Back from Vacation!

My husband and I have been away for a month on vacation in Newfoundland, which explains my absence on my blog for the last few weeks.  It took three days of solid driving to get to the ferry in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Port aux Basques in Newfoundland.  We listened to an audiobook, "Son of a Critch", by Mark Critch in the car.  Mark's stories about growing up in Newfoundland had us laughing out loud during our journey.  Of course, I did some stitching in the car, making lots of progress on my Sunflower Cross stitch project. You can see that I have just about finished this quarter of the picture. 

We went in June, hoping to see some icebergs, and we were not disappointed!  From small pieces of ice washed up on the shore (bergy bits) to small icebergs in harbours (growlers) to massive chunks of ice floating in deep water, we saw them all. We took an Iceberg boat tour one afternoon from Twillingate.  

This last picture was taken at 8am the morning.  We went to see the Long Point Lighthouse at Twillingate that morning, and just over the cliff, we saw this: 

It is difficult to comprehend how massive these icebergs are---especially when you realize that 9/10's of each iceberg is below the water!  This growler in Baie Verte had a Dr. Seuss like quality to it!

Bergy Bits: 

I had also hoped to see a moose while we were in Newfoundland--we saw 10 of them, including this one at the side of the road one morning.  We had to be very cautious driving, especially early in the morning and after supper,  as there are thousands of moose in Newfoundland and they often venture out onto the roads.  We also saw two caribou and a black bear but did not get any pictures of them. 

  

The seagulls dive for sea urchins (and other shellfish) and drop them on the rocks to break the shells so they can eat the tender morsels inside. 

I will add more pictures and details about our trip in future blogposts.  Because no blogpost is complete without a picture of Finn...here he is!  Our daughter bought some new cushions for her couch...Finn wants you to know he approves.  

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers on Sunday morning.  

Table Runner Done and Cross Stitch

 I finished the lilac stars table runner binding off last weekend for slow Sunday stitching. It is now ready for gifting! I added a lilac print stripe on the back to make it long enough. 

I managed to do some cross stitching most days this week so now I have two sunflowers done and parts of a few leaves. There are four more smaller sunflowers in this quadrant of the picture. 

My daughter has been adding more colours to her Ottawa cityscape. Finn is a good cross stitch holder, don't you think??? 

I spent some time in my sewing room this week tidying and putting things away.  I have a basket on my desk for scraps and it was overflowing--all scraps are sorted and put in the appropriate bins now.  Fabric has been folded and put away.  Miscellaneous tools and notions have been put away.  I still have a pile of papers to go through and file away.  It is looking much better!  I found my little tabletop thread catcher that had been MIA for several months under a pile...

We have been working on the gardens-- weeding, moving plants, mulching and we are just about done.  It's looking good!   The bubbling rock is bubbling again now that the pump has been installed for the season.  The clematis bloomed this week. 

 

Lots of pink and purple flowers blooming in the gardens at the moment!

Finn is enjoying spending time outside now that the weather is warmer.  His tag says "I'm a people dog". It does not lie!

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers in the morning.  Have a great week!

A Gift, Orange Blocks and a Walk in the Woods

On the way to sewing day on Monday, I stopped at the quilt store to pick up a gift for someone and some fabric to make a table runner for a friend who likes purple.   The lilac fabric jumped out at me as there are lots of lilacs in bloom here right now.   I bought three other colours that went with the lilacs and a striped fabric for the binding.  When I arrived at the sewing studio, of course I cut right into the new fabric and got to work on the table runner. (I was supposed to be working on my Kaffe Fassett Overlapping Tiles quilt that I started putting together last week--that will have to wait for another day!)

The runner is all put together and quilted.  The binding has been sewn on by machine and I am working on the hand stitching. 

My Orange scrappy Pineapple block is finished for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.   Below, there is a picture of the 6 blocks I have made so far. 

I made four 6.5" slab blocks too with my orange scraps. There are lots of little treasures in these slabs!

I finished off the bees on my cross stitch project and have moved on to the next sunflower.  I found the thread that was MIA last week and stitched the rest of the lower petal on the sunflower, but then I discovered I did not purchase one of the other colours I need for this picture. It must have been out of stock when I was at the store. This little problem will be rectified tomorrow. 

Finn received this lick mat for his birthday. It sticks to smooth surfaces with little suction cups on the back.  He particularly likes it when my daughter puts peanut butter on it for him to lick off the textured surface.  

Finn and my daughter are avid readers--here is the book they were reading this week.  I have read this book by Fredrik Backman and loved it.  Finn thinks it should have been called "Anxious Dogs" as he tends to be that way himself!

My husband and I went for a hike this week at a local wildlife area.  It has not rained here in two weeks so we thought it should be dry and I had heard that the trilliums were out, so off we went. 

It wasn't dry.  There were lots of very soft muddy sections on the trail and once we got started, it was easier to just keep going rather than turning back.  We were up to our ankles in mud. 

Despite the mud, it was a beautiful sunny day and there were lots of flowers in bloom. 

Speaking of flowers, our gardens are showing their best colours these days.  The deutzia bush is just starting to burst into bloom.  

These thrift flowers are a beautiful colour!

I will link up with Angela and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge tomorrow and with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers on Sunday. BTW, I cleaned our hiking shoes when we got home and they look as good as new.   Happy long weekend to my Canadian readers!  We will be in the garden...

Oxford Guild Quilt Show

I attended our guild quilt show on Friday and Saturday this week--our first show since before COVID.  I entered 9 quilts in the show and took pictures of them in the venue. There were several of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects including "All the Colours" based on a pattern by Gudrun Erla called Haldora. 

"Scrappy 36 Patch"

"Scrappy Drunkard's Path" and "In Formation"

I put one bed sized quilt in the show--"Memories of Iceland"--the pattern is by Gudrun Erla and is called "Lupine". 

"30's Plus Sign Baby Quilt"

"Scraps on Point" 

( I was very happy that this hung straight with no wavy edges--the edges are all on the bias!) 

"Let it Snow"

Pattern by Modern Handcraft called "Modern Snowflake"

"Summerhill in Solids"

Pattern is by Mary Elizabeth Kinch

This quilt by Gwen T. was one of my favourites.  The background squares are denim. 

Megan H. had this wonderful modern basket quilt in the show. 

Lois W. entered this fun quilt into the "Star Challenge".

My daughter and I have both been adding stitches to our counted cross stitch pictures.  The black stitches on the outside of the sunflower will eventually become bees. I still have a few more stitches to add to the lower petal --I lost the skein of thread and need to find it!

Ottawa Cityscape

My Friend, Christine, gave this to me for my Birthday.  It is so cute and I have it out on display in our Living room. 

The garden is blooming...I'm not sure what these flowers are--they came from my MIL's garden. 

More daffodils in bloom.  I love this soft yellow colour. 

Hosta leaves unfurling. 

Fothergilla bush in bloom. 

Coral Bells--no flowers yet but the leaves are pretty. 

 Finn is now back home with our daughter but he did enjoy a final romp around our yard before he left. Of course, he brought a dirty sock out to the yard with him...

I will link up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers in the morning.  Happy Mother's Day!!