Of Petals and Wool

AND HERE'S... VICTORIA

2012-05-27T23:11:00.002-03:00

Thanks for all your sweet comment on my little Victoria.

She got me wrapped around her tiny finger, well OK... toe, and I think that if she could ring a bell for service, she would. She doesn't need a bell however as she is well able to make herself heard when she wants room service. You'd never know that she comes from such humble beginnings as being born in a barn. lol....

She sleeps in a box with old towels and a Magic bag for heat, on my bed. The box is wrapped up with some thick throws to keep the heat in the box. She loves her accomodations.

I had to change to a higher box as she climbed out from the box onto the bed then she came down on the wicker table at the foot of my bed and climbed on a pair of clean pyjamas bottoms and pooped on them, the nerves of her.

Since some of you wanted some pictures, here's some pictures of Victoria.

Haley is trying to feed Victoria but she's not cooperating.

Haley is a young girl who wants to become a large animal vet and come to volunteer some hours at our farm.. She still was biting the syringe.

Taking pictures of Victoria is quite a chore as she kept walking away and didn't want to have her picture taken.

She doing push up to strengthen her scrawny legs.

She hates push up and get defiant.

She want to go in her warm bed in a box. She thinks that crying is the way to get whats she wants.

Still crying in the corner, trying to look as pathetic as she can.

She's sticking her tongue at me in defiance.

Now she pouting, looking more like a possum that a kitten.

I'm trying to get her to look at the camera but she not really interested.

She keeping meowing

Doesn't she looks so pathetic? Aww poor little thing, I shouldn't make fun of her. She's tired and wants to go to sleep. She' s just a baby.

You can tell she's been crying. I took her to bed and she started to purr and knead her little feet on her bedding.

She still hates to drink from the little nipple and bottle I got her but she love the 5cc syringe. She now drinks about 7 to 8 cc and I tried the 10 cc syringe but the milk comes out too fast for her and she seems not to want to suck on it so I had to go back to 5cc syringe and to put more milk in it until she has had enough.
She grabs the syringe in her tiny paws and she sucks quite hard and you can hear the milk gurgling down her tummy.

When she's done she wants a gentle kitty message on her back and she purrs then she wants to get in her warm box to knead the warm towel and purr loudly.

She peed on her own for the first time tonight. I think that this is more than enough publicity on Victoria.

I'm having a hard time getting enough sleep as Victoria wakes me during the night for feeding just like a baby and I'm so tired. So I'm off to bed as she will soon wake me up just when I fall asleep.

I appreciate your visit very much and I look forward to reading your comments. Have a great week. JB

LATE NIGHT VISIT ON PATRICE'S PORCH

2012-05-25T22:37:00.001-03:00

I've been getting behind in my comments on my favorite blogs and I've been trying hard to play catch up.
I'm only three days late for visiting Patrice of Everyday Ruralty and I think that everyone has gone home by now.

Would you come along with me so I don't looks so stupid being all by myself. I doubt that she will want to come out on the porch while the June bugs are flying around, but I'm knocking at her door as I see the light inside. Maybe she'll invite me in...

Here were her questions for this week.

1. What are you doing for memorial Weekend?
Work We had a long weekend last week and it was Victoria Day Weekend in honour of Queen Victoria.

2. What is the last old movie you saw?
It's been so long I can't remember but I watched some Carol Burnette DVD movies on my computer.

3. What colors are the walls of your living room?
A pale sage green .

4. What's your favorite food to cook on the grill?
Steak and sweet potatoes. I love any kind of food on the grill.
5. What's your favorite animal?
Right now it a tiny abandoned kitty that I'm caring for called Victoria. She is doing fantastic and love to be fed and love to be put in a heated bed after feeding and she purrs and knead her little front paws in delight. She quiet right down as soon as she feels a little heat through her blankets and goes to sleep.

I hope that you've enjoyed stopping by for a quick visit and left me a comment. Have a safe Memorial weekend to my American friends. JB

NEVER A DULL MOMENT ON THE FARM

2012-05-23T22:17:00.000-03:00

Yesterday started off as usual, I dragged myself out of bed and walking in the backyard, I see the lawn with dandelions that should have been cut, thinking, I'll do it before lunch.

As I got to the calf barn, I heard a tiny kitten meowing loudly but I couldn't see it. I got the flashlight to see if I could find out where the kitten was. After several minutes of searching I found it in a dark filthy spot of rubbish near the silos. How it got there I'll never know.

I used a paper towel to pick it up so as to not leave my scent on it and brought it inside the barn and put it in the cat cardboard box that I have with hay in the bottom and covered it with clean towels to try to conserve it's heat. The other small kitten are always climbing in it for a nap. The door was left open so if the mother was around she would hear it cry.

I went about my work and some cats came in but were afraid of the little kitten and quickly scooted away.

When I finished feeding and bedding my animals I took the wee stranger home and put it in a box with a warm Magic Bag that I heated in the microwave and lots of warm towels as it was still cold. I called the near by vet hospital for some milk replacer for the kitten. They only had canned milk around $8.00 a can and it had to be used up in 72 hours. I was looking for powdered milk replacer as there's no way this tiny kitten would be able to consume that in 72 hours.

I called Pets Unlimited and they had milk replacer for kittens but it meant a trip up town. Since I already had several errands to run across town I did what I needed to do and $20.00 lighter I came home with a tiny bottle and nipples and the powdered milk. I tried to poke a hole in the tiny nipple but the top was a bit thick and the milk wasn't coming through. The kitten was screaming blue murder. So back to the barn to get a small syringe. I cut the screw part off on the end and mixed up a tiny batch of milk and the frantic kitten drank 2.5 cc of warm milk. I put it back in the warm box and it quickly fell asleep.
The process was repeated every several hours when it would wake up crying.

Her eyes were still shut when I found her. After washing them with warm water, she opened them.

She quickly fell fast asleep after feeding.

New born kitten can't pee on their own so I used a tissue to gently wipe hers genital to make it pee. and found out it was a girl and since we had a long weekend on account of Queen Victoria on Monday, I called her Victoria.

She woke up twice during the night for feeding and had a little hard poop. I of course didn't get a good night sleep and was so tired this morning and was half an hour late for work because I had to see to her Majesty's needs. She survived the night and is still with us as I type.

