LETTERS, LETTERS, WE GET LETTERS!

This was the easiest quilt I've ever made. It was a panel that I bought ages ago and just couldn't decide what to do with the back.

Well it was decided when I saw the yellow check fabric I got from Mary. Perfect and I put it together yesterday. 4 bobbins is what it took to stipple this in yellow. Mary was over the moon happy with this. It's for a baby shower she is going to.

I hate to harp on the weather, but lordy, it's just awful! We've had more snow. Not a lot but just enough to make it slushy when walking in the park...with dogs, they get really wet. I took a ball to throw and it ended up picking up snow and it turned into a little snowball. Talk about a confused dog!

My friend Dawn has returned from Florida. Great! I'm happy to have a luncheon partner once again. We meet every week before we go to play bridge and do girl talk. It just doesn't get any better than that!

Planning my Easter dinner has become almost a daily chore of lists of what to do and what to have. It's decided...prime rib, roast potatoes, green beans, and of course sweet potatoes. I always make a cheesy brocolli casserole for any family function. Also for desert, pumpkin pie is on the menu as it's my sweetie's favorite, but what else has not been decided. It's looking good for now.

Today is bridge day.. I'm looking forward to it.

MY GIVEAWAY.

When I decided to do a giveaway, I think I forgot that there should be rules for entries.

Here they are.

1. You must have blogged here in the past year.

2. Let me know if you like selvages or not as I won't draw your name in that prize.

3. You only need to tell me once, because I know most of you.

4. Tell me what kind of quilter you are...hand or machine.

That's it, easy and simple. On Friday, I will draw the names of 5 and will contact you. Ok?

When we go to the cottage, we spend 6 months there. We leave in May and return in October.

The weather can get pretty hairy in October, so we start preparing for the "any day" situation for returning.

I think the most favorite spot at the cottage is the deck. We do everything there to the point that we pull chairs from everywhere when there is a gang for the weekend.

It's south facing vista gives such an expance that lots and lots of photos are taken from that spot. I have a telephoto lense and often take photos of the kids doing their water antics, which turn out well as spontaneous pictures often due.

The old deck was 8'x10', this one is 10x 40' and goes across the front of the cottage. When my sweetie designed and ultimately built the deck it was with the thought that the deck would be just what it turned out to be. The focal point to get together when it's "the season". It's perfect.

I do all my hand quilting there..You know finishing the binding.

I can't wait....

A GIFT FOR ME AND SOMETHING FOR YOU TOO.

My friend Mary went to visit her daughter in Peterborough the other day. Knowing how much I like fabrics and colours, she came home with all of this stuff. I already know what I am going to do with the yello check. It's going on a baby quilt that I have been "commissioned" to do. It's the perfect size check and I should have it finished in no time, as it's a panel that I bought last year and it's got this yellow in it.

The other one that she got is black and yellow. My goodness it is really bright! I am going to make a black yellow and white printed quilt and will use this for the back of it. It's pretty wild as you can see.

Now this flowery print below is actually 2 sheets the same colour and size.

I am going to make a quilt out of the two tops. I am going to add green on the sides etc to make it large enough to throw over Mary's bed at the cottage. The sheets are doubles, and the bed they use is a queen. It's so very bright and cottagey for their (as Mary calls it) bunkee.

I know that lots of people use only cottons, but my quilts are fun to make, easy too and I am just still practicing getting better and better at what I do.

The little print below is also a gift from Mary and I have plans to use it as the back of a quilt I shall be making from left over fabric from my grandmother's stash.

I need to make something with her fabrics and it has been suggested by a friend that I make simple squares and just put those together in a quilt. The fabric is fairly dark, but can take some red and I have lots of red left over from my red quilt that will someday be finished.

I am going to have a giveaway.....It's for those of you who have come to visit me in the past year, have kindly posted lovely notes and kept me going all this time.

