Lest We Forget

In school we had to learn In Flanders Field every November. I knew it was written by John McRae but I never knew the story behind the poem. I did a Net search this morning and found it here. I'd would like to share it.

John McRae

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915

during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium

On May 2, 1915, John McCrae’s close friend and former student Alexis Helmer was killed by a German shell. That evening, in the absence of a Chaplain, John McCrae recited from memory a few passages from the Church of England’s “Order of the Burial of the Dead”. For security reasons Helmer’s burial in Essex Farm Cemetery was performed in complete darkness.

The next day, May 3, 1915, Sergeant-Major Cyril Allinson was delivering mail. McCrae was sitting at the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the YserCanal, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, Belgium.

As John McCrae was writing his In Flanders Fields poem, Allinson silently watched and later recalled, “His face was very tired but calm as he wrote. He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer's grave."

Within moments, John McCrae had completed the “In Flanders Fields” poem and when he was done, without a word, McCrae took his mail and handed the poem to Allinson.

Allinson was deeply moved:

“The (Flanders Fields) poem was an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene."

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Still sewing

This is my most fun thing I made for the bazaar yet. I actually got to make a lap quilt! This one is 45" square and is being sold as a wheelchair lap quilt but it's big enough for anyone to use. I was so excited to find the flowered fabric in the craft group stash and I had just enough of the blue for the sashing and borders. I do have six deer panels that I could make into a men's lap quilt but need to look for co-ordinating fabrics so will leave it for Spring. I'm anxious to get back to my own stuff. I still have a couple more small things I want to get made but they aren't a priority. If I get them done fine, if I don't that's okay too. 

I really want to get back to my daughters quilt that I'm hand quilting. I only have 12 squares left to do. She and her husband are moving this month and it would be nice to have it finished but I can't see being able to. Maybe by Christmas. They have a winter quilt I made them that looks good anyway. They're excited about the move. This town is owned by one man. You can't get an apartment (aside from a basement apartment) that isn't owned by him and he doesn't allow pets. Her mother-in-law and I use the same hair salon and when Clair mentioned to the owner that Lisa and Chris were looking for a place he said he has a carriage house he wants to rent. And he allows cats. Perfect! It's only 3 years old. The place they've been in for the last 3 years is owned by a lady who just wants the property to sell to a developer and is renting out this old house until it sells. She won't do any work on it. So it's been a depressing time living in those conditions. This will be so nice for them. I'm excited about the move too. She'll still be within walking distance of us. 

I've been very busy lately. I decided to join our prayer shawl ministry that's starting up. This Saturday is our second meeting. I don't have any patterns yet. There's one particular pattern that I'd love to make because it is a simple knit 3, purl 3. Doesn't take much concentration and you can't lose where you were when you put it down last. They want afghans as opposed to shawls. Wool is so expensive that they're hoping for donations. I would be willing to pay $30 to make one afghan but not on a continuous basis. I got a ball of Bernat Worsted Yarn that is 400 oz. for $8.00. That's more in my price range. Since I'm not real good at knitting I have no idea if that's enough to make an afghan. I'll have to ask at our meeting. 

I'm also still doing our Fall study at the church and DH signed us up for a course at Elder College. It's a thing that's been set up in our community so seniors (you only have to be 55) can take classes on various subjects. Ours is called The Majestic Universe and is about all sorts of interesting things from Astronomy to Greek Myth. They are 3 hour lectures though so I'm pretty tired when we get out of there. It's kind of heavy duty. University professors volunteer to come out and give the classes so it's not amateur stuff. 

Better get myself moving. I still do have to do housework around here. 

EEEEK MICE!!!!

I don't knit much but I said I'd do a few mice for the bazaar. They have catnip in them. I'm sure glad we don't have a cat anymore. I'd never have gotten them done. They're cute little things though. 

We actually do have mice around here... or more correctly voles. They're kind of like rats but have a really short tail. They're the reason there are so many predatory birds like eagles and hawks flying around and we also have a number of feral cats. I've never been much bothered by the voles but I guess our neighbour has cause he feeds the feral cats to keep them around to keep down the mouse population. He also feeds the racoons to keep them from killing the cats and from eating the cherries off his tree and he feeds the coyotes to keep them from killing the cats. It's kind of like the old lady who swallowed a fly*LOL*

I haven't been around much. I've really slowed down on my sewing for the bazaar. We're having a meeting next week to see if there are any other things we need to make. 

I came down with the worst sinus cold last weekend. I haven't had a cold in years so I was miserable. I'm feeling a lot better but my ears are still plugged, I have a cough and I'm sniffly. But at least I don't feel like my head is going to explode anymore. 

Okay, have a good day everyone. 

