HERE'S THE NEW SOFA COVERS!

I am not an experienced sewer by any means. But I decided to recover the cottage sofa cushions when I found this sturdy fabric for $5.00 per metre. It wasn't the easiest to sew although I used heavy thread and pinned a lot. I am awful at zippers, I mean awful so this was quite stressful for me to do. My friend Dawn who is like me and doesn't profess expertise either, but boy can she do zippers! So when in the city, she does all the zipper stuff for me. Well I did my best and I am not taking photos of the zipped backs.

I can't believe the difference it gives the room,
so much more airy and light. I wanted this change
for a long time. I still have some pillow backs to do
and think I should have bought 20" size cushions
instead of the 18". but I can also put some of
these outside on the deck furniture if I get to that. Wilson loves the new covers too. As soon as I put them on, he hopped up and went to sleep


The plants seem to be recovering from the shock
of yesterday although the bidens really will have to be trimmed quite a bit. Otherwise all are looking pretty good. I was so worried because you know I paid so much for these plants and I did not anticipate having to spend any more money on flowers this summer!

My hummers seem to have mostly disappeared. I haven't really seen any males for a while, and the few females that come to the feeders are just in and out, so I think the eggs are laid and incubating
or maybe the babies are born. I have seen other
little young birds recently and so I am anticipating
young hummers.

I must finish painting the black chairs if the weather permits tomorrow. Then I don't have any other projects scheduled except making quilts.

I haven't made one in at least 6 weeks, so I am a bit antsy to start . I do have a top finished, but I think I'm cutting and sewing nine patch squares next week.

You can see the old red covers here on the photos and how so much brighter the new ones are. I was also thinking of painting the pine out, but crikey, that would be too much work for this old
girl. So it will stay as it is.

My girl is coming for the weekend with Jeremy and a friend. I have lots of food and am hoping to get fresh berries to make strawberry rhubarb muffins for them when they come.

I am making pizza for tonight, so have enough dough to make another to keep for tomorrow. I find that I am able to cook the pizza the next day and it's still really good. My sweetie could eat pizza 7 days a week I think...If anyone wants the super duper easy dough recipe, I'll post it. It makes bread if you don't want the second crust.

Have a great weekend all...

PS...quiltqua has a great giveaway. go to their site and see.

BACK AT THE COTTAGE DOT CALM

Each time we return to the cottage there is always the anticpitation that all will be well. You know, no power outages, no heavy wind damage and everything intact. We never worry about break ins, as we are so far out on the lake that few boats ever venture this way, except the cottagers in the area and we watch for each other anyway.

We left our flowers with the automatic sprinkler on the timer and something went wrong...The flowers are all alive, but under great stress! The bidens, which are the small yellow flowers in the baskets and the million bells took a real kicking, and I hope that with Kelly coming up in two days that she will tell me what to do as she is a real gardener and knows if I should cut them back or what. I have really watered them and am not adding any fertilizer till she gets here. The flowers posted here are fakes, and look so real that most people touch them to make sure. A great buy and they sit on the table all the time.

I bought these two double fat quarters at wall mart because I just loved the patterns in them.
The yellow one will have yellow sashings and I think making 9 patch will just be something that will make my heart happy.

The other has black and a very pale lime green in it and I don't know if it shows up really well in the photo and that's why I added the ribbons to show the colours in the fat quarters. I love them both very much and wonder if my girl will want one of these. She didn't take the blue and whites that I made as they were not her colours although she loved the patterns.



You wouldn't believe how much stuff I have all over the place here in the sun room of the cottage. I have too many projects on the go and don't want to tell what the big one is right now as I am not the best at what I am doing, but so far so good with the $5.00 fabric. I am almost done so can post in a couple of days.

My sweetie is thinking that needle point might have been a better travelling hobby because every time we come back from the city I am packing a huge bag of quilting stuff. I am currently using what used to be his sailing bag
and it's always full. I told him it was the last
time for this summer ....I think....

Here is my little guy all cleaned up. I love his profile better than the front of him, even though he is show quality....I know, I know, I am bragging....but he was the only one in the litter so we took him with all the conditions that the breeder wanted....anyway I think his jaw line is a bit weak but his profile is amazing!

