Thursday, February 3, 2022

Gratitude #60

Welcome to my first Gratitude post for 2022. I write these once a month, paying attention all month long, making notes, taking photos along the way of things for which I am grateful. I link up at LeeAnna's blog Not Afraid of Color, where you can read several other blog postss from various parts of the Internet who post their likes and loves.

1. First of all I am so grateful that I finally, after two long years, got to hug my youngest daughter. Although FaceTime is wonderful, and I appreciate it so very much, it's not the same. We had a wonderful 2.5 days visit. Thus, I did not get this posted on the final Thursday of January. The bestest of reasons why.
This guy also had a wonderful 2.5 days with 'his' Dayna. Although he hadn't seen her for two years, he remembered her, and it was clearly as if she'd come back from the dead. He scream/yipe-cried in a most heartbreaking crazy-endearing way, and it was as if he was trying to get inside her because leaning, sitting, pressing, jumping on, and kissing just wasn't enough. The stuffed cow was actually a present from her for Xena, but he claimed it, along with his bird which was from Dayna. Xena didn't care. She doesn't get stuffies.

2. The next two things for which I am grateful I forgot to write about in my December post. I am grateful for inventions like Etsy that give small makers like myself a venue in which to sell handmade items. Otherwise I probably wouldn't sell too many items! I made quite a few makeup bags in November and December, and there was a flurry of buying in December. 

I decided to make a couple of Christmas themed ones, and I was super-happy when someone I knew bought them both! Jocelyn, aka Canadian Needle Nana bought them to give her two daughters for Christmas. She wrote the most wonderful comment, which you can read if you visit my Etsy shop, Sandra Jane Quilts. Thank you so much Jocelyn!

3. I got a message request on Instagram from a foreign-sounding person that I at first wasn't going to accept. Rossella lives in Italy and told me that she had made my very first quilt along quilt, Freefall, which was inspired by Autumn Abundance. She made hers in colours that make her think of a Sicilian island, Favignana.
She added the borders. Aren't they gorgeous? She actually took a class to make this, and they made 12" blocks. She said the teacher got my quilt off Pinterest, 😳and clearly drew up the design herself because her blocks are made in the traditional squares and HSTs way, and have a stem on them. Hers is a king size, and isn't it a beauty! It's crazy to think that a design from the gallery of Shadow Quilts by Slasser and Magret (no pattern was provided) found its way to Italy in a class no less! I figured out the way to do it, and in two sizes, and no I don't have a pattern written up for it--it's not right to make money off someone else's design. If you look hard enough though, you can find my instructions, free, for my version in this blog. It turns out Rossella is a retired math teacher! So I have yet another teacher friend from a quarter of the way around the world. I like Google Translate, because she doesn't speak English, and my French helps a bit with Italian, so Google Translate was my friend!

4. The news is once again being turned off on the hour here. I could write a small long rant about this protest occupation/terrorist takeover of Ottawa and shutdown of an international border, but for now I will just say I'm sickened by the behaviour, very worried for the people who live and work near the Byward Market and Parliament Buildings, which I know and love and have been to several times, who have been living through hell this past week with absolutely no support form the Ottawa Police. No, that police force has been too busy bringing donuts and coffee and fuel to 'truckers' so they can keep on blasting their horns, disrespecting the city and monuments and bylaws, flying offensive flags, sporting white supremacist signs and symbols, etc.

My father was a truckdriver all his life, a heavy equipment hauler, and he would be mortified and disgusted, as 90% of truckers are, by this insurrection. The CTA, Canadian Trucking Alliance, does not support this movement which is full of right wing white supremacists, and very very few actual truckers.

So... I like this article/video, 'Joy Drop' on CBC News about Australia's Dylan Alcott. It is a must-read if you'd like some joy in your day, not to mention a little reassurance that there are good and sane people out there. 

5. I am enjoying the current book I am reading,  I Was Anastasia by Kristin Hannah, though it jumps around from 1918 to 1968 and many dates in-between. The Alice Network was another epic read in January, highly recommend. I also read A Better Man by Louise Penny and Inseparable by Simone de Beauvoir. The latter was interesting, basically autobiographical account of a childhood into early 20s deep friendship between Simone and Zaza. Simone was a pioneering feminist, and this book was only just published in 2021 though it was written many decades earlier.

6. I am grateful that I got to watch the Harry Potter Reunion thanks to a free week of Crave network, and grateful that I watched half of it with Dayna when she was here. It has made me want to re-read all the books and re-watch all the movies this year. It was fascinating listening to Emma, Dan and Rupert talk about the ten years (10!!) of making the films. It took me back to when the books would come in to the book department in Save On Foods, where both my daughters worked during their high school years, and they'd be sealed in boxes, and only allowed to be opened at midnight on the release date. One of the early tomes we shared, Goblet of Fire, I think, and we'd all three take turns reading a chapter or two, yelling at whoever was going beyond that because we were impatiently waiting! Then when they had their own money, they bought their own copies! Dayna has read each book probably 10 (some of them more) times, and that's not an exaggeration. Have I mentioned how much I love books?!

