Have you ever taken the wrong turn?

Have you ever taken the wrong turn in the road and were glad you did ? Yesterday that is what happened to Bill and I , on  a whim we decided to have a little day trip , since my break I haven't driven too far due to discomfort but things are feeling a wee bit better now that the cast is off ,more on that later .So where did we go you might ask , well we headed to the fabric shop in Avonport , this was not my idea in fact I said no first as it seemed silly since I can't sew just yet but DH convinced me when he said he needed a day off and getting away was the only way that could happen  , besides it is a nice drive in the country. There are three ways to get to Avonport from here , you can take the main highway , you can go through what is known as the Rawding Hills or you can go through Old Barnes which is the route we took . This road is through farm country as you might have guessed from the name and has lots of twists and hills to navigate but it saves you quite a bit in time and mileage as long as you know the route , it is necessary to change roads a few times and I said to Bill that I would never tackle this route on my own , I know I would get lost. You guessed it by now, we got lost , well not lost really just sidetracked and it was the best mistake we could have made as we came across the most interesting art show at a winery .The winery was once a church as you can see here.

The inside was gorgeous but I was not taking the pictures so have none to show you of the interior , they had changed the church over to sell their merchandise . They had some stations set up outside for tasting the various wines but as much as I would have enjoyed a sample I resisted as I wanted to be perfectly stable while walking around the art display .

There were a few food booths as well which was most convenient as we were getting quite hungry , we enjoyed a great burger and fries with a garlic sauce , something different and quite tasty .

How do you like those benches they set up for the folks to have a quick snack ? That's me with the light coloured jacket and jeans, it was not real warm for the first day of summer .

To the right of the church was a large open field where many tents were set up for the various artists who were selling their wares . It was fascinating , there were paintings , metal work , lots of handmade jewelry  , there was also some gorgeous pottery , I love pottery , then there was a lady selling wool felted articles , aha more my style .

She was so sweet and even did a little demo on needle felting for me . We explored around this art festival for close to two hours and the only thing we bought was lunch and some buckwheat pillows with bamboo covers . I don't know about you but getting a comfortable pillow is not easy and this sounded like a possible solution to this problem , I can tell you I had a great sleep last night ,by far the most comfortable pillow I have slept on , feels a little weird at first but once you get yourself positioned it feels great .

Some of the artisans would not permit photos but Bill did ask this lady and she had no problem , all of her work was bronzed horses , incredible !
After our lovely unplanned stop we headed off down the road to catch the proper road and on the way I spotted this house and my heart skipped a beat .

 

This house is made of stone , gorgeous as were the grounds and if you open  the picture you may see the carved deer , life size that is jumping . The rest of the drive was uneventful and we arrived at the fabric shop just one hour before closing . I didn't go too crazy buying fabric , just picked up a few pieces of background fabric which was really running low in my stash and I bought some acrylic hexagons in various sizes that nestle together , I think it might be easier to cut them out with their use . We were back home by 5 pm which was long enough .

Now as I stated above my cast was removed on Tuesday as planned but due to the fact things are not quite what they should be ,it was replaced with a brace and I had a visit to physio and have a number of exercises I must do and I have a visit with the therapist this Wednesday . The exercises are tough to do but I know are necessary so I push myself which reminds me it is time to get at them . Thanks for the visit , enjoy your day .

 hugs Sheila

It's a Mystery

On Tuesday of this week the Holy  Name Quilters put the last stitch in my mystery quilt , a design by Darlene of Quilts by Darlene . This was a free BOM last year and I enjoyed every stitch and had decided I would like this one hand quilted so put my name on the long list at Holy Name and it was started in March . I had the opportunity to work just a couple of weeks on the quilt when I fell and broke my wrist so the girls continued on and did a fabulous job .

I love it and I think the fact this has alpaca wool for the batting will make this extra warm , you can check out this post to see the batting   http://sheilasquiltworld.blogspot.ca/2014/03/its-on.html   . Thanks girls for such a fantastic job , here is a closer look at the quilting

On Tuesday I should be getting this darn cast off and I pray I will soon be back with the girls quilting my Tuesdays away in sheer bliss :-)
 Thanks for stopping by and have a great day .
 hugs Sheila

Here comes the sun

Spring has truly arrived here and our apple trees were filled with glorious blooms

 This is a flowering crab , ornamental which the birds enjoy the fruit in the fall .

