THIS AND THAT KIND OF DAY

Yesterday Helen, Andrea (daughter of ) and I went
shopping for quilting stuff. Andrea has four god
children who are in need of some happy quilts.

So we went to look for happy quilts in Huntsville.
Considering the weather we have been having, we decided to take Helen's boat which has a top to keep us dry.

We did buy happy fabrics at Fabricland and Walmart fat quarters to make small quilts. That is Andrea is going to make these quilts. Machine made too instead of hand quilted as her mother does.

I bought some polka dot fabrics which I will post next time. Oh boy I was happy to add these to my small stash here at the cottage.



The photo that you see, is my sweetie working
at the dock and at the end is a pair of brown
ducks that have parked themselves there and are sleeping in the afternoon sun. These two have appeared periodically around our dock and we at first thought someone had been feeding them as they are very friendly. Even the wonder dog doesn't frighten them....He is sleeping too so it's a peaceful afternoon for all of us.



We have almost finished doing all the dock work and the steps to the lift are completed except for the staining that will be done when the weather dries the dock.



We are expecting guests for the weekend and as I have posted, they cook so it's going to be an easy time for me. I have no idea what they cook as we don't know them very well but are excited at bonding with them as a couple.




See this photo on the right? It was taken from the back of a sailboat in the Virgin Islands a few weeks back. The people could not believe that this whale had surfaced and followed the boat for quite a distance. Isn't this just the most amazing thing?


There are hundreds of photos on the web that we see and just cannot imagine the luck some people have to take a once in a lifetime photo. We have a photo that a friend took of the tail of an orca in Newfoundland when they went whale watching in a small zodiac and Carole got a most amazing shot and she said that she was so in awe that it was the only one she took. Before digital too and we cherish the picture. It is about a 20 X 24 size print, so imagine the clarity of it. Today with digital, there probably would be 20 pictures to choose from. In this photo on the right, you can see the back of the transome of the boat...it's that close!



The sun has come out this afternoon so my sweetie who has been having withdrawals without the grandkids, has borrowed the children from next door and has taken the girls tubing and I can hear them screaming....do you think summer has finally arrived for the weekend? I hope so.



Cheers to all and I am taking my wine and going to sit with the ducks by the dock (of the bay as the song goes)

IT'S CANADA DAY!

It's Canada Day! I hate it when it occurs in the middle of the week.
as it just doesn't seem the same as it would if all got a long
weekend...So we are alone here at the cottage and will have
a very quiet day here as it's raining again. We have had rain
for the past few days. Crazy weather, the sun shines, then
it rains, and the rain comes from the east and then the west,
what's with that?

So I am sewing up a couple of quilts. My little black quilt is in progress with most of the blocks completed and I am now working on the nine patch as I want to see if I will need backing fabric. I am off to Huntsville tomorrow and will visit a couple of fabric stores. There is a Fabricland there and also a supposedly good quilt store.

Here is a photo of me sitting and sewing at my machine at the cottage. It's such a pretty area with screens to be able to see so much around me. That blue in the background is the tarp to cover the wood pile. We are thinking of making a cover for it.

I brought this little quilt that Jane sent me and I get so many compliments about what good work I do.....So, I am thinking that this would be a lovely little project for me to start to
do some handwork. I see that all the stitches are
very uniform and am going to try some hand quilting when get one of these done.

So thank you Jane for sending me this. Karen sent me a book on what to do with 6 half yard pieces of fabric. I am going to do one of those, now that I know how to make the corner accents on quilts.

After my "lessons" this summer, I must take a course this winter on some techniques. But you know, I just love to make quilts for fun? I hope I can sign up for something that is fun too.

We are awaiting friends and good weather for the weekend. It's their first time here and we actually don't know them really well as they were to come with other good friends. It should be fun and interesting too. They are bringing in the good weather.

As a side note, our granddaughter didn't make the national team, but still is off to Ottawa and then Lake Placid for training for the Canada Games. She was very disappointed in her results, and felt that she hadn't had good races. I don't know about you, but the pressure on these young athletes must be something that we can only imagine. She still did well and we are proud of her efforts no matter.



Bee in My Bonnet, (see blog roll) is having a giveaway, go and sign up. She has the most amazing vintage stuff that you will ever want to do if you do embroidery. I mean just look at the package that she is offering, doesn't it make you want to hoop hoop! OMG that was bad...

MY FIRST QUILTING LESSON!

Remember last week when I posted the WalMart
fabric? Well I am doing one in nine patch and the
other, I called my freind Helen who is a very
experienced hand quilter to come up with a simple design for me. Now Helen does hand quilting, I mean piecing and
everything else that goes with it...

So she said that she would come up with a simple
pattern for me. I said something that I hadn't done before and for her to teach me how she goes about designing a quilt. Keep it simple I asked.

So, the photo you see on the right is what she came up with and laid it all out on the table with the ability to vary the design as we saw fit.

I couldn't believe that she had cut out all those little squares, joined them and made the other
wonky looking pattern to go with it.

I'm sure it has a name, the white square with the
orange corners, but I am still in awe as to how she
came up with the quilt pattern!

You know me, I just cut out squares, and go for it,
and when I run out of fabric, well then the quilt
top is done! I'm exaggerating a bit here, but
basically it's what I do. I just put it together
and hope for the best. I'm not taking the quilts to Paduccah or a show, but just to the cottage and for the simple pleasure of creating. Which probably accounts for the fact that I have enough orange squares, triangles and fabric left over from my first quilt to make another one just as large as my first endeavour.

Anyway, Helen put these little squares on the table and I started laughing....I mean what the heh, she knows how to quilt and when she asked how large I wanted the quilt, I just said that as
big as the fabric I had would go....then she laughed
and thought that that was I would say. I did tell
her that math is not my fortee and so we proceeded
to do the math with my fabric...yeah, it's going
to be really nice, and I won't have too much left
over fabric thanks to Helen being able to do the
math.

What you see on the right here, is pretty well what it will look like as it was decided that the turning of the black blocks would make it look quite different. I learned how to do this block which was so easy to do. Next up is the flying geese pattern. And.....I don't have to pay to learn all of this....she already knows how all of this is done and I am sure she is still laughing at my reaction to..."what's with the squares?" when she came this afternoon....

So, I am doing strip quilting of the four squares and will have a sewing feast on for tomorrow. I think this is one that my girl will like for her house although I will have a hard time parting with this one when it's done. I am going to look for a celery looking backing for it and the side sashings I think. The green (celery) doesn't really show up in the photos but it's really a lovely coordinating colour for the black.

It's been such a while since I started a project and now I have two on the go, the nine patch and this one. I put the nine patch away and will work on this one because I just love the different look of it.

We had visitors this weekend and one of my grandsons' (Jeremy) got a spider bite on his eye. It was quite swollen but not painful and if he tried really hard, he could open the eye. We don't know where he got it, but he took antihistamines to help with the itching and cold compresses for the swelling. He went by boat a few doors down to see our friend the lake doctor as he is affectionately known by those who know him, who looks after all the ails of the kids at the lake. Funny to see a couple of kids in their boats pull up and get treated well and having a great experience. Jeremy's buddy also thought his bruise should be looked at too. Only at the lake folks!

We are expecting inclement weather for the next few days. I don't care, I am sewing and in the groove. My sweetie has almost completed the landing for the lift and I will post that in a few days. If only people would stop visiting and let him get on with his work! It's summer...