My little cupcake

Her Royal Highness Princess Emma requested cupcakes to decorate for the Canada Day festivities.  Not store bought cupcakes, on such a festive day only homemade will do.   So being a good grandmother I made cupcakes from scratch.

I managed to find red maple leaf quins, plus the regular red and white short quins.  In her usual polite way, Emma will no doubt announce the cupcakes and decorations “Perfect”…………….just like her.

Addiction

I’m starting to think quilting is an addiction.   Half way through my current project, I’m thinking of which quilt to start next.  It doesn’t matter that I’m no ways near completion of Summer Trellis, I’m jonesing for a new pattern thanks to the quilt monkey on my back.   At any given time I have at least eight quilts in the closet at various stages of completion.

I start to lose interest in a quilt about 3/4s of the way through.   By the time I’m ready to cut the binding fabric, I’m ready to threw everything to the back of the closet.   My fingers are itching to cut new fabrics, sew new blocks, get another new thrill.

Through help talk and sometimes a slap across the forehead with my own hand, I preservere.   They say that admitting is the first step towards resolving any addiction.   I guess I’m ready for Quiltaholics. I don’t want to stop quilting, I just need help sticking with one quilt at a time.    So while I’m waiting for the next meeting to start, here’s what I did today.

The rest of the morning I sorted through cupboards packing 2 1/2 inch floral scraps for Meaghan and quilt books for Andrea.  It is not helping that my family are feeding my addiction.   We are planning a visit to Woodstock this week, so the table will be strewn with fabric and books.  I’m taking my sewing machine with me as Andrea wants to learn machine stippling.   We got it bad.

I’m a lucky girl

having such a wonderful DH.  He reminds me how lucky I am by bringing me four leaf clovers.  Carl can look at a lawn or field and spot a four leaf amongst the thousands of other clovers.

Since his birthday a few weeks back, my husband means even more to me.  When we were shopping last Tuesday, he patiently sat in the truck and waited each time Sarah and I stopped at yet another store.

At Village Value, Sarah returned to the truck, and announced, “Carl, Mam wants you to come into the store.  She’s at the cash and you’re worth 20% .”

The hottest day of the year

and what am I doing? Quilting of course.  I’ve never been able to tolerate high temperatures or lots of sunshine.  After a bout with basal cell carcinoma and surgery on my face a few years back, I’m even more careful.   My idea of fun on a summer day is sitting in the house in the shade of the air conditioner.

I plan to sew most of the weekend despite the hot humid weather as my DH equipped my bedroom with a portable air conditioner this morning.   Although it does not provide as much cold air as our old window style air conditioners, installation is much easier.

I was able to spend most of the day working on a quilt, aptly named “Summer Trellis”.  It is a paper pieced floral quilt I started quilt some time ago

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The blocks come together easily, as paper piecing keep the seams accurate.

Quilting during the heat of the summer seems to be a family trait.  Check out the quilts Andrea and Meaghan are working on this week.

A perfect day

Today was a perfect vacation day despite being on the road for 5 hours.  I spent yesterday cooking and preparing for today’s trip.  On Tuesday we ate both lunch and supper at a restaurant, so that was enough restaurant food for me.

We started the morning with our favourite traveling breakfast,  a Morning Glory muffin.  I found this recipe thanks to Retorte’s recipe.  I also packed one for the road.

Our trip today was to visit the draftsman in Sussex to finalize our house plans.  After years of planning and dreaming it is difficult to believe that we are so close to building our retirement home.  Graham will have the final plans ready for us next week, then it is on to the Planning Commission.  We hope to begin building as soon as we sell our current home.

After our appointment we drove to O’Connell Park, parked in the shade of the trees and enjoyed a picnic.   Despite the temperature of 25 degrees, a cool breeze was blowing in the park.   Yesterday I baked a turkey breast, so we dined on sliced turkey sandwiches, pistachios, green grapes, cheese and crackers.

On the way to Sussex we stopped at Honey & Spice bakery in Petticodiac.   I bought a bag of Carl’s favourite, candied fruit cookies.  Another perfect picnic food, washed down with a cup of hot Tim’s brewed tea.