My grandkids came for a visit and I'll share that on another post.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit and thanks for leaving your comments. I appreciate them so much.

JB

JUSTICE OF THE PIECE...

2012-05-20T16:32:00.000-03:00

Wow, today is a stellar day with sunshine and blue skies and lots of mosquitoes and bumblebees. The flowering crab in in full bloom and the birds are happily singing.

I'v been hooking on my rug and didn't had the right shade of mottled green so what's a hooker to do?
I married some green worms. You don't even need a licence to do this.

For those who have no idea what marrying wool worms is, let me briefly explain. You put leftover presoaked wool strips of assorted shades or color together and process them in a simmering bath of water and add vinegar to set the color in and simmer some more and let cool until all the colored water is absorbed in the wool. Rinse and dry and it's ready to use.

My married wool worms drying on a hanger. The colors are a bit brighter in person.

I didn't take a photo of the married wool worms after I hooked them but I'll try to show you in another post. I'm rushing to get to the farm chores.

I triedMaggie's Peach cobbler's recipe and had a taste just now and it's a recipe that Ill make again for sure, it's that good. I didn't had blackberries but I used can peaces that I cut up. I sprinkles a tiny bit of the sugar on top. It didn't needed any as it was sweet enough. Thanks Maggie of Grandma Yellow Hair. JUST BETWEEN YOU AND ME blog.

Have a safe weekend. JB

WHIPPING MYSELF IN THE KITCHEN

2012-05-12T22:15:00.004-03:00

What do you know, two posts in two days. I'm on a roll.....
Today started very well. I was on time for work and I had my day all planned. I was to pick up rhubarbs on my way back to the house to make a Rhubarb with Custard and Meringue desert for lunch and potato scallops and some veggie and after lunch I would tidy up and clean my dirty fridge and hook on my Childhood Memories rug in the sunroom. It sounded like a real good plan to me. I was going to be good to myself.....

While at the barn, I got a phone call from my daughter Jackie, asking me if I would drive my granddaughter to gymnastic around 11:10 am. across town and my grandson to work down town as she had a craft sale all day to tend to and her husband had the car and was out of town.

I normally drop everything to help but this time I didn't changed my plans. I felt very guilty but the timing was not the best for me and it was not an emergency. I had no left over in the fridge to feed the employees who come to work on Saturday.

When I got home I started preparing the desert right away as it is done in three steps, while eating a bowl of breakfast cereal and coffee standing up at the counter.

My sonVaughan's car battery was drained and had borrowed my car to go get his hair cut.

I made my base and the rhubarb custard for the desert and needed to whip the meringue. It seemed to take longer to whip when all of a sudden one of the wires on my favourite whip broke sending the half- whipped meringue across the whole kitchen in every directions. What a mess. I had to burst out laughing.... And to think that I was using the same Cuisineart whip last Sunday at the church in front of a full room of people. Can you imagine?.....

I got splattered real well and it was everywhere, inside the toaster, inside the stove burners and the stove top, on small appliances, everything on the counter, under the top cupboard, on the rooster, the floor and cupboard doors across the room the fridge, on the fridge....

My granddaughter Jordyn arrived on the scene and took some photos of the mess and me. I had to go change my clothes to continue. As this wasn't enough , when I came back downstairs I had company company at the front door...

My granddaughter wiped up the mess on the doors and the floor and had to go back home. Now my husband gave me the news that non of the other three people would be here for lunch today. Had I known, I could have driven my grandkids to where they needed to go.

It took me three hours to clean everything. What a big mess it was and sticky...

Here is the Rhubarb Custard and Meringue desert. It was real good. Too bad the three part time workers didn't shoed up for lunch. But my grandson did.

Now I have a clean kitchen, sort of... All the cupboard doors need a good scrubbing which doesn't show on the pictures.

Sunshine Rooster is happy again after getting his feathers wiped, lol...

My husband hired my grandson Liam to mow the lawn this summer. About three hours of mowing each time at home and the farm. His first time riding this hard to control machine. I tried it before and don't like to drive it. He did a great job but it doesn't go in tight places so I need to touch up with the small push mower.

So much for my hooking on Childhood Memories.

My favourite son, Vaughan arrived to give me a Mother's Day gift of beautiful Mums. Sorry, I didn't had the camera ready and missed taking his picture as he left right away.
How was your Saturday?
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mothers, step mothers, grandmother, mother in laws, mothers to be. JB

A NEW EXPERIENCE

2012-05-11T22:56:00.005-03:00

This week I got some new photos of my grandson that I want to share with you. James got his new prosthesis this week and he's slowly getting use to wearing one of them.

James is having his first fitting for his prosthetics. Look at that happy little face.

He got his first spatula to help him get used to having something on the end of his arm.

He can use the little spatula on the end to hold small things.

He actually likes his spatula as he can hold on things with it.

He wears it to play

He still has some getting used to it

He wants to have it on now. He still can feel things with his stub.

The hand is not very functional but it's more to get him used to grabbing with it. the thumb is spring loaded to help him hold little toys.

So many new gadgets to get used to, poor little guy. He looks a little tired or he's deep in thoughts.
He can not feel with the hand so he hits himself with it because he's not used to the new length.

They chose a Thomas fabric for his hand as he love his Thomas trains. The hand will probably feel sweaty in the summer,

Thanks for visiting and leaving comments.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all the mothers. Have a safe weekend everyone. JB

UFO IDENTIFIED AS QUILT & VISIT PATRICE

2012-05-09T21:07:00.001-03:00

I've been meaning to go for a visit on Patrice's porch of Everyday Ruralty but somehow there's something that comes up and I have to go elsewhere.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to link up with Patrice. I made the link this morning and my name is still on her page but I didn't carried it through. I wonder if it will link just the same. I'll find out.

Here are her questions for today.

1. What does your everyday dished looks like?
Plain white restaurant type dishes, assorted mugs.

2. What shoes are you likely to throw on in a pinch right now? Go to shoes.
Sneakers

3. What was the last gift you were given?
I received these this afternoon from my daughter Christine

4. What was the first face you saw this morning?
My face in the mirror.

5. What cup or mug you are most likely to grab for your tea or coffee? What's your "cuppa" cup?
For coffee, I have a tall Christmas mug with the picture of a snowman on it, and tea is a smaller Dollar Store mug with the picture of a little finch on it.

