Terry's Sanctum

Happy Valentines

2012-02-15T13:28:00.000-08:00

My guild was having a guest speaker for Valentines Day, a fellow named Paul who makes modern quilts. I have been looking forward to his presentation since September, but unfortunately I have had a virus and didn't want to spread to to my quilting friends. So I had to give it a miss. My hubby took me out for a fast Vietnamese dinner and it was very good. I had salad rolls, which I always enjoy and a soup which was a little bland and deep fried wontons and they were yummy. He also gave me a dozen beautiful white roses.

Sometimes called "the flower of light", one of the meanings of white roses is everlasting love - love stronger than death, an eternal love, undying and all sustaining. White rose speaks of a love that is sustained more by loyalty, reverence and humility than by red-blooded passion. So, in its capacity to worship someone till death, the meaning of a white rose is unchanging loyalty that endures beyond all else.

quilting

2012-02-10T14:02:00.000-08:00

finished block

fabric selection

I have been doing some quilting. I started a new year's eve mystery on of course nye. The block construction is really neat, but calls for precise piecing which I did not take care with. I chose the baby quilt size. The finished block has some challenging points that need to be matched. I will probably wind up putting sashing in between the blocks.

Around the fire

2012-02-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

I had an awesome New Years Eve. Arnie and I went to an early movie to see the new Sherlock Holmes. We came home and had pasta with lobster and then made a fire in our fire pit outside and drank Spanish coffee's and welcomed in the new year. It was a lot of fun.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-17T13:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas has come and gone. The decorations are all put away, but the last of the pesky cookies are still hanging around. My resolution to lose 10 pounds by July will never get off the ground with those cookies calling me from the down stairs fridge.

Nicole, Terry and Brittany

Brittany's gorgeous ring

I think she likes it

Nikki and Cameron

Arnie with the Grandpuppy

Nicole with the Grandpuppy

Ron with Michael and Troy

Jimmy and I

My Mom and I

Aunt Louise with Cameron

We had a very ringing Christmas. Jim bought Brittany a promise ring, Michael got an engagement ring from Troy and I got a lovely diamond cluster ring from Arnie.

Winter Harp O Come, O Come Emmanuel

2011-12-23T13:04:00.000-08:00

Arnie and I went to see Winter Harp in Maple Ridge. It was awesome. I can't wait to go again next year. After the performance we went to Palliotti's Italian restaurant and had a lovely dinner. It was a great day out.

Sewing for Christmas

2011-12-14T13:31:00.000-08:00

I made a candle mat for a Secret Santa exchange at my quilt guild. It is so cute, I think I will make one for my self for next Christmas.

I also made some little yo yo trees that are tree decorations for a ornament exchange. A few of my friends will be getting the little trees too.

Baby quilt

2011-12-14T13:21:00.000-08:00

I made this baby quilt for a young man that my hubby works for. It is a first baby for him and his wife. I

UFO finished

2011-12-14T13:17:00.000-08:00

I have been busy finishing a UFO called Spring Breeze. It was an online mystery and I am sure glad to have it finished. It was the first quilt quilted on my new sewing machine. What a nice machine! I think it should be called Summer Cacophony because it is so loud! (the quilt, not the machine lol)

New Sewing Room

2011-12-01T13:09:00.000-08:00

November has been so busy for me. I decided to turn my son's old bedroom into my new sewing room. I had thought of doing it a few years ago, but I loved my bright, sunny yellow room and although it was a tight squeeze it was comfortable. Well the squeeze has gotten tighter and so I felt it was time to give my self more space. I took the room from pumpkin orange to sunset glow. Well it is still orange, but a more glowy orange. I don't have as much shelf room as I had in my old space, but I will figure out something there. Maybe use up some of the stuff I have stored ha ha. So here are the pictures of the old room and the new room.

Old room

A little hard to cut out fabric on my cutting desk

The computer will be going and then I will have a design wall here and my ironing board.

Cutting desk uncluttered, hopefully it will stay this way ha ha.

Auntie Ruth

2011-11-16T13:46:00.000-08:00

Ruth and Arnie in 2009

Ruth'sdaughters Mary, Donna and Carol and Carol's granddaughter.

The family and friends on Ruth's patio. Look at the view!

Arnie and I

Michael with his 3rd cousin's wife

Arnie's Auntie Ruth was killed in a car accident in early September. It was a tragic loss to the van der Est family. She was the matriarch who held the extended family together. Her brothers are all gone, but she use to have reunions as the families of her brothers scattered, she brought them back together again. We were sad to have to miss the family reunion in August and had we known it would be the last one, we would have rearranged our plans to have been there. The church in Campbell River was packed to the rafters, a tribute to a woman who had many, many friends and loved ones. She had told her daughter that when she passed away she wanted her family and close friends to have a barbeque at her house by the river. So we had that last get together with out her. Her generosity was extended even after her death.

Mug Rugs

2011-10-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

More mug rugs. They are fun and fast to make. I decided to be a little creative this time so I pulled out an ugly wall hanging that I began a few years ago. I wasn't too crazy about it because it just lacked a spark. I cut it up, rearranged some of the elements, added a few cupcakes to each one and they turned out so cute. The cupcakes had bright pinks and reds on them that made the mug rugs look lively.

