So Disappointing

I was out the door a little past 7:30 this morning, on my way to Central Sewing Machines to finally quilt the Bluenose II pixel quilt. About 15 minutes from the store, my warning light came on with the message to add air to my left front tire. A little concerning since I had just been at the Kal Tire a couple of days ago to have them check the air in my tires. Did I have a leaky tire? What to do about it? I decided not to stop, but watched for a gas station so that I could stop on my way home to inflate the tire. However, I arrived at the store about 15 minutes before it opened, so I went back to the Petro Can I had spotted. I chose to overfill the tire in case it was leaking and hopefully it would stay inflated until I got back home. Unfortunately, the gas station was right on a very busy intersection, and there was no way I could go back the way I came because of medians and left turns, so I glanced at the map and left the gas station, turning right. And then another right, which took me through a light industrial section and I ended up making a wrong turn and got a tour of the neighbourhood that I hadn't planned on. Rechecked map and got myself going in the right direction and ended up back at Central Sewing 15-20 minutes after opening. I had wanted to get an early start on the quilt, so this was rather frustrating to me. 
According to the Bible, the Sabbath begins at sunset on Friday night. And at this time of year, that's pretty early, around 4:30. The hours of the Sabbath are sacred, so I don't quilt or do business on the Sabbath. So I wanted to make sure I got an early start on the quilt and finish up in plenty of time for the Sabbath to begin. As a matter of fact, on my way in, I was praying that the Lord would not allow the devil to keep me from finishing the quilt before the Sabbath began. 
I don't use a long arm quilting machine often enough to feel comfortable loading the quilt myself, so I asked for assistance. Unfortunately, the person who was assisting me was not a quilter and had just taken the training herself. She changed the needle for me and wound my first bobbin. I scratched my head over some of the things she did, and it seemed to be taking forever to get it loaded. Finally we had backing, batting and quilt top loaded on the frame. Then she left me, while I got the pantograph set up and then I was ready to begin, about 10:30. Not a good thing. This is a LARGE double quilt - actually large enough to fit a queen, and I was going to be quilting a rather dense pattern, so I was rather concerned about my time constraints. And, as it turned out, I was not ready to begin. When I started trying to baste the layers together, the machine wasn't cooperating at all. I couldn't pull the bobbin thread up, the needle got stuck and the thread broke. I went to get help and eventually we had to get someone who works in the store that actually owns one of these machines (HQ Avante), so she fiddled with it a bit and thought it might be my thread (Aurilux). She switched threads and still had problems. And then she finally noticed that the needle was in backwards! Switched the needle around and it seemed to be working fine, so we switched back to my thread and I tried again. Started to baste across the top but it kept skipping stitches. <sigh> By this time, it was 11:05. They had offered to allow me to leave the quilt on the machine if I didn't finish and come back Monday night when they're open until 8:30. But I had had more than enough frustration for one morning and decided to just take the quilt off the frame and leave. I really didn't want to drive back again on Monday night in the dark. I'm not fond of driving in the dark. 
So once again the pixel quilt is not finished. And I'm not sure how I'm going to get it finished. My scheduled days off always fall on a Friday, but I don't think I will try again to do a quilt on a Friday at this time of year. It's just cutting it to close to try and get it done before the Sabbath. And I have no more vacation to use until April, unless I borrow from next year's vacation. I've even used up my floating stat. I wish there was a longarm studio that was open on Sundays and then there wouldn't be a problem. Ultimately, I really need to get my own longarm machine. I just have to figure out how I'm going to afford it. And I need to de-clutter and finish the rest of the basement. In the meantime, I have found the Getting Started: HQ Avante videos on Youtube. Before I go next time, I intend to review them thoroughly and then I should be able to change the needle, wind the bobbin and load the quilt all on my own. One thing I will say about Central Sewing Machines, they actually clock you in on a time clock when you rent their machines, but you don't clock in until you're ready to sew. They don't charge you for the loading and set-up time. The other studio I rented at charged twice as much per hour and did include the loading/set-up time. Ouch! I could have saved a lot of money if I'd been renting at Central all along. 
All was not lost on my trip to the city, however. I was able to stop at McGavin's Bread Basket and pick up some Silver Hills bread. Silver Hills is my favourite bread. Made of all whole grains, mostly organic, it has body, it has texture, it has substance. Not like that doughy stuff you usually find at the grocery store, even the whole grain stuff. Silver Hills, however, does not usually come cheap. $4-5/loaf, or more, if you can find it. However, the stuff they sell at McGavin's Bread Basket is closer to the best before date, so they sell it cheaper. As in 10 loaves for $14.99 (or something like that), but you have to buy 10 loaves. No problem, I have a freezer. So I was really happy to make that stop as I was running low on bread. 
Next stop was Payless Shoes, where I was actually able to find a pair of shoes that fit me and were comfortable (till I wore them for the rest of the day, but that's me and my bad feet). Stopped at a mall for lunch and then hit the Fabricland and purchased some fabric to console myself after today's disappointment. 