I hate to do two post in one but what ta da heck? I've got to stop this procrastination.

I had problems with my iMac having dozens of lines on the screen from burnt out pixels. I'm now using a small MacBook Pro with my little Microsoft wireless mouse and I love it. My other computer is getting slow and the laptop is so much faster.

This week I've been thinking of two of my lovely blogger friends who are going through some real rough time with chemo, some of you know them, Leontien and Donna. Please keep them in your prayers asking God for the grace of courage and strength to fight this awful disease, cancer.

I've got my iPhoto library finally upgraded and was having fun with the new technology. Just amazing what you can do with the photo library.

Let see what else has happened this past week. I've got three new heifer calves, that is very good. My injured older calf had to be put down because the extend of her injuries and I couldn't bear seeing her suffer, it's is always sad to loose an animal but a fact of life on the farm. I just had to pull up my big girl panties and make the decision to have her put down and burried. My husband had to do that dreadful task. It's not a pleasant job.

I purchased two more Rug hooking books to add to the other one I bought recently on Amazon.com

I finished my UFO and discovered that it was a king size quilt . I've got it on the old bed in the spare bedroom. It's much lower than the one in my own bedroom. The quilting has taken a lot of my spare time lately. It was a big project.

I made my own binding and sewed it on the back by machine and in the front by hand

I did a lot of baking and I worked cutting pies at the church supper on Sunday and my son covered for me at work in the afternoon.
I calculated three months of HST sales tax for the farm, did payroll Deductions and paid bills online, did some banking. I did some weeding in one flowerbed.

The fiddleheads are up but my back was so sore so I didn't go picking and today it was too wet to pick.

Now that my UFO has been classified I'm getting ready to resume hooking my Childhood Memories rug, whoo hooo......

Thanks for coming with me to Patrice's porch and visit with me. I enjoy getting your comments.
Have a safe weekend, it's just around the corner. JB

FLOWERS FOR LEONTIEN and DONNA ♡♡♡♡

2012-04-28T21:12:00.005-03:00

Leontien, and Donna, you are both dear blogger friends of mine and you are going through some rough time with Chemo treatments right now and you both are in my thoughts and prayers.

Here are some flowers for you to brighten your day.

Non of these are blooming yet as the Lord is still working on them, one day at a time.

I was going to post about the type of week I had but I had a change of heart, I want to shift my thoughts toward two of my great blogger friends who I admire so much and are going through some very rough time with chemo treatments right now.

Know that you are both on my mind, in my heart and that I'm praying for you. You have both remarkable ladies and admired by many.

Hang in there, stay strong and take it one day at a time as it more than enough.

Much love, hugs and prayers.

Julia

VISITING PARTICE ON HER PORCH

2012-04-25T15:34:00.000-03:00

It's Wednesday already and time to go visit Patrice on her porch. I'm not as bright and early as last week but I'm getting there. Yup....... I overslept this morning. I just rolled around on my side and fell back asleep and was 15 minutes late for work.

If you haven't been to Patrice's blog today, it's worth it just to go see a priceless photo of Wendell, her horse.
Here are today's questions :

Questions:

Do you prefer wallpaper or paint? I used to love wallpaper but the honeymoon is over, now, I prefer paint. No more wallpaper for me.
What qualities make a good friend? Integrity, dependability, tolerance and humorous
Are you planning a summer vacation? What is a vacation? I need to look it up in a dictionary.
Do you have a garage, carport, park on the street or park in your driveway? I have a garage and my car is usually parked in it but not this week as we are using the garage to organize storage.
Tell me something interesting about your week. (oops- please). I'm caring for a wounded older calf who went where she was not supposed to go and got herself wedged in a precarious position and tried to escape and ended up injuring her right front thigh. We had to cut bars to the feeder to free her.

Thanks for the questions Patrice. Ask wendell what kind of tooth paste does he use? His teeth are so white........ Have a great week .

Hugs, JB

I'm just adding this from last year photos for a color splash to brighten my day.
I'm still trying to navigate the new Blogger and had difficulty finding the Edit button.

Thanks for stopping by and commenting. Have a wonderful rest of the week. JB

SOMETHING NEW

2012-04-24T12:49:00.002-03:00

I resisted changing to the new Blogger look.... Well what do you know, Blogger has a new look AGAIN.

What a surprise this morning when I clicked on my blog and my first reaction was, "Oh no! Don't tell me that even though I chose not to change to Blogger's new look it came to me and I have to get use to this new look, grrrr. It will take some getting use to it. I'm a terrible creature of habits.... I haven't figured out if I like it yet. I don't know if it's better or not, just different right now.

Everything looks so bare naked. Maybe it's better. I'm slow to change, must come with age.
I see the settings are on the right of the page which is a good thing, I suppose.

Well now that I've got my shock over with, let see if I still can do my thing...

Now there's my little man posing for a picture before going to the museum. I'll admit to being bias but I think that is a very handsome dude.

How nice to be able to talk to daddy on Skype even though he's miles away....... Hooray..., daddy is coming home today after being a week away. James hope that grandpy is feeling better soon.

James is playing at the kitchen party at the museum with friend Alex..

Mama distracted me while I'm trying to prepare dinner.

James love his dinosaurs magnets.

Now is time for serious reading.

Look what mama found on Kijiji. Now James will be able to play with his beloved trains without knocking the tracks down. Good move mama.

James being fitted for a prosthesis.

Being inked is not really a tatoo I guess but heh, I got inked... did you?

Now the plaster mold is being put on, while Daddy is holding James. What a good boy he is.

Now my review regarding Blogger. Well what can I say.... uploading pictures is super fast and easy . No more having to go to the side to scroll to the top of the page to find the picture icon, eliminating an annoying step. It's much better than before. I like this part.

The sun just came up after a weekend of downpour. I like that too. I wonder if Blogger has something to do with that.

Have a great week, stay safe and healthy friends and thanks for stopping by. Leave me a comment and I'll like that too. JB

I'M VISITING PATRICE TODAY, COME WITH ME...

2012-04-17T06:02:00.000-03:00

I have a confession to make. I'm somewhat computer illiterate and haven't been able to copy and paste Patrice's questions on my Mac so when I don't have the time to write all the question, I don't visit.

I've been having a tight muscle in my back so I've been up since 2:00 am. Let's go see if she has the porch light on or the coffee ready, he he.

