Spring must be here
I have been sitting on our deck with ,of course, a coffee in my hand , watching a blackbird demolishing one of my hanging baskets. They are lined with coconut matting and the birds love it for their nests. Right now the baskets are looking very scruffy with bits hanging everywhere. I think having to buy new liners is a small price for the fun of watching the birds. They also eat our cats biscuits which are now outside on the deck. We have come to an arrangement, don't roost on the chairs and you can use the deck.They are slow learners, I am actually covering the chairs at night so I don't have to wash them every day.Ellie is very peeved as she has a new bell, very loud, and the birds can hear her a long way away. I am sure she is trying to think of a way she can lose it so she can go hunting.The trees are all in Spring green now and the flowers are gorgeous, perfume everywhere. I decided a few years ago only to plant perfumed flowers and now it is paying off. These are only on the decks as our DD plants bromiliads everywhere else .
I love the word NESTYs, I have a few of those, It is such good fun to have something in reserve to sew I really don't need to go shopping for several years so I can use mine up but !!!!! I am looking forward to next month which is our Calico Christmas show, great quilts, great merchants empty wallets and full Visa cards. I buy a lot of my Christmas pressies there. Although it is quilt orientated there always seems to be other merchants, pottery , jewellery, soaps etc. A really one stop day. One stall has Christmas decorations which we never see anywhere else, I may have to up size our tree again. The grand kids always have something and when they have their own tree it will be full already. Must go I can hear DH looking for breakfast, he has been watching the golf but his stomach must be reminding him to eat. Hugs to all and keep warm. Bee in NZ
NESTYs - I love it!
That's a great acronym, Doris. One thing about them, though: if you just bought fabric (rather than kits), sometimes the plans just fade away. You wonder, after a few years, why did I think I wanted to do that?
We, too, are having rain in Northern Ontario. I'm longing for sunny fall days.
Hugs to all, Brenda in Nn Ontario
glad to see the BB Chat back up
It was down every time I checked it, last week, so then I fall out of the habit of checking it, and so it goes.
GRACE IN ONT - I'm so sorry about your Mom. I'm sending you (((cyberhugs))) and prayers....
ROSEY - Is Hope feeling better? Diarrhea is not fun, even sloppy isn't fun, especially with a hairy breed dog that has petticoats back there. Ugh.....
RAIN - I am officially sick of rain. At our house, I collected nine inches of rain in the gauge during the month of September. Eight of those came over a period of eleven days. It's been raining again since Sunday, not much, but it's gray, cloudy, misty type stuff, sort of like the UK and Ireland. (been there, know what it's like. Ack) The weather is cooling off, autumn is here, and our blood is too thin and not ready for cold weather. Soon the leaves will start turning, and it will be fun to see if we have a riot of color, thanks to having sufficient rain this past summer.
I'm finally motivated to finish a quilt I started at an AQS workshop, four or five years ago. 'bout time, eh?
And I learned a new acronym. We all know what UFOs are, but we all have some NESTYs:
Not
Even
STarted
Yet. Guilty as charged. I have three quilt kits (kits! mind you) that are aging in my stash closet, plus fabric bought & washed for another quilt. Ugh . . . I have more NESTYs than UFOs.
Hugs to everyone~!
Grace
My condolences to you and your family.....it is difficult no matter what our age to go through this loss.
Heather
Condolences, Grace
I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Grace. Christmases, times of celebration, nothing is the same without our parents in our lives no matter how old we are, ourselves.
Rosey
For Grace
Condolences and warm hugs to you, Grace. It is hard to lose your mom no matter how old or out-of-it she is. My mom died last November, and it was so strange at Christmas and Mother's Day to realize afresh that she isn't here any more. I had problems with my mom in adulthood, but I remember that she was the first person who loved me and who taught me about the world. Even when she was suffering from dementia and severe emotional problems, she would often become the mother I remembered - just for a few moments - if she realized I was upset or sad. I think I concentrate more on my relationship with my own children now because I realize how important I am to them.
Brenda in Nn Ontario
There is no more
Hi all,
Been awhile since I was here. Have not checked the posts yet but will later.
You know how we at one time or another received that poem,"There is no more".
Well it really hit home this morning while I was in the shower. I always read the poem and thought I understood the words. So much for that.
Tow weekends ago my DM passed away and even though she has not sort of been alert for the last 18 months, funny how you always sort of hope. You may not realize it as hope and maybe it isn't.
DM has not even been up to visiting in my home even for the last 12 years , but this morning it hit me "there is no more" Guess that as long as she was alive I maybe figured maybe some day, even though my head knew it was not possible, I guess the heart does not give up so easy.
She will never she how we fixed up the renovations or my quilting, as she was the first person to get me started. Even though she herself did not quilt, it was fun getting started with her.
Kind of tough.
gotta go now. have a great day all, just wanted you to know I am still around.
