Henrietta Whiskers and the mailman arrived .

I managed to get the July block of Henrietta Whiskers completed , some embroidery to do but otherwise complete ,I really love these blocks , such fun.









Yesterday when I arrived home there was a package on the counter , well make that two packages , what a nice surprise . In one package were all these great embellishments from Betsy to use in my Crazy Patch blocks , some really beautiful things here and they will give my quilt some special touches .Thanks so much Betsy!!

Then there was this cute little owl key holder from Fiona as a thank you for participating in the wool pincushion RR , I should be the one thanking her for the great job of organizing this really fun RR , I love my pincushion and loved being a part of the swap. Thanks Fiona !!

I'm off and running now as my DIL and granddaughters will be back today from NFLD so I best get prepared . Enjoy your day and thanks for the visit. hugs Sheila

A Special Day

Yesterday July 16th Bill and I travelled to the small town of Dominion in Cape Breton to see our oldest son Robert in the RCMP Musical Ride . This was a very special moment for us for several reasons, first that it was our first time seeing Rob take part in the Ride as well as our first time seeing him ride a horse . Secondly my parents were there to see him as well , they were thrilled to be there and they even announced their presence which was really special for them . My youngest sister and her husband were also there and my other sister was there with her granddaughter so lots to cheer him on .  Now I should mention that yesterday was anything BUT ideal conditions for this event , it was pouring rain and a strong wind off the ocean ,it was an outdoor event in a baseball field that was just a few feet from the Atlantic Ocean and you could see the breakers were reallllllllly high with the wind we were experiencing . So I guess you would think we came prepared for such weather ,well think again , when we left home it was dark and threatening but the forecast was for cloudy skies with sunny periods and a temperature of 26 C. I did wear a sweater and took a jacket but no rain gear ,wrong decision ,I had to wear a sweater that Bill had in the car as well as my own and the jacket and still I was cold , it was only 12 but with the wind it felt even colder !  Our drive to Cape Breton did involve some rain but nothing real heavy and it looked like it was clearing in the direction we were heading but upon arrival in Dominion the rain started in earnest and unfortunately did not stop all the way through the performance but they did not cancel as several thousand people had turned out and were braving the elements to see the show and as the saying goes "The show must go on"  We did find limited shelter under a canopy that was over a stage for the musical performance that preceded the show but I have to tell you the truth I was soaked to the bone and frozen ,yes frozen in July , I was trembling with the cold as my pants and jacket had absorbed all the water they could but you know it really didn't matter I still enjoyed every minute . Ok you are probably saying by now ,  enough already we want pictures . I did take pictures but it wasn't easy with hands so cold they didn't want to push that button so forgive me for the quality and quantity of the pictures .

Now isn't that a sight to see , just so impressive ,I believe there are 26 horses in the Ride ,I'm not 100% sure but I think Rob is the fifth horse from the right and the horse has a white star on his forehead , he is a very large horse and just handsome as you will see in a picture I will share just a little later .

They are into a routine here and I want you to observe the crowd in the background with their umbrellas and raincoats sitting along the sides of the field , at least they came prepared  ;-0You may not be able to tell it is raining in this picture but I can assure you it is raining very hard with sideways rain !

You can see here that the field is starting to get chopped up pretty bad from the horses and they have some difficulty in this area and two horses slip but thankfully don't fall .

I'd like to introduce you to my handsome son Rob and his horse Steele , Steele is over 17hands high and the second tallest horse in the Ride , his brother Sam is just slightly taller . This picture was taken before the performance when they were preparing the horses for the show .

This is my favorite picture , this is after the show , we took my parents back to the stables so they could see Rob and as you can see we are all pretty happy . My Dad is 91 and has been around horses his entire life , raising and racing Standard Bred horses and my Mom has tagged along to the races as well so seeing the Musical Ride with their grandson taking part was realllly special for them . I was just so proud of Rob , he worked so hard for this and did so well , he has been experiencing some back problems lately so I was rather concerned for him but he did fine .The final picture I want to show is of Rob with Bill a very proud father .

