Saturday, June 5, 2021

Not Marie #3

 Up next is the front closet !

Lots of family coats , dog collars and slippers.

 Oh and a pin board!

Back when events happened and

 the Oilpatch in Canada was booming , 

every event would have souvenir pins.  

They were hot items to trade 

and if you were lucky ,

 you could get some lovely complex ones!




Now the question is , do we keep them

 or pass them on? 

They may end up in a nice vase for memory triggers 

for stories at family events. 

They could be great conversation starters!

Next, the  pictures!



 I swap out wall decorations with my mood , the season 

or just because .

 The out of circulation ones go on the closet shelf!

 There seems to be quite a stack.  

some have memories , some are gifts and 

some are just beautiful!

The family artist was visiting and 

advised on what to keep . I do have

final say . The most interesting pictures

was a pair I got at an auction.

The look is vintage New York and 

really appealed. A handsome couple!



But, and this is a big but, 

it turns out that they are the same person!

Seems Julian Eltinge was an early 

female impersonator! There is even a 

theater named after him!


Good finds!
Those are keepers.

I saved a whale picture from 
the "go " pile
 ( a retirement memento from my desk at work)
 and did manage 
to rid out the chewed and mended 4 times
puppy collar from big Boomer.



 
All in all a successful sort!

Keep tidy!












Playful Purple

 Wow purple!

Whimsical and fun!

When I am old I will wear purple

Nope

I will dye my hair purple?

Nope 

Will I eat purple food?

Yep 

Drive a purple car? 

Yep, Our family had a purple 

Pontiac with fins, we were 

bat man before bat man was cool!

And sew purple!

So far my purple is in UFO form. 

This little wall item or table topper 

needs finishing. 



These four blocks need a purpose. Are they blue,

 are they orange, are they purple?

There are three purple and one blue. 

I have an idea brewing so we shall see!



I also have some tiny houses on the go.

                                              

Slowly but surely I am learning the 

ways of the rainbow: lots of projects/blocks

and lots of options!

Wouldn't a baby rainbow strip be 

wonderful using some of this fabric?


Maybe a purple baby string star to match

a parent string star quilt? Hmmm? 


That would be fun!

I have a bag of purple and I'm not afraid to use it!

Great month ahead!

Stay safe and sew on!

Second shot done and dusted!

Linking up with :

RSC 2021

Oh Scrap





Tuesday, June 1, 2021

What a line up!

 Yikes , it is time to choose the weekly line up!

This line up is longer. 

Working on getting the flimsies 

in order will take some time !

Making this part of my  OMG 

 should help get this under control . 

If I get one or two a week

pinned and ready to quilt

I will be very happy. 

Quilting  has to fit in between

summer kid visits, the tiny bit 

of travel allowed and getting ready for a reno! 

So first up :

pinning these last two floral quilts!

There were  so many but 

more strips were needing to find meaning!





Next is a rainbow squares quilt. 
I do love rainbow quilts, and can't seem
 to stop making them ! This is 
queen sized, it is just folded in half 
on the design wall. 



Since I am doing a rainbow, 
I will put the rainbow block quilt in line too!


The Aliens quilt is waiting for inspiration,
so I will bump it for this star string quilt.


Six is a nice even number , so I will try to finish up
pinning the Berries and Blue quilt top. 






 







Monday, May 31, 2021

Not Quite Marie #2

 Today we drew the 

powder room drawers. 

Oddly we found memories 

and history! 

Lots of basics, 6 pairs of tweezers, lots of nail files 

    We also came across some Tiger Balm. 

The small red tin brought back a load of stories. 



When the Offspring were young, we let them try lots

of different activities hoping to keep them active 

and engaged. MB ( middle boy) had 

a friend who did martial arts, 

and before long 2 were in Kung Fu and all four 

were taking Jujitsu.  Their sensei told them that 

tiger balm helped ease sore muscles. We all 

ended up using this smelly ancient recipe to ease 

the pain of strenuous activity! 



Other than tiger balm, the family got 

lots of value from these activities. 

Every week the Offspring would 

return from class with stories the teachers

shared.  We found out ; one teacher lost a little 

toe in a bike chain when he was young. 

It didn't affect his balance tho, 

since he learned to adapt

and compensate. The advice and 

introspection the teachers shared with 

the students on the way to teaching and 

training was inspiring. I still remember the

day My Eldest came home and said he 

learned how to  come out ahead on 

every fight.  His sensei told him , when faced 

with a potentially 

dangerous situation the 

best solution is to run and resolve the 

situation elsewhere.!

Good advice. 

The teachers encouraged older, experienced 

students to assist the younger and for 

everyone to work together.  It was a 

great learning time for everyone!


