The Nicest Place I've Ever Been...by (Angela) Jean

This week's joint topic was chosen by Ruth and I've had a little more than 24 hours to mull it over. I've been running through all the exotic places I've traveled....cough-none-cough...trying to find a beautiful place to tell you all about.

I considered telling you about when I went to this place.

Buckingham Palace

It was pretty monumental...but the nicest place I've ever been? Nope.
I'd be crazy if I didn't consider this place.

Banff Centre for the Performing Arts

When I was here in 2000 to visit Shawn during his residency, it felt like every direction I pointed my camera was post-card worthy. It was my only time out west and my first time seeing real live mountains. Still not the nicest place I've ever been.
I have some favourite places I'd love to tell you about. Like here...

Grand Bend, Ontario

where I've been going since I was a kid, and where the sunsets over Lake Huron never cease to take my breath away.

Or here...

view from Centreville on Toronto Island

a place I only started going to as an adult, but am now able to experience through the eyes of my kids.

Or what about all the special memories I have of this place?

Like my first time in 1997, sitting in the very very back row seeing a pre-season game against the Oilers. Or watching the 3rd- last game ever played there, when Max and I had seats in the golds behind the net to see the Bruins....great, great memories, but not the nicest place I've ever been.

I was really at a loss. What about all the amazing places I wish I had been? You know, the places on my bucket list. Like....here

Noordwijk aan zee

where my mother was born, or here

Montefalcone nel sannio

where my father was born.
Listen, I'd be a liar if I pretended I was some kind of world traveler. I wish I was, but so far my life hasn't gone that way. After much deliberation, I have decided that the nicest place I have ever been is 76 Grenville Street, Toronto ON, 3rd floor, L&D room #6. I've been there twice.
Once, in 2007.

and once in 2009...

I don't know if you've ever been there. They don't even deliver babies there any more. The room was small and cramped, the decor seriously outdated. No breathtaking views...and as far as I recall no windows at all. No high tech TV screens or jacuzzi tubs. Nothing fancy at all, but still, by far, the nicest place I've ever been.

The Nicest Place I've Ever Been... by Barbara (Ruth)

On Mondays Angela and I each write a post on the same topic, and this week it is my turn to pick. I thought the idea of "the nicest place I've ever been" had great scope, given that I’ve traveled to 23 different countries and I have oodles of pictures. But then I started to think – are any of those places really nicer than the family cottage right here in Ontario? What to do, what to do…

So today I mentioned this week’s title to a colleague at work, and he looked at me and said, “you’re going to write about either Greece or the cottage.” I was nonplussed (GW)! Clearly I talk too much about my vacation time.

But he was bang on. I could write about the cottage, but I know I’ll have ample opportunity to do that this summer when I hear that first call of the loon. So for now, I will write about my favourite vacation destination, which is Greece, specifically, the island of Crete.

At 260 km long and with 600,000 people, Crete is the largest island in Greece, and the second largest in the Mediterranean (after Cyprus). Unlike the smaller but more popular island of Santorini (which is only 18 km long with 11,000 people), it has bustling cities and a robust economy based on agriculture rather than tourism.

Typical scrub and low trees
en route to Elounda

Five years ago I stayed in a small fishing town called Elounda. I had booked the hotel using Expedia and found a well recommended place with pretty photos and a great deal, but I really was “flying blind” and had no idea what to expect. On the ride from the aiport, the cab driver said “Oh, you’re staying where the rich people and celebrities stay.” Despite this remark I still didn’t have high hopes as the road traveled up hills and along winding trails bordered by low trees and lots of scrub. Not exactly picturesque.

 Then we rounded a corner and I was stunned by the bluest water and sky I had ever seen. The Elounda Bay Palace was indeed a luxury resort, and although we were staying in one of the cheaper rooms, we were treated like royalty. No matter where we went, the Cretans were gracious, friendly, and welcoming. The travel books said that the people in Greece are friendlier the farther away from Athens you get, and this was as far as I could get without being in Africa!

