text: Saturday, December 29, 2007
  These cute caroling dolls were a Christmas gift from my MIL. Aren't they so sweet, I love their red hats and sweaters. In the picture the expressions on their faces look a bit like more of a surprise than singing.
  We had been away on Vancouver Island for Christmas and when I got home on boxing day, this wonderful goody package was waiting for me. This is the swap gift from Karen, we did a swap with the 2 of us. I love the wool jacket on the Santa, I will treasure this every year and it will bring back warm memories of our little swap. Along with Santa came other goodies as well. The snowmen wooden blocks, wool and fabric note book (I've already started using this little book to write down my quilting ideas) and she also sent a 12 block stitchery pattern and some chocolaty goodness. I've finished the Junior Mints and now starting on the Lindt Chocolates. Thank you so much Karen, I love everything and will enjoy bringing them out each Christmas. I can't wait to start on the stitcheries, they are only 4x6 so very doable to have 1 done each month.
  A little doll quilt for a little girl's birthday, Jade turned 2 years old yesterday. She has a little pink wooden bed for her dollies so I thought making a doll quilt would keep them warm and the pinks are so sweet. The pink fabrics are scraps from another baby quilt I made earlier in the year. Nothing goes to waste.
  I hope you are having the Happiest New Year ever. I look forward to 2008 and especially seeing and reading all about your next creative endeavors. I've enjoyed reading all your blogs and meeting new friends and I've learned so much from all of you. Wishing you all the best for the coming year.
  Sunday, December 23, 2007
  Both my daughters will have warm feet this season. I really like how these socks turned out. The stripes seem completely random to me, I never did figure out what the pattern was intended to be, they still turned out great. Hand made socks are so comfy to wear, I know she'll will love them.
  Thanks for stopping by! I always look forward to reading every comment.
  Monday, December 17, 2007
  Last night we had a fun evening of singing Christmas Carols with MIL and FIL, the audience was part of the caroling and some people were even dancing in the aisles. When it came time to sing 12 days of Christmas the audience participants with singing and standing up when they get to your birthday month and then you sit again until they get back to your month. So having a Feb birthday gave me lots of exercise. On the second day of Xmas my true love sent me Two turtle doves, I was up, down, up down. You know how the song goes. It was truly a lot of fun. Here is a Christmas Angel quilt. My first log cabin quilt done in the early 90's. The angel is all made of log cabins and the trees, stars, her face and shoes have all been appliquéd on top.
  This little tree skirt I found recently in my "to do" pile. I made this oh...I'd say well over 10 years ago. I still need to finish the binding....that's very silly since I do like hand sewing bindings.
  I really like this Santa wallhanging. He is done with wool and appliquéd on sandcastle fabric. He's got a long fuzzy mustache.
  I can't believe it, my next post will be my 100th post. I was planning a giveaway but it's too much for the week before the holidays. So if you don't mind waiting until Jan, I'll have something in the new year.
  Happy Holidays Everyone!
  Tuesday, December 11, 2007
  A small tree wallhanging I made a few years ago.
  This little tree is filled with crocheted snowflakes made by my dear grandma. She's been gone for almost a year now, so I wanted to decorate this little tree in her memory.
  I love snowmen. These are made of wood and not made my me.
  We had our traditional French dinner at our regular monthly stitching group. Andree made us the meal her mother would make when she was a kid. There was roast pork with pototoes and veggies. The dessert was fresh pineapple grilled and hot chocolates sauce drizzled on top. Sorry I didn't get a picture of that...it was delicious.
  Here are the "Thank You" gift we surprised our host with. As we were all bringing out our blocks Andree was puzzled why she wasn't included in making these blocks. Then we told her the blocks were for her. You should have heard her laughing and so very surprised that we would do this for her. I think the blocks really turned out well and coordinate well, that was another pleasant surprise.
  Season's Greetings to everyone.
  Saturday, December 8, 2007
  This little pink quilt is for a swap with Karen, we talked about doing a swap some months ago but with Karen's house tour which involved redecorating an entire room "you go girl", we decided to put it off until now. I'll show you what she has made me when I receive it, I don't even know what she will send, we promised to surprise each other. If you haven't seen her beautiful house it's well worth a look. Karen has excellent eye for colour and decorating. I wish she could visit me and redo my house...LOL
  Here is a close up of the quilting.
  More about swaps. Darlene and I have been swapping 9patch blocks for a few months and I've been having a blast exchanging with her, thanks Darlene, I might be late this month...sigh. See my sneak peek post here. Sometimes we send each other little surprises, oh my is it ever fun...teehee. When I told Darlene that I was making the PDG's she offered me some seaside rose fabric. What a great surprise in store for me. Here is my first block done sitting with a gorgeous collection.. I wasn't sure about how the embroidery colours were going to work together but after seeing this picture I think it will be a wonderful combination with the fabrics.
