Walking in the Bush.

 I have had a productive day.  I wrote two thousands words of my book and sewed another round of borders on my latest quilt.  In between, I took the dog for a walk through the bush.  We haven't been able to do that for a while as there was too much soft snow and I kept sinking.  It is way to hard walking when each step sinks a half dozen inches.  Even though
Heidi is considerable lighter, she wasn't able to stay on top.  Today most of the snow was gone from the trail as well as large patches around it.  We did have to cut through the bush to the trail from a different point as the road to it was mud.

When we got back home, I felt as though I had been on a week's vacation.  I don't know what it is about the woods but I find it far more relaxing than walking on the road.

I have been having problems with my Samsung tablet.  The past couple of days, it will not link to the internet.  I have checked everything I can think of both on it and the desk top but can't see a problem.  Hubby's laptop is working alright so it isn't the internet connection.  I don't want to take it in for service as that will cost more than a new tablet.

Bunnies

 When I was around eight years old, I had a blue quilt with applique bunnies on it.  The bunnies were each on a square that were sewn together to make the top.  I have often thought about that quilt and how I would like to make one.  Of course, I have never done it.

Earlier this week, I got a post from Free Motion By the River, a blog I follow.  Connie always shares

a free pattern and this was the one for this week.  The four corner bunnies are the same as the ones on my quilt!  https://conniekresin.com/patchwork-rabbit/?ck_subscriber_id=353725924

I am inspired once again to make my quilt.  I will let you know when/if it is done.  In the meantime, I would encourage you to check out Connie's blog.  She has some great patterns,

Blessings,

The Future of Quilting

 It has been another lovely day with the temperatures well into the double digits.  I only got outside long enough to fill the bird feeder and move my car so hubby could buy some chicken feed.  I spent the morning and some of the afternoon on Skype before having lunch and getting at my quilting.

A friend sent me a post with various pictorial predictions and they are surprisingly accurate like this painting from 1930's of two women on their vision phones.  I remember when I was in my teens and Mom and I saying that one day would be able to see each other's faces when we phoned.   We are well beyond that now with our communications being more like something from the early Star Trek television show.

I am hoping we discover teleportation soon as I hate flying but would love to go to England to see my family.    I find it hard to envision how quilting will advance.  Perhaps robots will be doing the work and we will just program them.  Somehow that doesn't seem as if it will be as satisfying as doing it all myself although there are some tasks I would mind not having to do.

What do you envision as the next step forward in quilting?

blessings,

The Little Prince

 O'Quilts reminded me, in response to my last blog, that we are fighters.  This is true.  If you have reached a certain age, you have worked to get there.  You have over come problems, set backs, discouragements and deceptions and you emerged victorious.  With a positive attitude and the willingness to keep going, there is nothing that can keep us down.

My customer picked her quilt up this weekend.  This is her pattern and it is called The Little Prince.  I did an all over freehand pebbles pattern on it and stars around the border.  She was pleased with it and I thought it turned out well.  If you click on the photo, you should be able to see the quilting a bit better.

I am already to start my next quilt but, at the moment, I can't find the pattern I designed for it.  This one uses a panel at the centre and I am doing 2.5 inch blocks around it in a variety of colours so they make a pattern.

Blessings,

Covid Costs

I am still alive.  I had some sort of stomach bug this week and didn't start feeling back to normal until yesterday.  I did manage to get my customer's quilt finished and am doing the binding.  Today, I pulled out the fabric I need for the next quilt.  I should load one of my own tops to finish while I am working on the others.  I wonder if I will ever have all those completed.

I am glad I am getting this work because I see the price of almost everything has gone up considerable.  I understand that companies have lost a lot of money during the Covid shutdowns but I am not getting any increase in income to help them out.  One of my fabric suppliers told me the price of cotton has gone up 30% and there is still a back log.  They are doing their best to absorb some of the increase but, of course, they have to pay their bills as well.

We are planning to have a bigger garden this year and I am glad we save our seeds each year as the commercial ones have gone up by nearly a dollar.  I am complaining but, really, we are doing a lot better than most people in the world.  

