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.