Of course I need

another hobby and one more relic to restore . This is a 1943 Haid and Neu the last model in production before Singer bought out the company. Along the way I found a singer collectible button holder to go with my vintage machine!!

I even had time

To do some fun stuff

Managed to get some pinning and knitting in

 I would not want to Leave my embroidery machine unattended

This is s 3D snowflake made from thread

Even the bath got

a flooring priss up

Holiday rehab

Wondering what we are up to?

Tore out old flooring in with the new and new floor moulding. What a job getting rid of the squeaky floor

Halloween is fast approaching

Got enough assembled for Teddy’s and Evelyn’s classmates!

My finger are numb over 50 pumpkins, spiders and batts

In the world of scrappy

Needed a dust cover for my thread stand and had an extra scrappy panel. So here it is

Hubby is lucky!

He is on a short rope he scraped the head area of the chair with a zipper on his clothing a big 5x7 area  with nothing but grey he ruined the finish! I got the bright idea of using acrylic paint . It is drying one more coat needed

Don’t ever give me a paint brush

This was on the kids list. Well I opened my big mouth knowing I am a lousy painter but it is off the list now

Grand kids

Keep me young?

Hah they are very cute and well mannered. Smart and quick as a whip. They will surely outsmart Nanny but for now the think Nanny is great!

During me week stay Ted and I had many adventures. From parks and Mystery restaurant surprises .We visited national parks and waterfront displays, sculptures and markets.

We instructed mini google to play silly songs for kids and danced around the living room. Ted loves gardening and has a crop of beans and strawberries we watered and weeded and inspected our plant growth.

Evelyn was starting a new daycare and I got to play with her 1/2 days while she was orientated to her new surroundings. We napped, enjoyed snacks and went on long nature walks. We played with out phones and 1 ringy dingy- oh Miss Evelyn was a great hit. On course I had the play phone as she insisted on the real thing- yep my  I phone! Evelyn was a hoot and slowly taking note of the English language as we try out new words.

 Miss E is no longer scared of Nanny.

Time for Nanny to return to The homefront and possibly for a rest??

Look at this beauty.

It is a Singer 127 as far as date approximately 1924 the original records were lost in a fire so date is approximate. It originally came off of a treadle that a neighbour purchased and was going to toss the machine! In my world of luck they gifted me the machine. A little sewing machine oil took  off the dirt and in with the shine.it wax totally seized and I oiled it well and scrubbed off old grease and oil with a toothbrush.

It works! Now it is sitting on a table. I have ordered a hand crank and it will be done. Once J havd the handcrank I can then adjust the tension as needed!

Do I need another sewing machine? Not really but this is suck a challenge and the decals were so great I will use the machine and think fondly of the folks who donated it!

Drop in

Look what landed on my beach!

Sometimes

Grand dad’s sweater comes in handy when you are chilly and can’t find your sweater. 

It is also a handy way to keep every one in tow!

Got it 1/2 cut out!

This is a pieced pattern called cleopatra’s fan. It is going to be really scrappy. I ran out of light pink and will be using a dusty rose next. I realize that I will be away for 5 days so won’t get back to it. Oh the withdrawal! Then the fear of days of multiple seams!!

Here we are

The parents and big brother are not at home. I smuggled this dress in and tried it on then we strolled  around the neighbourhood

Teddy turns five!

His mom made him a fantastic cake it is called the naked cake and was enjoyed by all!


The party theme was PJ Masks which I had never heard of until they had me make a dozen felt masks all the three PJ Masks characters. Turned out very well  one problem I did not have a final pic of them, ! I copied one from the web so you have an idea! The masks resemble the fellows on the cake. Now I just have to wait for a certain daughter to post some post party pics! Luckily for me there was a free pdf pattern, I made a prototype and had Ted try it on , then once I figured out the elastic sizing it was a breeze!

And here is the naked cake it was a feat to cut but our friend Trina did a wonderful job she and I made up the assembly line. Jen did a great job on the cake and can you imagine all the hours of baking to accomplish these layers. Trina cut slim pieces and I scooped some coloured jello on the side.  A tasty treat for all!

