Spring is coming???

We have had unseasonably warm weather and the bulbs I planted for spring are coming up now. Well at least the squirrels did not get them all.

I'm going to the Zoo, Zoo...

Patrick had a day off school on Monday so Ian took him and his friend David to theToronto Zoo. By all accounts they had a fabulous time. The spider monkeys were a big hit and so were the marmosets. These are some of Ian's photos of the day.

Pumpkin Parade

We have a nice foyer in our house. it really feels as if you have arrived when you come in the door. There is a confortable hall with a small coat closet and the stairs go up around the corner. This lttile armoire holds book bags, purses, the dog's toys and brushes, mitts and hats. It has been a godsend in keepig the "junk" under cover. Its not too tall so I like to put something on top and have been playing around with diffeent pieces. This vignette is reflects a large tapestry hanging on the foyer wall - both have this french country feel in soft monet-like colours. Pumpkins are included ... Halloween is coming...You can see a peek of the stainglass window up the stair. There is another large stainglass windwo by the front door. Welcome to our home!!

A Little Ray of Sunshine, Maples and Pine

These pics are from my walk with Softie last Saturday. I collected a bunch of lovely perfect pine cones that I hope to make into a Christmas wreath.

More Birthday Celebrations

Last Sunday we went to Waterloo and had dinner en famille to celebrate Devon's 20th birthday. Good food and good company!

Happy Birthday Devon

My son Devon is 20 years old today. How the time does fly! Devon is a very easy going guy with a great sense of humour. Love you Devon!!

Fall Leaves

A boy and his dog and crispy, crackling leaves...fall is really here.

UFO

I like the colours and the fabrics (esp. the little houses) and the pattern (esp the triangles) and really enjoyed the course taught by Kim Denton Khan but this piece has sat unfinished because of the poor quilting. I need to START OVER AGAIN....

quilt

This is my latest and current quilt project - a bedcover for Caitlin. I started it a few years ago as part of taking a course taught by Lucy Anne Holliday using the book Can of Worms by .... It was a fun course. I love the fabric for the blocks but got stuck at choosing a border. I did not really like the one choice I made and so the quilt sat for a few years until it was time for Cait to go to University and I felt a push to finish it. I ripped off the old borders and went to Quilters Garden and the owner Sharon found just the right fabric - deep burgundy. Off home to sew and I got the borders on but my machine broke down .. more delays. Its fixed now and I have promised Cait to have the quilt finshed for Christmas.






I finished a quilt for my cousin's baby - one of my few finished projects and also a result of the Can of Worms course. I cant find my pictures soo sad about that but here are some images of the fabric. I call this quilt "In Fairy Lane" because when we would visit my cousins we would often play in the old Fairy Lane next to their property in Napanee. It was a lovely unused overgrown lane with a split rail fence and overhanging trees and we would find wild grapes and bittersweet. I certainly imagined fairies very like the ones on the fabric living there. It was not until I was an adult that I learned it was actually the old FERRY lane because at one time it was used to go down to the water and there was a small ferry service.





The third quilt coming from the course was stacked coins which I made of blue flannels at the request of my son Matt but I have not yet found the right separators for the columns between the stacked coins.

The tree quilt was also part of the course This picture does not do the fabrics justice. Again I'm stuck at the quilting part but am hopeful I will finish this as a small wall hanging for this Christmas.

Fall walk

I thought this blog was going to be about my quilts and sewing but Softie keeps coming to the forefront. I love this dog completely. He has made such a positive difference in our family. One of the best things is that he gets me out of the house and down tot he Lake for walks. Now to be fair Ian walks the dog every weekday morning with Pat and again at night and I only do weekend mornings but its great for me. Especially this weekend the temperature has been in the 30's (centigrade) so very hot - we turned on the air conditioning and the squirrels came in to escape the heat.

Happy Thanksgiving

Turkey, Pumpkin Pie and Family - ingredients for a Happy Thanksgiving.

Matthew my handsome 23 yr old lamented that he was not photogenic. I took over a dozen pictures of him and was hard pressed to get one with his eyes open.
Everyone enjoyed dinner. Devon ate potatoes and gravy and spice cookies. Patrick ate Brussel sprouts and turkey. Ian ate the oysters and pumpkin pie - his mother's recipe made a huge pie. Matthew had whipped cream on his stuffing for dessert!! We had the Thanksgiving elf provide after dinner entertainment. At the end of the evening Ian and I drove Caitlin back to university and it was so nice to see her roommate Jill give her a big welcome back hug. Devon and Matt did the dishes!!

Autumn

It starts with one leaf .....


and then the world around us is transformed by the daubs of colour.

I love the Thanksgiving holiday and this year I am especially thankful to have my daughter home from university this weekend. The weather has not been very "fall" like but everyone is enjoying the sun.














I am so thankful to have found Susan Branch's book "Autumn" heavily discounted. I snapped it up and then 2 days later found "Christmas from the Heart of the Home" on sale too. I have her first book and did not know she had done so many more until the wonderful blog world clued me in. The tea towel with recipe also came with a turkey cookie cutter but I used Susan Branch's recipe for ginger crisp cookies on p 106 of her book. We made pumpkins, maple leaves and turkey shaped cookies. The next recipe was for brownies so we made some of those too- who can resist brownies?!? Mmmm.

Club Little House has ARRIVED

Yeah!!! My package from Amy Powers arrived today. I may be the last recipient in this swap. The parcel had to go through customs and we had to pay duty (next time we must remember to specify that it is a gift) but its HERE and its OPENED and the contents are WONDERFUL.. I just had to dash off a quick thank you to the 12 women who sent me little gifts for my yet to be dollhouse. Pictures to follow....later

Happy October

Starting a new month -- a good time to re-establish bog entries. Had a good weekend - met with kitchen designer who has come up with 2 plans for the kitchen and on the way we home visited 2 garden centers. Sunday morning we planted lots of bulbs and hope the squirrels don't get them all. In the afternoon we bought kitchen appliances and went to Mr. Greek for dinner with Devon and Patrick.