Life Lessons and Choices

I missed posting yesterday cause our internet was down most of the day - and so was I *LOL* So I will post two things I am thankful for today.

I'm thankful for life lessons. It used to be I would berate myself because I'm not a morning person. I felt "less than" those who could bounce out of bed at 6am or even 7am. Not anymore.

I'm thankful that I've discovered that I am who I am. My body clock does what it does and that's okay. Trying to "bounce" when I'm not ready for it puts me out of commission for a couple of days. And that is "allowed".

Yesterday my husband had to go to hospital for a test - routine, his dad has cancer and the sons have to be tested occasionally to make sure they haven't picked it up genetically. Thankfully these tests always come back good. However sometimes his appointments are scheduled for 8am. He's a morning person. When he makes appointments he makes them so he can get them over with early in the day and have the rest of the day free. Getting to this hospital from here requires leaving home at 7am to get there by 8am. This makes getting up at 6am a necessity, especially for me cause even by 7 when we leave I'm still a zombie. I have to go with him to drive him home because they usually give him a sedative. He could have taken a taxi and I could have picked him up but for me to go in with him even paying for parking is cheaper than a taxi. So I go.

And the above leads to my thankfulness that I have choices. I didn't used to realize that it was okay if I didn't dust or vacuum on schedule. Even if I was exhausted I had to get it done. Not any more. Friday is my vacuuming day. Because I was so tired from getting up so early I had a 3 hour nap instead. The crumbs will still be there when I've recovered enough to vacuum.

Realizing that I have choices is so freeing.

Over the last couple of days I've made 4 placemats for the Fall Bazaar.  I'm doing one thing a week. The fabric they have is not always good, it's all donated. These turned out nicely I think except for the poly fabric they gave me to use as a backing and which I also used to make the bias binding. But they look okay and I've never been to anyone's house where I've turned over my placemat to see what the back looks like *LOL*

I didn't crosshatch both ways because it was too time consuming and I think this holds the layers together well enough.

Someone else, Patricia I think it was, said she watched our Canada Day celebrations on TV. So did we. I love the Queen. I always have loved the idea of the Royalty... however I didn't pay taxes in her time so don't know what it would be like to still have her as our Queen. The thing I really don't understand is if she is no longer our Queen, and the Governor General was the Queen's representative when she was our Queen, why do we still need a Governor General? But I don't understand politics.

We did turn off the entertainment portion part way into it because they were using French singers. Guess most of our English ones who are any good have gone to the States. And we don't understand French. The singers were very talented and the music was nice but I like to know what the words are saying.

So I can't be grateful I live in a unilingual country cause I don't and it is a bee in my bonnet.

HAPPY BLOGGERS

I've been thinking. I said I was going to do it and here we go. I thought July wasn't a good month, but is there a month that is a good month? Maybe January after all the letdown of the holidays and the bills that are rolling in, but there's no time like the present.

For the next month I'd like to ask all my fellow bloggers to post a positive thought a day. There are no rules. I know that sometimes it's more helpful to list a complaint and then list something positive. If that works better for you that's fine, but the purpose of all this is to focus on the positive, and there are always positives. You can post it at the beginning of your post or at the end.

I'm grateful that I live in an area where I can hear the songbirds sing all day long.

In other news.

I finished my Gifts of Grace block for June. I kind of had to force myself cause I'd rather keep quilting on my daughter's quilt but I want to get these and the Red Brolly catalicious blocks done so I gave myself a few breaks here and there. I always say "This is my favorite". They're turning out very pretty when you see them in person. This one is also very appropriate because Kindness is what we want to spread with our positive posts.

Our weather is definately not July. I don't know where our July went.. actually there were only a couple of June days and a couple of May days as well..  has anyone seen our missing months?

Today is Canada Day and for the first year it sure doesn't feel like it. It's no weather to be having a BBQ or a picnic in. Our low last night was 10C.. which is 50F! Actually our furnace is running right now. DH is cold. He just got back from a very nice, not to mention warm, week long trip to San Diego and Palm Springs with his father and brother. Guess the switch from 105F to 50F is a bit of a shock to the system. 

Off to do some sewing. I did manage to make 4 placemats for the bazaar the other day but now I have to make some bias binding to go around the edge.

You Can't Say I don't try

I'm thinking up new ideas for our Fall Bazaar. This first one is a no-no unless peole want to pay 50 cents or something for a bookmark that looks like their 5 year old grandchild made it. They do work is all I can say. I'll give them to the group and they can take them or leave them as they wish. They looked cute in the book, but even using a ziper foot were impossible to sew the back to the front nicely, mostly because of the beads and then because I had no measure for keeping the sides sewn straight.

One woman also requested bath mitts that you can put your small scraps of soap in so you don't waste them. I found one pattern that was crochet but had the wrong side yarn. Then I bought Bernat Crafter's Yarn and there was a knitting pattern on the back of the label. So I knitted it even though knitting isn't really my forte.. or rather putting it together after it's knitted isn't my forte. Then I knit a small pouch to put on it. Looks okay but I'd like to resew the pouch some way. I'm hoping someone in the group knits and can do something with this idea. I have a ton of sewing projects to do for them and a lot of them don't seem to sew so that is my area rather than knitting. I've never seen one made so I'm not sure the soap pieces won't fall out. Hope not.

