Crystal Clear, Winter is Still Here

It's Friday once again, that last day of the working week when many look forward to a weekend.  Fifty-two (52) years ago today, the day was hot and sunny!  How do I know this, because it was on this day I met my DH!  Oh my, that was so very long ago!

As you know, I have been longing for Spring to arrive bringing with her warmth and sunshine, but, as many of you can attest, Spring remains in hiding.  For your information.......

"Important Features of Spring according to Maps of The World states in part that........
Extreme weather conditions characterize the spring season. This is due to the fact that during this season the warm winds coming from the lower regions are accompanied by the cold air which originates from the Polar Regions. During the spring season, days are longer and the weather is severe. The seas and rivers are full because the snow begins to melt. Rainfall is also heavy often leading to serious flood situations. Floods are most common in the hilly areas. In addition to all this, tornado, hailstorms and heavy downpour are also common features during the spring season. "

According to meteorologists at the Weather Network,  this storm isn't over yet, and has created much havoc throughout the mid-west United States and is making its mark throughout Canada.  Here in eastern Ontario, while no snow, it is the ice we are battling!  

Now enough is enough, but thankfully this is all my tiny corner of the area received overnight!  Absolutely a crystallized wonderland around here and while no sunshine, these trees sheathed in ice are so beautiful. 

Compared to the news coverage my area was supposed to have been hit much harder than this by Ole Man Winter, but it is what it is!  Seeing news reports of other areas in the path of this latest storm     North America, others have not fared well, heavy blizzards and snow, even some tornado's were spawned.  So winter seems to be having a difficult time releasing its' grip on us!

In describing the beauty of the ice on the landscape here, I also remembered seeing a very beautiful quilt, one of the Bloggers as well as Esty Shop owner, Tami Levin,  created this stunning quilt for a Winter Quilt Swap.  I really love this quilter, she is so diversified and neat.  Her Blog, Lemon Tree Tales, is a very interesting place, you just have to visit, I am sure you'll enjoy your visits there as much as I do.  Her swap quilt, "The Four Seasons"  has a tree that really quilt depicts the ice swathed trees outside my door so beautifully. 

Oh my goodness!!  Just now a very loud clattering noise from my roof!!!! - after getting my heart to settle I went to inspect what had made such a sound,  at first I thought it was ice sliding from the roof, but, no, it was a beautiful section of the tree at the back of my house, some of its beautiful limbs broke from the main trunk and fell to the ground!!!!  Ahhhhhhhh, bet it isn't the only tree to be broken today!  While the ice has made the trees looking beautiful crystal, it can be devastating to the trees and here is proof  of that.  Darn, I dislike seeing damage done to Mother Nature's children.

This is enough for now, the electricity is flickering so shutting down now would be best for my computer.  

I am so hoping none of you are experiencing winter, but if you are, then I pray your safe, warm and comfortable and that nothing untoward is happening to you, your family or friends and neighbors.  

Thank you for visiting with me today, I certainly so appreciate your visits.
 When all is said and done, the weather and love are the two elements about which one can never be sure. 
Alice Hoffman

SEW - I'M A CHEAPSKATE!

Someone called me a Cheapskate the other day and after thinking about it, I conclude their so right!

Just about everything in my house is second even third hand and I love my possessions, I am so fortunate as to have good friends who deemed me worthy enough to ask if I would use or could make use of certain furnishings and objects.  Needless to say, I said YES and cannot express my thanks enough for my treasures.  My closet is testament to my good fortune and when I dress up for an event I look just as stylish as those in the room having paid more than I can afford, even my new winter boots were actually brand new and possibly only worn once or twice were a fantastic find for me with a price tag of FREE....I love that price!!!!

TODAY is Wednesday, the day the sales papers are delivered in my neighborhood to all homes in my area!  So I will invest the hour to sit and go over all of the savings offered in those advertisements.  Mostly because, this year more than ever before in my lifetime I find that my budget is being stretched to its limit.  To this end I have been surfing the internet to see what others are doing to stretch their budgets. 

