A BATIK QUILT BY HELEN

 You all know my friend Helen here at the lake who has been teaching me for about four years now.

Well Helen loves quilting!

It's one of her passions as you can see from another project completed this summer.

This is for a young man who is going to high school in Toronto, at a boarding school, so this is to keep him warm as he studies!

My friend Helen, does lots of hand work, embroideries that are tiny, intriquate, the right side looks the same as the wrong side.

She makes patterns, she loves the challenges of my
asking, about this and that.  Well now she is doing a fan quilt, which was an idea we discussed this summer.

This is Helen, a beautiful woman with a beautiful set of hands that do wonder works with a needle and thread.

She knits very difficult patterns for the challenge of it all and does simple works for people in need.

I'm very fortunate to have her close to me to aid and inspire.  Thank you Helen.

TORNADO WARNINGS, RAIN, WIND...WHAT TO DO?

 Well, I got creative...Look at the kitchen mess!  I decided to bake!

Obviously I haven't done this in a long time, but honestly in less time that it took to make the butter tarts....see below,,,, the kitchen was totally cleaned.


Thanks to a dishwasher which takes only 13 litres of water to do all of the above mess, I was free to relax.

When we came to this place we call home now, we never ever thought of a dishwasher..not at a cottage I said...well a new kitchen and research of how much water goes into the septic system....voila!

The dishwasher is what every visitor says is so neat about coming here when cleaning up the kitchen. 

Only we women know what a mess we can make as we cook/bake whatever.

So, today, a terrible day at the lake, winds howling, trees bent, and tornado warnings on the radio to just make our day that much more stressful here since  we are alone on the island.

So, first our granddaughter Alex wanted crispy macaroni and cheese...note the butter.  It will be crispy.

Then, since we are going away for a few
days tomorrow and of course I have peaches, I made the little loaves of peach bread.  Came from Southern Cooking site.  I will let you know how it turns out as we haven't tried any  yet.

Then, because my daughter has been bugging and bugging for butter tarts, I made some.  No one that makes tarts like these can't get away without the stickies.

So, when we leave tomorrow for a few days
to see the grandkids who do sprint racing in canoes and kayaks (you know those two),we are taking tarts.

They will be surprised.

Oh and just so you know, the warnings have just been lifted for our area, but the winds are still rocking our boats such that we cannot go onto the docks to check them.

And how was your day?

DID YOU WONDER WHERE I WAS?

I've been at my friend Mary's for a week.  I didn't plan on staying that long, but car trouble warranted an extended stay.

Fortunately the trouble was warranty work, but unfortunately they didn't fix the problem.  So I'll take it back soon.

This is an old appliqued quilt that Mary gave me.  It fits the queen size bed in our little bunkie as it is known.

The quilt is probably about 60 years plus old.
It belonged to her father in law's family and although there isn't much history about it, Mary suspects that it was made by the same person that made the beautiful fan quilt that is my favourite quilt of all time.

You will ask about these couple of photos and the sight thereof.  Well, this is what we call the "little bunkie" for no other reason than it is 18 x 10.  Not big, but very effective as the bed overlooks the lake, with the stars at night illuminating the lake view.  It is a favourite of all who don't have the need to get up in the night if you know what I mean....otherwise the big bunkie with the two piece is favoured.

We keep all our water toys in here and as you see, we do a lot of water skiing.  It is not unusual to have two or three skiers up at one time, hence the need to have the skiers able to be accomodated.

Also in the bunkie is a cot size bunk.  It was built by my sweetie when we first came to our lake.  We made the bunk cot like as we couldn't have fit 36" wide singles in the space.  Now, we mainly use the bunk to store coolers, ropes, bags etc so I'm not showing that, but it is neatly piled.  If we need the space for young ones as our grandkids are now too big for the bunk, we put the mattresses down on the floor.  There is a tv in there with many old vcr movies.  Always favoured by any one who goes in there and says that they remember this and that...

The summer has gone by so fast...goodness we are almost into September already.  The hummingbirds are getting fatter and fatter getting ready to head south.  I think they may need a piggy back ride....while I was away my sweetie was here and couldn't believe how much sugar we go through to feed six little birds!  

I was driving up highway 35 today returning to the cottage and I could not believe it but there is a hint of autumn in the air as the maples are starting to pale and lose their colour of green!  Noooooooooooo!  I'm not ready!   I love summer!

We are in for some weather to coincide with the hurricane that is in the southern US or at least the tropical storm as it is becoming.  The lake is rough, the wind is up, and the birds are going crazy, a sure sign of something coming.  

That's good as I have for the first time ever a Christmas project.  I don't usually do anything till the middle of November as I don't get into that spirit thing till then.  Well, Mary isn't like that....she has gifts already!  OMG!  Who does that?   Anyway, our theme this Christmas....yeah...a theme...is country.  Well elegant country as I can't get too much into the greens and reds etc.  So we are planning and I have work to do.   I will post the fabric later this week when I've got fabrics out.  

On the way to the cottage I stopped at the Menonite co op and bought the first super sweet corn of the season!  That's part of the meal tonight.  It's that time of year here in North America where so much food is available that we should all think about our blessings as we savour the bounty.  The abundance is overwhelming, really when one thinks of it as everywhere we look there is so much corn, carrots, beans yellow and green, cucumbers, tomatoes of all kinds and the fruit trees are almost touching the ground with their harvast....we are truly fortunate.

But I'm not ready for summer to end.  I love summer!