Pam's Pages

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2011-12-28T19:47:00.001-08:00

I thought I should post some Christmas pictures – "what we have been up to lately pictures" ......
I started off this Christmas Season getting my fabulous notions holder and a few extra goodies from Carole – Quilting Adventures.

Then I spent a day making Biscotti – 25 dozen.

We put up a tree ---- a very nice little tree..............

Decked the halls – sort of………….

Eric and Darla came for Christmas Eve dinner.

Cadence the Grand dogter – has come to spend the Christmas holiday while her mummy and daddy get to spend Christmas in Hawaii. Can you see the look on Jenny’s face – she is wondering when we are going to send this dog back home!

Christmas dinner --- Saddle of Lamb.
We have been watching “Upstairs, Downstairs” – and they eat a lot of Saddle of Lamb – so Jim decided we needed to search that out – so…. here we have Christmas dinner of Saddle of Lamb – Gordon Ramsay style.

First you have to trim it off the bone.

Could I have a little bit there Jim? Huh – just a little??

Then you add a few sage leaves…………

Then the spinach and mushroom stuffing.

Roll it and wrap it and bake it in the oven..

Ready to carve and enjoy for Christmas dinner.

Could we have a little there Jim…. just a taste??

Just the tiniest little taste? Please…………

So on that note I thought I would add this picture of me - peering over my glasses at Jim - as I take a lot of pictures of Jim - peering over his glasses at me - it's only fair I guess. Merry Christmas.... to all - and Happy New Year!

After a year like this - its best to laugh out loud!!

Christmas time

2011-12-21T22:12:00.001-08:00

Christmas around here means a glass of port and a couple of home made biscotti.

Maybe my New Years resolution should be I post a little more regularly!

I am slowly getting better - more mobile and getting ready to head back to work in January.

Merry Christmas to all! And to all a Good Night.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Well - I am still alive!

2011-11-07T08:50:00.000-08:00

And walking - more or less --- and pictures to prove it................... This picture is taken just outside the Burrowing Owl winery in Oliver B.C.

The weekend before Halloween Jim and I headed off to the sunny Okanogan to meet up with my mum and dad for a little get away. So here I am with my mum and dad - standing on two feet - in shoes. I am hiding my cane............. I am doing well - can't walk too far and limping a bit and whining a lot but I have been out of the boot for almost 3 weeks and now I need to try to take off the weight I put on while sitting on the deck and doing nothing for 2 months............and we go to spend the weekend going from winery to winery buying wine!! Like that was a good idea!

Halloween has come and gone and Jim decided he needed to carve a pumpkin this year............

I have been doing a bit of quilting. I am making a baby quilt for Vincia ( who got married a couple of years ago and I made the African Wedding quilt for - I will see if I can find a link for that.) Here is the link -- African wedding quilt

Vincia gave me a Winnie the Pooh receiving blanket when she gave me the fabric she wanted in the wedding quilt. So she phoned a few weeks ago to say she is expecting - so I can take a hint :) It was hard to find fabric to match the colours in the receiving blanket but I found the green polka dot fabric in Armstrong BC on our little trip in October. I have a plan to put a small narrow light yellow border between the quilt and the green border. I had saved a picture a couple of years ago of a split nine patch with Winnie the Pooh fabric - this quilt is pretty much the same as the picture I had saved at the colours in the fabric are the same. Vincia loves the original Winnie the Pooh - not the Disney Winnie the Pooh - I am not sure where she found the receiving blanket - I hope I have turned her little receiving blanket into a quilt she will be happy with in the end.

I am off to a quilting retreat next weekend so I can finish the baby quilt and do a few more of the many Civil war blocks I am working on at the present!

But I am still alive :))

A (sewing) Room with a View

2011-08-21T17:02:00.001-07:00

This is my favourite picture this week – although I am sure it is not Jim’s! He decided he was going to make Thai prawn and salmon soup one day after work this week and what a mess the kitchen was by the time he was finished! I don’t think we ate dinner until 8:30 PM. The soup was wonderful! Jim is very devoted to get me through this darn broken ankle and he is doing a great job of it – although I think the soup was just a bit too much – even he admitted to that by about 7:45 PM.

