Power Outage & Sew Time!

 We just had a 28-hour power outage, and no one knows why,  it makes me wonder what the big push is on electric cars!

We need the power grid or the money to make such an infrastructure, so many of us live in rural areas and depend on our vehicles. Right now it is the dodging of potholes as the industry here is peat moss and lumber, and soon the fishing will start & more transports will take to the roads.

I took the outage as the time to 'slow sew' & made a garland for the feather tree OOM(ornament of the month).

It is unusual for me to sew Christmas decor in the spring but I was one month behind on this project & now I will start the April OOM, with another bulb & a rectangular present.

The circles are 1/4" x 8" strips cut from wool & glued at the beginning & the end. When dry they are strung into this beautiful garland with red & green glass beads with a pearl in the middle.

If this looks familiar, I made a garland in the Irish flag colour last month for St. Patrick's Day on the white feather tree.

The Irish in me sparks joy for all things St. Paddy's Day!

The Chicken Salad quilt is now at the longarm quilter & the scraps from the fat quarters I made another quilt that Lori Holt was doing with a farm scene. I just love her patterns & fabric designs and wanted another porch quilt done in a farm style.

This quilt is the same as the chicken quilt but the 12" blocks are done from her Farmhouse Girl Vintage books. This takes me back to my Grandma Haynes's kitchen! The only thing missing is the wood stove that Grandpa would make his Sunday roast beef with potatoes, carrots & parsnips. Oh, the wonderful memories my heart holds of those two.

Grandma's pantry usually held a pie and she would bring it out to have with our tea. 

I'm still excited about getting those day-old chicks next month & have been placing chickens everywhere!

These are easy to make with scraps of wool & cotton.

I have had this Tim Holtz fabric for a couple of years now as I could envision it being a dress!

And here it is! It took just a couple of days to make, clothes sewing is much faster than quilting!

I had several muslin fittings to get it right for my body & I underlined the bodice to make it more stable.

I love the yoke pockets at the side, I need pockets in my clothing to make it wearable and this pattern had it!

It has a highly curved bodice so I stitched the pleats down an inch at the low side and continued across the bodice to give a flatter appearance.

The back bodice is scooped down, and the pleats lay flat here.

The whole time I was working with this fabric it was so familiar to me, then I remembered why!

This is a pastel portrait of me when I turned 17 years old, the dress I'm wearing is one I made back in 1974 & it was one of my favourites.

I had made this bear and those dress scraps made the bear dress. The fabric has faded but was a pastel muted design, similar to my new dress fabric by Tim Holtz.

Funny how memories stir with our senses. 

This dress I made as a young girl and the yummy things from Grandma's pantry. Both make my heart sing and bring a smile to my face.

There is snow all over the ground again but tomorrow will be 10C and the solar eclipse will be spectacular here at home. 

Thank you for stopping in & I hope you have a wonderful week!

Hugs,

Cynthia xXx

 

Happy Easter!

 Happy Easter everyone!

Spring is trying to break through but the March winds & wet snow & rain are dominating these days.

Soon we will turn the corner with sun and bulbs poking through & an extra beat in everyone's step will happen with those days.

I am so excited that Bill has agreed for me to have Rhode Island hens!!!

We ordered our baby chicks that will be one day old when we get them on May 8th, I'm so excited watching Bill download plans for the 'Hen House' that has to be secured from the wildlife that roams around here, Mr. Fox comes to mind and our Bridget & Baxter that love to chase hens. lol

I had gotten fabric to make Lori Holt's Chicken Salad when Bill said 'No!' to having hens but I never got around to making it. I made it and it will go on our front porch to cozy up on a cool morning with a cup of coffee or on cool evenings. The porch will face the hen area, I hope they are quiet enough. lol

It was a fun pattern to put together & I also did the Cookbook blocks in place of the chicken blocks with the leftover material. It has some patchwork border to do now but it will be super cute on the porch too! I'll post photos when I have the border on the second quilt.

This was a good week of news, Leslie, Nick's girlfriend won the 50/50 draw! 

Congratulations that week!!

 Thank you for stopping in for a virtual visit.

Have a wonderful Easter wherever you are.

Hugs,

Cynthia

March Was A Lion

 Our March came in with such gusting winds that it came in 'Like a lion' so hopefully it will go out like a gentle lamb.

The snow has returned as well as rain and freezing rain, our firebox is going daily to keep the damp chill out of the air. The days are longer with the clocks springing forward and spring is in the air.

