Cool Again!

OHHHHHH thank you Harold for coming over and figuring out how to install my new portable AC!!!  Yeppers it's now down to 81F (can't figure out how to change it to C - not that I need to) from 88F 2 hours ago and it's still going strong.  It even has a remote so I don't have to get up to make changes!  WOOOO HOOOOIE!!!  And it was so much easier to install than that stupid heavy window AC - now just to find a new home for it - preferrably one where it can be left in and covered for the winter!

Purging Again

Well it's been a while since I had good intentions and acted on them!  LOL!

Yep for some reason this week I started going through the two large boxes of quilting magazines and only pulled out a dozen and tore out maybe two dozen patterns and recycled those magazines.  The rest along with a bag of pocketbooks I then packed up and ready to be dropped off at the Firehall for the Children's Hospital upcoming book sale whenever it is.  I still have one more box of magazines to go through.

Then I switched to my dining room and started to tackle the various "plastics" that have accumulated, some to garbage, some to Valu Village and the good ones I'll wash up again and put away - WOW sure downsized that area.  Then I moved my plant unit into the diningroom so I can move my display stand over and make room for the portable AC that hopefully can be hooked up soon.  I have it out of the box and the hoses connected but the panel for the window is wider than my slider grooves so Harold my maintenance guy is dropping over tonight to check it out.  He'll make it work, I'm sure!

So I then moved into my bedroom and tackled the mounds and shelves of t-shirts.  No I had not kept up the rule of bring one in and one goes out!!!  LOL!  So today I managed to cut into rags half of one large garbage bag of soiled or badly worn out ones for the mechanic and another large bag off to the garbage.  Then managed to put away my so so ones for everyday and the good into the dresser with room to spare - that is until laundry is done!  Ha Ha Ha!!!  I continued and managed to pack up some of the better items into another full large garbage bag for Valu Village and a large shopping bag for my niece in case there's something for them.

So then everything went into the VAN and off it got dropped off!!!  HOLY SMOKES it sure makes a difference, there is room on the floor in the living room and next week I'll take the three paper boxes full of personal items to the shredder and save myself the struggles with my personal shredder and also the TIME doing it myself!!!  There'll then be more floor space visible.

And when I get back from house/garden sitting I'll tackle the plant stand and excess pots and hopefully have a notice for the Orchid and Bonsai societies for sale!!!  Yep now it's time to rest as I'm beat and I swear I sweated pounds in this sauna today!!!

I still have a long way to go to getting this place into ship shape - it'll get there again!!!

My CQd Panel

OK here is my naked crazy patched panel along with the panel after the first round with the Sewbuds gals - this baby will be finished as a hanger for my room divider - per se my display board in the living room.

Pretty nifty eh?  So thank you to Candi H, Cris R, Susan N, Katie B, Jane C, Janie J, and Carole M - you all did such awesome embellishments!!!  THANK YOU!

Now it's off on it's second round within the Sewbuds for finishing off.  Can't wait to see what it looks like all finished.

Family Fun

OK this weekend my niece Pat and I traveled to NW Ontario to visit her parents, my sister, and helped them with some flower garden weeding and whipper snippering.  Yep Pat got the knack of that lightweight battery charged unit - Maynards here she comes!!!

First off I stopped in Kenora to drop off two quilt tops I had finished off and left to be quilted, they should be ready for beginning of August if all goes well. 

In between the outdoor jobs while the weather permitted we were inside doing some sewing!  Sylvia helped Pat stitch up a cover for a foam piece and soon their gazebo loveseat will have a new seat! 

 

While she was sewing that Sylvia loaded a lap quilt onto her frame and by the time Pat finished off Sylvia that completed the meandered quilting!  WOW!!! 

 

In the meantime I was working on my CQd panel getting it ready to be shipped out today.  Somehow and I'm not sure how I did it but one of the CQers in the first go around saw a snow-capped mountain in the background so I tried to embroider a river roaring down it's sides. 

