Saturday, October 30, 2021

DrEAMi! #57

Welcome to another edition of Drop Everything And Make it and to my menopausal brain-lack-of-power at times! Sorry this post is out late; I got all excited to be doing Ashtanga yoga with David Robson online this morning (he's in Toronto, but world-renowned) that I didn't even remember it was DrEAMi time until I got home from a Shoppers' Drug Mart run.😬I even HAD a DrEAMi this past week, and I have a cute squirrel photo I saved on my phone but do you think I can recall where I saw it?! Maybe Pinterest....

Like nuts, DrEAMi projects are meant to be shared, right?  Let's scurry to it!

Thursday, October 28, 2021

Gratitude #57 Mostly About Xena

Welcome again to my monthly post of gratitude. If you'd like to read more uplifting posts from around the globe, head to LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color where she writes a weekly post, and others link up theirs. It will definitely lift your spirits; often these things we all note are simple things, don't cost much, if anything.

1. I am grateful for a very wise and experienced dog trainer named Maggie Mason, highly recommended by my friend Liz. About three weeks ago we went to her, at our wits' end with Xena. Walking her had taken a severe downturn, she was still charging and barking at Bella, and she was so fixated on the truck. A ride somewhere in it seemed to regress her, and she would withdraw, become aloof and anxious. Well. The one-on-one time with Maggie was invaluable in that she gave us a couple of pointers, was able to observe Xena and evaluate her, both outside and inside her facility, and said that although it was clear she'd been very abused, she knew there was a very good dog in there. I had realized within a few days of having Xena that she'd been on a chain for probably most of her life; her paw sensitivity and dexterity with her legs when the leash wrapped around them, and wherewithal to extract her leg(s), even literally doing a little handstand to hop over her leash (we'd kept her on leash in the house for the first several days as she acclimated to us and us to her) had made it click. Well, Maggie observed from the way her neck skin wrinkles from time to time that she had not one but two or possibly three chains around her neck... Maggie gave us some puppy training stuff to work through, since she figures she never really got to be a puppy, and said to call us in a few weeks when she should be more ready for training.

Well. The next day I suggested we walk together, all four of us, instead of one of us taking Xena, and one taking Rufus. MacGyver reluctantly agreed; we don't walk well together. My natural pace is much faster than his, and the dogs often play off one another which aggravates his rather short fuse of patience. So, off we went. Well, not quite like that, as Xena did NOT want to leave the house or 'her' truck, but with some liver treats (Maggie said treat, treat, treat), and the fact Rufus was leaving too, as well as both of us, she did come along.

From that very walk, it was a revolution in her behaviour and progress. A lightbulb went on in her head. It's been uphill ever since: she is much less reluctant to leave home, she is HAPPY as she trots along, tail up in the air, wagging, she's smiling in that wrinkled cheeks way that bulldogs do, we don't have to treat her as much on the walk, and her at-home behaviour has markedly changed. She's more affectionate; she comes OFTEN to give us kisses, sashaying her hips, wagging her tail, all wriggly; asking us to sit with her on the dedicated quadruped loveseat, she lets us hug her for short periods, LOVES my nightly jaw, cheek and head massages, even rolls back for short, very short, belly rubs. It's like she has established in her doggy mind that we are a pack. She seems, little by little, to be realizing this is her HOME. She's even instigated some play with Rufus, she has regular zoomies (mostly outside...), and she's actually sort of figured out how to play with a ball! Before, she'd just look at me, like huh? What is that? Why are you looking at me like that? Go get it if you want it.

Saturday, October 23, 2021

Fleurs

When I signed up for Gail's Quilting Gail PHD programme, I didn't know just how gratifying it would be. Finishing (finally! seven years later) Fleurs is the pinnacle of 2021 so far for me. I avoided it all year, and probably had it not been for joining in with Leanne @devotedquilter #wipsbegone2021 , I may not have got this huge quilt done. But done she is!

A quick refresh: this was a 'self' round robin. We sewed on our own quilts, and each month for seven months, the guild executive told us what that month's round would involve. I liked the challenge, and I liked sewing on my own quilt. I've been in two round robins: the first I was bitterly disappointed and the second, well, let's just say that not all contributors put in the same amount of care, thought and work, though in the second experience it was just one person, not several as in the first experience. 

Fleurs took me a lot longer to quilt than I'd anticipated! I loaded it September 11 and took it off October 17! I need to finish another UFO this month (gulp) or two in November to get back on track for 12 UFO finishes this year.

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

What's Up

What have I been up to besides working on my 94 Quilt? Well, a few things, though none of them have given me any finishes for a while.

You know that I've decided to hop on Leanne's @devotedquilter Instagram bandwagon of finishing WIPs during the final 100 days of 2021.

I started with the biggest most time-consuming goal of the three, but tbh, all three are pretty big, time-consuming goals. In for a penny...

Wednesday, October 6, 2021

94Quilt: Blocks 88 - 94 and the Flimsy

I acknowledge that I am living on unceded territory of Anishinaabeg (Source: Canadian Encyclopedia) on the shore of erielhonan, (Iroquoian word meaning 'long tail') now called Lake Erie.

The post that explains my 94Quilt project is here.  Since July 1 I've been making a flying geese block a day as I read one of the 94 Calls to Action, its accompanying explanations and progress report, and links that go with each one. I made my last geese block on October 2. On October 3 I made the final heart block. The Calls are divided into six major sections, and so at the end of each one, I have made a heart block. Reconciliation has the most Calls within it, though there are several sub-sections. The hearts inadvertently led to me having a nice number of 100 blocks. Some of the blocks are set in the Dutchman's Puzzle setting; others are interrupted by a heart. When I saw this happening, I decided to 'interrupt' the blocks with two columns of geese going in random directions. I wanted lots of movement across the quilt, and a more modern feel to it. All of the hearts are the same fabric (a great one by Benartex, Marbella), and almost all of the reds and oranges are  repeated twice, some three times. The Moda I used for the background is gone but for a couple of small scraps, so that feels good to move yardage off the shelf. 

The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is the main website with a wealth of information.
Beyond 94 is the CBC-created site that is an ongoing report card monitoring how we are doing with the calls.

Reconciliation

88. Continued support for the North American Indigenous Games.
Complete. 
  • In April 2017 the federal government committed ongoing funding ($18.9 million over five years, and ongoing funding of $5.5 million every four years thereafter) both at the community level and to support the Games.
  • Dale Tamara Plett of the Chippewas of Rama First Nation in Ontario, was elected the first Indigenous woman president of the 2020 Games which were to be in Halifax, but have now been rescheduled to 2023.