Almost home. Many adventures to share soon!
Wonder if Boo and Panda will recognize me? Wonder how Panda will respond to Dear Hubby? Wonder how crowded it will feel tonight after being spoiled with king-sized beds for a week and now cramming two adults and two cats into a queen-size?
These and many more questions to soon be answered. Good to be (almost) home again.
Hugs,
Barb
Dear Hubby and I are traveling down the road somewhere in the middle of Ohio. And leaving snowy Montreal in the rear view mirror. It is good to be back in the good ol’ USA where I can even blog from my cell phone. Ain’t technology a wonderful thing? I can still remember computers with 20 Mb hard drives. And I do not want to hear from you if you’re not old enough to remember that too. Some things are better left unsaid. Just sayin’.
(I think there is some irony there.)
So because I can’t let my friend, Cathi, in Toronto, get ahead of me on the Inklingo mystery, I am stitching on the road!
Now that’s a full lap! And who am I kidding anyway? I’ll never be able to catch Cathi!
But I’m sure gonna give it a try.
More road adventures to come!
Hugs, Barb
Guess where I am? Go ahead…. guess. I’ll give you a hint.
Yes, that is snow. And my footprints.
This is me shortly after I arrived at my destination. Figured out where I am yet?
Nope. Not Alaska.
And that’s Dear Hubby getting the scraper out to brush off the car. Isn’t the snow wonderful? I wanted to drop to the ground and make snow angels immediately. Dear Hubby was not amused. He is ready to leave the snow behind for warmer temps.
This is your final clue. If you haven’t figured out yet that I’m in Canada, you haven’t been reading this blog very long.
And what an adventure it has been! It started out with a late departure on my first flight. Which meant I missed the connection. Not to worry – there’s another flight to Montreal in just 2 hours. And I was anxious for some lunch anyway. Never mind that I just sprinted from a B terminal gate all the way to an E terminal gate in the Atlanta airport. In my really big, clunky, good-to-40-below-zero, Alaska snow boots that hubby insisted I bring. Which obviously couldn’t fit in my luggage so I had to wear them. Only the luggage…… but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Never mind that I arrived at the gate huffing and puffing with sweaty feet at 12:18 for a flight that was scheduled to leave at 12:20 and it was already gone. Who knew that departure time was apparently not the time that they closed the door? Not this traveller, that’s for sure. But I was hungry anyway so off I went to find some lunch. And thankfully I did make the next flight. I was the last passenger to board with only 2 seats on the plane. And I got both of them. It was nice to spread out.
I’m not sure why, but apparently my luggage decided it wanted to take a later flight. Maybe because I was the last person on the plane at the last possible second and they closed the door behind me? So my luggage couldn’t keep up? Whatever. When I arrived in Montreal the nice man told me that my luggage would be arriving at 11:30 pm and they would kindly deliver it to Dear Hubby’s apartment in the morning. Isn’t that sweet? Good thing I wore the snow boots, eh? And he gave me a nice little care package….
Everything a gal could want! Not. There wasn’t even any shampoo! Let alone hair spray and hair gel. And the world’s flimsiest T-shirt. Dear Hubby said it qualified for a wet T-shirt contest without getting wet. Cute, real cute. And shaving cream and a razor. I considered using it to shave my head since there wasn’t any shampoo, but resisted.
This was the view out the window just shortly after Dear Hubby left for work this morning. I love the snow in the trees. And it was still coming down. All day yesterday, all night last night and most of the morning. Dear Hubby is so over the snow. And very ready to get back to Texas. Where it was probably 80 degrees today and sunny. OK maybe 79.
And a short time later I got to take pics of the snowplow plowing out the parking lot. It’s the little things that entertain us Texas gals with a little bit of snow around. But this was really quite interesting.
And now a lesson in snow plowing in Canada. He would push the snow in front with the blade. But see the little whirly things on the back? When he backed up, those things would spin and pick up all the snow behind him.
And spray it up the hill like a giant snow blower. It was very cool. I was sorry when he finished. Remember the TV only has 5 channels and 3 of them are in French? So this is what I do for entertainment. Well, this and the laundry.
Only on this trip I am packing. Because Dear Hubby is coming home – yeah! By the way, the sweet man last night who told me my luggage would be delivered today? He was wrong. And I still don’t have my luggage. But they are saving it for me at the airport and we will pick it up tomorrow. I might just hug my big red suitcase when I see it. And my hair gel and hair spray. Dear Hubby might hug it too. Because my hair without hair gel and hair spray? Not a pretty sight.
But Dear Hubby had a nice big smile as we waited for the subway to take us from the airport to his apartment last night. Well actually it was a bus/subway/train trip that took 2 hours (and why we aren’t getting the luggage until tomorrow) – another adventure!
And the packing? Don’t tell Dear Hubby because he thinks I slaved away all day. But the actual packing? About 17.3 minutes. The rest of the day I sat around and sent emails, ate Timbits, put my feet up, read a book and took pics of the snowplow. What a life.
But after all…. I’m on vacation.
More adventures to come!
Hugs,
Barb
Well, you can’t call it a To Do list if the items are already crossed off, right? And I’ve been a busy girl.
I attribute some of that to the fact that Dear Hubby is leaving Canada and coming back home. And I am so, so, so very happy about that. My friend Susan says I’m nesting for his return. She just might be right. That and Spring Cleaning have struck me with a vengeance.
So here’s a list of a few of the things that have consumed me lately.
