FIRST STORM OF THE SEASON! AND MY FLOWERS ARE CUT OUT.

We were sitting on the deck last evening, the wind was calm
so we were enjoying a glass of wine before dinner.


I was sitting facing east and remarked to my sweetie that the wind was coming up!

.


So he glanced over noting the "cats paws" on the lake.
I said they were more like lions paws as I was beginning to feel the breeze.

.




Well a couple of minutes later, the breeze was a storm coming through and the rainbow that you see had moved from over the island in the distance to the big
island right across from us.


.


The lake became very dark, the wind was dislodging pine cones from the trees, branches were flying across the roof and huge drops of water were starting to fall.

.
You can see the white caps forming on the lake. The sun is shining to the west of us and since we are facing south you can see the sun on the other island.


.
It was truly wierd! I must tell you this was all in the spance of less than 10 minutes! I would pop out the door and take a shot and dodge the pine cones and branches,then pop back into the cottage.

.
In about 15 minutes, it was all over, the wind dropped, the lake calmed and not only that but the wind changed to a westly breeze!

.
We put the pillows back out on the deck and finished our wine! This was the first storm of the season.
.
Of course my sweetie had just finished raking the winter debris and everything looked super!


.
I have all the flowers finished! I spent a few hours tracing and then cutting them all out. I have decided to make the centers in one colour.....I think right now.

.
I have also cut out the leaves which were easy. Now I am thinking that since "stabilizer" is paper, I may try using some old magazine pages which are thin and may just stabilize the white fabric enough to get started.
.
It is Friday morning though and we are expecting company, so I'm probably not going to start the larger of the project till Monday at least.
.
Bob and Mary (the neighbours) are coming for the weekend. Their lovely daughter is coming with the love of her life at the moment. (mom is hoping this is the one) So there is baking to be done.
.
Better than Sex Cake is on the request menu, my daughter's oatmeal goodie squares also, and of course Pizza.
I can make all of it today. Believe it or not the Pizza is actually awesome when baked the next day. The crust is crispier which is what everyone like.
.
Bob is bringing beef tenderloin for Sunday dinner, along with the fixin's. So, we eat too much again.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS!

Ok, the Geese were so easy, of course once the instructions were in my head! I can actually make 4 of these babies in about 10 minutes. That's including the pressing and the trimming. Who would have thought it?



I tried to download them yesterday but the satellite just didn't seem to want to accommodate me. So here they are today.

Yes, I am proud. Remember I told you that these were my grandmother's favorite blocks. They show up in so many of her quilts. She used a cardboard template which I have amongst her treasures of quilting stuff.



Ok, now to the dilemna. See the flower? I think that the stitch may be a bit too wide, that I can fix. But the white keeps puckering. do I put a piece of paper under the white?

I have fusible web behind all three cut outs as directed.

I did ask ask Anya at Hillscreek quilter, who by the way has been honored with an lovely award for one of her quilts. Go see http://hillscreekquilter however she uses a blanket stitch but she did give me adivice for that if I went to that stitch. But I think satin is the way to go here.

Please, also do I use less tension on the needle? I have a very light tension for the presser foot all the time, so should I reduce the needle tension too?

I have read a few directions on the web which show how to do it but not the set up. Gosh, I can sew, it's the set up that I can't figure out.

I'm cutting out all the flowers for the quilt today and don't think I'll kill myself with the scissors and there should be no blood dripping as my fingers are healing.

I just never thought of quilting as a dangerous hobby. After reading Karen's comment about not quilting in bare feet in case the rotary cutter drops on the foot, my sweetie (who knows me well) said that he better up the insurance on me! Today, he said that I should be careful with the scissors as I could poke my eyes out!

What a man!

FLYING GEESE AND BLOODY FINGERS!

When I was reading the little bio on Eleanor Burns,
one of the things noted was that she charged twenty
five cents for each person that didn't put the cover
on the rotary cutters!


