Cottage quilting

My sister and I drove out to our cottage for an overnight trip.  On Saturday, the weather was perfect for porch sitting.  Sunday, it was cool and raining, so we stayed inside until driving home in the afternoon.  We noticed a few leaves on the maple trees starting to turn colour.  Ragweed is blooming now and as the saying goes:  six weeks before the first frost.  Ugh!!!!

I hired a PSW to stay with hubby while I was away.  He is at that point now and I need to ensure that he is safe.  After I got home Sunday night, I opened a drawer in the kitchen to get a clean dishcloth and there was a bowl of yogurt sitting there amongst my towels.  I never know what I will discover!  LOL  It is either laugh or cry ....  

Anyway at the cottage, my sister and brother discussed ideas to help make my getting up from chairs easier.  My brother gathered up scraps of wood and put 2" of wood blocks under my chair on the porch, under the loveseat that I sit on inside the cottage and under my bed.  So much easier now to get up off these items.

Saturday night, we had a fire at the firepit but I couldn't go because I was tired and I'm not sure my legs would get me up and down the few steps to walk to and from the firepit.  So, I stayed inside and after a while my brother came to check on me and asked if I would like a burnt marshmallow (I like them burnt not just browned) and I gleefully said "yes".  He came back with a burnt marshmallow and I sure enjoyed it.

The next morning, he was up early building me a ramp out of scrap cedar wood.  It is light enough that my sister can move it from the cottage to the outhouse.  Yes, we have an outhouse!  Our cottage is very rustic.  I tried out the ramp and between that and the grab bars, I can now maneuver around and not tire myself out struggling to climb steps.  I'm a happy camper.  My brother told me that I can burn my own marshmallows from now on.  Yep, I'm up for that.

So, what did I bring out with me to work on?  This project.  Do you see that empty strip of white beside the blue border?  That is what I brought out with me.  It felt good to work on something.  Also, another section of hexies for this project was worked on.

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your freedom and cherish your country.  My country will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS be CANADA!  

There is a petition going around urging Canadians to sign and urge our PM to remove the U.S. Ambassador to Canada.  We are tired of hearing the bullsh*t that is spewing from his mouth.  Get him out of here!  As far as I'm concerned, he is FIRED!

Elbows up, eh!  BABA

Flying Geese has been Topped!

My flying geese is now a top.  A push was performed to get the last strips sewn together and then decisions made about borders and once they were cut out it took two afternoons to get the borders on.  I'm so happy this is a top now.  It finished at 63-1/2" x 77".  Now to look through Xmas fabrics for backing and I'm thinking of piecing some batting pieces to whittle down a few of those bins.

Now, time to concentrate on another UFO!

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your freedom and cherish your country.  My country will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS be CANADA!

Elbows up, eh!  BABA

Just Flying Along

Lately, not much time has been spent quilting ..... just too busy looking after hubby.

Today, I sat down for half an hour and just sewed some of my flying geese blocks.  I alternate one red and one green and so on.

Can you see my dwindling pile of red and green geese blocks?  When I see those pink stickers, that means only ten more of each colour and the strip is complete.

Tomorrow is another day and perhaps the strip can get completed, ironed and sewn together and then sewn onto the main body.  Getting so close to adding borders next.

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your freedom and cherish your country.  My country will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be CANADA!

Elbows up, eh!   BABA

A thank you to Dr. Fauci for guiding us through COVID-19.  He was the only adult in the room to say it like it was and not what the orange buffoon was spewing.  Hubby and I listened to his advise and we are alive today.

Blast from the Past

This morning, I received an email from Kathy (my LAer) and she sent a photo of something she found in this magazine:

It was an article about a quilt that I had made from one of their patterns.  This was at the time when we lived in Scarborough, Ontario (a suburb of Toronto) and that is me holding up the quilt.

Talk about a Blast from the Past!  It made me chuckle and it made my day!  Thank you Kathy for sending this to me.

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your freedom and cherish your country!  My country will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be CANADA!

Elbows up, eh!  BABA

Some Good News!

Recently, my friend Darlene and I each donated a couple quilts to a health organization for a silent auction.

For me, this was a test run to see if they would sell and be wanted.  Not everyone is into quilts .... I know, I know .....

Anyway, they all sold and for the highest bidding prices!  Woohoo!