   Here are the question she was asking today.
1. What was the last big event gathering you attended? Wedding, funeral, graduation, party, riot, etc,)
   On Friday I attended a funeral for my husband's aunt. She was 100 years old.

2. Do you switch over your seasonal wardrobe, wear the same thing year round, have a huge closet to put it all in or throw everything out and buy new each season? I threw the last one in to see if you were paying attention.
   I have my pants and shorts, long sleeves tops, sweaters, sleeveless all folded on shelves in my walk in closet so I just pick what is appropriate for a particular day. Some days I go from long sleeves turtle neck and change to sleeveless as the temperature changes. I dress for comfort most of the time.

3. What sweetener do you use most often?
   Sugar or honey in baking. I never add sweetener in my cereal but add raisins instead.

4. Slippers, socks or barefoot?
   Slippers on cold floor, I used to go barefoot a lot but now my feet hurt sometimes and I use slippers more often, sandals in summer.

5. What questions would you like me to ask the group over the next few weeks?
   a. Do you make your bed as soon as you get up in the morning or just make it later or leave it messy?
   b. How many hobbies do you have?
   c. What bad table manners drives you crazy?
   d. Do you have a good sense of direction when driving in a strange place?
   e. Do you often think of others before yourself?

You can pick which ever question you prefer Patrice.

I hope that you have a great week. JB

IT TOTALLY SLIPPED MY MIND OR MAYBE MY MIND SLIPPED AWAY...

2012-04-12T21:19:00.001-03:00

I just realized today that I had promised some pictures of my renovated bathroom way back at the end of February but had been so busy that I just couldn't seem to find time to post. Things have kind of calmed down for me so I better get on with it.

To enlarge the photos, just click on them.

The vanity was built by my brother when we built the house and my husband wanted to try his new router toy on ALL my cupboards and cabinets much to my chagrin.... He did every doors.
Colored appliances and fixtures were the rage in the 70ies. The girls wanted purple in the bathroom. The sinks had chipped and started to leak so my husband had temporarily replaced one sink with one found at the church yard sale. I don't think that it even cost him anything. The vinyl wallpaper on the upper wall was a challenge to removed.

We both wanted just a simple bathroom that was fresh looking and easy to clean with no fancy and trendy stuff or colors so kept it neutral. The cabinet doors and drawers were left as is, but sanded and painted with some left over quality paint that I had from a couple years ago. The groves don't stand out like they used to.
The door still needs painting and I'll get around to it sooner or later.
I used the left over paint from the master bathroom that was renovated last year to keep costs down.
I only wanted one sink so I got a new vanity top and got a shelf unit built and replace the large mirror with a smaller one. I got a wide towel bar under the window and a towel ring on the shelf unit.

These dated fixtures were removed. One of the light bulb was burnt.

Here are the new light fixtures with energy efficient bulbs. The ceiling fan as you can see in the mirror had yellowed and was painted with a fresh coat of mildew resistant paint along with the ceiling.

The ceramic tile floor was exactly the same pattern as the Master bathroom that we renovated last year so We could use some of the left over tiles from last year.

The new steel tub was installed and some insulation put under to keep the water hot in the bath.
The wall was tiled with thick tiles and a small ceramic corner shelf was added. In this photo, the wall was not yet painted.

A view of the towel ring, in the mirror you can see the reflection of the new toilet paper holder that I love so much. You just slip the roll on in a second. Almost time to change the roll... I love the new taps.

They were supposed to ship a taller toilet but somehow someone forgot to change the order number and this is what they shipped and that's what the guys installed and my husband was OK with it and since me I'm so short it didn't matter to me either.

This is a bargain picture with a nice frame and double matt that I got at Value Village for only $3.99 last year. I was glad to find a place for it.

I almost forgot, I've added another towel rack close to the bathtub over the toilet.
Sorry it took me so long to post these pictures. No more mauve bathroom for me.

THanks again for visiting and leaving comments. JB

AT LONG LAST, IT CAME OFF...

2012-04-10T21:50:00.001-03:00

Yes, at long last, the quilt came off the frame on Holy Friday. I still have some quilting to do around the corners because the king size quilt was too wide for the frame as you can see on the right, but I've managed to quilt one corner last evening using a hoop and it worked well.

For a close up look, you can click on the pictures.

This is the quilt before it was removed from the frame. I did finished quilting the top but the corners were too close to the sides of the frame and I had to be worked in a hoop. This quilt was designed for a double bed and I didn't reduced the size of the pattern and I should have but in the end it worked out OK I think. If I were to do another one, I would put the design in the border a little higher.

The unfinished quilt has been spread on the bed and the colors looks washed out but the colors are truer at the foot of the bed. It's a salmon color on creamy background.

Since we bought a deep mattress for the bed the old bedspread has become too short, and the ruffle doesn't reach the floor. I had made the curtains and couldn't afford the lining and was to make some later and later never came. It's a good thing that there are aluminum blinds for privacy and they filter the light beautifully.

A close up of one square and I couldn't put the whole square in. I wonder how many little quilted hearts in one square. The hearts were my own quilting design.

Here is a close up of the border.

I tried to get the true color and turned the light on . It actually shows the color a wee bit better.

This is the pattern. Sorry about the old fuzzy photo. I'm not sure if I'll make the rounded corners.

Here is my idle frame folded. It can be used for any size quilt I was told by Mr Hinks who built it for me.

It came from Mahone Bay in Nova Scotia.

Thanks for dropping by, and for leaving a comment.. JB

MY BEAUTIFUL GRANDDAUGHTER JORDYN

2012-04-09T16:21:00.000-03:00

Today Jordyn, my beautiful and oldest granddaughter popped in for a few minutes and I asked her if she would pose for me while moving around a bit so I could test a feature I hadn't used on my Canon Ti1 camera yet. She was reluctant because she felt that she wasn't presentable but I thought that she looked just fine the way she was.

The feature I'm talking about is for action shots. I turn this little dial to a certain setting and press the shutter button and it instantly takes a series of photos while the subject is moving. For some reason I always take still photos and now I'll really feel more confident to get some great shots.

For still photos it takes a few seconds for the camera to zoom on and I lose great shots sometimes. If I click before the camera zooms on, the photo gets a bit blurry.

