Bee blocks

For the Let's Bee Together bee - I did not get my April fabric until April 30th. I was able to make what I think is a pretty cool block. We could make anything we wanted as long as there was star in it. Here is what I created with what I was sent.

For the Orange You Glad bee group, the request was for a wonky coin block. I had never made this before so it was fun. Here is that block:

Have you ever made a coin block quilt?
Cheers,
Carolyn

Dog bite

Mr Hunter was bitten by a crazy out of control bastard of a dog - Ours!
We took our dog Lucky to the dog park, he was good until when we were playing ball toss, another dog took his ball. We got it back easily enough, but that was enough to make Lu a jerk. He started growling at other dogs when they come up to say hello. One other couple were walking their bulldog and when Lu growled at him, it was war. Mr Hunter was able to at that time easily pull Lu with his harness and we kept walking. When we got back to the open area and tossed the ball for him some more to tire him out - that bulldog came running over to Lucky again. This time when Mr. Hunter pulled him up, Lu turned and bit him right in the forearm. 
The pictures do not show how red and swollen his arm is, but here they are.

These are the bad boys teeth.

Mr Hunter had to have a tetanus shot and get heavy duty antibiotics. 
Have you ever been bitten by a dog? Jada Bean (my grey cat) bit me through my pinch muscle on my hand a couple of years back - hurt like crazy. I cannot imaging my whole arm in those teeth pictured above. OUCH!
Cheers,
Carolyn

Baby quilt finish

I have completed another baby quilt. My friend and her family whom commissioned the quilt wanted a traditional blue and brown pattern. After making over half of the blocks, I was informed that the person it was for wanted something a little more fun, and really likes Winnie the Pooh. 
This sounded great to me as I thought the traditional blocks were boring. I was able to find a lovely panel at Fabricland that had a Pooh with Piglet. Here is my combo of both visions to make the final baby quilt.

All ready to go to its new home.

Cheers,
Carolyn

Spring Blooms

The garden - well the shabbily taken care of backyard is starting to do its thing. Sadly the trees only bloom in the spring, then its just leaves. 
Here are some pics of the blooms - some of these are a couple of weeks old so the blooms are actually gone already. It would last longer if I had some sun back there, but the giant white willow - once the leaves start - the sun is gone!

Here is the white willow.

The white willow has these "blooms" in spring, they look lovely - until they all fall off , but  they seem to break down and blow away pretty quickly.

This is the cherry tree. It did not bloom at all last year so I was very happy to see it so covered this year. Our winter was really mild - so that could be why it is so happy.

Just a close up of the cherry blossom.

I have no idea what kind of bush this is - it is not a rose bush, but the flowers are very prairie rose like.

Do any of you guys know what this is?

This is another cherry tree - I think it is a Japanese cherry tree, the blooms are actually almost done now, but it was later then the rest when I took the pics. I thought these buds look fun.

This is my neighbours crab apple tree. It overhangs into our back yard. It is just beautiful.

Did you have lots of blooms this spring? 
Cheers,
Carolyn

B-Day Present

Mr Hunter ordered my B-Day present from Ebay and it just came over the last three days from three different places. Here is what I got.

This one he told me is from a ship. He didn't know what kind of ship though.  I wish I knew.

He got this huge ring of antique keys

Just a close up of some neat ones on the ring.

Another close up.

The third package came yesterday and I have not photographed it yet, but it is more keys! I love antique keys. I hope to make a series of quilted wall hanging art quilts that feature these beauties.
Do you collect keys? Or do you have a fun collection of something? 
Cheers,
Carolyn

Fun New Tools

This past Saturday, I hung out with some friends at Quiltessential in St. Alberta, Alberta. The quilt shop was having a weekend of demos and we were there for all of Saturday. The owner was really cool and showed some easy peasy projects, and of course a ton of new tools and gadgets! Gadgets I had heard of and some I had never seen before! It was awesome.
Here are my new treasures:

I got some fabric. The prices were so much better then the prices in the Edmonton Quilt shops! I may never shop in Edmonton again - for fabric.

Ha ha, this says Sew or Die. It was a free tattoo at the till. I'll wear it at my next retreat!

 OK, I know most of you in the US can get these fun gadgets for much cheaper then me. So please do not tell me how much I would have saved if I lived 8 hours south from here. It will make me sad. 

I got these two glues, the Unique Stitch is a permanent glue that is supposed to never get hard or gum up your needle. I am looking forward to trying it out.

This pointer is a light you wear on your finger to illuminate your work - like when you are paper piecing  or seam ripping.

This lets you pick up single pieces of fabric with ease when you have stacks of little cut squares or whatever. Hee hee, I like gadgets and tools!

This is fun, its a finger cutter. I tried to get a side picture, but the sheen from the packaging made it impossible.  There is a little rotary cutter on the end that lets you cut around applique or free cut your fabric.