My original, insipid wall hanging

A few alterations

Throw in some cupcakes


Finished cute mug rugs

A day in Steveston

2011-10-21T13:52:00.000-07:00

Arnie and I went to Steveston on a gorgeous day in August. I haven't been to Steveston in many years although with the new bridge over the Fraser, you can cut off a good half hour of the trip. It took us a little over an hour to get there but coming back we hit rush hour so it was a two hour trip. Steveston is a little touristy town at the bottom of Richmond about 35 minute drive from Vancouver. At the early part of the 20th century it was an established fishing village with 28 canneries along the river. Now only one cannery is still in operation. The canneries employed a great number of Chinese and Japanese immigrants, particularly the Chinese who had come to B.C. to work on the railroad.

This old church was actually a thrift store

This looked like a really neat restaurant

We bought a freshly caught Sockeye salmon from this lovely girl

We went on a tour of a cannery that was turned into a museum. It was fascinating to see all the old machinery and to hear of how the fishermen caught the fish in very primitive boats with very rough conditions.

Mom's 80th Birthday

2011-10-15T17:59:00.000-07:00

Nicole and Shannon with her new baby

Mom receiving gifts

Gorgeous cake


Mom with Melvina and Sandra, Laura in the background , my 3 oldest friends

My Mommy and I

Melvina and Jimmy

I gave a lunch for my Mom's 80th Birthday on August 14th . Some of my cousins came, my Aunt Louise and some friends of mine that my Mom has know for as long as I've known them. We had a great day and an excellent lunch provided by Safeway (sandwich platters are the way to go!) I know my mom had a great time, she's still talking about it!

Ozark Garden

2011-08-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

I am taking a wonderful class on Quilt University called Ozark Garden by Lily Kerns. She is a talented, award winning teacher and I am so lucky to be able to take a class from her in cyberspace, because I would not ever have the opportunity in physical life. I am so in awe of modern technology because it allows us chances to do things we wouldn't otherwise be able to do.

The class has taught me to paper piece on the front of the pattern and save all the ripping out. I've really enjoyed learning that technique. This is my quilt to date, I still have a lot of work to do. It won't remain in that configuration, but here it is!

table runner

2011-07-25T13:21:00.000-07:00

I started this table runner a few years ago when I belong to a small stitching group that use to get together Tuesday afternoon. I didn't want to take my sewing machine so this was an easy hand sewing project to work on. I don't go to that group anymore as they moved, and I got too busy, but I finally finished the project. I found this in an Australian quilting magazine.

Two little rug mugs

2011-07-16T17:40:00.000-07:00

I had these two orphaned blocks from a swap I had been involved in quite a few years ago, so I turned them into little rug mugs. I gave the one with the two geisha to Nikki.

Canadiana wrap up party

2011-06-28T14:11:00.000-07:00

Pat's quilt all finished. One of two!

My quilt still in the block stage

Susan's quilt still in the block stage too.


Susan Hillis's gorgeous quilt

Kathy's quilt in batiks

Love the red background

gorgeous quilt

Pat with her quilt

Sandy's quilt all finished

We went to our instructor's home to have a really nice potluck lunch and wrap up party. Dianne has a beautiful home in South Burnaby on Marine Drive. She has it decorated with some beautiful antiques and her sewing room is something else. It is on the ground level and walks out onto her lovely terraced back yard. She has the sliding glass doors, so the room gets lots of natural day light. We played a Canadian trivia game, in which I did not so hot and a game where we had to figure out what different antique household items were. Our lunch was fantastic and it was so nice to see the quilts that our classmates had made. Her other class attended also, so it was nice to get to know some ladies from Dianne's guild. Some people had their quilts completely finished. Mine is still in the block stage.

My 56th Birthday

2011-06-20T14:08:00.000-07:00

My family

Well, what happened! I am now 56. I had a lovely Birthday with my children despite the fact that we lost dear Ozzy that morning. The day didn't start off well, but my family helped me get through it. I had my mom and mother in law and my son's girl friend over and we had some nice chinese food. My kids got me a tirimisu cake that was delicious. We watched the funniest ventriloquist on TV. His name is Terry Fator and not only does he do ventriloquism he impersonates famous singers while he is doing it. He is just awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YveEjinv5T0&feature=related

My delicious Birthday Cake

Brittany, Jim, Nicole, my mom

My sweet little cats

2011-06-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

Adorable Steve

Dear Ozzy

Nicole's cat Steve disappeared over 3 weeks ago and now we found the remains of Ozzy last Thursday morning. We know it was coyotes. I had been keeping the cats in at night since Steve disappeared, but on Wednesday, I couldn't get the cats to come in the house and after about 20 minutes of chasing them around the yard and not being able to catch them I gave up. Nicole found Ozzy about 3 blocks from our house and Michael, Jim and I went and brought him home and buried him. We still have 2 cats, but the house seems empty. This cats that we lost were the funny, affectionate cats and I will miss them for a long time.

Canadiana Quilt Class

2011-06-02T13:15:00.000-07:00

These are a few of the quilts that some ladies in our class have put together. The bottom quilt is completely finished. Nobody else is at that point yet. All the quilts are so diverse with the different colour schemes and peoples own histories.

Hockeyville

2011-05-26T13:02:00.001-07:00

Yes, Maple Ridge is hockeyville. You can't go 5 feet without seeing a car or a house with a Canucks flag. Our team has made it in to the Stanley Cup finals. Finally something to cheer about.

2012 Guild Raffle Quilt

2011-05-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

This is the block for our 2012 guild raffle quilt. Lovely fabric, but I don't know if there is enough contrast between the floral and the tan. It will be a nice quilt and we will have to see when its all together if the tan stands out more.

A round tuit

2011-05-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

This is a round tuit. You know the expression, I'll get a round to it. Our quilt guild is having a queen of the ufos challenge and the person who finishes the most ufo's (unfinished objects) will win this little tuit on a ribbon to wear around her neck. The size of it is 3 1/2 inches across and there were some really teensy pieces in it.