Grandad had a great idea

 

We purchased a tent to help with the sun in the yard . Now the adults have a dining tent and the kidlets have a play area in shade! One day there were strong winds that whipped that tent around and mangled it, Ben took it a part and had to put it back almost resembling one piece. Note to self this is a pop up tent not made for long term use, So far so good it is still standing and the kids love it!

Two weeks with these two

I had seen the little ones once since October but Ben had not seen them at all! WE moved in for two weeks for kiddy care as daycare was closed and camps were not to start yet. The children were excellent to look after. We had some good laughs as the youngest one thinks she rules the roost. It was a great experience and we were glad to get home to tackle more house repairs.

The two little ones kept me in stitches and on the run. Evelyn hates everyone when MOM is around but once the parents are out of the house, she is ok with her Nanny. Even got a smile out of her!

We found a free playgroup at the school down the street and went for a few visits, the kids had fun and they especially loves circle time and music time. Free play was fun and everyone survived. Including the grand parents!

We found a few parks and enjoyed their many elements two were within a short distance from the house!

So much to say soo little time!

Days turn into weeks and then months, Repairs are ongoing on the homefront and our home is starting to take shape. It didn't look bad from the outside but once the flood garbage that washed up and fresh stain on the decks , mowed what lawn there is and relandscape a bit things are starting to take shape.  Throw in a new roof on top of everything, Might as well go for broke. It is an ongoing process. Our grass is all but dead and over taken by weeds, the waterfront yard has 8" ruts from sunken tires from the heavy equipment  as the sand bags were taken out. I hauled soil tried to level it out and threw on grass seed that is now taken. I have a funny looking yard but hope to at least hold off the sand at bay,.

Ben has been working day and night cleaning up the crawl space, wiring and add a new pump as well as trouble shooting all sorts of interesting developements, We are pretty well spent but continue as the summer is short and each time we move ahead we have a new list created.

I suddenly realized that so much time has been spent in sorting out flood related problems that my housekeeping is not up to snuff, It is to thunderstorm and rain all day tomorrow so is the perfect time to clean the house. Then again so much time has been spent outside we are not having too much backlog of dust and grime and lucky for me we are trained to pick up after ourselves, I did find that I needed to do laundry last night late at night as I discovered the old boy didn't have any underwear for the morning. Where does time go??

Sometimes cuteness just needs to come into the picture

This is Miss Evelyn and I had made her a doll and a matching dress, the dress is a size two . I think that her mom was anxious to try it on , It may be next year before she can fit into it properly. But she sure is cute!!

On the flip side

My robotic quilter has been saved and I am making use of it while I am waiting to do anything I can on the yard. The wait is killing me and I hope that soon I can start moving ahead.

I had made these tops during the winter and now have time to get them all stitched up , I have one more quilt top that needs to be dressed and then I will have to start getting CREATIVE again.

Goodness knows I have a lot of fabric to do stuff with !

And this is why you have not heard from me in awhile

Most have been evacuated and in Ottawa Hotels. We choose to stay and man pumps. I just put 39$k in renovations and too stubborn to loose the house. Many have walked away. 

Those that are high and dry have opted to have the city put them into nice hotels. I laugh and call them wimps as we soldier on. The volunteers have been called off the Salvation Army leaves on Thursday. It is like living in a ghost town.

The city is manning some huge pumps down the street to try to keep the integrity of the road but it is miserably crumbling. Several times a day they pass by and honk and wait for me to appear. They seem to be worried about me.

I trudge about 3/4 of a mile in hipwadders to  get to the car luckily most times the police or city workman pick me up when they see me.

I am pretty popular. Another young family not far brought me goods I can eat. The Salvation Army food is delicious but not suited to my diabetes. We can’t leave the pumps for more than an hour. So hard to get groceries but Ben can eat all the prepared foods. The legion is feeding people 3xa day and I went there for breakfast and found food I could eat. They let me bring some home to last throughout the day.

If the water recedes in another week all should be well. It appears as if we have had the second wave the water level is up 3” today.

Can’t say life is boring but my house is a mess when the kids elevated everything and boxed stuff up. Still looking for stuff. We have so many folks come by and then truck through the house the whole place is topsy turvy.

My deck is full of my fence posts that washed away and the woodpile I chased. I am drying the wood so we have heat in the house the heater wiring is in the crawl space and pretty wet so we keep those breakers off.

We heat up wash water and there is a set of portable potties several lots down. The community center allows us to use the showers and bathrooms.

