Is it spring or winter?

After having +30C in March we are now hovering anywhere between +5C and +18C. Guess it really is not too bad, but as all the animals, trees and plants think it is mid to late May, why oh why can't we humans get adjusted this year. I was watching The Weather Network yesterday and Chris St. Clair had an interesting take on things. He says that with it being so warm in March, our psychological side cannot cope with the frequent changes. Wonder if that is true. However, for the most part, the geese have left for the Northern part of the province. That is generally a sign that the weather is going to get hot. Thankfully the Robins haven't left yet. I love their singing and talking early in the morning before the sun comes up. As of yet we haven't had too many nights where we can leave the window open. When I lived in Winnipeg, we had a bird in the neighbourhood that snored. I jokingly called him the snoring bird and always had a good chuckle when I heard him. He would start about 2:00 a.m. and go till about 4:00 a.m. Well, low and behold, one of my "birder" friends told me that is actually what he is. So who knew. Shows what kind of humour God has.

Thank you for your comments on the log cabin quilt. I have decided I will take a trek over to the quilt store (some 30 miles away) and see what she has in stock. If not, I will be hitting some of the on-line shops to see what they have. I have a confession regarding that quilt. There are two blocks where for the life of me I could not sew straight. A couple of the strips are a bit narrower than the rest. But, the block still squared up okay. This error has bothered me for a couple of years - hence that is why it is not finished. But as of this weekend and having looked at it from all angles, I have decided that it will stay the way it is. This will probably never go to a show and tell and it won't be entered into any quilt shows. I am not that confident of my sewing skills to ever do that.

Had some of the kids and grands here today for lunch after Church. I actually got up at 4:30 this morning. Couldn't sleep and then thought I should make some meals ahead for the kids. She Who Must Be Obeyed (dd), is working an extra shift this week. Miss Dakocanut (dgd) has two soccer games and because she is only 6 they play at 6:00 p.m. and have to be at the field at 5:45. The Golfer does not get home till 5:00 and Mrs. Prego golfer is not feeling very good with the new little mister golfer. Anyway, I made Manicotti filled with a cheese mixture, lasagna rolls, healthy chicken strips, stuffing, a lovely spinach, strawberry, broccoli, avocado and macadamia nut salad, and for dessert I made what I originally thought would be a salad. It has rice, fruit cocktail, cool whip and for variety I put in little coloured marshmallows. So they all ate on the feast here, then they took home the leftovers and will add it to whatever they have. Glad I could help, but sure needed a nap after they all left. The two littles were wild today - is it a full moon perhaps?

I spent the weekend knitting. I worked on the middle little golfer's sweater, and on a scarf.

I need to finish the one front panel and the two sleeves. I am hoping to have that done this week. Two soccer games is good for knitting adventures.

The scarf uses Alpaca Fingering weight and has eight colours in it. The scarf has 68 rows and it is all done in garter stitch. Easy peasy!

Right now it is as my English side use to say - blowing a hoolie out there and I better go see what needs to be tied down. With the sounds of things someone in Toto land might end up with my new porch set. I would not be happy though I am sure someone in Kansas would be. LOL

Have a great start to the week!

Blessings
Jean

A UFO update.....Finally

Over the winter I got into a funk. I would sit there in my stiching chair and think about the UFOs I should be working on. That's the crux - all I did was sit and think. My sister Marilyn thinks that we should all go out and get one of those daylight lamps. I think that anyone north of South Dakota should be automatically given one at birth as a gift from the government. I think I may just get one for next year. Up here in Canada the Mood Disorders Association has them to rent, or loan if you can't afford one, or you can buy one. I live in a small condo complex and most of my neighbours go to Texas for the winter. I have friends who go to Florida and I have cousins who go to Arizona. Actually when you stop and think about it, how can Canada function in the winter with so many people leaving for sunny destinations. I bet if some country were to get wind of all these people gone, well they just might up and take us over and no one would know the difference until Easter when everyone returns. Hey, maybe no one has clued into this cause they all disguise themselves as Canada geese when they go south. When you Americans have Canada Goose day - you know that day when it is open season on Canada Geese, you better take a better look to see if it isn't someone just dressed up as a goose. I jest of course. I just notice how much more traffic there is in my town since Easter. There is actually a traffic jam at the Co-op.