Looking out over Elounda Bay

I was only in Crete for 5 days, but in that short time I was charmed by the villages of Kritsa and Agios Nikolaos (which is known as the Saint-Tropez of Greece). Around every corner was a postcard photo waiting to be taken, the sun was warm, the food was amazing, and the water silky and inviting.

Kritsa town square - this gentleman made
us buy a lottery ticket from him before we
took his picture!

The town of Agios Nikolaos

This Kritsan villager sold peeled oranges for a euro

I’ve seen beautiful places in Estonia, France, Sicily, Uganda, and Russia. I think the difference for me in Crete was the richness of the colours, the contrast between vibrant bougainvillea, cracking whitewashed walls, and azure skies. Combine that with genuine warmth of the people there, and it just can’t be beat.

One of the workers at the hotel, a concierge of sorts, could not do enough for us and made a point every day of seeking us out and chatting with us about our plans. When she found out we were going to Santorini she gave us really helpful tips, made some arrangements for us, and then had to tell us why she loves that island and why we had to go to the town of Oia to see its most famous tourist attraction - the sunset. I will share her story with you – I found it so charming and warm:

“I went to Santorini with some girl friends, and we went to Oia to watch the sunset. I went for a walk alone because I was sad. (At this point she made the motion of wiping tears from her eyes.) I had boy trouble, and I walked and I was crying and I thought everything was bad and that no one loved me. But then I turned around and I saw the beautiful sunset, and I thought, ‘God loves me’.”

There's no Trevi Fountain in Crete, but no matter. I'll be back.

Kwilty Pleasures...by (Angela ) Jean

The very first quilt I ever made was for my niece E's first birthday. She's turning 11 in a few weeks, so I guess that means I have a decade of quilting under my belt.
Over the years, I've made hundreds of baby quilts. In 2003 alone, I made over 200. Sewing is a creative outlet for me, and also a therapeutic one. During the 5 years we struggled to build our family, sewing kept my mind and hands busy when it was too difficult to deal with the world. I made quilts for other people's babies when I couldn't have my own. It sounds like torture, but it wasn't. It kept me calm, focused and productive.

I'd like to share my process with you....with one caveat...I do not claim to be a "real" quilter. I am completely self-taught and therefore positive that many of my techniques would make a bona-fide quilter cringe and wring her hands in dismay.
But, this is my blog, and this is how I do it.
At this point I should also confess that I have a textile addiction. (one day I'll share my collection with you, but that's a post for another day). Money is a lot tighter now, so I haven't bought much lately, but a few years ago my fabric shopping was rampant. My favourite place to buy fabric is here.

So, are you ready? Let's get started. First we need to pick a colour scheme and some fabric.

 

I make so many of these quilts, that I have bins of  fabric pre-cut into 4.5" squares and sorted by colour. From time to time I branch out and make different types of quilts, but I always come back to 9 X 9 square patchwork. I have a thing about squares. I find the symmetry very appealing.

For this quilt, I decided to go with greens, yellows and teal.

Next, I find a clear space on the floor (not easy to do at my house), and begin the design. I prefer a random-looking composition over a formal pattern, but that's just me. One of my tricks is to lay everything out on the floor, step back, and squint a little. If something jumps out I adjust the design.

At this point, I suggest you barricade your work space or your design could end up like mine.

I turned my back for one second to grab the camera and someone ran over my quilt with his fire truck. He was too quick for me to catch him in the act but the evidence was damning...

Once I'm happy with the design, I stack each row.

Then, I stack the piles, turning each pile 45 degrees. I call this a Kwilty Pack.

Designing is my favourite part of the entire process. I often design as many as 10 or 15 quilts at once and store them like this in ziploc bags so they are ready to go when I need to sew one up quickly to fill an order.

Now we're ready to start sewing the top together.
I un-stack the Kwilty Pack (make sure you put the piles in the right order or your quilt top will not look like your original design) and line up the piles of squares on my ironing board, which I have set up on my left.
I take the top two squares from pile #1. The top square goes on the bottom, right side up. The second square goes on top, right side down. Stitch together along the right-hand side with a 1/4" seam allowance.