A Post Card Day

2011-04-01T15:24:00.000-07:00

My daughter Nicole and her friend Jessica like to get together and sew. It's great for these two young girls to sew together as they have the same interests in projects. The two of them made aprons together and this week I taught them how to make fiber art postcards, which I love making. They had a great time making the postcards and I was really impressed at how talented they were and what great imagination they have. Here are some pictures of them at work with their postcards and in their aprons.

Happy St. Patty's Day

2011-03-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

I usually try to make corned beef and cabbage for St. Patty's day, but I just didn't get around to getting a corned beef. So I made some cookies for dessert. I am going to make cole slaw as the cabbage and maybe sloppy joes.

My Canadian in Cloth to date

2011-03-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

First off, it has been a long winter. The weather hasn't been to cold. Not much snow. No... I have had one form or another of flu, cold, recuperating and then getting sick again. Right now I have a stomach virus that has been nasty. Next week is spring. Hopefully that will take all the sickness with it. My quilting has suffered through the sickness as I haven't felt like doing much more than watching Netflix on TV (what a good investment that is!) Seriously, I love Netflix. On Saturday I watched "How to Marry a Millionaire" with Betty Grable, Marylin Monroe and Lauren Bacall. It was great. I have been watching a lot of the old British sitcoms too. It has been making the time pass.
Anyway on to my Canadiana in Cloth. I am trying to catch up now, I have quite a few more blocks to do before I can start putting it together. I like colourfull blocks so whereas the teacher tends to do her blocks a solid colour I have been trying to introduce a few different colours into my blocks. This is where I am right now

Welcome Wall Hanging

2011-02-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

I finally finished my welcome wall hanging I started a year ago. I took a class on the buggy barn technique. It is quite an interesting way of cutting out and sewing together, but I wasn't sure that I like the technique enough to do a bed sized quilt so I just chose a wall hanging to do. We had to purchase one of the buggy barn books and then chose one of the projects. You can buy the books in just about any quilting store or order them online. Here is their website to look at all the neat quilts! http://www.buggybarnquilts.com/

Nail Day

2011-02-15T15:01:00.000-08:00

Nicoles nail art

My old claw. you can't really see the nails that well.

Nicole and I went to get manicures today. I haven't had one in years and everytime I look at the mess that is my nails, I cringe. We also had to take Nicole's mind off the fact that Ryan was in the air on his was to Korea. I had a very nice young fellow do my nails. Nicole got nail art done that was just fantastic. Both of us a loathe to do any kind of house work now.

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-15T14:44:00.000-08:00

Okay so it's a day late. I did go out to lunch with a group of ladies for Valentines Day. That was fun. A little restaurant called Roast Bistro. Fantastic food. For any one acquainted with Canadian pop culture, the father of the owner and operator was Peter Rawlston who was a children's television entertainer for many years. I remember him from my childhood.

Nicole and Ryan

My children all had wonderful dates with their sweeties for Valentines Day. Nicole went with Ryan for Japanese food and to see the Ballet Coppilia. She really enjoyed it. Ryan has left today for a year in South Korea.
Michael and Troy went out to a restaurant for Pad Thai, with some friends.


Michael and Ryan

Jimmy cooked Brittany dinner in the kitchen and then took it out to the motor home so they could have a private dinner. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of them, because she never came in the house.
My mother in law wasn't feeling well so she came to our house on Sunday, because she didn't want to be alone. So Arnie and I had Chinese food with her and watched Young Frankenstein. It is a hilarious
movie, I don't think my mil cared for it though.

Christmas 2010

2011-02-02T13:29:00.001-08:00

Another free slideshow design by Smilebox

Table pad

2011-01-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

I am still working on getting my Christmas pictures onto a smilebox, so when that is done, my Christmas pictures will be posted. I belong to a couple of UFO groups (unfinished objects) and my last finish of the year was this table pad. I got the block as an orphaned block a few years ago at my guild spring rummage sale. It came with all sorts of fabric for finishing it. So I sewed on the side borders and realized that the top was about an inch longer than the bottom. The lesson here is "don't always assume other quilters make everything square" I know now why it was an orphaned block. The original maker got fed up with it. I took it all apart and squared it up. I made dimensional flying geese for the border and offset them. I like the way it turned out.

Baby Hats

2010-12-21T20:02:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-08T14:35:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-13T12:50:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-13T12:41:00.000-08:00

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

2010-10-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

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.

Joyce's Birthday

2010-10-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

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.

2010-10-14T16:31:00.001-07:00

Mini Water Can Jigsaw Puzzle

Quilting over the Summer

2010-09-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-09-17T13:09:00.001-07:00

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

2010-08-25T15:57:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-05T13:25:00.000-07:00

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

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

Murals of Chemainus

2010-07-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

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.

Flowers of Chemainus

2010-07-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

The flower gardens in Chemainus were gorgeous. As we have had so much cold weather and rain, I haven't felt much like gardening, but these beautiful gardens inspired me. I love the little gazebo with with the bird cage. We finally have a nice sunny day, so I'm off to play in the garden.