  Even more surprises when I got home, does it ever end....oh gosh... don't get me wrong I'm not complaining a bit...lol. Caroline was so sweet to send me this heart pincushion, little strawberry and red trimmed crocheted doily. I love them all, I think the buttons are vintage and the purple lace is hand dyed. Thanks so much Caroline, this certainly is a wonderful package of treasures. Big Smiles from ME!
  I feel so lucky to have met these wonderful ladies and I cherish their friendship.
  Happy Stitching to Everyone.
  Wednesday, December 5, 2007
  This is our third trip to the islands but our first trip to the big island. Are timing was prefect as we missed the first big snow fall at home. My daughter was taking care of the house and Jenny (the cat) while we were away and I got a few frantic text messages with "help" where is the shovel and salt???. Fortunately the usual weather here is to have a warm spell after a snow fall and it now looks like it never snowed at all.
  Paradise wasn't entirely prefect. Our plane arrived early in the morning, too early to check in to our hotel. We decided a tour of a coffee farm would be a good first day activity. That's when it started....the rain. And not just your whimpy rain drops, this was like stepping under a water fall. The rain cut the tour short and we decided the next best thing would be sit the rain out while enjoying Kona coffee and a chocolate brownie. We sat for a very very long long time, the rain doesn't seem to be letting up, the waitress came around and said the roads are starting to get washed out. Hmmm.....we better go to our hotel. About a 2 minute drive down the road, we saw a few cars stopped on the road in front of us and then we saw it, just like the movies, mud and rocks raging across the road, unbelievable what do we do now? A couple of cars turned around but where would they go?? Soon they discovered more mud and rocks across the road in the other direction as well. And then a pipe next to the road broke and water was shooting up in the sky about 30 feet right behind us. So to make a long story short, we stayed in the car watching raging mud, down pouring rain and water shooting up from the ground for about 2 hours before it let up and the road could finally be cleared. I can't tell you how worried I was that our first night on the island was going to be sleeping in a car. The next day there was almost no signs of all the rocks and mud....incredible experience. The rest of the trip was dry, sunny and stress free....whew.
  I have so many things to show you, the packages waiting for me when I got home and the antique shop find I brought home from the island. This was going to be a short post that turned long quickly. I feel like I've missed so much and have so much catching up to do in blogland. I'll be around shortly to read what everyone has been up to this last week.
  Monday, November 26, 2007
  Just a few pincushions I decided I needed to make for gifts. These are made using 2-5" circles. Stuffed with polyester filling and embroidery floss used to divide the sections. I thought they needed something a little extra so I made yo-yo's to go under the buttons. If you are interested in making some of your own, visit Whipup for instructions.
  Update on Chocolate Swap; I'm still waiting for my chocolates to arrive in the mail...boohoo My partner Annie received the goodies I sent to her. I hope mine from her will arrive soon...yum...yum.
  Here's another pincushion using different fabrics.
  Thursday, November 22, 2007
  So many little quilts popping up everywhere, I couldn't resist making one. This little quilt is from the book "American Doll Quilts" and finished size is 13" x 17". A Simple Girl and Knot Garden have both done several adorable little quilts. They are so sweet and quicker to make than a full size quilt project. I'm definitely hooked on these. The only down side is that these little quilts don't even make a dent in the scrap pile....lol.
  There is a small group of us that meet once a month at the same house. We usually go out for lunch but there are times when the host offers to make us lunch. When she makes us lunch it's a wonderful treat because it's always something home made, with the freshest of ingredients. Last month we enjoyed a fabulous Butternut Squash soup and a delightful salmon dip. Our gracious host has offered to make a traditional French Christmas dinner for our next meeting. She'll spend a lot of time shopping at specialty stores to find just the best ingredients for the menu. There will be several appetizers and all the trimmings for our feast. Shopping and preparing all this food is a tremendous amount of work.
  So that brings me to the point of this story. I thought wouldn't it be nice for each person in the group to surprise our host with quilt blocks. I found a pattern, picked the background fabric and cut enough background for 12 blocks. These blocks are 8" finished. Each person will make 2 blocks using darks from each of our stash for a total of 12 blocks. The blocks will be presented at our Dec meeting. Our host will be so surprised and really love our way of saying "Thank you" for all her efforts.
  Speaking of friends. I received a little goodie package in the mail last week. Carole was very sweet by sending me some chocolates and a cute little tin as well. Thank you Carole....you are a sweetie.
