Baby Hats

This is a very easy knitting pattern, it only takes a couple of hours.  I did a pink one and then the new baby was a boy so I had to do a green and blue one.  I hope I get it to him before it's too small.

Cookie Exchange Part 2 and 3

Don't you love these little Santa containers

Cookies are ready to go

The second batch of cookies that I made were peanut butter cups.  I got the recipe years ago from a  peanut butter jar.  I put chocolate chips in half and butterscotch chips in the other half - yummy!

Troy's cookies!

Part 3:  Unfortunately we had to cancel our plans.  Troy's friend couldn't make it and Troy had to fix his truck.  But he brought my cookies over on Tuesday and they were worth waiting for - Shortbread and Macroons!

Cookie Exchange Part 1

Cookies ready to go into the oven

The cookies are done, yummy

Cute little boxes to put them in.

Who wouldn't want to get a special box of cookies

I am having an cookie exchange with my friend Troy and a friend of his.  We are each exchanging one dozen of two different cookies.  Because there are only three of us, this way we will each get a dozen of four different cookies.  So I spent the morning making lemon jelly cookies.  They are a crisp cookie with a lovely lemon taste.  They have lemon jelly powder in them. 

Halloween

We only had about 20 kids come to our house on Halloween.  We usually get about 50, but I think there are less kids around our neighbourhood now, than when mine were little.  Here is a picture of our pumpkins carved by Mike and Nicole.

coffee cuff

I love doing these little coffee cuffs.  I see they have the fabric ones for sale now at Starbucks, which is my usual choice of coffee if I'm out.  Anyway here is my little version.

Thanksgiving

 We had 10 people to dinner, our usual crowd on the Thanksgiving Monday.  I went looking for my cook from frozen turkey breast on Sunday and of course they were all out, and not having 3 days to defrost, I had to buy a fresh bird.  They cost about twice as much as the frozen, but what a difference!  The meat was more tasty and it seemed like there was more than on our usual frozen bird.  We had lots of leftovers.  I made curried buttered turkey on Tuesday and it was fantastic.

Jimmy and Brittany

                                                                       Exhausted from cooking!

                                 Troy and Michael

                                          What a fantastic dinner!  Yummmm

                   Nicole is so excited about the dinner.  Every one is enjoying the tasty food.

Candiana in Cloth

As if I don't have enough quilting projects to keep me busy, I have decided to take an eight month class with Dianne Stevenson called Canadiana in Cloth. She was voted the Canadian quilt teacher of the year for 2010, so to be able to take a class from her is an honour and something I just couldn't turn down.  At first I just signed up because she was teaching it, I didn't really have much interest in the quilt, but after the first class, I was hooked.  It is a three hour class, once a month, for eight months, and is it a combination history lesson, show and tell and block patterns.  We are to make out quilt represent our vision of Canada and reflect our own personal history.  Our homework was to make four maple leaf blocks (which are not yet done) and we were given some other block patterns which we can do, or not.  At the Langley quilt show in the spring I took some pictures of the Canadiana quilts that the some of the Langley ladies had made.  I am looking forward to my next lesson.

s

Joyce's Birthday

We had a lovely hot! day for Joyce's 80th Birthday party.  Mid August and it was a scorcher.  We borrowed an pop up awning from a friend and we have a tarp garage we were able to put up so everybody could sit in the shade.  It made it bearable.  I had my fridges loaded with veggie, sandwich and fruit trays and pop and of course my outside fridge, which was loaded, gave up the ghost the night before. I woke up to a pool of water in the carport, some soggy trays and lack of refrigeration. Fortunately, I had a small air conditioner in my computer room and I was able to blast it down to 60 which gave me a cold storage room.  I was able to keep everything nice and cool until it was served.  Thank God the rest of the party went a little smoother. 

We had about 50 people attend and I know that Joyce had a great time and enjoyed her Birthday.  A lot of people gave her scratch and win tickets, that kept her busy scratching for days.  The Birthday cake had melted a bit in the car and was a little lopsided, but I don't think anyone noticed.  The party went exactly as I had planned it, an elegant tea, on a beautiful day for a special Birthday.

Mini Water Can Jigsaw Puzzle

Quilting over the Summer

I had a very busy summer with planning my Mother in Law's Birthday party and then planning my yearly quilting retreat but I did manage to do a baby quilt over the summer.  The baby  quilt is for a dear family friend Laura and her husband John who had a baby in March.  Laura was born 4 months after my Jimmy, so I have known her since she was a new born herself!  The baby quilt pattern is nine patch and snowball, and I did it in bright colours of course.

Birthdays

Most of our family Birthday's are in the Summer.  Mine in June, Jimmy and Aunt Louise in July, Nicole, Mom and Joyce (m-i-l) in August. We had a couple of little family Birthday's and two big parties.  One celebrating everyone's Birthday, and one for my Mother in Law who turned 80 this year.  Here are some pictures from the everybody Birthday party.
Jim and Nicole with cake
Me, Mike and Louise
Brittany, Jim and Mom
Joyce and Nicole
Mom (Pat)
Mike and Me

Last Nanaimo Post

It's been just about two months since I was in Nanaimo and I should finish up with it and move on to other things.  We went with my Mom and Aunt to a great English styled  pub called the Crow and Gate.  They had stunning gardens and your could eat and drink outside or in.  The menu was written on a black board and you had to go to the bar to order your dinner.  The patrons were of all ages so it was a place that anyone could enjoy.  Arnie had a roast beef dinner and I had a beef dip that was delicious.

Bloggers website

A fabulous collection of quilters blogs and blogs like mine that are just about their lives.

http://quiltinggallery.com/quilting-bloggers/

Murals of Chemainus

This train looks like its coming through the wall!

The murals are what have made Chemainus a tourist destination.  I believe there are more than 20 in this little seaside town.  They are fantastic and they are what I went to see, but boy I sure was impressed by the entire little town.  When I was there last, it was March, and the gardens weren't in bloom, but as you can see, the gardens really add to the whole experience.

More Chemainus

Arnie out side the Barber Shop

Look at the palm trees I couldn't believe it !

This was a cute little tea room.  I think it would make a really nice quilt shop.  Chemainus has some really cute little buildings.  It is so picturesque.  To the left is a bed and breakfast.  The garden is gorgeous.