TALK, ABOUT GETTING SIDE-TRACKED!

THE TALK!

Did you bake yesterday?
Well I got all the cookbooks out, and even some ingredients -
But  No, I didn't bake a thing.  I thought about it though - many times in fact.  Does that count?

Ah - No.  So what DID you do?
Well, I did do laundry - 4 loads, big loads too, and I folded everything and put it all away!
And I spent a lot of time browsing on the computer.

Where did you browse?
Silly question.  Craftsy; Pinterest; Ravelry...

So what were you looking at during all that browsing?
Mug Rugs.  Ha - I can tell by your silence that you have no idea what a Mug Rug is!

No - I don't know what a Mug Rug is.  So what is a Mug Rug?
I am happy you asked!  A mug Rug is a little tiny quilt - well actually it is a quilted coaster big enough to hold a mug and a treat or two.

I see.
Here I'll show you some that I found today on the crafting sites.

 

 
and I downloaded this one to try and make.

You have a bunch of other quilting projects started, do you not?

Oh yes, many - but my quilting experience is limited and I lack confidence in completing those larger projects, so perhaps these smaller projects would help me get the knowledge and confidence I need to finish those other projects!

In fact, I have already cut one out and have it laid out for piecing, with some slight colour changes to come on the birds wing, and of course embroidery of the name etc.  I plan to give it to a dear friend and former neighbour who will be celebrating a birthday on Sunday.  I hope to finish mine today and get it in the mail on Thursday.

Then I guess your day spent surfing the crafting sites wasn't a waste of time at all...

Following your heart and creating something nice for someone else is never a waste of time. 

Well done!

Thank You... 

EIGHT MONTH MARK!

Today it is eight months since we moved into our home in the country.  I can't believe we are only four months away from being here a year.  In many ways it feels as if we have lived here always, and in many other ways we feel like the greenhorns I am sure we still are.

We still are asking the locals so many questions.  Who cuts trees?  We don't have a tiller - who tills gardens?  Where do we buy this, where do we get that?  How does this work, who do we call for that?  Everyone just smiles and helps us with our questions and if they can't help, they get a different name to us, somewhere in the conversation.

Still in all, I believe we are doing fairly well for city slickers!  Perhaps the true test of our grit will come this spring, when so many things will have to be done in a relatively short time.  Maybe then we will see if we have bit off more than we can chew!

I have a tendency to want it all at once - and living here is no exception.  My to do list is long and probably nowhere near possible - but still I am going to try and get to the bottom of that list.

I am pretty pleased with progress inside the house.  Over the winter we have managed to paint the entire main floor except for our bedroom and the main floor bathroom.  I would do those rooms too - but I am not quite sure how I want to decorate them, so they will stay the way they are, until I do.

Now we are the home stretch in the basement.  Gary turned his office into a theater, I finished the guest room except for pictures and some added touches, and we are on the second coat of the family room... Progress!

My attic space - will I ever be settled in that space, I wonder?  Just when I like it - I start to re-plan the space.  This past weekend it got a complete overhaul, again - all because I found a nice big wooden door that I could use as a cutting table for my quilt projects...

The dolls moved down the space and now occupy the last 1/3 of the attic and my crafting space takes up 2/3 of the rest of it.  Now if I could only settle down and do some work - then I would really be doing something!  Isn't this an amazing space?  Sometimes I really need to pinch myself!

My cousin has been instructing me on the technique of paper piecing - and so I am going to plow headlong into that bookshelf quilt that I have wanted to start for some time.  It is done with a lot of strip scraps (of which I have a few) so I can start piecing some of the book blocks until I can get to a fabric store for the rest of the material to complete the quilt.

I even cleaned my desk area - no excuse not to spend time writing or editing photography now!

It is rainy here this morning, pouring really - crazy weather for March 15th - so now I am off to do some serious baking...

Until later...

A HEARTFELT THANK YOU!

First, I want to thank everyone who responded to my Saying Goodbye post about Molly, whether it was here, on face book, messenger or email or by phone.  We value every warm word of encouragement and love that was shared, and it helped so much to hear others support our difficult decision by sharing their own experience with their beloved fur babies.

It is bittersweet to know what my largest readership ever, was my Saying Goodbye post.  Nothing has ever meant so much to me, as knowing that so many people cared about Molly and our family.  Thank You!

It has been a rough time, but we are doing fine.  The burden of indecision we carried for so long has been lifted, and we know that Molly is running free, without pain, bumps, lumps, blindness and confusion.  There will be no more running into walls, stairs, garage doors, snowbanks, radiators, hydro poles.  There will be no more falling on her chin from a rise in the ground, or a roll in the carpet.  No more all night itching, scratching and licking until she broke her skin open, and no more worrying, and crying when we exited the house without her.

