How Time Flies!

This is a block from the quilt I started earlier this year but other things have taken precedence. I have eight of these blocks done but I need 16 more. The material is all cut out so it is just a matter of sewing it together now. But since Christmas is coming soon and we are getting ready for our trip to Florida in early January, I doubt that I will get a chance to do any more on it until we return in early April.

This quilt does not have any borders around each block, thus the reason for the number of blocks needed. Since the RV does not have a quilting room, I won't be taking it with me. Right now, I am trying to work on my snowman quilt - when I get any extra time.

We just came back from my daughter home in Nova Scotia. We had a wonderful time and both my husband and I were happy to see her and her husband. Thank you Cathey and Paul for the great visit and great hospitality. We enjoyed shopping with them and loved our time spent together. Hopefully, we didn't overdue it with your health.

While in Nova Scotia, my daughter took me to one of her favorite shops and I did pick up another beautiful piece of cornflower. It is so different that I could not resist buying it. I soon have to stop buying anymore of crystal or china as I am running out of space already.

Must run as DH and I are getting ready to wash our truck. We want to wash it and then store it until we leave for Florida. Hopefully, the day we leave will not be a dirty day for driving on the road and the truck will still be fairly clean for the drive down.

Have a great weekend everyone!

My Latest

Yes, I finally finished my latest swedish weaving afghan and here is a picture of it. I made it with the tan background and used a bright coloured variegated yarn. The mixture of patterns I used works for me and I am quite happy with the end results.

We are having another beautiful day today. Sunny and above average temperatures. There is very little wind so there is just a small ripple on the lake making it just beautiful.

This afternoon I am going to watch the last NASCAR race of the season and my favorite driver, Jimmie Johnson is trying to get his 4th straight championship in a row, which will make history. He is leading in points but a bad accident could wipe those off. NASCAR racing is really the only sport that DH and I are interested in. Of course, we do watch the Olympics but we are not into football, baseball, hockey, golf, etc. We used to own a 1947 Chev Businessman Coupe which was completely redone by DH and we did circulate the car shows with it, even the one in York, Pennsylvania. However, after we move here - two miles on a private dirt road, we sold it as we did not want to take it on the gravelled road.

I have been doing a bit of Christmas baking - things that can be frozen. We are going to visit with Cathey and her hubby on Wednesday and I wanted to take some baking with me to help her out. DH and I are really looking forward to this visit.

Until next time, have a wonderful week.

Great Sunsets

Last night, I was getting supper ready and happened to look out our front living room window and this sunset is what I saw. It was too beautiful to not take a picture. The lake waters were very calm and so the reflection was something else.

This week, DH and I made our trip to Moncton for his cousin's funeral. It was a big funeral and we got to see a lot of relatives that we don't see very often. While in Moncton, we visited with my MIL and she looks and feels great. That move to a special care home was absolutely the best thing for her. We are still hoping that she will be able to come up for a week at Christmas.

DH's brother and his wife are coming here today. They are going to stay here tonight and tomorrow they leave for their trip to Florida. They have a place in Avon Park, Florida and are going to stay there until either April or May. We hope to pack up our 5th-wheel during the first week of January and head out for Florida ourselves. We have reservations in Naples, Florida, until the end of March. Our departure date will depend on the weather around here. We really don't want to leave during a snowstorm or bad weather.

This past week, I have made two mincemeat pies and 36 half-moon chicken meat pies. I also made a blueberry pie. I froze everything and when I need one, I just bake it then and it works really well especially if company arrives unexpectedly.

Must run. Have a great weekend everyone!

Finished Product - NB Sheet Material Quilt

I finally got busy and finished my NB Sheet Material Quilt. I cut my square 10 inches and alternated them in a checkerboard effect. Then I pieced large pieces in the light green for the back and used the roll of 4" wide strips to make the binding. There is no batting in this quilt for two reasons. The material itself is going to be plenty warm and this quilt weighs a ton. If anyone likes a heavy blanket on their bed - this is it. To finish it off, I tacked the middle of each square with the opposite coloured yarn. I do like the effect it has and now that I have pictures of it, on my bed it goes today.

This is the first week that I can do any lifting after breaking my rib. The pain is pretty well gone for the most part and only bothers me if I move a different way. Maybe next time, I can try to stay on my feet.

We have had lovely weather here at the Lake, even though a lot of other areas around us have had a taste of the white stuff - SNOW. It has been cold though. Today, it is cloudy but it is supposed to go up to 12 C or about 54 F. DH and I decided to wash the vehicles this afternoon if that temperature is reached. We are trying to get things ready to go to Florida in January and since we usually don't use the 4-wheel truck except for hauling our 5th wheel RV, if we do wash it this afternoon, we will put it away until our trip to Florida - that is if nothing else happens between now and then. We also have a Tracker for our second vehicle and since that is 4-wheel drive as well, we don't need to run the truck in the winter. The Tracker is a lot cheaper on fuel as well.