OMG, it's hot! I never thought after the cold of the winter last that I would say this, but it is
very humid so I am feeling it. I'm not complaining, just stating a fact as Karen said that in Arkansas, it's hot and humid there too. It's summer and it's supposed to be hot. And in Canada we only have one subject that is constant....the weather....I wonder if people in, say Australia talk of it, or in British Columbia who talk of the rains they get, and then there is Ireland....don't they get rainy weather a lot too? It's an ice breaker I think.

NO REST FOR THE WEARY!

You know you are retired when......all these grand
kids need something on the same day...

The two girls on the right need a ride to go shopping and the girl in the middle is getting her kayak delivivered and the boy is getting ready to descend on us with a friend for the weekend so that means lots of shopping today.

So, with the orthopedic surgeon cancelling my appointment to look at my bunion and a hammer toe that I tell you I inherited (thanks) from my mother's side of the family, I am put off for another few months of consulltations. It's something that I don't want to put off as I get older because I look at my mother's feet and she didn't do anything about her problems, which she inherited etc. I know that there are not many surgeons who specialize is surgeries below the ankle...really....so I am fortunate that it will only be one year before he operates or at least gets a cancellation and I get in sooner. I have patience, my sweetie was very disappointed for me, but that's life and it's ok for now.

Thank you all for complimenting me on the photo on my blog. It was taken 3 years ago and I have so few of me as I am always the one taking the pictures that there aren't that many and that one was taken by my friend Linda. So then, my friend Barb in Florida gave it to her son for his photoshop study and he returned it to me with a BVI beach in the background. It's my favorite place on earth, so I posted the photo because of that. The beach is where Jimmy Buffet used to go in the 70s and 80s on the Savannah Jane, his sailboat. (A story for another day)

Karen has awarded some of her regular blogging friends a friendship award and I was included. It is appreciated. After a year and a half of quilting and blogging I find that both of these things have taken on a life of their own. Don't you agree? I so look forward to see what everyone that I follow is doing, and visiting others just to see if we have a connection besides the quilting, then I add them to my blogroll. Some don't visit that often, but I still like to see what they are doing with their lives.

Just a couple of questions that pop up to me sometimes...why do some bloggers have security and others not. I don't, but it's probably because I didn't know how to do it at the time. The other is why some people have such beautiful headers and sidebars etc and I, for the life of me cannot seem to do anything without screwing it up. Yeah, yeah Crispy noted a site for new bloggers with all kinds of hints, but I must have brain locks in there as I didn't really figure it out.

I am finishing reading JackDawe by Ken Follett, an oldie but a goodie. It's a great espionage story. Kelly, my daughter as you know loves to read and Robert Crais is her favorite author with a recurring character. She loves Joe Pike, so she is off to the second hand bookstore to buy up what she can find of Robert Crais...

Yesterday, the dog from you know where went to the groomers. I almost didn't recognize him when they gave him back. When I took him in, was so dirty, with tufts of mud I think on his Westie whiskers from hunting mice at the cottage and long overgrown hair on his legs. (forgetting to shave) so he is now white and looking quite handsome. However he spent quite a bit of time last night rubbing on the carpet. I think he was quite itchy from the shavings...He's a handsome little guy though.

Oh, our neighbours next door have a Newfoundland puppy. Well he's now about the size of a shetland pony but so very cute. It's funny to see a dog that size doing all the puppy stuff, but with his long legs he falls over a lot. He is apparently eating anything that is in sight in the house and the mistress of the house says he is like a vacuum cleaner so her housework is done in half the time...lol here. They put out one of those kiddie pools for the "puppy" yesterday and when they turned on the water hose, the dog tried to eat the hose...We were all howling as the master of the house got soaked protecting himself. The cats that belong there make the dog's life as miserable as they can. You do know about cats don't you.....they are only 5 minutes away from leaving their captures....except for the good food they get, they would be gone in a flash!

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS AND GRADUATION

We are home for a few days. The baby photo is of the baby in our family, Adam ; he is 46 years old today. Now of course he has a family of his own and has more clothes on usually.

The photo below is of Jeremy who als just turned 14 on Sunday and graduated last night from 8th grade.

He looked so handsome, in a dark tux like suit, a blue vest and white patent leather shoes! Yes the shoes were what he wanted. He looked so sharp. The school this year had 4 classes graduating so it was a packed house with over 600 people attending the ceremonies.