First I found this panel. It has the Beautitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), Amazing Grace, the Prayer of Serenity, the Prayer of St. Francis and some mini panels that have Christian symbols on them. Not sure what I'll use the mini panels for. Some of them look like they're supposed to be bookmarks. I'm sure I'll figure out something. 

Next I found this train fabric. I took what was left on the bolt, less than two metres, I think.

While I was waiting in line at the cutting table, I spied this Stonehenge fabric. I'm not a big brown/beige fan, but my basement bathroom is beige and black and I thought this might make a nice wallhanging in there. Again, I bought what was left on the bolt.

All of the fabric I purchased was on sale, which makes me even happier. 

On my way back into town, I stopped at Walmart to pick up tahini and see if they had miso or umeboshi paste. Nada. Not even the tahini, at least not that I could find. 

And no more warning lights for my tire. It remained (over)inflated. 

The Sabbath has begun now, so I wish you all a happy Sabbath.

Looking for an Aggressive Fabric

Have you ever thought of fabric as being aggressive? I haven't, at least not until I was looking for fabric to use for borders for my Stars Over Africa quilt. The quilt is a project I'm working on to enter in the Johnson's Sewing Centre/Quilter's Dream quilting challenge. I purchased a 4 fat quarter bundle and have to use some of each fabric in my quilting project, and can add whatever fabrics I want. The quilt has to be a minimum of 16" square, but can be a bag, a jacket or other quilted project - not just a quilt. I opted for a throw size quilt, and here's what I have so far (ignore the purple square as that's part of a different project):

These are the actual fabrics in the bundle (Northcott's Karma Spirit):

Those elephants were just begging to be fussy cut. Originally I was planning on doing a scenic childrens quilt with elephants, water (aqua fabric), grass (green fabric) and flowering shrubs (pink fabric). I purchased the blue batik in the photo below to use as the sky:

I also added the coral fabric, just because I liked it and it seemed to fit in the colour scheme. However, if I wanted to win the challenge, I felt that I needed to come up with something better than a funky elephant scene. That's when I decided to use the black fabric and make the star quilt. However, I wanted it be at little more interesting and decided to set this section on point. I want to put a border around this section, add four more blocks (not sure what those blocks will be yet) plus setting triangles for the corners, then a final border. The setting triangles will likely be the blue batik. But coming up with a fabric for the borders is another matter. I'm trying to avoid purchasing more fabric, so I rummaged through my stash. I had to find something that both colours and patterns suited the rest of the quilt. Because the colours and patterns in the fabric are definitely not subdued, I realized I needed something "aggressive." 

Upper left and centre fabrics are just too "wimpy" for this quilt. Top right fabric is not quite the right colours, and the pattern is definitely not right. Lower left - the pattern is great, but the colours are not quite right, though I haven't totally ruled this one out. 

These two are awesome colours, but not bold enough for this quilt.

More great fabrics, but nothing really aggressive about any of these.