I hope you enjoyed seeing some photos of the ride , the next show we will attend will be an inside performance with  the possiblity of taking some better pictures :-)    

Swap block

I've been so busy with my guests that I didn't have time to post this picture of the block that Fiona sent to me , I asked for star blocks in earth tones and this one is perfect , just love it ! Thanks so much Fiona .
No sewing happening around here these days my granddaughters have kept me busy with other things , they are off to a wedding in Newfoundland now but will return in a few days and stay with us until Aug. 2nd and our plan is to do a little sewing together when they return.
Tomorrow our oldest son is performing in the Musical Ride with the RCMP so we will be going to see that , I will take my camera along to share photos . We are so proud of him and I am excited for my parents to see him on a horse as my Dad is an avid horseman and it really is making him a proud grandfather to have Rob on horseback . This is a life long dream of Rob's to be in the Ride and his first tour with the troop which makes this extra special . The funny thing is Rob had never riden a horse before joining the Musical Ride , other than a pony ride when he was about 7 ,so he had a lot to learn and has grown to love horses in a very special way .Since I also love horses I know how he feels , my dream of owning a horse never materialised but it is so nice to have my son live his dream with the horses.
Hope the sun is shining in your neck of the woods , enjoy your day what ever the weather and thanks for the visit.
hugs Sheila

The postman arrived :-)

A while ago I won some buttons on Sandra's blog the Cumberland Island Chick and this morning they arrived . We have had a lengthy mail strike which is still affecting our mail service even though they have gone back to work . I was so excited to win these buttons as I love buttons and couldn't wait to open the package to have a look , inside Sandra included some Earl Grey Tea as well as several charm squares , I mean how lucky am I ! Thanks so much Sandra , they are wonderful and I know I will enjoy using them on my projects. I just have to share one of the buttons , they are all great but this one is just gorgeous ,do you see that large heart shaped button in the front , pretty button don't you think .

As some of you know I have I have visitors right now , my DIL and our two oldest granddaugthers are here for a visit and yesterday we went to the beach so I thought I would share a couple of pictures with you . This beach is on Big Island a really beautiful beach that is the best kept secret around these parts and there were only four other people there .When we first arrived it was a bit breezy so a little nip in the air but once we walked around the other side of this large sand bar it was just beautiful and hot .

 

Here are my gorgeous granddaughters Alyssa and Caitlin brave enough to go in the water , they said it was warm but I wasn't about to test it .We had a wonderful afternoon and all that salt air sure made me tired but in a very good way . Thanks for stopping by I must get back to my visitors . Hugs Sheila

My design wall today !

I had won this design wall last fall at the retreat I attended but never got it on the wall until this week ,I had to make room for it to fit but it sure is a great thing to have ,I still need to put a hook in the center so it doesn't droop down but my mission was to get it up ;-) .As you can see I have my Henrietta Whiskers blocks and to the right of them is a black and white star block called Dorothy's star ,I had made this for a swap that required black and white and one bright so of course that is the yellow .Well.... that block is a perfect 12 .25" not 12.5" as required so I had to make a new block but chose a new pattern , mostly because I made more mistakes making this one than enough turning those yellow pieces in the wrong direction but I do love the block .All the little blocks I have made as my attempt at doing the Farmers Wife , however I do not have that book so have been using one called "Around the block with Judy Hopkins" , it has over 200 blocks and each block gives directions for many sizes . I will admit that doing a 6"block compared to a 12"block is a little more challenging but I just think they are so cute .I have challenged the girls that I quilt with on Tuesdays to follow along doing two blocks each week  part of our challenge is to use the scraps we have , not to go out and purchase any fabric for this quilt so you will see lots of different fabrics used in mine ,funny thing is that even with all the hexies , crazy patch blocks and now these my stash is not going down at all , hmmm what could be the problem ?

Talking about crazy blocks , here is my block for this week , it is just 5.5" as I made this for Betsy for her Things I love quilt so will be sending this off real soon , hope you like it Betsy , thought since you started me on this journey of making these blocks it was a perfect fit for you .

Finally I made these two bags from fabric I purchased at Frenchies , the store I have mentioned before, it is basically like an op shop ,anyway this fabric probably cost me $1 , I didn't watch her when she rang it in but thought it would make great bags , it is a drapery fabric I would say so lots of body , the bag on the left is a tote which I lined with some cute fabric and put some pockets in , a perfect bag for taking to the farmers market on Sat. , the second bag is basically a grocery tote , large and very sturdy for carrying all those goodies from the store we all need to survive .I use cloth bags all the time for groceries sometimes to the cashiers dismay as the handles don't stay put when she is filling the bag but hey I much rather use them than plastic any day .

