holiday

Today is a holiday in Canada -- technically it's the day after Canada Day (July 1), but it is a day off work for most Canadians this year because July 1 fell on a Sunday.  My husband and I both teach at universities, so our summer work schedules are always pretty wonky (alternating intense work-on-deadline with quiet spells) but today still felt like a real holiday at our house.

Aforementioned Sweet Husband let me sleep in until 9 a.m., and then we traded places -- I took care of Frida and he went back to sleep.  Frida and I set out with the stroller and went to my favourite fruit and veggie stand on Bloor Street, where we managed to buy a veritable mountain of organic produce for $29. Yay! (Not everyone closes shop today.) We celebrated when we got back home with a little mid-morning feast of cherries, blueberries, and mango on our front porch.

Facing another hot afternoon, I decided to blend some blueberries, bananas, vanilla, maple syrup, soy milk, and leftover coconut milk with the intention of making popsicles for later in the day...but just in the nick of time I remembered that we were out of sticks for our super-deluxe popsicle mold (best purchase of last summer).  So I added some spoonfuls of yogurt and put the whole thing in our ice-cream maker (which had been collecting dust for a few summers, but was recently brought back into circulation).

The counter was a little crowded in our little kitchen, but with the sun streaming in through my new-ish curtains (made to match our new-ish "green apple" colour KitchenAid blender) it was a sweet sight.

 Frida and I happily watched the ice cream maker work its noisy magic on our banana-blueberry concoction.

Buoyed by our domestic accomplishments we made a big batch of granola...a 4th interpretation of the recipe from The Homemade Pantry.  While our three trays of coconut-cashew granola baked, the house started to smell delicious!

It was a great morning.

Finally, this evening I pressed my completed Irish Chain quilt top, which will be a gift for our friend Danny (who has a big birthday next week).  This is a pattern from Denyse Schmidt's new book Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration -- and is indeed a very traditional design, using quite tiny squares to make up the "chain" (they're 3/4" finished).  It was a bit finicky to make, and I have to admit that it bothers me a wee bit that my corners are not all crisp -- not enough to want to re-do or to start using a lot of pins while piecing, oh no, but there you go. 

The chain in my version is (mostly) Yuwa Live Life letters (parchment coloured), with some of odd squares thrown in, including a few in Grand Tour Venice, aqua...those are the ones that really stand out and I'm going to feature that fabric in a strip on the back of the quilt.  The background fabric is the reverse side of Twilight Garden in mocha (an older Connecting Threads textured solid), which is very sedate...and has me itching to make something wildly and outrageously colourful.

  
Thanks to my 6'3" partner for holding yet another quilt top for me to photograph.  I wish we had a good spot for me to take unassisted pictures of full quilt tops -- a stretch of high fence, a clothesline, a picturesque barn door -- but alas! we do not.  So tall and patient husband to the rescue once again.

I hope fellow residents of Canada enjoyed their long weekend and that my American friends have a great 4th of July!