This was great fun, in matter of a few short minutes I had about 30 some photos to choose from. I'm sure it felt a little awkward to pose for her grandma but Jordyn was a good sport. Thanks Jordyn. I appreciate your cooperation.

At the Maritimes Fiber Art Retreat I missed a lot of good shots because the models were walking so fast, but if they have the fashion show again next year, I'll be able to shoot to my heart content and not miss a beat as long as my battery is fully charged.

I also took some close up shots of tiny blooms on my Wandering Jew plant that is blooming for the first time this spring. This was a plant that my mom gave me and I almost lost it. It was dying because the of the salt residue in the soil from the water softener. My mother was dying from cancer and so was my Wandering Jew. I tried rooting some cuttings before I completely lost it as this plant came from my mom and I wanted to keep it alive for sentimental reasons. I potted it and repotted it and now it's blooming for

the first time. That makes me so happy. It's getting big now and sits on top of a stool. It's now an heirloom plant.

A close up shot

Just a little closer look at those beautiful delicate blossoms.

I hope that you all had a great Easter Weekend and are all rested for back to work and back to school tomorrow.

Tomorrow, God willing I'll show you my quilt off the frame. I took it off the frame on Good Friday and threw it on my King size bed to see how it looked. It's BIG.

Thanks for visiting my blog and please let me know that you visited me by leaving me a comment or just say Hi. JB

MY DAUGHTER IS DOING THIS BECAUSE OF ME.

2012-04-07T22:00:00.003-03:00

In 2002 just before Christmas I was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer as many of you know and had a radical Mastectomy and had 5 lymph nodes removed. My daughter Christine came home to care for me and prepare the traditional family Christmas dinner and help get the house ready for Christmas.

Now because I've had Breast Cancer, Christine, the pie fairy, raises money for Breast Cancer research every year by baking many pies of all kinds as incentive for donations. She curls for the Breast Cancer Research Bonspiel along with her friend Katrhyne. Together they raised $5,095.00 this year by baking 104 pies. They are both very busy working women and my daughter also cares for James along with her husband Joe. James is now one year and two and a half months old

In this photo is my daughter's team. From left to right, Kathryne, Tracey, Erin and Christine.

This year with a minimum donation of $40, the donor got a pie of his or her choice and a tax receipt for $35. Many gaves more. The donors returns for more pies every year and there are more demands for their pies. All the pies are made from scratch and so are the pie crust.

Those are the ingredients she uses in her pies. No premixes in those pies. Everything is from scratch for unbeatable flavor.

James gives a helping hand of course and hails his mama's pies as the best.

Lemon pies above

Sweet potato pie

Pie crusts waiting for filling

Blueberry pie

Coconut Cream pie

Key Lime pie

Pecan pie above and Apple pie on the bottom.

There were 69 curling women in this Bonspiel, and altogether they raised a whopping $39,000. for Breast Cancer Research this year alone.

When my daughter first started to do this, she gave a pie for a donation of $25. Every year it grew. Now they no longer have to ask for donations and have repeat customers and new one too. They just put their orders in.

This is the third year that Christine and Katrhyne are offering the pies as incentive and together have raised $12,500. for the cause in three years during the Curling Bonspiels.

One of my daughter's friend's husband is great at cookie decorating and came up with these bra cookies.

My daughter and her friend Katheryne made 6 pies for draws. Only four are shown here. They raised $415. with 6 pies. Whoo Hooo..... Way to go girls.

I've been wanting to share this story but have been working on my quilt and had other things that kept me busy or preoccupied this past week.

I hope that you all have a safe and Happy Easter if you celebrate Easter, if not, have a safe and happy weekend just the same. For those who are having snow for Easter , you are in my thoughts. Thanks for stopping by for a visit and you all know how much I love your comments. JB

3rd FIBER ART RETREAT POST...

2012-04-04T22:09:00.001-03:00

I've got some more pictures from the 4th Maritimes Fiber Art Retreat to share.

Judy was also in the fashion show. She was hooking next to me and her friend (who prefer not to be in the picture.) Judy was working on a very beautiful large rug, and the colors were so rich. A great favorite with everyone.

Here is Judy's beautiful rug all done in fine cuts. I took a picture of it just before she rolled it up before leaving.

This ambitious lady was working on a Deanne Fitzpatrick design. This was a huge rug. The table set up with a display in the background was a tatting display where a very nice lady was teaching tatting. I was just too tired to even try to learn. I'm hoping to try next year.

This quilt was on the display table. I never got my quilt done in time to put it on the display, hopefully I'll bring it next year.

A shawl and woven wool scarf made by the fiber artists. Notice the beautiful wool socks and the coaster to match the mug in the background.

A felted picture and some gorgeous cross stitches. (I just love that eagle) A shawl, a weaved mat .

There were lots of piece quilts but I noticed that they were all machine quilted.

That purple quilt made it into he fashion show somehow. A nice needle point runner or hanging.

A weaved throw and I'm not sure what the other piece is. It could be a jacket, I'm not sure. Maybe my daughter would remember. I was so tired that my memory was failing.

An assortment of rugs. This one looks like a Maud Louis style. Does anyone knows this pattern?

The star rug was made entirely of dyed t-shirts, the lovely felted lined tea cosy was said to keep the tea very hot for a long time. I love that kitty rug. The Hot Flash woman website I didn't checked. I didn't thought that it belonged to that table. There was another table for advertisement and business cards.

Notice that the spinners are set up in a big circle in the big room. Most of the spinners were gone to eat at the first sitting at 5:00 o'clock.

This man was just taught how to drop spindle and then in no time was spinning on the wheel and making his own yarn. He knitted a hat that he's wearing a scarf for his wife and something else.

This was a picture I took sitting down at my table showing only a portion of the room.

In this one I included two knitters at my table. They were there only for a day. It was coffee and muffin time.
There were some tatting that I wanted to take pictures of but there were some people in my way and I intended to take some close up pictures later but I forgot. There was beautiful piece of hardanger work that was removed from the table before I took a picture of it. Next year I'll take the pictures as soon as I can and I won't wait till the last minute.

I took this picture of my Childhood Memories rug showing the cloud watching memory done. I got more hooking done but didn't take a picture. and not showing is some hooking on the house.

