Thursday 26 July 2018

C'est Fini!

I finished sewing the Dans Mon Jardin biscornu last night.
It is quite big - over 10 cm (4") across.
I stuffed it very firmly to try and eliminate as many puckers as possible.
I had the option of using the original French words or their English equivalents.
Bien sûr, j'ai choisi la langue française parce que je sui Canadienne. Of course, I chose the French language because I am Canadian.
For the photos, I used a pin in the top and will seek appropriate buttons to finish it off.
 The gaping hole in the bottom will be covered by the button down there.
I'm glad I outlined the bees, flies, fences and sheep as that really makes them 'pop'.
I have started the pulled thread biscornu. Why, oh why did I pick such dark fabric and threads?
It's hard to do without a magnifier. I do have a couple of magnifier lamps but they're not easy to use whilst stitching in a reclining position - which is my favoured posture for stitching.

 I can see picking a lighter colour fabric and threads to do another one.

In the meantime, I've outlined the 15 squares - backstitching over 2 threads, have done the satin stitching on 5 squares and completed one pulled thread square. More to come...

Wednesday 25 July 2018

Nyger Seed Feeder

We have had a finch feeder for a couple of years. We also have lots of goldfinches. This year, however, they haven't been terribly interested in feeding at their feeder full of nyger seed.

This morning, I spotted a downy woodpecker feasting away.
At least someone likes the nyger seed.


Tuesday 24 July 2018

Starting to Sew It Together and Bathroom Reno Planning

I started sewing the first tier of biscornu diamonds together.
I'm going to tackle the next tier tomorrow. It will involve sewing the top two edges of a 2nd-tier  diamond (with words on it) to adjacent bottom edges of the first tier.

But before I started cutting out the diamonds, I stitched my name and date on the bottom part of the third tier - the tier with the bee hives.
If I get a chance tomorrow, I'll try and get it all stuffed and sewn together.

I spent most of today running around picking out items for our upcoming main bathroom renovation. I picked out, ordered, and paid for:

  • floor and wall tile (pick up in a week)
  • sliding glass shower doors (2 - 3 weeks)
  • whisper quiet ceiling vent fan (2 - 3 weeks)
  • vanity top and sink (3 - 4 weeks)
The vanity has been ordered and has been shipped. Not sure when the ETA will be.

I have a good idea of the shower/tub fixture and tub that I want. They're open stock items so can be picked up any time. I need to also decide what towel rods and toilet roll holder, and light fixture that I want.

When I get the floor tile, I'll have to decide what colour grout to pick.

It's exciting to be getting a new bathroom and Skip will be happy to have a bathroom counter 3" higher than the 1983-style one, but I find making all the decisions about fixtures is stressful. Mistakes are very expensive. Fortunately I kept all my notes from the ensuite bathroom renovation 6 years ago so I just ordered the same tile and a fairly good match to the vanity.

Unfortunately, some of the items will take almost 4 weeks to arrive so the demolition won't begin for a couple more weeks. Hopefully everything will be done by the end of August. Fingers are crossed.

Our contractors will get to decide when demolition will start as they will have a pretty good idea of what the timeline for the job will be.

Next renovation? Our kitchen in the fall... $$$$$

Yikes!


Monday 23 July 2018

Ready to Sew Together

I finished the stitching on the Dans Mon Jardin biscornu while I was up a my friend's cottage. I didn't have an iron up there so just pressed it when I got home and can now start putting it together.
As there wasn't enough of a contrast between the white threads so I outlined the fences and sheep with a light grey colour (DMC 648).
I also outlined the flies and bees.
I'll put my initials and the date on a couple of the bottom diamonds - the ones with the bee hives - and start stitching the diamonds together.

Tuesday 17 July 2018

15-Sided Biscornu

I have been puttering away on my 15-sided biscornu.
I don't see enough of  contrast between the white stitches and the background fabric so I may have to outline the sheep and fences.

I'm going to Marion's cottage for the weekend so I should be able to finish all the stitching on this one. Hopefully I can start the other one with the blue fabric and threads.

Monday 16 July 2018

French Festival

A month ago when Skip, Scooter, and I attempted to attend a Civil War Reenactment (we discovered it had been cancelled when we got there), Skip picked up a tourist brochure in Cape Vincent NY. When we got home, we actually read it and noted that there was going to be a French Festival there in mid-July. Always up for an adventure, we decided to revisit the area and check out the French Festival.

We hate traffic so decided to head eastward on Friday morning. We got to Kingston in time to take the 12:30 ferry to Wolfe Island then on the other side of the island, the ferry to Cape Vincent.

The ferry from Kingston holds almost 60 cars. The ferry to Cape Vincent would hold 8 or 9 cars max. We were 7th (and last) in line for the ferry so we got to drive off first.
Of course, we had to take a selfie. Yes, we're 'those kind' of people. LOL. It's only a 10 minute ferry ride.
We were there by 1:30pm.