 

Also I sorted out my 5" nickle charms of light with dark and marked them ready to stitch up HSTs for the MPQ Nickle Challenge Quilt for ABC program, that is with Pat and Ann's help - thank you ladies.  During this time we even got to enjoy Mother Nature's spectacle of a double rainbow and too bad we couldn't get the opposite end of it also in the picture that was visible to us.  Very seldom have I seen both ends so close and visible.

Len was cutting grass and then BBQd us beer can chicken while Sylvia and Ann prepared pan fried potatoes and a cauliflower salad that I thoroughly enjoyed and corn on the cob - yeppers a scruptious supper!  Next day, Sylvia and Len wanted to treat us to lunch at the new restaurant up the highway but they had some type of entertainment Saturday evening and were opening only for supper on Sunday so we went back home and had leftovers with very young asparagus!!!  YUMMY, Pat said was mucho better than restaurant fare and I agreed!  Thank you S&L!!!

Then we headed back for the city but shortly after leaving Kenora we came upon a traffic stall for 2 hours while the OPP directed traffic around the road blockage from an accident of a motorcycle and half ton truck with a jackknifed small trailer behind.  So sad for those involved and talk about VERY IMPATIENT travellers in that line up - doing stupid things like passing over the double line around curves up hills or on the shoulders to get ahead only to be forced to wait to be let into line!!!  There was a chip wagon on the side and I bet he made quite a business that day as people were running up the shoulders to get there and then waiting to be picked up nearby!  LOL!  That was the longest 2 hour wait I've had on a sun baked highway!

Catch Up Again

OK I'm not even sure where or what I've posted and what I haven't, I've been so tardy!!!

Well for sure I've recently house/cat sat for Val W. and gosh it was great as the temps were in the 30s C and my apartment is still without AC as I'm looking for a new more user-friendly one.  Tigger was a charm and I can't tell you how WELL BEHAVED he is compared to other feline's I've looked after.  Not once in the whole week I was there did he meow till I got up no matter what hour, nor jump on the bed to wake me up, nor climb onto anything that was not cat-friendly!!!  BUT let me tell you if I was late for his supper or snack feeding he sure let me know and yes as usual shedded all over me when it was pet time.  He had his favourite perches and he'd just go and sit quietly beside the door or window waiting patiently for you to open it for him and then he'd be there until sometimes I'd be pulling him away to close it.

Now I really musta been not feeling well cause one day I even told him that I would like a cat like him to take home!!!  WHAT AM I CRAZY!!!  NOPE, NADA, NO SIREE no pets for me!!!

Also now I know why I live in an apartment downtown - cause see in a residential section there's this van with this crazy music calling all to come buy his ice cream!!!  Not fair, see three days I was stuck doing things and not possible to zip out without "chasing" it down the block, BUT finally the last evening I was watering the plants out front and rushed in for my cash and got my ice cream sandwiches!  YEPPERS I bought TWO and ate them both that night!!!

Merle's BAS Blocks

OK here is the second set that I worked on and I'm very sorry but as yet I don't have pictures of the before, I didn't take any and there aren't any uploaded from Jackie so far.

But here is what I added to the existing seams and also starting a new seam treatment with the base stitch that was specified.  Here is a description of what I did on Merle's blocks after Jackie had worked on them:

 #1 - cretan stitch - golden orange corner patch with cretan pine trees - also added to the first seam curved accents of tan cotton and gold Delica beads
#2 - herringbone stitch - seam seemed full already - started a new seam treatment with white/grey herringbone stitch with a wrap while crossing over, fly stitch at tips to make diamonds, then with wine filled deep Vs with straight stitches and Colonial knot

#3 - chevron stitch - Bullion knot buds added at base of double leaves on gold patch of previous seam. Then with Ribbon Floss braided rayon stitched varied depth chevron stiches on mauve patch and filled deep Vs with navey lazy daisy chains and straight stitches and then downwards with French knots

#4 - blanket stitch - could not think of anything to add to previous seams and I found this one hard to come up with ideas. I finally came up with blanket stitched "butterflies" with straight & chains in each space and Colonial knots on edges. The bodies are SRE doubled and then straight stitched antennae. I finished off with a varigated mauve cotton blanket stitch seam treatment in varied lengths to fill spaces between.