More bazaar stuff

Seems I only get on here once a week to post. I've been busy anyway and when I'm not busy I'm still sewing for the bazaar. I feel like it will never end but it's on Nov 29 so I know by December we'll be finished.

This past week I made another small table runner, 4 more sets of wine glass coasters and 2 sets of microwave mitts (they want 6 pair). I've also been playing with sock monkeys which is more fun than work. They aren't quite finished. I need to put hearts on their chests and the guy in the middle is going to get a tie. I thought of knitting them vests but it's just too much work right now.

I'm going to miss having them sitting on the couch. They have such neat personalities :0)

I went to a sale at my LQS yesterday to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Now I know there is never that much of a deal there but I did manage to hit the jackpot with one thing. We were given paper bags (lunch size) and there was a pile of fabric - fat quarters, strips, etc. For everything we could fit in a bag it was $5. There wasn't much I wanted but I did take a few things that would make good microwave mitts or kleenex cozies plus I found this end of the bolt pillowcase piece. It wasn't exactly straight but I think it will be okay anyway.

I can't remember his name. I just know he has a cartoon show... well, obviously a cartoon show, what else kind of show would he have? *LOL* Original price for this (print on both sides) would have been worth at least $5 so that alone was worth going for. 

A month or so ago I got 3 advent calendar panels on eBay for $11 ($3 each). I just thought they were so cute I couldn't not buy 3 of them. I gave one to a quilting friend when we went out for lunch, I want one for myself and I made this one for the bazaar. The cookies are felt backed. Each day you take a cookie from the calendar and put it in the bowl at the top of the calendar. You can put snaps or whatever so you can hang some of the cookies but if whoever buys it wants to do that they can do it themselves. 

I'm whittling down my list bit by bit. I have a top for a wheelchair lap quilt but no backing fabric so that may not get finished. 

I'm not done last months  Brutus much less this month's two - although I do have them printed out. And I haven't started Val Laird's last one either. My daughter's quilt is still sitting there crying out to be quilted on again. 

Actually my daughter and husband finally found a place to rent. They've been looking for months cause they place they live in now is horrible. It's very depressing and is just a house that someone bought for the property so is in bad shape and not going to be fixed. There are 3 other houses on the block that a developer is waiting for to go up for sale and then he'll buy this one as well and put up new houses. 

We all use the same hairdresser (gotta love small towns). He has a house with a carriage house out back, which is the latest style here. His tenants are moving out and he'll rent it to them AND let them have their cat. Otherwise all of the apartments in town are owned by one developer with a no pet policy. Not really fair to people with small pets like a cat but I guess it depends on the pet, even cats can make a mess of a place. 

A couple of you asked about Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books. I loved them and I've just put up my blog review here. 

Canadian Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Canada. I have so much to be grateful for. 

The many farm fields in the area where we live are a constant reminder of how blessed I am to live in a land of plenty. 

I have clothes on my back,  a roof over my head, and I and my little family are all healthy. 

I am grateful that I am able share with others who don't have enough. 

I'm grateful for the new friends I've made over the last 6 months. They are all wonderful, caring, giving women. 

I'm grateful that I have been put in situations that have taught me to express my gratitude at the end of each day. I may not be feeling grateful some days but there is always something I am thankful for and each small thing helps my attitude and lifts my spirit. 

Wine Coasters

I've always wanted to try these but never got around to it. There are various ways to make them but I like this way. I saw a tutorial for making them from 7" squares that was easy enough but I like the finished look of this one better. For this one you need five 5" squares per coaster.

The idea is that you can slip the base of the wine glass into the coaster and then carry it around with you. Then you will never accidentally put the glass down on a good piece of furniture that moisture can damage.

Made with the five pieces of fabric it stays in a nice shape. I found the one I made with just one piece of fabric was floppy. So I chose to make this pattern instead. More cutting to it but really easy to sew. I made 8 of them for sale at the bazaar. 

I haven't been feeling 100% this week, and I'm still not but I am better enough to run out and cut the lawn while we have a day of sunshine. I've been really tired and my naps haven't been affecting my night time sleep at all so I know I'm really tired. It's probably just adjusting to trying to change my body clock. 

I was thinking about Hazel's question about using hand sanitizer in church. I noticed when I was there for a study on Tuesday that we have those Purell dispensers all over the place in the church. I should have remembered that cause there's one in the kitchen we use when we're making sandwiches but I never thought of general use ones. Now that I think about it I could tell you where all those dispensers are but I couldn't tell you where to find a fire extinguisher... hmmm. 

I also made a cute tablerunner on Saturday but haven't  gotten it put together. I'll be posting it when it's finished. 

I also went down to the quilt shop today to get a new blade. They have the prettiest embroidered sample by the cash register. It was almost like a cross between embroidery and cross-stitch. So I've signed up for the class. It's in December. 

