This and That

Is it just me or do the days pass by more quickly as you get older?  One day just seems to lead into the next and it seems like in the blink of an eye, another week has gone by!

If we didn't have to take Ollie to the beauty shop this morning we would have been outdoors working in the yard.  What a glorious day here in Paradise the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia. The sun is shining, the temperature is in the 50's  and there were people golfing at the course just up the road from us.  I think that Spring has officially arrived!

Ollie before...

Move over, Frankie.  You're hogging the carpet!

and Ollie after.

Aren't I beautiful?

His trip to the spa really tuckered him out.

Wake me when it's time for dinner...zzzzzzz.

While Ollie was at the spa, Mr. Painted quilt and I went shopping.  I've tried to be so careful with my "almost new" Rowenta mini iron until last week when I dropped it twice and tripped over the cord two or three times.  The handle is loose and and it makes funny noises but it does still work...for how long is anybody's guess.  I had to purchase a new one as a spare "just in case"...
because I really couldn't be without one.

I also came across this gadget which I've never seen before...a mini vacuum cleaner that runs on 2 "AA" batteries.

I figured at $12.99, it wouldn't break the bank even if it didn't do the job.  It even comes with a couple of attachments to get into those hard-to-reach places in the bobbin housing.

I'm going to blame the mishaps(s) that I had with my iron due to the fact that I was stressed out.  The third instalment of Darlene's mystery quilt involved machine applique...something I've never tried before.  You all know how much I love hand work so machine applique was something that I had never given much thought to.

This next photo is Darlene's...

and here is mine.

I changed it up slightly and designed my own border with bunnies, folk art-y roses and berries which I did affix to the fabric by machine using the blanket stitch.  It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be and discovered that it is much the same as hand applique, only it was the machine that was doing the stitching and it was me who was driving the machine and steering the fabric.  

I did learn a few things as I went along and I can definitely see myself using machine applique in some of my future designs.

My Grandmother's Flower Garden is coming along nicely.  I've been diligently working on it over the last couple of weeks as well and should have the completed flimsy to show you in my next post.  Y'all are going to be surprised!

Happy stitching!