When I get to the end of the length of the square, I stop, but don't cut the thread. I pick up the top two squares from pile #2 and repeat the same process.

When I've have done that for all 9 piles I end up with a long line of "flags" that looks like this.

 

I open up the first pair of squares I sewed together. I pick up square #3 from pile #1, line it up, right sides together with the square on the right and sew them together. When I get to the end of the edge of the square, like before, I stop sewing but don't cut the thread. Pick up the square #3 from pile #2 and repeat the same process. Continue with the rest of the 9 piles.

I continue until all 81 squares are sewn together and the quilt top looks like this.

At this point, the squares are all sewn together along their horizontal axes but not their vertical axes. Now, one column at a time, I sew the vertical axes. As I go, I'm careful to keep the seam allowances all going the same direction.
TaDA! Quilt top DONE!
Now we need to iron the seams down. I iron the back first, keeping all the seams going in one direction.

I do a quick iron of the top side too. Just for extra smoothness.

 Now it's time to make a quilt sandwich. Go get your batting. I'll wait here.

I lay a piece of batting on the floor. The backing fabric goes on top, right side up. The quilt top goes on top of the backing fabric, right side down. Careful, when you lay fabric on the ground....it attracts rascals...

I pin all three layers together. I try not to pin the rascals, although that might help move them off the fabric.

I sew all three layers together, leaving a space-2 squares long-open, to turn everything right-side-out.

I trim, the edges...

...pin the opening shut, and sew it up.

Almost done now. To finish the quilt off I top-stitch all along the edge. It gives it the look of traditional quilt binding, but without any of the tedious work.

I also top-stitch along a few of the grid-lines, just to give the whole quilt a bit more stability.

The finished product.

Quick and easy. (I'm pretty sure it took longer to write this post than it takes to make the quilt)
I love these quilts because they are colourful and very durable. I have thrown my kids' quilts in the wash countless times and they still look great. They used them in their cribs and now their beds, but they also drag them around the house to make forts and take them outside for picnics.
I hope you enjoyed today's sewing lesson. If anything is unclear, feel free to ask a question in the comments and I'll do my best to answer it.

Why Yoga is Like Hiking (and Orange Juice) ... by Barbara (Ruth)

I had a long day today. Again. About 6 o’clock this evening I leaned back in my chair, ran my fingers through my hair, pinched the bridge of my nose, and thought longingly about a white sandy beach far far away.

I find myself doing that a lot. And I find myself telling friends “I just need a break”. And since that’s not going to happen for another couple of months, I need to at least conjure up a mini-mental break.

Enter yoga. I’ve been doing yoga on and off for about 8 years, and I enjoyed it right from the start. Although I started it for the fitness aspect (ah, back in the days when I had a six pack), I’ve kept it up for the mini-mental break that it gives me.

Why do I like it so much?

First, it is one of the least stressful and competitive things I’ve ever done. Instructors always remind practitioners that you should only do as much as you can in a class, and that any time it is more than acceptable to relax. What other kind of exercise or sport tells you NOT to push yourself and to listen to your body? You find yourself getting better and doing more each class not to compete with the ridiculously flexible yogi next to you, but because it feels good.

Second, it employs a breathing technique that requires concentration and instantly relaxes you. And because you concentrate so much on the rhythm of your breath, it is absolutely impossible to think about anything else. The trials and tribulations of the office or the taxes or the family fade into the background, if only for those 60 or 90 minutes.

In that way, yoga is like hiking. When you are out on a difficult trail, navigating stones, roots, steep inclines and slippery surfaces, you have to focus on putting one foot in front of the other. There is no room for any other thought, and in that way, you are giving yourself a mental break.

If you can add yoga AND hiking, all the better.