Chemainus

2010-07-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

I took my hubby and my mom to visit my dear, sweet, auntie on the island two weeks ago. It was a lovely ferry ride over, and the weather was sunny and nice all weekend. Vancouver Island is one of the most beautiful places in the world, I think, I would love to live there. Or Sunshine Coast of B.C. is equally as nice. On the Friday of our visit we went to the little town of Chemainus. It is a cute little seaside town that has been invigorated with murals and quaint little shops, restaurants and B&B's to promote tourism. Here is a site with some info. http://www.chemainus.com/about/index.htm

My aunt Alice and my Mom Pat in the park. The picture above is a cute little bed and breakfast that looks like a tiny castle.

scrapbusters day

2010-05-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

This was the 3rd scrapbuster day we have had. Wanda finds really easy block patterns that lend themselves well to being made with scraps. We each do a block and then put them all together to see what a quilt would look like made with these block. It is quite educational.We learned a really fast method of making half square triangles. You start with 2 equal sized squares of fabric. Sew them all around the outside, with right sides together and then cut them in half length wise and width wise and you wind up with 4 half square triangles.

1244 pieces

2010-05-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

These baggies contain 1244 little cut out pieces of fabric. They are for a mystery quilt and took about two weeks to finish cutting out. I have now finished step l and used up about 350 of these pieces making 96 flying geese blocks.

Langley Quilt Show

2010-05-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

Customize your own photo slideshow

Tea Cozy

2010-04-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

Last March I spent 5 days on Vancouver Island. It was the longest vacation I have had in many years. Vancouver Island is gorgeous in the spring, it must be one of the world's most beautiful spots. I was able to go to the Satin Moon quilt shop in Victoria. I have wanted to visit that quilt shop for many years and I wasn't disappointed. They have everything! It is definitely what a quilt shop should be. While I was there I bought a kit for a tea cozy. I made it up last week and this is the result. It turned out lovely.

The new bed

2010-04-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

We finally broke down and bought a new bed. It is a king size so it takes up about half the bedroom. It is so comfortable compared to the old bed. It also came with a 42" flat screen TV as a promotion. Now Arnie will have a big TV in his den. It will take up about half the den lol. It is such a comfortable bed but I am used to a very soft, saggy mattress so I hope I can sleep on this one. I wish I could sleep period. Lately I lay awake until 4 in the morning. So this is a picture of the new bed. Now all I need is a new head board and some nice bed tables. This is the picture from the web site. Its not my bedroom. I would like my bedroom to look like this. I would have to get a new house. lol

Ionne MacCauley

2010-03-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

My quilt guild had the wonderful opportunity to have fiber artist Ionne MacCauley from Qualicum, B.C. as our guest speaker on Tuesday. As a member of the program committee I and 3 other members had a lovely time taking Ionne out to dinner before the meeting. We went to an Italian restaurant, Palliotti's, and had a great dinner and chat with Ionne. She is a very nice woman and a super artist. Her lecture was about colour in quilts and all that goes with it. Her trunk show was marvolus and we were treated to a look at about 65 of her quilts. She has a new book out called Color for the Terrified Quilter, so I just had to buy it. She autographed it for me. I can't wait to make a quilt from her book.
http://www.ionnequilts.com/index.htm
Take a look at her web site and be inspired.

Two Double Nine Patches

2010-03-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

The double nine patch is one of the easiest patterns to make but it looks complex depending on the way you arrange the colours. You start off with your regular nine patch and split it in half diagonally and vertically. The patch in the middle is going to be the smallest, the ones in the corner will remain intact and ones in the center sides will end up rectangles. Clear as mud? There are lots of good instructions for doing this on the internet. My purple and red was the very first one I did and I only used 3 large blocks . I was just trying out the pattern. The green and red one is a charity quilt and the fabrics were given to me to make the quilt. I wasn't crazy about the colours but I think it turned out well. I have made several baby quilts with this pattern, it makes up fast and looks great.

Mike come's home

2010-03-09T14:17:00.000-08:00

Michael came all the way from snowy St. Catherans for a 10 day visit. I didn't realize how much I actually missed him until he got here. He and his friend Chris stayed until Monday and then stayed in Richmond for 3 days so that Michael could visit friends and his Granney in Vancouver. Then they went on a speedy road trip to Prince George and back in two days and back to Maple Ridge for a day before going back to Ontario. It was too short a visit but Chris got to see a lot of scenery so it was nice for him as it was his first trip here since he was a child.

New Camera

2010-03-02T15:09:00.000-08:00

My old Canon gave up the ghost. I received it for a Birthday gift from my mom almost 5 years ago and when I took it in to have it fixed the fellow said that it wasn't worth fixing because it was old. Technology moves too fast these days. It cost me less to buy a new camera, that is way better than the old one. My Mom has had her camera for years. It is a film camera and it is getting harder for her to find places to develope the film. She refuses to get a new digital camera because it is just too difficult for her to get use to the new technology. She likes the old way of doing things. When I show her pictures that I have taken on the computor, she says they are very nice, but she would rather have a copy in her hand. I think that any of us over the age of 40 have had to get use to a new way of picture storage. I have boxes of albums and pictures, they could take up a room of their own, but over the last five years I have just 5 cd's of pictures, and they take up little space. My mother-in-law decided that she just didn't have room anymore for all her photo albums so she gave them Arnie to take care of. What happens to all these old pictures when you're gone. Your kids don't want all those old pictures of the family cat and dog. If they can take a handfull of cd's or what ever the future holds and in a matter of minutes pick and chose what they want it's a lot more efficient and propably a treat for them rather than a big job. My new camera is a Nikon Cool Pix and it is Pink!

Ballet Jorgen

2010-02-10T12:26:00.000-08:00

Nicole and I went to the Ballet Jorgen last Thursday
to see a preformance of Cinderella. It was wonderful!

We had such a good time. This picture is a scene from the Ball.

And the other one is Cinderella dancing. It was a simple set decoration that didn't detract from the dancing. The costumes were gorgeous, especially the fairies. It wasn't Disney's Cinderella, more the classical story. I would definitly go to see another ballet put on by this dance company.