I have come across some very wonderful sites, but one in particular called  Debt Free, Cashed Up and Laughing - the cheapskates way to living the good life!   I visit this site so often and love it there.   The ideas and solutions expressed make such good common sense and I have really learned from Cath's Blog how to save even more money than I had thought possible. 
The laundry detergent (washing powder) recipe alone will save so very much money, just this one item and you'll be amazed.   Mind you it takes a bit of doing to find some of those ingredients in Ontario where I live, but, it can be accomplished.   I am now aiming to try out the Miracle Spray and the MOO stain removing soap.  These are just for starters for me. 

Then there is the getting of almost free fabric, by simply visiting some decent second hand stores.  I haven't done any of this type of shopping since leaving New Brunswick  all I have to do is to find a good source around here to take advantage of gently used cotton shirts or sheets, this would aid and abet my quilting habit, a good source for nearly free fabrics.    You do have to be vigilant in what you find at the thrift stores though you really have to take your time and look at the labels to make certain it is a cotton shirt or sheet..  Another great site with lots of good ideas and solutions is Make It and Mend It.   Up-cycling is really not a new idea, pioneer women up-cycled much of their fabrics all of the time.  Some sites even advocate dumpster diving, but that is one method I would not attempt, with my good fortune I might fall into the dumpster and not be able to get out..oh my, that would not do!  LOL

In New Brunswick we had second hand shops called Frenchies, here in Ontario, it's Value Village, the Salvation Army Thrift shop and the Mission For Bibles and there are so many more, many I haven't discovered just yet, but I will..  These stores provide those who practice being frugal a good supply of items needing a new purpose or a continued use in someone's home.   

Making headway in Cyberspace are 100's of sites that advise, inform and assist in finding uses for unwanted items, even assist you in finding sites in your area of the world.  One such effective site is Earth 911 -  a huge and very informative and interesting site, look one such topic alone is Staying Green in 2013  and crazy DIY project ideas.   

What you can make from old floppy disks..

Then, if your seeking to purchase something recycled or upcycled, go to Etsy and search for such shops and you will find a varied amount of vendors who are really cutting down on the carbon imprints by recycling and reselling these new products made from unwanted items or materials, clothing.. hand bags, totes, shoes, art works you name it, I tell you it can be found.   You and I know that Etsy is just one such place to find these sort of finds.  So much fun searching around the internet for motivation and ideas.  There are so many very clever people out and about in our world. 

What is it like for you in your area, do you have outlets which provide you with a way to really stretch your budget?  Do you enjoy visiting these shops, do you enjoy paying a little to gain back so much more? I sure do!  

If your still reading, I'm so happy you stopped to share some of your time with me today.  I hope you stop in again. 

"In the old days a man who saved money was a miser; nowadays he's a wonder." --Author Unknown

Where is Spring?

I realize I have been missing for several days, and here it is, already another Friday!  So, I am shouting out a Howdy to you all!  
As I said it is Friday once again and ole man winter is still hanging on, just cannot bring himself to leave!!!  He continues to leave his mark!

Image courtesy of Simon Howden at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 There have been sightings of Ms. Spring, and I have even witnessed several of her attempts to return and stay, 

Image courtesy of Maggie Smith at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

but, this year ole man winter stubbornly refuses to budge!  Not fifteen moments ago the sky clouded over and snow began to fall, aided and abetted by strong winds and not at all warm.

Not sure about you, but, I am becoming rather impatient waiting out winter and spring cannot come soon enough for my liking. 

Meanwhile, I have been keeping myself busy, attending to my lazy streak and making the huge effort to make myself get up from my reclining posture and do something useful.  I haven't managed much, just some hand written letters and cards to friends who are celebrating birthdays this month, a trip to the Library for DVD's and more books, a trip into the city to pick up a free bed, some much needed groceries, and some actual time behind the sewing machine to make a tiny baby quilt. 

On March 22nd, Sam was welcomed into the world by his parents and to my way of thinking his entry into our large and loud world makes it necessary for him to have a quilt of his own, something special from me to welcome him.  So Sam, here is hoping your bonding with mama and papa and that you'll enjoy this little gift I have been creating just for you and you alone.  

From my scraps

Image courtesy of Keerati at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I found a remnant of pooh and friends print which I fussy cut squares from and randomly set these into a tiny quilt which will make a nice little play mat for him. 

