Happy Father's Day

Wishing all the fathers, dads, stepdads and father figures a happy day. To those near, far, and no longer with us, they are all special!

veggies are growing

poppies done but more flowers coming

It has been a busy couple of weeks. The gardens are a lot of work but they are starting to pay off. The onions and lettuce are ready for salads, and other things are growing and enjoying this hot weather but we could really use some rain. My lilacs are done and now my other flowers are starting to bloom. This flowerbed was covered with poppies in bloom but they are all done now too. I add flowering annuals to this bed with the hope that it will be more colourful in the coming months.

daughter and DH

Our daughter and her boyfriend came home last weekend for a visit. We have not seen each other since Christmas. It was a fun weekend filled with lots of fishing, a Saturday night fish fry and birthday homecoming cake. She thought of it as her birthday which is in July but as it is, she celebrates for the whole month. We weren't letting her start too early!! Got to mention those shirts. She gave us each one as a late Easter gift. My friend's daughter sells them under the brand " Bear and Fox Apparel."Nice shirts and very warm as it was a cold weekend...almost needing winter coats to fish in! Quite a change to this week with temps in the 90's!

working in other direction

So with all that not much quilting was getting done. I have worked on my hexies while fishing and that is a growing quilt. I have flipped the frame for hand quilting as I got to the point of not being able to turn it anymore. So now I have to work from the other side. I figure two more weeks and I should be putting binding on it!! I am so excited to have this one finished. If this isolation keeps up I may just put another one on the frame to work on. It is very relaxing doing hand quilting.

The sunset the other night was beautiful. It is hard to get a good pic with houses, hydro lines and other man-made things in the way, but I try!

I be will checking in with Kathy who had a birthday this past week. Check her blog and send her some birthday wishes and see what everyone is slow stitching on today!

Have a great week!

Relaxing Sunday morning

lake view

 

 

DH has headed out to do some errands and hit a store or two before everyone even gets out of bed. It is quieter and there are less people. I am not minding letting him go to the store while I stay at home.

I worked a bit in the garden yesterday, no bending, so crawling on hands and knees. It saved my back a bit but today will still be a relaxing day for me and quilting will be on the agenda.

 I can almost see the other end of the quilt on the frame. You can read more about it here as I had a mid week roll and will hopefully get another one done today! That would put me 3 weeks ahead of schedule....yahooo!

I have also been working on my hexies again. I take them out every now and again. This week we were out fishing from shore and while watching and hoping the bobber would duck underwater(meaning I caught a fish)I finished 4 more hexie diamonds for my top. It is the perfect take-along sewing that I can drop in a flash to reel in the big one!! I did catch one pike!

This is my second post with the new blogger format. Is anyone 

else using it and having problems or issues. Once I found the new post button, I was okay. There are a few new things and just learning where all those needed buttons and keys are will take some getting use to.This old dog is going to have to learn some new tricks!!I know it is hard changing and learning new things but lets see what we can do!

With coffee in hand I will be sitting here after I post to see what is happening in Kathy's world and those that join her for slow stitching Sunday. Hope you all have a great day and allow yourself to do something nice for you, we deserve it!!

New Things

My friend Kathy wrote today on her blog about blogger changing. I wasn't even aware but after reading a bit, it was in the header of my account, I decided to give the new one a shot. Some ladies commented on Kathy's blog that they found it new and not too much different but we will see. I am writing this post as a trial.

pink border at wall is almost finished

So yesterday I had another sort of mid week roll of the quilt. Now I am 2 weeks ahead of schedule. I can also  see the other end of the quilt. I had to turn the frame all the way to the end to straighten out the quilt top, pinned it and rolled the frame back to where I left off. I was fearful that I might run out of backing but I will be okay, thankfully!!

I picked some lilacs yesterday and put them in a vase and with the warm weather we are expecting today...their fragrance is filling my sewing room!! Heaven!! So that is where I will be spending the day, quilting away!

smell so pretty

Rainy and cold

plant covering in the background, oh lilac!!