Church Bells

When I was a child we lived in downtown Ottawa. Every Sunday morning Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring I would walk the 5 blocks to church with my parents, each of them holding one of my hands. It felt like a special time, I guess because it was a set routine. The church was a large brick building built around the turn of the century. It is still in use today and in good shape.

There is another part to the church not shown in this photo. It was almost as tall and housed the church basement (where Sunday School was held), the hall which was like a gymnasium and stage and on the top floor lived the caretaker. Among other jobs he was the one who rang the bells on Sunday mornings and on other special occasions like weddings. 

Now I live on the other side of the country and this is the church I go to.

This church was also built just before the turn of the century but is wood rather than brick. There are extensions to one side and to the back which hold the offices, sunday school, worship center and nursery. Amazingly enough this church was raised at one time to allow a bottom level to be added to house the Sunday school. Buildings here have no basements. Then when they added the additions the church was lowered again. It survived amazingly well for a building of that age but there are cracks in the plaster ceilings. 

There is no caretaker's apartment because we have a part time cleaner that comes in, men from the congregation do small repairs and there is no need for someone to ring the bells on Sunday morning or at any other time. In fact it is illegal to ring church bells. It is considered disturbing the peace. People actually complained enough at one time that it was necessary to enact a law. We are, however, allowed to cut our lawns, use chainsaws, leaf blowers, power saws, etc on Sundays.  

The church bells in our church have been rung once in the 15 years I've attended. That was on a New Years Day when the bells played a non religious tune to welcome in the New Year. And the church had to jump through hoops for 6 months just to get a permit to ring the bells for 10 minutes. 

I'm at a loss to understand this. Part of Sunday morning in downtown Ottawa was listening to the bells of all the various churches. I miss them. The bells don't just announce church services, they also announce weddings, as I said above, and some ring every day at noon. In Ottawa and Vancouver they fire a cannon at noon, and in Gastown the steam operated clock whistles at noon. Why is the sound of cannons and the loud whistles of clocks preferable to the comforting sound of bells?  

Just something I'm contemplating on today.

Sewing Bird

Last time I went to a craft group meeting I was shown a Sewing Bird and asked if I could make a pattern for it. Sure I said, and I could have I think given enough tries. But I decided to look on the internet to see if I could find a free pattern. Didn't find one but found one that looked just like it that another girl said she made. She had it on Kiiji for $5.00 I make enough little things like that that I decided to buy the pattern from her.

This is my first try. It's okay but a bit lumpy in places. I always need to make a practise one of these things first.

Isn't it cute? The elastic you see on the bottom one is a criss cross and you can keep a round retractible tape measure in there. Under each wing is also a small piece of elastic to hold scissors and a stitch ripper. The rest of the bird you just stick pins in (ouch). I just thought it was the cutest thing.

I was horrified when I got the pattern from this girl. It was a photocopy of a copyrighted pattern from Gooseberry Hill. It was copyrighted in 1991 but a visit to their website showed that they are still selling this pattern - for $8.00. It feels so wrong to make something from an illegal pattern but it is for charity. Maybe I should send Gooseberry Hill the $8.00, or the $3.00 difference. I don't know. What I do know is I'm going to make 2-3 more. 

A girl at the Quilt Shop where I worked was found photocopying all the patterns from the store. Then she put them in those clear page protectors and sold them at a garage sale for $1.00 each. Not only was she cheating the store she could have gotten the store in huge trouble if any of the companies found out what she was doing. Easy fix, they fired her.

I went to a sewing craft meeting yesterday. It was so much fun. We pulled out their stash of Christmas fabrics and we thought about various uses for them. Of course after 3 hours my head began to leak and I couldn't even remember what I was supposed to do. I did say I didn't want to make any more placemats but I've found a couple of really good patterns, darn it.

Anyway, it's a gorgeous sunny Fall day here. We get so few of those these days I'm gonna go for a walk and glory in it.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Basic Rules for Clotheslines

I got an email the other day that took me waaaay back. I guess it should be Wednesday cause this is like Lane's Wayback Wednesday posts. I'm doing laundry today... okay, yesterday and today... not that there's a lot of it but I'm lazy. So here is my clothes line

Not your typical clothesline. It's clothesline cord stretched between two pillars at the edge of our deck. Notice I use hangars for the shirts. That's to save space cause it's very short. I do use clothespins for pants and I keep them in this little bag I made. 

