Spring Blossoms and mini quilts...and thoughts of loss.

Many of you may have heard of a tragic accident that happened Friday night in rural Saskatchewan where a semi truck and a bus filled with Junior A hockey players collided with devastating consequences.  I don't know anyone involved but my younger brother played hockey from a very young age and hockey is part of being a Canadian.  Many times I went to games to cheer him and his team mates one.  I would hope you spend a minute or more to think of not only the team but the trucker who survived this horrendous accident and the guilt he will carry for many years to come. 

 Easter Monday I went back to a East Vancouver Street to look at the Magnolia and Cherry blossoms in the area.  The Magnolia pictures I took on the Sunday but the street with the Cherry Blossoms was so packed with people walking down the middle of the street it wasn't possible to stop and take pictures.

 Each year the street is crowded with visitors to have photos taken with them in the middle of the street while cars attempt to drive up it.  If you encounter a car coming in the opposite direction you have to pull into a parking spot so the other can pass.  Looking down Gravely street standing at the corner of Windermere.

 Sunday was a wild weather day, as you see from the shots of the Magnolias there were some clouds but it was windy and in a minute or two later the sky was white, then blue and then white again.

 The city of Vancouver plants a tree in front of each house on the boulevard with the city paying for it.

 Looking up Graveley Street from the block below.  The trees have been trimmed in the peched manner so they spread over the street rather than growing up.

 The tree trunks are huge, in some cases filling the entire space between the curb and sidewalk.

 If you go back later this week all the blossoms will be covering the parked cars of the residents and visitors to the area.

 It smells amazing walking along the block.

 I love the look of the blossoms against the tree trunks.

 This part of Gravely has Magnolias which have not been peched so they stand tall but still cross over the street but not as much as the Cherry trees.

 Looking over towards the north shore mountains you can see some fresh snow on the ski runs.  We have three ski areas within a 30 minute drive from the down town area that have downhill, cross country and inner tube runs.  There are spectacular view of the city from the top on a clear day.

 Beautiful Magnolia blossoms.

 Some furry buds and some that are just opening up.

 My friend Rita and I went to Piva Modern Italian just a short walk from where we live on the New Westminster Quay in the New Westminster Convention Centre, she had a personal prosciutto ham pizza and I had a Caprese Salad.  Then we shared Nona's Favourite which is puff pastry, marscapone cheese and cherries with an Americano.  I may have to go and just have coffee and dessert one day. 

 Rita's garden has these fun checkerboard bulbs that I bought but didn't plant in the Autumn.

 Her tulips are about to bloom.

 She has strawberries in bloom with fruit starting to form.

 I got my free motion practise piece cut down and bound.

 I had fun binding them.

 I also made a larger version of the three rabbits.

 Love how they look from the wrong side and these ones I put a hanging sleeve one.

 The white version.

 And the back.

 I also did a solitary bunny.

 I have this one stitched down now.

 And the white version.

 Both are ready to be hung next Easter.

 The large and small versions.  The large one is about 8" x 11"

 The purple ones are about the same size.

Next up is my next Simple Folk block and making a decision about the triangle corners and nine patches so I can sew up the alternate block.  Grasshopper still isn't started.  Sarah changed the size of the outside blocks so that impacted the size of the centre medallion square.  I don't think I want to do a border so I have to figure out how to match the pattern so when I sew a seam it will be almost invisible.  I cut some fabric for the bias applique design that has to be stitched down and the templates for the applique.  I did do the first 4 hand pieced blocks and have to decide what fabrics and placement for block 2.