Thursday, June 6, 2019

I Like/Love #28 for May

I missed my usual end of the month gratitude post, so here we go a week late. You can find other grateful people who link up weekly or less often, at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

1. I love Spring blossoms. I've been taking photos of the flowering bushes and trees over the past few weeks. They provide so much colour inspiration. Many of these are now done, but others are taking their place!
Our flowering crabapple was glorious this year, thanks to the tons of rain and pruning it got last Fall. It's taller than our garage! This was taken May 25.


2. I like living in an older neighbourhood with well-established humongous trees. Here in southern Ontario we are in the Carolinian forest, and therefore we have a massive variety of trees.
A Dogwood and an Eastern Redbud
The Eastern Redbud is native to our area, and the eastern US. The Dogwood is native to our area of Canada which is along the shore of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario. They are glorious!
May 25 

3. I had a closeup of this incredible deep purple lilac in My Mother's Lilacs quilt post which is here. This photo shows the white ones beside these, which just set them off even more beautifully. And oh, that green!
May 28

The same neighbour has the most beautiful, huge Eastern Redbud I've seen, in front of which is this wine-coloured Japanese maple (I believe).

4. I like that I'm still folding and storing my clothes the Marie Kondo way. I enjoy doing this too. Gosh, upon proof-reading this post, I realized just how close the colours in the centre Mother's Choice block of my quilt, below, are to those in the photo above!
Clockwise from top left are two stacks of t-shirts, then pjs, and finally socks, simply folded in half and then, like the t-shirts, stood on end in my drawer.
5. I am grateful on a daily basis for Lake Erie and her blue waters, that I can see from the end of my driveway, or walk to her shore in 2-3 minutes. One day last week we drove onto the dock area, where the ferry comes in, and the fishing business and boats are, to marvel at the height of the lake. All Great Lakes this year have set records.
Perhaps two or three years ago, people would walk out on the wall that you cannot really see on the right side of the photo that leads out to the green-topped lighthouse, to fish. It's nearly covered over now, and the water in the harbour is nearing the top of the dock. This is most alarming, and due to climate change.

6. I love the sudden inspiration that struck for the quilt back of my latest finish. Once the sun popped out, of course the day after I'd posted, I took these two photos. The post is here.
I 'folded' two of the missing outer mustard-colour star points to the back of the quilt! I like how closely I managed to line them up on the longarm too.
 I love the texture quilting gives to a quilt. And I really like this Twilight Chic line from Island Batik! The black is a basic (loooove their solids) and the mustard is another blender.

7. I really like the Sweet Star quilt QAL by Jessica Dayon squirrel that I chased. Here are blocks 9-12:
And blocks 13-16:

I like the fabric, Blueberry Park by Robert Kaufman, but I haven't been a fan of how it feels when pressing, kind of a rubbery feel. That white is stamped on, not woven in. Yet it's soft, so I hope it will end up being okay. I also like that I have all 16 blocks done, and I hope to assemble them by the end of the month. This week is doing just that, and putting on the two outer borders, but I doubt I'll have it done by tomorrow!

8. I like spinning seams:
You'll notice two different whites. That's because I didn't have quite enough of the treble clef white fabric, that also happens to have a bit of that embossed rubbery feel, so I added in this dot from Connecting Threads, that does not have that feel, and a few other pieces of white solids here and there.

9. I love this lemon. LeeAnna gave me this tip when we were chatting over email about young male pups and their mouthing, nipping and jumping up, not cool. "A drop in the mouth is all it takes, 2-3 times and he should stop," she said.
Oh he did. Three times, maybe a fourth after a little while when he was testing again. I had to coax him to even come this close... Now I just show it to him and bam! He backs off whatever misbehaving he's been up to.

10. I just love this clematis, Nelly Moser, I believe.
It should be climbing, no? This is the same neighbour who has the Eastern Redbud with the Japanese Maple. The yard needs a bit more care than the young couple are giving it, but it has improved this year.

11. I really like the show, Schitt's Creek on CBC, but right now I'm watching it on Netflix. It's won awards, and I can see why. I'm half way through Season 2.

12. I love our rhododendron! I took these this morning, June 6.

Glorious!

I am in love with the two dormers on our house! They are working on replacing the back roof now as it all had to be done since it wasn't up to code.




12 comments:

  1. WOW what a beautiful selection of trees--that flowering Crab is spectacular...I really like your star quilt--quilting looks so amazing...
    Nice likes this week hugs, Julierose

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  2. Beautiful flowering trees, a colour explosion post. I've never heard of the lemon lesson a good one to know.

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  3. Hi Sandra! Lemon juice - who would have thought. Great idea - I'm passing that suggestion on to a coworker who has a mouthy young pup. I would love to be able to grow clematis. It is definitely a climber but certainly looks quite happy there on the ground. I have never figure out the trick to spinning seams. I guess I have to read how to do it and then actually do it. I just do love the little itty bitty four patch it makes and how nice and flat the seam lays! Happy Friday to you. ~smile~ Roseanne

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  4. I love seeing parts of your world. The higher lake waters are very interesting, and probably alarming. Love the lemon trick. I'll have to remember that. And your remodel is coming along quite nicely. You'll be finished before you know it!

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  5. So much to like/love in this post. I'm so happy to hear that the lemon is doing the trick! I have a pack of Blueberry Park I haven't used yet. Love the colors, but not that feel! So many pretty trees and flowers, and I wish I had that view of the lake. I've been missing Lake Superior, so I need to make a trip there soon!

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  6. So many wonderful photos of flowers and quilts. Thank you for the tip about the lemon to keep the dog down. I will suggest to my kids as their dog(s) are jumpers. A knee to the chest can keep them down but keeping them from jumping in the first place.... You are one busy lady and I admire all that you accomplish. I hope the roof gets sealed in before the next big rain!

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  7. Your lake photos are always so beautiful! I've been reading about the Great Lakes water levels being so high right now - like all the river flooding here in the states, too. So many climate change/extremes right now. Your Island Batik star quilt is so lovely - what an interesting design! Exciting progress on your dormers, too - they look great!

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  8. Beautiful favorites for the month! Love the flowers and quilts.

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  9. Wonderful likes/loves. Do love all the tree/flowering things of spring - ours are so luscious with all the rain. Do not like the level of the Lake....that is alarming...but the lake is beautiful. Love the quilts and the progress on your blocks!

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  10. It's fabulous when you show us where you live. So much colour everywhere too. The house is looking fabulous. What a great tip for mouthy pup, I will pass this into my sister who is thinking of adding a new pup to the family. Love and hugs from across the pond xx

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  11. Lovely photos of the blossoms and the trees, and your quilts and quilt blocks! Such beautiful colours. It is so nice that you live so close to the lake, you visit the lake often, don’t you?! I love Clematis too!!

    Thank you so much for linking up on Wandering Camera, Sandra!!
    -Soma

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  12. Love these posts, Sandra :) No young pups over here, but I'm fascinated by the lemon trick. How simple is that??

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