Thursday, May 18, 2017

I Like/Love #4 - Gifts of Many Kinds

I love thoughtful gifts.
This came from Brianne for my birthday, which was in April.  I just LOVE it!!!  I want to wear it in public, but it's a pj top.  The bottoms are cute and comfy as all get-out too.  Maybe I could get away with it as yoga clothes? 🤔  I'll let you know if I do, and what happens.  I just might...you know, live dangerously once in awhile.  Speaking of thoughtful gifts, I need to get better at this within my own family.

A darling reader, who is also a pitbull advocate extraordinaire, got rid of a ton of her sewing stuff.  That she has lost her sew-jo and has no more interest in quilting, makes me so very sad for her, but I know she's channelling wonderful energy into her new position, working with animals. They are so fortunate to have her.  One day, next year, I hope, we can meet on our way north from or south to, Florida.
Literally STUFFED with goodies, accompanying sweet notes--blown away doesn't begin to describe the emotions that arose when going through this magical gift.
You may recall the mini, aka mug rug I sent Jasmine of Quilt Kisses for her new sewing room in her new house. A couple of weeks ago I got this in the mail:


She knows me well! As you see it has already been put to good use and sits on my cutting/pressing counter holding important tools.

I love wildflowers.
Once again, I have no clue what these are...help?
No one tends them; few admire them; I marvel at them.

I love wild flowers of the permanent kind... THIS stunning, sweet surprise of a gift arrived the other day from my dear friend Cindy, of Stitchin at Home.  The detail! The precision! The artistry! The depth! The pleasure it gives me!

I immediately added it to my 'wall' of minis.

I love the educational and inspiring gift I receive each week from the 150 Canadian Women quilt along going on at Next Step Quilt Designs.
Here are the latest group of blocks:
73-Violet Paul King: first black person to graduate from Law at the U of Alberta, first black female lawyer in 1954, eventually moved to the US where she became the first woman in a senior management position with the American national YMCA! 74-Emily Ferguson Murphy: another Albertan who every Canadian knows, one of the Famous Five, fought for women's rights, and when she was pleading the case for a woman magistrate, she was offered the job. Thus, a self-taught legal expert, she became the first woman magistrate; fought to change the meaning of the word 'person' in the BNA act to include women (THAT SHOCKS ME-and it took them 10 YEARS to do so) so that women could serve in the Senate. 75-Eileen Vollick: diminutive, she had to sit on cushions in the cockpit of her airplane; first Canadian women to parachute into water; and, after a mere 16 hours of training in an open-cockpit biplane, in 1928, she was the first Canadian woman to receive a pilot's license.
As I wrote on Instagram, I was all set to celebrate getting to block 75, the half way point.  Then when I filed the PDFs of these blocks into my CA Women folder (I file them upon completion, so I keep track) in my laptop, I saw I was missing blocks 70-72.  Huh?  Looked in the documents folder and saw them there. "Oh!" I thought, "Guess I forgot to file these."  Opened 70 and did not recognize the name or the block.  Whaaat??  Open 71 and 72, same thing.  😣😫 Somehow I'd gone out of order!  Don't worry; I've already finished 70 and will persevere with 71-72!

I love seeing everyone's yards and photos of beautiful spring blooms. I revel in the joyful bursting forth that Spring brings. Here are a few shots of my own of Mother Nature's gifts to us.
April 23-Rhododenron, survived the winter at our friends' house while we were in limbo
This crabapple (I believe) tree in our yard!

I love that I am so close to Lake Erie.  A short minute walk to the end of the lane, and another couple of minutes standing, listening, gazing, and I've restored my chi.  I put a photo on the blog April 18 from basically the same spot I was standing this morning:

Like my mum, I love views through windows.  What a surprising and wonderful gift I have been given in my sewing loft here!
Those lilacs--! I bet they are the same, or near to the same, age as the house, 70 years old.  They are as tall as the peak of the roof.  And yes, their scent wafts in.  The feline buddha is a gift from Dayna.  Bella has a perch just beneath and to the side of the window. 😻
I love Nature; that's a well-known fact how much I do.  MacGyver spotted this anomaly the day we went to check out the 1947 Featherweight:
Your eye might go to the angels, etc in the yard beneath the tree...travel up the tree.  There! Do you see the white squirrel??!!  Never have I ever...  Must be an albino.  We have black squirrels, brown squirrels, some black squirrels with reddish tails, but never an all-white one!  I am so pleased I caught it on camera.

I wish you a day filled with gifts of the meaningful kind!

Okay, this post was ready to publish at this point this morning, and then outside called...

LOLOL so I did NOT plan to segue into it this way, but serendipity strikes yet again...maybe you give yourself a gift!  I freely admit that I rarely pay full price for anything from household goods to sewing supplies, and if you get email notifications from Craftsy (affiliate link there) you will know there is a screaming good sale starting today for the Canadian May long weekend: up to 60% off Quilting supplies (fist pump! These kind of sales is when I have got the majority of my purchases.) Up to 70% off Clearance and Sewing! Up to 60% off Knitting supplies!

Yeah yeah you think, like what?  Well, kits are often a great deal. Take a look:

That gorgeous quilt is 50% off, meaning you are paying less than $7CA/yard for the fabric.