Hubby has started gathering sap for our maple syrup.  We still have a lot of snow in the bush but it is melting fairly quickly.  Our temperatures have been above normal although I don't expect we have seen the end of winter yet.

Blessings,

Belated Christmas

 We had a nasty wind storm yesterday.  I am not sure what the speed of the gusts were but I am surprised that we didn't lose our hydro because of trees on the lines.  It did flicker a couple of times; just long enough for the clocks to need resetting but, thankfully, that was it.

I had a lovely visit with my closest quilting friends in the afternoon.  We have just come out of a lockdown and we were able to keep our social distance so we took advantage of it.  Normally, we  meet once a month but, of course, it has now been almost a year since we were all together.  It was a lovely time of catching up on the news, meeting our hostesses new cat and exchanging gifts.  We usually give each other something at Christmas but, again this past year, we were unable to do that.

Of course, when quilters get together, we have to show quilts.  I had just finished a top for one of the ladies and also shared some vintage quilts that had been given to me .  These have all been hand quilted and, in some cases, hand pieced.  I don't know what I am going to do with them but they aren't going to end up at a thrift store where they may be used as dogs blankets or something equally disastrous.

Today the sun is shining although it is a bit cooler than yesterday.  The wind is a less vigorous but the roads are too slippery to go for a walk.  I haven't decided whether to quilt this afternoon or read.  I have been doing a lot more of the latter recently but I think I had better finish up the quilt that is on my frame.

Don't forget to put your clocks ahead one hour when you go to bed on Saturday.

Blessings,

Fish and Chips Wanted

 Our area is out of lockdown again.  I have an appointment on Friday for a long awaited haircut.  However, there is one thing that hubby and I are still can't get.  We want to be able to sit down in our favourite restaurant and enjoy a feed of fish and chips.  I don't want take out and I don't want premade frozen.  I want a hot, made just for me, plate of crispy fries and nicely battered fish.  Perhaps for our anniversary in August although I hope it will be before that.

The weather was above freezing today and sunny so I refilled the bird feeders and took the dog for an extra long walk.  Her feet got pretty dirty on the road but it washed off on our soggy driveway.  I am getting caught up on my quilting and should soon be able to start a new customer project.   I really need to clean my studio but that isn't even on my list yet. Need to take some photos to post as well.

Hope you are seeing signs of spring in your area.

Blessings,

Signs of Spring?

 It is starting to feel as though spring may be around the corner.  The corner may not be close  but it is there.  The snow is starting to melt and the wind feels warmer.  I dug my car out of the accumulation of snow that we have had recently.  It was heavy going as freezing drizzle had mixed with the snow making a 6 inch heavy layer.  I had to use my shovel on the car to take off most of it.  I can see the hood and windshield now so I hope the sun will help remove some of what is on the roof.

I have started working on my web site again.  It has been very badly neglected but it is now time to rectify that.  It is going to take a good bit of time as I have to take out all my stored quilts and photograph them and double check their size.  If you would like to take a peek, here is the link. www.arkangelcreations.net

Blessings,

Bubbles

 We are still getting grey, drizzly weather so I haven't felt comfortable walking on the road when the visibility isn't good.  I miss getting out but the rest of the week looks fine.

I am making good progress on my next quilt.  I haven't tried doing bubbles before but they are rather fun.  I am attempting to learn new quilting patterns and techniques and this is one of them.  After I finish this quilt, I have a number of smaller ones to do and am going to try a pantograph on one and more ruler work on another.

It feels great getting my quilting enthusiasm back again.

Blessings,

In Like a Lion

 I got started on my next quilt today.  I am doing stars on the borders and pebbles around the appliques.  It looks good so far.  After the top is finished, I will go back over it with darker thread and do a bit of work on the appliques.

We had a storm here today.  It was bad on the 400 with the highway closed in both directions because of collisions.  My son is a trucker and is usually home around 7 p.m. but it took him an hour plus longer tonight.  I got him to phone when he got in.  He sounded tired but he was safe.

March is definitely coming in like a lion so if the old saying proves true, the weather should be a lot better by the end of the month.  I am going to start my seeds this week so they will be ready for planting when spring does arrive.  I think food is going to be a lot more expensive this year so I want to grow as much of my own as I can.

Blessings,