This is it for this retreat. I missed taking pictures of felters making Easter bunnies for the grandkids. I didn't get to see everyone work as it was so packed and I was determined to hook a bit since it had been so long since I had hooked.
Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. JB

2nd POST... MORE PHOTOS OF MY FIBER ART RETREAT

2012-04-02T23:11:00.003-03:00

Meet our lovely hostess Sharon and her handsome and helpful husband, Richard.

A treasure chest overflowing of prizes for the fiber artists. The members were asked to bring something for prizes.

A table full of lovely prizes. You could hear the cheers when someone numbers came up.

Yet another large table chock full of so many beautiful prizes.

Here is my daughter Jackie grinning happily with her winnings. A bag filled with Fiber Art magazines. Way to go Jackie

Somehow I don't see the Mr Burns resemblance anymore... Jackie is a great sport and has great sense of humor to make us laugh.

This is a close-up of a chenille technique. I had never seen someone make this before.

The lady explained that she place three identical motif on top. There is a backing and a layer of cotton batting and she sews straight lines all over the piece and then cuts through the layers and then wets the piece and brushes the cuts with a stiff brush to make the chenille. Very pretty.

This is the lady who made this. It was so interesting to see the process. You can see the brush and the water bottle she used.

This lady was making some beautiful quilted pieces and I was taken by her Janome sewing machine with the table. I love her small iron and ironing board.

This lady was making a beautiful quilt bag and she also had a Janome sewing machine.

This table had a bobbin lace display with intricate designs. There is a piece of very intricate lace in a small cameo in a jewelry box. Just such beautiful work.

There was a table display of all kind of beautiful finished pieces on tables but the fashion show started and I was scrambling to get some pictures of the artists wearing their creations. I'll show some more at a later date.

This lady knitted this colorful shawl. Since I was taking photos I can't remember all the type of wools everyone were using but there were all kind of fancy names.

Look how beautiful this looks.

A lovely little shawl. I can't remember if it was knitted or crocheted.

Now this lady was hilarious as she modeled her beautiful socks.She would lift her feet in the air as high as she could and then to everyone surprise, she laid on her back and lifted both feet in the air so we all got a great look and laugh. Very creative in her presentation.

This lady decided to wear her beautiful big quilt.

Here's a view from the back.

This lady made a jacket, scarf and blouse and her friend made the little fiber broach for her lapel.

This lady shared my table. She made this beautiful shawl with alpaca wool that she got in Peru.

Here is another shot of the back.

This lady is sporting felted floral decorations on her hat and sweater. I believe that she also knitted her sweater but I am not 100% sure as I have difficulty hearing in a noisy environment. You can click on the picture to get a closer view.

This lady knitted a lovely sweater and changed some of the motif at the bottom to suite her taste. I can't remember if it's an Islandic or Nordic pattern but I just love it and the colors too.

This creative lady felted her scarf, her purse and even her boots.

I tried to take a closer look at the boots but she was walking a bit too fast for my camera to focus. All the models were walking rather fast and it was a challenge for me to take good pictures.

This lady made a chenille vest using a seascape deign. So much work but a beautiful job.

Another view from the back.

Some beautiful scarves and I believe that they were weaved silk, I could be wrong.

This lady also had a lovely scarf.

This lady is wearing a cashmere sweater that came from the Chris and Christine Silver Cashmere goat farm whose barns and out buildings burn last week and they also lost half of their cashmere goat herd. They were in the process of getting the building ready for insurance but unfortunately they just a few days short of being insured and lost everything. Chris has Leukemia. Donations were taken at the Retreat for their trust Fund to help them get back on their feet.

This lovely lady is weary a beautiful shawl and gloves she made. She is wearing a tatted pendants that she also made. She teaches tatting and next year I'm planning to give it a try.

The photo is not focused but I wanted you to see the back of the shawl.

This felting artist was busy making felted bunnies for her grandkids prior to the show. She is wearing a felted shawl and a pair of felted boots that she created.

I wanted you to see a close up of the boots. They look warm and comfy.

Here she is removing the shawl and is about to wrap it around her waist.

This lady is wearing a beautiful shawl that she either knitted or crocheted.

Here is a blurry view from the back but you get the idea.

This is the lovely Julie, my daughter's spinning friend. She is modeling her fancy knitted skirt. She was actually the first in line in the fashion show and came out while I was scrambling to get my camera out of the case. After the show made it round I chased after her as they were parading through the crowd.

I'm sorry that I have so many pictures on this post but I've had request to show the pictures as the spinners were to smitten with spinning to take photos.

There will be more pictures of rugs and things later .
I love to read your comments. Thanks for visiting my blog. JB

I'M BACK FROM THE FIBER ART RETREAT

2012-04-02T15:48:00.000-03:00

I'm back at the grind stone today... I had a great time at the 4th MARITIMES FIBER ART RETREAT in Nova Scotia and a little tired from lack of sleep. The weather was fantastic for travel to Nova Scotia. Unfortunately we didn't had time to stop to visit fiber shops on the way.We got there on record time and didn't got lost thanks to my two great navigators. There is one crucial exit where there is a fork in the road that was not on the Google map and the girls remembered exactly where it was this time so we went in the right direction. There were 190 fiber artists registered and this year they had to use 2 rooms to accommodate everyone. There were lots of spinners and hookers amongst many other fiber arts.

I took a lot of photos but unfortunately it was difficult to get everyone's piece as anyone who has been to one of these events would understand. Everyone gets so many interruptions from admirers that I didn't had the heart to impose on the artists to stretch out their art pieces for a photo. There was some tatting instructions and I'm planning on trying this beautiful art next year if the nice lady will demonstrate again.

This is piggy, she our faithful traveling mascot who comes with us to all the Maritimes Fiber Art Retreat and to the girls' spinning retreats. Of course she's made of fiber after all.

That is me the driver of the van with my precious cargo of my daughter Jackie and her friend Sarah and all the spinning wheels, hooking frame, wool and fiber and suitcases etc..

This is Sarah, my daughter's friend.

This is my wonderful goofy daughter Jackie taking a self portrait with my camera. She reminds me of that rich old geezer on the Simpsons cartoon, I can't remember his name.... She'll kill me when she sees this.

This is my daughter Jackie in the center and some of her friends spinning their little hearts away.

My daughter on the left with a friend and her mom.

