Christmas and the aftermath

 Christmas Dinner was a success; the free range turkey delicious.  The challenge was keeping the food hot as it traveled downstairs. Dessert was a traditional "Buche de Noel".    After the meal, we opened presents.  My brother loves Christmas crackers and I had found this giant one.  Here he is opening it with his grandson.

 On Boxing Day, we took lunch up to my parents.  Paul had made a big pot of beef and barley soup which was absolutely delicious.  I made a strawberry and caramel banana trifle.  This was my first attempt at making a trifle.  It turned out very well except that I didn't cook the custard long enough so it was rather thin.  Instead of putting it in the trifle, we just poured it over our individual servings.

This morning we woke up to heavy snow which soon turned to pouring rain and melted much of the snow away.  The temperature was +6 but if this all freezes overnight, I don't think we will be going anywhere tomorrow either.  Since we didn't go out today, we finally got the rest of our blinds put up.  It was nice to get this job done.

T'was the Night Before Christmas

And everything is ready.  The tree is up and the presents wrapped.  The table is partially set. Tomorrow the family is coming over and I'm looking forward to everyone being together; the first time in a long time.  It may well be the last Christmas with my dad so trying to making it extra special.

I made the napkin holders and placemats.  The embroidery took hours to do and I am happy with the result.  Looks very festive.

The wall hanging below is paper pieced and has tiny led lights.  Pearl is the big present lying underneath it and on the right is the new mantle.

Hope Everyone has a Merry Christmas. 

Christmas is not far off

Strange Looking Bow 

I'm really getting into Christmas this year.  This morning I put up a wreath on the front door and put together a pot arrangement by the side door.



I finished a Christmas Tree Wall Hanging complete with small LED lights.  It really needs a bar in the bottom to help it hang a little better but overall I am really pleased with how it turned out (the picture doesn't do it justice).    This would be a great tree for someone living in a small space as you could pile presents on the floor under it.  Next on my list to decorate is our mantle; its looking very plain and bare.  I have bought presents for everyone and they are already wrapped.

Life continues to be interesting here.  Small village affairs are fascinating.  Life at my parents continues to be a challenge.  My dad doesn't have any good days; just days that are less bad than others.  I'm spending more and more time there as my mom's time is completely taken up caring for my dad and so I pick up the slack of cleaning, cooking and shopping and whatever else needs to be done.  Our family friends from St. Pierre & Miquelon are coming on Friday for a few weeks and they will be a great help to all of us.

The weather is quite strange.  It has not been very cold, I think the coldest has been 1 degree.  Today, it would snow one minute and the next minute the sun would be shining with a very brisk cold wind.

Hope everyone is doing well.

The First Snow Storm

We woke up this morning to this, the first snowstorm of the year.   The snowflakes were huge and the landscape looked so pretty.  By early afternoon, the sun was out and the snow melting rapidly.  Tomorrow, its supposed to rain.






For Christmas, I made 10 placemats out of the leftover fabric from the roman blinds (it hardly put a dent in the leftover fabric).  I also made 10 napkin holders.  So I have 10 placemats, 10 napkin holders, 10 chairs and 10 plates.  So if anyone else shows up, they will have to bring their own chair and plate.

The napkin holders are free standing lace and the placemats have a matching embroidery motif.  I embroidered the first one directly onto the placemat but that was really fussy, trying to position it just so.  So the rest of them I did like the FSL and then used Charlotte's Web to fuse them to the placemat and finished by stitching them to the placemat with invisible thread.  I'm very pleased with how they turned out although I don't think any two of the placemats are the same size.

I now have lots of starch.  This is a tip from my friend Judy E.  Save the water from washing out the water soluble stabilizer and use it as starch.  It works very well.

Life in Cape Breton

Life has been very busy.  I try to go to yoga every morning; after yoga  I usually go up to my parents to make lunch and help out with tidying the house.  Then its back home to take the dogs for a walk and try to get a few things done around my house.  My dad seems to have rallied and is better than he was a few weeks ago.  He did experience a sudden hearing loss but thanks to my good friend Monica who sent us her dad's hearing aids, he is able to hear again.

I finished the quilt for my mom and she just loves it.  Here it is - the front and back.

The installation of the hearth and woodstove is complete.  The tiles were laid this past week and today we went and pick out some weathered wood for the mantle.  We should have it this week.