Other than that it's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. I'd really like to get out and plant a couple of things I bought but I'm too shy to be out there doing that on the weekend when the neighbours are home. I have weeds to clear in the yard but that would mean my eyes will be puffy and my nose will be stuffy tomorrow from my allergies. I want to go to church at 10am and then promised to go to the Ladner Market with my daughter. I don't want to miss that. I have so few chances to spend time with her cause she's always so busy working.

I've been thinking a lot about Lane's post the other day about "I'm happy because"... I've been thinking of starting a month long posting thing where we all post one thing a day that we are happy, grateful, positive about. It's a habit and it does work if you practise it daily. For years I did a gratitude list every night of 3 things I was grateful for. It really helped me to work on positive thinking. I actually have an old website that I haven't worked on for eons. If you go to http://inspiring-thoughts.tripod.com/attitude.html you can read a page I did on attitude with things I received from friends via email.

Have a nice weekend.

Life is moving too fast!

Every day I think I should blog and every day I think, no, I have too much to say and I'll bore everyone. So I'll do this and try not to be boring.

This is the latest Catalicious Stitchery from Red Brolly. I've lost count but believe this is block 5. She has also given us permission to copy the mice she has drawn on her site and use them in the quilt if we wish. I'm thinking I just might do that. They'd look so cute. She is such a very talented artist.

This past weekend I spent part of Saturday at our local Air Show. My husband had his plane on display. I took lots of video only to discover when I got home that I'd forgotten to put the camera chip in my camera - again! Darn. I had some really good stuff on there too. There was a group of 4 Harvard Aircraft that did a tribute to Support Our Troops (Canadian and American). It was amazing. It included a bagpiper playing - which was a little too loud. But it was lovely. It brought tears to my eyes. There must have been 8000-10,000 people there and everyone was absolutely silent during it.

Sunday I had church and then Sunday evening had volunteered to help make the filling for the sandwiches we were making Monday morning. Monday morning I helped making the sandwiches starting at 9am. I'm not a morning person. I also get very anxious when I have too much ahead of me, especially when two of the things were ones that I don't normally do, so I was completely exhausted by Monday afternoon. I did, however, finally get a photo of me with two friends who were selling muffins at the Spring Bazaar. The photo was terribly blurry and I tried to fix it but now it looks grainy.

Our weather is finally nice. DH went with his brother and father down to San Diego to try to get warm. Our weather turned nice as soon as they left. That's okay except now I'm the one who has to cut the lawns. Hmmm. Maybe I can sucker my son into doing one of them.

I spent so many years on my own, with him away, that this is a treat for me. I've gotten Jane Eyre and Northanger Abbey videos from the library and I have 5 Charles Dickens ones that my daughter gave me that I haven't watched. I get to read in bed before I go to sleep. I get to eat chicken stir fry. I miss him of course. He's been retired for 3 years now and is at home every night for a change. But I believe that having separate things in our lives as well as together things makes for a healthy relationship. Especially when I have possession of the remote *LOL*

Have a great Wednesday.

Fun Weekend

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I sure appreciate the thoughts. When I was a kid I always wanted my birthday to be on a Saturday so I didn't have to go to school. As an adult I've never thought of it much but having my birthday on a Saturday this year makes me want to do it every year. I will get a Sunday next year as long as it isn't a Leap Year I suppose.

It's been so horrible here weather wise and it just happened to do a quick switch on Saturday and was a gorgeous day to get out in the yard. Yesterday I took cake to church to share. I never thought of it but my son-in-law asked if it's my birthday why am I the one who has to bring the cake. *LOL* Never thought of that. The minister loves goodies so he tells us (jokingly) that we have to bring a cake on our birthday. The congregation was small yesterday for a number of reasons but they sure went through that cake at coffee time.

After church we went to our street market that's here every summer. Yesterday was the first day of the season. It's very crowded - a lot of out of towners come which is good for business. Even a lot of the stores are staying open now and the Thrift Shop to take advantage of the shoppers. We park in my daughter's driveway and they were sitting ouside on the porch when we got back to the truck so we had a visit. Rilo has a new harness and leash so she can go outside with them. She's never been outside and panicked when she got "too far from home", which means off the bottom step *LOL*

A latest picture of her

She went to stay with my son-in-laws parents. It was only supposed to be a couple of days but ended up being two weeks. Their other cat was very ill. His kidney's failed. After two weeks of treatment they finally had to make the decision to have him put down. Meanwhile Rilo was having fun with the Golden Retriever and son -in-laws sister loved Rilo so much she decided to get herself a kitten. Rilo isn't even one year old yet and she's spayed but she decided that this was her kitten. She lays in wait for it and when it passes by she attacks it and holds it in a headlock while she cleans it. She's back home now but goes over for a play date at least once a week cause she's very lonely with the other cat gone and after having so much fun for that two weeks.