I love my clothespin bag :0)

I have a family tree book written by a great uncle by marriage. He speaks of Templeton, a small, at one time english speaking, community in Quebec,  Canada. I can't read or speak French so I'm glad they were English. All of the women had their laundry finished and out on the line by 7am on Monday morning. If they didn't the community would first check to see if she was ill. If she wasn't ill then she was fodder for gossip for the rest of the week. Glad I don't live in those times. It's now 11:45 on Tuesday morning and only half my laundry is done. Haven't done the pants or towels yet. Due to the wonder of dryers the rest of it is drying without me having to do much.

I realized the following really is how my mom taught me to hang clothes. We don't live in an area where the clothes freeze anymore and besides it rains all winter here so I have to hang things inside during the winter. So the only rule I still follow in this list is #7. DH does leave the pins on the line. Drives me nuts so I go along and take them down.

Of course this all sounds very nostalgic and neat but there were drawbacks. My father wore long underwear in the winter and I remember my mom telling me how one neighbour in particular was shocked to see all the patches on them. But my parents didn't have enough money to waste on new things, especially ones that wouldn't show except on the clothesline.

Love the poem at the end too.

So how do you do following the rules? Do you have a clothesline? I'm not allowed a regular one cause 1. DH says it ruins the ambiance of the yard (rolling eyes)
2. Being at sea level here there's no way we can sink a post deep enough to hang a clothesline on.

Basic Rules for Clothes lines

You have to be a certain age to appreciate  this.   I can hear my mom now ...

THE BASIC  RULES FOR CLOTHES LINES:   (If you don't know what clothes lines are, better skip this.)

1.  You had to wash the clothesline before hanging any clothes.  Walk the entire length of each line wiping the line with a damp cloth.
2.  You had to hang the clothes in a certain order, and always hang "whites" with "whites," and hang them first.

3.  You never hung a shirt by the shoulders - always by the tail!  What would the neighbors think?

4.  Wash day on a Monday . . . Never hang clothes on the weekend, certainly not Sunday, for Heaven's sake!

5.  Hang the sheets and towels on the outside lines so you could hide your "unmentionables" in the middle (perverts & busybodies, y'know!)

6.  It didn't matter if it was sub-zero weather . . . Clothes would "freeze-dry."

7.  Always gather the clothespins when taking down dry clothes!  Pins left on the lines were "tacky!"

8.  If you were efficient, you would line the clothes up so that each item did not need two clothes pins, but shared one of the clothespins with the next washed item.

9.  Clothes had to be off the line before dinner time, neatly folded in the clothes basket, and ready to be ironed.

10. IRONED?  Well, that's a whole other subject!  

 

          POEM

           A clothesline was a news  forecast
           To neighbors passing by.
           There were no secrets you could  keep
           When clothes were hung to dry.

            It also was a friendly link
            For neighbors always knew
            If company had stopped on by
            To spend a night or two.

            For then you'd see the "fancy  sheets"
            And towels upon the  line;
            You'd see the "company table cloths"
            With intricate designs.

            The line announced a baby's  birth
            From folks who lived inside  -
            As brand new infant clothes were  hung,
            So carefully with pride!

           The ages of the children could
            So readily be known
            By watching how the sizes changed,
            You'd know how much they'd grown!

            It also told when illness struck,
            As extra sheets were hung;
            Then nightclothes, and a bathrobe, too,
            Haphazardly were strung.

            It also said, "Gone on vacation now"
            When lines hung limp and bare.
            It told, "We're back!" when full lines sagged
            With not an inch to  spare!

            New folks in town were scorned upon
            If wash was dingy and gray,
            As neighbors carefully raised their  brows,
            And looked the other way . .  ..
 
            But clotheslines now are of the past,
            For dryers make work much less.
            Now what goes on inside a home
            Is anybody's guess!

            I really miss that way of life.
            It was a friendly sign
            When neighbors knew each other best
            By what hung on the line!

Gifts of Grace September Block

I don't know if this is our last block or if there will be one more. I need to count. I do know there will be 9 blocks in total. I really like this one except I hope the next one has a shorter word. It's the word that's taken me so long to embroider. I love the beehive fabric. I think maybe Angela sent that to me. Someone did and when that happens I usually hold onto it for awhile before I use it cause it's special to me. 

I'm thinking I may print the bible verses (Galatians 5: 22-23)  on fabric using my printer and try to fit it into the wall hanging. I think that would look nice and tie it together.  Even if I have to use that square in the backing it would be good. 

I also decided to try Hazel's idea of making myself get up at 8am no matter how little I'd slept. The only problem is, I remember now, is that my body clock shuts down at 4:00 in the afternoon when I do that. Not good cause that's when I need to begin thinking about dinner.  Last night husband was going to take me out for a sandwich and I fell asleep on the couch. Then I wasn't hungry. So maybe I need to add an hour nap in there somewhere during the afternoon. I really do like mornings. I just don't like the getting up part. But I'm crossing my fingers this will work and eventually I'll get enough sleep at night so that I won't get tired during the day. 