The town was getting ready for the festival which was to begin the next day. People had already put out their lawn chairs along the main street to get a prime parade-watching spot. I'd never seen that done a day ahead before.

After lunch, we drove the 25 minutes to Watertown and checked into our lodgings then went for Mexican food. It was possibly the worst Mexican meal I'd ever had. The meat in the taco had so much salt in it, neither Skip nor I could eat it. My chalupa had a slurry of beans with a sprinkling of lettuce and tomato. Very disappointing. We have eaten there a couple of times before but won't be eating there again.

After supper we did a bit of shopping. I found a half price sale of OTT lights at JoAnn Fabrics so picked up a magnifying desk lamp for my stitching.

The next morning we headed back to Cape Vincent for the Festival. We saw the opening ceremonies where all the dignitaries were presented on the raised stage on the main street. The French, Canadian, and US national anthems were sung by soloists on the stage. I sang O! Canada in French for the occasion.
That's right. Napoleon was right there on the stage.
This woman also dressed in period costume.
There were many, many vendors all around the main block of the town as well as in the Village Green.

This vendor was selling coonskin caps and animal traps decorated with a carved insert.
This is one alleyway across the Village Green.
The Village of Cape Vincent only has a population of about 725 people but swelled to several thousand for this weekend.
Skip and I parked on a street facing outwards from the downtown and out from the parade route. That way, we'd have a quick getaway after the parade was over. We also decided to stand near the beginning of the parade route so the parade would still be going on when we beetled out of town.

We found a nice, shady spot on Lake Street, a residential street, in the second block of the parade route.
Shortly after 2pm the parade started. Right near the beginning, Napoleon rode by.

There were many, floats, band, cars, trucks, etc. There was only one team of horses.
Usually horses are at the end of the parade so others don't have to walk through their 'deposits'. However they had that covered with a couple of townsfolk dressed as clowns on 'Poop Patrol'.
There were at least 3 pipe bands. One of them was from Belleville ON, another was a local fire and police band. I don't remember where this band came from.
This guy was on a hoverboard tossing candy at kids along the route. The candy of choice that was being distributed seemed to be tiny Tootsie Rolls. Although there were children on either side of us, I did manage to score a couple of them.
The last 'float' was the dance band that performed on the main street band stand until about 1:30pm. Their float was a pontoon boat - a very clever idea for the small combo as there was already built-in seating.
We then drove to Rochester where we planned to do some more shopping. At Wegmans (grocery store), we noted this flyer on a bulletin board. Rats! We'll miss this one as we have plans next weekend. But we'll certainly keep it in mind for next year.

A thousand participants in two battles daily? It doesn't get much better than this.
Then in August the Genesee County Village & Museum is having a Wilder Weekend where folks can participate in fun activities based on 'Little House on the Prairie'. This year celebrity guests will be Wendi and Brenda Turnbaugh who played young Grace Ingalls in the TV series.
Our hotel in Rochester was a disappointment. IT DIDN'T HAVE WIFI and was in a restaurant-barren area. Instead of staying a second night, we checked out the next morning and spent the night in Buffalo where this morning, we did the last bit of shopping and drove home.

I was so tired each evening I didn't stitch a single stitch the entire time I was away. I'm looking forward to getting back to stitching my 15-sided Dans Le Jardin biscornu.

Thursday 12 July 2018

Sewing and Knitting for Kathleen's Baby

I finally got the buttons put on the Maile sweater that I knit for Kathleen's baby.
I finished the top of the hat with decreases then made i-cord out of the last 8 stitches and tied a little knot in it. I had an extra button so attached it at the bottom of the lace panel on the hat.
Kathleen and her mother were very appreciative. They also liked the Cunningham blanket I knit for the baby


and the cuddle quilt made with the fuzzy dimple fabric.




Saturday 7 July 2018

4 More To Go

I have 11 diamonds stitched. Only 4 to go before I can start stitching little sheep and fences.
Today, Shelley, Jeanette, Barb, Carol and I ventured to the Prince Edward County 2018 Quilt show.
There were lots of excellent vendors so, of course, I had to buy a couple of things. I made a bee line to Hooked on the Lake so I could get first dibs on the punch needle kits. I purchased Primitive Blooms
and Fall Frolic - both with the design drawn on the weaver's cloth and the requisite Valdani threads.
I'm still hoping to find a rug hooking class to take that doesn't involve driving a long way (more than a couple of hours).

I also bought a little bit of this fabric to make some cute project bags. It's called Wash Day Sheep.

There were lots and lots of beautiful quilts but I'm not going to bother with photos here at present.

Afterwards, we went for lunch and then to the Lavender Festival in Hillier. There were tons of people. It was quite festive with lots for kids to do, live bands, lavender nougat and lemonade samples, pick-your-own lavender, a beautifully stocked shop, and much more. The weather was perfect.

I had never before seen white lavender in bloom.
We had a look around and then decided to go for ice cream back in Wellington then head for home. I'm sure when there isn't a festival going on, it is a relatively serene place to visit.