Ouch! The colours are right, and it's definitely bold, but the pattern really doesn't work.

The one on the lower left is what I purchased for the binding. I will probably use the one on the lower right for the first border. I don't want to use it for the outer border as it doesn't contrast sufficiently with the binding. I'm not really sure if the orange fabric in the centre will work, and there's not enough of it for the outer border. Still considering... I may have to break down and buy some fabric, which, of course, will be such a hardship. LOL!

Meanwhile, in my 5 days off work over Easter, I did a couple of mini quilts to enter in Moda's contest celebrating Electric Quilt's 25th anniversary. I would have dearly loved to win a copy of EQ7, but I didn't. I had fun anyway. 

This is Summer Star.

Here you can see it's been cat-tested and approved.

And this is Spools. 

And yes, I actually did free motion quilting on my domestic machine on both of these quilts. 

That's all for now. Time to give my grandson a bath, which is Grandma's privilege tonight.

Mystery Crochet Along, Fabric Diet and Home Renovations

I have decided to have a fabric diet this year. That means not buying any more fabric, just using what I've got. Of course, I will probably need to buy some batting, backing, & binding. When I'm buying fabric for a new project, I often neglect to buy what I need for binding and backing. And of course, I really don't have room to store a large supply of batting, so that is purchased on an as-needed basis. And I will have to buy fabric for the graduation quilt for my great nephew, Jordon. Otherwise, I'm going to try and drastically reduce my fabric purchases this year. The reason for this is that I really need to get some renovations/repairs done on my home that have to be a financial priority. My bathtub hot water tap was running continuously (not just dripping), so I got that repaired this week. Soffit, fascia and eavestroughing will hopefully get done this year (I'm waiting for the estimate to see if I can actually afford it). And I really want to get the sewing room in the basement done. I had the electrician in to give an estimate for moving the lighting fixtures from the wall to the ceiling. Ceiling fixtures are more efficient and walls are for hanging flannelette sheets for design walls. I won't get that estimate until some time next week.Then there's going to be some drywall repair. The previous owners finished the joints with strips of wood instead of drywall tape and mud. And the floors are just bare concrete. So I want to put in some proper flooring, which should make a substantial difference in how warm it is down there. And I need to put up some shelving to store all my fabric, etc. So, I've got my work cut out for me. Once my sewing/crafting area is done, it will be so much more pleasant to work down there. It will be warm and organized. 
But staying on a fabric diet is not easy. Fabric is my drug of choice. I don't know how many of you are old enough to remember this song:

"When I'm feeling low and blue, all I gotta do is look at you. You can make me feel good, yes, you can." That's how I feel about fabric. Except that I feel even better when I actually buy the fabric. So I've already cheated on my "diet." I placed an order this week with Keepsake Quilting. Have you tried them out? Their clearance prices are really clearance prices and kind of hard to resist. And of course, I ordered the Jinny Beyer 2015 BOM quilt kit from Craftsy, but that quilt is part of this year's planned quilts. It's going to be for one of my sisters who turned 60 this past year. I have 4 major quilt projects planned for 2015: that BOM, a swoon quilt for the sister that turned 65 last year, finish the pixel quilt for the sister that turned 50 (yes I'm a year behind in getting these quilts done, but better late than never) and Jordon's graduation quilt. In case you're wondering, I have 5 sisters altogether plus my brother's widow, who is like a sister. 
And honestly, I wasn't planning on any big yarn purchases this year either. I already have so many WIPs and UFOs. Except that there's this really yummy colour of Red Heart Super Saver called Blacklight that I've fallen in love with. I have a great weakness for variegated yarns. And I love loud colours, the louder the better. And set off by black - how much better can you get? You can have a look at this yarn here: Red Heart Super Saver Economy. I just have to figure out a project for it...
Last night on facebook, I thought I had found it. The Crochet Crowd shared a post about a Mystery Afghan Crochet Along (there's also a Knit Along for you knitters) sponsored by Yarnspirations.  I've considered joining a Mystery Quilt Challenge, but just haven't had the opportunity to do it yet. I've also been wanting to join one of The Crochet Crowd's crocheting challenges. So, I get mystery, challenge and crocheting: exciting! You can order the kit in a choice of 9 different colourways, and get 15% off to boot, or you can choose your own yarn. So I was going to choose my own yarn and use Blacklight as my main colour. I would need 5 balls of Blacklight. Unfortunately, my local Walmart only had 2 balls and they weren't even the same dye lot. <sigh> On to Plan B. I spent half of my lunch hour trying to decide what Plan B was, and ended up with this:

Nothing at all like Blacklight, but you notice I used some variegated yarn anyway. I like this colour family. I considered various other options, but this one just kept calling to me. Stay tuned and I will post as it progresses. The challenge doesn't start until February 10th, which hopefully will give me a chance to get this done:

(Why is it that the picture on my viewfinder looks better before I take a picture than after? Maybe it's time for a new camera???). I have a new great niece or nephew due in February. I have the Scrappy Shine quilt if it's a girl, but I need something in case it's a boy. Initially, I was going to make a boy's quilt, but then I remembered this afghan. I started it 7 or 8 years ago and figured maybe it was time to get it finished. Unfortunately, it does not work up very quickly. The yarn (Bernat Baby Coordinates) is not a pleasant yarn to work with. It has one shiny white strand in with the blue that tends to separte from the rest of the yarn. It's also a pretty dense pattern, so requires a lot of "hooking" to get much length finished. It's kind of discouraging spending on evening crocheting, only to have added an inch or two to the length. So I'm sort of hoping that the baby is a girl. LOL!
Meanwhile, I've fiddled around taking selfies of me with my new yarn. 

Seriously, I'm not much good at taking selfies. I usually end up with a glazed eye look, like in this one:

This is actually mild compared to some selfies I've taken. 

The nice thing about digital cameras is that you can see the final result - and delete if so desired - without having to pay to get the film developed. 

So You Think You Can Quilt

I have a tendency to compose blog posts in my mind while I'm driving. Some of them never actually get posted, but some of my best thoughts come while I'm between here and the city. I was in the city a week or so ago and mentally working on this post on the way home. Remember the sampler quilt top I made when I reviewed that quilting book? Well, I was trying to remember the name of the book and what came to my mind was, "So You Think You Can Quilt." No, I knew that was not the book's title, but I decided that would be a good name for this quilt anyway. (You can find the original post here). It's a sampler quilt, constructed by following the directions in a "how to" quilt book. And when it came to the actual quilting part, I was putting to use the skills I learned in my machine quilting class. So I figured that was an appropriate name for this quilt. 
Here it is:

I confess I really didn't like that border on it. I intended for it to pick up the blues in one of the black fabrics, but it just didn't work like I wanted it to. 
I still need lots of practice quilting, but it's coming. I bought a couple of new stencils when I was in the city and decided to try using my Pounce for the first time. Not happy. The white chalk dust barely showed up on the black print fabric and not at all on the pink fabric. Am I doing something wrong? Maybe I need to try the blue or the pink pounce (though the pink wouldn't show up on the pink fabric either.  I tried to use my blue quilt marker, but it didn't show up on the black print either. So I resorted to tracing paper, which is not my favourite machine quilting method, but it worked. I did use a stencil and marking pen for quilting the border, however. 
Here's a closeup of some of the quilting:

