Made It!

Thursday was amazing!  Linda and Gillian scooped me up at about 11:00 A.M. as promised and we were on the road.  Missy came with us all snuggled up in the back seat with Linda. We were off to Guelph first and our first stop was Greenwood Quiltery.

I was on a mission to find Kaffe Fassett Shot Cottons and this was definitely the right choice.  As a matter of fact, they were waiting for me right there at the front door along with some very tempting KF prints.

However, I was on a mission and I behaved myself.  Out came those gorgeous prints I bought from Hygelitt at Black Creek Village this summer and I matched up the two shot cottons I had in mind for my project.....

My mission for the day was done.  Linda did well too, she chose a number of fabrics for her new project.  Gillian, unfortunately, did not find what she was looking for.  We didn't break the bank but we did some damage.....

Next stop was St. Jacobs and lunch.  We were all starving and getting lost on the way to St. Jacobs was truly not part of the plan but once we got back on track we had no problem finding our way to the Stone Crock Restaurant for lunch.  It's definitely my go to place for St. Jacobs....that, however may change and you'll see why later on....

Linda and I headed inside to get seated while Gillian took Missy for a much needed outing.

I had to reminisce about the next photo, this place has been around forever.  When I bought my house back in 2004 I came here to buy my mailbox, which I hung onto for years.  They've got some great little items which I why I stayed away.....

We had a lovely lunch - Gillian had French Onion Soup while Linda and I had the lunch buffet which was delicious.  Real down home fare!  Of course we had to go to the Stone Crock Bakery and pick up a few goodies to take home.  The ladies continued their shopping at the Silo while Missy and I took a nap.

Then we were off to find the other quilt store which is just north of St. Jacob's on Hwy 85.  It's at a little complex called The Crossroads which boasts a lovely restaurant, gift shop and Quilters Nine Patch, a wonderful quilt store.  We actually drove right by it because we didn't know what we were looking for but once we found it we were happily impressed.

The Crossroads Restaurant is something like the Stone Crock and boasts a lovely buffet as well.  Once we finished at the quilt store we stopped for a cup of tea for Gillian, Ginger Ale for Linda and a hot Peppermint Chocolate for me.....

Just so you can see why it's worth the drive (on the way to Elmira)...I took a few pictures of the gorgeous fabrics and quilts at Quilters Nine Patch....

She's  got a great variety of fabrics and a really welcoming store.  Loads of kits and samples which are so much fun to look at.  Linda did some major damage while Gillian bought a bit as well.  I, unfortunately, did not bring my current project with me so I couldn't get the additional fabric to complete it.  But I will definitely be coming back.

We left Elmira at about 5:00 P.M., a little later then we had anticipated but Gillian really needed that tea to get moving.....That was when we heard the news about Nelson Mandella, so on the long drive home we tuned in to CBC.  It did take a little longer than anticipated to get home but we made it by 7:00 P.M..

Of course, I paid for it!  It was an extremely long and wonderful day for me, however I spent most of Friday and Saturday in bed recuperating.  Sunday was a little better and today I did three more loads of laundry....

I have managed to get back to The Farmer's Wife (stitching) and will update all of that in my next blog....in the meantime, the plan for tomorrow is to work on organizing and cleaning....

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann

Getting things done....

That's really what it's all about these days,getting things done in spite of all the physical setbacks.  I managed to get two loads of laundry done yesterday and trust me this was no easy feat.

First of all, I found out that I am phobic!  I have this "laundry room phobia"!  I absolutely hate laundry rooms....which is why it has taken me so long to get something so simple and mundane done.  When you run out of clothes, I mean it's been at least 6 weeks since I did a proper laundry run, you have to just buck up!  So I picked yesterday.  Dumb choice - it appears Wednesday is a very popular day to do the laundry.  When I got down to the laundry room there wasn't a machine to be had - so I waited and managed to snag two of the three machines I needed.  When I came down again, half an hour later there were carts and bags of all kinds of laundry just waiting to snag machines.  Luckily I made it in time to snag two dryers just before someone else came in looking for a dryer.  It was survival of the fittest so I figured that third load can wait a few more days.....

I also managed to finish prepping the next ten blocks pictured below.  You will only see 9 on my little work tray (a much used gift from Liz) as the tenth one is underneath one of the pages as it is pictured on the other side.....