Our squirrels gather in pairs and will have their babies here for spring. Donald is enjoying having a feeder to watch their antics too.

These little red squirrels are becoming scarce with the arrival of the bully large grey squirrels that have invaded our province. Luck for us our woods only have these wee creatures.

This couple of squirrels have now occupied the old cat feral house from the Eel River cottage.

Bill renovated it for a birdhouse & squirrels chewed the opening larger to accommodate their coming and going.

Spring is in the air!

I've finished the queen-sized quilt called Grandma's Scrap Basket & it just needs to have the backing to arrive from Connecting Threads to go to the longarm.

It was one of the most difficult quilts I have done...I had sewn the top/bottom on the sides!! Sew much unsewing to be done & with fingers crossed I hoped that it would all work out and it did!

With the blue flowers dancing around the border, I added the William Morris blue on the blue border and the nine patches are all reproduction 1800 fabrics. The corners lined up!! 

I can't wait to see it quilted! Rose does such a lovely job on her longarm when quilting!!

March is so much this month!

It is the changing of our clocks springing ahead, St. Patrick's Day, the first day of spring, and this year it also is Easter!!

The house is St Patty's Day/Easter this year.

I made ornaments in the colour of Ireland's flag and decorated the white wool tree.

The felt circles were the OOM(ornament of the month) with Heirlooms in the Attic. I will make red/cream/green ones for the green wool tree, I was pleased with how they came out for the St Paddy's Day tree.

It was all done with Dollar Store felt and only one piece of 9"x12" strips cut in 1/4" rolled & glued then threaded together with 12w pearl cotton with pony beads between the rolls.

This month leaves me melodically as I think about my grandparents, whom I spent so much time with growing up and into my 30s.

My grandfather was from Birmingham England and my grandmother's family came from Ireland, she loved the colour green and St Patrick's Day.

And that love of St Patty's Day has been passed down to me as I made outfits for the geese a few years ago. They're on the front porch to greet everyone who visits!

The Giant Tiger has been our go-to store with inflation prices so high and these bulb flowers were there for $2.49ea. It makes your heart sing to see such beautiful colours from Mother Nature.

See the spring colours of Easter? And you can smell it too! 

Thank you for stopping in for a visit and I hope you too are starting to feel the spring in the air. It is a season of change and one of my favourite seasons!

Hugs,

Cynthia xXx 

February Wool Projects

 I love working with wool in the winter & when I saw Sarah Peel of Cool Crafting's Highland cow called Hamish, I had to make him! This was from her fourth book, Luna Lapin and Friends - A Year Of Making. Such a wonderful book as it has all the patterns & they are all full-sized!!

Isn't Hamish adorable in his Buchanan Kilt?!

On his tie of Grandpa Richardson's tie clip, I think it adds a finishing touch to his outfit!

I was so pleased with the pleated kilt & it was a challenge as I had never made one before & his thespian tunic was made twice before I got it done right.

His hair tuff to the top of his head & tail was made from a shifted scarf that I took apart for the fabric, I love how it turned out!

His cute tail shows through from under his kilt!

His horns were difficult & on the third try, I got it right!

Highland cows are so popular right now & I smile & laugh at the videos of the small ones that people have, they are so cute!

This present is 2"x2" finished, it is a free OOM(Ornament Of the Month) with Stitch Along With  Attic Heirlooms, each month two ornaments are given free until the next reveal of the next month. This is from the January reveal.

This is the second one for January.

Then I made a wool feather tree with a pattern that I've had from Legacy & Bill made my baser for the tree to stand freely.

The tree and the stand are 23", it is a good size!

I've made February's ornaments, I like the orange one, and each one is embellished with embroidery & beads.

I used wired ribbon & tie string ends for the top of the bulb, it gives them a good weight & they hang nicely.

For Valentine's Day, I made a white tree to decorate & It is smaller at 16". I used an old pewter brooch for the topper. I used to wear it years ago on a blazer at work when it was Valentine's Day.

I used some vintage cookie cutters on it & some hanging cupid lockets.

Bill made my birch tree base from a limb of a tree he had cut down. 

I also had a hair scrunchie made of hearts that the elastic gave way so I took it apart to make a heart trim to go around the tree.

I think I like the white tree better, it is so beautiful & looks like our frosted trees here!

It is hard to capture the beauty of a morning frost on the trees.

The blue skies are being more frequent now and it makes my heart sing! Nature is glorious!!

