Sunday, July 24, 2016

Cyprus Lake 2016

As you know dear readers, every year my best friend Kim and I make the trek to Tobermory for our annual camping trip at Bruce Peninsula National Park, aka Cyprus Lake.  This year we made the trip again - it's the best place I've ever been for camping and it is more beautiful every year.

I've looked through the pictures on my phone and see that almost all of them are of Sam, Daisy, and various chipmunks.  Easy to see where my priorities are I guess.

Daisy has taught Sam all the important things about camping.  Lots to learn about chasing balls on the beach, how to swim etc.  Here's Sam applying his lesson about chipmunks (note red arrow to help you find the chipmunk against the forest floor):


Not to worry, Sam was on a long line so no harm came to the chippie.  Not that Sam had a chance of catching him in any event - those chipmunks are crafty little critters.

Sam and Daisy had a wonderfully happy time chasing balls in the water.  Sam finally had some success swimming but he's definitely not a natural like Daisy.  Here he is back at the campsite after a long day swimming and fetching. 


And my love Daisy as well - she enjoyed drying out in the sun after a day at the beach:


And here we have a nice addition to our campsite packing up efforts - now that Noah is a little older, he can help with ensuring the Thule (actually a Yakima Skybox this year) was filled to the brim and not one iota over:


So a nice week away, and hopefully we'll do the same next year.


Monday, July 4, 2016

Start of A Wedding Quilt

As you know, loyal readers, I rarely do quilts on request.  And I don't do commissions or take orders.  The cost is typically much more than people are willing to pay for, and it takes a lot of effort to make one of these lovely comforting quilts.  I prefer to make what I like, and sometimes try to make a quilt with fabrics carefully selected for a special person.

However, I'm up for baby quilts and the occasional quilt for an amazing person.  And that is the case at the moment, when my dear mother asked if I would make a wedding quilt for someone special.  She knows to ask well in advance of the time that it will be needed.

Here's the fabric and rough plan - you can see the pattern I'm starting from.  But, dear readers, I will be veering off to a slightly different arrangement and have a plan for pieced text for the back.  I'll keep you posted on progress - this is a project I'll work on while also trying to get caught up on UFOs this year.


Where have I been?

You must be wondering where I've been, it's been over two months since my last post.  As you know, I've been busy buying a new house and selling my current one.  Now I'm just waiting to close on both houses so I can move.  I'll share some pictures of the new place once that's done.

The last couple of months have been busy.  In addition to arranging all manner of trades to get my house ready for sale, I've been at the pain clinic getting some test injections in my back (not what I would call a pleasant procedure).  I've also been fitting in some of the usual summer activities like celebrating Canada Day with Sam and Daisy, and of course, freezer jam.  Last week Kim and I went to Butt's Berry farm in Eramosa and picked up two flats of fresh Ontario strawberries.


And a little bit later, voila, here's the jam, in the freezer and ready to be shared (maybe).  I seem to have packed all of the 250ml jars into storage, so most of the jam is in 500ml jars.  Not my preference, because it only lasts 6 weeks in the fridge once it's been defrosted, so the larger jars will have to go to a house where they eat a lot of strawberry jam.  :)


For canning pears this year, I also picked up these amazing jars, it's so nice to have something new in the canning department.  They may be retro, but they're new to me.  I don't remember ever seeing canning jars in any colour other than clear, so this is a real treat. 


And this Sunday, I finally finished off my April UFO blocks, the Amy Butler String Quilt.  This took a long time to complete and now I've got to sew the blocks together to finish the quilt top.  But it's almost done, yayy!!  Then time to move on to the May UFO project, I'm going to have to be disciplined in order to catch up to July.




And here they are up on Klara's design wall.  This is how the quilt will look once it's put together.