I know that lots of people enter giveaways just to see if they can win, but I would like to thank those of you who have been kind enough to visit me and given me encouragement.

I have a lot of selvages which, if you collect them, let me know as you will then go into that giveaway...Other than that, I have "stuff" and am looking forward to picking 5 lucky winners to celebrate my having reached 100 blogs, and also for having a year in blogging.

Easy right and there won't be too many entries, but if anyone has blogged me then they are eligible...

THE WATERFALL

Each spring when we open the cottage the water levels on the lake are always high. That always means a trip to the waterfall at the end of the lake. It's the first trip the grandkids take because the trip itself is an adventure in Nana (me) docking the boat up against the old waterlogged floating pine that rests on the bank of the lake. I always get all the kids ready to grab a branch, and while holding a rope, at least 4 ropes are needed as it's hard to grab ahold of the shoreline tree branches, and tell them to hang on and pull the boat in, while I lift the motor, and try not to scratch the boat (ok, it's a bit scratched) and with everyone excited, we reach land!

The trip up to the waterfall is always full of oooooooohs and more oooooooooohs as we can hear the roar of the water coming over the rocks. We have many photo opps here and the kids just love climbing over rocks, tree limbs and crossing the top of the falls to come down to a level where Nana can take pictures of her darlings.

This is two of the boys just elated for having done the deed of the big climb up the waterfall and down to the big rock with the water just roaring behind them and they were just happy little cousins together at last after the long winter of not seeing each other!


This waterfall by standards of, well Niagara is a stream in comparison, but it's our Niagara each spring. There are always a lot of cottagers who come to the falls in the spring with their children and we all share this adventure, sometimes 4 or 5 boats will be tied to each other as there are so few spots to secure boats.

By June, the falls are a mere trickle of the past month and the black flies have come to the lake and only a few people go there till the season warms to kill off the black flies.

Being on and island, the breezes keep the flies away from us and it's like night and day from shore to islands regarding the pesky black flies. We couldn't bare it on the shores of the lake during May and June to work outside let alone sit on a deck and enjoy the day. But on the island we sit, read, sip our coffees and love the life at this little spot that we cherish.

When we bought the cottage, it was one of the first quetions I asked...you know black flies and the response was that out on the islands, there were very few...we believed him. And it's true, we can work with virtually no bug spray till dusk, when the mosquitos come out and the day ends.

Right now, there isn't anyone venturing out on the ice at the lake as there is some big things happening. There is lots of thick ice, open water in some spots, there has been heavy rain,then snow...everyone is awaiting the mid 60s temperature where one day there is ice and the next, the lake is open again and we all arrive to start the season.

Can't wait....

CONNECTING THE DOTS...

Remember that dot fabric I bought? It's here and I laid it out this morning, took a photo and then arranged the rows. Yeah, I had to do it all over again as piling one row on the other just didn't work..

When I started to sew, I couldn't remember how it all went. Stupid me...I then laid it out again, forgetting to take photo of course , but pinned all the squares to each other. Looking really good now.. It's a bit different from what you see, but pretty close. I made an extra black square so that it was all matchey matchey..know what I mean? I am really pleased with the results and even though it's considered easy, I must be challenged somewhere, putting it together wasn't easy. It's 54" wide and 65" long. Somehow, I got an extra row of patterns from the measurements given. I'm sure it happens all the time.

Anyway, I have enough extra cuts to make the back interesting. It's pretty, and that's what I wanted.

See this photo on the left? Well my dears let me tell you of this photo. It Queen Elizabeth with her arm around Michelle...yep, the first lady...Apparently, the queen commented on how tall Michelle was and actually the queen touched Michelle first and then Michelle put her arm around the queen...The press in England is having a field day of this.....No one, I mean NO ONE is supposed to touch the queen! This is an absolute first...and it was the queen. She put her gloved arm around our Michelle (you know the song, ma Belle Michelle etc...) she loved Michelle and did the move of her life...she touched Michelle. It looks like they are posing for a family photo doesn't it. Anyway, the Brits just loved the photo that shook England yesterday!