I don't know if anyone knows about this site but I'm going to share it anyway. It's Free Quilting and they have a pattern a day you can download. Some are quite nice. You have to register and they want you to buy magazines of course but just don't click any boxes, unless you want the magazines, and it still works. 

Advent Calendar

I'm excited about this one. It's the most favorite thing I've made yet for the bazaar. The craft group met Monday and agreed that if I can get them at the right price I can make a couple more. This one I'd gotten free when I worked at the quilt shop. There was an error in printing. There were two 8's and no 9 so she couldn't sell them. She was told to just keep them and they sent a new bolt. I used a pigma pen and changed one of the 8's into a 9. I wish I'd taken more at the time but only took it cause it was free. Proves you gotta grab a good deal when you see it even if you don't have a plan for it yet.

I've seen so many cute ones, especially here  at Fabric.com I don't know if these are on sale but they're a lot cheaper than the other stores. I got 3 Cookie jar ones on eBay for 3.99. 

I'm also making some tissue cozies. I like this pattern because I can make it with a different inside fabric that compliments the outside fabric. She has changed the way she wrote the tutorial. It looks like there is no photo on the first page but just click on "get pattern" to get her template - I actually made mine a different size. Mine is 7" x 8.5". Then go back to the first page again and click "Enter Gallery" to find the instructions.

All through the meeting they kept handing things to me saying "Shirley can make a pattern for these". Boy they have a lot of confidence in me and they hardly know me really. I'm not proud of the stuff I put together quickly for the last bazaar. I know I can make patterns but I don't have a  lot of self confidence. Anyway they handed me a sleeping mask and thats an easy one. I just traced it. I had already figured out how to do it but if you want instructions I found a series of videos here. The only thing I'm going to do differently is make the elastic in two pieces and attach velcro to it so the size is adjustable.

I'm having a hard time with my internal clock these days. I just can't get to sleep at night before 2am no matter how early I go to bed. Then I set my alarm for 9:00 but with my husband having sleeping problems (he's still up 3 or so times a night) I don't want it to wake him cause he does seem to sleep well in the morning after he's had breakfast. I think the solution would be for me to sleep in the guest room til I get turned back around but he doesn't want me to. Geesh. So here I sit at 12:30 in the afternoon still in my PJ's and having gotten nothing done but a blog entry. So I'm gonna go get dressed now and try to ignore sewing so I can tidy up around here a bit.

No quilting but boat and movie reviews.

I haven't been quilting. It's Fall cleanup time around here so I'm trying to get things done outside before it turns cold and rainy. I've also had insomnia a bit so I end up sleeping half the day away (it feels like anyway) .

Yesterday we decided it was time to put the boat away even though we've only used it a couple of times. There will be lots of times next  year to have fun on it. But we got it hooked up to the truck to back into the garage and it was such a nice warm day that we just couldn't put it away. So we jumped in the truck and off we went. We were the only ones on the river. Last time we went they had opened salmon fishing for two days so lots of people were out. Now there's no more salmon fishing but there were lots of salmon jumping. I told Bob to get closer, maybe one would jump into the boat :0) Unfortunately being a middle of the week workday there was too much smog to really enjoy the mountain view. They're quite a  ways from us anyway, about 50 miles.

I find it's really hard these days to find a really good movie. I'm not into violence, I'm not into the movies the younger ones watch. So we watch History television or TLC or something like that. But after the Emmys last Sunday I went looking for the movie Temple Grandin that won so many awards. I'm supremely ticked off that the Canadian Radio Commission won't allow us access to HBO series. We have a satellite dish but they know how to block the signal. Even if this movie hadn't won any I would have wanted to see it.

I first heard of Temple Grandin when Michael was diagnosed 15 years ago. She's an amazing woman. I've read two of her books. Her mother was told when Temple was 4 years old that Temple was autistic. She was non verbal. In the movie it showed the doctor (in 1951) telling the mother than it was her fault because the baby didn't bond with her. She hadn't hugged her enough. The only course of action was to institutionalize her - forever. This is complete rubbish, of course. But it is so "normal" for moms of autistic kids to feel like they've done something that caused it. Michael was about 5 when his problems started showing and I was horrified that it must have been something I'd done.

Temple's mom refused to believe the doctor. She knew Temple was in there somewhere, had gifts and capabilities that no one could see. The movie was great although too short for me. I wanted to know more. But it was very well done. It demonstrated the understanding between animals and autistics that researchers have just in the last 10 years or so begun to notice. Her mom pushed her to go to school. She ended up getting a PhD in animal husbandry and has designed 50% of the slaughter houses in the US. She knows what is calming and comfortable to the cattle. Even though building things her way is costly it saves in the long run because the cattle don't get spooked and things run smoothly. She's been able to become social and gives talks on being autistic and she's just the sweetest thing.