Sorry, the camera flash washed it out quite a bit. I need to refine my camera skills. 
I chose to use a variegated pink 40 weight Signature thread. (I used that brand because it was what was available at my LQS). I really love variegated thread (and variegated yarn, for that matter). I'm not sure what the appeal is for me, but I choose to use it whenever I can. However, the blocks and fabrics in this quilt are too "busy" for the variegations to make a significant impact. It makes more sense to use a variegated thread in a quilt with more plain or solid fabrics, like the Law School quilt. Lesson learned. I will keep that in mind for next time. Though I suppose it also depends on the look I want to achieve. If I don't want the quilting to stand out and a variegated would blend in better, then I'd go with that. For this particular quilt, even against the black, the variegated pink doesn't show up that well. If I had wanted my stitching to really stand out, a solid bright pink probably would have worked better. But as I am still learning, I'm not so sure that I want my stitching to really stand out yet. 
I used a different quilting motif for each block and a border stencil for the border. I had to modify it slightly as it was a little wide for the border. On the sashing, I just made a zig-zag pattern using my walking foot. 
Here's the back:

I love this fabric. I wish I had more of it. This quilt is 30" square, so either a table topper or a cat quilt. I could use it as a wallhanging, but didn't put a hanging sleeve on.
And here's the fabric I bought at Fabricland:

I used to love the Pink Panther and with a purple background, I can't lose, especially since it was in the clearance section at $2.50 a metre. This is a flannel fabric and will become the backing on a flannel quilt. I bought what was left on the bolt.

I couldn't resist this one, especially since it was also $2.50 a metre. Unfortunately, what was left on the bolt was in two separate pieces - 1.4 metres and 1.6 metres, but I'm hoping I can make it work for a backing as well.  I also stopped in Michael's and looked at art supplies. I could have kicked myself as I forgot both my art supply list for my Craftsy course and my 20% off Michael's coupon. But I got back there a couple of days ago and remembered my coupon and list, plus I had another coupon for 40% off one item and an Airmiles coupon for 5x the Airmiles, so the second trip was worthwhile. They also sell one of those plastic tag gun thingies for quilt basting. Cheaper than the one at Fabricland. Have any of you ever used one of those? I figure it's got to be easier than pin basting. 
Since I had taken the live Machine Quilting Class, I decided to use my dubious quilting skills to finish this sampler from my online machine quilting class.

I have to admit that this looks kind of like a map - the purple is water and the orange is land. Here's a close up of what was supposed to be swirls:

It just wasn't coming together for me. And here's my stipling:

I don't know if free motion is ever going to work well for me. I was never really a doodler, even with pen and paper, so doodling with my sewing machine is even more of a challenge. Here's the back:

This one is only 24" square, so definitely a cat quilt. Actually, the cats have already been using it before I finished it. I had it folded up on a corner of the sewing table and that's where one of them would sleep when he/she wanted to keep me company, although they haven't been doing that since I moved the sewing stuff to the basement.
My buddy Phil, who is also a cat lover, once asked me if I'd made the cats any quilts yet. Now I can say yes. Actually, all of my samplers from the machine quilting class will be cat quilts as well. I just need to get my serger back from servicing so I can serge the edges. And hopefully, they will help keep the cat hair off the furniture. 
As it's Remembrance Day today, I watched the ceremonies in Ottawa today on TV. Here's one of my favourite videos to help keep our veterans in mind:

Today's Mail

Today is my X day (scheduled day off) as I stated in my blog yesterday, but I didn't go to the city as planned. I still had some excitement, however. In the mail I got a fabric parcel from Sew Sisters. It was the fabric I ordered for the graduation/apartment warming quilt for the daughter of friends. As I've stated previously, I hate paying full price for fabric. So I went to Sew Sisters' clearance page and chose the fabric I thought would be the most suitable and saved it to my shopping cart. I wanted to think about it before I made the purchase. I only waited a few days and, unfortunately, one of the fabrics was sold out when I went back to make my purchase. And I had to choose an alternate. 
Let's look at the fabric:

This is the backing fabric.

This is my "focus" fabric.

And these are the fabrics I was planning on using for the blocks, borders and binding. Unfortunately, I didn't think the polka dots would be that big. I'm not really a fan of polka dots and seeing this fabric when I pulled it out of the envelope did not make me happy. That was my "alternate" choice and it turned out worse than I had hoped. So I rummaged in my stash but did not find a coordinating piece big enough for what I needed. 
Then I went to my LQS and bought the fabric on the far right in the picture below.