A stop at Frenchy’s in Sussex and at Village Value in Moncton completed the day.  The only items I purchased were 14 copies of the Everyday magazine at 69 cents a copy.   I’m already looking for new recipes for the next picnic.

On the way back we dodged storm clouds and rain showers, but a cool breeze followed each new shower.

When we arrived home supper was a breeze to prepare.   While Carl was barbecuing chicken yesterday he barbecued hamburgers for tonight’s dinner,  and I made potato salad with the leftover potatoes.

All in all, a happy, stressless, perfect day.

Housewarming gift

After his usual Saturday morning run to Tim Horton’s and Canadian Tire, my DH showed me the housewarming gift he purchased for our granddaughter Sarah.    Mind you a tool box would not be the first thing I considered buying Sarah, but to Carl it was the one thing she needed the most.

I am a complete and utter klutz when it comes to anything involving nails, hammer, screwdrivers, duct tape and power tools.   Ask me to hang a picture, you better be prepared to spend the afternoon at the Emergency Room waiting while my hand or foot is stitched.

In our household I do the cooking, shopping and laundering, not because it is the womanly thing to do, it is more for self preservation.  I am the poster person for a walking DIY disaster.  I stay away from any thing sharp like screwdrivers, cutting bolts and God forbid the lawnmower.   Any time I had the “Tim the Toolman” urge, I have a scar to recall the occasion.   My grandson Addison has inherited my “keep away from anything sharp” gene.

As Sarah shows much more tool aptitude, Carl outfitted the tool box with pliers, hammers, tape measure, box cutter, wrenches, and a huge assortment of other handy fix it yourself items.  She will now be able to hang her own pictures, and level her own shelves.   I’m not sure what the red danger tape is for, maybe she can use it when I visit.

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

I had to work 16 hours of overtime this past week to get everything done but tomorrow I start my holidays.  First on the agenda is a trip to Freddytown to deliver a truck load of furniture for her new apartment and to spend time with my grand-daughter Sarah.   A trip to the architects to finalize the new house plans is scheduled for later in the week.

The rest of the time I plan to be crazy, quilting, cooking, sleeping in late, having the gang over for a game of rumolli……………….but I don’t think I will ever get this crazy.

Happy Father’s Day Dad!

A small man with a huge voice………….thanks for teaching us to stand up for ourselves!  Love you.

Time goes too quickly

This has been a very busy week.   My grandson Addison graduated yesterday from NBCC Saint John.  Although he has been working since last October, the ceremony was not until yesterday.   Addison did not wish to do anything special to commemorate the day.  The ceremony was attended by his wife and his sister.  My daughter and her husband did not go as neither one of them enjoy crowds. Our family is funny, as we don’t celebrate the big moments in life amongst a bunch of strangers.  We prefer to get together as a small group to mark occasions.

When I’m on holidays next week, I plan to take Addison out to dinner, to celebrate his accomplishment.

This week my DH applied for his Canada Pension.   I am now officially sleeping with a senior citizen.  For years he and his best friend joked about applying together, maybe making it a photo opportunity at the Saint John government office.  As both Carl and Fred are known for their procrastination, they did not  get around to it.   When Carl returned from mailing his Canada Pension application he telephone Fred.  He wasn’t surprised to hear that Fred had just returned from mailing his application as well.

Shiitake supper

We harvested the first two shiitake mushrooms, and what a taste treat! The only shiitake mushrooms I ate before were re-hydrated and rather chewy.  Fresh shiitake have a wonderful almost butter like taste with a touch of caramel sweetness.

I placed a toonie in the picture so you could relate to the size of the mushrooms.  Before slicing the mushrooms I removed and reserved the stems for stock.  After sauteing onions with a bit of garlic,  I lightly fried the sliced mushrooms.  Supper consisted of sliced chicken, re-fried potatoes, broccoli, fried shiitake and high bush cranberry jelly.

We will definitely add a mushroom log to our retirement garden. Here’s a bit of shiitake lore