There are great movie trailers out there but I guess they're copyrighted cause I couldn't "capture" one to share. Click on the photo for a link to a YouTube video

The first time I went to rent Temple Grandin there were no copies available. The clerk knows Michael. She suggested a movie called My Name is Khan. I'd never heard of it. It's about a Muslim young man with Asperger's Syndrome (autistic) who's brother sponsors him to come to the US. I wasn't expecting much from it but boy was I wrong! I could tell from the moment it started that they knew what they were talking about Asperger wise anyway. The gait of Khan walking towards the airport is right on.

The movie has a lot of humorous parts. It adds balance to the more emotionally charging parts,  but it also shows the way it is. Asperger individuals think differently and they are completely honest, they can't tell a lie. I read one review by a person who said they felt annoyed by Khan at times. Story of my life. But I'm so used to it that I didn't notice it in the movie. Then 9/11 happens and it brings tragedy to his small family. The movie then is the story of him travelling America and writing a letter to his wife (yes, he actually does marry) in his journal of his travels. It's a very moving story and because of his differences he doesn't always know the appropriate action or words to use.

There are subtitles at the beginning of the movie and occasionally throughout but not so many that it detracts from the storyline and meaning of the movie. I believe it's a movie everyone needs to see.

Very Blue

Here's my latest creation. It was a pain getting here but they're finally done. I had a good sized piece of this fabric so wanted to make both a center piece and place mats. I have so many bits of fabric in my sewing room and I started to wonder what I was keeping it for. So I've decided to use it where needed for my charity stuff. Why not. Aside from applique BOM's I won't use it. If I want something completely applique I usually buy a lot of new fabrics that go together. Anyway, here they are

Centre piece - can't call it a runner cause it's square.

And one of four matching place mats:

Not great photos. I think they look better in person but the bindings are questionable. I didn't have enough of the snowman fabric so I added some of my own blue with tiny gold stars. I thought it would be fun to have a center mat to put things on. That's what I have on my table when the leaves are out and it's quite small and round. 

I picture this as something kids would like but maybe adults who like snowmen would like it too.

The problem with the binding is that the only fabric I had to make it with was polyester. It doesn't lay nice and flat like cotton. So the binding is not as nice as I would like it to be but on first glance it looks okay.  I did manage to do the binding on the center square on my machine. But then I spent a whole day sewing, ripping out, sewing, ripping out, adjusting tension, rethreading. winding a new bobbin, putting in a new needle. Nothing was working and I was constantly ending up with nests of thread on the bobbin side. So I gave up and have attached the binding to the front and am hand stitching as usual. 

At the very least they're done. 

Catalicious Block and Life Stuff

First things first. Here's my Catalicious August Brutus BOM. I'm glad it was a small one cause as it is it took me until last night to actually finish it. I'm being like Di this month and haven't even started my Gifts of Grace block. Isn't it nice to have company Di? Or this month did you finish and I didn't?

And yesterday my s-i-l send me a Martha Stewart page that has the neatest State Birds embroidery. Here's the URL if anyone else wants it. I've printed them all out and in it goes in my to do file. 

http://www.marthastewart.com/article/bird-embroidery-projects

It's sooo pretty.

Oh, and I got a photo of my wedding ring quilt that was in the quilt walk. They had it in the Yoga studio where there's lots of room.

It's kind of wrinkly but here's a close up of my hand embroidery. I think I'm doing pretty good for a first time. At least it really does look quilty. 

I've been sewing some for the bazaar bur things just aren't working for me. The microwave mitts didn't work and the tissue cozies ended up all different sizes. I did make a table centre mat and place mats the other day that aren't too bad. Not my style of fabric but maybe someone will like it, especially someone with kids. I'm going to finish them up today and I'll post them tomorrow I hope. 

Another couple of neat things are first of all I was invited by the site Lunch to post my thoughts and opinions on books I've read. The head of the site found my book blog and invited me which I thought was neat. Also on my book blog I found a comment, which I don't often find. It was from the author of the book I'd just read which was quite a surprise. 

Otherwise I'm having a really hard time the last while. We're supposed to go back East the middle of September. The plan was to go to Toronto to see my neice and then drive a rented car up to Ottawa to see my sister stopping to see my 94yo aunt in Coburg on the way. And then I started to think about things I haven't seen since I was a kid that I'd like to stop at - Niagara Falls, Old Fort Henry and Upper Canada Village for sure. So it would be a fun trip. 