 I can't believe I can say this but it is sunny for the third day in a row , YEAH! I have lots to do today as tomorrow morning my beautiful granddaugthers Alyssa and Caitlin arrive with their  mom Diane and will be visiting with us for three weeks so if I am  missing you will know why , we are so looking forward to this visit we haven't seen them in two years so I expect to see quite a change . Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by . hugs Sheila

One flower Wednesdays

Two pink blooms today in the English Buttercups , aren't those buttercups the most gorgeous yellow. To see who else has added flowers to their garden be sure to visit Karen our gracious host for Wednesdays Flowers  and thanks so much for the visit , it is a lovely sunny day here and the most like summer we have had so far so I am off to enjoy it :-) hugs Sheila

Almost Tuesday Treasure

I'm early again but I want to share two little treasures today , well three really and I know I won't have time in the morning so here goes . First off this past weekend we had visitors , not just any visitors but really..... special visitors , our son Chad , his wife Shauna and their two daughters Nila and Elise and then today on their way back home , they had been visiting the city for a couple of days they arrived just before supper and we had a little more time with the girls . How special is that but what about the treasure , well yes of course they are the treasure but they presented me with a treasure straight from their dear little hearts and it just happens to be something I truly love ,Daisies ! They of course wanted me to place them in a container for display so since they had broken them off rather small I had just this perfect little crystal container to place them in and I think they look just beautiful . They had such fun out in our yard finding the daisies and making sure they ran over to give them to me , that I think is the best treasure a person could wish for .

 The other small treasures I would like to share with you today are these sweet little dolls, very old , the larger of the two we found in an old trunk in a house we bought many years ago and it is in remarkable condition , the second was also found in a wooden box that was given to us from relatives and it mostly contained old pictures and letters but in one corner wrapped in a piece of fine paper was this doll minus the arms , they must have broken but they didn't want to discard the doll and I am so happy they didn't it really is precious .


Thanks for stopping by today and I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday I know I will as I will be doing something that I truly treasure , quilting. To see more treasures visit with Melody at the House on the side of the hill
hugs Sheila

Tea Cup challenge

Kris of Tag along Teddies and Liz of Teddlywinks designs have challenged us to show our teacup collection so I decided to join in and show you a few of my lovely tea cups  .I don't have a huge collection but I do love what I do own so here goes , won't you join me for a cup of tea now :-)

                                                          A pretty yellow teacup

                            This is a favorite , love the shape of the cup and the colors of the flowers.

               Another lovely shape , and a nice handle to hold , I do find some china cups don't give you much to hold on to .

A lovely pink , so delicate with some pretty red roses inside .

Some pretty violets , gorgeous cup , very dainty ,you'd feel like a princess drinking from this one .

                      I know  we all love chintz , isn't this gorgeous !

   Next we have this antique set ,very fine china , so thin and delicate with an oriental scene painted on the pieces , this was a set that I inherited from my husbands great aunt , his grandfathers sister ,I feel very honored to have recieved this gorgeous set .

And lastly is this tea pot that I bought at an auction , the cups do not match but are pretty close and part of a set of dishes I purchased at a flea market .The tablecloth in most of these pictures is one I bought at least 25 years ago or  more at a flea market and was told it is a flour sack that was taken apart and the embroidery added . There are two different embroidery patterns used , in two corners are the flower arrangement you see above  and in the other corners is a lady watering her flowers, kind of odd that they did different patterns but it was part of the charm of why I bought it and it has been well used over the years and now has couple of holes in it and is getting thin .My grandmother often made tablecloths and pillowcases from old flour and sugar sacks and I wish I had some of them now , she did beautiful embroidery . So I hope you have enjoyed seeing some of my teacup collection , why not join in the challenge that Kris and Liz have given us , we would love to see your teacups and teapots . Thanks for stopping by and hope you are enjoying your weekend .
 hugs Sheila

Crazy Quilting Friday

It is July 1st. Canada Day so to all Canadians Happy Canada Day!!!! We have so much to celebrate in this great country .
It is also Friday and that means Crazy quilting Friday so I do have this block to show you ,note the center with the embroidered tulips ,aren't they just so cute , well a friend gave me several old linens with lovely embroidery on them and some with lace incase I would want to use them in my crazy blocks , wow was I thrilled so MaryLou if you are reading this Thank you so much .I even rescued the lace along the edge of this cute piece .I had really hoped to find the time this week to sew some together but it was not a great week for me so very little sewing took place ,maybe next week ;-0
Thanks for stopping by and have a little celebration today even if you are not Canadian .
hugs Sheila