Spring has Sprung....

Well, somewhere it has but not here in Nova Scotia. We have had record snowfalls, major storms, schools closed, malls, banks and liquor stores closed. I feel like I have really been hibernating. This good, old solid house has kept us warm and cozy. So glad we installed the new windows last spring. Our streets are down to one lane and there has been very little traffic go by. My city guild has had to cancel two meetings in a row and my local guild was cancelled in February but we have had to cancel sew-in days and bees.

Work continues on the house, the den is done and eventually I will find the right new couch and some old shutters for the windows. For now we are making do. After much thought and consultation with the experts, Peter took off all the old plaster in the front hall. It was quite thin in some places, think in other. There were lots of holes and cracks, thankfully the painted over wallpaper came off quite easily. Now we are waiting for the dry wall guy to come and install the gyproc, then we can paint. We are still deciding on a colour.

My quilt "Making Do", a picture of which is at the end of the previous post, has been accepted in the National Juried Show at Quilt Canada this year. I am very pleased and happy to be a part of this show. I'd have to check but I think this is my fifth time in the show. Quilt Canada is in Lethbridge, Alberta this year, not too far from Calgary so maybe we will plan a trip to coincide with the show.

In April I am going to be taking over for a week on the website 52 Quilters. Every week a quilter from somewhere in the world takes over the blog, twitter and Instagram for 52 Quilters. It has been really interesting to follow along each week, meeting new quilters and seeing what they are up to in their corner of the world.

Playing Catch-Up Again

Christmas came and went, very fast. We both were sick by the 27th with a nasty cold and cough that lingered almost 3 weeks. We had promised ourselves that as soon as we could after Christmas we would start the renovations on our den. As with everything we have done so far, there are surprises along the way and we are learning more and more about our 160 year old house. Who knew there was such a thing as "early" gyproc? The wallpaper is gone (that was a job that required a lot of patience), the carpet, tiles, linoleum and sub floor are all gone. Then the walls had to be repaired, the mantle came off (there was no fireplace) and where the door to the kitchen was has been filled in and repaired. The painting is now done and the floors have been sanded. Peter has applied the first coat of Verathane, two more to go. Hopefully we will be able to move back in by the end of the week.

The mantle was original to the house, we hated to take it out but we really need one wall where we can put a couch! I managed to save a small piece of the wallpaper to add to my collection!

We found a layer of newspapers under the linoleum, check out the prices!

Remains of the fireplace, we were able to use some of the wood to fill in the holes in the floor where the fireplace was.

Peter has done a super job with all this work. I have helped where I can, cleaned up the mess and tried to keep the rest of the house in some sense of order. I have been able to get some quilting done. My big project, an Amish version of Heather Stewart's "Fireside Log Cabin" is done and back from the long arm quilter's (Lynn Jones) and I am very pleased with it. It was great to go back to using solid fabrics again, I had quite a stash from my "Amish" phase.

"Making Do" is machine pieced and machine quilted. I wish you could see the wonderful feather borders. The quilt is 84" x 100" and has the new Hobbs Tuscany Cotton/Wool batting.

I have several other projects underway. Both grandsons need bigger quilts and I am looking forward to their input. Ben has picked a quilt from "The Quiltmaker's Gift", a delightful children's book by Jeff Brumbeau. I have lots of work ahead of me!