So far this is the top.   As you can see I put those blocks together randomly without a tight control as to the colors, hopefully with the embroidery it will look more complete.  Normally I cannot help trying to control everything, but this time I just enjoyed the process nd surprised myself. 

See, no real conformity to the setting of the blocks.  I am rather pleased with it even though it wasn't a controlled piece of work.  

One of the quilters sites I subscribe to is Rose Smith of Ludlow Quilts in the U.K..  Rose gives such wonderful and easy to follow tutorials of the projects she is working on at any given time.  Todays' project/tutorial is no exception, it is the COG QUILT pattern, I am sure you'll enjoy this project.   Rose makes her free pattern projects quite easy to follow along and I have learned much from her over the past several years.

Now to play with the embroidery and see how that will turn out.  My cousin who is coming out from Holland in May will take this home with her in June, so hopefully it will not look too shabby. 

Thank you for joining me today, I hope Rose inspires you to make the cog star block, it really is a nice looking quilt she has put together with this block.
A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book.  ~Irish Proverb

Ahhhhh Those Flying Geese

Honking, honking, honking, the Canada Geese are returning, possibly Miss Spring is on her way and cannot be very far behind them!!  
Both today and yesterday I was wakened by the noisy sounds of honking from the Canada Geese flying overhead and for the past few hours this sound is all you can hear.  This time, I managed to grab the camera and take some pictures to share, there have been so many just these past two days and I know there will be hundreds more over the next few weeks, all heading North from where I am.  Probably headed towards the marshy areas fit for wildlife between here and Algonquin Park. 

Just tiny dots in the sky above until their nearly close enough to me.  I noticed yesterday each group of a few hundred would come flying across in hourly intervals.   This morning I managed to capture some of the formations which were flying overhead this morning.

Thanks to Maria O'Haver of Pangor Quilt Design Studio for sharing her beautiful  Curved Flying Geese Quilt with her readers for which she has a class to teach on how to achieve this designed quilt.  Maria is a Designer, Long Arm Quilter as well as a Teacher.  It would be fun to take one of the classes where she is teaching her students how to accomplish the technique you see in this Curved Flying Geese Quilt. 

Also this past weekend the cardinals began serenading in my back yard, first time I have ever heard their song, what a wonderful experience it was and a real treat, go to the Soundboard. and you may listen to it yourselves.  These cardinals sing such beautiful songs. 

Sadly it will soon be time for me to stop feeding the neighborhood birds.  Once Spring is here and the trees and grass begin their rebirthing, they will naturally take to hunting for their food again. 

Even though these wonderful feathered creatures won't be sitting so close to me on the veranda, I will have the excitement of hearing many more bird songs as the season warms up.

Thank you for stopping by, as today is a quilting day, I'll go and make a fresh cup of coffee on my way to visit the sewing machine to finish piecing the blocks for a little baby quilt I have been planning.  

He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.  ~Friedrich Nietzsche

Nostalgic Thoughts Today

Hey there, here we are, another Sunday already and officially Spring is into its' 3rd day!  Looking back in review of this past week I confess I haven't accomplished very much other than to sit and crochet or read, physically I didn't feel up to much and mentally, well we won't go there because there's nothing of value to discuss. 

Notwithstanding my inability to motivate myself into any accomplishments which can be considered noteworthy, I have made some headway with my evening "tv watching" project, not too bad and it is coming along nicely. 

I have also been busy surfing through boards on Pinterest and adding anything and everything I happened upon or liked to my own Boards.  I managed to spend a great deal of time in looking for sewing room ideas.  My friend who has returned from out West will be having her boxes and totes currently being stored in my one spare room removed by the end of this month,  leaving me a month to transform that space into a guest/sewing room.  I know it won't be totally what I have visions of, but for the time being it will have to do because the "guest" part takes precedence over the actual sewing area.  Henry David Thoreau said "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."  

This May one of my Dutch cousins will be making her very first visit to Canada and I am excited about showing off this beautiful part of the county I now live in.   Thus my interest in turning this tiny spare room of mine into a welcoming guest retreat, so there is no haste because the sewing/crafting area can be refined later. 