We also found an assortment of blister 

band aids.  Very inspirational.

 I used these when I began

 a running career in my 

6th decade.



  A co worker routinely runs 

Marathons and was chatting about running .

I made the 'mistake?" of saying, 

"I can't run" and the next thing I knew,

 I had a coach!  Off to a very slow start, 

( I could run a total of 40 seconds before

stopping) but by the end of the summer , 

I could run 5 sets of 10 minutes!  

I needed blister pads for my feet, 

( they are flat and bumpy) but I am a runner!

The highlight for me was being 

acknowledged with a brief nod by 

another runner on a morning run in 

Hawaii.  A great moment. 


Some good memories from that little clean out!

Keep tidy!




 

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Still under the scrap pile!

  Well, the scrap pile is still very large

but  I did have a very productive month!

 Five scrap quilts were on my list to get finished.

I managed to finish 3  plus 2 squirrels that

  organically came in to being!

The floral quilts were so much fun to do! 








Two  are getting labels and shipping off today.


 The blue Sail Away quilt also got completed .

Three days late for my nephew’s 

3rd birthday but will still be a nice surprise.





  It rained on and off all day yesterday,

so I was able to sew up some orphan blocks

(RSC blocks, I cut them too small)

for the Table Scraps Challenge.






The place mats will be finished up today and

into the stash for Meals on Wheels.

 My 1st monthly goal was great motivation,

now on to the next!

 Stay safe and sew on!

Linking up with :


RSC 2021


One Monthly Goal Finished Up!


Table Scrap Challenge


Design Wall Monday!


Monday Makers








Friday, May 28, 2021

Out to sea!

 Well , it is complete!

Sail on is quilted and bound and

just waiting for a label! 

On the To do for this coming

week :

Labels, labels , labels!

One for the sail boat, 

two for the florals, 

three for the future 

and four for the float!

I make some generic labels 

so those will be " for the float". 

I put a kind thought on my 

charity quilts and I have a great 

idea for my rainbow quilt label 

It is actually up for the next 

pinning session! 

Back to the finish tho!

The Sail on quilt has some 

theme quilting. Sand on the bottom

with some random ovals. 


The quilting  shows much better in the photo of the back. 

Then waves in the ocean to sail on. 


The shore has some trees and 

further in some houses for the village. 

Then finally in the sky some piles of 

clouds with a hint of sun.



 It was fun to 

do and even tho I am not the most skilled

FMQ ( I seem to get really adept by the time I am 

finished with the quilt!), it turned out well. 




And the flip side!



Stay safe and sew on !

Linking up with :

Can I get a Whoop Whoop!

Off the Wall Friday!

Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday!

Finished of Not Fridays!

Stitch , Sew and Show!

Needle and Thread Thursday!

Put Your Foot Down






Thursday, May 27, 2021

Not Quite Marie Kondo #1


We are working on a clean up /rid out of 
our home pre reno 
I seem to have the attention span of a gnat, so
we made a list of every area to be renovated  
and will pick a location or two,  to be sorted each day !

We are not minimizing for the sake of 
having less , nor are we "deeply moved" 
to pare down all of our possessions. 
We just want to be able to use 
what we have wisely and well without 
lots of clutter in the way!

You can follow along on my 
" Not quite Marie Kondo" 
 tab above if you'd like.  It is like 
another treasure hunt !  I am sure we 
will find some 
  very interesting items!
 
Time to get started!
Planning a big reno and having 
to empty out our living space 
is certainly  a great time to clean 
up and rid out!
Here is the  jar of all locations and 
each day we  pull one or two to tackle!




First up were some easy ones!
The "serving side table and shelves".



We found a great selection of commemorative plates, 








Slightly creepy, but DH favorite. 
 Kind of like the wolf picture that hung
in a bedroom where I grew up. 
Slightly scary but you always wonder what was down the road!



Not sure who graduated from Western then
but they must have 
really become attached! The two family PhDs 
graduated from here so maybe a keeper?

Three will be donated, and two will be passed to 
friends who would like them. 
Some hot chocolate was moved to snack drawer,
 napkins sorted and
 2 delayed holiday gifts were moved to storage.
I made this goodie for our gift exchange but 
a nasty little virus delayed that !



Sadly, the map went back to the map drawer. 



We have to cancel our drive west since 
we are still in the midst of the pandemic here in 
Canada and the other provinces are restricting travel.
Finally , the teacups were moved to the display area
and the task was complete!




#1 complete!
The platters have been stored in the basement 
out of harms way during the renovation. 
I hope the next location is as easy!
Keep tidy!