Blog Catch Up

Well last week the maintenance man came in and replaced my broken hallway light fixtures and removed the GROSS kitchen ceiling fan for me too.  He asked if I'd wash it now so he could put it back up but I had to return to work - lunch time was over.  Oh well he'll put it back up next week.  WELL when I got home after work the fan was 95% washed of all that grimy mess, apparently the caretaker had come up and she washed it as best as she could!  That was awesome as I was leary of tackling that job, so I finished it off and now it's ready to go back into place tomorrow.

So I proceeded to tackle the dust/cobweb covered chandelier and in the process BURNT my inner arm.  You know those old Christmas like bulbs, well I have that very defined shape burned into my mid inner arm and it HURTS even a week later yet.  It had blistered about 3/4s of the inner shape which I then stupidly in my sleep scraped off waking to excruciating pain the one night I didn't cover it and days of oozing!!!  BUT the chandelier is crystal clean!!!  I was using polysporin a few days and nights, then some aloe vera gel later on during the day and today my niece gave me pieces of her aloe vera plant and I'm using that.  It's itchy as !@#$ and the angry red is shrinking in size so it's healing!!!  YEAH!!!

Thursday I had packed up my sewing machine etc and escaped for a much needed quilting retreat once again.  This time to Pinewood Lodge in the Whiteshell just outside of Otter Falls.  I must say the Lodge is beautiful, food served for our retreat excellent and the weekend escape wonderful.  We even had a new quilt shop owner come out, Karen's Market & Quilt Shop, Pinawa MB, for a few hours as a treat - well it's just not the same if a vendor is not there for us to shop!!!

Lower Level - left side

Lower Level - right side

Upper Hall - middle section only

Then on Saturday I moved to the large windows and worked on three crazy patch blocks all afternoon.  I got to put my feet up and enjoy some quiet time away from the machine, but had in the morning cut out the squares for second quilt top (a disappearing nine patch) that I'd sew up once the natural light faded away.

It was an awesome weekend and I got two kids quilt tops stitched - sort of an I Spy theory but in squares and rectangles instead of the usual pattern.  I had taken out my printer paper box full of novelty fabrics and barely made a dent in the stash, but have two very lovely quilts for some toddlers to play on.

Finished on Monday @ Pat's

Sunday came too soon and so did WINTER!!!  You could barely see the road but the grader/sander had gone by so I knew it would be passable with care, at least I hoped it would be.  See it poured Saturday evening on top of the inch or two of snow - bad!!!  In the end the trip back to the city wasn't as bad as first thought, but Hwy 44 was the worst and naturally some jerk with a 4WD decided he'd pass us who were doing 90-95 klicks already, but could not manage that slushy lane and had to fall back in line!  The radio stations told everyone to SLOW DOWN!  Also the closer I got to Winnipeg the MORE snow on the ground and still falling - hmmmm talk about slushy messy city streets!  I don't care now, I'm home and can relax!

AND Monday was another sewing day, but this time with my niece Pat - YAHOOIE!!!  Well I added on the striped borders for the one I Spy quilt but forgot to bring the navy fabric to add the inner borders on the second top and then add the striped borders.  Another day!  So then I switched to my mini that we had started Sept/Oct 2009 - kinda got set aside while Pat/Randy did major house renovations a few years etc - then picked up again this year to finish off.  Yes now both of us have our "Improved Nine Patch" by Toby Lischko (using John Flynn templates) minis finished but both agreed this was a pain to stitch and I wondered what the previous version was like if this was an "improved" one!!!  YEAH one of my UFOs is now finished!!!

So now we can search for a new 1930s fabrics mini project for the next sewing day together!