Cleaning Day

I have to break down and clean this house....when Hubby is home cleaning takes a back seat and since my Roomba died a slow painful death I should vacuum every other day at least.  That doesn't happen when Hubby is home.  I'm sitting here enjoying my coffee when a nice fluff ball of cat hair floats in the air, having caught flight on the breeze created by the ceiling fan!  House cleaning can no longer be avoided.  We had a nice storm with rain through the night but it meant windows were closed, which in turn means a warm house this morning. I quickly opened them all but the sun is now coming around so they will have to be closed.....and I will sweat.  More storms in the forecast....and back up to 32 on Friday!!!!  Picture shoveling snow, cold cars, blizzards and, and, and............I'm thankful for the heat and sunshine............

Can you believe these two are brother and sister?  The big, fluffy black one is the hair problem!

Oh, does anyone have suggestions for how to keep magpies away?  We seem to have a flock of them squawking around our area.  I'm not a great aim with the BB gun so other suggestions would be appreciated (I'm also thinking that would be frowned upon!)

Off I go to sweat with the oldies!!!  (Meaning ME!) LOLOLOL!!!!!!

And We're Back!!

In my last post I mentioned I had gone to an estate sale....here are some of my finds.....nothing exciting but it was a fun day!  Missing from the picture is a vintage apron which was in the laundry:

The roaster is tiny, the swizzle sticks are neat (look at those tiny whistles!!) and that stapler.....you click the button on the side and a staple remover slides out!  I know, small things amuse me!  LOL

It's been scorching hot here the last week.  Today it rained and was overcast but humid....still a nice reprieve from the heat!  Hubby was home and last night we drove, in the air conditioned truck, to Nanton for an ice cream!!

Mine

See him licking his lips!!  Hahaha!

Refreshing!!!!!!!

I am officially on summer vacation and have a long list of things I need to get accomplished.  Mostly stuff around the house and I am going to try and get on those tasks sooner rather then later!  I have changed my Quilters Garage Sale to the 11th of July.  Hope I can get rid of that mountain of quilty 

goodness (and put some $ in my pocket since summer vacation means no pay cheque for me!)

Of course I have to fit in a lot of stitching.  These guys have been ready to go for over a week and not one stitch has been sewn!

Ahhhh flowers.  I love alstroemerias.  I just threw these out today and they were at least three weeks old!

I have mostly perennials in my gardens...these were from the grocery store.  I am thinking of adding some annuals to my flowerbeds in the back yard.  Maybe later this week....it's to get HOT again by Friday!!!

Night time cold medication is kicking in and my eyes are drooping.....until next time!

Crafting and Saleing! (Is that a word?)

Today was an awesome day!  I went with my friend Mavis, whom I worked with at the quilt shop, to Priddis and the Vintage With Flair sale.  It was sunny but not hot.  I bought a few things there and then we went into Calgary to Out of Hand!  We left and decided why it was named that....was it because you buy things there (it's a quilt shop) to make with your hands or is it because it's a mess?!?!?!  Bolts of fabric stacked high on top of each other; other bolts stacked in front of bolts you can't see!  But they have unique things there and if you look (and even if you don't) you can find treasures!!!!!  I came out of there with some wool pieces and a magazine.  Then we were going to go find someplace to eat but saw an estate sale sign and off we went!  Found some treasures there too!  Odds and sods.....I'll take pictures tomorrow.  I never thought to take any pictures at the sale or quilt shop!!!  I did take a pic of my lunch at Tim Hortons! LOL

Remember the photo collage I made my dad for his birthday?  Well, he framed it and it looks really good now!!

My friend Sue had a birthday yesterday and I painted her a set of the season blocks.  They were fun to make and I must make myself a set!!

It's the last week of work until summer vacation.  I have really enjoyed the past 4 months and hope I can return to the school in the fall.  Our principal is leaving and going to a different school but one of my neighbors is now the new principal so that is sooooooo neat!!!!!  The week will be filled with crazy end of the year parties and classroom cleaning and trying to keep the kids calm!  Fun times!!!!!!!

Hubby is home this Monday night already so this week will fly by!  I'm hoping to have my purging sale possibly the 4th of July then maybe head north and try to sell whatever is leftover up there and have a visit the following week but we will see.  I will get up there one of these days through the summer.

Fathers Day tomorrow.....my Dad is in Vancouver with my youngest brother so I'm sure he's having a great time!  I will try calling him and see if I can reach him.  I haven't made anything for him yet but I have a bit of time........:-)

My pillow is calling to me and I hear the rain coming down again out there so here's to a nice restful sleep!  I need it!  Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

No More Teenagers!

Haha. Wish it were that easy...and all the teenage drama and worry went away once all the kids were 20+.  Our baby, Daughter2, turned 20 yesterday.  When every birthday comes I relive the day, labor, delivery in my mind.  Two decades ago I delivered our last baby.......wild!  She had a weekend of parties and then a quiet actual birthday with her family...we took her to the new Longview Steakhouse.  The view there is beautiful now and the food delicious...still!  Here's is my entre:

There are a few veggies under the meat but they aren't that necessary because you have THE steak!!  Melt in your mouth goodness!  I forgot to take a picture of dessert...a spice apple pie.  Mmmmmm.  We got home and Hubby and I went for a walk!!!!  Here are our beautiful girls at the steakhouse:

Our boys didn't come down for the weekend.  They had lots of plans in Edmonton I guess.  

