Back to work

Monday, June 19, 2017

I worked through a few sprinkles of rain this morning but I got another bed cleared. I wasn’t pulling as many weeds today though. We have had some California Poppies in the yard and boulevard and they were about to take over one of the beds. We decided to get rid of the ones in the yard and hope that the ones on the boulevard will remain. It must be the soil on the boulevard because they spread like wild fire in the yard but we are stuck with only a couple of clumps outside the fence. With those pulled out the glads and lilies will have a better chance to show off.

Alyssum is another one of those plants that will take over if we let it. Although I kept a few areas where it can grow and spread, I cleared a lot of it out. The succulents in this bed are very happy so, without the alyssum, I think they will take over the space quite quickly. It wasn’t easy “weeding” today as I had to be careful not to knock down any of the tall plants that they were hiding in and around.

I’ve had a busy afternoon in the sewing room. I’m getting ready for tomorrow’s bee and I don’t want to run out of projects as I did last week. So, I’ve got a card to do and I have binding and a label to put on a quilt. I’ve redrawn my Bingo quilt and will spend the rest of the afternoon seeing how many more squares of each colour I need. Since I’ll have grandkids here the first part of July I’d like to at least have a top that we can try the game with.

I also need to find myself a new knitting project before we go downstairs to watch TV this evening.

 

Happy Father’s Day

Sunday, June 18, 2017

It’s a dull day outside so we didn’t plan any outdoor events to celebrate Father’s Day. I spent most of the morning making a lemon pie for Pat’s dessert tonight. I still need to make the meringue but I’ll do that just before we go out for dinner. There is a small restaurant just down the hill from us; it isn’t fancy but we enjoy their food. They’ve just changed their menu so there are lots of new things for us to try, although their Fish and Chips are the best in town.

It may be Father’s Day but it feels more like Grandma’s Day to me. We have just arranged for Madison, Emma and Gavin to come back from Calgary with us and stay for a week. We are off to the Island then anyway so I will fly them home from Comox and come back on the same day, in time for the music festival on the Island and the little mini-vacation we planned around the festival. I’m so excited I probably won’t sleep tonight.

I haven’t got any stitching done yet today so I’ll try to calm myself down with this week’s Splendid Sampler block.

It’s important to have good neighbours

Saturday, June 17, 2017

I’ve been quilting all day and Pink is finished. Well finished except for the binding. I worked on the straight-line quilting for close to three days, so I planned on two days for quilting the rest of it. I had a good start to the day, a couple of interruptions, but I finished just now a full day ahead of schedule.

After lunch I had a few errands to run – a prescription to pick up, some supplies for my lemon pie (that I’m making for Pat tomorrow), a couple of games to take to Calgary, some pain killers (for when I get back to the yard) and some vitamins.

Late this afternoon, with about an eighth of a border left to quilt, I ran out of thread. When I stopped to fill my last bobbin I noticed that the thread was getting low but hoped I would have enough to finish. I had another thread that probably would have worked but when the fabric shop is just up the street why make do?

I thought the store closed at five so I wasn’t rushing too much (I had at least half an hour) but when I got over the hill I noticed her sandwich board wasn’t on the curb and worried that maybe she had started summer hours and was closing early. When I got there the shop was closed but I went around to the door of the house and asked if I could buy some thread. Deb was fine with that and I was in an out in no time at all. And yes, summer hours are now in effect in spite of what the sign on her door says.

If I had to, I know I could borrow a cup of sugar from Deb anytime I needed it. It’s nice to know I can also get emergency sewing supplies if necessary.

The Sound of Silence

The Guild Challenge (2016-2017)

From a list of 35 specific song titles we were to make a quilted wall-hanging based on one of them. The musical note fabric was included and had to be easily recognized on the front of the quilt.

 

Click to enlarge

“The Sound Of Silence”

Hello darkness, my old friend (Black Border)

I’ve come to talk with you again (Words)

Because a vision softly creeping

Left its seeds while I was sleeping

And the vision that was planted in my brain

Still remains

Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone

Narrow streets of cobblestone

Neath the halo of a streetlamp

I turned my collar to the cold and damp

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light (Whirls)

That split the night

And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people, maybe more

People talking without speaking

People hearing without listening

People writing songs that voices never share (Challenge fabric)

No one dare

Disturb the sound of silence

Fools” said I, “You do not know

Silence like a cancer grows (Pink Ribbon)

Hear my words that I might teach you

Take my arms that I might reach you”

But my words like silent raindrops fell (Raindrops)

And echoed in the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed

To the neon god they made

And the sign flashed out its warning (Warning Sign)

In the words that it was forming

And the sign said “The words of the prophets

Are written on the subway walls

And tenement halls

And whispered in the sounds of silence”