  Monday, November 19, 2007
  This teddy bear angel I stitched on muslin and did a small amount of tea dying. The red and yellow fabric is actually flannel. Soft and cuddly friendship pillow. I know....I know no more mushy stuff....
  Look what I got from a very special blogger friend. No two fabrics are the same. I love the 30's fabrics, they make such a sweet quilt to look at and always makes me smile. The quilting is excellent. I wish I could quilt like that! Thanks Darlene, I will cherish my little quilt from you.
  Thursday, November 15, 2007
  I sent off my Chocolate Swap to my partner in Australia yesterday. I hope Anne will like the chocolate and goodies I sent along.
  Have you seen the pincushions Abyquilt has made? She made 8 of these so far. I've made only one so far and I hope to have time to make a bunch more. Here where you'll find the instructions for the pincushion.
  Have you checked your Quilter's Horoscope. Darlene posted this and it's really is a hoot.
  Aquarius - January 21 to February 18
  Aquarius is very gifted and produce exceptionally original quilts. I don't know about this "monkey see monkey do" that's me. But, I do make changes to a project if I don't like what the pattern designer has done.
  They are known to invent new techniques that enhance the art form. I don't think so.
  They are friendly but their independent nature leads them to prefer to spend time quilting by themselves. Although you can find them in a quilting class, they are the most likely of all signs to choose to learn from books or a video. I've learned everything about quilting from doing. Making mistakes and learning from each one. I take classes only to be around fellow quilters.
  However if you ever have a patchwork or quilting dilemma they are the kind of person that you can turn to for help and advice. They are nice and will be thoughtful when making a quilt for friends or family. They will create the quilt with careful consideration of what the individual would like. I like to teach what I know about quilting and it's really exciting to me when a student goes away with learning something new. I will always try and answer a question. Every project I make I think about the person that will receive it and try and personalize the gift.
  Friday, November 9, 2007
  Have a good weekend to all.
  Tuesday, November 6, 2007
  I've been having so much fun exchanging 9 patches with Darlene, her post today included the 9 patches I sent last month. We send 20 each month until we have enough. I think Dec we'll be done. Another quilt in progress...no self control...LOL. I plan to set the 9 patches on point with an alternating red fabric in between. Here is a sneak peek....stay tuned for more on this quilt.
  My list for this week is to finish more 9 patches and My Chocolate Swap to mail off as well.
  Sunday, November 4, 2007
  When both stacks are cut, it's time to do some shuffling of fabric. You can see the darks and lights have been exchanged in each stack. This makes 13 light stars with dark background and 13 dark stars with light background. The centre star is reversed as well but you can't see it because I haven't taken the freezer paper off.
  Here is a finished block waiting for trimming. The block will be trimmed to 12 1/2" x 14 1/2". I've now finished the stack of light background blocks.....whew 13 blocks completed. I hope to have time today to work on the second stack of blocks.
  Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment. I'm behind in blogging and hope to get caught up in the next couple of days.
  Wednesday, October 31, 2007
  I wish everyone a happy and safe Halloween. Don't forget to give lots of treats to the tricker treaters coming to your door.
  Tuesday, October 30, 2007
  I took a class on Sat for making a Buggy Barn quilt called "Star Bright". Silly me I didn't need to start a new project but the class was free and I had a big stack of FQ's waiting for this quilt. Something new I learned in the class is that you can really cute through 13 layers of fabric as long as the blade is new and you have the larger cutter. My 26 blocks were all cut in about 1 hour. I'll post some progress pictures in a future post.
  The other more pressing item that I was working on was this block. A swap I've signed up for. My Tues stitching group is having a swap with another stitching group that meets on Thurs. The deadline to finish the block is today and at our meeting this morning I will be exchanging with someone from the Thurs group. The organizers will be matching people based on each others colour choices. When I get my swap partners block I'm to add a border all the way around. I don't remember the size I'm to make it but I'm sure someone will offer that info today. After I'm done adding the border than it's returned to it's owner. This will be a small table topper when done. My block is from Kim Diehl's book and the block is called Country Whig Rose. You can see Darlene has done all 4 blocks.
  Next on my list is to work on the Chocolate Swap from Sharon's blog. We are to make something to put our chocolates in (decorate the box) and send off to our swap partner. My swap partner is Annie from Australia, I'm very excited to get to know her likes and dislikes for chocolate, dark or light, chewing or crunchie? So many questions. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, waiting for those creative juices to start flowing.
