Irish fun

One of my favorite days.  My Irish roots were celebrated today.  I doubt many people were as proud to be Irish as my Mother and my Grandfather.  Heaven help you if you arrived at our house on March 17th and weren't wearing green.   My grandfather always joked that he wanted a real Irish wake.  You can call it coincidence but he died many years ago on march 14th and his funeral was on March 17th.   I think there was a little divine intervention there.   I took the day off work today and a friend and I headed out of town early to a fun Irish Pub about 40 minutes away.  Great food, awesome live music.  All the old favorite Irish tunes.  We had a blast for a few hours. Everyone was decked out in their finest greens but this pair stole the show.......

Wow.......right? Kind of left us a little speechless.  And maybe considering that we had reached our limit of green beer...... I still can't get past the leprechaun heads........then I wondered how were they going to pee?? Times have changed, the years have taken their toll.  There was a time when we would have spent all day and half the night at a party like this.  I've been in my pyjamas since 7:30pm.   Sigh..... Hope you all had a great day and sang a few Irish tunes a little too loud and out of tune (like me) 

All things green

The big day is almost here so I thought I should start to prepare for all things Irish!  Today as I was picking up a few things at the grocery store I passed a display of little shamrock plants. 

I really hope this little guy survives (and thrives).  I don't have the best history with house plants.  Maybe the "luck of the Irish" will shine down on it 😀☘️ And this was the weekend craft project - a little table topper

My first attempt at pinwheels.  They are not as easy as I thought. They are not perfect but they will do just fine for a first attempt.  Here's a close up

I love that shamrock fabric.  It was a fun little project and helped me get more confident with adding the binding and going around those corners.  And for dessert, a batch of pistachio squares.

The finished pan of squares are in the refrigerator to set before I can cut them.  It's going to be a long couple of hours.   Lol

Just plain lame

Have you ever been such a lame, pathetic blogger that you don't write a post because you can't decide what title to use?  Gahhhhh! Consider this fair warning - if you suffer from vertigo you'd better stop reading because I'm about to be all over the place here.   One option could have been "It's shocking".  This dry, cold weather is making static electricity my worst nightmare.  My hair, oh dear, my hair is literally out of control.  I have to keep a bounce dryer sheet in the pocket of my coat and keep rubbing it on my head.   And Abby is no better....

Every time I touch her she gets a little shock.  At first it terrified her but now she just gets annoyed and gives me the wicked stink eye.   Another option was "I saw the light".  No, it's not a religious thing.  It's more of a crazy thing.   This past week has been extremely intense at work.  A lot of extra hours and things spinning through my brain.  Did you ever notice how your mind races just before bedtime?  This morning as I was coming downstairs I thought "Gee, it's really bright out this morning."  No, it wasn't.  Apparently I was so distracted at bedtime I went to bed and left all the downstairs lights on......all night.   

  Another option was "I've got mail".  This is a good one.  Any day that I open the mailbox and see something from Ohio is a great day.  A package from my sweet friend Lauren (Rugs and Pugs).  I was the lucky winner of her recent giveaway and it's so fabulous.

A sweet little penny mat.  It now resides proudly atop my fireplace.   Lauren's stitching is as lovely as her hooking.  Thank you Again Lauren ❤❤ I had another option but I think I'll save that story.  TGIF folks 

Sunday happenings

I'm not sure where the week went but it's Sunday again.   I wish every day could be like today.  I was a productive machine today.   I woke up early and decided to do all the little things that I've been putting off.  The first task was to put together the bookcase that was delivered about 6 weeks ago and has been leaned up against the kitchen wall, still in the box.  My bathroom is small and oddly shaped and there is no linen closet and little storage.   So now things are a little more organized

Then I cleaned up my sewing room/office and cleaned the whole main floor.  I also rearranged a few side tables etc.  Ahhh, it felt so good to get some little stupid tasks done.    No sewing or crafting today (hence the aforementioned productivity everywhere else)  but here's a preview of the next project

The strips are just quilted in the ditch but I want to try something a little wilder on the border.  I'm waiting for a new attachment which will allow some free form quilting.  I hope it works.  It's amazing what you can get done when you stay away from the computer, hooking frame or sewing machine   Lol I made a huge pot of beef "stoup" today.  Perfect Sunday comfort food. And I think maybe I might even crank out a batch of cinnamon buns tonight.  Seems like a good plan for breakfast, don't you think?  

One more off the Bucket List

Overall my Bucket List isn't very long but it's still exciting when you get to cross something off.  

I've always loved quilts.  There's just something so comforting about them to me.   The whole process seems so mysterious and technical I really never thought I would be saying " I made a quilt".    Taa Dahh....