Christmas at my house

2010-01-04T13:15:00.000-08:00

It was a small gang for Christmas dinner this year, just 7 of us. Other years we have had up to 15 people so I was able to cook one of those breast only, cook from frozen turkeys. You take it out of the plastic package, stick it in the roaster, cover it with aluminum foil and cook it for 3 hours. When the little thermometer pops up, its done. No muss, no fuss, no bones and not a pile of left overs, which is good because I am too busy usually during Christmas to deal with the left overs. . It was just a coincidence that both Nicole and I were wearing leopard. We gave my mom the jacket for Christmas and then all of us were wearing leopard. Yikes!

Sunrise

2009-12-08T13:19:00.000-08:00

I was up very early one morning last week and saw something I don't see all that often. It was a spectacular sunrise and I had to take a picture.

November

2009-12-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

What a busy month November was! I knitted hats, tie dyed some socks, finished off a very old project and took part in a post card swap.

This is my very old project . I did this little quilt in a colour class that I did at least 14 years ago. I was'nt to fussy on it. I had a chance to use it as a teaching tool when I went to Michael's class to do a little lecture on quilting by the pioneers. I let the kids practice hand quilting on it. I was quite surprised that the boys in the class were much more interested in trying quilting than the girls. One child that enjoyed quilting was a little girl that had some learning problems. The little girl died in a house fire shortly after that. I never wanted to take out all the big stitches that the kids had done because they were precious to me, so the unfinished quilt languished on the quilt rack for 10 years. I finally decided to just machine quilt all over the top, which also holds down the large stitches that the kids did. I am so glad that it is finally done, all be it back on the quilt rack.

Hats, I have been knitting like crazy. I have knitted 7 hats in October and November and I am half way through number 8. Then I have 2 more of the ribbed touques and I am finished.

Some tie dyed socks. They are so much fun to make, I might get some more done before Christmas.

Autumn themed postcards. Mine is the oak leaf and acorn. It is done with wool and wool felt. The leaves one is done with a print background and silk leaves and the tree one is done on an embroidery machine. Boy I would like to have one of those!

This card swap was paint. I used the setacolour paint and sun painted it and stamped with ink. The other card's flowers are dimensional, she used some interfacing and painted it until it was stiff. I don't know if the flowers were cut out before or after.

Halloween at my House

2009-11-09T13:53:00.000-08:00

This is some of my Halloween decorations. I decorated my sideboard fancy for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

This is a stitchery that I did last year. I have it hanging in the hall all year long.
And my table runner, "The 3 Amigos"

A wall hanging that I did about 10 years ago.

Lastly, a wall hanging that I did when Michael was a newborn, the first year I did quilting.

Here are the afters

2009-10-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Everytime I have something figured out, they go and change it. So here are the afters. Sheesh.

Sun Painting

2009-10-28T11:48:00.000-07:00

In mid September I did some sun painting. You take Setacolour fabric paint and dilute it about 3 - 4 parts water to 1 part paint. You paint your fabric and then place various objects on it and leave it to dry in the sun. You get the outline image of your object. You can scrunch it, fold it, put epsom salt on it and you get wonderful effects. Here are my before and afters.

Thanksgiving

2009-10-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

We sure missed Michael and Briar this Thanksgiving. It just wasn't the same. Michael and Briar both brought a sense of life and warmth to any occasion. However we did have a lovely lamb roast. I did Greek style potatoes with it and roasted carrots. We also had salads and buns and Pumpkin pie made by my mom. I hope Michael and Briar each send me some pictures soon so I can blog them.

baby quilt

2009-09-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

I started this baby quilt over a year ago. When my friend saw it she said it looked like halloween. That was no good. So I put the blocks away figuring I would never use them. Now Nicole's friends are expecting a baby a couple of days before Halloween. This is a perfect quilt for that new baby.

Retreat 2009

2009-09-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

Kathy, Susan, Denise, Kim, Bev, Me, Wanda
Sarah calling Bingo
Bev
Attentively listening to Wanda
Me with postcards
We could not have asked for a better weekend for the quilting retreat. It was sunny and hot all weekend with temperatures of about 30 - 32C. I had 20 ladies attend, and 4 first timers. We all had a great time. We had a couple of little workshops and demonstrations and we presented our friend Denise with a quilt with bras all over it as she has recently gone through a double mastectomy. Everybody loved the door prizes I chose and the goody bags with thread and scissors and tape measures etc. were well received. At the end of the retreat the ladies present me with a lovely hanging candle holder.

Toronto Bound

2009-08-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

My dear youngest son Michael has decided to become a Torontonian. I hope he likes it there. I'm sure it will be a very exciting place for him, but I hope he will remember all the good things that Vancouver has to offer and will decide eventually that he is a B.C.er. We had a family dinner for him on Sunday to wish him a bon voyage. This is a picture of Jim, Mike and Mom

Wedding

2009-08-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday was the wedding of the son of my best friend of 41 years Sandra. She has a beautiful house and wooded acreage and the wedding was held in her back yard. They had big white tents with strings of lights and japanese lanterns throughout for the reception. A creek runs through the back of the property with a footbridge over it and the ceremony was held there. At the part where the question "doe's anyone object" a voice came around the side of the house "now just hold on" It was Nearly Neil a Neil Diamond impersonator. He sang a verse of a song and then said he would be back later. The guests were cracking up. It had been an emotional ceremony up to then with the parents welcoming the bride and groom into their respective families and this was a needed comic relief. The ceremony was concluded and then after a little while we had a wonderful dinner of pasta's and salads made by Sandra and her helpers. After the speeches we had Nearly Neil back to sing for almost 2 hours and then danced the night away. It was so much fun.