Studies show that yoga is exceptionally good for you too - it relieves any number of ailments, including anxiety, back pain, and high blood pressure, and reduces body fat, improves muscle tone, core strength and balance, and reduces stress and tension.

My Mum had a saying when I was growing up – when trying to get me to do/eat/try something, she’d say “it’s like orange juice – it’s good for you.” Everyone knows that orange juice is packed full of Vitamin C and Vitamin A. But did you also know it contains linalool, the calming chemical in lavender? Apparently rats that inhale linalool show reduced levels of stress. (What does a stressed rat look like? I don’t want to know…)

To practice yoga you don’t have to get all up into the 5000 year-old history (although it may interest you to know that yoga is Sanskrit for “union”, generally of mind, body, and spirit.) You don’t need to understand or even buy into the chakras and the third eye and meditation and the chanting. Just know that if you give it a try, you’ll give yourself that much needed mini-mental break.

Go on. It’s good for you.

Spring Forward...by (Angela) Jean

Spring is here! Or is it?

To investigate the rumour regarding the arrival of my favourite season, the kids and I took a stroll around our neighbourhood, searching for signs of spring.  

 We looked high and low...

 At first, the path looked drab and grey, but when we slowed down and really paid attention we found crocus vernus and tulips peeking out of the mulched flower beds.

We found more green shoots growing in our own backyard. These are daylilies.

And this is my Ludwig Spaeth lilac. It was the very first shrub I planted when we moved to this house. I was very disappointed when it didn't bloom at all last year. I'm hoping for a better show this year.

It's hard to tell if dark purple blooms are hiding in there. Only time will tell. I promise to keep you updated.

I am so ready for spring to be here. So much so that I have jump-started my vegetable garden this year and am growing everything from seed inside (but that's another post entirely). 

I'm so grateful for the increasing daylight and I love the way our little street seems so much wider now that the snowbanks have all melted away. I even saw a bunny in my neighbour's yard as I walked home from the bus stop Friday evening. 

It's not quite here yet, but it's coming. I can feel it in my bones.

Spring Forward... by Barbara (Ruth)

I have to admit, I’m struggling with writing this blog. It was Angela’s turn to pick the topic for our second “dual posting”:

Angela: What do you think of “Spring Forward”?

Me: Sure, when?

Angela: The first day of spring.

Me: OK. (I kept hoping she’d change her mind, being a Pisces and all. Then I realized that's a Libra quality. Sigh.)

So now I’m confused. Is the topic spring, or is it spring forward and thus related to Daylight Savings Time? If it’s the latter, surely we’d have written about it last week. But if it’s the former, why include the word “forward”? And thus, being a very literal person, I am stuck, and have been procrastinating since I woke up at 7:30.

I’ve heard that for writer’s block, it is best to just start writing. So here we go. I am choosing the operational definition of the title “Spring Forward” to be “that which has to do with embracing the new season of spring and all that it promises.”

At this point I could talk about my garden and how excited I am to see the first evidence of new growth.

My peonies, coming back to life -  I had to move this shrub last year and I was worried I killed it! Apparently not. Yay!

My burning bush is getting ready to show off again this year.

Or, I could talk about the sun that hits my deck and how the neighbourhood cats try very hard to perch here, but are scared away by my own fierce Tazo.

Tazo, rolling in the sun this morning. Very fierce, no?

But that could result in a very long and dry posting. Instead, let me break “spring and what it means for me” down for you: leaf raking, hair cutting, pedicure getting, pansy potting, Easter celebrating, mood lifting, wardrobe switching, wardrobe hating, wardrobe replenishing, daffodil buying, bike servicing, hot cross bun making, patio opening, al fresco dining, freckle darkening, pallor lifting, robins returning, vacation planning, day lengthening, cottage opening, trillium blossoming, birthday cake eating, bathing suit buying, more exercise needing, energy returning, garden rearranging, and, of course, sunshine worshipping.

All in all, as much as I love winter, I’m more than ready for this new year, the promise of renewal, the regrowth and explosion of colour in my garden, and oh yes – the hot cross buns.