#5 - chain stitch - green fly stitch in varied sizes up from every second chain base on previous seam. Then using multi coloured thread I did chain circles filled with Bullion knot roses and SRE leaves.

#6 - fly stitch - black/grey centre I did a circle of metallic deep red fly stitches with Colonial knots with chains and straight stitches in centre. Then on gold patch stitched alternated fly and chains along seam with various stems in green.

#7 - feather stitch - again I could not think of anything for the previous seam treatment and what I did is definitely not a seam treatment but I filled the patch with a feather stitched fern stem and some elongated towards the seam (I love this filler).

#8 - running stitch - on the previous seam I added blue "+" stitches in the centres. Then I started a new seam treatment of double running stitch (a might to close tog but my first time) then wove Watercolours through the straight stitches for an awesome look and finished off with a varigated green 7mm SRE woven through centres.

#9 - just have fun - on previous seam treatment I added taupe running stitch curvy stems on both sides. Then with SRE wine I added deep zig zag along printed patch with light blue lazy daisy chains at points on both ends and then with newly learnt "backstitch" did some small circles in the under deep Vs in navy.

Yeppers these BAS blocks are really a challenge for me and within another group is a discussion on some stitches and I've found out that Blanket/Buttonhole and Backstitch/Outline/Stem are totally different whereas I thought them to be the same.  Go Figure!!!  So yes already this is a learning curve I had not anticipated I'd be encountering in this round robin.  Maybe one of these days I'll do up a sampler block of just the various stitches (named that is) and keep it handy for a quick check.

Jackie's BAS Blocks RR

Oh my I just realized I've not posted about these either, I'm truly behind.

OK above is the set of blocks I received from Jackie with a base seam on each block except the 9th one which I get to start.  Now this is a round robin that the owner makes up nine crazy patched blocks and adds one stitch type seam to each block leaving the 9th blank, then sends it to the next person on the list for there addition to the base seam.

So here is what I did, sometimes adding to the already stitched base seam and also starting another base seam with maybe another addition to accomplish multiple seam treatments in one place. 

#1 stem - I added to the base seam a stem and V with straight stitches from ends.  Then added a new seam with stem stitched spirals alternating directions with Delica beads in centre.

#2 blanket - added to base seam the green straight stitches between the yellow chains  with delica beads in centre then added running stitch path for the bee.  Then using the templates marked out scallops on one side and alternating spacing on the opposite side with the blanket stitch spokes outwards.

#3 herringbone - added 2 upward stems with Colonial knots and SRE leaves to original base seam.  Added a herringbone seam with fly stitch closures and then wove a loopy ribbon through centre crosses.

#4 chain - added the opposite half circles from the chains on the base seam and then chains at ends of Vs.  Then added interwoven chain hearts with purple straight stitches in the V.

#5 feather - added green stems and purple Colonial knots to base seam.  Then added Rayon Ribbon Braid feather stitch in a balanced trio on each side and finished off with cotton chains - sort of like candles.

#6 cretan - added various chains, straight and beads to centre along one side tips, and added a trio of Xs from the opposite sides tips with a larger chain and straight stitches in the Vs.  Then added a beaded cretan with a set of 5 small crosses at each tip.

#7 straight - added various green stems with fly stitch branches amongst base seam.  Then I added straight stitches forming squares on point three rows deep.

#8 chevron - added fly stitched larger leaves from points facing one way, large chain and straight stitches facing the opposite direction, and in the deep Vs a set of straight stitches with Colonial knots on tips.  Then did a bugle bead with a trio of seed beads for the straight ends then finished off with two straight stitches on angle outwards from ends.

#9 - blank - did a cretan cotton with large orange beads at each tip.  Then worked a blanket stitch half wheels for another seam treatment with straight and chain stitches from anchors, scallops of Colonial knots in wool in between and large glass bead anchored in centre.

Definitely not easy but learning lots from this BAS RR.