1. Downton Abbey. Not exactly a To Do List item. But definitely falls into the category of things that have consumed my time. Did you watch? Oh, my. I don’t know when I’ve been so engrossed in a TV show. I won’t give away anything in case you haven’t watched. I’d have to do a big spoiler alert. But can you believe that ending? I may never recover. Well, maybe I will. Since we have to wait forever before it’s on again. Really? Do they have to cram it all together so much and then make us wait so long? I protest. But I probably have plenty of time to recover.
2. I emptied and cleaned out a whole cupboard in my kitchen. I’ve had lots of energy lately. And I think I’m trying to cram everything I intended to do over the year Dear Hubby was gone into the last 3 days.
I was so caught up in the organizing that I forgot to take a before picture. This one was during.
Here’s after. Now I go into the kitchen multiple times a day and open this cupboard just to look inside. I love an organized cupboard.
3. Bought a cat tree. Which means I have been taking pictures of the cats as they investigate it. Yes, you heard me. Cats, plural. Boo has a new friend. And as soon as I finish sorting the 3,428 pics I’ve taken of her/them, I’ll do a whole post about her.
It looked much bigger at the store. Boo sort of has to hang over. But he does lay on it occasionally.
But Panda has definitely taken over the tree. As well as every one of Boo’s favorite napping spots. I will tell Panda’s story one day soon. And show you lots more pics. Because I’ve got a gazillion of them. And you need to see them all.
4. Inklingo Mystery. I totally meant to blog about each clue in this mystery. I know I told you about the first clue and picking out my fabric. Well, tomorrow Clue #4 will be posted and do you believe it? I’m already behind. I know you’re surprised.
I have never cut so many tiny pieces of fabric in 2 days in my entire life. With curved edges no less. But thanks to the amazing video posted by Linda, I was able to do a big chunk of those curves with my rotary cutter.
See? Lots of little chunks. And with this project I have successfully exorcised the perfectionist in me that has always made me cut precisely on every single line. It is so unnecessary if I am hand piecing and I have beautiful stitching lines. Thanks to Inklingo, I have those. And I am finally caught up on the cutting. My rotary cutting hand may fall off at any moment.
My normal mode with quilting with Inklingo is to print a little, cut a little, sew a little, repeat. I get bored doing too much of one thing. So this mystery has challenged me in many ways! But I’m happy to have left behind that perfectionist gal. She was getting a bit annoying.
But I only have 6 units stitched of the 72 of these units that we need. At this rate I figure I’ll be ready for Clue #4 by Christmas. Maybe if I stay up late enough tonight I can move that to Thanksgiving. And I think I need a bigger box.
By the way, it’s worth it to read every post on the Inklingo blog just to see Monkey in his red snowsuit making snow angels!
5. Feathered Star sample for new class schedule. I made this one totally by machine. Not exactly my favorite way to piece when precision is important, but Inklingo made it super simple.
And with Linda’s fabulous step-by-step instructions included in the Feathered Star Design Book that comes with the collection, I had this quilt top done in less than 3 days. And I had a ball doing it. I would definitely do it again.
6. Cooking. Been doing lots of cooking lately. Loving my Baked Oatmeal for breakfast each day. And today I was back to Pinto Bean Waffles. Another favorite I hadn’t had in awhile.
My breakfast the other day. Chocolate Baked Oatmeal with strawberries on it. Yum. Aren’t you hungry now?
7. Organizing piles. Oh, my. They had been accumulating again. So much paperwork to go through.
Do you have this kind of stuff? Please say yes and that I’m not the only one. I am, however, happy to report that the piles are under control once again. I feel very organized. Must be that nesting.
I still have a To Do List. But it is getting shorter all the time. I just love crossing things off. Such a nice feeling of accomplishment.
One last pic of Panda. Isn’t she just the cutest thing? Many more pics of her to come. She’s very photogenic.
Happy Organizing,
Barb
I’ve been a mystery fan ever since Nancy Drew came into my life. So when my friend, Linda, who is the genius behind Inklingo, decided to do a mystery quilt, I was all in. Besides…. I needed a new project. The 874 unfinished things in my sewing room just weren’t calling loudly enough to be worked on.
While we’re on the subject of unfinished, I’d like to let it be known that I prefer to call them Projects Half Done. Then when anyone asks, I can feel good about saying I’m working on my PHD. Multiple PHD’s to be precise. People are so impressed.
Mystery quilts scream out to be done by the masses. It’s so much more fun to have a large support group as you work out the clues. My friend, Cookie, absolutely loves doing mystery quilts. You should have seen her eyes light up when I told her about this one the other day. She was also thrilled to have a reason to start an Inklingo project. I’m so glad she’s playing along.
Linda will post clues each week. I know Linda and this will be one organized mystery! Complete with fun pics of Monkey along the way. It even has a great, Nancy Drew-type name. The Case of the Secret Garden. Fun. The first clue can be found here:
It’s all about choosing fabric this week. And cutting up a few pieces of freezer paper so you’re all ready to print the very second that Clue #2 gets posted on the Inklingo blog next week.
Here are my fabric choices. The paisley is my dark, the stripe is medium, light background and the red at the top is my accent fabric. I pre-washed all my fabrics today so I’m all ready to print them as soon as Clue #2 is available. Of course, you realize that I reserve the right to change my mind. I might even change it before the next clue! It’s a woman’s prerogative, you know.
Won’t you join me? It will be a wonderful opportunity to be led by the hand with Linda and Monkey through an entire Inklingo project. It doesn’t get much better than that! And you are gonna fall in love with Inklingo for quilting. We are using the brand new New York Wheel Collection for the mystery.
Be sure to tell Monkey that I sent you!
Hugs,
Barb
Just Sayin' Sew 