Lookin’ good

I said to Mr. ZQ halfway through the house renovations this summer that we’re “building our retirement home”, and it suddenly came to us that that was exactly what we were doing. We paid off our mortgage about three years ago, Mr. ZQ retired two years ago, and this year something snapped in our little home-owner brains and we decided that our long-neglected house needed some major fix ups.

First, the furnace, hot water tank and air conditioner, then removal of that ugly DIY fireplace, with brand new painting and hardwood livingroom floor, then replacement of every one of the windows, a sidewalk of paving bricks to finish off the front yard, and matching paving bricks in the backyard for a brand new patio area, pavers for the fire pit and more for the future greenhouse. Then a “little” touch up of the deck with a new roof, aluminum railings and vinyl decking. And finally, a little 6x12 greenhouse next to the garden is the last of this year’s renovations – just happening as we speak. The house has been a long time without any work – 42 years later and the same furnace! – and it was long overdue. We aren’t regretting any one of the renos that we’ve had done so far.

We already know that next year we need to paint the house and replace the roof! But this week, I got back to quilting, finally. Like the guy who did our deck, I have so many projects building up, waiting for me to finish this one, that I need to get moving on it and git ‘er done! This is the top third of the flimsy. Already have more done on the next later. Like our renos, I think it’s going to look pretty good when it’s finished. The pattern is called Sailing By The Stars and it’s a free foundation-piece pattern by RJR Fabrics. I’ve done a few modifications, which I’ll explain later on in case anyone is interested.

Until next time,

Friday Furball – I love Laurel Burch

Oh yeah! I was looking online for curtain material (new windows!) and came across some irresistible cat material. There are three separate fabric designs here – the bottom fabric is panels, the fabric in the middle is just big beautiful multi-coloured cats, and the fabric at the top of the photo is border fabric with several different border designs. I’m thinking … bags!

Until next time,

A day at the Fair

We had our annual Fall Fair last weekend. It’s held inside the arena and always attracts a crowd. Loads of music, entertainment, food and, of course, entries of home made and hand made crafts. Well, not exactly loads anymore. Entries have, unfortunately, been declining over the past few years, like everything else. The canning section was the smallest I’ve seen it in 11 years. Same with the baking. Photography was way down. Vegetables and Fruit were slightly down. Home made beer and wine had the first entries that I’ve seen in five years (lol!).

But the quilting section keeps going! The local quilters are a diehard bunch who are intent to keep at least that part of the Fair going. There aren’t a lot of quilts – and no, once again I had nothing to enter – but it’s always a nice showing. If you’d like to see, I didn’t write down the various categories, but I managed to take the following pictures:

 

 

 

 

Ist place, Joyce Deering

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1st place, Gail Koop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd place, Kim Littlewood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd place, Michelle Allen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd place, Joyce Deering

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd place, Michelle Allen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3rd place, Kim LIttlewood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it. One of these days our house renovations will be done for the year, and I can at least make my sewing space usable once more. Fingers crossed.

Until next time,

Friday Furball - Escape

Deck renovations continue at a goodly pace, much to the detriment of sewing in my house. I’ve gotten a bit done on another mariner’s compass, but I have to unstitch it all before I continue because I stitched the wrong halves together yesterday morning.

Rusty had a big adventure yesterday while I was at work. Mr. ZQ went down to his workshop in our attached garage to get something for the guy working on the deck, so he opened the garage door and also accidently left the door to the house open. Rusty usually waits outside the door to the workshop, wondering what his human is up to, but finding it open was just the highlight of his entire year. Even better was finding the garage door open and the great wide world waiting for him on the other side!

Mr. ZQ only noticed that something was amiss an hour later when he put their lunch down on the floor and there was a Ginger but no Rusty. He looked around the house and went downstairs. Noticed the door to the workshop open and walked through to the garage door... and spotted Rusty sitting on the porch by the front door. He went to grab Rusty, who slipped past him and back into the garage, so Mr. ZQ went back to the garage and closed the garage door, knowing that Rusty had nowhere to go but through the door and into the house. He then went back upstairs and got Rusty's food back out of the fridge.

But still no Rusty. He went back downstairs to look for him, and as he passed the front door, there was a Rusty-meow on the outside of it. Apparently, he'd escaped under the closing garage door, Indiana Jones-like, and ran back to his familiar perch by the front door. High adventure for an indoor cat. He wants to do it again!

Must get back to sewing!

Until next time,