I have been able to get out to a few of my usual stitching activities thanks to quilting friends coming out to get me and Andrew driving out - in my car – which he has gone off with – since I can’t drive you know…………no point in it just sitting there…

This weekend Jim asked if I was able to do all the quilting I had wanted while I was up on the deck. I said that I wished I could work on the Barbara Brackman Civil War Block of the week but because my sewing room was downstairs and the patterns were all on the computer –which is on the deck it was something I just couldn’t do.

So – off Jim went to Costco and bought a small table for $30……

Here is my new little sewing space –on the deck – on one condition he says – once I can walk it has to go back downstairs. I think he figured he had better make that condition because I think I would rather stay up here.

The view from the ironing board! I can sit on my rolling office chair and sew on the little featherweight and then easily iron. It is a great set up.

My ankle is getting much better – I could not have done this two weeks ago – it still would hurt if I had my foot down for any length of time but now the swelling is really going down and it hardly hurts at all.

I have already completed a couple more since these pictures – I have 12/16 blocks completed. I have also completed on Dear Jane block.

And just to finish off ----- the soup………..

I have a bunch of pictures of my ankle…………………..Nahhh

A little video demontration

2011-08-18T17:55:00.001-07:00

It has been quite the event to post this video! But since I am NOT doing much else I persevered and I think I might finally have done it! I took this video with my IPhone gripped in one hand as I held the crutches as well.
I shot this video the other afternoon – just to entertain myself mostly. The Bed, Bath and Beyond bag at the bottom of the stairs is a bag of laundry I am working to getting to the laundry room – just to clarify.
I continue to spend most of the day on the deck – but at least now the sun is shining – it might actually get warm this weekend!
Believe it or not I am actually planning to go to the big Quilt show in Tacoma next weekend – my fabulous quilting peeps have organized a FART ( Fabric Acquisition Road Trip) and the big APNQ show ( which is now called something different) is in Tacoma instead of Seattle this year. My friend Dianne has found a wheelchair rental for me – and has volunteered to be my pusher – who can resist a personal pusher?? I have had this trip planned for months so I hope I don’t have too many problems with my mobility down there – but I sure could use an outing!!
I have been working on my Wool BOM and I have almost finished Block 11 of 16 and I have also started another Dear Jane block – FINALLY ---YAY for me!!
It seems there was also a problem with my comment section on my blog so I have changed settings and we will see how it is working now.

Fairy quilt and Grandbabies

2011-08-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

You would think I would be blogging every day now that I am incarcerated here on my deck with nothing to do but drink coffee and quilt!

I have been going like crazy on my Wool Applique project. The weather has finally - hummmm - I don't want to say warmed up because it is still pretty mild but it isn't raining every day. I am spending most days on the deck - looking out at the activities on the water and watching Netflix - right now I am watching "Damages" with Glenn Close and Ted Danson.

I am just uploading a few pictures from my phone and I don't think I had ever posted a picture of the quilt I made for Phoenix when it was completely finished. Jim and I took the quilt with us when we went to Calgary in May - on the Mother's Day weekend. Of course I didn't take any pictures of it before I took it there so finally Jessica sent me a few pictures - as well as a couple of pictures of the kids in the yard this summer. And I know I haven't posted pictures of the grandkids in a long time - as Anna had mentioned - so the pictures are for her :)

Forest Fairy Quilt

I used the little squares that were on the panel for the corner blocks but I had to sew a little green border around each square to make them the right size for the sashing. It took awhile to find the right border and sashing fabric and then I needed more of the dark green for the binding - so it took longer than I thought but I am very pleased with the final quilt. Jessica says Phoenix really loves it. And it is much larger than a crib quilt so it can lay nicely on her little bed - as she is no longer in a crib.

Phoenix - 18 months.

Hunter and Phoenix - this summer - Calgary Alberta - and see that sweaters are needed in Calgary in July! What a summer.

Gosh they're cute! If I don't say so myself :)

I have pictures on my camera of my finished Wool blocks - lets see how quickly I can get those posted.

2011-07-24T11:48:00.001-07:00

Having a broken ankle does have a few bright moments. I received a wonderful visit and these fabulous flowers from my quilting friend Dianne ( double NN ).

I am starting to go a little stir crazy though. I went outside last night for a little exercise hop up the driveway - which is much steeper than I thought!! And coming back down was almost scary! Jim walked ahead of me just in case I lost control and ended up at the bottom smashed into the garage - sort of like the drywall - but that's another story.

But I am finding ways to entertain myself. My blog might benefit.

