THANK YOU AND NEW FAMILY MEMBER

KENYA

First of all, I would like to thank everyone who sent emails, cards, and left comments on my Blog regarding the passing of Dad. My quilting friends BRENDA, LINDA, SHIRLEY, MARY and MICHELLE sent me a lovely gift basket with cheeses, nuts, spreads, and even some chocolate. It is times like this that friends are so much appreciated, both online friends and real life friends. It has been a very hard last few days. Today would have been Dad's birthday, and yesterday Father's Day, but time will ease the pain. This is Kenya, Dad's cat. I brought her home with me on the plane. She travelled 3000 miles in the cargo hold of a 737 here to Ontario from British Columbia. She needed a home and my sisters could not take her as their animals weren't used to cats, so she has made herself at home with us. We joke about our farm...we call it "Last Chance Ranch" because of all of the critters we have adopted over the years.

LOSING DAD

Next Sunday will be Fathers' Day, but this year there will be no card to send. It will be different this year, instead, I will be remembering my Dad for the great father he was to me and my sisters. Last Saturday morning we lost Dad, he passed away just hours after I arrived in British Columbia to see him for the last time. I am dedicating this little poem to Dad. 

Ron Tapp, my Dad
June 18, 1930-June 9, 2012

The Broken Chain

I little knew that morning. God was going to call your name, 

In life I loved you dearly, in death I do the same. 

It broke my heart to lose you, you did not go alone, 

for part of me went with you, the day God called you home. 

You left me beautiful memories your love is still my guide, 

and though we cannot see you, you're always at my side. 

Our family chain is broken and nothing seems the same, 

but as God calls us one by one, the chain will link again. 

Author  Ron Tranmer

HORSE CHARITY QUILT FINISHED

Between gardening, baking pies, judging Horse Shows, looking after critters and everyday life, I have finished the charity Horse Quilt. I used fabrics that would compliment the horse border and I am really pleased with the way it turned out. I said I would post pictures when I had it finished, so I had my DH hold it up outside this morning for some photos. He agreed to it as long as he didn't have to be in the photo, so I told him he could hide behind the quilt. I made a label for it also, and I called the quilt "For the Horses". I quilted it with variegated thread that matched the fabric colors. The pictures don't do it justice......it looks so much better in real life.

Finished Quilt

A close-up of the border and fabrics

Quilt label

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE

I just took this strawberry rhubarb pie out of the oven. It smells amazing. We are FINALLY getting some rain today, there is a thunderstorm going through right now. We have been so dry here, so we really need some rain. I am taking a break from the garden today and working inside. Baking and quilting.............it doesn't get much better than that :)

Have a great day!

~Janet

Home made strawberry rhubarb pie....yum!

PRIMITIVE CLYDESDALE

This morning I was out in my gardens really early and at around 7:30 am, my friend Gillian pulled into my driveway with all of her gardening tools. She was here to help me garden. What a sweetheart. We accomplished so much today, she even trimmed up some of my trees. She also brought me this hand made primitive horse that she made and it looks so much like our "Dolly" who just recently passed away. I just love it! Thanks so much Gillian. We worked in the garden until lunch time, then I made us some grilled tuna and cheese wraps with apple, walnut, and cranberry salad on the side with a glass of my home made lemonade.  I am so glad that we worked early, as it got to be in the 90's after lunch. Gillian and her husband have a Primitive shop in Hensall, Ontario www.pinesamplerfurniture.com They make some great primitive furniture and Gillian makes gorgeous mohair bears and these primitive horses.

Close up of big white face, just like our Dolly had.

It even has an old quilt for the saddle pad.
I love it!

GARDENING

I have been trying to get my gardens in shape. It's coming along, slowly, but surely. I found out that I have  2 broken toes and 2 cracked ribs after my fall a couple of weeks ago, so I am working slow. I'm not one to just sit around doing nothing with an injury. I have one side of the house all finished, and I have to get the other side done. If I could only get them in order, I could keep them up. It's just "getting" them in order. Every year, I have friends that tell me they will come and help, but they never do. I think they realize how much garden I have, then back out. I am eliminating a couple of them, so I can just concentrate on the others. I have been busy digging up and moving perennials. It is supposed to get really hot later this week, so I am outside working around 6:30 each morning.

Iris just starting to bloom

Hollyhocks, Hostas and Iris

Kit was supervising my gardening after we got back from our walk in the woods

Kit loves to sit in the sun.
She is such a cutie!