We are having what is called April Showers, quite heavy in fact and so the sewing goes on. I took the dog for a walk and we were soaked when we returned. He was wet, thought he'd had a bath, and started running all over the house. I got a towel out to dry him and he jumped into the towel and was like a crazy dog....Too funny (Kel). I think dogs do all those crazy things after a bath and Wilson is one crazy dog...(Kel) She says he's the child we never had!

Karen, dear sweet Karen, sent me a lovely book on simple quilt making. Bless her...she knows my level. No hand work for me Karen! Just the sewing of those little squares, triangles and bars. I absolutely love it...Thank you again.

Have a great weekend all. It's almost springtime........

THIS AND THAT TODAY

I saw this photo on a site that had all different endeavours of people fighting the mighty Red River as it is flowing north into Manitoba. It is

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/03/redriverflooding.html there are so many photos of dispair yet hope as the sand bags are filled and the people fight on. North Dakota and Manitoba have experienced this many times and know the drill it would seem from the other photos...Have a look if you haven't seen these excellent photos.

My sweetie came back from Virginia, with a total of about 7 hours sleep since he had left on Thursday and returned Monday afternoon. We have been to races before, but this was his brother's first Nascar race so the two of them took a bus trip with 33 other guys to Martinsville.

He has been "catching up" on his sleep since returning. He also said that as usual all the people that follow Nascar must be the friendliest of people and his brother couldn't get over the way people were so "neighbourly" as he put it. Considering that the weather had been terrible since leaving, they arrived at the track on Sunday to the sky being blue and a perfect day for a race.

I, of course had the weekend to myself...wonderful, wonderful, is all one can say when the house is empty and I just did what I wanted to do, which was quilt... I did, finishing the Victorian quilt and piecing another. That one, the top is done and ready for finishing. I haven't decided on how to do the back yet and of course today is bridge day, so it's a bit of a write off as far as sewing goes.

It's April 1st, and no virus on the computers so it seems. I swear, sometimes it must be a quiet news day and someone says "virus" and away they all go to get updates on these pesky things.

Today, is a cloudy, expecting rain sort of day and a wee bit warmer than yesterday. It was a winter day yesterday, with the wind whipping around to make it seem even colder...I want warmth...

I found a great idea for making a quilted bowl. It's at Craftster Community or Geta's Quilting Studio. Unbelievable how clever some people are. She is one.

THE VICTORIAN QUILT IS FINISHED!

I really didn't know what else to call this quilt...x@# was my first thoughts, but I finally finished it. I didn't have my photographer here this weekend...Nascar trip to Virginia... so of course yesterday when the temperatures were in the 50s here in Whitby, I quilted. I got up at 7:30 , made coffee and attacked this quilt.

I used varigated thread and stippled it. It took me an hour to spray baste, and 3 -4 hours to stipple it.

I then watched a chick flick, The Lake House with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves and then also watched figure skating between commercials....yeah usually guys do this channel flicking, but I was multitasking, sewing, flicking, and sometimes throwing the ball for the little white thing that is on the quilt photo. I finished it, washed it and made it to Bob and Mary's for candle light hour as we ate freshly made Lemon Pie. Her mother in law who is 87 made this pie. So very very good! When I got home, took it out of the dryer and Mary said, that I had missed a frame on one of the blocks. You know, I nearly jumped off the top of the stairs! I was so careful with this quilt and couldn't figure out why I was "off" when I had used template etc.

So, after her pointing out my mistake, I thought I would just leave it. I was so sick of this quilt as you know. Anyway I woke up this am and of course I looked at the block closely and then remembered my "restoration" expertise....I cut out a small piece and added the border to the missing square and just stippled it on the quilt.