7. I like Wordle. Dayna first got me onto playing it. If you haven't heard of it, check it out. That link will take you to Power Language homepage where you can read a little about Welsh-born Josh and then click the link to Wordle. I love the brain work but I also love that Josh created it free, a game he made up for his partner, and now it's being played by all of us around the world. Here is an article about him and the game. Of course, there are some despicable people who copied it and are trying to sell it (I cannot stand those who do that, and there are those in the quilting world like this too...) but Josh has kept this free and what a wonderful gift he has given us! MacGyver plays it too now. 😁

8. I like the new bed we got for Xena, and that Rufus loves it too. Now they happily go back and forth all day between the Poang (IKEA chair) and this fluffy bed, which also has a soft furry rug in it that used to be Naala's (our first Rottie).


9. I love being able to walk by Lake Erie every day. This was January 17, and yes that is open water on the horizon. After the snowstorm we got yesterday, I'm sure it looks a little different now! It rarely freezes all the way across, but then it is a Great Lake...

Do you know that ice makes sounds? It is fascinating. I've taken photos of the wedges of ice before at Seacliff Beach along the shore, and you can see a bit of that in this photo. It cracks, it tinkles, it rustles, just so fascinating.

10. I like this that Dayna had on her Instagram, and I put it on mine:


11. I am enjoying Project Quilting again this year. So far I've made a makeup bag and sent it as a gift to my niece, and a tea cosy which I gave to Dayna.

12. I am also grateful to have so many quilting friends sewing along on Postcard from Sweden! Check out the hashtag pool for a rainbow of brightness to lift your spirits.


13. Finally I am grateful for Kings Bakeshop in my town of Kingsville. I took Dayna there and rediscovered it (because Covid). We went twice while she was here! I have always loved their cupcakes, but I tried a cinnamon bun on one of the visits, and yum!

Today I have a bag commission to finish and PQ 13.3 to make so I'd better get busy!

9 comments:

  1. I'm so, so happy that you and Dayna had 2.5 days together in person, and clearly Rufus was beyond excited to see her, too. Have a great rest of your week!! <3

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  2. Gratitude indeed for a visit in person, after too long. So glad Rufus remembered her so well. I am grateful for Percy, who Is 14 today - didn't think we'd get there.

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  3. Glad you spent time with your daughter and she with her human & doggy family. It was interesting reading about the "truckie" trouble as DH & I had trucks a loooong time ago & he either drove trucks or buses until he retired. Dylan Alcott is such a great ambassador for our country, teaching & the disability sector & he so deserved the honour of Australian of the Year. Glad you heard about it. Thanks for this gratitude post, take care & hugs.

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  4. Yay to finally visit your daughter! That' quilt that Rossella made is amazing. We're all addicted to Wordle! Oh, that cinnamon bun! (That mug next to it is pretty, too). Good likes!

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  5. Great Monthly Gratitude post! Your report of your visit with Dayna and Rufus’ reaction brought a tear to my eye! Thanks for the book recommendations! I’m a fan of Kristin Hannah and Louise Penny! On my TBR list they go! Thanks for the digital cinnamon bun! I can almost taste it, it’s so pretty! 😋

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  6. I can imagine how great that hug was! Freefall is stunning in those colours. Don't get me started on the so called protest/occupation, I feel so sorry for the people it is affecting in Ottawa. No thought, no care for anybody but themselves. I'm a Wordle addict!

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  7. I always enjoy your gratitude posts. Just the pick me up I needed.

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  8. Hi again, Sandra! I can't even get through your first thankful - the first paragraph - without having tears spring into my eyes. There is NOTHING as good as a real {{hug}} to/from someone we love. You can just feel the warmth and the love pass back and forth. Nothing feels so good after two whole years without - I know exactly what you mean. And I can just hear that pups delight/disbelief when he saw Dayna. They never forget their people, either. Just like us!! He looks so cute with that stuffie. He'll enjoy the scent until he sniffs it all gone. Wordle!! I love it, too. That cinnamon bun looks fabulous . . . YUM. Take care of yourself!! {{{Hugs}} ~smile~ Roseanne

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  9. Fabulous post Sandra. It's always Very Useful to think on the positive side. Love Dayna's meme - no I'm not bi-lingual but have enough schoolgirl French to read it! Haha and wordle is doing the rounds in our family too! I am grateful that there is only one a day to do....!!

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