That poor deck is full of generators and pumps what a site!!!

I need to get a structural engineer in here not sure if the house may have shifted. But until the water subsides nothing can be done!

CBC radio interviewed me last week with the man that Sandbagged my house. Apparently they stopped counting at 12000 bags. Just wait I have to drag them all to the roadside for pickup after the water subsides. They are heavy!!!

Good thing my folks are dead they would probably suffer coronary’s with my tales.

The Salvation Army waded in to check on me they were worried I hadn’t been seen for a day or two. Apparently they came to give me spiritual support. Heck I wanted hard labour! They think I am pretty funny! Ben all but kissed the legion ladies he was so hungry and they had a lovely hot meal for him. People have been so good to us.

Twice the pumps went down and I had to call for help boy they were here in 10 minutes . These wonderful men just dropped everything and ran!

We are so appreciative you have no idea. I do hope that the city crew stays around for awhile they are pretty helpful! 

The police are present as well but they informed us if we get into trouble they can’t get to us. I told them that was ok I have lived a good life! Lol

Missing Jennifer’s little ones haven’t seen them since October!! Teddy really 

Misses us but we will babysit him for the first two weeks in July- he may change his tune!

Updates

This has been our life since we returned home on May 1.
First we were at awe for the many families we knew who were literally under water. Our house was saved by mere inches. The WCDR volunteers, our daughter and friends, the Mennonites and army all helped. There is a 6' high sandbag wall at the waterfront and a 4' sandbag wall at the roadside. We have no septic or water and we have a little hydro. The water is slowly going down and we need to have it do so quickly as we are soo wet and we need to address all the problem areas.

We are in an evacuated zone the road was washed out now almost dry by there are only residents allowed in and out of the zone, For awhile most of our neighbours left. It was quite earie at night.


Things are looking up but we have a long way to go , we were thankful to the Salvation Army who fed us and looked out for us as we had no way of going to gather grocieres, walk 3/4 mile in hip wadders and loft those groceries over our chest to get into the property. In the end we had 7 pumps running and 4 needed to be gassed up every 1.5 hrs. We were exhausted but could not afford to sleep.

Now out of harms way we sleep in spurts waiting for the moment we can start clean up. The road is opened to residents and we have now got our fridge and freezer stocked, We can now eat at will- this may not be a good thing!

We are quite anxious for the water to receed for obvious reasons , what a delight to maybe have running water one day , Although it may be contaminated but we can deal with that. Our garage is swimming and we really  need to have that dried out soon , so we can get in there and reach our much needed tools.

It is simply nerve wrecking at this point and terrible to watch the river as it swells once again .

This is us in the brown house with my daughter being interviewed.

https://globalnews.ca/video/5219097/ottawa-residents-rush-to-save-homes-from-rising-waters


This is us today. tired of seeing sandbags but hope they will soon not be needed!

As you can see I have a tiny garden

I have dug out all the grass and planting away , I have a magnificent Magnolia tree that is busting out. I have loads of little plants coming into bloom and hopefully tomorrow I will  get to play in it and smear my wood chips. Hold on it is going to be a small but generously enriched garden. Can't wait for things to come to a full head and propogate!

Day of shirts

 Well we couldn't go without making birthday shirts for a Little boy soon to be 5. Each birthday he receives a special shirt. ( 5th birthday and Mickey Mouse).

That leaves the little sister and she too needs to be clothed so we will also get two new shirts  ( bunny and sheep).

I am not sure at their age they are impressed but the parents know that Nanny always has something on the go..

What was I thinking!!!

Oh brother. I couldn't help myself and got a great deal on a bobbin lace roller pillow

 Look what I found on the back side. BOBBINS and I was not expecting them.

 I have a flat pillow I made myself and look at what I am working on , thus the heading. WHAT was I THINKING. Do you know how long this is going to take me? Do you see the itsy bitsy design and with metallic thread. I just had to give it a go , you know how much I love a challenge

It is a Process People

 And it all begins here. I rented a spinning wheel for the winter and spun away .

Soon I had two balls of yarn .

Then I double plied them to make a skein. Afterwhich I washed and dried the yarn to set the spin.

Now all I have to do is knit it up but in the mean time I have all this fleece looking at me so it might be awhile!