The internet is such a wonderful entity and I have been thinking about how far our societies have come since computers have overtaken our lives in such a short span of time.  Can you remember your first computer?  Remember Dos?  I shudder from the memories of having had to learn Dos, remembering my frustrations as well as temper tantrums over the many mistakes I made when entering a string of Dos commands, only to get no where or to losing all that work which you were going to save to those large floppy disks only to discover you lost it all, and growing with all the changes to computing, like graduating to the smaller hard disks which held so much more information, seeking storage solutions for the hundreds of disks we produced, the agonies of searching for information on them because the labels were not long enough , the extra space needed to hold all those hard plastic disk storage cases, the constant rebooting, and with those long bands which connected the computer to a printer!!!... somehow the growth from this first system to the notebook I use today are such worlds apart that sometimes I question my memory of it all, and, that I actually was a part of this growth.   

Image courtesy of SHADES OF TECHNOLOGIES
No quilting pictures or patterns were harmed in this process because theses items were not to be had away back in those olden days!  LOL   I know my grandchildren will never understand those old fashioned gizmos......

Before I leave you today give a look back into the past to those "vintage years" when Aunt Grace or Granny Lil" would patiently wait for their mailman to deliver a pattern they purchased through their local newspaper for 10 or 15 cents plus a prepaid stamped addressed envelope. 
Today, we can locate hundred of thousands of patterns, tutorials and images of those same patterns right here from the comfort of your own home in an instant.  An interesting article on this can be read over at Shop Martingale which has an image taken from the  Book...........

Fancy to Frugal - Authentic Quilt Patterns from the '30s

By Karen Earlywine, Kay Connors

Thanks for your visit today, I think I have forced enough of my old memories upon your to last awhile, but remember, your thoughts, ideas or comments are very much appreciated and I do hope you'll come again.

It's a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself.  Makes you wonder what else you can do that you've forgotten about.  ~Alan Ball

Catching Up

Hey there, good afternoon to you!

I managed to get myself past St. Paddy's Day, the wearin oh the green as well as the shenanigans that most people around me who are not Irish tend to get up to 

and finally feel like I am almost human once again. 

My physical condition isn't what it was this time last year and this wacky weather had my bones in an uproar. 
I have over the past few weeks been taking lots of hot showers, then on a reading binge, (as one friend said to me, "you have an addiction" to books), learning to do some light yoga attempting to stretch out the joint kinks in my fingers, hips and knees, but, honestly not wanting to do very much and just making myself do only the necessary or even just whatever took my fancy, like exploring around Pinterest - what fun it is to be visiting sites that so many others find interesting and becoming interested in may of these sites myself.  If you have not yet had the Pinterest experience, you must try it, your certain to while away many hours there.
Today being sunny but extremely cold, I might just possibly be able to convince myself to do more than just lay around eating, reading and listening to the Easy Listening Galaxy music station and watching the brightly colored feathered friends who visit my feeders. 
Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal, a large family of blue jays, Mrs. Dove, the nut hatches and sparrows were here as well as Mrs. Black squirrel.  What a pleasure it is to see some of natures creatures up close.  Forgive the loss of color, not enough sunshine to filter through the screen on the window, but, still you can see them.

Today I am being serenaded by one song bird and so far I haven't been able to spot it. Soon as I do I hope to capture it on film to share with you what a glorious sound it is. 
On Friday I actually got myself out of doors to visit and have some quality time with family, especially my new wee granddaughter, Ella, who looked long and hard at me wondering who this new person was!   It has been months since I first made contact with her and being just 5 months of age I am sure she would have forgotten who grandma was.... she is just too sweet for words and I held and played with her as long as she would allow it.  

Ella has Blue Eyes, the only one on my side of the family and a girl so this makes her extra,extra special. 

Sitting with her dad while at the restaurant

As her granny I know I am biased, but here she is wishing all of us a Great St. Paddy's Day - isn't she just adoreable?

As I had already cut fabrics to make my buzz saw blocks and upon sewing them together I soon discovered some of these don't go together too well because I had somehow neglected to cut the strips the proper size, after scratching my head and whining about it I have had to set them aside to work on at another time when I'm not feeling so dissatisfied with my abilities....

I have found a new FREE Quilt pattern over at Quiltmag.com  to share with you and you can find it here, this is my type of quilt lately, so filled with color.