Kit giving Sydney a kiss

Sydney resting after his walk in the woods.
He is still missing Dolly.

HOME FROM A GREAT HORSE SHOW

I just returned home from judging a great APHA horse show in Lloydminster Saskatchewan. Over 12 hours traveling today to get home and 12 hours Friday to get there. Left Lloydminster at 6:30 am this morning and drove four  hours to Edmonton, Alberta, then flew to Calgary, Alberta and from there to London. I was home by 8 pm. I am exhausted. It was a two day show with over 105 horses competing in all different events. I judged for 22 hours in  two days. Some great horses and competitors. I really enjoyed it.

Some great APHA horses in the show

A QUILT FOR A GOOD CAUSE

I am making a quilt and donating it to be raffled or auctioned to raise money for The Canadian Horse Defence Coalition in their effort to ban slaughter in Canada and help those horses most at risk through their Horse Protection Initiatives. I wanted to put a nice border with horses on the quilt, but didn't have any fabric with horses on it, so I called up Shirley from the Marsh Store Quilt shop and she said she had some. Shirley gave me a great deal on the fabric too, seeing it was going to be made into a quilt for a good cause. Thanks so much Shirley! I have everything cut out, now I am starting to sew it all together. I will post a picture when it is finished.

Wishing everyone a great day.

~Janet

Fabric for the horse charity quilt

KITTEN AND CHICKS

Today our cat Izzy gave birth to one little black kitten. It looks just like our cat Sambo that we lost last year. It is such a sweetheart, eating well. Izzy seems to be a great mother. Our chickens are also growing like weeds. So DH and I are grandparents.

Izzy with her kitten

The chicks are really growing. We still have 24.
We didn't lose any

FABRIC ORGANIZED

My fabric is now all nicely organized in my new cupboard. It was hard getting it all in the picture, as it is six feet tall. It is all organized by color, so now I know what I have and it is all easy to see and get to. Boy, I have a lot of fabric :) I also made a sign to go above. My fabric shows up great in the color of the cupboard. It was made by Pine Sampler Furniture in Hensall, ON. They make some great primitive furniture. http://pinesamplerfurniture.com
Now I just need to find a small table to set up my sewing machine.

My cupboard and the sign I made to go above it

Bottom half of cupboard

Top of cupboard

THANK YOU

Thank you to everyone who left comments of condolences and for all the emails I received after our "Dolly" passed away. It means a lot. It has been a hard last few days for DH and I. Our Australian Shepherd "Sydney" is also at a loss. He was Dolly's guardian. She was his horse. He used to lay in the pasture for hours, just watching over her. He used to herd her in when it was time for the horses to come in for the night. Now he is roaming around the farm trying to find her. 

A VERY SAD DAY

Unfortunately it is a very sad day for us. Our beautiful Clydesdale mare "Dolly" passed away. Our veterinarian said she had congestive heart failure. He said he had never seen a Clydesdale as old as her in all of his years in Practice. She would have been equal to 110 in human years. She lived here with us for over 17 years, and we rescued her when she was 10. She was originally from Nova Scotia and came to Ontario in her younger years. They call draft horses gentle giants, and she was that for sure. She will be sadly missed. We loved looking out and seeing her eating grass in the pasture. Now she is eating greener grass at the Rainbow Bridge. I like to post about happy things, but life is not always about happy things, and I consider my Blog a diary of my life. So Dolly, you were loved so much, and we will miss you always. You brought us so much joy while you lived here with us.

This is a picture of our beautiful "Dolly"

PIECEMAKERS QUILT SHOW

Wow....two posts in one day. Well, I am back from the Piecemakers Quilt show. I worked this afternoon in the Tea Room and it almost Killed me ..... LOL. It has been 29 years since I have done any waitress work. I did enjoy it though, and I'm going back tomorrow to work another shift over the lunch hour. I took a few pictures of some of the Quilts for you to see. If you haven't gone to the show, there is still tomorrow, but it is the last day. There has been amazing attendance. People have come for miles to see the show.

This quilt was my favorite one at the show. I just LOVE the colors. My friend Peggy made this beautiful quilt.

Peggy's quilt

I love this quilt too

Another nice quilt

One of our Vendor booths. 

Shirley from "The Marsh Store" quilt shop.
One of our vendors

Another Quilt from the show

Lisa from "Soft Impressions by Lisa", one of our Vendors. 
We call her the gadget girl. She sells amazing gadgets for all of your sewing/quilting needs.