These were the quilts that I donated.

Considering that hubby is using our health system more these days, it was a good cause to donate to.  I will have a couple more for next year.

Regarding hubby, he is falling less these days .... which I'm so happy about.  I didn't know what would await for me when I woke up in the morning.  A physiotherapist is coming to our home once a week to give him exercises to help make his legs and core muscles stronger.  We are just starting to see results.

He is also receiving help from PSW's twice per day now.  It just got to the point where I just couldn't give him the proper care that he needed.  I had to laugh one day when a new PSW came to visit.  He didn't know if it was me or hubby he came to help.  When I told him it was hubby, he said that he could also take care of me at same time.  That is how poorly my health has become.  I'm just so weak and tired these days.

I did make a trip down to Toronto to see a neuro surgeon.  He will be doing a muscle biopsy to help find out what is my problem.  I'm just waiting for a date.  This way, hopefully, an answer will be found and if there is a treatment or not.  I just need to know.

My sister and I will be visiting a few local nursing homes in the coming weeks.  An application for hubby will be submitted so that he can get on to a list for down the road.  If I go into a retirement home, hubby may not be able to come with me as he is on the cusp of a home vs. nursing home.  

We are working with a co-ordinator that makes things happen for us as she knows our goal is to stay in our home for as long as possible.  When my sister and her went to check our home for safety, she saw my quilts and was totally impressed.  I could hear them laughing and asked my sister why?  My sister then showed the lady all the quilts in the bookcase in my bedroom and she said that there were LOTS more in other places in the house!  LOL

So, that was my good news and not so good news ...

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your freedom and cherish your country.  My country will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be CANADA!

Elbows up, eh!

Cassandra's Circle

In my quest to move along some old UFO's, this project was pulled out and worked on.  Lots of applique to help keep me busy for a few nights.  Look at my beautiful Shweshwe fabric.  Love it and I have a bin full of this fabric in this colour.  I just drool every time the bin gets opened!  LOL

There are still three tiny circles to applique in the center, but soon I can start to figure out how to finish this.  There won't be any more blocks to make as a decision was made to cut back on the pattern and finish it.

My flying geese are slowly being work on and there are just four more rows to go.  Yeah.

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your freedom and cherish your country.  My country will ALWAYS, ALWAYS be CANADA!

Elbows up, eh!

 

Joseph's Coat

Finally, finally, this quilt is finished!

I brought it to show at night guild and two lovely ladies held it up for all to see while I sat in my chair and talked about it.

In my mind, I have been thinking that this is a 15 yr. old UFO.  Duh, wrong!  It was started in 2009 and that makes it 17 yrs. old.  Now, the funny part is .... we have a high school principle in our group and when she heard about when it was started .... can you guess what she was thinking?  Math was never my strong subject.  Oh well .... move on!  LOL

Here is a closer look:

Anyway, can't say this has been a total joy to make.  A few different methods of applique was used until my favourite method was used to complete it and then the finishing became easier.  I'm glad it is done and crossed off my UFO list.

Quilt Details:

Source:  I can't find the source for this pattern.  It got lost while this project was being shuffled around for a few years.  This started as a quilt-along, but I think the blog is no longer active.

Started:  November 2009

Top Finished:  September 2025

Quilt Finished:  May, 2026

Quilt Size:  62-1/2" x 90-1/4" (top size before quilting, washing and drying:  64-3/4" x 93")

Batting:  Hobbs poly

Quilted by:  Kathy Harris using Midsummer Dream by Christy Dillon

So glad this quilt is done and put away for a rainy day.

On a different note, my niece and her family nearly lost their cottage that is situated on a lake in our city.  She sent me photos the next day.  Look how close the fire came!  Cause is possibly electrical from a water pump.

This was the fire taken from the lake.

My niece's cottage is the one with the Canadian flag.  Luckily, neighbours doused the side of their cottage with a hose to keep the flames from spreading.  The only damage to this cottage was a dryer vent that buckled from the heat.  Fire trucks were there but the fire was too far gone.  The cottage was old and wooden, so all they could do was keep the fire from spreading.

This was all that remained the next morning.  So sad as the owners lived there for 53 years.

Cherish your day, cherish your life, cherish your freedom and cherish your country.  My country will always, always be CANADA!

Elbows up, eh!