At least now all the squares match. It's off a bit, but it looks good to the eye when seeing the quilt. OMG, I was so careful. And not only that, so many people looked at the thing before I quilted it...no one saw it until finished and I even said that I had trouble with one part.

I am glad to be finished with it is all I can say. It does look good though and the back is in the black print which makes it stand out.

Today it is pouring out and I don't have to think of walking you know who till it lets up because he hates the rain! I hope it's not raining in Martinsville for the race.

Karen has kindly sent me a recipe for sourdough starter. She is on my blog roll over on the left there and she made some biscuits and an apple cake that I just must have. So if you want to start sourdough, go look. Yeah Pioneer Woman would be proud of her.

I am going to start it and see if I can make pizza dough with it. I think it would be interesting..

One more day of being alone....bliss!

I'M SEEING DOTS BEFORE MY EYES!

Fabricland has a 50% sale on this weekend for members, so I went this morning and bought these dots. I just love dots and I am already planning what I will do with them!

The shop was packed and they didn't have the quilting thread that I wanted which would have been 50% off and they back ordered it for me! I was so pleased with their courtesy.

While I was shopping I also managed to find the current Better Homes quilting book. $10.00 plus for the little sucker! I am going to check and see if I can get a lot of the contents online. I kept thinking what fabrics I could have bought for that amount. Yeah I love the magazine, but, it's a big price with the taxes and all.

I also made a huge goof while supposedly adding to my blogger list and made a mistake and then to make matters worse, I deleted all my list! I am going to spend a lot of time over the next few days and add everyone back. Don't ask me how I did it, but I did. I, believe it or not have done this before, and vowed to be more careful, and just did it again! What a goof I am.

The doctor gave me a clean bill of health regarding my little skin cancer thing and said it looked well on its way to full recovery without leaving a scar. As if I really cared, however am glad it's looking good. It's only because it was so itchy that I had him look at it, so he's a good guy today in my books.

I am off to quilt for the day even though it is sunny out and it's truly feeling like spring. There are a group of boys of all ages in the park playing basketball. It's a sure sign when that happens.

Have a great weekend.

SPRING WISHES

See that little purple flower on the left? Well if you look closely, you will see a little hummer with his whole head in the flower just sucking away on the nectar of the plant.

I don't know what the flower is called, am sure Kelly will give me the name when she reads this, but what ever it is, my little hummers just love it. So when I buy my hanging baskets in the spring, I make sure that the flowers will attract and feed the little beasts.

Hummingbirds are describes as the only bird who always appears to be pissed off at the world. They take on crows for goodness sake! They can also be really noisey and when the male decides he wants to take over a feeder, he is fierce in protecting it. I sometimes, because I am bigger will remove the feeder for a few days and move it to another location to really tic him off.

The females will share with other females, no problem and when they are bringing their young to the feeders will even share the same holes with them. One can always tell the young as they are a bit clumsy when approaching and will sometimes end up a bit upside down as they have a wonky landing.

Usually at the cottage they arrive, if the weather has been warm, by May 8th, which is our anniversary and usually just a few days into moving in, so our dinner is always simple of hotdogs and beans, as that was all we had that first year of being there at that time. Traditions die hard!
I do add the salads and wine though and as we wait for the little critters to appear.


The photo on the left wasn't taken by me, but appeared in Cottage Life a couple of years ago and when I saw this, I thought I had to have the flower. Echineca, oh well I have that already in a few colours to enhance the bed. But because I have the bee balm, they don't go there that often.

In the spring when the birds arrive, the will also eat the little spiders. I didn't know this till I saw it last year. We learn all the time the connection between the hummers and the spiders as the hummers use the spider threads to make their nests. By the way the size of an egg is about the size of a pea. There are lots of sites on the web to have a look at them because what I know about this little bird is about the size of a pea!