Please, everyone, when your speaking with Ms. Spring, ask her to hurry my way, I simply cannot take this bone chilling cold anymore, I really want to see the narcissus and daffodils gently swaying in a warm spring breeze.... 

This is enough of me for today so go and grab yourselves a box of Crayolas and have a wonderfully bright filled day, but, before you go sing along with me in wishing my best friend a HAPPY Butterfly BIRTHDAY

Maybe we should develop a Crayola bomb as our next secret weapon.  A happiness weapon.  A beauty bomb.  And every time a crisis developed, we would launch one.  It would explode high in the air - explode softly - and send thousands, millions, of little parachutes into the air.  Floating down to earth - boxes of Crayolas.  And we wouldn't go cheap, either - not little boxes of eight.  Boxes of sixty-four, with the sharpener built right in.  With silver and gold and copper, magenta and peach and lime, amber and umber and all the rest.  And people would smile and get a little funny look on their faces and cover the world with imagination.  ~Robert Fulghum

EAGER WITH ANTICIPATION

You are about to enter a magical month that will bring a planetary lineup so rare and beneficial to you that you won't see this type of sparkling support again for decades.  

The above was taken from Susan Millers' Astrology zone and it refers to the many 1000's of people born in the month over which Pisces is the ruling sign and I am one of those people.  Now I look forward to it with anticipation.  

Yesterday I celebrated another year above ground - YAHOO!  One of the greatest blessings any human or creature alive today can be thankful for.  I was surrounded with best wishes from many friends via e-mail and in the post, and just look at these pretty and mouthwatering gifts I received. 

Just when I believed my wonderful day was ending,  a knock at my door last night proved me so wrong.  Two special friends came bearing gifts. 

and with those tulips a PIZZA which I have been craving to eat for weeks now!  Unfortunately they were unable to visit long so they missed out in sharing my mouth watering pizza.....LOL  IT WAS mouth watering satisfyingly delicious!!!!
Thank you both, no need for names as you know who you are, you capped off my special day!  No, no picture of the Pizza to share with all of you because I gobbled up three tasty slices before thinking of taking a picture, sorry!    

In the post I received a new copy of my most favorite of pieces of symphonic music a CD of Ralph Vaughan Williams "A Lark Ascending"  with this beautifully hand made card from my best friend.

I even had cake!  My friend and neighbor brought with her her little Doxie, Trixie for a visit and with them came these tasty loaves of Banana Bread all nicely tied up in colored ribbons.   How very thoughtful of her to bake these for me.  YUMMMMMMMMM

Telephone calls from my son and family and many wonderful friends also highlighted my special day.  AND the frosting of my day was that in between all of these wonderful gifts was that I actually had the energy and fun of sewing all day, then, to top of my beautiful pizza, I sat and watched some of my favorite programs which I had recorded and thoroughly enjoyed watching until 4 a.m. this morning!   This last deed made me rather groggy this morning,  something akin to having a hangover from too much imbibing the night before.  LOL

NOW tell me, am I not blessed?  

I so enjoying my sewing yesterday and once I finish my housework this afternoon I intend to sew some more of these buzz saw blocks.  Shamelessly I ignored my house and spent that time doing just as I pleased, I chose bits from what fabrics I have in my drawer, cut and pieced a pile of blocks and then began sub-cutting and finally began piecing the actual blocks together.   

 THIS has been the BEST BIRTHDAY ever!!!!

All in all, it was such a wonderful day and one which I am hoping you do not mind sharing with me?
March has come in not meekly as a lamb, but roaring in but also bringing with it the approach of Springtime, which season I am so looking forward to arriving.  I cannot wait to plant an array of colorful wild flowers, rose bushes as well as vegetables and herbs to adorn my little space outside. 
SO please Spring, if your reading this, please get her sooner rather than later cause I sit in anticipation of your arrival.....

This then is my version of the beginning of the Month of March, and waiting with eager anticipation for the "Magic"  to continue as Susan Miller believes this particular March will be! 

 Thank you for allowing me to share with you today, do come again, I'll treat you to a slice!

I know what things are good:  friendship and work and conversation.  These I shall have.  ~Rupert Brooke