  Tuesday, October 23, 2007
  My youngest DD moved into her own place this last week. I've been helping her collect up all the necessary household items she might need to get started. We've been packing, shopping and spending some nice quality time together. I won't see her much as she has moved a ferry ride away....It will be so hard not to see her so much. I will need to plan ahead to spend time with her. She certainly seems very happy in her new surroundings, so I feel I need to be happy for her.
  Yesterday I spend the day at her new place helping her settle in. This trip was also to bring over my old sewing machine to her as she likes to alter and make her own clothes. We went out for a very nice lunch and walk by the sea shore. On the way back she mentioned a quilt shop in the area and we could stop there. I knew she was thinking of me. When we went in the shop my daughter introduced me to the shop owner....hmmmm she's been here before, well that's not so unusual my DD likes to sew. Then.....the shop owner asked my daughter if she was still interested in a beginner class. Well you can imagine my surprise....what.... she wants to start quilting....could this be real.... My daughter has always been a sewer but never interested in quilting. Oh how all the wheels started turning. I would have to get her the equipment, rotary cutter, ruler and mat. The class isn't until early Jan so that gives me time to get all the supplies she'll need. This is so exciting my DD is interested in quilting....yippee hurray....I'm speechless, she really never showed interest at home, my how anything can change when on their own. I'm very happy and excited about the days when the two of us will have even more in common....quilting.
  We had a such a nice visit. Here is a zip pouch I made for her to hold her threads and needles. She loves guitars and music so I stitched a design she would love and could use for a long time.
  Friday, October 19, 2007
  I made this bag in one day using 2 charm packs from Moda's Serendipity by Sandy Gervais. The fabric colours are rich browns, rust, green, purple and beige. This will make a really nice fall bag to carry my stitchery or punchneedle projects to meeting. The pattern is from This & That called Flower Patch, I didn't add the applique flower to the front, I didn't think the bag needed it. If you haven't tried this line of patterns I would really recommend them. Her instructions are easy and straight forward, I found this bag easy to make....and ladies there is no zipper. This bag will be a store sample before I can use it for my goodies.
  Darlene tagged me to tell 4 things about MeMe....so here we go.
  4 jobs I've had
  4 films I could watch over and over
  Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
  Sleepless in Seattle
  When Harry Met Sally
  4 TV shows I watch
  CSI Las Vegas
  I don't watch much TV
  4 Favorite foods
  Beef Veggie Stew
  4 Favorite colors
  4 Places I would love to be right now
  White sand beach
  Lounging on a sunny beach
  Snorkeling at a tropical beach
  4 Names I love but would/could not use on my children
  Rae (my middle name)
  Jenny (my cats name)
  Jade (didn't hear this name until recently)
  4 People I'd love to Tag
  That's all I have for today.
  Have a great weekend.
  Sunday, October 14, 2007
  I'm starting on a small bag for a shop sample using charm packs, it's taken me longer than usual to be happy with the fabric combinations....I think when using the whole line of fabric it's a bit harder to come up with a pleasing order for the fabric. I've decided to leave out one entire colour as it's just too busy for me. I think I've got it now and can start making the bag.
  Monday, October 8, 2007
  The 9-patch blocks is all sewn. Easy so far right....lol.
  Cut the 9-patch block right down the center in both directions. See the new blocks emerging? I think the new blocks are 7". I made a total of 5 9-patches using one charm pack of 45 squares. This gave me 20 of the 7" blocks. Two packages of charms squares made 40 blocks for a lap quilt. It was so fast and easy to make 10 9-patches and then I was ready to cut my blocks.
  Option 1: This random layout of twisting and turning the blocks uses 36 of my blocks, makes a square quilt. Lay the blocks in any pleasing order with 6 rows across and 6 rows down.
  Option 2: Layout with all blocks placed with the corner square to the left top corner, makes a rectangular shaped quilt. This layout used all 40 blocks. 5 rows across and 8 rows down.
  Option 3: Is to place your blocks on point. With this layout I had 1 block left over, I used 39 blocks. There are so many possibilities with this block. Have fun playing around with your layout.
  Wednesday, October 3, 2007
  I found a nice surprise in my mail box when I got home. Well it wasn't completely a surprise. This is my Fall Swap quilt which I;ve been waiting for the mailman to bring. Isn't this so cute with the oak leaves quilted on the front. Sue from Quilting without Guilt has even quilted leaves on the back. Take a look she has posted a picture of the back. What a sweet little autumn quilt "Thank you Sue" for being my swap partner. Sue also sent a few little goodies with my quilt. See the postcard with the flower and the black cat...it's all quilted just like any quilt and on the back it's addressed to me with a little message from Sue. The Down Under calendar will be a wonderful addition to my sewing room.
  The next swap will be sometime in Nov, check it out if you are thinking of joining the Winter Swap.