In the summer, when the females are nesting, we only see them at dawn and dusk mainly to feed like crazy and back to their nests. When it's very hot, I water the flowers and make sure the water sprinkles the hemlock which is where hummers like to sit and watch and when I water they will go crazy bathing. The actually try to turn themselves upside down! So funny.


I am still in a bit of a funk about quilting....It may be because I really need to finish that quilt I started and move on. My sweetie is off to Martinsville, Virginia for the Nascar race this weekend and he leaves this afternoon. Maybe I will get sewing when I am on my own.

Being Canadian, I cannot but talk of the weather here in Ontario. It's about 50 degrees today and it was great walking the dog this morning. But I was thinking of Manitoba and North Dakota having to endure the flooding and watching the areas affected struggle to contain water makes me think that when people come together for a common cause....well they can do anything.

THE BIG BUNKIE

When one first enters the "big bunkie" as it's known, even though we have tried to rename it over the years, it's still called the new bunkie or the big bunkie. It's 14 X 16 ft and with the large picture window and high ceilings, it's very airy compared to the little bunkie.





It also faces the lake as you can see from yesterday's photo of our site, but it's back a bit in the woods and is very private. I couldn't find an up close of the exterior, however it does have a small deck for sitting on, but almost everyone goes to the deck at the main cottage.


We put in the laminate flooring here, but painted the little bunkie floor because it just suited it. The floor is the same as the main cottage. As much as the interior is very simple and woodsy, we haven't been able to give it the appeal of the little bunkie. So mostly it's adults that come to visit that have a place of their own with lots of ventillation. Although this past fall when the teens were up, we put them there, as they stay up later than us and they were away from the old folks.

I've thought often of whitewashing the walls to give it a cottage feel.Now that I have quilts, hanging a couple on the walls might make it more cottagey, but the kids just love using them for coziness. Each original sleeping spot has a light so that one can read before sleep time. We did this as all the kids read and we encourage it all the time at the cottage.

Our neighbours Bob and Mary have more or less claimed this bunkie as theirs as they come often so Mary just calls it "my bunkie". We are thinking of putting in a 2 piece bathroom in there. If it happens, I will post it for sure...lots of planning is in the works.

When we built this, it was because our family is quite large and on weekends with kids bringing their friends, we can be in the teens for the weekends, so we were pressed for room to say the least. For a couple of years we had the girls, all 6 of them camping out on the deck in a large tent that one of our sons had. It was a tight fit, but they loved it. And of course there wasn't much room on the deck with a 10 x 10ft tent up there. So we built the big bunkie.


Beside the bunkie and a bit further up the hill is my sweetie's workshop which is known as the Home Depot of Long Island as we have lots of "stuff" packed in there. Any one may borrow what we have, but, they must return as soon as possible in case of someone else's needs. It works quite well. The workshop is the size of the big bunkie and has a garage door so that all the equipment for sawing etc is done outside on its deck.


Yeah, that's the name of our island, and we live in a village called Brooklin, isn't that something? Talk about Karma!

Of course we have a large septic bed and it has all the perennial flowers I can put on it and even annual cosmos because I like how they bend in the breezes and add their delicate foliages to the garden there. I have not had much success with sun flowers, but maybe this year will be different.

I think I have posted the main cottage before, but I may find some new photos to share as I continue my yearning for this wonderful place. It's a very simple cottage, not fancy as you can see from the above photos, but we have made it homey and welcoming for all that come!

THE COTTAGE

I didn't know whether to post our cottage aerial photo that was taken by one of our friends flying over the area and photographed our little place on the lake. It turned out so well that he sent it to us

The little bunkie on the left of the photo is the place where almost everyone wants to be because it's so close to the lake. It measure 10X18 ft and has a queen size bed in it and a set of bunks that are cot size only 32" wide because we couldn't have fit anything larger in the space.

Here is the inside of the bunkie. It holds all our wet suits, skis, ropes and also has the beer fridge in it which doesn't show. the fridge is in a cubby hole in the wall so that we could hold the beds etc.