I guess that will be it for today's post as my computer is uploading very slow right now and I lost some of the photos that I just uploaded... rats... and wanted to show and I've got to go. I'll upload some on tomorrow's post hopefully. I love your comments. JB

I'LL BE ON MY WAY TO THE RETREAT IN THE MORNING

2012-03-29T22:38:00.000-03:00

It's been a while since my last post. Life seems to be more demanding of me as I grow older but it also could be because I'm moving lots slower lately and it takes me longer to do the things I have to do.

Tomorrow morning after my barn chores, breakfast and shower, I'll pick up my daughter and her friend in town and we'll be off to the 4th Annual Fiber Art Retreat in Nova Scotia at the Atlantica Hotel and Marina Oak Island Resort. There will be 136 overnight guests and 50 day visitors who will fill the large room with fiber art of all kind for three days.

I'll try to remember to take some photos. Here' one from last year that the husband of our hostess took.
I look a bit washed out because of the flash.

I know that I promised you some photos of the bathroom but my photos are still not uploaded. The computer was being slow and I left it to later and later never came.

I'm finally getting to work on my poor neglected Childhood Memories rug at the retreat.
I'm this close of finishing quilting my king size quilt but often time this week when I sat to quilt someone was coming in and I had to leave it, and getting back at it seems to evade me for some reason. There are always more pressing things to do.

One of my sweet blogger friend, Donna who is an OR nurse, was having a mastectomy this morning and I would love it if you could lift her and her family up in prayers for courage and a speedy recovery. Donna, you have been in my thoughts all day.

Stay safe and have a great weekend everyone. I'll be reading your comments as soon as I get back home or sooner if I can. God Bless. JB

VISITING PATRICE IN HER DINING ROOM THIS TIME.

2012-03-06T19:54:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I sanded the new stairs today I painted the ceiling in the bathroom and the can of paint was barely enough to cover the ceiling in the bathroom. I had to stretch it to cover the whole ceiling. We used to buy a quart of paint, now we pay more and the can is much smaller. It cost $27.08 with tax, it's ridiculous.

Now to take a break from work, I'm visiting Patrice at Everyday Ruralty. We are invited inside her dining room so come along for a hot cuppa something. It sure make the week go fast.

Today Patrice's questions are this.

1. Tell me a fond memory of an elderly person.
My grandpa on my mother's side made the best biscuits and he use to show us how fast he could work. It was amazing to watch. He was hurrying so fast with the mixing and cutting and in no time we had hot biscuits to eat.

2. What's your favorite flavor of jam or jelly?
My favorite was strawberry but since I developed an allergy to strawberries I use marmalade or raspberry jam.

3. What goes through your mind when you drive by those whopping huge houses that looks like something in a magazine?
I wouldn't want to pay the taxes and it must cost a fortune to upkeep and I bet that they are not any happier than me.

4. What's your favorite way to relax?
That would be at the lake with nothing planned.

5. What's your favorite kind of pasta?
Chicken Fettucchine with sundried tomatoes.

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment.

I'VE BEEN UP THE LADDER, I THINK BETTER UP THERE...

2012-03-05T23:22:00.001-04:00

I've been promising update photos of the renovations and finally I got some to show. Our friend was supposed to give me three days worth of his work doing renovation in my bathroom. I had paid $600.00 at the Church auction a year ago in February 2011 for his work. He offered his work and the church got the money and he was getting nothing. That was his contribution. The poor guy was so busy all year and I told him that I wasn't in a hurry and not to worry about it.

The new stairs

View from upstairs

When he came in my house a few weeks ago and saw the stairs without a railing he was concerned about our safety and I told him that it was my next project. I told him that I had wanted a nice oak stairs with a banister when the house was built but when I came to see the work, someone had already built a plywood stairs which was to be covered with carpet. I was upset but didn't say anything at the time. My husband had bartered with an ironsmith to have an iron railing for a side of beef. If you have been following my blog you know that when the carpet was removed I painted the stairs and the iron railing didn't fit anymore and was never replaced until now.

The old stairs

Our friend said, I'll built you a nice oak stairs and I said," Oh great, I'll pay you". He said that he would give me a little bit more than three days of his work. I told him, "No, I will pay you for the work if you want to built the stairs.

He put three coats of Polyurethane and use a power sanding tool to sand in between coats. Today I uses some fine steel wool to sand all the wood and vacuumed and used a tact cloth to remove the fine dust but didn't had enough time to put on the 4th coat. I'll do that tomorrow.

This evening I finished removing the rest of the vinyl wallpaper in the bathroom and will paint the ceiling and the walls another day. The bathroom is not finished and we will finish it ourselves.

I love this type of tap that regulate the water temperature even when someone flushes the toilet you don't get a change of temperature to startle you.

A nice large shower head with lots of pressure.

A nice ceramic corner shelf for soap and shampoo.

I love this ceramic tile floor.
The sink and taps and the toilet are installed but the tank is not installed yet.
There is still lots of work to do like install the light fixture, towel bar, toilet paper holder, mirror, knobs and hinges, sanding the cabinet and priming and painting the shelves, painting the ceiling and fan,painting the trim and door, hanging a few pictures on the wall maybe.

Tomorrow is another day. Thanks for stopping by my blog and for laving a comment. I much appreciate it. I hope that you have a nice March break. JB

HAPPY LEAP DAY

2012-02-29T21:58:00.000-04:00

I remember 1965 was a leap year and I met my future husband George and we had a date. The custom was that on leap year the girls were supposed to ask the guys out on a date so I asked him if he would do me a favor and accompany me to a farewell party for a friend who was moving back to my home town since I didn't want to go alone and didn't knew anyone else. He seemed to be a nice kind young handsome man but I really had no romantic interest in him. I just wanted a male friend.

At the last minute the party got cancelled as the moving date was changed a day earlier for some reason. I thank George and told him that he didn't had to accompany me after all. He insisted that we go bowling and we had so much fun and after bowling we went to watch a movie. Funny, I can't remember the movie for certain but I think that it was It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World with Jimmy Durante. It was a funny, clean movie and we laughed and he was so respectful again that I got interested in him and we started going out. Now on Sunday we just celebrated our 46th Wedding Anniversary very privately with a small cake and a bottle of wine. We both have our independent streak but we still are together after 46 years.

Now I want to take a leap over to Patrice's porch of Everyday Ruralty for the weekly chat. It's always so nice learning little things from our blogger friends.