From start to finish.  I didn't abandon it part way through (which I sometimes do).  I love the colors. So summery and fresh.  This one will stay with me because I made a few mistakes - I didn't square up the centre before I started adding the border.  But in my defence, I didn't know I was supposed to.  So it's a little wonky and that led to a few puckers.  And my first corner is not pretty but each one got better as I went around.  And I didn't quilt all the way to the ends.  But I still love it.   I discovered quilting stencils this weekend so I'm excited to try those for my next project.    Our snow is quickly disappearing   Last weeks weather was very mild.  Loving that!  And this coming week has temps on the plus side too.  We are still a long way from tulips and robins but we are closer to Spring than we have winter left.  I'm looking forward to relaxing tonight and watch the Oscars.  Not because I care who wins, I have much less noble reasons for watching.  I watch for the mocking.  I know it's stupid and immature but I like seeing the ugly dresses and watching someone do something stupid.   Just to get in the mood, here's a few of my favorite bad dresses

A bird dress.......really?

She should fire her stylist

Dominatrix Ballerina........NO

Ahh, excuse me Drew......you forgot your BRA

This is just a HOT MESS

 

 .Have a great week

 

Not according to plan

Things don't always go as planned.  After my last post I was eager to begin a stretch of 5 days off.  Boy, did I have big plans however I was foiled at every corner.     The snow storm finally ended Thursday night however my snow plow guy had mechanical issues and didn't arrive on Friday until supper time.  Which meant that I couldn't get my car out of the yard all day.    Oh well, I thought I'd have time to finish quilting and even had the lofty goal of adding the binding.  Then I could take it to the local quilt store for a viewing and pick out a new project.

Instead I have fought with this stupid machine for days.    Three days of attempts and I still have 2 lines of quilting to do before I can bind.  The needle has broken, the walking foot fallen off, thread breakage, needle jamming and sticking requiring me to take it apart multiple times........UGHHHHHHHHHHH.  I guess attempting a project like this on a cheapy Walmart sewing machine might be too much.   I have the binding all ready to go but for now it will wait until I figure out a new plan

Then on Saturday night auntie and I were invited to a special birthday dinner.  It was out of town at a very expensive restaurant.   Neither of us wanted to go but it was for a family friend who is rapidly succumbing to Alzheimer's.  Her daughter wanted to do something special as it will likely be the last birthday her Mom remembers most of us.   I could relate to how she felt so we went.   It was the absolute worst experience ever.  I would say the service was bad, but it was virtually non existent. 

We arrived and were seated at 6:15pm.   There were 3 other tables seated.   We ordered our entrees  and drinks.  Drinks arrived 5 minutes later and that was the last we saw of any staff for the next 2 hours.   No food, no drink refills, no explanation, nothing.    At the 2 hour and 20 minute mark we were all pretty angry.  A waitress  appeared out of nowhere to clear another table.  We had to yell to get her attention and asked her what was happening with our food.  "Oh it will be out in 5 minutes".    Another 20 minutes passed and finally a plate came out.   Our food was delivered to our table in roughly 4 minute intervals, one at a time.  There was 7 of us.........do the math.  By the time the last one was served, the first guy was finished.    By this time time, no one was really hungry anymore.  Our drinks and water galsses were never refilled once! She knew we were mad and a few minutes later the owner arrived with our bill and a weak, insincere apology.    Was there a discount on the cheque??? NO.    This was the first time in my life I have never left a tip.  None of us did.    .That's just highlights

I've got mail!

I had the loveliest surprise when I came home last night.  I saw the lid up on my mailbox and feared it was stuffed full of bills (as usual).  Imagine my surprise when I found this......

Someone left a bottle of wine!  No card, no note, just a happy surprise.  I found out later it was from a friend I had done a tiny favor for at work.  Sweet!   And it came in handy as "storm wine" as you guessed it.........another storm today.   Work was closed again so I had a nice relaxing day.  It's still snowing and blowing so no point in shovelling until tomorrow.   I made some tea biscuits for lunch.  Seemed like a good comfort food, hot from the oven and drizzled with molasses

And then I decided to try and fix the sewing machine again.  Last time I tried I broke the needle.  I managed to replace it and get that stupid walking foot attached again.  

I love what the walking foot does, but this one is a piece of crap.  It's a Singer brand to fit the machine but it's made very poorly.  All you have to do is look at it sideways and the foot falls off.  So I had to go very slowly and continually check to be sure it wasn't going to fall off.   I managed to get about 1/3 quilted when I quit for the day.  I'll see how far I get tomorrow.   Did I mention I'm off again tomorrow?  And that Monday is a holiday.......extra long weekend for me!    I think that calls for some more storm wine 😛  🍷