Won a prize

2009-08-02T10:31:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago our little town had a Carribean festival. It was great fun with Carribean style food and dancing and music and crafts. My hubby and I went to the ice cream shop and instead of my usual anything with chocolate I decided to try whisky cream flavour. Oh man! It tasted like whiskey, but in a really good way. It's always good to try something different. They had a booth for Avon (cosmetics) and they had a prize draw that you could enter. It was a gorgeous case with tons of different things in it. Well, I won. Even a watch!

Hot, Hot, Hot

2009-07-30T11:08:00.000-07:00

Oh my god it has been so hot. We are not used to this heat on the west coast of Canada. 33c in Vancouver yesterday. Ha, I wish it was 33 in Maple Ridge, it went up to 38 here yesterday. It is supposed to start cooling down now, but when I checked my thermometer at 10am it was already 28c. Thats what it should be in the middle of a hot day! Not in the morning. I bought a small air conditioner on Tuesday. It is my new best friend. It doesn't make my house cold, because its just a small unit, but it makes it tolerable. It would have been unbearable yesterday.

House dress wall hanging

2009-06-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

This was the block of the month about 4 years ago at our guild. I won these blocks and turned them into individual wall hangings. I think I have done three so far, I can't remember. Anyway this is the latest one.

Birthday 54

2009-06-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

I had my 54th birthday on June 9. We had a party on the Sunday and had the usual crowd, kids, aunt, mom, mil. etc . It was fun, we barbequed chicken and had some nice salads. A lovely angel food cake made by my mom. Briar was the photographer and he took some really crappy pictures of me. I've lost 25 pounds in the last year, but in the pictures, I look like I've gained it. My mom always looks great in her pictures, you would never guess that she's 78. And of course the kids are always gorgeous. Pictures top to bottom: Briar and me, my new birthday shoes, Nikki and Grandma, Michael and me, my mom.

Bra quilt

2009-06-12T09:47:00.001-07:00

This is my creation for a quilt a group of friends is making for a dear friend who has recently had surgery.

My Birthday

2009-06-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well my 54th Birthday was rather uneventful. I received a lovely bouquet of flowers from Michael and Briar. I did do quilting most of the day. I was trying to get a table runner finished that was a guild challenge. Tuesday was the last day to show it and get my card stamped. I was planning to go to guild that night, but half way through the day I realized that I was stressing out over this thing and that a possibility of winning a prize wasn't worth the stress. So I decided to skip the meeting and go out for dinner with Arnie. We had a very nice Chinese dinner at a little greasy spoon. Schezwan beef and rice and spring rolls. It was delicious. After dinner we went home and Jimmy came over with a nice Starbucks gift card for me.

Runners Club

2009-05-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

This is the second runner in our guild runners club. It was fun to do, but I had a devil of a time putting on the binding. The outside corners were easy, but I had never done any binding on inside corners before. I am not to happy about the binding but if I do anything else with inside corners, I now know how to do it. I am now working on runner # 3.

Michaels Birthday

2009-05-28T08:49:00.000-07:00

My dear youngest son turned 20 on April 28th. We had a birthday party for him in May. Usual family party, grandmas, great aunt, sister (no big brother, he had to work). It was a gorgeous day and we were able to sit in the back yard for the afternoon, but we went inside to eat our bbq'ed hamburgers because it was still a little chilly in the evenings. Briar made us mojitos that we all enjoyed. Rum with simple syrup, lime, club soda and lots of crushed mint leaves. They were delicious. Mike got lots of clothes and money, his two favourite things.

Chemainus

2009-05-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

After we left Duncan we meandered up to Chemainus. What an incredible little town. We just spent less than an hour there, but I would love to spend a whole day. Cute little shops and restaurants, little old houses all painted up really cute, but the main attraction is the murals. There are over 3 dozen murals painted on the downtown walls. It is know as the little town that did. In 1983 the mill closed and about 1/4 of the people in the town lost their jobs. So the downtown area was revitalized to attract the tourist industry and it has become a the town industry.
This is a link to the murals.
http://www.northcowichan.bc.ca/siteengine/activepage.asp?PageID=49
I also got a few pictures. I have to go back there.

Duncan

2009-05-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

I hear Duncan is a nice place, but I only saw it from the highway going through town. It didn't look too bad. We had lunch at a really nice Mexican restaurant. The food was great.

Cowichan Bay

2009-05-12T12:15:00.000-07:00

Our next stop was Cowichan Bay. We were at the waterfront where there was a block of little gift shops, marinas, restaurants etc. It was a cute little place on a beautiful setting. The Pirate shop was fun. It was all things pirate. I got the kids some pirate gifts.

Victoria

2009-05-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

We drove from Sydney to Victoria and checked in to the Best Western. I had been having trouble sleeping for the last few days so I was a little tired and cranky. We drove around Victoria and what a beautiful city. I haven't been there since my honeymoon almost 26 years ago, so it was wonderful to be there with Arnie again. I just wish we could have spent a few days there, but it was a business trip, so all we got was overnight and a few hours in the morning. We drove to Esquimalt which is a suburb of Victoria. It looked pretty shabby to me, and the restaurant we ate in, as far as I'm concerned was pretty crumby. Arnie liked it though. My chicken was burnt on the bottom and I thought the place was dirty. It was called the Pasley. The next morning we went to a restaurant for breakfast. It looked like a greasy spoon but the meals were cheap, tasty and big. The toast was wonderful. Texas style. I asked the owner what brand of bread it was and she said they got it especially from a bakery. I told her that we loved it and she sold me a loaf. They don't usually do that, so it was very nice of her. We then walked across the street to the Satin Moon Quilt Shop. I have been wanting to go there for years. I was not dissapointed. The had everything for all quilters from tradional, to art quilting. There was a comfortable chair for Arnie to sit in and a paper for him to read so he was happy. I spent about an hour browsing in there, then it was time to leave and get on the road to visit some marine shops.