The next big event is Christmas.  The family wants to have a traditional Christmas here with turkey dinner and a tree and all that stuff.  I haven't put up a tree in 20 years so needless to say I don't have any decorations.  I picked out the tree last week and Paul will cut it down when the time comes. Decorations have been purchased and tons of lights, both indoor and outdoor.  I have also been working on a Christmas tree wall hanging - its almost done but I won't show you a picture till its complete.  Its approximately 80" high and close to 30" wide.  I'm thinking of entering it in the local "Festival of Trees" but I'm not sure it will be finished in time.   Monday I will pick up some supplies to make wreaths for the doors.

We had a very sad event a couple of weeks ago.  I think most of you already know that Ralphie went to the Rainbow Bridge.  He had an internal bleeding episode that just could not be brought under control so we had to let him go.  Many tears have been shed.  The house is so quiet, too quiet without him.  He has left a huge hole in our hearts.  The only one who doesn't seem to mind is Pearl as she never really liked him very much but she is much clingier than she was.  Here is one of the last pictures we have of them both running on the beach.

I went on a quilting retreat in October and had a blast.  It took place at St. Ann's Gaelic College, which is not far from Baddeck.  We arrived on Friday afternoon and left Sunday after lunch.  I took a workshop with Kathy Tidswell on thread painting and learned a lot from this very talented lady.  I enjoyed every minute of the retreat which was very well organized.  There were around 36 or 34 women from all over the province and one lady who actually drove down from Ontario.  There were little presents for each person at each meal and door prizes.  On Friday evening, we had a "pajama party" with games and many prizes and laughs followed by some show and tell.  On Saturday night there was some live musical entertainment.  I met many women with similar interests and not all as traditional as I thought they would be.  There was also a fabric sale on Saturday with attendees having brought fabric from their stashes and a vendor on site who had beautiful landscape fabrics at very reasonable prices.  One of the ladies had been collecting silk garments for quite some time and had a big shopping bag full of silk which she no longer wanted.  I was able to buy it for $10.00 and then proceeded to spend approximately $150 on other fabrics.

While at the retreat, I started talking to the lady from Ontario and it turns out she also had a puppy from the breeder that Pearl comes from.  It is such a small world.  I was happy to learn that Bob was back in business after having been very sick for many months; I had been trying to get in touch with him for so long as I wanted to see him before we moved.  When I was involved with doing westie rescue, Bob was my best helper.  I was finally able to talk to him last week and he will put our name on a spring puppy.  All going well, I will be coming to Guelph to pick it up in April or May.

While I'm out most days, Paul has been keeping himself busy doing outside and inside work and taking care of the house.  We are also on the organizing committee for the Seaside Lobster Festival taking place next July and ,although, we are not too busy with that yet, I'm sure that will change after the holidays. 

Well that's it for now.  I hope everyone is well.  I'm sure everyone is starting to gear up for the holidays.  Don't forget to breathe and have a glass of wine.

Brigitte

The Big Storm

We woke up Monday morning to the sound of pouring rain and high winds.  Paul, with the help of Anthony, had worked very hard all week to prepare the lawn for seeding and finally got it finished on Saturday.  We were not prepared for the torrential rain; it had not been in the forecast but it turned out to be the tail end of hurricane Matthew.  We watched as the topsoil and grass seed were washed away.

Washed Out Lawn

It poured all day well into the evening.  I took this photo this morning, We had already moved this bench back 3 or 4 feet from the shore yesterday.  It shows how high the water rose in a short time.

Bench in Several Feet of Water

We lost power about 11:30 last night and it was finally restored today about 6:00 pm; just in time for the news so we could see all the places that had been flooded. Sydney received over 200 mm of rain; streets were flooded as well as many homes.   It will be months before everything is back to normal.  According to local people, this is the worse rainstorm they have had in years.  One man we spoke to has lived in his house for 60 years and has never had water in his basement.  Today he had water in his basement and he lives at the top of a hill. We are very fortunate; other then the top soil and grass seed being eroded and the power being out for a few hours, we didn't have any damages.  