How about fabric by the yard for $6.86CA/yard? Boundless Blenders Aura is one; Boundless Botanical is another I've bought several of and love. It isn't as good a deal at $8.92CA/yard but still pretty decent when you compare to quilt shop prices. These I will vouch for have a beautiful hand. Note, I was not given any of them; I bought them.

Yarns are at least 50% off.  I love Cloudborn Merino Alpaca that I've bought on sale before. Still have a pattern to sit down and try for the 3rd or 4th go...  There are hat kits for as low as $4 to make!

If you need backing, now would be the time to snag some.  Cotton & Steel's Rashida Coleman Hale has both midnight and orchid for $6/CA yard!

Or maybe Amy Butler?  At $8.68CA/yard and all prints available, it is a decent price.

Full disclosure: a jelly roll of this Jennifer SampouStudio Stash jumped into my cart just now!


You may recall I recently became an affiliate of Connecting Threads (affiliate link).  They carry more than their own brand; right now they have some adorable Shannon Fabrics Minky baby quilt kits on sale. At $34.99US, here's a cute one called Ziggy Quack! That price includes everything: pattern, fabric for top, appliqué, backing and binding!

Tools are on sale 30-50% off and books are on 40-50% off.  Waaah! This book (that I LOVE) I got this past winter is now on sale for $16.19!  That's less than I paid!


Well, have fun! Just call me The Great Enabler.  Oh! Remember, Connecting Threads loves their Canadian shoppers too: at $75 they ship free to your doorstep.  I might know that personally.  And it's fast shipping too.  And the tax and duty was no more than I would pay in Ontario anyhow, so big win.  I know.  Enabling.  Okay I'm done now.  Gotta go check out on Craftsy before that jelly roll sells out.  I may know that personally as well, sniff, on a certain quilt kit I had in my cart on the last sale...

Linking with LeeAnna at Not Afraid of Color, and with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts.


17 comments:

  1. A white squirrel?! Keeeewl! (As only your dear sister can say LOL!)

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  2. What a great post. And, what wonderful gifts you have received! Love the lilacs. mary in Az

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  3. Great likes! Thanks for all the pics, jealous of the Lake Erie view and a white squirrel! LeeAnna

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  4. what we call "Post-it-notes" on those fabrics, what a gift, and the others, one on the desk, one on the wall, and all from the heart and hands. A walk to the lake, refreshed in body and spirit, to start another day. Maybe I need a little lake right here, and a very short walk to the water. I will try the bird bath instead!!!

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  5. I believe your purple flower is a wild geranium (geranium maculatum - not the non-hardy potted geraniums which are actually pelargoniums). They're gorgeous native wildflowers that adapt easily to gardens.

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  6. Oh - I LOVE those mini quilts! And those flowers. What fun.

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  7. Yes, that flower is a geranium. We have one in our garden and it comes back year after year. One year some animal decided it made a good overnight accommodation, and squished it so now we put a little short fence around it to discourage guests. The fence doesn't show but keeps it from being too comfy. Your flowering trees are lovely! It must be so fun to discover all the growing things around your new yard. Wonderful, too that you are still so close to the lake. What a glorious time of year, eh?

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  8. You have lovely "likes" this week, Sandra! Sweet gifts - at first I thoight the mini from your friend Cindy was a picture of REAL flowers! And that view of the lake, and the one outside your sewing room window - love!! Water and flowers - the best views!

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  9. We have had what is apparently a Lucien blackbird . Top head half white , bottom tail half black , bit speckled in the middle , a hybrid albino . We call him the ugly bird . And your little plant Is a wood anemone ? And all that fabric ? Bought and gifted . You'll have to move again ....

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  10. What lovely photos and gifts! All those notes and fabrics wow what a treasure trove.

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  11. I grew up on the shores of Lake Erie and similar views were part of my childhood. I was in Lake County, east of Cleveland. What part of the lake is in your photo? I also had some of that math themed fabric. I was a math teacher and made tote bags for myself and two of my teacher co-workers. It is one of my favorites.

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  12. Love the mini quilts. Had to look twice at the flower one from Cindy, gorgeous. Great post 😍😍

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  13. So fabulous! That crabapple tree is just gorgeous. So vibrantly red/pink! And of course the blog tshirt is great. I bet you could wear it to yoga no problem!

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  14. Wow, what a lot of beautiful likes. Too many for me to call out here specifically. But I enjoyed reading each and every one...albino squirrel, lovely gifts, gorgeous blooms-real and stitched, those amazing Canadian women I'm ashamed I haven't heard of(!!), and the links to great shopping.

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  15. I thought that squirrel was a statue someone had put up in the tree! You are surrounded by beauty! I have some of the same natural beauty here and photograph it all the time. Flowers, trees, sunsets, birds, they all eventually get caught in my lens.

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  16. I enjoyed reading your post and seeing your photos. I'm from Chicago area and we had an early spring but it's still in full bloom. You've inspired me to get out and capture them on my iPad, carry on in Canada, best, Mary

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  17. What a fun post! That wildflower mini is gorgeous. I found the Craftsy sale on Friday. My wallet is a bit lighter, but I know I won't lack for pretty fabrics in my retirement stash. Hard to pass up some of those prices!

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