This mat cleaner you just drag across your mat to pull out all the fibres that are stuck in there. It is supposed to make your mat and your rotary blades last longer.

There are restickable tabs you put on the underside of your ruler. So if you want  to make a stack of 4 1/2" squares, you mark that on your ruler with these stickies. They are just thick enough to be able to slide up to the edge of the fabric - stopping at your measurement and holding so you get the perfect cut.

For spending a certain amount, you got a free water bottle. I  obviously spent enough. It was funny actually because the people that were in the line were so excited when they spent the total to get the bottle like they never spend that much. One cute elder lady shouted back to her friend that she did it! When it was my turn, the sales lady practically whispered it to me like it was an OMG moment. HAH. Then they thanked me and said to please come again. I didn't even spend that much - at least I didn't think so.

I made an enquiry about a couple of fabrics that I had seen online from Timeless Treasures and they took my name and number. I actually got a phone call already. They do not have the fabrics - which I knew as I searched the stock, but they think they have one line on order and promised to call me when it comes in. I believe they will! I was looking at the Pee-Wee Parade that you can get from the Fat Quarter Shop - they only have a limited selection for it. According to Timeless Treasures which is the supplier, they do not even call it Pee Wee Parade - so far I cannot find the fabric from anyone else. Have you seen this fabric?

I really only want the giraffes, blue/green elephants and the blue owls. 

The other fabric I found that I thought was lovely is again from Timeless Treasures - the line is called Shimmer.

It is shiny! Love it!!

This one I have found in some other US online shops - it would be cheaper for me to order from the US, plus I would get it right away where as Quiltessential told me they are getting this one but it will be 6 months. To support local would be good though. Hmm decisions. Quiltessential fabric is up to 16 dollars a meter which is three inches longer then a yard. It's not like I need it right away. ha ha I do have enough fabric here to last the rest of my life - just ask Mr Hunter, he will tell you. 

What do you think - keep it local, or save my pennies and shop online?

Cheers,

Carolyn

Weekend events

Saturday Mr Hunter managed to take 3 trailer loads to Edmonton's big bin event. These bin events are brilliant - I do not know if any other city has them, but the City of Edmonton sets up in the summer months a few weekends were you can take your garbage - pretty much any kind, including furniture and electronics to a set location - for free! FREE!! And they take it away.... forever! Muhahahahaaaaa

Thank goodness as we have reno debris like you wouldn't imagine! 

 The yard is almost cleared up of garbage - not completely, but it is so much better. Mr Hunter took 5 more loads on Sunday!
I helped bag and did some raking - nothing too major outside, inside I have been painting, sanding and painting our new railing. There are two sections. They are starting out like this:

And ending up like this. Hopefully when I show them again, they will be installed.

On the Saturday, I went to Quiltessential which is a quilt shop in St Albert. I had the best time out there. The shop is fantastic, the prices reasonable compared to all of the other shops in town. I got to hang out with my friends Judy, Connie, Laura and Shirley. The quilt shop put on demos all day so it was a shop and learn event. I will show you all of my goodies tomorrow - it is late now and I have to get to bed.

Cheers,

Carolyn

Lime Fish Tacos

I made fish tacos the other week, and they were fast and tasty. Again, this recipe came from AllRecipes. You can go there directly by clicking here.

Here is the original recipe and below are my notes on what I did a little different.

Ingredients

• 1 pound red snapper or orange roughy fillets
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 7 teaspoons lime juice, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 2 tablespoons reduced fat sour cream
• 2 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise
• 1 dash hot pepper sauce
• 7 (8 inch) flour tortillas, warmed
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup shredded lettuce
• 1 cup chopped fresh tomato

Directions

1. Remove skin from fish and cut fish into 1-in. cubes. In a nonstick skillet, saute garlic in butter and 5 teaspoons lime juice for 30 seconds. Add fish and pepper. Cook for 6-8 minutes over medium heat until fish flakes easily with a fork.
2. Meanwhile, combine the sour cream, mayonnaise, hot pepper sauce and remaining lime juice. Place as spoonful of fish on each tortilla. Top each with lettuce, tomato and sour cream sauce; fold over.

Footnotes

• Nutritional Analysis: One taco equals 238 calories, 7 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 24 mg cholesterol, 366 mg sodium, 28 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 15 g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 2 starch, 1-1/2 lean meat.
  
  
  **Notes - What I did differently:
  - I did not use hot pepper sauce - Instead I used a pinch of Cayenne pepper for the sauce.
  - Accidentally, I missed adding the pepper to the cooking of the fish - I used red snapper, and I think the pepper would have made it even better.  I also used three cloves - not one. I as well used the juice from a fresh lime, I do not know if it equated to 7 tsp. 
  - I am not a lettuce fan so we used spinach and we added cilantro. 
  If you make these, let me know what you think of them. The one thing I especially liked was that the flavors were not complicated - you were tasting the ingredients of the fish, the lime and the cilantro - not just all the spices.
  Cheers,
  Carolyn