This is Joseph's Quilt (He won a second place in the show)

I believe this quilt was made by Shirley Bobier (The Marsh Store)

FABRIC ORGANIZING IS TAKING PLACE

It has been a long time coming, but today I am FINALLY organizing my fabric. I have to go and work at the Piecemakers Quilt Show today at 3:00 pm, but until then, I am hard at it. DH and I picked up my pine cupboard on Wednesday morning and it looks awesome in my new sewing room. It is painted Cloud White and distressed. It looks perfect with the butterscotch walls and my fabric is easy to see in it too. I am finding fabric that I had forgotten I had and I have even found some....."What was I thinking fabric".

I think that will be going :) I will be posting pictures when I am finished this task, so keep an eye out. If you haven't made it to the Piecemakers Quilt Show in St. Marys, Ontario yet,  you should try and get there. It is the best one yet! Lots of vendors with some wonderful gadgets, threads, patterns and fabrics. Lots of workshops and lectures going on too. Great food in the Tea Room. (That is where I will be working today and tomorrow). You won't be disappointed. It is a great show. Bring your friends and have  a day out. After my fabric organizing fiasco, I won't be buying more fabric at the show, that is for sure.

CHICKS HAVE ARRIVED

This morning DH and I went to our local Feed Mill and picked up our 24 day old chicks that we ordered. So far all are doing well. I have heard that sometimes a few don't make it, but I am hoping all of ours will. They are keeping warm under the heat lamp and are running around and eating well. They are so sweet. I am already attached to them. By late summer, we will have a sign out at the road reading "Brown Eggs for Sale". It has been about three years since I have had chickens. We only have chickens for eggs. I can't eat anything that I have raised, named, and made friends with. The last batch of chickens I had, one of the hens lived to be around 12 years old.

Rhode Island Reds and Plymouth Rocks

DAY II QUILTERS SHOP TOUR

Yesterday was day 2 of the Quilters' Shop Tour. We started out early again and arrived at our first Quilt Shop at 9 am when they opened. There was four us this time, Michelle's sister Sharon decided to joing us. Our first shop was Joyce's Sewing Shop. There was a very large selection of sewing machines, patterns, notions, and fabrics. The shop was very bright and lots of free goodies to take home, pens, date books etc. Joyce and her employee Kelley were very nice to talk to and made us feel at home while we looked around. We all found something nice to buy. Later in the day when I arrived home, I received a phone call from Joyce's shop telling me that I had won a prize, so I was  quite happy to hear that. I never win anything.

Kelley Richardson holding up my gift that I won at Joyce's Sewing Shop in London, ON.

We left Joyce's sewing shop, made a quick stop at Cotton by Post in Arva, got our passports stamped and headed up to Quilts and Calicos in Exeter. 

We arrived in Exeter and we decided we needed a coffee, so we went into Coffee Cultures and Mary treated us all to coffee and a scone. We walked into Quilts and Calicos and were greeted with smiles from shop owner Linda Bartlett and her employee Deb Campbell. There were iced cupcakes and truffles for the shoppers and the store was filled to the brim with wonderful fabrics, patterns, kits, and notions. It didn't take us long to find some great fabric choices. A great Quilt shop that has something for everyone!

Linda Bartlett  Shop owner of Quilts and Calicos, Exeter, ON.

Mary was having some fabric cut 
and Michelle was looking at the quilting  books

Truffles and Cupcakes

Our next stop was to be in Goderich at Quilters by the Square, but we had to make a couple of stops along the way. Our first stop was at Pine Sampler furniture in Hensall. They had a wonderful selection of wool for rug hooking and a wide assortment of primitive furniture and accessories and giftware. We enjoyed looking around at their latest additions to the store.

Pine Sampler furniture in Hensall, ON.

Next on our list was lunch at the Black Dog in Bayfield, ON. An Irish Pub and restaurant with delicious menu choices. The black bean soup was on special and it was absolutely delicious! We were all so full from lunch, we decided to look around a few shops before heading to Goderich.

The Black Dog in Bayfield, ON.

We arrived in Goderich and went into Quilters by the Square. Lots of goodies for shoppers to eat and drink and many fabric selections. Lots of books, patterns, and notions too. Very friendly ladies were ready to help to cut fabric or find that special pattern you were looking for. This was our last shop on the tour so we handed in our fully stamped passports. We decided we needed to celebrate the end of this two days of power shopping, so we headed down the street to J's Bistro for coffee and carrot cake. The best home made carrot cake that I have ever tasted. So all in all, we had a wonderful time on the Quilters shop Tour. We decide this will be a yearly excursion for us.