After our first heat wave of the summer, we now have had 2-3 days of rain and overnight it went down to 4 degrees Celcius(40 degrees F for my American readers). So even though the garden is growing and other plants are starting to bloom, we had to cover last night and probably tonight as well. My lilacs are just starting to open, but not ready for a vase indoors. so while on my walk yesterday I stole some from an abandoned yard in the neighbourhood!(they are my favorite) My other favorite is Lily of the Valley, you can almost smell their fragrance in this pic. I finally have some hummingbirds at my feeder. They started to appear around it last week, but this weekend they are actually taking nectar away and sitting a spell on my clothesline. I can watch them from my kitchen window while doing dishes!

lily of the valley

cute little hummingbird

Now for something quilting related. More going on outside than in my sewing studio. I am a week ahead on the quilting because I got to roll it midweek!! yah me!!!see here and here. I started to realize that all the pics I take of this quilt on the frame look the same. This is do mostly to the colours in the quilt. But today I would like to point out the back pole on the frame...there is getting to be less and less fabric on it, which means I am getting closer to a finish!! I didn't get the quilt positioned on the backing like I would
like it to be, so I am hoping that I don't run out of batting or backing when I get to the last roll!! Sending a little hello to the sewing Gods to watch over my quilt!!

My back is doing better although there is no gardening in the foreseeable future. I am okay with that as long as I can still quilt and that seems to be okay. I switch it up with some knitting in a more comfortable chair. That is where you will find me today after checking out what Kathy is up to! She almost fooled me today with two posts...over-achiever!!(we're friends so I can get away with saying that) So make sure to check out her blog and what everyone is slow stitching on today!

Have a good week and remember whatever you do or whoever you see this...the whole world is in chaos...so just be kind. I think that is a little something all of us can do!

Over hump day!

1st tulips

Just over the mid week and I have rolled the quilt once again! With a tender back, I have been able to do lots of hand quilting. The back is getting better, a little each day, I can almost walk normally.... without any pain!

our field of happy

Quilt doesn't look much different so I will post a pic on the weekend hopefully after I have rolled it again! But for today, it has been very hot here so I took some outside pics before all the blooming flowers disappear . We have quite a crop of dandelions this year. I like them and think they look happy and I know they are making the bees happy because there are lots of them too!

sooooo many dandelions, hubby cut them down this morning

started 2nd row

I was up very early this morning, opened the windows in the house and it was peaceful sitting and knitting listening to my neighbourhood wake up! Working on the second row of my own layout for this afghan using design patterns from a book I have owned for years and never used much! Keep in mind, it hasn't been blocked yet so it lays a little funny. Enjoying the lace work of the new block on the needle.

Sunday...ahhhhh

After what has been a busy week, it is nice to sit back and relax. Especially today sitting is about all I can do for short periods of time. Pinched my sciatic nerve and bending over is painful. So that means gardening is out although I can assist DH with where to put things and what should be planted. We managed a day of fishing too. The hottest, sunniest day of the year so far...we both got too much sun and not enough fish!

fresh made muffins

With all that was happening, I still managed to get another roll done on the quilt. I had to work a bit this morning to accomplish it! I am having fun with this one...each roll is something new!
With the warming up of the weather, we are able to eat chives  and the first feed of rhubarb from the garden. This morning I made rhubarb muffins and want to make rhubarb crisp for supper!!

Going to sit down for a bit with a cup of tea and see what Kathy is slow stitching on today. Also checking in with those who follow along on her blog.
I hope everyone is keeping healthy and finding lots to keep them busy, I know I am.

Another week gone by!

This has probably been the worst week for me since this whole covid thing started. Although DH has been great, we have not seen our daughter since Christmas. Sure am missing her, although we talk a lot on the phone. She is a 5 hour drive away(one way) so not practical or deemed essential to see her. As things open up, people are starting to let down their guards. I am not ready or willing to do that yet and we have been pretty lucky where we live with not too many cases. I do think the next two weeks will tell us what we need to know, with mother's day visits and this long weekend.

Sorry for the ba humbug mood. That's what happens when you are in a funk. I will try to lighten it up a bit!

only 5 inches high

oak tree&poppies to be

I checked out what Kathy was up to today. She is all about rhubarb. My patch is not nearly as far along as her's but it will be soon! I also have been doing lots of gardening. It has finally warmed up a bit although the nights are still cold. Today the whole day was spent removing weeds from this flower bed. My little oak tree was grown from an acorn by my dad(so it is a pretty special tree). Most of the green in this bed are poppies that will bloom in a month or two. But when they are done there isn't much left in it colourwise so I plan to add some annuals to brighten it up. You can tell from the trees in the background, leaves haven't even started to unfurl as yet!

With all this being outside getting gardens in and weeds out, the quilting is on the back burner a bit. I get an hour or two each evening. I worked a little extra yesterday so I could roll it. That means that I have been able to go from one side to the other in a week. At that rate I figure I have about 6 or 7 weeks of quilting left to do!!

The Piranhas!!

Today I want to give a special shout out to my Piranha friends. Here's hoping we can soon plan our annual retreat, even if it might be in November!!