Strawberries and Roller Blades!

I can't believe how quickly 3 days off can go.  I have all kinds of things I want to do and then "Poof"  the weekend is gone.

I did not accomplish near what I wanted to this past weekend, mostly because the first two days I was off I wasn't feeling up to snuff.  So pretty much everything waited for the last day.

Sunday I was up early, doing laundry, cleaning the house, and then right in the middle of all that I decided to make some Strawberry freezer jam from some strawberries I had picked up from the store on Thursday.  What a panic!

It's been several years since I made jam, wasn't even sure if I even still had jars, so I went looking.  Found the jars way up on the top shelf in the back of my kitchen cupboards... but no lids or rings.  Down to the basement and through the son's very messy room to the storage closet.  Well half of the closet is Jons' closet and the other half is my storage - or it's supposed to be.  Someone has been moving things around my side to make room for more of his junk from his side!

Anyway, after much digging, and muttering under my breath I did locate lids, and rings for my little jam jars so off I went to make my jam.

From 4 cups of fruit, I got 10 jars of jam... wonderfull!

And it only took about and hour from start to finish - minus washing up afterward - not bad at all.

So then it was back to laundry and house cleaning.

Yeah, well laundry and house cleaning are boring, so I decided to take a break and play around with a doll I found last week at the thrift store.  She was very dirty, her hair was a mess, but she was only a 1.99, so I bought her, not even knowing if she would work.

After some serious soap and water, and de-knotting of the hair, she looks pretty good.  But does she work?

She's a little skittish on some surfaces, but really seems to have taken to my kitchen table.

Another neat find...

Welcome to my Neighbourhood!

My sweet little yellow house was on the news last night.  Granted, we weren't the feature presentation - but we were there all the same.

The feature was about a developer who has been buying up homes in our neighbourhood, tearing them down and putting up huge condos which absolutely do not fit into the neighbourhood.

He is doing this because of the proximity to a bustling major street which is less than a block away.

Our area is one of the oldest in the city, most of the homes are circa, 1900 or so.  Most have been renovated, some quite beautifully, and yes there are a few that really need some work and a couple that most of the residents of this area would gladly see go - BUT those are not necessarily the homes he is tearing down.

Recently he bought a home in the middle of the block which was just re-done, inside and out.  He tore it down and is building one of his ugly grey monsters right smack dab in the middle between two century old homes.  He builds from the city sidewalks at the front -  right to the lane at the back - effectively blocking any view/light etc for the two homes on either side of his development.

Here is the clip that was on the news...  click on the smaller box to the right for the video...


http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/dozens-of-new-housing-units-coming-to-corydon-osborne-areas-1.1361406

You will see for yourself how these buildings clash with the other homes in the area.  My home is the cute little yellow one you can see beyond the fountain, and again behind the man being interviewed.

These condos would look so much better in a new housing development - but I believe the developer is hoping they will sell better in our neighbourhood - because it is a popular area.  Most of us believe it is a popular area because of the character of the older homes.

The fight is ongoing - but to watch this video - one would assume this developer is winning this race... perhaps he is - but long after he as moved off to another area - we will still be here, in our beautiful older homes enjoying our neighbourhood - in spite of him ruining the view.

A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Square!

I wish I were talking about Berkley Square - but in actual fact I am only talking about an afghan square.  Remember I was talking about making an afghan for a graduate student... I was planning on making a flower loom afghan to be exact - well I still am making an afghan - but as often happens with me and my grand ideas - well lets just say that plan didn't work out well at all.

The loom flowers are nice and all ...

But the joining of them leaves me - well - feeling not very accomplished!

So my next idea was to do a Granny Hexagon.  You know a 5-sided granny square!

Here's the funny thing - all my life I thought a Hexagon was 5 sided - seriously - I know for a fact that the Winnipeg School Division taught this in the 1960's or 70's.  There is no way I got it wrong!

So here I was trying to get a 5-sided granny square designed that would fit together and wondering why it was not working....

What did we ever do before the Internet?

After a very brief  research, don't you know I discovered the 6-sided Hexagon - which works out well in a Granny Square, and goes together perfectly!

Here is what I came up with...

 I really like these but I am kind bugged that I can't use the flowers so I'm toying with the idea of doing this, somehow...

Perhaps I will do a bright color around the flowers, in a 6-sided Hexagon and insert 1 flower in the middle of 6 granny's.

Well that is an idea, yet to be tried.

However I put this together I am guessing it will be very colorful and bright when it's done - and best of all - I'm using up a lot of my stash of yarn that would otherwise be taking up space in my yarn totes.

To be Continued...

Lazy Days of Summer!

I seem to be hit and miss with my posting of late.  I can blame it on being in the summer mode of things.  Even though I am not really taking vacation, other than Fridays, my mind is definitely on vacation - in more ways than one.

I have no more ambition than to sit out on the patio and read, or knit or crochet or just sit and watch the birds in the trees.  That is until the mosquitoes start biting - then my ambition for patio sitting leaves me in favour of sitting in my air conditioned sun room, where I have much easier access to the fridge - and ice tea; the TV; a comfy chair to nap in... well you get my drift!

Like I said - basically no ambition, at all!

I have worked on the crocheted afghan I am making - somewhat.  More about that project tomorrow.

