What's with all the rain? It's raining cats and dogs out there, and I'm not sure I want to go out. I don't think the girls will be too excited either. We'll see how the walk progresses this morning.
So my French serger event got pushed back one week, and well, I was bad -- really naughty as a matter of fact. Instead of forging ahead and finishing the presentation to be ready for next week, I played hookey! It was a beautiful day (well, mostly), so I decided it was time to tackle the FINAL segment of that Geocaching challenge. I know--- that was really bad of me, but I wanted to take advantage of the weather, and I'm done WELL in advance of the deadline.
I would be visiting a cemetery, and I figured that enough snow had melted that it wouldn't be so bad traipsing around. I went for efficiency yesterday and knew that I could get most of the points in the cemetery, so that's what I did.
WAIT -- there's quilting stuff at the end.
I was smart this time and brought my rain boots which I changed into once I parked the car. The snow was granular and soft, so I sank into the snow every step. I should have gotten extra Fitbit steps for that! Never mind, the number of times I crisscrossed that cemetery -- well, let's just say I walked a "few" KMs before I was done. That was in place of my afternoon walk.
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| Rain boots |
Thank goodness, I spent most of the time in the snow because the roads were like a sheet of ice. There were pools of water, and it didn't make for pleasant walking.
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| Very icy roads |
This cemetery is only 14 KM from my house, and I've driven past on numerous occasions but had never gone in. I didn't realize that there was a pioneer cemetery way in the back, but of course, the geocache task led me to all parts of the cemetery, including the pioneer one.
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| Looking at the main cemetery from the pioneer cemetery |
And did I mention the wind? It was pretty windy, and it was heaving through those big pine trees. Thank goodness, I'm not spooked by cemeteries -- well, in the daylight, I'm good.
Let's just say that I had to put my thinking cap on numerous times. The answers to all the questions were on the headstones, but some were hard to read. However, if you got creative and looked at them from an angle, you could "read" the etchings in the stone.
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| Reading the etchings to get the answers |
There is a newer and an older part of the cemetery. The newer part had some beautiful headstones, and there were many with those photos etched into the stone. Pictures of farms, favorite hobbies (cars, planes, RVs, knitting), and then there was this!
I got a chuckle when I saw it. I don't know the story, but I can only imagine that this couple was cold? Known for their crochet caps?
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| Warming up the headstone |
I noticed something with all the stones, and I noticed this the other day in MY forest. The snow melts around the trunks of the trees. And it had melted significantly around the base of all the stone markers. I guess the stone traps the heat of the sun and transfers that heat to the snow, which causes it to melt.
After traipsing through the snow and looking for weird things for a couple of hours, I was done. BUT I didn't get quite the number of points required for this month.
Shoot -- I was hoping to be done. Well, I checked my Geocaching app and found another easy adventure close by, so I went and did that one.
OK -- so I've driven through this little town numerous times and did NOT know that Lucy Maud Montgomery lived there! She lived in Norval from 1926 to 1935 with her husband, the Presbyterian Church minister, and they lived in the Manse for the church. How cool is that?
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| Garden named after Lucy Maud Montgomery |
There's a lovely park named after her and all kinds of information. I was running out of time at this point, so I didn't want to doddle, but it was a fascinating afternoon.
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| Information board on Lucy Maud Montgomery |
OK -- so my feet did get wet. That was because my boots were short, and some snow went in as I walked. And when you walk, you pick up snow, and it gets flicked into the boots. But it wasn't so bad. Way better than if I were in my running shoes, and my feet would have been drenched!
And YES -- I achieved my goal. I'm done with the winter caching series. It was a challenge some months, and I feel like I cheated a bit yesterday because of the type of caches I did, but I'm good with that. Sometimes, it's about working smarter, not harder!
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| My virtual badge for geocaching |
I have to laugh because this is a VIRTUAL badge. I don't get anything in person, but I'm OK with that. I like achieving things.
I thought it was time to check-in and see the state of our sewing areas. How are you doing at keeping them neat and tidy? Are you ready to see mine?
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| The sewing stations |
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| The ironing station |
At the far end of the ironing station is my pile of half-square triangles that I'm working on pressing and trimming, so they can stay.
But when it comes to the cutting table -- that's a different story.
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| The cutting table |
It's not bad, and I could easily move that stuff if I needed to. However, I thought it best to evaluate what's on that table to figure out why I can never clear it.
OK -- here's the scoop. The stuff falls into TWO categories. I've pulled stuff because it's the next project to work on OR stuff that has passed the deadline and is not quite finished. Hmmm --- what can I do about that? It's the stuff that has passed the deadline that needs to be addressed, and I need to try and get more things to completion -- that's my big problem.
But now that I know, I can figure out how to fix that problem.
I followed my own advice and serged the backing for my green scrap quilt. It's so easy to cut off the selvage and sew the two pieces together in one pass. LOVE IT.
OK -- so I'm going to send you off to look at some stuff this morning. First, here's some information about crimplene. Remember -- that double-knit polyester stuff, which was invented in 1959. Some of you may know this by its other brand names -- Dacron or Fortrel. Check out this article (the bits in purple), and you'll see that those were the licensed names of the product in Canada. And here are some memories from people who sewed or wore clothing made from those products. I love it!
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| Serging the backing for a quilt |
I probably had several outfits, but I remember a black and white pantsuit that I made. Gosh -- I wonder if I can find a picture of that. But my Mom wore a lot of Fortrel, and I bet she still wears the darn stuff. It doesn't die, and my mom is frugal.
It's interesting about the Canadian Textile industry. It used to be huge with all the mills in this area and lots in Quebec, and I'm surprised none of the mills in Ontario are mentioned in that article. Anyway -- it seems that we still have a textile industry, which involves lots of clothing manufacturing.
And if you found that article about the Canadian Textile Industry hard to read -- it is hard to read, and I had to read it several times before I could make total sense of it.
And I have one more place to send you this morning -- the winners of the IN-PERSON QUILTCON were announced last night. Here's the link to see all the winning quilts.
As I review the winners and from what I've seen on blogs and other social media for MODERN quilts, they are no different from regular quilts. Well, that's not what I mean. I guess I struggle with the definition of a modern quilt because many of those show winners-- I would see in "traditional" quilt shows, and modern is just a label. I don't like labels! BUT -- if the word "modern" gets younger people involved in quilting, then I'm all for it. Besides, making a "modern" quilt means the younger generation invented it -- it's not like what the little grey-haired ladies do for quilting. Oh no -- that the same at all.
Well, that's it for today. It's time to get the day started, and while I managed to clear up a lot of paperwork yesterday, I NEED to do some writing today. No more skipping out! But it was FUN and well worth it.
Have a super day!!!
Ciao!!!
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