Finally a bit of summer has come to the west coast.

I have myself set up on the deck. I signed up for Netflix and I am working on my wool appliqué BOM from Creative Edge Quilt shop in North Van. Jim made a lovely BBQ Leg of lamb and Greek salad for dinner last night. It sounds like it's going to be panko breaded jumbo prawns tonight. Hopefully I don't gain a bunch of weight sitting around and enjoying Jim's cooking. Now he's going to put a keg of beer on tap!!

I have to say that what has happened in Norway is just heart breaking. My deepest sympathy to the whole country and all those parents who's lives will never be the same again.

Location:Seaview Pl,Lions Bay,Canada

The reason I started blogging........................

2011-07-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

My mother was commenting today that I haven't been blogging lately! I figured I had better do something about that!

It is a bit of an interesting story about how I started blogging.

It all started because in August of 2000 I fell on a little piece of uneven sidewalk in Edinburgh Scotland while on vacation with my mother and sister. My sister had just left us to go back to work in Africa and my mum and I were off to do a bit of laundry. I fell coming out of the laundromat and broke my right ankle. Although - I didn't go to the hospital - or doctor, because I didn't really think it was broken. It got pretty swollen and bruised but if I didn't move it too much it didn't hurt too much and we carried on with our planned vacation. Two week later when I got back to Canada I got my ankle X-rayed - because it really had not improved at all - and it was broken! So that began a year long process of a multitude of splints, casts and crutches - X-rays and CT scans - finally surgery and Physio.

During that year - right leg mostly out of commission - I spent quite a bit of time on the computer - surfing the web - which was still fairly new at that time. I was watching the Soap - Days of Our Lives - which is often stupid - and there was a message board that I would visit and read how other people thought it was stupid as well.

The woman who ran the message board - had an acquaintance - in Georgia - who was competing for the Next Food Network Star television show and asked us to vote for Hans online - which I did a few times -- quite a few as I didn't have much else to do! Hans got on the show but I didn't even get to see the show in Canada - so that was too bad - all my voting and not able to watch the result. I think he came in third.

Time had passed - I was back to work and we had moved and life carried on and I was still following the message board and keeping up with how Hans was doing with his career - I sort of felt I knew him a bit after all!! Then Hans started a blog - Hans was diagnosis with stomach cancer and was blogging about his experiences and treatments. Hans did really well with his surgery and treatment and is cancer free now. I kept up with his blog - it was the old Live Journal format - then one day Hans switched to Blogspot and I was quite intrigued - and in checking out blogspot and seeing how easy it was to set up - I decided to start my own blog.

Why am I remembering all this......................

On Monday while out on a hike with my neighbour and the dogs - I fell and broke my left ankle!

This time I went right to the hospital and had it x-rayed. My cheeky mother says she hopes it's better in under two years!! So - I've been kind of cranky lately!!

But on the sewing front - prior to the fall I had been puttering away on a few things........

I made a mug rug for one of my Quilting Peeps -

And she made a mug rug for me -----

She called it "Howe Sound Spring" It is much like looking out at Howe Sound from our deck.

And I have been working on the Barbara Brackman Civil War Block of the Week blocks.

I am a few weeks behind but I have time on my hands to catch up now! Although I am still very uncomfortable and I am finding I can only sit with my foot hanging down for a short time and then I have to elevate it again.

And I feel sorry for poor Jim who has been called to action quite a bit this year and is now back on kitchen duty - Like he says "you're lucky you have a husband who likes to cook"
I am lucky - but not happy!!

Pole Raising–Skidegate

2011-06-14T18:50:00.000-07:00

This post will be heavy on pictures of some amazing Haida applique and spruce and cedar woven hats. There were some many beautiful pieces of clothing that I couldn't put them all on the post.

Jim and I attended the pole raising in Skidegate when we were there. It was the first Chief's pole to be raised in over 100 years in Skidegate. There was a huge potlatch after the pole raising that we did not attend. Although everyone is welcome to attend - we went in to the hall where it was being held and it was a very special event and it was going to be a very long night - they can go on until the wee hours of the morning and we had Jenny in the car. It would have been amazing to see the dancing - but I am sure that would have been quite late in the night.

There was probably a couple of hundred people at the pole raising. The pole was being raised at the home of the new Chief. Here is a link to a blog called "Living on the Edge" This blog as some wonderful pictures and more information about the chief and the traditions - well worth looking at.