I usually do this, but today I forgot and was reaching for a piece of fabric and look what happened! Yep, three fingers sliced! I had to stop working while the fingers stopped bleeding. A little nic by someone on 325 mg of aspirin sometimes takes a bit of work. I didn't want to bleed on the geese.

Well the geese are done and if I could have downloaded the photos I took, you would have been proud! I am very very proud of myself for following directions.

Well almost...the first practice shot I cut 11 1/2 instead of 11" on the white. So I thought why would she put all that extra fabric to trim? Yeah, then I re read the instructions...11" OMG. And this is day one!

Well I must say that I am very pleased. The Queen of Quilt in a Day did it right. I made all the geese in about 5 hours of sewing, cutting and measuring. I wish I could have downloaded them by satellite, but maybe I can do something tomorrow.

Anyway, the fingers are healing, the sewing is put away for the day, and I am now going to tackle the cutting of the little flowers as directed. Of course when I made my templates....oh yeah, I cut them out of mylar no less, then read Eleanor's little note (cut flowers 1/4" larger than shown) So I shall make more I think, just to be right and following directions for the first time ever. Gosh you'd think I was a man!

Oh, I don't know if my friend even got to Ireland yet as the volcano was acting up in Iceland and maybe she went to Paris instead! Now wouldn't that be a treat!

FLYING INTO SPRING WITH ELEANOR BURNS!

We have returned to our little "shack at the lac" as the saying goes about our little piece of heaven here in Ontario.

Not only have we returned but so have the humming birds. Only 2 so far and they are males, so the females can't be far behind. Usually about a week till they arrive and the mating season begins.

The photos that I've taken here are from American Patchwork and Quilting by Better Homes and Gardens. The feature quilter this month is none other than the queen herself Eleanor Burns.

I have all the fabric, the fusible web the backing etc. I even found
a machine quilter when shopping at Fabricland on Sunday. You know
if you listen to a conversation while browsing and hear the word
"quilt" well, the rest is easy. I asked if they knew of anyone who
did long arm quilting and low and behold one of the ladies does and she lives only 15 minutes from me! Now isn't that saying that karma happens when one least expect it!


Ok, I am also going to make the flying geese for the first time, make the flowers for the first time, follow directions for the first time, (that is to the letter almost).

There is a very good diagram of how to make the geese which I shall practice on some scraps before I begin in earnest.

Helen, my guru, my mentor, my very patient friend is off to Ireland for the next week with one of her daughters and her friend Susan. I am going to try on my own, but if I can't giterdone as the saying goes, I do have another project to start.

But I am full of confidence! I am going to make myself proud! I am starting tomorrow.

The weather is fabulous, very light breeze and it's 78 degrees in the shade of our deck. It just doesn't get any better than that!

DAVID COPPERFIELD...WHAT A SHOWMAN!

Oh boy were we entertained! I'm never one that has said, you know
how much I loved this guy! Well he was funny, he was quick with the
repartee, he totally amazed me and I laughed and ooohed and aaahed
for about 2 hours. Just short of that really, but it seemed like 15
minutes, because the show just rolled so quickly.

We saw him at Casino Rama where I'd never been for those of you who live in Ontario and know that it's near Orillia. 5,000 people in the theatre. I never knew that people, that many anyway would go to shows like this.


Now I know. We were also about 4 rows back with Helen, and her honey so we could see it all. My sweetie who is such a sceptic (?)
was totally and I mean totally entertained!

What more can I say, except thank you so much to our friends who had us for dinner, ribs extraordinaire, we got to sleep in what was like a hotel suite with total luxury!

We are back home, rested and today will be a shopping day for the next couple of weeks at the cottage.

I am also heading to Fabricland this morning with my list of goodies I require with instructions from the birthday girl of last week for a maple leaf quilt....Shades of red? Not for her...."Nana, just plain red and white!" It was her tone that made it clear....Well I may get a teeny bit creative with it still.

I think that spring is finally here as we are now in the mid 60s with sunny days ahead. I hope when I return to the lake that the hummingbirds will have arrived.