Toronto | Quilt Obsession

… is completed. This time I tried something a bit different. Normally, I piece together the two strips of triangles (or snakes, as Mr. Q.O. calls them), then join the two strips and then join that two-strip unit to the centre of the block. This time I thought I’d put the first strip of triangles together and then start joining the triangles for the second one directly on to the first rather than making another long snake of triangles.

What did I learn? That joining them into the long triangle strips before joining the two together is faster. I thought it probably was, but wanted to try adding the second group of larger triangles one by one to the first set. There’s still the opportunity for some continuous stitching, but nowhere near as much. The little envelope containing the pieces for block 8 has been pulled from the box and is ready to be started sometime this week.

I was looking at the various blades in the Dresden Plate collections this weekend and am now contemplating making a Dresden Plate sampler of blocks, each of which would contain a different combination of the blades. It’s very tempting, but I am trying to resist. Who knows how long that will last. Probably not long.

Sunday afternoon, we ventured out for a short walk and saw a couple out walking their cat. A gorgeous British blue kitty on a leash. The cat seemed quite at ease with the whole thing although the woman told us that you don’t have the cat walking and following where you lead — rather, you follow the cat’s lead. It was rather fun to see the look on people’s faces when they first saw that it was a cat on a leash. I’m pretty sure my face was probably pretty comical when I first noticed it too!

I say ventured out because the weekend was really quite sad here in Toronto. I have never in my life seen anything as horrible as some of the sights as a result of the vandals who infiltrated the genuine protest groups who had planned peaceful protests of the G20/G8 summits. I had tears in my eyes at seeing police cars set on fire at, among other places, the very intersection where the office I used to work at is located. Things being thrown at the police on horseback, to the point that one of the police officers was knocked off his/her horse. Windows of businesses being smashed. Looting. If this is what hosting a G20/G8 summit means, then I think that the best thing that could happen is if a permanent site was set up for them at perhaps a remote island somewhere or at a military base. Given the outrageously high cost of hosting those summits (over $1 billion here), I think it would make more sense for all the countries involved to chip in and build a place where they could be held from here on out — somewhere that could be easily secured. No city should have to go through what happened here on the weekend.

Lester was content watching out the window on to the roof garden. Good thing he wasn’t there on Sunday night as it appears we have a new resident out on the roof garden — a skunk! The smell for a while was quite — well, pungent is probably the only way to describe it. Actually, while Mr. Q.O. and I noticed the odour immediately, neither cat seemed to be noticing it at all.

Smudge earlier on Sunday evening, waiting for his yogourt treat.

A friend works at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music and offered to take us on a tour of the building yesterday. It was a glorious day — warm and sunny, barely a cloud in the sky, and not humid. Perfect summer weather.

This was the view as we set off to walk over.

It seems that just about every single building has some sort of planting in front of it. Makes for a very pleasant walk!

This is the Faculty of Music building as we walked up to it.

We have tons of pictures. These are just a few. It’s a very deceptive building. It seems endless once you’re inside. This is one of the 100+ grand pianos and one of the classrooms. Look at that glorious view!

This was in another classroom — a harpsichord that just took my breath away. They are stunning instruments to look at!

This is the detail painted on the wood beneath the wires of the harpsichord.

This is a close-up of the painting on the underside of the lid of the harpsichord.

This beautiful grand piano was in the technicians’ workshop. It was almost heart-breaking to see a glorious piano like this in a workshop room. It’s a Bechstein grand piano that was gifted to the grandson or great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm and has made its way here.

This is yet another classroom — with two grand pianos.
This was yet another harpsichord. They are really beautiful instruments and are, I believe, made totally by hand.

This is a concert grand in the MacMillan Theatre, named after Sir Ernest MacMillan, the former conductor of the Toronto Symphony.

There are more pictures — we saw the stage where they put on opera performances, the workshop where they build props and sets, the sewing room (I had to sneak something in quilt-related in some vague way!) and other incredibly interesting areas.

Thank you to everyone who chimed in on the orchids, yo-yo’s and folded flower dilemma. I have decided to go with the orchids, using one colour per stem. A few leaves will probably be added to the base of one or two of the stems as well. I had a good look at some orchids at the florist’s over the weekend and it seems that sometimes those stems are really that heavy with blooms!