Wednesday, October 11, 2023

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.

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

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.

Wednesday, October 4, 2023

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.

Saturday, September 30, 2023

DrEAMi #75

Welcome to the Drop Everything And Make it! party. I hope you have been captivated/taken away/mesmerized/engulfed by a project or two this summer. Engulfed by...

like this squirrel in a bird feeder! Judy of GrammaJudyB had this in a July gratitude post, and I just thought it perfect to symbolize how some projects totally captivate, occupy, and engulf us!

Friday, September 29, 2023

Quilt Tales for the Heart and Mind

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you will know that I love to tell the stories that are wrapped 😉 in my quilts. So many of them have lots of emotions woven into them. Well, almost one year ago, in November 2022, Cathy, a blog reader for quite some time now, emailed me to tell me she was the programme coordinator for her guild, and had I ever considered doing presentations for quilt guilds? She found my quilts so meaningful, and always enjoyed the stories that went with them. Well, I was sure taken aback! Never had I considered presenting to guilds, but she did get me thinking. It took a couple of months…
I cannot do this!
Yes, you can.
I am freaking out!
Calm down. Breathe. Think. (but not too much)
How do I ever go about this? I haven't made a PowerPoint for years; I only work on Mac; does Keynote even convert to PowerPoint; do I really have stories that will interest people?

Apparently I do…




Thursday, September 28, 2023

Gratitude #77 Glimmers

Welcome to another month's list of things I notice pretty much on a daily basis, for which I am grateful. If you would like to write your own post, or read more of these uplifting posts, pop over to LeeAnna's blog Not Afraid of Color.

Yesterday I learned a new word for these moments I note each month thanks to Mx. Domestic who reposted it from Tiny Buddha Official on Instagram.

1. I'm grateful for my library; I've loved loved LOVED libraries my entire life. The quiet, the smell, the knowledge-keeping, the worlds contained in the thousands of books, ahhh. I was in one day quite a few months ago, and Elaine, who is also a quilter, and in charge of the Artist of the Month display, asked me if I'd like to be the artist for September. I told her absolutely, and that that was fitting timing as I had a quilt coming out in Love of Quilting in the September/October issue! Well, here is the display that has been in the library all month.

Saturday, September 16, 2023

Rainbow Scraps at Work

I started the year with just one rainbow project. And I’m happy to report that all the blocks are complete; in fact, now that the turquoise ones are done, I have one extra!

It evolved, as they often do, too, aiming to make a gradation in shades of each color. So you can see these three go from light to dark turquoise. I now have 26 blocks, enough for a 50” square quilt with the extra block going on the back. My original plan was to make 30 but I decided this past week that 25 is fine.