Victoria also has a really cute China Town. We parked the car there. I am used to china town in Vancouver which is quiet a few blocks and this one was just one block, but there were lots of vegetable markets and hopefully next time I go over I will get to explore more of Victoria.

Last of Sydney

2009-05-04T09:41:00.001-07:00

A couple more pictures. The diver was carved from one piece of wood. I guess they have diving there. The fish market is at the end of the pier. I didn't go there but it looks like a great place to buy fish.

sydney part 3

2009-05-04T09:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it has taken me more than a month to relate my trip. However as I so seldom get away, there is no danger of me taking another trip before all the details have been revealed on this one. Back to Sydney. The had benches all through the downtown area that had concrete figures sitting on them. I got two pictures of them but there must have been a dozen or more. They were really well done.

Pippa Moore

2009-05-01T13:43:00.000-07:00

We had Pippa Moore visit our guild on Tuesday. She has spent time in Africa working to teach women to sew. These women are sex trade workers and some have aids. She is teaching them to make a better life for themselves. She has a fascinating story and slide presentation. This is her website to read more about her.
http://www.pippamoore.ca/
Of course there were fabrics for sale. The fabrics are so beautiful, colourful and the patterns are so unique.

The family at Easter

2009-04-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

The family got together for Easter. We had a great turkey dinner made by me and as we seldom all get together at the same time anymore with the kids working and just living their own lives, we did manage to get a family picture.
Michael, Jim and Arnie at the back and Nicole and I in the front.

Sydney part 2

2009-04-21T12:22:00.000-07:00

I wondered around Sydney all afternoon and noticed that there were coffee shops on almost every corner. The other thing they had a lot of was Thrift stores. Every charitable organization you can think of has a thrift shop in Sydney. I went through a couple of them, but it was the same junk that is in the thrift store here. I did find a quilt shop, but it was closed on Mondays

I also found a really cute hotel on the same street. Very colonial looking

Vancouver Island

2009-04-09T11:12:00.000-07:00

I was on Vancouver Island that last week of March. What a great trip. It was a business trip for Arnie, so we were able to eat in lots of great restaurants. So it was basically a trip of sight seeing for me, eating and visiting with our aunties. Arnie's aunt Ruth is in Campbell River and my aunt Alice is in Nanaimo. I haven't seen either of them in about 5 years so it was great to be able to spend time with them both. Our first day started at 4am after only 3 hours of sleep for me. I have been having a bout with insomnia but after a few days on sleeping pills and getting my sleep patterns back in sync I have been sleeping like a log. The first day was a bit rough. We took the ferry to Sydney and got there about 9:00 am. After a couple of calls into local marinas Arnie dropped my off in Sydney for the morning while he went on some more calls. I was in the downtown core, so the first thing I did was head for a coffee shop and had some fabulous coffee and a oat square. It was a horrible rainy day and being right on the water it was very windy. My umbrella got trashed and I got quite wet, but hey, I was on vacation, so it didn't matter. I wondered through a few gift shops and clothing stores. Everything was expensive, but it was all designer clothes etc. Arnie met me for lunch and we went to a Greek restaurant. It was fantastic food. I had greek salad and a lamb gyro, and Arnie had the same.

Falling leaves

2009-04-02T12:27:00.000-07:00

I finally got my quilt finished. I took a class by Carol Piercy and this is her own designed pattern. I dyed my background fabric and some of the fabrics in the leaves are my dyed fabrics. If I did this again I would try to have more contrast between the background and the leaves. I didn't know when I made it that there wouldn't be enought contrast. I also did a different design for the beading than the pattern.
I hung it on my sewing room door. My daughter's cat got into a package of muffin mix while we were sleeping and threw it all over the dinning room. And then pulled the hanging off my sewing room door and rolled around on it with the muffin mix. If that wasn't enough, one of the cats peed on the hanging, so that when I got up in the morning it was wet, stinky and coated in wet muffin mix. Now I have laughed at stories of how pets have messed up quilts, so I guess it was karma. I had done the label with a Martha Stewart permanent fabric pen and guess what? It's not permanent. Now I have a blank label that I will have to unstitch and redo, probably with a micron pen. I should have used that in the first place. It didn't wash up great because the batting shrunk a bit. And it was hard to iron around the beads. It is in my sewing room now, and will not have a home until my daughter and her brat cat move out.

Spring is coming

2009-03-06T15:13:00.000-08:00

I did find a few signs of spring today in my yard. The rhubarb is starting to poke through and I have little crocus all over the yard. They are just tiny, wild ones.