   Questions

1. What did you have for breakfast this morning?
   I had a bowl of Kellogg's Two Scoops of Raisins Bran with walnuts, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, coffee with 10% cream.

2. What is your favorite kind of juice?
   I like unsweetened orange juice, preferably fresh squeezed or unsweetened lemon juice.

3. Have you tried Pinterest yet?
   I haven't really desired to check it up as my life is full enough as it is. I don't need another time sucking device to take up even more of my precious time. I have nothing against it, just don't desire it... at the moment.

4. I can't wait ____for blooms and fresh vegetables from my garden( farmer's market/ CSA/ neighbor with green thumb)

5. The worst job I ever had.
I never had a job I didn't like but I had a boss whom I didn't like. He was so hateful toward a poor customer that I felt so very sorry for her. My first summer job was working in a clothing store and this poor but clean woman was looking at a cheap cotton dress and you could see that she wanted to buy it but didn't had enough money and she kept looking at it and coming back to it and he said to buy it or get out of his store. How she must have felt little and hurt, it showed in her face. I didn't want to work for such an insensitive man. I never forgot it.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I hope that I'll have some update pictures of my finished stairs tomorrow. It was a very complicated project and I have new appreciation for the work that goes into this kind of project. JB

JUST A LITTLE UPDATE...

2012-02-25T22:28:00.002-04:00

Blogging has really taken a back seat lately. It's not that I don't have anything to blog about it's just that I'm not good a juggling my time. I'm all over the place and I don't take many pictures lately.

My house is turned upside down and there is dust all over the place and things dragging everywhere but I'm happy.

This is the BEFORE picture of the plywood stairs without a guard rail because when the carpet was removed the iron rail didn't fit anymore and was disposed off and never replaced. I painted the plywood.

After the steps were ripped off, boards were tacked in place so we could still use the stairs very carefully.

This is what has been done so far. The guard rails need to be put in place and some finishing touch here and there to hide the nails under the lower steps. I'll keep you posted when the jobis done.

This is the picture of the vanity that I promised to show you with the double sinks of different color. The Double sink will be replaced by one sink only and a few minor changes of knobs and a coat of paint.

Here the counter top of the vanity has been removed and the wall paper also has been removed on top. You can still see some wall paper on the right side. The flooring has been removed.

Here is the new vanity top. The sink is not in yet.

Some shelves for towels.

The old tub and enclosure was removed but I forgot to take a photo of the new tub so it will have to wait.

The tile floor was put over some newly laid quarter inch plywood for durability.
My remodeling job is very simple because I learned a long time ago that renovations are better kept neutral .
I hope that you enjoyed visiting and please leave a comment to let me know that you were here. Have a safe week. JB

SIGNS OF SPRING... TODAY

2012-02-16T15:17:00.000-04:00

I wasn't thrilled this morning when I spotted a big tomcat mounting my little barn cat. I chased him away and he went flying as if he had wings.

While I was having my tea at lunch, I glanced at the feeder in the backyard and saw a twitter-pated male pigeon chasing a female pigeon and trying to mate. I thought, hmmm, we'll get an early spring...

Just now, I got really excited as wasn't prepared to see what I saw out my bedroom window as I pulled the blinds for more light. I SAW A ROBIN in the tree in the front yard. Of course I wasn't quick enough to get a picture but I'm sure I'll see it again. For today at lease I saw signs of spring, in the middle of February.

It's warm outside and the snow is melting. Did you see some signs of spring yet? JB

WHOO-HOOO... IT'S HAPPENING....

2012-02-08T15:04:00.000-04:00

Our main bathroom is disgusting. I've seen worst but it's disgusting just the same. The taps leaks in the tub and the wall around the tub is stained with rust and the fixtures are MAUVE from 1977. Yuck. It has huge mirror, double swags lights and double sinks. Oops, I guess that I forgot to take a picture of the vanity, oh well I'll take one later.( I need to recharge my camera battery). One sink is mauve and the other is ivory since one of them was leaking and my husband replaced it with one he got at a yard sale a few years ago. Colored appliances were the rage in the late 70ies. The girls all loved mauve back then. Anyone with mauve bathroom fixtures?

The wall needs repairs beside the tub as there was a leak in the wall and the plumbing was fixed and the wall patched and never finished.

I've paid for three days labor at a church auction last year to have a contractor do the renovation but he's been so busy even though he's retired and he finally came over yesterday to check up on the job.
There's even a small hole on the small wall shelf to hold the soap.

He's also going to redo my stairs and put a nice oak rail etc as the carpet was removed from the stairs when I was on chemo as vacuuming the stairs was just too difficult for me and I just painted the plywood stairs with a white satin Melamin paint. Since the iron rail didn't fit on the stairs rungs after the removal of the carpet they were never reinstalled. Neither of us are getting younger and also it's required under the construction code, we need this done pronto.

Remember me jumping out or rather falling out of a birthday cake on an earlier post?... well the contractor is non other than the birthday boy and he even is giving me extra work at no charge. Now how nice of him... He's appreciated the trouble I went through for him and now he's paying forward.

So yesterday my hubby and I went to buy a bathtub, sink and toilet and they have been ordered and should be at the warehouse on Thursday as they don't keep them in stock usually. They have a showroom. It will be nice to not have a leaky facet in the tub. I'll post some more photos later as the work is in progress. The contractor is coming to work on Monday next week.

Now I have another boy in mind. My daughter Christine sent me some new photos of James.

How do you like my little snow buddy Mama made for me. I think that he needs eyes but I love him just the same. I want to bring him in because it's cold out here.

I just love to play with my snowball and smile for the camera. I've never seen this cold white stuff before.

Meeoww.... I'm a red striped kitty cat going in the cat bed... shhh, don't tell Brazen, she won't like it.

Look at me... silly mama forgot my bib but who cares, the food was yummy... all gone...

James listening to daddy play the guitar. It won't be long That James will play too.

I love posing for the camera especially when mama is reading fish stories.

Oh dad, I just love how mama read Mr Brown can Moo, don't you?

Mom, I think that Mamoo should have put this picture first. This was before you started reading the book.

Watching the Super Bowl with dad. Us guys love football.

Lasagna for supper and sharing with my son,

Thanks for stopping by and putting up with my long blog posts. I hope that you'll leave a comment, they let me know that you visited as I don't have a traffic gadget to spy on who is visiting me.
Stay safe and warm and have a great week. JB