Over the years this cottage has held as many as 8-10 people of various sizes. We would put all the little bodies on the floor in sleeping bags on top of our lounging mattresses. Adults usually slept on the "big bed" which is to say Kelly and my daughter in law Kate being the major sleepers there with as many kids as the bunkie could hold. It was there that a 13" tv held their attention when the kids were little. Many many ghost stories have been told in this little cabin with about 6 kids always huddled on the bed as Nana told the scariest stories she could make up.

Beware of anybody having to get up in the night and move around the bodies. One night Jeremy and Eric were sleeping on the top bunk, which had a guard on it so that they wouldn't fall out and Jeremy actually slid, with his bag off the back end of the bunk, but because there was so many bags on the end table he just slid to the end of the little cot that was put at the end of the bed and didn't even wake up!

Yes, many great stories have been made in that little bunkie. I just thought I would post this as our cottage season is nearing and I am getting anxious to be there.

I just couldn't get in the mood for quilting, sewing, or doing much else, it must be spring fever.

Maybe tomorrow I'll feel up to it.

DO YOU HAVE THIS FLOWER IN YOUR GARDEN

This is my favorite flower. Monarda or bee balm as it is commonly known. The reason I like this flower is, it's a perennial and the hummingbirds go crazy flitting from flower to flower all summer long. It blooms forever and even though it can get mildew on it, the flower still blooms.

When we return to the cottage next month, the first outside chore I do is clear and cut the bee balm, transfer plants to new locations and await their blooms.

The hummers arrive around May 8th -10th and are so hungry from their travel from Centra America that I usually have about 5 feeders out for them. Last year we didn't have any more than 6 that stayed around for the season, and that was very disappointing as we usually get more than double that for the feeding frenzies of the evening. But it was so cold last spring and I think that the little things stayed further south and just didn't move even after the warmup. We are near Algonquin Park in Northern Ontario, so it's a trek for them and the springs can be cool. I just love seeing these birds as it's a sign that we are awaiting lovely days.

Quilting at the cottage is a lovely passtime as I sit at a table in our greatroom with 3 sides of windows and can see lake, sky and trees without turning my head. It's such peaceful place for us and this year I am taking sewing machine and table to keep up my hobby.

This past weekend was so lovely that we sat outside with coffees in hand and chatted with the neighbours. It is a time of year when, after such a long brutal winter all of us emerge from our dens and face a new beginning!

THIS AND THAT

I'm not considered a novice knitter you know, I can knit sweaters, socks, do cables and I do have a few doggie coats that I designed my self. So I went to Chapters in Ajax looking for Kristin's book (see the photo) and had to order it as it's not there yet.

I just love reading her blog about living there with the farmer and creating knitting patterns, doing her photography and raising her child! Her blog "getting stitched on the farm" is just a great journey of her life and it's always an interesting read particularly at this time of year when the little lambs are gamboling all over the place.

I am going to try to knit something from this book and if I can't, I shall have it as a coffee table book for my friends to think I have talent!

There are a number of my blogging "friends" that I follow,with coffee in one hand and mouse in the other to visit regularly to see what they are up to.

Karen is doing and insanity dear jane quilt.....all by hand and I am totally committed to see how she comes along in my daily visits with her. Of course Mary Quilts has also been one of my regular places to stop and chat as she is one of the first blogs I visited when I started quilting. Her along with Crazymom who gets so many hits that I just don't post all the time there. So many people and so little time to read all those blogs. My goodness it's a wonder Amandajean has time to visit me, but she does and I thank her and all those that, like me take time to visit.

I also visit a couple of gals from Ontario to see what they are up to and always leave a comment for Trish, who is funny and self depracating in her writings. I am awaiting her final stitches on her "male" quilt and am anxious to see some fusia instead of fish in her next quilts. Deb has the amazing quilt that she did years ago as a header on her blog and I visit her all the time too although she doesn't post often.