Valentines Day

2009-02-17T09:24:00.000-08:00

It started off a little rough, I had to go early in the morning to get a holter monitor (electrods that show if you have any heart problems) removed. But hubby came with me and we had breakfast at Kitchen on the Ridge. The greasy spoon is becoming a thing of the past with all the franchises around but this restaurant has a sort of sixties type vibe with fantastic coffee (watch out s'bucks) and a great variety of food. The hubster had eggs, hash browns, toast, bacon and sausage. It was called the 222 breakfast. And that wasn't the calorie content lol. I had a fabulous croisant stuffed with scrambled egg, cheese and ham, and a side of fresh fruit. And it was fresh. Melon, apple slices, strawberries and orange slices.
Valentine evening we went to see Paul Blart - Mall Cop
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8nyH9zgVC8
A very funny movie. It was perfect for us, because we have different tastes in movies. I like chick flicks and the hubster likes anything where an alien comes out of someones chest or buildings explode. So when we go to a movie together we usually see something funny.
Then we had a late dinner at White Spot. I had a great Tuscan shrimp salad and Arnie had fetticini with mushrooms and beef slices. It was a lovely dinner. We hadn't been out to a movie and dinner probably for about 12 years, so it was a special treat. It's not that we don't want to go, it's just that its so expensive. But we had gift cards for the movie and White Spot, so we wound up only spending $30.00. It was a great valentines day.

Love in Bloom

2009-02-11T12:04:00.000-08:00

My wall hanging is finished. The name I have given it is "Love in Bloom". A little more catchy than rose in heart lol.

January's Gone

2009-01-31T13:47:00.001-08:00

It is unbelievable to me that January is already over. I was sick for about 20 days of this month with cold and flu so I guess that is why I have so little to show for the month. I love being able to stay at home and not have to go out to work, but it looks like those days are comming to an end. Economic downturn yadda yadda yadda, so sick of hearing about it, but it has affected my life big time so now I am going to have to find a way of bringing some income into my home. Next week I start a house cleaning job. Its only one hour a week for a lady in a small apartment who just wants her vacuming done, dusting and her bathroom cleaned. Okay, its my mother in law, but it is a job, and I hope it will lead to some referals.
As far as quilting goes, I have been working on a cute little valentine wall hanging that was a foundation piecing mystery from paperpanache. She has the nicest f.p. patterns and I love her mysteries. Here is a photo of how it looks now and I will post another when it is finished.

postcard swaps

2009-01-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

I thought I would post some pictures of the last 2 postcard swaps I was in with the postcard cottage group on yahoo. It is a small group and it seems that it may be in danger of folding as enthusiasum in the group is waining. So here I have my "Halloween Critters" swap. Mine is the one with the window looking out. The curtains were made from cheesecloth. The second one was "Add some fiber". Mine is the one with the tree.

My 1st finish for 2009

2009-01-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

My fist ufo finish for 2009. I started it before halloween last year but never finished it so now I am 10 months early for this year. I was hoping to do some sewing this week but I have been in bed with the flu all week. Next week I will get started on my next ufo project

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2008-12-30T13:03:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely Christmas with all my kids at home on Christmas morning, something that hasn't happened for a long time. My mother and her boyfriend were unable to make it over unfortunatly due to the heavy snow fall we had been having over the week. He is 83 and it is enirely understandable that he may not want to drive in lousy weather. It was the first Christmas for me in my 53 years of living that I was unable to spend with my mother. So I really missed her and so did the kids. Luckily Nicole and Ian were going into Vancouver to his grandparents so they were able to stop by and visit with my mom for a while. I sure she really enjoyed the visit. We had a small crowd at dinner, just six of us, where we usually have ten or more so we were able to have a sit down dinner, rather than balancing plates on our laps. That was kind of nice. We got spoiled from Santa as usual and it was a fun day.

Christmas stocking

2008-12-12T10:33:00.001-08:00

A Christmas stocking for our dear Briar. He has been a part of our family for three Christmas's and this year he is getting his own stocking. I did the blocks slating them to be a leaders and enders quilt. They look better as a stocking. The leaders and enders quilt is actually a brilliant idea. See this link
http://www.quiltville.com/leadersenders.shtml
This is the best site I know for scrappy quilts.

I just go nuts at Christmas

2008-12-12T10:23:00.000-08:00

This was the title of either a song or poem, I can't remember, but I do know it was spoken with a swedish accent. It describes me to a tee.
I have been very busy but I don't feel like I've made much head way. I have only a few gifts left to buy, I have some baking done, lots of sewing accomplished and no decorating at all. Hubby is out of town next week and I should be able to get everything finished.
I made three more bags, one for me, one for mom and one for hubbies mom.
The one with the block on the front is mine, made from an orphaned block slated for a quilt that I changed my mind about. They were all made from scraps, which feels good but didn't put a dent at all in my scrap pile. Actually it feels like its grown.

tote bag

2008-11-20T14:36:00.001-08:00

One of my online groups is doing a Christmas swap. We have to include a container of some sort so I made a tote bag. The block is from a bunch of blocks I made a few years ago that I was going to make into a Christmas sampler quilt. I changed my mind. I would like to make a Christmas quilt, but the blocks would have to match better than these ones did.

Empty nester no more

2008-11-09T09:29:00.000-08:00

Just as I was getting familiar with the peace and quiet, she's baaaack. Here's Nikki! And her cat. She will be going to school to get training in Medical Office Assistant which will be wonderful for her. It will make a big difference in her future and I am so glad she is doing it. But wow, hubby and I sure settled into the old foggie routine pretty quickly and now we have youngsters around again. (note the old foggie speak "youngsters" lol) So things are a bit livelier but for the better. This is her and her friends helping her move, they are sitting in the truck having a break. The smurf is her boyfriend.

another disappearing 9 patch

2008-11-09T09:24:00.000-08:00

I am becoming obsessed with these 9 patches. But they make a fast and great looking quilt. And they are a great way to showcase a larger focus fabric. I am thinking my next one may have some pieced blocks in it. Anyway this is the one I made for my cousin's daughter. She had a new baby girl, and I started this one in September hoping she may have a girl. If she didn't I would have had to make some more blocks. But they are so easy, it wouldn't have mattered.