Moving In

Back to getting my stashes organized in my basement. Problem though - only two walls are finished, so not sure how far I will get in getting everything done. I did learn something today. Don't put all your threads in a bag or case with the present "I love it- going to take a week to do" project. That project takes much longer than a week, then I get sick of working on it and low and behold two years later it surfaces and guess what? Now I have triplicates of most threads - whether they be stitching threads or sewing threads. Guess I won't need new threads for a while. I got a brain wave this morning. I haven't got it all worked out in my head yet, but the jest is that I will have bins - sort of like the angled ones you see in produce markets - only different. They will have all my fabric lined up. So first all my quilting stuff on bolts, then my stitching fabric on bolts, then all my threads of course by manufacturer and of course this will all be colors together. So, red fabric, stitching fabric that is suitable for red stitching, then all my reds, pinks etc. of stitching threads, and sewing threads. So taking into account that if you use a not to detailed color wheel, it should work out fairly well. Of course the blacks will probably be mixed with greys and the whites will also be categorized. This is probably in a dream world, but right now I think it may be doable.

This a before of my area to be:

So as you can see a blank slate. Now all I need is a pattern and some of my tools back. May be a nice gentleman or two would be nice. Maybe I will be fortunate and Chris and Megan will come for a visit and he will take pity on me and help me put up a couple of walls - nothing like a working vacation for him. Guess, I would have to think of something spectacular to bribe him with. Of course "She Who Must Be Obeyed" has first dibs on his time. Guess it's time her or I got into dating and find a man who will build for us. That's not going to happen any time soon. She is sensing God calling her back to missions and this time she feels a tug to long term.

Not going to do too much inside today. It is so beautiful out, it may mean a trip over to the park and a long walk, or at least as long as my hip holds out. This time of year is hard on the old joints! That DD - Roscoe - has been staring at me for awhile. No he doesn't have brown eyes - already did that run, but he certainly enjoys his new abode and enjoys the jaunts to the park. Loves the smell of the deer, rabbits etc. Will have to see if I can convince some one to come and we will do a hot dog, marshmallow roast over the open fire pit. Ah, Sunday bliss - worship, rest and enjoyment in the great outdoors.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and for those of you with a long weekend - GET OUT AND DO SOMETHING!

Blessings

Jean

Spring is on the Way

Yesterday, was a beautiful day here and it was one of those days where the snow gets that spring feel. You can feel the difference in the air and in sights around you. Even though we have had virtually no winter, I am so excited to have spring start making an appearance.

Hope you all had a great Valentine's day. I spent mine with my daughter, daughter-in-law and some of the littles. My daughter-in-laws parents came also. We dined on Chinese food, watched a bit of Big Bang Theory, talked and laughed and generally had a ball. My granddaughter is big into celebrations, so she dressed in a fancy pink dress with hearts adorning it during the day and in the evening put on red pjs. So neat to have a girly-girl in the family. Of course I didn't take my camera, hence no pics. Food was really good.

This week so far, I have worked on a hardanger piece that I started a couple of years ago and a knitting project for an upcoming birthday. I need to get it done as someone else would also like something knitted for their birthday. Back to the hardanger piece. I just love hand work whether it be embroidery of some time, sewing, knitting or whatever. So, it is hard for me to fathom why I start a piece and then it goes by the wayside for a while. I guess it is because there is so much inspiration out there, whether it is on the web, in magazines, at quilt or stitching shows or what someone has in their house or are wearing. Don't you just love the way God made everyone talented in some way? I love that for every person in the world, they are given a gift and to see how people use their gifts in so many talented ways is a blessing to us. Thank you Lord for all the gifts available and thank you that people share them and bless us by using their gifts.

Today, I plan on taking Mr. Dog to the provincial park that is close by. He needs a good long walk. He has been getting into mischief while I am work - nuff said! Then I am going to get a head start on household chores so I can truly enjoy the upcoming long weekend.

Take time to slow down today and enjoy this beautiful day God has given us.

Blessings
Jean

Rainy days and Mondays always make me blue

Is that how that song goes?  I was visiting another blog and she used Snowy days and Mondays and it got me to thinking what was that line anyway. It was a good line - it really makes you stop and think about what affects the way a person thinks or perceives life. This blog at http//www.cozylittlehouse.com has a great blurb today, yesterday and Saturday also regarding depression. As it is Mental Illness Month, go on over and see what she and her followers have to say, or visit your local Mood Disorder Association. We really do need to get the work out that Mental Illness is a Disease and not some old label that was given it a few hundred years ago. The stigma has gone on long enough and a lot of individuals are suffering needlessly because of "what people might think".