We still cry, but we are starting to relax and we are catching up on our sleep.  We are enjoying time spent away from the house without the feeling that we have to rush home to make sure she is safe.  We miss her terribly, and will for a very long time, maybe forever - but we have decided that there will be none to replace her in our life or in our hearts.  Like our son Jon wrote in his little tribute to his best friend - "My Heart will always wear the paw prints left by you."  It is how we all feel.

Now it's all about Chip.  It is incredible how much he too is missing Molly.  He calls for her, twists his neck around to see if she is coming into the room at meal times.  This was their thing.  Both were given carrots at lunchtime - she would devour hers, and he would tear off pieces of his and push them out of the cage for her.  He is keeping up his end of the bargain -- but she isn't there.  It breaks my heart, but I suppose he will eventually stop this practice.  Parrots are very smart - he knows she isn't coming back - he just doesn't know what to do about it.

In time I will share some very special photo moments with Molly - but not yet - I am not ready for that yet.

I love You, My Beautiful Old Girl - I will never forget you.

Rest Well Babas...

SAYING GOODBYE.

This will be my only post this week.  As weeks go this in going to be a very difficult one for my family... Gary, Jonathan and myself.

I can barely write this post, my heart is so broken, and the tears just won't cease, but write it, I will - because the subject of this post is so very deserving of my words, tears and most of all my love.

We have decided that the time has come to say goodbye to our Beloved Molly.  It has been a decision long coming, so painful to even consider, and so very hard to make.  Those of you who have long-time pets, know how difficult and painful this process is.

Molly has been deteriorating for some time.  I have written about her trials here many times, but I have not been totally honest with how much she has been going through these past almost two years.  Her sudden blindness was difficult - but she over came that obstacle in true Molly fashion.  She has never shown aggression, she has never cried or become demanding... she has bore her sentence silently as she does most everything.

She is blind and she has Cushings Syndrome, which has escalated greatly in the past few weeks.  She also has a tumor on the side of her neck which has tripled in size in the past two weeks.  She now has a unsteady gait at times, and frequent confusion, and although it is not often, occasionally she will softly - so very softly cry out when she is trying to lie down.

We cannot let her suffer more than she already is - especially since she doesn't seem to want us to know she is suffering -  and so we have made an appointment to end her suffering peacefully on Wednesday afternoon this week.

She has been an exceptional companion, and more than that she has been an exceptional healer.  When I was undergoing my cancer treatment,  Molly never left my side  - she barely ate, or slept - instead she watched me.  She would get as close as she could to me and gently press on my chest where she new my breast was missing.  Within a few weeks of my mastectomy, she removed all the fur from the right side of her body - the same side as my mastectomy - and she didn't let it grown back for a very long time.

When Gary lost his vision - it was Molly who looked after him in the house during the day when I was at work.  Many times she warned him of danger, and prevented him from being hurt.

Molly is no ordinary dog.  Our vet said she had a gift, and I believe that is so.

Even today when I have been crying so much and just not dealing well with our decision - it has been Molly who has come and comforted me and not left my side.

How do you say goodbye to such a special friend?

I am at peace with our decision - it is the right thing to do for her - but how to cope without her in our lives is an entirely different matter.

Years ago I taught Molly that face kissing was something I didn't approve of in a dog, and so instead she has always snuck her kisses whenever a hand came near.  If you reached down to pick up her food or water bowl and she was close by - you got a kiss.  If you bent down to put on your shoes and Molly was there - you got a kiss.  If you petted, rubbed or cuddled  - your hand got many kisses... she knew the face was out - but the hands were fair game.

Even in her blindness she has kept this practice... even as frail as she is right now - her appreciation of everything you do for her - is still,  rewarded with a kiss.

And so tomorrow we will spend our last full day together.  We will take lots of pictures, we will cuddle, we will kiss, and on Wednesday I will tell her how much I love her, and I will thank her for 13 wonderful years together as part of our family.  I will even allow a face kiss - but I bet I will get the hand variety without even asking.

And on Thursday - we will learn how to go on without our beautiful girl.

RE-PURPOSE FRIDAY THE 4TH!

Today I am focusing my re-purposing projects on one item.  These are simple ideas that anyone can use, and the basic ingredient is a toilet paper roll.

How many of these little paper rolls do we pitch in the garbage each year, I wonder?   I don't mean to tell anyone that you should save each and every one of them, but there are some very useful things we could be doing with them... wait and see!