So, now to the that. Our dog, the Mighty Wilson, is like us obsessed about the cottage life and yesterday we took his "boat coat" out to see if it would fit on Quincy the puppy from you know where. It did, but Wilson went nuts as he say his coat and thought it was "cottage time". I had to hide it from him so that he didn't go any more crazy than he is.

Here he is with his boat coat when we were leaving the cottage last fall.

We are awaiting the ice out on the lake and have already sent the notice to put our boat in the water as soon as the ice is out. There is still 3 ft of ice there now and so it gives you an idea of how cold it can be just two hours north of Whitby.

But, when the weather warms to the mid 60s, the sun shines, that ice I tell you just disappears and I have no idea how all of that happens. One day there is a frozen lake, and the next....spring has arrived. That is what we live for, spring on our lake.

Just a ps, I am working on the victorian blocks, they are done I have the print to do sashing and have no idea as yet how I will quilt this. I do stippling and in the ditch. Can I do both in one quilt?

This is my little gift from Caron Mosey. Included with this lovely piece of fabric is a card with her quilt,"Ocean Waves" This quilt measure 80 X 97 and contains over 2348 pieced triangles alone. Ok. This is amazing in itself, but having the photo of the quilt done in a card is so cool. Thank you Caron, this is my first gift.

I am going to finish that "victorian blocks" that I started. I, today purchased coordinating fabric to sash the blocks. We shall see.

Since today was bridge day, I didn't do any sewing but over the next few days the weather known as spring is leaving us and rain is forcast for the next few days.

I feel so sad about Natashia Richardson. My goodness, such a young woman and such a freaky accident and I just heard that she has been taken off life support. Her husband Liam Neeson at her side made this decision...so very very sad and my heart goes out to her family. 45 years old is too young to die.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?

I bought this fabric because it looked so appealing! What was I thinking? It's nothing like I would normally do, it's got sort of Victorian panels that I now have 12 of and I bought fabric to make the frames for them too and, paid what I consider a big buck for!

Have you ever done that? They are really pretty you know, but just not the kind of thing I would normally do. I have even put them aside till I decide if I truly want to make something out of it all. The finished square is 12" so it's a fair size and with sashings would make a large enough throw kind of quilt. The only good thing about it is the sashing fabric which is black, that makes the whole thing look good. But it's not somthing that I normally do. I usually put fabric together, look at a few patterns and then start cutting out.

You can see from the photo on the left the block as it would be with the finished look of it. What do you think?

So, have you ever gone totally different in colours, in styles and finishes that make you happy you did it?

Do we follow, say safe and true colours and styles that we are comfortable with that we don't look at anything else, like what I've done? And then, what do I do with this very Victorian looking quilt? Who does Victorian these days?


Maybe I had thought of the sheep at one of the blogs I follow where she lives on a sheep farm and knits...Who knows?

This past weekend in my part of the world, we had a taste of spring! Ah, you know, the freshness in the air, sunshine, children out without heavy coats, boots and hats, and everyone just so happy for some warm sunshine that we were all so very friendly to even strangers. Yeah, it was great.

Our neighbours invited us for a turkey dinner! Yeah, and no holiday or "nothin" as the kids would say. We had all the fixins and even sat in the dining room too. Mary found the turkey in her freezer and just went with it. It was, needless to say delicious and I didn't have to think of what to make for dinner.

I sometimes just can't think of what to make for dinner. I usually when in doubt, make homemade pizza. I have a yummy dough recipe that I got from BH&G and it actually makes two large pizzas which I make up and put one in the fridge for the next day. Two meals done and I could feed my sweetie pizza every day of the week, he just loves it! Well not everyday, but pretty close. Planning meals is just getting to me I think. It's not that I don't like to cook, but sometimes I just don't feel like it. I am sure everyone does, even Martha and I'm no Martha, close but don't pass out the cigars!