Gratitude #78 Glimmers

I readily admit that I have had a bit harder of a time lately in some ways finding those 'Glimmers', moments or sights or thoughts that give me a glimmer of happiness. Being grateful, however, has become a habit, and it does lead to a happier human. You can find more grateful posts at LeeAnna's blog, Not Afraid of Color.

1. This one makes my heart sing! About a year ago, an Etsy customer, Wendy in Boston, messaged me after she'd bought my pattern, Grace, asking if I thought she could reverse the pattern to make two quilts that fit together, like a friendship necklace, she said,  for her niece's twin baby girls. I loved the idea and sent her a colouring sheet in reverse image. It is now a part of your download for the pattern. She sent me this photo last week!

The twins are now about ten months old. Wendy did the smooth-edge heart. Instructions for the smooth or jagged (broken) heart are included in the pattern.

DrEAMi #76

Welcome to another month where we share our 'squirrel' projects, those projects that get stuck in our brain and won't rest until we Drop Everything And Make it! Happy Full Hunter's Moon too.🌕 With a partial eclipse to add to the spookiness.👻

An oldie but such a goodie, especially as Halloween is in a few days! I got bitten hard by a squirrel this month.

W-EVdnesday #2 Charging Stations

Today's post is about charging. Probably the biggest reason people tell me why they aren't getting an EV is that, "We aren't there yet," when it comes to the infrastructure needed to charge electric cars. However, what you have to wrap your head around is that unless you are going on a trip, or your apartment or condo does not have charging stations, rarely if ever will you need to go to a public charging station. 

It's true that if you get off the main highways here in Ontario, your chances of finding a fast charger take a nosedive. However, along the major ones, for example the 401, they are plentiful and fast, at every OnRoute rest area. The other thing to consider is that major highways go through or very near major cities, and not far into a major city you will find fast chargers. We look for Canadian Tire stores (these are hardware, outdoor, home and garden major department stores) where Electrify Canada (our preference) and Flo chargers are.

 

One of our several free charges we’ve had over the past  1.75 years. I posted it on Instagram with a thank you any tag to Electrify Canada and they responded☺️

Not all Canadian Tire stores have EV chargers, but many do. Last year when we travelled to the Catskills, we found that Walmart had several Electrify America chargers in their parking lots. This makes such sense to have chargers at shopping centres! You plug in, head into the store, hit the washroom, grab something to eat or drink, and by the time you get back to your vehicle, it's probably about ready to take off again.

Quilt Tales for the Heart and Mind Presentation

I  am pleased to let you know that my 'inaugural tour' as Cathy dubbed it, was a resounding success.

Isn’t this absolutely wonderful? This little cushion sign was made by Cathy in Port Perry as a gift for me. 

Here is the other side:

Beautiful work, beautiful message on both sides! I love it so. And she knows me well: in my favourite colour.

Scrappy Rainbow Stars Quilt

It's amazing what a little pressure or incentive, or both can do to get a quilt done! This is one of three of my RSC 2023 quilts, yet another attempt to put a dent in the strings (it didn't). The free tutorial to make the 16" blocks is here.

As you can see, I had a good time quilting it.

W-EVdnesday

Here we go for the first EV post! We’ve been happy owners of a 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 for 1.5 years, that is since February 4, 2022.

Expensive

One of the first things people say to me is how they couldn't afford a $100K vehicle. Our Ioniq 5 cost $50K, which included some extras like tinted windows, and $2400 in admin fees🙄.  The $50k price includes a $5k rebate from the federal government. I've had it said to my face, "Oh, my daughter/son/I couldn't afford that." I'm not sure if those people have checked into the price of a new vehicle these days but there aren't too many crossovers much less than that.

Full Yet Also Aching Heart

I thought I'd do a little update on WIPs in my sewing studio and life. We had a quiet Thanksgiving, a nice dinner, and a nice fourth win for the Lions. It makes my heart swell to hear from Dayna how packed Ford Field is, with everyone in their seats at kickoff, and the noise level is incredible. Even the announcers keep commenting on it. Fans want this very badly, and I'm especially glad for Dayna and Tyler who bought season tickets again last year (they had them pre-Covid but let them go) and then got transferred to Tennessee, so are now flying or driving up here eight or more times this season! I'm also grateful and my heart is full (as well as my belly lol) for good food over the weekend.

Not only have I been busy in my sewing studio; I've also been a busy bee in the kitchen, making homemade beet hummus from my homegrown beets (yass!), chocolate chip and chunk cookies, pumpkin raisin muffins, and then the main dishes we had (nope I did not make the pumpkin pie, bought it from the in-store bakery). I've been working away at my #wipsbgone list for October; the hearts is all I can show for now of the Grace (#3) quilt top that got finished yesterday.

Yes, sadly, I'm making a third broken heart Grace quilt. I do know that this quilt is such a healing comfort quilt, and as I've sewed the top, my love and compassion have flowed from my heart and soul through my fingertips into this quilt. More when she's done and gifted.

150 Canadian Women Quilt Finish

I actually am quite filled up with emotion to share this finally finished quilt. But first, I want to acknowledge this beautiful land where I live.

I live on the traditional and ancestral lands of the Three Fires Confederacy: the Ojibwe, the Potawotamie, (also known as Nishnabek), the Odawa, and also Caldwell First Nation. I also acknowledge the Myaamia, First Peoples of my beloved Point Pelee and Pelee Island and surrounding waters. This is unceded territory, meaning it was stolen, and I respect and honour the First Peoples who have been on Turtle Island since time immemorial.

The quilt has been seven years in the making. I first heard of the quilt along in early December 2016. It had started in November, and over the course of the ensuing 52 weeks, the designer, Kat Tucker of Quiltnasium, released three 6" blocks, each representing a Canadian woman who had contributed to Canada in some way. Well, I was instantly IN. I love anything that empowers women. Since I'd read a fair amount of pioneer- and suffragette-themed books, I was intrigued and eager to learn more. And did I. Not only did Kat give the directions to make each block, she also included a few paragraphs telling each woman's story.