A little closer look at the pretty blooms ...

Next to the crab are three apple trees that bear lots of beautiful apples but the past few years have worms .
 We have had a few days of sunshine and nice temperatures so yesterday I tried something I had not done before , Sun printing . I have wanted to try this for such a long time but I live in an area where it is almost always windy but yesterday the wind was almost nil so I grabbed the chance .  Now my wrist was somewhat a problem in this process as I had wanted to use my seta colour paints but no way could I get that top off . What did I do , well I have some cheap acrylic paints that have a flip top so I figured this is just an experiment so lets see if it works . I took a piece of plain cotton and watered down the green paint then made my fabric damp  with a spray bottle (not easy either ) , then I painted the fabric all over with the paint using a foam brush , then I  took my gathered leaves and placed them on the fabric adding paint on top to hopefully hold them down while the paint dried . I left this sitting in the sun for an hour or more and when I returned I knew things had changed as the leaves were all shriveled and I could see white underneath. Want to see ?

Isn't that cool , the maple leaves worked well , the smaller leaves not as well . I will be doing this again sometime and want to gather some ferns which I love ! I can't sew but I can still experiment :-)
 Thanks for the visit and have a great day.
hugs Sheila

My thoughts are with the families

As the mother of an RCMP officer , it is with great sadness that I heard of the loss of three of their officers in Moncton New Brunswick and the injury of two more officers who are now recovering in hospital . Thankfully just after midnight the suspect was apprehended without incident and without further injury to anyone . I can only imagine the anguish these families are feeling and my thoughts and prayers are with them as well as all RCMP officers who are grieving with them . I think it is at times like this that we become aware that these men and women lay their lives on the line each and every day to keep us safe and we need to thank them more often , don't wait until something tragic happens .  I am so proud of Rob and all he does within his RCMP organization , he loves his job and takes it very seriously and I know today he is hurting along with all other officers in this country and beyond . Stay safe Rob , we love you .

Why not sign up

Today is the last day to sign up for Canadian Quilt Talk fabric postcard exchange , the theme is maple leaves to celebrate Canada Day but you don't have to be Canadian you just need to make and send a postcard . I signed up want to see my postcard?

I know you are wondering how I managed to make a postcard with a broken wrist , well the truth of the matter is I didn't make it now, I made it quite a while ago , you see I have a small stash of postcards already made just waiting for the right occasion to send it off . When I read about Brandy Lynn's exchange my first thought was , silly, you know you can't join in, but then I had a rare lightbulb moment and thought maybe , just maybe I have one with maple leaves and lo and behold I did . I did ask Brandy if this would qualify since it also has an oak leaf but she was fine with that , yippee , I almost feel like I am back in action ;-) So hey if you want to make a new friend and get some great mail don't hesitate head on over to the above link and sign up , you will be glad you did and you might even recieve this card . Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.

 hugs Sheila 

More of the quilt show ...

Thistle quilt guild presently has a membership of around 56+- so we are not a big guild in numbers but big in heart . Throughout the year we have many workshops which are mostly taught by our own very capable and talented  members .

This mini quilt along with the next few photos resulted from a workshop by Linda Hubbard who travelled from New Brunswick to give us a wonderful trunk show then a minature class the following day . This log cabin quilt was done by Anne M .

Another one by Gloria , please note this is only about 12" square.

more minatures , sorry I am not sure who made them.

and another

and a couple of more :-0

This group of Spring Garden wall hangings was taught by Kate , very fun workshop .

Some seasonal work.

This one is rather interesting since it is made of silk ties . gorgeous , save those ties girls !

A little twister fun , don"t you love those happy colours .

Everyone loves a log cabin , Carol made this for her grandson.

Joan did a great job on this modern quilt !

Some scrappy quilts

Pretty modern colours .