This first one, I have done for the last 3 years.  You can spend lots of money on peat pots and such to start your seedlings in the spring - or you can use these!

If you fold the bottoms up inside the tubes these make wonderful little seedling starters... and like peat pots they will degrade over time.

While we are folding these tubes, how about these little gift boxes?  How handy are these?  Just decorate them with some pretty lace or ribbons and you have a very nice little box for a small gift!

How about these cute little table accents - you could make them for just about any occasion, and decorate them accordingly...


Here are several real helpful ideas for around the home ... I love the chord one - gonna pass that one on to hubby!

 

And here's one that is strictly for the birds.... Roll in peanut butter then seeds and hang from a tree... sweet!

And if you really want to get creative...

 








Kind of changes the way you regard these little rolls, does it not?


Happy Friday Everyone!

BARE WALLS AND MUSKETEERS!

Because I have been busy painting, I haven't been up to my craft room in almost two weeks.  Well, that is not entirely true - I have gone up there to take items up and put them on my desk, we have used my computer up there to Skype with our son and I have been on the computer a few times for a couple of minutes, but for anything else, that space has been vacant.

Last night I decided to head up to the computer and do some surfing.  Because I have so many bare walls in this house, my first stop was Craftsy!  I know - most people would head to the wall art isle in a trendy shop - but then I am not most people!

Bare walls to me means, photography or projects.  I do love art, but I can't afford the art that I love, so instead I tend to make my own.

A year or so ago I found a quilted wall hanging on Craftsy of a bookcase.  I saved it to my favourites to maybe purchase and make some day.  There certainly was no wall space available in my other house, so I really gave it no more thought. When I went into Craftsy last night I headed to my favourites.  I had 54 projects saved in there - one being the bookcase wall hanging.  This time I purchased it, printed it, and saved it to my hard drive.  Next time I am near a fabric store, I will pick up the fabric for the background and the shelves.   This quilt is going to go on my sun room wall above the love seat where I do most of my reading and stitching.

Way down on page three of my favourites I came across a block that I had completely forgotten I had saved.  This one has me really excited.  It is a block that was designed to be part of a Breast Cancer quilt.  That in itself is special to me, but I know why I saved this block and it does have a bit to do with breast cancer, but more to do with friendship.

When I moved to a new school in Grade 7, I met several special girls who would become life-long friends.  Who knew that 48 years later we would still be in contact and sharing our lives with one another!

Two of them and I were inseparable during our junior and senior high school years.  We were always together, in class and out of class.  We were called "The Three Musketeers" by many, including ourselves.  Every time I see an image of three girls or three women together it makes me think of us - "The Three Musketeers"!

We all turned 60 last year, and two of us have had and survived Breast Cancer, so is it any wonder that I would be drawn to this quilt block?

I am making this one into a wall hanging for my butter room... and if I get it right the first time, there will be a couple more made for the other Musketeers as well.  I can't wait to get started on this one.  I have enough scraps to make this in almost any colour.

I thought I might paint the second guest room this weekend - but perhaps I can find something much better to do with my time - do ya think?

BUTTER!

Happy March!  I am a day late and a dollar short, but never-the-less, the greeting stands!  I am not sure what constitutes a Lion or a Lamb, but for us March came in bitterly cold on the heels of a blizzard just the day before - so perhaps for us it was a Lion's beginning.  I will declare it so!

Hopefully the Lamb will be around at the end of the month.

I have completed painting the guest bedroom on the main floor.  I can only describe the walls as Butter!  I love how the room looks.  I am accenting it with blues and whites to tone down the butter a bit, but it is a happy room, even so it's walls are bare.

I have an embroidery piece that my Mother did when she was expecting her first child - my oldest brother Wayne in 1942.  It is the child's prayer "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep".

I was going to hang it when my own so was born in 1988, but it didn't fit in with clouds, rainbows and teddy bears, so I tucked it away to use somewhere later on. 

I now have the perfect place for it.  I need to find a frame, but once I do, it will be hanging in the butter room.

I never saw my Mother embroider in her later years  - too bad, because she was very good at it.  This piece is beautifully done in a mixture of cross stitch, straight and satin stitches, done on linen.  The detail is wonderful.  It is a heirloom to be handed down to the generations to come, and now that embroidery has come back into Vogue - there is a good possibility that someone in the family might cherish it as much as I do.

Now I am moving my painting efforts down to the basement bedroom.  That room is going to be butter as well, but down there the butter will look much darker - closer to warm honey than butter.  

I am making myself hungry.  Guess it's time to go down for breakfast and get my day started.  

Enjoy your day!