Before Daughter2s birthday is my Dad's birthday on the 4th.  This year he turned 74 and was busy running to meetings then a convention in Edmonton.  He is very difficult to find gifts for...he needs nothing, he has a lot of stuff so I made him a collage.  It was fun finding the pictures, new and old, to print off and then use.  

He liked it...said it brought back lots of memories and I know some were sad.  There are a lot of pictures of both my Mom and Dad.  But that's what life is all about right??  Memories.

Up north at our old place I had two big peony plants.  I loved those flowers, ants and all.  Yesterday I was at a Safeway and lo and behold, in their flower department, they had bunches of peonies...without the ants!!!!!  Two bunches came home with me and I smell them every time I go by the vase....ahhhhhhh.....love them!  I do have two plants planted here but they might be another year or two before they produce the flowers.  I'll enjoy the cut ones when I can find them!

I caught the sun shining in on them this morning.  Oh it was a scorcher of a day!  31C at least!  This evening the wind picked up and kind of cooled things down but windows are open tonight and it's been great!  I can hear the frogs outside.....kind of like living back out in the country!

Three more weeks of work then summer vacation!!!!  I am looking forward to it.....lots of things on the to-do list as well as visits up north!  The dog days of summer!!!!

I Can Hardly Move!!!!

I have been wanting to purge my sewing room....too many projects, too much fabric (yes, there is such a thing), too many books......and I was feeling overwhelmed and claustrophobic while in my room.  So I decided on Saturday that it was THE day!  I worked late Saturday and finished around 4 this afternoon....well, almost finished!  I still have patterns to go through and odds and ends.  A lot of stuff came out of the room although it doesn't look much different!!!!!  I still kept too much.....but if I can be disciplined and not buy (too much!) maybe, just maybe, there will be free space in my cupboard!!!!!!  (WARNING photo heavy post!!)
Bookcase before and after:

My projects cupboard.  The before picture shows projects but keep in mind they are two deep!  In the after pic they are not and most of the fabric yardage I kept is also in the cupboard now replacing the metal shelving:

Now here are after pics of the room cleaned up...a huge job and once I was finished I cut the grass.....

And here is what I took out!  Bins of kits, fabric, fat quarters, books and bags of books and magazines!  Even a couple of garbage bags of scraps!  Now to decide when the sale will be!!!!!

Heritage Park

This past weekend was the Heritage Park Quilt Show in Calgary.  My friend Sue, who just got home from England Saturday afternoon....can you say jet lag?????....and I went on Sunday.  It was a nice way to spend the day and catch up.  It was a gorgeous weekend so I'm sure they had a great turnout for this years show.  Sue and I went last year and although we headed straight for the vendors, we did go all over the park and looked at all the quilts.  This year, we headed straight for the vendors, had lunch and looked at the quilts on the way.......Sue was tired and we really didn't want to spend all day walking around....so we didn't!  LOL.

I couldn't go through the vendors booths and not buy anything!  One of the things I bought was some border fabric and pattern to make a Tablerunner.  It was a rainy day here so this afternoon I spent some time in my sewing room and made a couple of tablerunners.

This first one is made with the fabric I bought at the show.  The picture is from my iPad and isn't a good one....the fabric is much greener.

I knew I had other border fabrics around and found this one.....which I like so much better!  It gives the effect that shows on the pattern:

Now to quilt them.......we are to continue to get rain on and off for awhile so I'm hoping I'll have a lot of sewing time!  

Something to ponder:

Sunny Saturday!

We've had a gorgeous few days.  This weather is to continue through next week and that's awesome!  I love sunshine!!!  Gives me energy and makes me happy!  I worked hard today to get my chores done.  House was cleaned, I rearranged the livingroom furniture (shhhhh don't tell Hubby!!!!  He hates change and will complain as soon as he sees it!  Tee hee....he'll get over it!), washed the dog bedding, mowed the lawn, hauled clippings away and took recycling.  After that was all done I got to sit and put my feet up...outside!  I enjoyed some iced tea in my new glass from my trip to Chapters.....I didn't have my glasses on when I bought it...I thought it was $10 but turns out it was $18!!!!  Hahahaha!  It's glass, big and I love Ball jars so it's perfect!

I bought a couple of books while at Chapters too and one was about emotional eating....which is what I do!!!!  This little card was inside....it gave me a chuckle!

Yep...that's about right!!!!!

Last night two of my neighbors kidnapped me and took me to one of their daughters birthday party.  Christy works full time but also has a little cupcake business so made her own cupcakes!  Since we were feeling kind of old, we stayed at the party just long enough to be fed (yummy bbq'd hamburgers!) and got to take a cupcake home.  It was delicious!

This weekend is the quilt show at Heritage Park in Calgary.  My friend Sue and her husband just got home from England today....she will let me know in the morning whether or not she's up to going to the show.  They sure had a nice day today for it and tomorrow will be just as nice!  There are a lot of vendors at this show........as well as beautiful quilts!  If we don't go, we will have a visit anyway.  

It's way past my bedtime and I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open.  Here are a few flowers blooming in my flowerbed....white and orange/red poppies and the cutest daffodil...they are almost done.  Slowly a lot of other plants are peeking through!