Seems this is the last photo I took, certainly not all the show but  a glimse of what our members have been up to . Thanks for coming along for the tour . Have a great day.
 hugs Sheila

Not today

You know sometimes we don't get what we wish for and no matter how much you want something it may not happen  the way we hope . You probably know where I am going with this , my visit to the doctor today did not go as I hoped , oh the cast was removed but after careful examination and X-rays a new cast was placed back on my arm with two more weeks added to this misery . I am very disappointed but I can tell you that the discomfort I  had just getting a couple of X-rays kind of prepared me for the news . My fingers are still swollen some and there is still lots of bruising so that should have told me things aren't healed to the level they need to be to go without a cast . It has been a long six weeks but I got through it so I guess I can do two more , what choice do I have . Hey I have learned to do things with my left hand I never thought I could , you just do what you have to do and get on with it the best way you can :-)
 In life we have many people influence us in different ways and learn valuable lessons along the way

                                                   My cousin , grandfather and grandmother
 As a young girl I was blessed with a grandmother (paternal) who I greatly admired , she was a tiny lady with plenty of spunk , a hard worker , a self taught midwife who in her time birthed a lot of the babies born in town when a doctor was not available . She was also an accomplished seamstress and I can remember sitting beside her as she treadled  away on her machine . My dad told me she often cut out pictures of clothing from magazines and would then make  them without the aid of a pattern . I admired her quiet way , her soft spoken voice , her long flowing grey  hair  she neatly wrapped into a perfect braided bun at the back of her head . She was a wise person who had knowledge of concoctions she would make up from herbs or wild plants and heal people of illness . I was only around 8 when she died  suddenly but she had a huge impact on me . Just recently I had the very good fortune to have made contact with a cousin of mine who just happened to have photos of my grandparents as well as my aunts and uncles . I was over the top happy about this as I had no photos  at all of my grandmother or my aunts .

                              Uncle Russ, Aunt Mammie, Aunt Margaret and Uncle Henry
My aunt Margaret and uncle Henry lived next door to my grandparents , they had no children of their own but they became like grandparents to us and were the most loving couple . They loved each other and they loved all children as their own . When life was tough that was where I would head knowing there would be a big hug and reassurance all would be ok and I always believed aunt Margaret , she was so special and uncle Henry was a big tease and would have you laughing in no time . They both provided what we all need , unconditional love , never judging you , always encouraging you and most importantly always there for you . I am not sure why I am sharing these photos today , maybe because I need to think of those who brought me great comfort in tough times , maybe I need that hug from aunt Margaret and that healing hand of Nanny and maybe I just want to share these very special photos with you .
 I will share more quilts with you tomorrow today I just need time to be thankful for the positives in my life like my loving husband  .
 hugs Sheila

Thistle Quilt Guild show 2014

Good afternoon everyone and a beautiful day it is here on the east coast. On Saturday I was joined by my fellow bloggers and friends Linda and Lesley for the annual Thistle QuiltGuild quilt show . It was wonderful to have them and I sure enjoyed the show with them present . I took lots of pictures and so did Linda so be sure to check out her post . Today I will share just a few highlights and a few more tomorrow as typing is not easy or comfortable from the computer .Each year a viewers choice award is presented to the quilt receiving the most votes throughout the day , well I was so pleased when they announced this years winner as Becky Daley .Here is a photo of Becky along with our president Carol .

This lovely quilt has an even more special story . The embroidery of crosststitch was started by Becky's mother a number of years ago with the intention this quilt would be given to her granddaughter for her wedding gift , unfortunately she passed away before it was completed but Becky's sister took over and finished the embroidery and then the quilt was hand quilted by the HolyNameQuilters of which I am a member and so we truly enjoyed the quilting process and then Becky finished off the quilt just in time for her daughters wedding day . I mean how special is that , it brings tears to my eyes each time  I see it knowing just how proud Becky's Mum would be of this beautiful quilt she started so long ago. Here is a closer look ...

As you can see plenty of quilting which just makes the lovely embroidery pop . Congratulations Becky , an award well derserved !

How about this large quilt with a nautical theme .

Or some pretty hand aaplique .

Some wool work .

A lovely modern twist on hexies !

Love this string quilt , this quilt along with several others were on display and later this year several members of our guild are donating bed quilts to a veterans hospital .Unfortunately mine is on hold until this ^&*# cast comes off .

Some scrappy goodness :-) 

I think I will stop for now and tomorrow will share a few more photos but I do have just one more photo to share as tomorrow things are about to change around here .

See that , tomorrow it comes off if all is well,so send some positive vibes my way as I REAALLYYYY want this gone :-0
Thanks for the visit ,I always love having you stop by . Enjoy your day .
 hugs Sheila