This is a Michael Miller Fairy Frost, a fabric that I love. I had to pay full price for it, but desperate times demand desperate measures. I'm not sure when I'll make it to another fabric store and I need to get started on this quilt. Amy graduates in December and will be moving into her new apartment in early January (or sooner). So what do you think: the polka dots or the Fairy Frost? Here are all four fabrics with the focus fabric:

I could probably get away with using either, but that polka dot just sets my teeth on edge. Surprisingly enough when I used my Ruby Beholder, both the pink fabric and the polka dot fabric are light in value. The Fairy Frost is a medium.
And while I was at the LQS, I picked up some more sale fabric. These are sold in pre-cut metres, and it's 4 for $10. I was hoping to find something that I could use in Amy's quilt to replace the polka dots, but there was nothing in the right colour family. 

I needed the two centre prints for another quilt that's on my horizon and just picked the other two to make up the 4. There were also baskets of remnants for a dollar each, so I bought a few.

You never can tell when these will come in handy. I've bought some of their remnants before and have already put some to use in the Unbroken quilt I'm working on. And when I'm in need of a "fabric fix," I can buy a few of these without feeling guilty. :-)
I've also been doing some planning for the Australian Tailor quilt. Remember that I said I thought that it looked too somber and I wanted to quilt it with a brighter colour to make it a little more cheerful. With Remembrance Day coming soon and in view of the murder of two of our soldiers right here on Canadian soil in two separate incidents within the last week, I decided to quilt it with red thread and designed a quilt pattern with maple leaves and poppies. The backing and binding will probably be from the Stonehenge "Oh Canada" line. I was pricing this fabric on the Sew Sisters website. $13.99 a metre. Neither Hamels nor Mad About Patchwork, my two other favourite online Canadian fabric stores, carry it. When I was in my LQS, I looked at it there as well. Their selection is not as great and it's $18 a metre. I guess I'll be buying it at Sew Sisters. I don't know if I'll get the Australian Tailor's quilt done in time for Remembrance Day, but it will probably get done before Remembrance Day of next year. 

Show & Tell: More Moving & Rearranging

I confess: I skipped my final acrylic painting class this week. The instructor wasn't going to teach anything new and we were just going to finish up the paintings we had already started.  So I decided I'd rather finish at home - less hassle and mess than carting everything back and forth. Since my machine quilting class finished last week, that left me with no more evening classes at all, which freed my evenings to try and catch up at home. Not that I ever catch up. But I haven't done any crafting this past, which left me with a project of a different sort to share. 

Remember I am in the process of moving my office into my smallest bedroom? I finally managed to move all of these books up from the basement and arranged them on the shelves:

Then I moved the bookcase that they were on (another one like this one) upstairs. Right now, it's just sitting in the living room. The spare bedroom where it's going is also undergoing moving/rearranging. Since I had moved all of the furniture to one side of the room to shampoo rugs, I figured it was a good time to strip the wallpaper off the wall behind the bed and dresser, something I've been wanting to do since I bought this place in 2009 (only that one wall had wallpaper on it). Unfortunately, it left a residue on the wall, so I still have to sand/wash the wall to remove the residue, shampoo that side of the carpet, and move the furniture back before I can move the bookcase in. And I really need to get that done as I think one of my nephews will probably come for a visit next weekend and he'll be staying in that room. He's just moved to Alberta this past Monday and I haven't seen him yet. 

These two filing cabinets came up from the basement as well:

And yes, they are relatively full and relatively heavy. And awkward. But not as awkward as the bookshelves! And yes, I am moving these things all by myself since the cats won't help. 

And while I was moving things up, I was also moving things down:

This dresser and chest are currently empty. The two boxes are the contents of the chest: mostly fabric! And they weren't too heavy. I will use the dresser for my art and crocheting supplies. Plus any other craft and sewing supplies that I don't have a place for. You can see that I've already got my paintbrushes on top of the dresser. I still have to move the rest of my art supplies downstairs. They have been residing in my office while I was taking the acrylic painting course, but that made it kind of cramped as it is a small room. 