Jim and I took a few pictures of the wonderful Haida clothing.

The cedar hats are made by the Haida people and the Otter pelts are used for many things - clothing and trim on the head bands. When we were in Old Masset we stopped at a place where the woman in the centre was weaving the headband she is wearing and triming it with the Otter fur.

Entire families dressed for the occasion.

This is the chief and his wife watching the pole go up. The Haida people are either from the Eagle or Raven clan and Eagles must marry only Ravens - and Ravens only marry Eagles. The chief is an Eagle and his wife is a Raven.

This is the blessing of the pole before it is raised.

A system of ropes and pulleys ( block and tackle) are used to raise the pole.

Everybody gets in and helps pull on the ropes. There was an incident with a rope breaking and a member of the community that was watching got hit by a block and hurt - some broken ribs - but in the end he was okay - taken away in the ambulance and the work to raise the pole continues.

And here is the pole -- it is a beautiful pole -- an Eagle on top for the chief - the two bars on the very top signify the number of potlatches he has or will have hosted.

Pictures from Haida Gwaii

2011-06-01T09:17:00.001-07:00

Getting on the Ferry at 10 PM for the overnight trip from Prince Rupert to Skidegate Landing.

We arrived in Skidegate Landing at 6 AM. We drove north to Masset – a short stop for breakfast in Port Clements. It is about 100 km from Skidegate to Masset.
Our little cabin on the beach.

It was pretty rustic – propane stove and lights and a tap with cold water that was collected from the roof – Drinking water was in bottles. A wood stove. The bed is in the little loft – quite comfortable and always nice and warm above the wood stove – sometimes a little too warm!
No fridge – the food was kept in a cooler – on the front deck.

The beach on the north end of Haida Gwaii goes on for miles and miles and miles! Great for walking – which we did a lot of!

Sanderlings – after having Jenny take a run at them – something we tried to keep her from doing – poor birds!

There were Eagles and Ravens EVERYWHERE! The Haida people are either in the Eagle or Raven Clan – I can understand why they have such a close relationship with the birds. There are certainly as many Eagles and Ravens as there are people on Haida Gwaii.

Usually it is me taking all the pictures with my little Canon camera but Jim was using the new Nikon and I was using my Canon so a few more shots of me this trip. Jim liked this picture with me and Jenny and the reflection on the beach. This was one of our evening walks.

We had some beautiful sunsets!! This part of the beach that we stayed on was south end of North Beach – then there is Agate Beach and North Beach – then Rose Spit and more beach around the east side of the island. North Beach is where Jim went to get the Razor Clams. But they are really all one long beach. Next post will be North Beach.

Where the heck have I been?

2011-05-17T21:27:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted in a very long time. A lot has happened in the past couple of months and now Jim and I are taking a well deserved vacation. We are presently camped out in a very rustic cabin on the north beach of the Queen Charlotte Islands - now known as Haida Gwaii.

We have been here since Monday morning. Jim went out this morning and shoveled his heart out for a good feed of Razor clams -- what a fabulous supper we had tonight!!

We are having a great vacation!
I have some postcards to send!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Unnamed Rd,Masset,Canada

Off for a retreat!

2011-03-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

I am getting all packed and ready to go away for a fabulous 4 day retreat with a few of my Quilting Peeps. We are going to a little island in between Vancouver and Victoria – one of the “Gulf Islands” My fellow quilting peep – Krista - “Poppyprint” will be there as well – she will be riding with me tomorrow. We are going to be spending the weekend with Rebecca – and a couple of other fabulous quilters! I think it will be a fabulous weekend and I am pretty excited

Jim will be fending for himself this weekend. I will be working mostly Civil war blocks– and I need to put the binding on little Phoenix’s quilt. Thanks to Carole and her great tutorial I have a new method to try for all the bazillion half square triangles that are in the Civil War Chronicles BOM.

Jim is cooking up some prawns for me to take along. They are fresh prawns - we went out and pulled the pots yesterday. They are big prawns! The weather took a real turn today – high winds and heavy rain so it was good we got the pots last night. I have been baking cookies tonight in-between packing and catching the new American Idol. I must say I do kind of like Steven Tyler.

We have been busy since coming back from Portland. First day back at the gym we came out to find Jim’s windshield had been hit by a golf ball.

