When Life Gives You Rain

Our weather is crazy.  Rain, rain and more rain.  Everything is flooded.  The Toronto Islands are swamped.  Sandbags everywhere and still the water in the lake continues to rise. There are gigantic carp swimming in the baseball field.  Ducks have taken over as have the Canada Geese.  Rouge Beach at the end of Lawrence is flooded.  If you go there don't expect to get a parking space.  The water has overflowed and the whole park is a swamp.  It's the same everywhere.  I am straining to keep my garden alive, not because it is dry, but because it is too wet.  My plants are rotting.

But with all this rain. I have been busy in my sewing room..  I am making two baby quilts that I can't show yet.  One has to be done in the first week of July and the other one should have been completed in March.  I'm working on it.

Also working on a red and white quilt for Canada\s 150th birthday.  I found it when I was cleaning up,.  It was originally meant to be a wheelchair quilt, but my mother has since died.  So I decided to make it a bit bigger. 

I thought I had completed required number of blocks, but then it seemed as if I didn't have enough.  I knew they were somewhere in that mess of a sewing room of mine.  So I spent the day yesterday cleaning up and low and behold, I found the missing blocks.  I think I will make a few more and make my quilt even bigger.  But then I will have to have it quilted by my longarmer.  I hope she can do it before the 1st of July.

I have also been working on a scrap quilt.  Little 1.5 by 3.5 scraps.  I thought I had millions of them, but now I have run out.  Time to put this baby on hold until I have some more scraps.

 

And another ongoing scrap project that was in my way.   More on this one later.

 

 

 

 

And here is a scrappy Canadian Flag.  I saw this on Pinterest and decided it had potential.  Don't know what though.  Any ideas?

 





 

As you can see, the sun was shining when I took these photos.  But the sky was thundering and the rain was pelting down.  Like I said, "Crazy weather".

 

 

 

 



Future Salsa

More tomatoes in my 'Tomato Series'.  These are ordinary red tomatoes - like the kind you find in the stores.  They are a variety called 'Early Girl'.  I always plant one of these because they produce ripe fruit about 2-3 weeks earlier than other varieties.  But this year it has been hot, so everything matured at about the same time.  And many of my Early Girls got cracks in them.  They are good-tasting tomatoes - don't get me wrong, but with all the other varieties, I just can't eat them all.  So these are going into a pot later today, to be made into Salsa.

Another variety that I have lots of is called 'Sweet 100'.  I love these for snacking and salads.  Another way I like to serve them is grilled with a bit of olive oil.  I put them on pasta, rice and salads or mix them with some garlic, basil and little mozzarella cheese cubes and make them into Bruschetta.  Yum!  This photo shows only a fraction of these little tomatoes that I have.  The vines are still loaded with them.  I think I will add them to my Salsa, just to use them up.

The only thing I am out of to make my salsa is some coriander and a hot pepper or two.  I am not sure when I can get out to buy some.  You see, it is raining here today.  Yes!  I said rain!  I took a photo out the front door because I had forgotten what a day of soft rain looks like.  It is cooler too!  My grass is very nice and green again.  And my Black-Eyed-Susans.  Aren't they nice and bright on this dark day?

Well, I think I am off to my sewing room.  I want to work on some UFOs.  But first I have to clean up in there.  You see, I can't find my sewing machine!

Is This Winter Rain?

Rain

This rain is winter rain.

It spits and sprays like an angry cat,

As it lands lightly on the empty playground.

This rain is winter rain.

Cold and clinging to the thin fabrics,

Each droplet shining dully and roughly.

This rain is winter rain.

It drifts almost gracefully down through its own fog,

Taunting the shivering trees below, and above.

This rain is winter rain.

Even the birds flinch fearfully and cringe.

As they fly through this endless grey curtain.

This rain is winter rain.

Dripping from everywhere, clouding everything,

A cruel, stinging scream in every drop.

This rain is winter rain......

- Abby Wall

Today is a dark, dreary day, full of wetness and boredom. I couldn't work on any of my projects. They just weren't calling to me. So I slept late and spent the rest of the morning reading. I did make this week's Party block though. It's a 10inch block called 'Game Cocks'. Sorry! That was not my idea! Of course I have no other iideas so I guress that's what it will be called. I was even too uninspired lazy to pick out fabrics and just used the ones that were near my machine. It turned out not too bad, I guess, but the weather has left me cold.

Oscar and Felix are watching the rain too.

And Mimi, well, you know Mimi. She doesn't care what it is doing outside as long as she has some quilt block to sit on.

Today is day 30 of Blogtoberfest! Only one more day to go!