The weekend of the Fridge

WARNING!  This post contains mature subject matter.  Reader discretion is advised.

My friend Nancy has a cottage in a beautiful small town 150 km from the beautiful small town where we live.  It isn’t really a cottage as it has power and running water and all the amenities, but it is a wee house and she and her partner use it as a place for retreating from everyday life.  Periodically Nancy and I go there for a weekend away.  She isn’t a quilter but she likes to paint and she likes getting outdoors and doing things, just like I do. She and I have been unsuccessfully trying to line up a weekend away since the fall.

Last weekend Nancy had a job to do in the town where her cottage is.  She collects blood and medical information for insurance companies.  The company said they would pay her gas to go down and it seemed an opportune time for our retreat.  We left about 1 p.m. on Saturday, so she could be there with a bit of time to spare before her 4:30 appointment.

Well it turned into…..”the weekend of the fridge”!  We arrived to discover that the fridge had failed, sometime in the last two weeks since they were last there.  Her “above the fridge” freezer was jam packed with meat and fish which was now a huge mess of bloody odiferous substances.  We had just enough time to gingerly remove the offensive objects to garbage bags and throw them out into the freezing air before she had to leave.  While she was gone I huddled in the other room, not the kitchen area, thankful that I had some hand stitching to distract me from the smell which became overpowering if I breathed too deeply.  A neighbour arrived with some super strength Arm and Hammer and I held my breath long enough to dump a pile of it in the freezer. 

Once Nancy got home the rest of the evening was spent trying to clean up the interior of the fridge and freezer enough that we could sleep in the place.  As it was we had to go out for dinner because cooking and eating in that room would not have been possible.  So fortunate that 1) there is a restaurant in that town 2) it was open at 8:30 at night 3) the food is pretty good. 

The next day was spent preparing the fridge for transport; this included another cleaning so we could stand to get near it.  A neighbour with a truck came to take it and the bags of now partially frozen specimens to the dump.  Only some bloody water crept out on to the carpet while the fridge was being moved – more cleaning to be done.  Then we had to go and look at a used fridge that someone had, and suddenly the day was gone.  I guess the “springing forward” didn’t help.

The consolation in this saga is that at least it didn’t happen in summer.  Can you imagine the flys and the maggots and the smell??? (I did give you a warning )

Anyway enough about fridges and rotten meat.  These are the hand sewing items that I worked on this weekend.

A little toadstool pincushion that’s been on my UFO list since last fall. Cute eh!

 

And a hexie made from fabric ends from a kaleidoscope quilt.  I just love the designs these fabrics make.

I have to post pictures of a few things I’ve received in the mail lately.

I won Sweet Camilla from Mila in the OWOH extravaganza.  Such a cute little bunny.

This is my February hexie in the Inchy Hexie Swap.  It came from Melody in Australia and she sent a couple of gorgeous bird coasters and a cute card as well.

Cheryl, also from Australia, sent me this gorgeous block for the February Christmas block swap.  She also sent some lavender, a really pretty card, a postcard of Aussie phrases and a little change purse (behind the post card – you can’t really see it) which was put into immediate use! 

And finally I received this

from Jane .  This was my surprise fabric package in the Very Berry Fabric Swap.  Look at the goodies she sent….

Some gorgeous Joel Dewberry’s and Amy Butler’s, some mint greens and beads and embroidery thread.  A lovely haul!

Thank you to all my benefactors.  Once again I am very lucky….I always feel like what I send is not anywhere near as fabulous as what I receive….

Janet