Sylvia's Simple Shots

More wonderful time spend at Heritage Hills Wetlands this week.  There were many Common Terns this year which was great to see.  The Mourning Cloak butterfly was my first capture of this year.  The Ruddy Duck was showing off his blue bill as usual.  They are very photogenic.

I had to replace the flush lever and toilet handle this week.  I thought no big deal, checked out supplies on line and headed to Canadian Tire. 

When I got it home I could not install this for the life of me.  I called my brother in law and he suggested maybe I had stripped the plastic threads.  

When it was not on the toilet I was eventually able to get the nut on the handle so what was the problem?  The situation was that when I transferred the lever to the toilet the arm was turned around and my mind had not made that adjustment.  Once I figured it out it went on as easily as it should have and in 10 minutes I could flush the toilet with the lever again.

I spent a couple of days with my sister and brother in law.  I was treated again to a hot dog supper on the open fire for my birthday.  They taste so good.  I normally have ice cream cake but the price is just getting out of hand so I bought Hagen Daas ice cream bars instead.  Very yummy and much more in my budget.

My sister and I attended the Rhubarb Tea fundraiser on Saturday.  This was a belated celebration for our birthday.

There was a bake sale, a merchandise sale and the tea.  I selected this burnt orange tea cup and we had rhubarb crisp rather than pie.

It was a very successful event.

This was a Reader's Digest book that sat on my bookshelf. Short stories which was just what I needed.

Lake News by Barbard Delinsky - Lily Blakes heads for Lake Henry in New Hampshire where she grew up after some trouble in the city. She meets a journalist which helps her tells her side of the story.

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks - very interesting.  It was a lovely love story with a sad end. 

Thunderhead by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - Nora Kelly gets a letter written by her late father sixteen years ago.  Very thrilling story.

The Devil's Teardrop - Jeffery Deaver - This story was very engaging as police try to find this killer before he strikes again.  Very intriguing plot!

Sylvia's Simple Shots

With my machine in a desk and not really portable I choose to take other tasks for my time with the ladies at quilting. 

I  took cutting to quilting on Monday since I just need my cutting mat, my rotary cutter, measuring tape, my long quilting ruler and some scissors.   I cut 16 UnPaperTowels - 6 sets of 2 in the grey flannel and 2 sets of 2 in the red flannel.

You can see that I have trimmed the corners on the top 2 sets making them ready for the serger.

I have quite a bit of flannel to cut and serge.  I think I will just put all of them in a pile then assemble sets of 10 somewhere along the line so I can put together nice looking colors.

When I picked up the serger I realized that I would need 2 cones of serger thread for the needle threads as they had been cut off.

I checked Michaels - they carry Coats and Clark but only in black and white on the 3000m spools.  Price is pretty good with a coupon.

I checked Fabricland which carries the Tailor brand and the price was pretty good.  I checked on the fuzziness of the thread and it was not as smooth as a sample I had from home so I moved on. They carry high end brand at a very high price.

I headed to Walmart where the price was about the same as Fabricland with the same manufacturer as Michaels and there was some grey.  Upon checking, the thread was smooth and very comparable to the the one I had with  me.

At quilting, Linda had brought fabric from one of our prolific quilter's stash.  This lady has experience health issues and has given up her hobby.

We were told all the pieces had to go.  There was a nice collection of fat quarters in beautiful colors and 100% cotton.

I took a stack of these fat quarters for my sister who is making different kind of sewing projects for the Grandma Africa chapter in Red Deer.

She has made casserole carriers, pot holders, aprons, and bunch more.  

She is working on getting rid of her stash but this will help a bit in offering different colors for her projects.

You know what they say - be careful what you wish for.  I had been wondering how to find flannel for my UnPaperTowels at a reasonable price since they will be donated or given as gifts.

Well, there were some pieces in the stash that Linda brought on Monday.

Here's the pieces I found.  There are a few darker pieces for the Make Up Remover pads projects.

I washed all the fabric and ironed them all so that they lie nice and flat and I can see what I have.

I will cut UnPaperTowels first then use the leftovers for the pads as they need pieces about 4 inches square.

Thanks so much for the donation of fabric.

I had a friend over for tea on Thursday.  I had not seen her since early December.  Of course, my life has been turned upside down since then.

We had a great visit. 

I used my Signature Turquoise and Yellow tea set which was a nice springy color.

I was invited to my aunt's new place for lunch on Saturday.  They sold their house and bought a condo much closer to me.  I am very happy to have her and her husband closer.

I decided to make Saskatoon and Rhubarb crisp in small pie size.  I used honey for a bit of sweetener in the fruit and brown sugar in the crumble topping.

I made 4 - 2 for my aunt, another for my other aunt who was invited to lunch as we were dropping off our art in the Juried Member show that morning.  One for me.

I ate mine for supper on Saturday.

Another book this week - J is for Judgement by Sue Grafton.

The story is about Wendell Jaffe who was recently declared dead after being missing for the last 5 years.  His widow Dana has collected the insurance money and has spent a lot of it clearing debts incurred while raising her 2 sons alone.

Kinsey Millhone has been hired to investigate a reported sighting of Wendell in Mexico.  Off she goes to spend a few days south of the border.  Based on her sighting it does seem that Wendell is alive. 

He has a new partner Renata and they just packed up in the middle of night.  Where are they headed. Kinsey heads back to California and starts tracking leads. One of his sons has been arrested so the speculation Wendell is headed north.

Life is always exciting with Kinsey.  We find a bit more about her personal life this week.  Some of her extended family reach out and she as always thought she had no family because the aunt who raised her never mentioned others.  There was a reason and it was hard to accept by Kinsey.