She who must be obeyed was over yesterday. She challenged me in ways that I didn't think were possible. She suggested that I may be getting rid of my husband so to speak so that I don't have to face the hurt. We discussed it and as I mulled the discussion over in my mind and through prayer. I realized that after Glenn died, we all had made a pact or commitment to keep Glenn alive for the littles and for ourselves. That we would talk open and freely share whatever we remembered. In my fog, the looking for a new abode, the move, and everything else that went on in the past year, she was right. There wasn't much out on display to remind everyone of him and I think they all felt like they had to pussy foot around me when sharing their stories. So, the stories get shared just not with me. Today was a bad "Glenn" day as I realized that because I let life and my quest for what I am supposed to be now, get in the way, I had neglected to think about them and their needs. They need to see reminders of dad and granddad and I had let them down. You see, I had Glenn in my mind, in my heart and in a few private pictures - you know the ones. Pictures from when you first met, when your children were born, a favorite picture of you and him and of course the last picture of him. But I did not share them and that is not good. So in the next few days Glenn will be reappearing in my house in a lot bigger way than what he has been in the past couple of months. I hope that some of these pictures, items etc. will trigger discussion and we can return to healing as a family and not just trying to do it on our own. Isn't God faithful. He took something that troubled G. and at just the right time, presented it, not to open the grief again, but to bring a new dynamic to our healing. Now, I look forward to this challenge. I would like to challenge every widow(er) out there to share the stories. Most of us are not writers, but even a few lines here or there would be greatly appreciated by our children, grandchildren great grandchildren etc. Or how about this - tape the stories. Stories are very important to families. Future off-spring need to know that Granddad was short, had the dreamiest blond hair and had a mustache that tickled just so when he kissed grandma. Tomorrow is Valentines day - how about starting there. What were your valentines day like? What was the most memorable? For me I liked the days where I would come home from work and there would be a Kit Kat on the table - for no reason other than he loved me and appreciated me. If it bring tears, they are healing tears - let them fall!

Happy Valentines day everyone!


Blessings
Jean

Little Green Quilter Friday update

Yay! I finally have an update for all of you. This past week I started feeling somewhat normal again, so hence, housework is getting caught up, cooked an evening meal every night this week .... and it wasn't soup! However, today I will be making potato leek soup. I may even make some ww buns to go with. But first I have a long list of things to do on this my first day off of the week.
Clean Kitchen - check
Make Bed - check
Clean Bathrooms - check
Take pictures - check
Work on a project for one of the littles - check

This all done before 7:00 a.m.  The rest of the day, I plan on getting my dusting done. New house + construction zone out side +dog = lots of dust. I will also vacuum and am debating whether I will wash the floors or wait till tomorrow. The two littles are coming this afternoon as mom has a meeting at work. I then plan to work on some other projects.I have been observing other people who have blogs out there and how they accomplish getting their projects done. Some, work till they finish one, then go onto the next. Some, designate a project to each day of the week. These people usually have bar graphs on their blogs showing how much to go till each project is finished. This way it takes longer to finish a project, but at least that way, you get a few done. Then there are those who vow not to start anything new until all other projects are done. Two things wrong with this to my way of thinking is 1. there is probably a reason why these projects aren't done (not what we expected, become bored with it, the intended purpose has passed/changed). 2. With all the stash I have, all I have to do is take a peek and my mind goes to all the things I want to make. The trouble with "taking a peek" for me is that I get overwhelmed and discouraged over how much stuff I have and how long it will be before I get to use it.

Well true to winter in Manitoba, the coldest week of winter is also the one that breaks the back of winter. For us it is the latter part of this week and into the middle/end of next week. One time my sister-in-law came for a valentine visit and she could not believe how anyone could live here! Today the mean temp. is -28C with a windchill making it feel like -42C. That is close to -40F. Love it! It cleans all the viruses out and from here on in we know spring is a comin'. We have had such a mild winter that I really do hope this is it for winter this year. The last few winters have bee rather long, so I think we deserve a short one.

I have come upon a few blogs out there that have become really fun to read and I wish to share them with you. The first is Coni over at http://spinstersticher.blogspot.com . Her blog is mostly about stitching, but her dog Stewy often hijacks the blog to give his take on things. He calls her Mo-ther and has an Aunt Chrissy. Coni has a great imagination, so please go visit her.