After saying goodbye to the kids we stopped off at the local Memorial park because there was a bandfest all weekend. I loved it! I haven't seen a real band sitting up on a band stand for years and years. They were all wearing vests and bow ties and they had old fashioned straw hats with the matching hat band. There were different bands from all over the lower mainland of British Columbia playing for two solid days.

I'm working on hand quilting my daughter's quilt still. That's going to take another year, I can just tell. But I also made a couple of samples for the Quilt Shop last week while the weather sucked. I wasn't crazy about the quilt and it didn't turn out well in the picture anyway. It's called a folded star which I'd never tried before. It wasn't difficult at all. Then she also has some Homespun Magazines she wants to get sold and one of them is the Red issue so I offered to do one of the redworks for her. It's kind of cute

I haven't even started my Catalicious for this month or my Gifts of Grace. The Cat one looks like a simple one again which is great. I really don't want to fall behind cause then I'll keep putting it off.

Have a great Monday everyone.

I Got Mail!

I have been on the blog for awhile. I just seem to run out of time these days and I don't know why. Of course our weather has been very depressing and I have a habit of not wanting to get out of bed in the morning so that shortens my day. Anyway yesterday I got majorly cheered up and I'm still feeling good because of it. Look what came in the mail from Angela!

I took off the fabric and look what was inside!

The picture doesn't do it justice. I was just in awe of that pincushion. I've never seen anything like it. And I sure can use it. Now that I'm hand quilting my spool of thread keeps rolling off the end table. This gives me a place to hold it. And there are little pin holes.. don't know if you can see them... so I can put the proper needles that I'm using in there. A regular pincushion is okay but I have a habit of keeping all sorts of needles in it and then I have to check each one til I get the right one. This way they'll just be there. And If I'm doing something like hemming pants I can put my pins the holes as I take them out. I just LOVE it. Thanks so much Angela.

She also sent me Crazy Eight Jelly Roll and the fabric she used to wrap it all in is perfect for my collection of fabrics for my grandmother's fan or grandmother's flower garden or whatever I decide to make from that era.

I'm so excited.

Shoe Bags & Stencil

Our bazaar isn't until November but with the way the weather has been I thought why not get an early start. Then if by any chance we actually do get summer and a nice Fall I won't be stuck indoors trying to get everything done. Actually we're hoping to go away for a couple of weeks in the Fall too so that's another good reason to do things early.

One of the things people have been asking for at the bazaar is shoe bags. I didn't realize people still used them - at least out here where we don't wear winter boots. But apparently they do for putting shoes in when they travel. I usually just use a plastic bag. I had this fabric that I got at the Thrift Shop for a song. I thought it was so ugly it wouldn't look good as anything aside from a nice flannel quilt back on a charity quilt. Wonders of wonders it looks kinda cute as shoe bags. So I've made 10 in two different sizes and have enough fabric to make 10 more if they need them. I also used French Seams cause I don't have a serger. If you don't know what french seams are it's very simple. They work great for pillow cases too.

It's hard to see so I put a dotted red box around part of it. You first of all sew the edges of your fabric wrong sides together. Then you flip it so it's right sides together like we're used to and sew down the seam again, making sure it's a bit wider than your first 1/4" seam. It gives it a nice finished look.

The other thing I have I got in the mail today was a stencil for hand quilting the centers of the Double Wedding Ring quilt. I think I'm nuts. I'm not even good at hand quilting. But this is just so pretty.

It looks like an awful lot of work. Angela offered to lend me one that is 4 hearts which would be a lot less work. I just can't decide. Maybe I could do the rose without the leaves. And then it has that cute rose bud to put in the smaller between spaces. I think I'll put a sandwich together with scraps and give it a try before I decide.

I have hand quilted two quilts but then at the time I didn't know that I didn't know how to do it so it turned out fine. Now that I know I don't know how to do it, it will probably take me another year. Ignorance is Bliss *LOL*

I finished my Rotten to the Core book and I've picked up a book that Nancy once recommended called "Keeping the House". I'm only on chapter 3 but so far so good. At the beginning of each chapter is a piece of advice.. or a rule as it were... about keeping house in the 1940's 1950's. The first one is from Making Marriage work, Ladies Home Journal, June 1950:

"The bride who wants to do her full job will plan from the start to create the kind of home her husband wants, and to do it with no more assistance than he willingly offers."

That would explain why my mom raised all of us 3 girls while my dad sat and said "Look what they're doing now" when my sisters would scribble on the wall with crayons. I never did anything like that of course cause I was an angel *LOL*

Overall reading about the current woman, a literal 1950 bride, has me in stitches a lot. This woman had 19 aprons! They threw her an apron party before she married. She had one apron to match each of her dresses. She put a fresh flower on the dinner table that matched how she was dressed. My goodness! Wonder how DH feels about dandelions. I'm usually in jeans and a T-Shirt (and no apron) *LOL*

UPDATE

Okay, I've done my practise piece and I think I can do the hand quilting thing. It looks a bit pulled in the back but maybe it's supposed to? I definately need to get a new thimble that fits my finger. Even though my stitches are large I think they're consistent. Be honest. What do you think?

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