Grace in On
My sister's stash
Hello,
My sister recently passed away after battling lung cancer for two years. Her daughter is keeping most of my sister's stash but has requested that I share some with other quilters. I've got various pieces of cotton, some fabrics that might work for applique, small pieces for scrap or applique, etc. If you could use a bit of fabric for charity projects please contact me direct at
dolphinquilter at
hotmail dot com
Raeann in Missouri - I tried to contact you direct but the email I have is no longer in service. If you'd like some of this fabric, please contact me. Thanks. :-)
Hugz, Mary in Oregon
The Croc Hunter
Does anyone else get big "croc" eyes when they see Steve Irwin on Animal Planet.
It's still so hard to see him there on the screen.
I came home for lunch & there he was, his sweet handsome face, his irresistible accent &
his undying convictions! Centainly harder for me to except than the loss of MJ, sorry!
Old houses, rainy days and a gorgeous quilt
Heather, I know how you feel. The house we bought here in the Soo is over 100 years old, and there have been a few surprises, although not as scary as yours. Luckily, some electrical work had been done before we bought it, and we had an electrical inspection done. It amazes me how many outlets in different parts of the house were put on one circuit.
Laura, the quilt you posted the other day is lovely. I especially like the border fabric. I'm plugging away very slowly at my UFO's and am looking forward to the day when I finish something!!
We are having rainy, rainy days with more to come. When I lived in Manitouwadge, I knew that whatever weather Thunder Bay had we would get in a day or so. Now TB's weather passes north of us most of the time, and I haven't figured out where ours comes from. I think living along Lake Superior and the St. Mary's River where it flows into Lake Huron affects our weather a lot. I do like the fact that up to yesterday, there were still flowers blooming in some spots. We've only had a couple of frosts - very different from up north, although not in Sara's league!
Today we are having the big celebration of DD#2's 33rd birthday which was on the 1st. I'm going to see what it's like trying to feed 16 people in this little house. It may be the first and last time. I'm doing a non-knife-and-fork meal so people can sit anywhere. There will be 3 babies under 5 months old, so I'm hoping they will charm everyone so much that they won't mind the limited space. Wish me luck.
It's great to see everyone posting. Keep it up! Hugs to all.
Brenda in Nn Ontario
Sunday morning
and we are sitting at 6+ Celsius....I think that is around 40 or 42 F......high won't be much more than 10 or 11 and it is very damp with rain this morning....I need to be out planting tulips and daffodils but maybe tomorrow. We do have a dryer day predicted for then but the rest of the week is rain and more rain and then the dreaded "S" word predicted for the long weekend along with the rain.....the white stuff won't stay this go round and won't be the pretty white fluffy flakes, it will just add to the mud.
Sara , what a lovely way tao celebrate your Grandson's 13th birthday, I have a hard time imagining where the time has gone already and my two DGS are only 19months and 6 months. And the initial ultrasound for DS#3 and his girlfriend show a strong heartbeat and we will wait for the next one in a couple of months.....DS wants to know if it will be a girl or boy because he is only painting the bedroom once ! I guess a neutral shade isn't in the works at this point. We just pray for a healthy grandchild in late spring !
How does something so simple turn into a probably expensive repair ? Forturnately we are looking at this as being very lucky that there had been no emergency because of it. Yesterday was the day to change the old fan light fixture in our bedroom. But during the process we found old wiring and wrong connections and live wires...yikes.....and we have run that fan almost daily, turns out there is something wrong on that whole circuit because 1/2 my sewing room, all of the back bedroom where the DGS sleeps and 1/2 the master bedroom is on this circuit and when the fan was taken down it blew the power on these areas.....seems like the boxes are even live, so we shut down that whole area's power and will wait for the electrician to come on Monday rather than pay extreme rates on the weekend.....hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow and therefore safe.
Both our fathers were electricians and we have a more than healthy respect for these things.
Off to work on the sleeves for the last pumpkin face sweater......now it seems that hats will be necessary......BIG SIGH !!!
Heather
Questions for dog training
Hi, I've been awake since 5 AM when the dogs decided they both wanted to be on the bed, and next to me.
Any dog owners/lovers out there with tricks of how to keep the dogs off the bed, without the crying, wimpering that goes on when they are in the kennel? I put Dog #2 in kennel at night, with her bed and cookie, and she loves it until some ungodly time in the AM, 2:00, 3:00, whatever, so DH lets her out and up on the bed. The other dog has been happy sleeping under the bed, then decides she wants to be up there, next to me too.
Enough!
I would have them both in the same or seperate kennels (travel crates) in the laundry room with the door shut from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM. DH is the real problem.
We just bought a new mattress and box springs last week. It had been years since I had a good night's sleep, thought it was age-related. Turns out we just had a worn out bed. I'm not happy about sharing it with 2 dogs. It would be OK if they stayed down at our feet, but they both want to be next to "Mom". Maybe I smell sweet or something.
I'll gladly entertain suggestions and ideas.
Today is going to be a long one. Church, then we had promissed DGS #3 that we would take him to football game today at 1:00. DGS #1 turns 13 today. Where does the time fly to? I remember being in the hospital seeing him on the warming tray, looking at him through the glass. After about 24 hrs. of labor DD had a C section. It was a long night/day until he decided to arrive.
OK, off to start the day. Coffee is calling my name.
P.S. to our Canadian sisters--supposed to be sunny and about 85 by kick off time at 1:00.
Sara in Fla.