Another blog I visit on a daily basis is written by Faree. It is at http://widowschristianplace.com It is a blog dedicated to being a widow(er). Every day she has a different subject i.e. Fridays are fun days. She comes up with a good clean joke, picture or some other thing that will make the cockles of your heart smile. She has guests some days. So please if you are struggling with being a widow- please go there.

Now on to the pictures.  These are my updates for the week. The first is from some left overs I had from a quilt someone commissioned me to do. I have taken a few ideas and am integrating them together using only the left overs and maybe a bit of other stash if needed. I like these quilts. I call them 2fers.

Yes, I use a plastic tablecloth for a design wall. The stripes on the front don't usually show that much, but maybe I will be looking for one with a lighter front this year.

This is more of what the middle will look like.

The other little piece on the left in the first picture is one of many I have made - just can't find the rest just yet.

I have been still making the little hats and so an update on that. The one on the left needs something at the crown, just not sure what. I love the boat hat on the right.

I will be doing some sewing as well

Out of this

Will come this

And out of these two fabrics:

Will come this:

So that's what I'm doing. Go on over to Sue's blog and see what the rest of us are doing.
http://www/blackberrycreek.typepad.com

Have a GREEAAT Day! (Yes, I loved Tony the Tiger too!)

Blessings
Jean

In A Fog.....

You may thing that with being a widow of a year, that I am still in THAT fog, but alas, no, we have living in fog for the past week. This is no ordinary fog - it is the real pea soup kind where you can't see your hand in front of your face. It was funny earlier in the week. There was a forklift right in front of my house. That DD (darn dog) and I went to set out for our morning walkie. I couldn't see it, he couldn't see it, we couldn't even see his flashing light, but he was there, we could hear him. Roscoe sure wasn't sure about that and looked at me with his puzzled you've got to be kidding - if I can't see it - I'm certainly not walking THAT WAY! Well, walking that way was the safer so I darn near had to carry him past the obstacle until he felt safe enough to get down and get into smelling everything.

Though a dense fog like that throws all your senses out, it sure is beautiful and quiet. This morning as we were walking, the fog had lifted just enough that I could look a bit into the bush and see the fog swirling through the trees, but still dense enough that you could not see the tops of the trees. Ah, God's world, what majesty. Today, my daughter, the dd and myself will be going to the nearby provincial park for a walk. She had done a number on her foot about three months ago. She fell off her bottom step going into her basement. All stairs are not equal in older houses. Anyway she tore all her ligaments, all her tendons and may have broken her foot. One X-ray showed it broken, but future ones did not, probably because her foot was so swollen. She went to the doctor yesterday and he said no go. No work! No play! Just sit and elevate it. He says it has improved somewhat, so in her mind she is determined to get it moving. So today she will join me and my pint size friend for a walk. It will be interesting to see how far she can go. Then we will go to my #1 son's to take care of the wee ones. I will provide dinner dear. It will be Thai coconut chicken, Jasmine rice and asparagus. For the wee one's I am not sure what we will add. They are 5 and 2 so every day is an adventure if they will eat any given food on any given day. Don't you just love how they develop their taste buds and preferences - soo fun to watch.

I have been out of action for the past three weeks. Came down with Bronchitis, probably from all the up and down weather we have had. In Manitoba you can always count on it hitting at least -40C or -40F at least for a few days in January, which means that usually Christmas is already cold. Our first break in the cold usually comes just after Valentine's day and then we get into snow season, where you don't go anywhere without checking three different weather reports. No one wants to get stuck in a blizzard. I digress, when it gets so cold, all the viruses, germs and whatever freeze and usually very few get sick in the middle of winter. This year not so, we have been in the +1 (32F) to about +5 (40F) for the past few weeks. Real treat in some ways - not so for the travel agents. Ya win some, ya lose some. I will not be complainin' I love the warmer weather.

While I was sick, I did not, I ah say - did not - are ya listen boy (loved that cartoon) do any sewing, stitching, blogging or anything else of interest. It sapped me of any strength and interest. I am now back at doing what I do best and am looking forward to this weekend to work on what I want when I want. So onto the pictures .....

The first two pics are during the fog and finally the last two are of God's beautiful handiwork left after the fog cleared. Hope you all have a great day!

Blessings
Jean