On the Road

We've been enjoying a great vacation to Canada to visit friends and our daughter. Our friends live on a lake so there was boating and swimming and sailing and great food and games and getting caught up on the news. They were outstanding hosts and we had a fantastic time. We took a quick stop in Ottawa to sightsee and have lunch and then on to Montreal.

There is always so much to do in Montreal and great restaurants to try. Our daughter insisted we try a smoked meat sandwich, which tasted just like pastrami to me and then a walk to Juliet and Chocolat for a delicious dessert. The entire menu was chocolate desserts and drinks. My toes were curling in ecstacy just reading the menu and browsing the food cases. We each picked a different dessert and shared, of course. Lots of new foods to try as we ate our way thru town. No poutine on this trip, however.

On our way back to Wisconsin, we drove through the Algonquin Provincial Park and saw a bear on the side of the road eating raspberries. I took some photos and was tempted to shoo him away so I could pick a few myself.

A New Start

I spent my weekend making piles of HST's in many, many colors. They are all sorted so I can grab them by color and sew away. I made most of my first block for a Pine Burr quilt. I saw this pattern in an old Fons & Porter magazine that I bought at a quilt show last April. They had a booth to benefit the guild with boxes and boxes and boxes of quilting books and magazines. I loved the quilt at first sight and have had it on the back burner for awhile.

This first block was an experiment to see if I could really have the patience to put all those little pieces together. With only a small amount of resewing, I managed to get it together. I thought the set-in seams would be a problem. They were the least of my worries. Getting all those doggoned HST's to march the right direction almost did me in. I am sure I must be triangle-lexic.

Now that I have conquered the first block, I hope the rest will settle down and follow along.

Another Great Find

I am so excited that I found this lamb's wool duster at the Home Depot. I have been looking for one with a long handle and this one actually telescopes. How cool is that!! I went around my house and dusted all the ceiling joints and the tops of the window frames and picture frames. I did my whole house in just a short time. It was so fun!! I didn't know housework could be this fun.

I am so lame!!

Seriously, my mom taught me to dust the ceilings using a broom with an old Tshirt or dust rag over the bristles. No matter how I attached the Tshirt, it always came off and I got a crick in my neck. No more! I felt like a queen with a scepter. And it was really fun!!

I need more excitement in my life.

G-12

This was a fun block to do. It had easy piecing and easy applique that went quickly. The points came out pointy and the curves, curvy. This does not always happen for me, so I was a happy camper. This is one of my favorite fabrics, too. A win-win all the way around.

F8

I am really cookin'. I finished another Dear Jane block and should have another ready for tomorrow's post. WOW!! I am glad that I am finally getting going on this again. I am nearly finished with the center blocks, but have lots of triangles to do. I would like to get the whole quilt completed, as I have so many other projects that I want to do, but feel like I need to get this finished first.

Bad News. Some critter ate our one and only raspberry. This was entire crop for the first year and we are very sad to lose it, but can't wait til the canes really take off next year.

Our bathroom tile project is nearly complete. A tile person came again today and worked on the grout in the shower. It really needed to be replaced, so hopefully this will complete the tile work. The carpet still needs to be redone where the tile and carpet meet and that is supposed to happen tomorrow. This was a 10 day project that has lasted 5 weeks. We will be very glad to get back to using our bathroom and shower again. I'm sure our son feels the same way. We have been sharing his bathroom, which by the way has never been cleaner. Ha Ha.

K-5 Complete

I finished K-5 last night while watching TV. Somehow I managed to get the diamonds sewn together wrong and had to redo them. In one square the red diamonds were in the North-South orientation. In the other square, I had them going east & west. I have no idea how I managed to do that, but it only took a little while to fix it. I like this block. Not too many pieces and some hand sewing.

Today I have been working on one of the F blocks. It is paper pieced and giving me fits. I finally had to set it aside and maybe I will finish it tonite or tomorrow. So frustrating.

I have started cutting scraps to make a Pine Burr block. I want to try this and see how it goes together. I don;t love set-in seams. (Who does?) If I can make one without pulling my hair out, I may make a quilt.

Happy 4th of July

I love the 4th of July. We spent so many of these holidays picnicking with family. Lots of barbequed chicken and homemade ice cream. Even though those are memories now, I still enjoy sitting by the river and watching the fireworks. We anticipate this event all day long and can't wait to drag out the lawn chairs. Some years it is blessedly warm like today. Other years we are bundled up in warm coats. The majesty and wonder of the fireworks always fills me up with awe. It makes me appreciate the sacrifices of so many to make this such a great country.

I made a flag quilt from the Little Quilts book many years ago and gave it to my mom. It came to live in my house this year and I added a little sleeve in the back so I can hang it in my kitchen.

F-11

Another Dear Jane block finished. I really like this block and I like that it was easier than I thought it would be to complete. This is a reproduction fabric that I found at Hancock's. I also used it in the table runner I just made.

We had dinner tonite at Chili's. I had the Shiner Bock BarBQ burger. My husband's mother (aka the world's greatest MIL) was born and raised in Shiner, TX , the home of Shiner Bock beer. So I always get this burger when we go to Chili's, so I can think of her.

Great news! I have some tiny zucchini. Hopefully we will be eating them next week.

Raspberries

We have decided to try our hand at growing red raspberries this year. My husband tilled up a bed for our daughter last year to grow cukes and some peppers, I think. She didn't get them planted until mid-July, so we got enough cukes to make a batch of pickles and that was about it. So we amended the soil this spring and one of our nice neighbors gave us a bunch of starts from his raspberry plants. They originally came from his grandma's bed in Milwaukee, so they are like his babies and he was thrilled to pass them on. We have held vigil over them everyday making sure that we give them the right amount of water, sun, and food. There is a chicken wire fence to keep out small critters. I don't know if they like to chew on raspberries, but they seem to help themselves to everything else in our yard. With a little luck, we may be eating raspberries next summer.