There are still lots of books that need to come up from the basement and in from the garage, plus some quilting/crafting/art books that need to go downstairs, but that will get done in time. Meanwhile, I really should change the oil in my snowblower before I need to use it. Tomorrow is my scheduled day off and I was planning on getting more done at home, but then I remembered that my serger is ready at the shop, so I will probably go in to get it. I hate to make a trip to the city for just one thing, so I'm considering hitting Delta Art Supplies as I have enrolled in Acrylic Painting: Basics & Beyond (w/ Michael Lynne) from Craftsy and I need a few more supplies. I retrieved my daughter's brushes from my ex-husbands house (she had taken art classes when she was in her teens), so I don't think I need any more of those.
I've only got a couple more weeks left on my inlinkz subscription so I figured I might as well use it while I've got it. So feel free to share your link to your current projects.

An InLinkz Link-up

2013 Vacation Report #3

One of the places I decided that I wanted to visit while I was in London was Len's Mill Store. I have to admit that when I walked in, it did not make a good first impression. It's an ugly, warehouse-type store, but once I found the fabric department, I was happy.

I visited the store at least 3 times during my stay in London. They also have an awesome yarn section. Obviously they must cater to some cross-border shoppers because the fabric can be purchased by the yard or the metre. There used to be a place called McKay's Fabric Surplus (or something like that) near my sister's place. I was disappointed to find out it was closed. Len's Mill was just a little farther away, so that made up for the loss of McKay's.

I went to visit my Aunt in Port Stanley and on the way back to London, I stopped at this now empty hospital. It's the St. Thomas Psychiatric Hospital and it's a massive institution, built to house up to 5000 patients with 460 acres of land, a working farm and beautiful grounds. 

 My father worked there for over 20 years and for me it's a part of St. Thomas history. I find it a pity that it's now empty, apparently sold to developers and slated for demolition. That makes 2 hospitals connected with my personal history to meet this fate.  The other one, of course is Victoria Hospital in London, where I did a lot of my nurse's training and got my first nursing job. I drove by it for a quick look and they still haven't started the demolition, but didn't take any pictures on this visit. However, I did take some pictures on last year's visit.

 

The front of the hospital - I went through these doors many times.

Nurses' Residence - I lived here for most of my 2 years as a student. I'm not sure if they're demolishing this building or not. 

The nursing school - I spent many hours in this building as well. I don't think it's part of the demolition plans. 

Further down Memory Lane...

This is the veterans section of the cemetery where my mother's parents were buried, the South Park Cemetery.

Below is a picture of the St. Thomas Cemetery, where my father's mother is buried. I was only ever able to find her grave once, and even though I was there during the posted office hours, the office was closed, so I was unable to visit her grave this time either. However, I discovered that they have an online search function, so next time, hopefully, I will find it. I must take my aunt, as she said she has a hard time finding it as well. I'm sure she would appreciate visiting her mother's grave with me. 

 I went from there to my favourite old church, the St. Thomas Anglican church, built in 1824.

At one time I wanted to be married in this church, but since it doesn't have central heating and I was married in November, it would have been a bit chilly. Maybe if I ever remarry...

Some really old graves in the church yard cemetery, with some figures of local historical interest buried here.

Right next door to the church is this old building:

Now dubbed "adult living," it was at one time a senior's home, called Thomas Williams Home, where my mother's father lived after my grandmother died. That name is still on a sign just under the peak of the roof.

I saw lots of beautiful autumn trees, but most of them were while I was driving, so not able to take pictures. This one was right across the street from the Thomas Williams Home. As you can see, the tree right next to it was still fully green. 

That's all for this vacation. The rest of my pictures are all family pictures, which I'm not sharing on my blog.

Don't forget to comment on my Time to Pass It On post to enter the giveaway for 5 free fat quarters.