I did start a crochet outfit for a cute little 8" red-headed doll, which I can't wait to finish.

I have read a couple of novels by Sandra Dallas... "The Bride's House", and "Prayers for Sale"... I enjoyed them both.  Sandra is a quilter, so there is a fair amount of quilting in some of her books... which I really like - and her books are Historical Fiction - which I like even more!

I have discovered Tune-In-Radio on the Net.  If you love music and have an IPAD or IPOD - you have to download the Tune-In-Radio App.  I have been listening to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville;  also some amazing light Jazz and Swing stations; a Theater Organ Station, A Baroque station, and hope to check out some Classical stations this week.  Ah... life can be so good when you let it....

So forgive me my little absences - I am enjoying my summer doing - well not very much, but loving every minute of the inactivity...

Hope you are enjoying your summer too...

Take time to smell the flowers!

There is no better pick - me -up (er) than a pretty bouquet of flowers.  Fortunately for me I have a garden full of beautiful flowers at the moment.  I cut a armful a couple of days ago and brought them into the house to remind me to smile, be happy, take the time to smell the flowers.  It brightened my space and the perfume was incredible too - my living room  has been smelling like summer for a week now.

Even just sitting on the patio and looking at the pots of flowers I have everywhere is cheering...

Do you like my little water feature?  I designed it and made it myself using a punch bowl I had kicking around for the base, an old tea-pot that has lost it's lid, a small pot of plants and some pretty white stones.  I am going to sit a little fairy or doll in the opening of the teapot just to finish the look.  

And then there are the flowers in the yard itself...

So pretty...

Will Your Anchor Hold?

Will your anchor hold in the sea of life?

Do you remember this old Gospel Song?  It never was a favorite of mine, but I remember my Dad singing it from time to time, not because he was especially into Gospel music - but more so because it mentioned the sea and anchors - and if you know my Dad that is all the explanation needed.

We all need Anchors to survive this life.  I believe we also need a very strong rope to secure that Anchor.

Unfortunately there are many out there who have neither.

You might recall a post I made last fall about a friend of my son's who had been in a terrible car accident.  The post was called - A story - Michelle's Story.  You will find a label for it under my Label section that will take you right to the story - Please - read it again.

Michelle turned 25 yrs old on June 14th.  On Tuesday June 25th, Michelle's anchor failed her, and she was taken from this life - much much too soon,  It was a tragic loss, one that should never have happened, one that I believe could possibly have been prevented - but my Anchor stepped in when hers failed.

I believe this - because to believe anything else just plain hurts too much.

Michelle had demons - quite a few of them... I believe they wore the rope that connected her to her Anchor until her rope was thread-bare.

My heart breaks for Michelle, and for those she left behind.  This beautiful young woman should have had the world at her fingertips, but she had only torment and sorrow.  My heart breaks for Michelle's friends - my son one of them - who believe they have somehow failed their dear sweet friend.  My heart is breaking for her family and those that loved her - even if that love was not perfect, it was at times a very real part of Michelle's life.

I pray for Michelle's soul. I pray that finally she can find the peace that she has sought for so long.  I know she is in a far better place, and I know she is surrounded by the love she so deserves  - the love she needed and wanted here  - before her Anchor failed.

Rest In Eternal Peace, Michelle

Your time with us was short - but it DID count for oh so very much...

Goodbye, Dear One...

Happy Birthday Old Girl!

Happy Birthday Canada!

Hope every Canadian enjoys and celebrates our beautiful country today!  We are blessed to live in a beautiful, free land.   We take for granted the privileges we receive by being Canadian - we have much to be thankful for, we have much to be proud of - and we are...

I have been away from here for a week.  Last week was not my best week and so I decided to give myself a break and just concentrate on me and mine.  There is much about last week that will follow us into the weeks to come, but hopefully we will be better able to cope than we were last week.

I have had a extra long weekend this past weekend.  I had my Friday off and then today is a Holiday, so 4 days off from work really helped rejuvenate my spirit.  I decided to work on the very old and sad composition doll I picked up a week or so ago.

This doll is from somewhere around the 1920's-30's.  It is completely composition which is a bit unusual because most dolls of this era were compo head, hands and feet but the body was soft , stuffed with rags or sawdust.  This one had a compo body as well.  It was in pieces in a box when I bought it, so I knew I would need to re-string it to put it together.

It is very rough shape, but I have never tried restoring a composition doll and until I learn the correct method of doing that I decided to leave this baby just as it is.  Composition was made with glue and sawdust, and if restored correctly it can be beautiful once again, but if done incorrectly it can destroy the doll.

So off I went to Fabricland on Friday  - I bought the heaviest cord elastic I could find, and then I came home and started to string this babe together.

Thanks goodness for the Internet.  I was able to get some instructions as to how best to string a doll.  In this case I strung the head through the body to the legs, using one piece of cord and then strung the arms together through the body using 1 cord.

 It was fun fishing the cord through the closed body - good thing I have always been a good Fisher-woman....  It was no small feat getting the limbs tight to the body - I really should have called for help, another pair of hands to hold as I knotted would have been great, but there was no one around at the time.

After about an hour of hard work that was awfully fun I discovered that this doll is a boy!

And here he is - all ready for Canada Day!  What a beautiful old doll he is!

HAPPY CANADA DAY!