I've had an upset stomach for the last week for no apparent reason and the last 4 nights I haven't been able to sleep. So I'd be up playing solitaire trying to get sleepy after lying in bed for 4 hours.  My brain is a freight train, I can't turn it off. And it isn't about the trip so I thought it wasn't related. I thought I was looking forward to it, aside from the airplane and driving on the 401. 

Last night it was about my hair dryer. It's old.. don't know how old but old. So I thought maybe I needed a new one but why buy a new one when the old one works? I only dry my hair a bit anyway, the cut I have just naturally lets my hair fall the way I want it to - no styling. I told myself to stop thinking about it so my brain switched to what fall trimming I need to get done. Then to how to better organize my kitchen cupboards. I was all over the map. I think God forgot to install an off switch when he made me. 

DH says it's all related to the trip. My anxiety and panic is kicking in and I'm trying to hard to ignore the trip that all this other stuff is gushing up that I feel anxious about. I hate being this way. To be honest I could be happy just living in this little town and never going anywhere. This is my comfort zone. Anything outside of it isn't. And it's not because I haven't tried to expand my boundaries. Sometimes it works, others it doesn't so it's never anything I can rely on. 

So, dunno. Guess I just need to take it one day at a time. 

Now is it Fall?

It has been so hot here for the last while. How hot was it? Well, on Tuesday it was 90F. Yesterday morning I woke up to clouds and 70F. Crazy difference, I would have preferred it to get gradually cooler. I actually did get to go on the boat for the first time on Tuesday and it was wonderful. It's so much cooler on the water so a welcome break. Today if we went I think I'd need earmuffs *LOL*

To sewing. Yesterday I decided to make up a tree skirt panel I had to sell at the bazaar

The panel also had two squares on it. No instructions on it so I decided to make trivets of them

The squares weren't square to begin with and the side of the panel had been cut so close that I would lose corners if I'd tried to straighten them. I'm still struggling with the idea of using binding sewn to the back rather than the front and then edge stitched on the front. But I guess practise makes perfect and maybe they don't look so bad. It certainly is faster than hand stitching down the binding on the back. 

My Town & quilts

First of all I'm glad to report that the eBay seller is refunding my money. It should be in my PayPal account by Monday. She said she let a relative package it and she won't do that again.

Last night my daughter and I decided to walk around and look at the quilts in the windows. They aren't all up yet but most of them are as Friday is the busiest hanging day. I found my son in law's quilt - the one that smells of smoke. It's in a government building that is closed all weekend.

My daughter pointed out the irony of this sign on the building right beside the quilt

Taking photos in the afternoon or evening is difficult because of the late day sun on the windows so that is the only quilt photo I took. 

I sometimes take the safety of where we live for granted but I am aware of it and of the unique village we live in. We were walking around from 8pm to 9pm on a Friday night and the thought of us not being safe even entered my mind. The streets are empty. There was a car in front of the take out pizza place and 3 couples at the 2 sidewalk restaurants. Aside from that, nothing. We did run in to one guy who is mentally handicapped and likes to talk to everyone he meets and another fellow who I thought was also mentally handicapped but Lisa informed me he was drunk. I'm so naive. Drunk, Stupid, what's the difference?

Aside from the fire in the seniors apartment a couple of weeks ago we did have another fire about 6 months ago. It started in the kitchen of a restaurant on the main street and took out the building beside it as well. On top of that there was a convenience store on a corner that has been there for about 40 years and it was decided to pull it down and build a new building as well. 

These two construction zones are surrounded by wood. A few local artists have taken advantage of the opportunity to use their talents to make these boards less unsightly. Where the restaurant and store were you will see this:

The guy sitting on the bench in this last photo is real, not a prop. 

There is an even larger set of murals where the corner store used to be. 

There are more but you get the idea. It just shows that it doesn't take too much imagination to make something unsightly into something fun and pretty.

Disappointed!

I do have to say first that my eBay account shows that I have bought 55 items. I've been lucky and haven't had a problem with any of them.

Having said that look what I received today:

One corn dish is intact.

I was charged $20 shipping and handling to get this from the State just south of us (I'm in Canada). The best part of her packing was the tray:

The tray part didn't break but one of the handles did. 

She used too large a box and simply put bubble wrap in the bottom of the box. This was done so effectively the corn dishes were just put in loose on top with no padding between them. There was a Fragile stamp on the box but we all know how far that goes as far as protecting things. 

I always check the rating of sellers. But I didn't look at what all the positive ones were for. Looking at it now they were left by people she bought things from. The negative one was from someone she sold to who also had her item arrive in pieces. 

She did ship quickly I'll give her that. Her website says she accepts returns but the buyer pays the postage. I've emailed her and told her I don't believe I should pay for shipping something that arrived smashed due to her carelessness. I'll keep you updated. 