We still have snow but nothing like the other Atlantic provinces, it is an unusually warm year here.

We are seeing the thaw around the trees, this photo was taken today.

The Miramichi Bay has lots of grey spots to it & further up the bay the water is now open!

We are not out of winter's rath yet but it has been an easy winter here in Hardwicke NB.

Bill has been restoring this 1850 piece and the details are coming through! 

The red mahogany is there as he cleans the many years of history off it.

Thank you for stopping by & we will be turning the clocks ahead on March 10th and the days of sunshine will be upon us. Although so many days have the feeling of the March thaw this February, unusually warm this month.

Take care and do come back to see me virtually with a visit again.

Cynthia xXx

It will be a very large beautiful piece once it is restored.

February Fresh Start

 It is now February, and I'm happy to put January in my memory.

We lost Gordo the English Bulldog on January 17th, he had touched our hearts in many ways. He was a sick puppy and is now where all good dogs go, Gordo is in heaven.

He was rescued by Donald and had a good life with him for 1 1/2 years of love from all of us.

Gordo was quite the character and we all smile when we speak of him or think of him. RIP Gordo. X

Now onto February, it is the leap year this year & I remember back in 1988 being very pregnant with the second son Mitchell, with a due date in late February and so relieved when he made his debut on the 18th of February not holding out to be a Leap Year baby. lol

February is also Valentine's Day & I decorated the dining room with some love.

The crow I made now wears red gingham & holds the velvet heart that Bill gave me one year for Valentine's Day.

The dining room bay window is the focal point for that special day with beadwork decorations.

These were purchased years ago at La Cache in London ON. The sale prices made them affordable and I would use them each year thereafter.

The beaded birds were purchased at the same time and I had purchased three hearts & three birds. 

The large silver hearts were a sale find at Urban Nest in Miramichi NB last year with their after-Christmas sale...I saw them as a Valentine's decor!

I put the heart-shaped Love that I made years back in the window, you can see the ice on the window from a sleet of rain that went through our area that day. All northeast windows looked like they had a stained glass texture that day, could not see in, could not see out!

This is a lumbar pillow I made from all the scraps from the William Morris fabric table runner.

The back is made of a light tan striped chintz from a sample package I had purchased many years back. I finished it with a zipper on the bottom for easy removal and did a binding in The Strawberry Thief fabric which matches my Pumpernickel placemats that I purchased at Parkland in Miramichi NB,  On The Square in Newcastle.

We've brought the two Louis XV chairs in to cozy the dining room up this winter. I do miss not having the sunporch, I would sip my morning coffee and enjoy the waterfront view. Winter migrates us inside where it is warm and cozy.

Here is the table runner that I made with Morris Co. fabric, I love all William Morris designs!

I added five inches or one design block more to make the length fit the table. This is a new free pattern on the Connecting Threads website called Labybrith Tablerunner, under the free patterns. www.connectingthreads.com

His designs have such movement to them, like a summer breeze. The Strawberry Thief is one of my favourite prints in red and blue, the scale of this print is the same as the placemats!

The gingerbread house is now finished & the roof is put the right way too! lol

I crotched four strands of roving in a loose chain stitch to create the icing effect.

And love the idea Bill had having a hinged roof, thank you Bill for being patient with me & bringing this to life! This is finished and ready for this Christmas!

Don brought me his Bulldog pillow & asked for the feather pillow to be replaced with a polyester one as his allergies are through the roof with feathers. So I pulled out my chintz sample pieces of fabric & made a dark red striped pillow for Valentine's Day!

Since these are sample pieces I had only enough for one side, so this side was done with Valentine's Day in mind too with a soft pink. The scraps were then used for a removable band to go around it!

The band can be used vertically or horizontally, this pillow is in the foyer on the bench.

When Bill comes home with the truck & backs up to the house, this is what happens each time!!

I thought it was beautiful to share with Valentine's Day just weeks away.

We say that his truck loves coming home! lol

Here is the progress on the Pokemon I Spy Quilt, I have two more rows to finish to bring all the 168 blocks together. This is truly a labour of love for Nicholas. xXx

Thank you for stopping by to visit. I hope you are enjoying your winter as much as we are. It is a very unusual winter in the northeast New Brunswick area but it's just the beginning of February & another 6 weeks of potential storms to come blanket us with the Canadian winter that we all know.

Stay warm and healthy and come for a virtual visit again.

Cynthia xXx