We have just heard that DH's cousin's husband past away in the night, so that probably will mean a trip to Moncton sometime this week. We are hoping to make it just a one-day trip.

Between doctor's and dentist's appointment this month, we are going to be very busy. I also want to find time to go visit our daughter and her husband in Nova Scotia - we are aiming for the week of the 24th for that. Hope to see you guys then.

Well, must run. Until next time, have a great week everyone!

Happy Halloween

I want to wish everyone a Happy Halloween. Since we live so far off the main road, we don't get any trick or treaters. So I guess we are going to have our usual Saturday night card games with our neighbors and friends. There are no little ones on our road even though we have 11 permanent residents plus another 20 to 25 cottages. It is more like a seniors road as most of us are retired.

We have been having showers so maybe that will keep the Halloween destruction down this year. Hopefully, we will not have anyone trying to burn one of our New Brunswick covered bridges this year.

I have been working quite a bit on my swedish weaving. Almost two weeks ago, I fell and I believe I cracked a rib and so, I have been rather quiet since then. I have done a lot of relaxing and not much of anything else. I hate being this quiet but it is now getting a bit better and I now can sleep most of the night. This morning, DH and I went in to our local hospital where our doctor has his office and we both got the regular flu shot. Since DH's lungs are compromised, the doctor suggested we get these shots.

Must go as it is getting close to suppertime and I have rolls rising and need to bake them.
Every one, have a great Halloween. Till next time.

New Brunswick Sheet Material

Since DH is doing some work in my sewing room, it is now too crowded to do any sewing. However, a few weeks ago, I went to Shediac, New Brunswick, where I found a store that was selling remnants of what we call New Brunswick sheets. These bedsheets are made in Buctouche, New Brunswick, and are made of a material that is both soft and warm. Once you buy a set of those sheets, no one wants to go back to cotton or flannel sheets. They are wonderful. They are a bit more expensive than other sheets but worth every penny of it.

Back to quilting, I picked up bunches of forest green squares, and bunches of light green squares, brought them home, cut them to 10 1/2 inch squares and am in the process of sewing them together to make a checkerboard effect. Each bunch of square contained 22 to 26 squares each and sold for $2.00 a bunch. I bought two bunches of each colour and for $8.00, I have enough squares to make a queen size quilt. Then I bought 3 strips of the light green which I will sew together for the back. Again these were cheap and then I bought a roll of the dark green strips which are wide enough to do the binding. Again, that roll was $2.00. I figure I will have a queen size quilt of that awesome material for less than $25.00. Once I put it all together, I plan to just tack it and on my bed it goes when done.

Today, we are having continuous rain and they are calling for "snow" flurries in the evening. That is right, that four letter word - "snow". I sure hope they are wrong but time will tell.

Yesterday, DH and I decided to rake and pick up the leaves and pine needles that were down. What a job. To top it off, the leaves are not nearly all down yet. It does look like perhaps most of the pine needles are down though. In the morning, we finally finished winterizing our RV and parked it in our neighbour's yard next to us. We did that in case, we decide to go to Florida this winter. That way, it is easier to get out if we do get snow before we were to leave and also, it is close to us and it makes it easier to plug in and load up if we do go.

We have three feeders next to our windows. We love the smaller birds like chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, finches but we also have blue jays that keep coming to the feeders and they are big birds that scare the others away. Blue jays are beautiful birds but they are bossy.

Must run but until next time, have great days.

Autumn Leaves

A couple of days ago, all was very calm outdoors and when I looked out my front window, this is the beautiful scenes that I saw. I really love the change of colours. The only sad thing about all of this is that I will end up raking all of these leaves in the very near future and it all means winter is coming. However, I am enjoying it for now. DH and I really enjoy living on a lake especially here as it is 2 miles off the main road, even if we do have 11 permanent residents on our shore. It is really quiet and we often see all kinds of wildlife. The birds are plentiful and because we feed them, we see lots of different kinds of them. We also have the red squirrels and the chipmunks.

The funny part of it all, in the Spring, we have one grey squirrel that comes by and stays for a couple of days, then disappears until the Fall when he comes by for another couple of days. We never see him in the Summer or Winter. We also have a beaver who goes by just before the lake freezes over, we think he goes up the little brook at one end of the lake; and as soon as the ice breaks up in the Spring, he swims by to go to the other end of the lake. It is the funniest thing. All our neighbors keep on eye out for these happenings.

I guess once you retire and reach our ages, it doesn't take much to entertain you. DH has just taken up another hobby - old flywheel engines. He and his friend, who lives close by, are just so busy with that hobby. It makes it easier for me to pursue my quilting and Swedish weaving.

It was DH's birthday yesterday and out friends had a chocolate birthday cake for him last night. Since he is a chocolate addict, it was great for him but I found it too much chocolate. He loves anything that has chocolate in it. DD is a chip of the old block as far as chocolate is concerned. DH also likes John Deere tractors and friends of ours brought in a little John Deere lunch can and it was full of their homemade chocolate (of course) fudge. He was thrilled.

Must go, until next time, have a great day everyone.