Now I'm heartbroken. I've wanted some vintage corn dishes for the longest time. I ordered some last year and they never did arrive. I never heard from the seller again despite numerous emails. And now this. 

Sorry I haven't been around. I had some health concerns so was feeling down. I feel much better now. I haven't seen my dr yet but will be when she gets back from vacation on Aug 20. 

And the quilt walk is on Sunday! Love the quilt walk. I've entered 3 this year. My work in progress hand quilting my daughter's wedding ring quilt, my son-in-laws Boston Red Sox quilt and the table runner I made for the bazaar. It's always such a fun weekend. They have a night market the night before now and a game where you are given a list of clues and have to find which quilt matches. I've never done it before cause I was an employee. This year I can do it.  

Quilt Rack

So we head off to the antique fair today. I had no intention of buying anything cause this place is a lot of overload. Dishes, jewelry, small items of furniture, old books. old dolls, old tools, and onandon. So I saw an iron just like the one I played with when I was maybe 3 or 4. I actually found a photo of one on the internet.

When I started my search I was finding sites that said irons were invented in the Middle ages and before that even the Romans had used them. I figured ours was probably from the middle ages cause we were poor. How hard could it be to break? But they were manufactured in the 1900's cause not everyone had electricity in the country. Mine was a tiny one... it looked like a child size one but I really don't know how many children would be able to even lift the thing. We had a big black wood stove in the kitchen and that is how my mother heated the iron. She had 2 of the large ones and you would iron until it got too cool, then switch the handle to the other one that was heating on the stove. Of course I was never allowed to heat mine. I think it was a grown up iron for using on small items like children's clothing, towels, etc. 

Anyway this thing was $20 and I really couldn't justify buying it. I mean what would I use it for? I'm getting too far along in life to buy "stuff" just cause I remember it from when I was a child. 

However, we were almost done when I came across this quilt rack. It was $125 but it is something I will use, something I will love and something we have room for. I went to find DH and he said he'd seen it too and was going to show it to me. He was off buying a painting he'd seen that he liked. So I took him back and said that I thought the quilt she had displayed on it was very nice too. It's in good shape aside from one place where the seam has ravelled so will need hand stitching is all. Long story short. I got it! 

That isn't it's permanent home. It's just there out of Michael's sight until I can move a chair which will free up a space for it. He doesn't like it but it will be going in a place where it will be inconspicuous so he'll be okay with it. 

And here is the quilt. I don't know how old it is cause I'm horrible at guessing ages. I'm hoping it's 30's maybe 40's. It's all cotton and it's hand quilted. Now that we've been talking stitches per inch I think measuring them (my kingdom for a ruler in inches instead of centimetres!) it's only 4 or 5 per inch.

But the stitches are nice and even and it has a neat quilty look to it. It's heavily quilted in a crosshatch of about 2" squares. 

Anyway, that's my excitement for the day and my allowance until at least the new year since I don't bring in $ any more. *LOL*

FIRE

My son-in-law took this video last night and it was used by BCTV for their lead news story.

Nothing ever happens in  Ladner but last night the fire crews were earning every penny they ever made. We saw the smoke and went down to see what was going on. By then the white apartment building you see was gone. It had jumped across the street and took out some townhouses. They were watering down the houses nearest the burning building. That red one you see is a brand new house and carriage house behind it. There are empty lots where more houses were going to be built but hadn't been started yet, which is actually good. Let the fire department get closer. The video was taken from the high school lawn.

My daughter and her husband heard the fire engines and live only a couple of blocks away so were there pretty well when it started to get bad like you see it. It took about 20 mins to level that building. The smoke was unreal. I've never experienced anything like it.  I told DH I didn't want to stay in that smoke so we didn't stay long but still I had to have a shower to wash my hair and I threw our clothes in the laundry right away.

It was a seniors apartment building, which is even sadder than young people - it's hard for them to readjust and start over. Everything is gone. But everyone got out safely so that's the most important thing. They think it was a bbq on a balcony that started it.

I haven't done much sewing. I made another set of place mats but they're all same same.  Just oval. I'm still hand quilting my daughter's quilt. I told her maybe I'd have it done to give her for a Christmas present and then I wouldn't have to buy her anything. She told me just for thinking that I have to buy her two presents *LOL*

This is a long weekend in Canada. Basically it was started cause the government needed an extra statutory holiday to even out the paycheques - Geesh. Each Province calls it under it's own name I think. We call it BC day anyway. Next town over has a big Sun Festival celebration including a two day Antique Fair with really, really good dealers. I look forward to it every year. I've gotten some really nice things there.

Gratitude: I'm grateful that I live in a community that will come to the aid of those in need. Those seniors will have more than enough to start over with all donated by caring people.