At the height of the storm yesterday, my mum called me to say they were out of pills for my dad's restless leg syndrome.  This is something that really bothers him and causes him quite a bit of pain and discomfort.  I said I would take care of it.  The pharmacy they deal with was closed for Thanksgiving.  I called the pharmacist at home and arranged to meet him at the pharmacy to get a refill of his prescription.  We then proceeded up the Oban Road, 12 km of gravel, to their house. At several places on the road, at least 6 to 8 inches of water were running over the road. We had no way of knowing for sure how deep the water was or if the road had been completely washed out.  It was an act of faith crossing each of those places. When we finally got to their house, Paul ran in and said here are your pills and ran back out and back into the car so we could get home before the road got any worse.  The trip was quite an adventure.

Today, since they were out of power as well, we cooked up a pasta casserole using our BBQ, and took it up to share with them.  As soon as we finished eating, their power came back on.

Cat's Meow

I have been working on this quilt for my mum for a few weeks now.  She loves cats.  Sorry the picture is sideways; it was facing the right way but somehow flipped around when I uploaded it.  I was going to wait till I had it quilted to show her but I also wanted my dad to be able to see it.  So I showed it to them today.  She was so surprised and pleased and, of course, wanted to put it on her bed right away.

A perfectly calm day.  I love the boat's reflection in the water.  This could be another wall hanging in the making.  The boat belongs to my parents' friends who are visiting from St. Pierre and Miquelon.  They left today which was rather sad. It is unlikely my dad will be around next time they come to visit.

You many not hear from me for a while.  We feel that these are my dads last few days and I will be spending as much time as possible with my parents and family.

Some Recent Accomplishments

We have been very busy around here.  A wall was taken down in the basement in preparation for installing a brick hearth and wood stove. The ceiling also was taken down.  It was finished with ugly ceiling tiles so we will replace them with dry wall.  There were a lot of tiles and accompanying metal track which we didn't really want to haul off to the landfill.  So I posted to the local facebook yard sales as free.  They were taken within 5 minutes of being posted.  Free is remarkably effective.

We bought a wood chair unit to put down by the water but first I stained it turquoise.  It really stands out; we can see the chairs from across the bay when we are driving home.

I made a new padded headboard for our bedroom. This, with Pearl's help of course, turned into this.  I'm really happy with the result. The fabric has a wonderful texture.  Sorry for the poor picture.  It doesn't show up very well against the white wall.  Now I need to paint the bedroom or at the very least, that wall.  I'm thinking a light mauve as the quilt I'm working on has mauve/purple fabrics in it.  Will have to get some paint chips and see what will be the best color.

Pirate Days

I am amazed at the number of festivals and events that are held in the area.  Last weekend, St. Peter's celebrated Pirate Days.  This was a three day event starting on Friday night with opening ceremonies at the local museum, Nicolas Denys Museum.  (The Nicolas Denys Museum commemorates the life of the seventeenth century French explorer, trader and colonizer.  Click here if you want to read more about him.)

Pirate Days featured three days of fun, contests, food and music.

There were prizes for the best dressed store front, best dressed house and best dressed boat.  We were amazed at the number of people who came all decked out in their pirate costumes.  All day Saturday and Sunday, pirates roamed the streets of St. Peter's and were in and out of the stores.  We went for lunch at the local cafe (Judy W. you know where I mean) and were served by a pirate lady.  It was all great fun.

On Saturday evening, the pirate ships cruised the waters.  I could not get a good picture as I don't have a tripod but you can see in the distance, the sailing boats decorated with lights.

We had our own "pirate" ship in front of the house.  Friends of my parents are visiting and asked could they moor their boat in front of our house.  It looks very good having a red sail boat in front of the house.  We have had many comments about it.

The Ugly Duckling

This very ugly stool with a disgusting top, both fabric and cushion was saved from the land fill with a bit of  chalk paint and a new cushion.  No longer is it the ugly duckling.

Isle Madame

Today was a beautiful sunny day, not too hot.  We decided to take a little road trip to Isle Madame, specifically, we were interested in visiting the Pebble & Fern Market Garden.  After winding around the roads of Isle Madame, we finally ended up at Little Anse which is on a small island off of the main island of Isle Madame which is itself an island off of Cape Breton Island.  The garden is wonderful; very whimsical with its driftwood adornments.  Its a wonder anything grows here but these two ladies have managed to plant a beautiful garden and make their living with it.

