Cowboy Quilt

I am thisclose to finishing the centre portion of the Cowboy Quilt. I would already be done, in fact, if I hadn't decided I needed to go back and quilt some hatchwork on the fussy-cut cowboy blocks (to keep the batting from shifting). I can't wait - once the centre is done, I can move on to the border. And then I can be done!*

I did battle with the raspberry bushes over the weekend, and my arms definitely bear the scars of that battle. I don't know if I'm doing any good, or if I'm destroying the bushes, but we shall see. I am also covered in mosquito bites, particularly in places undignified to scratch. Hooray for gardening!


*Not that I don't enjoy working on it, Hezz ^_^

XTreme Gardening

So, some of you may know my mom. For those of you who don't, I will make a basic introduction - my mom is an awesome gardener. I'm pretty sure she could plant a stick and come back later to find a tree. There's a lot of garden acreage at my parents' place, and she fills it all with colourful plants and shrubs and ... well, stuff.

As a youth, I was not impressed by gardens, aside from a kind of "one day, when I am rich, my house will have fabulous gardens and maybe a pond with a bridge" ramblings (because I was going to be rich, boy howdy). I disliked being asked to help rake leaves or do anything in the backyard. Or practically anywhere else outside. I am registered as a brown thumb in two countries (possibly more if Japan and Canada share their lists with other countries) - since I got cats, I haven't been able to keep a plant alive for more than three months*.

The house I'm in has a huge backyard, full of rogue raspberry bushes...and a lot of weeds and overgrowth. I don't think the previous tennants did anything in the yard. And my backyard has a kickass** greenhouse. I moved in too late last year to take advantage of it, and I have been determined to change that this year.

Today, my neighbour Bonnie and I spent a good 5 hours in there, cleaning out the beds (which had spent at least a year growing weeds, grass, and baby willow trees), mushing in fertilizer, and planting seeds and plants. If all goes according to plan, I may get to turn in my Brown Thumb card at the end of the season.

Photo updates to follow - right now, I'm too tired.



*Not counting the umbrella plant Bonnie gave me last September - the cats chew on it so much, I'm certain it is looking for death.

**By kickass, I mean it is well constructed, really long, and feels kind of like stepping into a hydroponics lab on a space station ^_^

"My friends call me...Ahkbar."

No, they don't, but I watched Romeo Must Die again last night, and that's all that came to mind.

I'm heading out of Faro today, on my way to the Association of Yukon Communities Annual General Meeting in Haines Junction. (That's a mouthful, ain't it?) I'm still not 100% sure why I am going, but I will try to take advantage of the opportunity to see another community, network with folk from the various communities, and really try to wind myself down after the Crane & Sheep Festival.

That last one is proving difficult. But hey, at least I haven't turned to the bottle ^_^

I'm really hoping to sit down and write a proper entry about the C&S, both for this page and for the Town's official (but as of yet, unwritten to) blog. Michael of Michael's Meanderings has some great posts about his family's trip up here this weekend, with great photos! I only got a few photos, because I was running around so much (Anxcitement!) so it's nice to see what other people saw.

In other news, instead of going to bed at a decent hour, like a normal person, last night I stayed up to make a new quilt top. I'm hoping to have enough time before I leave for WH to piece together the backing, and then to take it with me to work on during the brief times when I am not required in meetings. I need to start selling some quilts!

"Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."

I'm not going to lie to you - I cried a little this morning when I woke up to hear it was raining. Part of that is obviously me detoxing from a steady diet of coffee and sugar (thanks for the donuts, Leo & Esther!), but the larger part is just sheer frustration. How could nature turn its back on me when I worked so hard on this festival?

I can't control nature, though, and crying about it isn't going to change it.

Time to go face the day.

"The groin? Really? Why does someone practice shooting one in the groin?"

I don't want to shoot anyone in the groin, but that really made me laugh. Thank you, NCIS: LA.

I could really, really go for a nap right about now. But I should probably spend my lunch hour cleaning the downstairs bathroom and making my house look nice.

Sigh no more, ladies

I am working on setting up a blog for the town, but ran into the problem that the profile it pulled up was my profile, because it was linked to this account. Needless to say, I wasn't super keen on that idea, so there was some mucking about necessary.

Of course, now that I have set up a blog for the town, I'm going to have to start posting. Given how slack I've been over here, lately, I'm kind of dreading it.

At any rate, I have another post for here that I have been mulling over for the last little while, but have been distracted by all the Crane & Sheep stuff. I did a little interview on CBC this morning - hope I didn't sound like too much of a dork. At any rate, it'll all be over by Sunday afternoon, so perhaps that post will be making its way out shortly ^_^

Until then, think warm thoughts!