

Cottage Chair

Today was out & about with my girlfriend Pat. She had not been to the Antique Flea-market, so off we went.
And oh the finds I found! This newly upholstered  wing back, was perfect for the cottage in New Brunswick. Tommy is in the chair now & I'm glad I put his cat-mat down for his nap. I t also had a matching cushion that's on top. You can't see from the photo but there's blue writing on the beige background, so inviting & it's small too! my feet touch the ground, oh the sewing hours that I'll spend in it...;-)