After an extensive visit of the gardens and buying some fresh vegies, we continued on our way around the island.  Before leaving this community, we had to stop and get a picture of these whimsical characters.  

I

Our next stop was Pondville Beach - a full kilometer of sandy beach where we took the dogs for a walk.  Continuing on our drive, we passed through D'Escousse.  The Groundswell B & B and Pub really stuck out with its vibrant yellow and turquoise paint job and this most peculiar moose statue.  

Trying to Catch Up

This has been another busy week.   When we moved here, I thought I would have more time to work on my fiber arts projects but instead I seem to have less time.  We did accomplish a fair bit last week:  we had some landscaping done although it doesn't look like much right now,  we ordered a wood stove and arranged for a chimney to be installed and we ordered a greenhouse.  Its pretty much impossible to have a garden here without one.  The summers are so short and cool that you really need to extend the season with a greenhouse.

Last week we were at the beach walking the dogs.  At the far end of the beach there is a grassy bluff and a cliff of about 10 feet down to the shoreline.  All of a sudden, we realized we were missing Pearl.  We looked down over the edge of the cliff, and there she was down at the shoreline, rolling in something disgusting.  We were wondering how we were going to get her back up and exploring how we could get down to the shoreline, when up she came over the edge.  I don't know how she got down there or how she got back up but we will be keeping a much closer eye on her in that area.

Before

After

Last week, I also recovered our dining room chairs.  We bought this set on Kijiji and I have wanted to recover them since we bought the set.  The existing fabric was very traditional and I didn't really like the colors.  The move to the new house inspired me to finally get it done. The new fabric looks like waves and I just love it.  Here are the before and after results.

Jinny Beyer MoonGlow

Some time ago I purchased a Jinny Beyer quilt kit called Moonglow.  I really liked the pattern and the colors and I didn't pay attention to the fact that it was designated an advanced kit.  After watching several videos on paper piecing and y-seams and consulting with Judy E., this week I finally got started on it.  My goal is to make one block per week.  One down, 25 more to go.  I am really not happy with the borders on this first block so will likely redo them at the end.  The kit seems to be fairly generous with the fabric amounts provided so I will probably have enough fabric to redo them but won't do that till I am sure.   This first block took me hours to put together but I feel confident that I will get better and faster with the rest of the blocks.
                                               
I have also been working on a whimsical cushion for our new home.  This starfish is appliqued, embellished with decorative stitches and the center part is a piece of an old earring.  I went out of my comfort zone and made piping for the outer edge (thanks Judy E. for showing me how to do this).  I am quite happy with this cushion and am planning some other ones.






We almost got taken in by a scam today.  We put our RV up for sale and advertised it on Kijiji.  This morning I received a text from a man in Yukon saying he wanted to purchase it and he would have it shipped out to him, but he would transfer the money to us via PayPal prior to having the RV picked up.  Well immediately bells started going off in our heads as our experience has been that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  After several emails back and forth, we suggested that he send the money to our lawyer in trust.  Our lawyer would keep the money in trust until he took possession of the unit.  We received one more email after that in which he stated that he preferred to deal with people directly and that was then end of that.  It would have been so easy to be taken in by this individual.

Swim the Canal Event Makes the Front Page

Check this out. Swim the Canal made the front page of the newspaper.

http://www.capebretonpost.com/News/Local/2016-08-07/article-4609121/Swim-the-Canal-event-in-St.-Peter%26rsquo%3Bs-a-success/1

Swim the Canal

Yesterday was a big day in St. Peter's with The Swim the Canal event.  This event started three years ago as a means to raise money to preserve our lighthouse.  The event has grown tremendously since the first year with over 180 swimmers this year.  The first year we had 77 swimmers.  As the event grows, other organizations are interested in participating.  This year, we had a log roller and ax thrower, a hotdog stand, a martial arts demonstration and vendors selling jewelry and herbal vinegar and oils.  There was musical entertainment before the swim and after the swim there was fresh fruit, water and tee shirts for the swimmers.  Everyone had a great time and many are already marking it on their calendars to return next year.  Here are some pictures from the event.

Getting Ready for Registration

Waiting for the Bus

Little Mermaids

Swimming with my Dog

 

The Locks open and everyone comes through

The Log Roller

The Ax Thrower