Anyhoo - I pulled out the quilt that Roscoe (aka the quilting dog) made. Actually, I sewed  it, but with his big nose (Bichon's have big noses), he picked out which piece of fabric I would sew next. Since then, he always has his big nose in on my sewing. Yes he has his own chair right beside me, and no it is not the comfy one - though he would be very happy if I let him have the comfy chair. Back to the quilt. I laid it out on my Big Girl King Size bed and at 108 inches x 108 inches you would think it would be big enough, but noooo not even close. I need to either make some more blocks or I need to put a border on it. If I make more blocks, I will probably have to rip-it so that the new material isn't all around the edges. In my haste (darn you Susan!) to use up and get my UFOs done, I used the rest of the fabric for my 2fer. You know - those quilts that you get two for the price of one out of all that fabric that yo bought that went together, but you only needed half of. Will have to think on it for a day and go through my neverending stash. That movie the NeverEnding Story really should have been about quilters stash you know. Anyway, here is some pictures of the quilt.

In the one above you can see where it doesn't quit cover the duvet underneath. In this next picture it shows a representing of the fabric I used.

I started out wanting to create a totally neutral quilt. The intention was to use a variety of lights and mediums with variations in between. I soon found that to be very dull and changed it to the more white, cream, beige, brown, grey, black and everything inbetween quilt. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I hope to get the solution to my problem worked out this weekend and hopefully in the search for fabric I will come across the foot and plug for my new Phaff I got last summer and only used twice cause I got the bug to move.

By the looks of the writing in this post, I must have had some silliness rub of on me this morning while I visited the two littles. Well, I do feel silly today and so it stays.

Have a great weekend everyone - Happy Spring!

Blessing

Jean

THE WONDERS OF NEW LIFE

Today was wonderfully warm......for awhile and then the blasted wind came up again. There is an old farmers tale that says if it is windy on Good Friday, then it will be windy for the next 40 days. I have been monitoring this for the past few years and it seems to be true. Mind you when you live on the flat bald headed prairie even a little breeze can seem like a big windstorm. Ah, summer will come and I will be desperate to feel a breeze. Funny thing human nature - we always want something we can't have at that moment.

Today was an exciting day for the extended family. We got to all go see the ultrasound of the new baby. Some were happy, others not so much. Granddaughter desperately wants a baby sister and yup she's getting another brother. What she doesn't realize is that she is six years older than the new one and she won't be able to play with him for a couple of years. Of course by that time she will just think of the two brothers as the pests who won't stay out of her room! She has fond memories of dressing her little brother in all her girly girl clothing and I think she looked forward to doing that again. Brother was more than happy to accomodate her, but now he is the ripe old age of three - don't think that's going to happen again any time soon. We do have some really cute photos of him that will be saved to be shown at some other more appropriate times - you know the ones - first girlfriend, wedding and of course to his children.LOL

Now as creative grandmom I get to make the quilt set. For granddaughter I made one in blues, yellows and creams. For her brother I made one with lions and tigers in blacks, bright greens and a bit of toffee colour. I was at a quilt show last week and could not pass up some fabric for the new wee one. So now all I have to do is decide what the pattern will be. For both of the other kids, I designed my own and I don't see anything changing with this one. I really like that everything is retro these days. I am also happy that I have kept most of my patterns, so let the sewing and stitiching begin!

