Box top Challenge

This coming fall our quilting group is having a quilt show and we always have a challenge project for our members.  This year's challenge was to select an empty box out of a bag and use that box to inspire us to complete a project.  The only rule was that you could only use the colours that were on the box.  You will notice in the photo that my box selection was the tissue box.  My project is the one on the right.  I used fake flowers and I had to dye the centre of one black and the red flower is painted as well.  The project on the left is my friend, Melanie's, tea cozy.  She had the same box as me.  She made her flowers and if you look closely you will see that at the very top of her tea cozy is a white piece of fabric that she says represents the kleenex.  Some of the projects that our quilting group have designed have been really neat and very original.

I have recently created a blog for our quilting group, the Keswick Ridge Quilters.  On this blog you will see information on the activities our group has been involved in and samples from the Show and Tell portion of our monthly meetings.  There are also some more completed Box Top challenge projects to view as well.
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http://keswickridgequilters.blogspot.ca/

You Know it is Spring when...

... the lab swims!!!

Our dog Sophie loves to swim and even though the river water is still freezing, she swims anyway.  She is a river dog!!  When we sit out on our deck, she spends most of her time in the water.   Today, as we sat out and enjoyed the sun and the lovely evening, she swam out to her wee island and had a seat.

My twin and I are sock monkey fans.  A couple of weeks ago my brother was in Austin, Texas and he sent me this great postcard.  He claims that the folks in Austin, Texas are crazy about sock monkeys. 

It was the perfect postcard for me.

My Sunflower Gourd

I have been unfaithful to my blog these last few weeks.  I have been working on another blog for the quilting group that I am a member of.  But now I do have a few things to share... Like this great bottle gourd.  Last evening our gardening group got together and painted gourds.  Marilyn, one of our members, grew these gourds a few years ago.  She dried them and then was willing to share them with us.  It is a challenge growing gourds, the conditions have to be just right!  This summer all the members of our gardening group are going to try to grow them so that we have more to paint and share.  My gourd is hanging above our deck that overlooks the Keswick River.  I can't imagine that a bird would want to live in my gourd, but what a great view if it chose to live here!

The Old Days

I love the spring because you can see so much.  I don't mean the daffodils and tulips, I mean that you can can see so much of the past.  When I walk to school everyday I walk past where the old saw mill used to be.  It burned in the 1930s, and yet some of it remains.  Here it is:



 

The bricks are there and the stones from the foundation are there.  Back in the 30s the mill was owned by Elwood Burtt and it look like this:

You can see the boiler in the foreground and the covered bridge (now a Bailey Bridge) that we lost in the  1970s before we moved here.  The road went beneath the conveyor belt and the foundation from the pictures above were from the buildings that you can see across the road. 

I walk past these cement remains everyday and most people don't even know they are there!!  I love this little bit of history.  If you want to learn more about it you can read the book,  Peek Around The Corner - Burtt's Corner, the Early Years by Sharon Bird.