Chenille Quilt

Quilting

I took a class at our local quilt shop when Deb first opened – she’s just had her 4th Anniversary sale so you know this has been in the works for a long time. Actually it hasn’t been “in the works” because when I finished the class it went into a bin (not even half-done) and never saw the light of day again until this month.

It took a long time to stitch all those diagonal lines; they started out (in the class) at half an inch apart but by the end of the stitching they were meant to be the width of the walking foot but even that wasn’t particularly accurate.

It was scary when I made the first cuts between the lines but once I realized when I got in the channel I really couldn’t get out of it things moved along quickly. I knew that Deb had a special way of cutting so the chenille showed on both sides but all my quilting friends said “No, No, No!” So I did as they said but I’ve later learned how Deb expected it to be done (I guess I’ll have to make another one)!

The final fun was getting it bound and into the washing machine to let all those layers of flannel create the fuzz.

This one doesn’t yet have a home – it may be staying in mine!

Boring – in a new way

Journal

Sunday, May 20, 2018

I usually feel like my journal post are boring – I sew and I sew and I sew.

This week I’m boring in a brand new way – I work in the yard, I sew, and I collapse in the evening and do nothing! That isn’t entirely true as I’ve managed a few rows on my crochet project as I watch another new season of Call the Midwife.

And it seems when I’m not sewing or in the yard I’m in front of the computer mostly doing work for somebody else. I was so tired today after working in the yard all morning that I had my shower and then had a little nap – it was only 11:30 but I really didn’t have enough energy to do anything.

I’ve been at my computer now for a couple of hours and feel a little more caught up. I’ll be running catch-up all week though as I’m leaving Friday morning and I have quite a few things to do before then. Least of which is to pack!

If the blackberries don’t get you the roses will

Journal

Saturday, May 19, 2018

It was cloudy and a bit cooler this morning which was a good thing; I was out the door with my long pants and long-sleeved shirt by 8:30. I was tackling the roses at the back of the house. After two hours of pulling bindweed and clipping back blackberry canes I was ready for a break. I sat out on the deck with a cup of coffee but I was having trouble “just sitting” so I got my book out and finished it along with my coffee. After 45 minutes I headed back to the yard and spent another hour cleaning up the clippings I created. I’m hopeful that when the roses begin to blossom I’ll be able to enjoy them without seeing blackberry stems or bindweed flowers.

When I got inside and cleaned up I noticed that my arms and legs were quite scratched up. I was wearing old clothes which are thin and have seen better days; those clothes appear to have rips in them in about the same location as my scratches. I had some anti-bacterial pine tar soap that worked wonders for my scratches last year but I don’t have any left; perhaps I’ll head up to the market tomorrow and see if I can find the woman that I bought from last year.

I spent a bit of time working on a card top after lunch. I watched a video last night from Missouri Star Quilt Company and it was the perfect block for the themed card I needed to make. I don’t usually make a particular theme for my cards but I have been over the past few years for this one special person. Stay tuned for a view of it.

I don’t think I’ll do much this evening. I’m tired and I think I’ll veg in front of the TV – I may not even pick up my crocheting project.

 

The Home for Unwanted Girls

Books

Author: Joanna Goodman

I follow a group on Facebook called Literary Hoarders. When this book was promoted I checked at our library and, although it was out at the moment, it was in their collection. I picked it up just a few days ago and I couldn’t put it down.

Maggie and Gabriel live next to each other in rural Quebec and begin meeting in the cornfields that border their properties. Maggie’s father is a staunch Englishman while Gabriel’s family are French. Although married to a Frenchwoman himself, Maggie’s father forbids her from seeing Gabriel. Maggie is sent to live on a distant farm where she finds herself pregnant. Maggie is uncertain whether her baby is Gabriel’s or the result of her rape by her uncle. Maggie cuts off all contact with Gabriel. When the baby is born Maggie’s father makes arrangements for it to be taken away and Maggie only catches a glimpse of her daughter. The book follows the lives of Maggie and her daughter, Elodie (“Melody without the M”).

It is a fact that during the 1950’s in Quebec unwanted and unadopted children were placed in orphanages run by the Church. Under Duplessis reign in Quebec he initiated a scheme to turn all orphanages into mental institutions thereby acquiring more Federal funding for the province.

Elodie has never been adopted and is eventually diagnosed as mentally retarded; her life in the orphanage was not good, but life in a mental hospital was almost unbearable. Although it isn’t an easy path, Maggie, Gabriel and Elodie eventually are able to connect.

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