On more of a stitchy note I have found a couple of new (to me) magazines. Both are French and I have ordered some Blefast Linen in a Victorian Red so that I can replicate some of the ideas presented in said magazines.  Now you say, how are you going to replicate them if everything is in French? Well, when I was in Junior and Senior High school, I excelled in French. I managed to pull off 100% in it. Could it be that the teacher thought I should date her handsome son who by the way, went on to be one of the best Kidney doctors in the world, or was it truly my abilities? After school I did not get to use it at all either spoken or written. Fast forward 40 years and I end up with a position working with the military. I had to communicate with the bases in Quebec and Quebecers are just as stuborn as the "english" people in Canada so it was sink or swim. I managed quite well for the years I had that position. So it will once again come to my rescue and it sure helps that the directions are in drawn picture form. For those that do hardanger you will know what I mean. By the way the two magazines are: Broiderie Tradition and Creation Point de Croix. Now, normally I DO NOT DO cross stitch, but they sure have some cute designs.

No pictures today. Keep forgetting to charge the camera up.

Enjoy your day!

Blessings
Jean

An Ode to Nike

My son and his family had to put their beloved dog to sleep today. Nike was 11 and had gone blind, had bladder and kidney troubles, arthritis and was at times becoming disoriented. We all loved Nike, but probably not to the extent that my daughter and youngest grandson did. There were tears today and I am sure there will be tears for a while.

Nike

When Nike came into our lives, my son and daughter-in-law lived in "the little house on the prairie". Within a few short months of living there, they obtained two dogs. Cassie, the first acquisition was a rescue dog from way up north. Cassie occupation would be to chase the ball for hours on end. Cassie was a bit territorial and if she didn't hear you coming, the situation could get a bit dicey. When she was probably 9 or 10, they decided it wasn't safe and had her put down. Nike had come from another pet rescue place. Both dogs were a little big for a 900 sq. ft. house so hours everyday would be spent outside.

Nike was a bit challenged when it came to learning to play with toys but my how she could run and run she did. You did not let her out of your site for a second or we would be running down the road often for miles to catch her and bring her back home. When she got home she would be smiling like she'd just won the dogie marathon! Her second occupation was digging. They put in a beautiful dog run which lasted all of about two weeks. No, the dogs didn't destroy it, Nike dug her way out so many times that there was no use in keeping the two of them in it any longer. So, what was the alternative - the horse barn. The dogs loved it in there. It was cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It had a dutch door and weather permitting, Nike could hang her head over the bottom part and watch the world go by. Thankfully, she never did get the notion that if she jumped, she could get out. From there they moved into a town and Nike's days changed. They had a yard that was fenced and Nike never did figure out how to get out. Her next occupation became goose chaser. My son runs a golf course and the players do not take kindly to having goose droppings all over the course. A few times a week my son would take Nike to the course. She loved her new job and took it seriously. Those poor geese never knew what hit them when Nike was on patrol.

When the two kids were born, they each had a favourite dog. Granddaughter's was Cassie and Grandson's was Nike, though he would never let on that he even liked Nike. However, if you took a glimpse around the corner more than likely grandson would be curled up next to Nike having a snooze. Already grandson is asking when Nike is coming home to cuddle with him - he's almost 3 and is having a hard time understanding. We have suggested to him that Nike is with granddad and that granddad is taking Nike to do a job with him. You see, grandson's favourite thing was to "do a job" with granddad. They would fix things and Glenn always had the patience and took the time to teach little grandson, so if he has the visual in his head of Granddad taking Nike to do a job with him, it might help him feel better about loosing his best friend.

As for my daughter, she took very good care of Nike when she was visiting with them and yes, she too will have many tears for Nike today. Even though she is in her 30s, I believe she hopes God has a special place for all the pets in heaven!

And so ends another day. I am thankful how this dog has made us all stop and pnder life today. My hope is that through the process of losing a pet, we will become softer hearted people. Not just towards animals, but towards people and relationships, as everything that happens in life is an opportunity for us to grow and become more Christ like.

Blessings

Jean