 Once I have these stitched I will only have 22 blocks to go before all 111 will be done.

Today is a "red letter" day.  I am just waiting for Gillian and Linda to come and pick me up and we are off to Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph and then to St. Jacobs and Elmira.  We planned this outing pretty much last minute but I can now see if I can get some "Shot Cotton" to go with those scrumptious Kaffe Fasset's I bought in the summer at Black Creek.

Should be a great day!  The weather looks promising so that too is a bonus!

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann

A day in the life.......

At 6:00 P.M yesterday I put the sign on the door that we are closed until Tuesday and started packing up to leave.  Rich came by with sandwiches (dinner) from California Sandwich (FYI - not as good as usual, their buns are different I think!) so we ate them, sans buns pretty much and then off!  

I arrived home around 7:30 P.M., unloaded the car (Amish With A Twist - amongst other things) after a stop at the drugstore to refill my prescriptions.  Jonathan went out for the evening and I settled in for some "me" time.  Actually, all I did was watch TV and ended up falling asleep half way through my shows.....what else is new?!?!  Thursday night usually consists of Grey's Anatomy and Motive on CTV and then Person of Interest and Scandal on CITY.  They keep changing everything so you never know.....

The first opening of the eyes was at 6:20 A.M. and I thought I might make coffee and start my day but after about 15 minutes I decided it would be better to go back to bed......I awoke again at 10:30 A.M. and decided to start my day.

First things first, coffee!  While waiting for coffee I decided to get re-acquainted with "Sergio".  It's been awhile since he's been in service.  Before the coffee was ready I managed to get quite a bit done but then he decided, after my first cup of coffee to throw a wrench in the works.....

Now, when I say it's been awhile since Sergio and I worked together - I mean like two years!  Somehow #3 needle had come unthreaded.  I am stubborn - so for the next 20 minutes I sat and figured out what the problem was and EUREKA!  I actually managed to fix him myself (Usually I just haul him off to the store and call Zack).  I was determined and it actually worked!

We are now on a roll!  As you can see, the piles are all organized and the BIG pile at the back of the picture are done.....YEAH!

 There are 6 piles - the front pile has one side done and

I'm working on the second side - The top pile behind has 2 sides done

ready to start side 3 - pile underneath to the right 1 side done - to the 

left, no sides done - at the back DONE (that's the big pile) and to the left

of the big pile are the scraps I want to use for one of the borders

However, as you can see by the next two pics, which don't really need captions, I have a "bit" of laundry to do....  Okay, I hate laundry!!!!  Well, seriously, it's not that I hate laundry, it's really that I hate the laundry room!  It is the one thing that I truly miss about the house and the townhouse!  Whenever I wanted to I could just throw a load in and be doing 10 other things around the house.  Here, I have to plan a "trip" to the laundry room, hope that there are machines available, and then I usually hang out while the wash is being done and then once it goes in the dryer I come upstairs for an hour and set the timer on the stove.  But for me - this is an ordeal!  I realize it's a personal phobia but I have it and I hate it!

There is just no way around it - unless I go out and buy new clothes every week this has to be done....  I really did try to set a routine with this but I know that this phobia I have constantly gets the better of me, so I go through every piece of clothing I have before I venture downstairs to the dreaded laundry room.  See - I am even ranting now in order to avoid the inevitable......Okay, okay - I am packing it up and I am going!  Wish me luck!  It is now 12:55 P.M.....I'd rather be anywhere else!

To be continued.........

It's now 11:04 P.M. and I just came up from the laundry room!  I know, I know!  Yes I procrastinated - I took a nap, then I made dinner, then I took a nap and by the time I went down to put in the first load it was 8:00 P.M. plus I did a load for Jonathan so it totaled 5 loads of laundry in the end!....and for the umpteenth time I vowed never to leave it that long again!  We'll see!  

There is an upside to this story!  Had I not gone down to do the laundry I would not have known that it will be closed tomorrow all day for plumbing repairs.  On top of that there are two lines of kitchens in the building that will not have water.  Not sure if we're one of them because we live on the first floor and the numbers are different above us.  I could go up and check but honestly, as long as I can get water for coffee in the morning I'll live through it....

Looks like I'll be up for awhile after all that afternoon napping so I'm going to go see what kind of trouble I can get into by the sewing area......

Have a great day everyone!

Jo-Ann