summer stuff

What can I say?

It's been summer...

most likely for everyone and not just me.

Anyhow,

I have been up here at my house in Nelson, British Columbia for all of August.

Where we've participated in a family reunion-

(My husband's family)

and

We have spent a lot of time out doors...

(In case someone doesn't know,

Nelson is located on Kootenay lake in the Selkirk Mountains.)

Our house does not have lake access,

It would have cost 3 times as much to have bought a place on the lake,

But... we can see it through the neighbors accross the street who do have lake access.

And the neighbors accross the street are relatives,

so we can access the lake there anytime we want.

They kind of like us, LOL.

The first photo at the top is of the lake from Uncle Marv's house,

across the street from us.

The dock and boat actually belong to his neighbor.

The second photo at the top is the the River Trail near Kaslo...

which is located up near the top of the Kootenay lake.

Kootenay lake is long and narrow,
sort of north and south...
with a west arm (like a sideways T)
And Nelson is inland on the
west arm.
We live about halfway between town
and the main part of the lake.

I have also been busy with the 2 dogs I have here with me...
They've been members of our family for a long time.
Joneser is my son's dog and he's 16 years old,
Nikita (Niki) is my dog and she is 15 years old.
They came up here with me on this trip only because
there was no one to watch them back home.
They've been with our family since they were puppies.
Now they've both reached an age where they are having a lot of problems
and will probably not be with us very much longer.

Basically we are waiting for our daughter to return home
from her mission for the LDS church in September,
and let everyone have a chance to say goodbye to them.
It is a time of saying goodbye to them for myself.
And they've always loved it up here in Canada.
They've been here for summers since we bought the house in 2000.
I must say that this place will not be the same
when I come back without one of them.
They have been good companions and friends.
I will miss them both.

Quilted Calendar Holder

Well,
the time just keeps moving on
doesn't it?
I don't know where it all goes.
Sometimes it surprizes me
that so much has passed.
I had not gotten much quilting done for a while,
but recently I was able to finish a couple of things.
I have finished the calendar holder...
whoopee!!
I use a tension rod
to hold it up between two door frames in my kitchen.
the calendar holder has added
a nice quilted touch to the kitchen.
I know that I've mentioned the
plan to have a different square for the 4 seasons.
the first is of course the spring season
with my humingbird square.
Also the inspiration for the entire project.
I have now finished the 2nd season
summer...
I did a lot of thinking about what summer means to me.
I could have done a simple picnic type thing...
you know
the watermellon, the kite flying, the running in the sprinklers.
Any of those would have looked summery.
But my most favorite memories of summers,
were the family camp outs in the mountains.
So I did a simple sketch of a tent in the woods.
You have to have a camp fire in the camp.
My grandson thought I needed to have water nearby
for fishing of course.
My granddaughter thought there should
be snow on the mountain tops.
And
we all thought
(grandson, granddaughter, and me)
that it needed to be night time under the stars.
I found this great tie dyed purple that
I thought looked like snowy mountain peaks in the dark.
the trees close by needed to be a little brighter in the firelight,
as did the front of the tent.
and there needed to be a reflection of the moon
on the calm lake in the background.
I used the same silver thread that I
used for the braces on the girl,
to make the french knot stars in the sky.
They sparkle just a little...
I used the sketch as an idea only,
and free cut the mountains
to fit the dyed purple fabric.
And did the same with the trees
and the flames in the fire.
which was another piece of tie died fabric I found in my scrap box.
The moon was done using a penny,
and a slip stitch drawing the fabric taut around it.
I pressed it well,
then clips the thread to remove the penny.
then I pressed it again.
The penny was a little thick for this proccess
-so it the moon is not exactly round,
that's my excuse
and I'm sticking to it.
I am quite pleased over all with how it turned out.
My granddaughter is already
planning out the next two squares
for autumn and winter.
I decided to sew three buttons across the top
of the calendar holder...
and 3 pieces of ribbon sewn into the binding
across the top of the square to hook over the three buttons.