The girls of course were dressed as if it was a Hollywood premiere. They all looked so grown up. Then there was a slide show that showed how they looked in real life. they all cleaned up real good as the saying goes.

And the high heels. I mean 3 and 4" worn by these girls. Mind you some had difficulty walking, but oh well, we have all been there.

On the right is a photo of the birthday boy at two years old. He and his sister used to love wearing hats while playing their games at our old house.

The photo is one that is cherished by their mother and me. So very very cute....because they grow up so fast. Jeremy is now taller than me and I thought he was 15 not 14. But that was ok as he knows his Nana forgets some things at times.

So, we came home for the orthopedic appt for me and can you believe they cancelled it this afternoon after waiting for months. A foot specialist is difficult to find, so we are making it for September when I return from the cottage for good. Also my old doctor didn't order xrays, so I must get those done before I see him in the fall. We came home for this and there was a screw up in communication as I would certainly have had the xrays for goodness sake.

But on the good side, my sweetie gets to spend the day with his granddaughter, by delivering her kayak to be loaded for the time trials this weekend. We just want her to do her best. She is very calm and we are nuts with anxiety....

I bought some fabric to take to the cottage, as I am going to be on a roll in the next couple of weeks. I have a 9 patch design in mind and Crispy inspired me to do some yellow sashing for what I want to do. It's summer and I cannot work on pale fabric...it just doesn't work for me.

Oh, gee I gotta post this story...I was sitting on the dock on Sunday and I noted to my sweetie that I had to shave my legs because I was going to the specialist....anyway, I look at the one leg and it seems ok.....I am so fair that I really don't need to do it often....I noted that since one seemed to be more in need of shaving than the other that I may have shaved the same leg twice....he is still laughing....

As a treat, I went for a pedicure and manicure...OMG it felt so good. I am going to treat myself more regularly to this absolute bliss of a treatment. Particularly the pedicure, that was a real treat.

We are having great weather! That's all I can say, I don't care if it's hot, or humid as I just am happy to not be cold. It's summer!

BEACH BAG OR SHOPPING BAG, YOU PICK

Everyone is making bags these days. I made this for food shopping and beach too. It's 15" wide, 7" side panel 22" high. I stitched the straps all around the bag to make it really sturdy to be able to hold heavy groceries. Also the strap is long enough to fit over the shoulder. I actually made two, though they are not belonging to me. One for Mary who visited and the other for my neighbour who is just super. This is the fabric I bought at Fabricland for $5.00 per metre and it's outdoor fabric so it's sturdy. I also reinforced the seams. Easy peasy. About 40 minutes of work and I now have the pattern down pat. I could reduce the size or add, whichever suits me and the fabric of course.

Ah, it's Sunday morning at the lake. We had rain just as Mary, Bob and their red dog left yesterday afternoon. By the time my sweetie came back after the 12 mile round trip, he was quite wet. Now, it's morning, the lake is calm, the birds are singing, although not in harmony and the fish are jumping right out of the water. Isn't the sun wonderful? I never take the morning sun for granted. It sets my day, my mood and my energy.

We are thinking of going home today, as one of our grandsons is graduating tomorrow, however we can go tomorrow morning too. Depends on what happens as the day progresses. My instincts say tomorrow morning. It's only 2 1/2 hours to home, lots of time to change and be presentable for the boy! He has rented a "cool" outfit. I have been instructed to bring the telephoto lens to ensure great shots of him graduating.

We actually watched an old HBO movie last night about AIDS...And the Band Played On. It was such a wonderful little movie with Mathew Modine as the principal player. And all based on facts of the terrible desease that has stricken so many. I recommend it highly.

I am currently reading Ken Follett, Jack Dawe ....it's about the French resistance during WW2 and from the German side too. Very compelling. I don't know who "Jack Dawe" is yet, as I'm just into the book. Very very good read so far.

We are going home the Mennonite way when we go as they grow the best strawberries which I hope are starting to come. The local berry season is so short for all of us that just getting to eat them for a few weeks is wonderful. Strawberry shortcake, and I have rhubarb saved to make a strawberry/rhubarb pie too. I also make.....when the gang is here...a sort of strawberry trifle thing that the kids actually put together and it's also one of the family favs.

I'm going to sit on the dock this morning with my coffee and my book and my little white dog will follow and sleep in the morning sun. Doesn't that just sound good?