FUN, FRIENDS, FABRIC, AND FOOD

Today was the first day of a three day Quilters' Shop Tour, so myself and two friends decided that we would do the tour, but over two days. All of the shops stamped our passports and gave out a free pattern and offered 20 percent off fabric purchases. Today we did the West region and Saturday we will do the East region and that will complete the whole tour. There are draws for regional prizes for finishing each region and a grand prize draw of $1000.00 worth of coupons for one lucky winner who has their passport stamped from all 9 Quilt shops. We started out at 8:30 am this morning and our first stop was at the "Marsh Store" Quilt shop in Coldstream, ON. Shirley had the store looking amazing! Shirley greeted us with a huge smile when we walked in. We were her first customers of the day. She had lots of refreshments for the shoppers, chocolate Easter eggs, chocolate bars and bottled water.  Shirley has a great assortment of kits and bolts of fabrics, notions, and patterns. We all found a few things to purchase and then headed to Mt. Brydges to our next stop, "Sew Creative".

Mary, myself, Michelle and Shirley at the "Marsh Store" quilt shop in Coldstream,ON.

Shirley standing in front of her sample of the free pattern she did for the Shop Tour.

The refreshment table at the Marsh Store in Coldstream, ON.

When we arrived at "Sew Creative", Joan also greeted us with a smile. She had lots of cookies and juice for the shoppers and her store also looked amazing. Joan confessed that there was over 2000 bolts of fabric. She had something for everyone, also lots of patterns, books, and notions. All of her Pfaff machines are on sale until the end of June also. We all found something to purchase, got our passports stamped and headed to our next stop. We found "Sew Creative" a great place to shop.

Joan Hilhorst at Sew Creative in Mt. Brydges, ON

Sew Creative in Mt. Brydges, ON.

Our next stop was "Quilting Creations" in Strathroy, ON.  We found Sherry to be a very nice lady.  She also had lots of fabrics to choose from and homemade cookies and drinks for the shoppers. Her staff were also very friendly and helpful. We also enjoyed our shopping experience at "Quilting Creations". Lots of patterns and books too.

Sherry from Quilting Creations with the sample of her shop pattern she was handing out to shoppers.

Our next stop was in Arkona, ON. at "Quilts n' Things". Lots of fabrics and homemade cookies for shoppers on the tour. They had a great pattern for Quilters to take home.

Our final stop for the day was in Sarnia at "The Quilt Shoppe". We were greeted with smiles from the friendly staff and had our passports stamped and we were given a free pattern to take home. We were told that all fabrics were $9.99 a metre and then 20 percent off of that. We all thought that was a great deal. They had a great selection of fabrics and kits. We all enjoyed our shopping experience here and found the owner and staff very friendly. There was bottled water, carrots to munch on, apples and donuts for shoppers. We all got some nice fabrics to take home. We also were given a 20 percent off coupon for lunch at  a lovely Tea House down the road, so seeing we were hungry after all of this shopping we decided to give it a try, after all it was lunch time.

The girls at "The Quilt Shoppe" in Sarnia, ON.

Refreshment table at "The Quilt Shoppe" in Sarnia, ON

DeGroots's Garden TeaHouse in Sarnia, ON.

Rustic Seafood Pie with Mandarin Cashew salad

(Michelle and I ordered this for our lunch)

Grilled Vegetable Panini(This was Mary's choice)

The DeGroot's TeaHouse in Sarnia was a fantastic place for lunch. They offered numerous healthy choices on their menu for lunch. Local products are used daily in their restaurant including fresh herbs, and vegetables. The food was delicious and the prices were reasonable. The portions were quite adequate too. We will definitely return. The TeaHouse is situated in a 1906 farmhouse with dining areas on two floors. Service was good, and they were very busy. The staff was very friendly, and made you feel welcome. They had recently received an award for one of their home made soups, but unfortunately the soup was sold out by the time we ordered our meals. We were very happy with our choices. Below are some of the fabrics I purchased on the Quilters' Shop Tour.

Some of my fabric purchases

Some Civil War fabrics

Some fabrics I will be using to make an Autumn Quilt

To sum it up, we had a wonderful time today and we will be doing Part II on Saturday, so check back for another update of the second half of the tour.

~Janet