UFOs, Staycations and Good Reads

 This week, as I pondered life on the unemployment line, I sorted through fabric to donate to youth camp next week and sewed up a few blocks for the We Bee Canadian quilting bee.

These will eventually be Bento Blocks.  The recipient asked us to stop at this stage so she can mix them with the other blocks she will receive.  Looking forward to seeing the end result.  The quilt is being made for a young girl.

Through my sorting I came across some UFOs.  There isn't a lot of shame.  We all have them...some have been sitting around longer than others. Yesterday I found my daughter's baby blanket (yet to be finished) so I grabbed it and took it to dance to sew.

All these lovely pieces were given to me by my dear friend Sue when Charlotte was born.  Somehow when we moved years ago they were packed away and not discovered until now.  I had fretted that they had been tossed with the majority of our possessions when the pipes burst in our house.  I was so excited to find these this week!

I finished up two more at dance and it has become my handwork project for when I sit waiting.  Now just so you know....said daughter is now 10!!  but that is okay....today I found her sister's baby blanket.  It is almost quilted.  Her sister will be 13 in December.

When I haven't been looking for projects to work on, we have continued with our staycation.  There are lots of huge holes in the city with new construction happening all around us.  Lots of free entertainment for parents with little ones that LOVE big trucks and machinery!

New library in progress

Beach trips have been frequent (except when they closed for high bacteria counts recently...then we had to search elsewhere for entertainment)

Either a tad tired or a tad dehydrated....this was probably the warmest day that we have had so far this summer and we did a lot of walking!  Enjoying a mommy daughter date at The Works (yay...they have gluten free!)

The best server!!!  (We met up with Ian yesterday and took him to The Works for lunch and had the same server and he knew exactly who we were and even remembered Charlotte's order from before.  When the food was delivered to the table yesterday he popped over to make sure we had everything and immediately picked up Charlotte's food and told her it wasn't a gluten free bun .... I'm not even sure that we remembered to ask for a gluten free bun when we ordered but he took it and fixed it right up for her)

After lunch yesterday, our server chatted with us about our day and showed us some pics he had taken the day before down at the waterfront.  This solar powered boat was one of the highlights that he recommended the girls go check out.  Pretty amazing!

I love Halifax!

Woozles has become a regular stomping ground....
Dance has become a regular activity again at Rhythm in Motion ....
I have been on a kijijii selling spree and preparing to paint the living room...

New beaches have been discovered...An afternoon at Rissers Beach after contemplating some different options for our family and future goals/plans.

Summer Book Club
 What we have been reading since the 4th of July (we have seemed to have started our own little family book club! lol)...Once one of us finishes something it gets passed on to the next family member.

• Geek Girl by Holly Smale
• The Cahill Chronicles:  Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood
• Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
• Drawing Out the Dragons:  A Meditation on Art, Destiny, and the Power of Choice by James Owen
• Witchlanders by Lena Coakley...Cora's having a hard time getting in to this one but the reviews are good so she is giving it a chance
• The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (Charlotte is part way through this one after convincing her sister to finally let her read it...I have to admit...I've never read it)
• Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson (Charlotte just started this one last night and is making speedy progress and loving the story)
• Graceling (my current read) by Kristin Cashore
• The Power of Starting Something Stupid by Richie Norton (this is pretty appropriate for us right now...as we are probably considering a lot of options that those who like to share their opinions with us would consider "stupid".  Our Stupid Idea list is growing!)

We would love to know what you are reading, what projects you are working on or what your favourite hidden gems are in Nova Scotia to visit.

Welcome to NS

Sew Sisters Quilt Shop is hosting a Blog-a-thon.  Each day between now and Nov 24th, bloggers across Canada are participating.  Yesterday we visited BC; today we are in the Maritimes.  If you are like me and still relatively a baby in the blogging world and would like to meet fellow Canadian Blogging Quilters or are simply in need of some awesome inspiration, then you should definitely check out these posts.  The host blogger lists other blogs from their home province in their post. Visit Sew Sisters at the link provided to see their list of host bloggers (pssstttt...there are also give-aways).

If you are stopping by for the first time via the Blog-a-thon then welcome to my relatively new blog.  I in definitely in learning mode!  Stop by frequently as I add and update.  

A little about me...I moved to NS almost 2 1/2 yrs ago from Ottawa.  My two kids (very soon to be 10 & 12) have forgiven me for all the Ottawa and area shop hops that I regularly took them out on and now willingly head to the Annapolis Valley with me to purchase fabric and fibre.  They have caught their own little bug...they have become avid knitters and love fabric.  I started quilting in '93 then took a break to go back to school, get married and started up again when I had my children.  After another brief hiatus I am happily picking up my needle again!  When I don't have fabric in my hand I can be found behind my spinning wheel....or waiting, waiting, waiting at various activities with my drop spindle.

What's new in  my little corner of the world???  We survived Annie weekend.  Both my girls performed in the musical Annie.  It was a blast; it was a lot of work...it is over.  Now we are all trying to re-energize and get back in to routine.  I had big plans for yesterday!  Lots of the list involved catching up on laundry, cleaning, tidying another corner in the sewing room and SEWING!!!!!  Reality...I curled up on the couch, read a book, and slept!

Today....trying again.  I went down and sat in my sewing room for inspiration.  My goal is to not start anything new until I weed through my pile of UFOs.  However, this little stack of fabric keeps calling me...

My 9 yr old aspiring quilter (she has a little tutorial here showing how she designed and made a pillow for her cousin a couple of Christmases ago)picked these bundles up for me at CQA in Halifax.  We arrived just moments before the vendors mall closed.  She ran in and surveyed the shelves and came back with these treats.  The bundle on the left was from Mad About Patchwork.  Their booth was stunning and deliciously colourful.  There is no way you could walk past without your eyes pulling you back in! The star shaped bundle and larger piece was from The Running Stitch.  It was so wonderful to see them there.  I frequented The Running Stitch when we lived in Ottawa.  We spent our last milliseconds in their stall wishing we had more time to check out all their lovely fabrics.  I have a Christmas gift to make for my father (and am still mentally stuck on what to do) but I have a couple other little ones that I adore and if there is time they might just get a little something using these fabrics.  Too many thoughts....so little time!!!

I was also perusing my fabric stash now that it is all tidied up and pretty much unpacked.

It is pretty small compared to other stashes that I have seen.  I gave away A LOT of fabric prior to our move to groups making quilts for charity.  I didn't relish the idea of slugging everything from Ontario to Nova Scotia.  My cousin in Saskatchewan warned me that I would regret it and...well...I do in a way but then I don't.  Looking at this photo I see a lot of earth tones...that is where my head used to be.  Then I had children and things got a bit more colourful but now all I can think about is bright, vibrant, and WOW!  I have colour holes that need to be filled.  I really must discuss this with Santa.  He has often been such a great enabler of my habit...fabric, thread, notions, etc...He knows it brings me joy and when I have joy then the whole family is happy!

I would LOVE to meet fellow quilters in NS!  It would definitely make it feel a little more like home for me.  Let me know if there is a quilt show (or shop) in your area, what craft shows are going on or what you are working on.  Is there a Modern Quilt Guild in the area?  Come along for the ride and follow me.