The golf ball had to travel across a little crop of trees – past another part of the parking lot – with two rows of cars and then through more trees before it hit the windshield – amazing! We found the ball in the trees right in front of the car. Somebody had a pretty bad shot!! The windshield has been fixed – and the golf course covered the deductible.

Well I better finish packing as I have an early morning tomorrow – it will be a 90 minute or so drive to the ferry – and first I must pick up Krista.

A wet trip out to Fabric Depot

2011-02-15T16:15:00.001-08:00

A room with a view. We are up pretty high this year. The 7th floor and we have a great big suite.

It was raining hard this morning when I went off to catch the Met to go to Fabric Depot.

As you can see my trip was very successful. A little rain can't slow me down! Mostly I stocked up on Civil war prints for all my various ongoing projects.

This is the latest block from the BOM. I am one week behind but ready to catch up when I get home.

We are off to Powell's Books now. Having a great time as usual. I love Portland!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Eastbank Esplanade,Portland,United States

One year ago today

2011-02-12T19:13:00.000-08:00

Last February 12th - Vancouver welcomed the world and we had a party!! It certainly was a good one at that!!

Thank you all for coming and I hope you all come back soon!

Jim and I are off to Portland Oregon for the week - him to work and me to play. Fabric Depot here I come!

Hello from QBTB -- Quilting by the Bay

2011-01-29T15:14:00.001-08:00

I have been working on the BOM Civil war quilt. Month six is finished!!

Here is a room full of happy quilters!!

My little corner. I have moved on to the Morris Garden by the lake quilt now

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A couple pictures from my walk with Jenny

2011-01-28T07:28:00.000-08:00

Jenny and I quite often go to Cypress Falls Park to walk. There are lots of trails and paths to discover. There are also waterfalls but we don't usually walk to them. They are really pretty though. I will take some pictures of them next time we go. I took a few pictures with my phone.

The trail becomes part of the Trans Canada trail as well as the Baden Powell trail.

Usually we walk for about 90 minutes. It took a little longer as I was stopping to play with my phone!

Do you want to get some prawns?

2011-01-21T18:41:00.001-08:00

We went out this afternoon to pull the prawn pots – so I brought my little camera along – so lets go get some prawns.

First we need to get the prawn boat – look here – it is on a lower rack this year – Much better!!

The boat is on the beach – oars put in place and we are ready to head out to sea……

Oh wait – don’t have enough prawn bait in the bucket – Jim heads back home to get more bait so here I am sitting on a log waiting…….

This is my seat in the boat – the stern. Jim has put the bit of plastic tubing over the end of the boat to make pulling the rope over the side of the boat easier – so the rope slides over the smooth plastic instead of burning out a rut in the wood like it was doing last year……we will see if this is an improvement.

This is the captain’s chair – the captain gets to row – the first mate is just there to pull..

Now we are off…… out to sea – the Captain is happy today because it is not raining and the sea is calm. That makes the first mate happy too.

Here is a view of part of our little village and the marina is off to the far right.

This is a picture of our house from the water. The houses in the foreground are on the water – our house is the one in the middle of the picture with the hedge in front and the tall trees behind. Last year it would have been much easier to spot because it was White! Now it looks so much better.

Oh – there’s our buoy……………

The first pot is pulled up – only a few prawns and one fairly good sized cod…

If you look closely you can see the cod has been enjoying the prawns – you can see the prawn antenna sticking out of it’s mouth.

And so it is -- that you must kiss the cod before you throw it back… not sure why but that’s the rule. Last year I was kissing all the cod but fortunately I had the camera so Jim got to kiss the cod.

The next pot had very few prawns and a starfish – who is also a big fan of prawns and loves to crawl into the pots and eat themselves stupid.

The last pot had lots of prawns – well a good number – enough for a meal or two and since the Captain is married to the first mate he gets to keep the entire catch.

The prawns go into the bucket….. the traps are re-baited and returned to the bottom of the ocean.

Prawn salad with home made Thousand Island dressing for dinner tonight.

And Mr.. Starfish is sent back to sea to enjoy his happy life eating prawns – just like us ………………..

Civil War Chronicles and Fund raising for the Floods in Australia

2011-01-20T12:21:00.001-08:00

Carole from Quilting Adventures is doing a fund raiser for the Flood victims in Australia. She is auctioning off this Civil War Chronicles BOM kit. Pop over to her blog and find out all the details. I am working on the Civil War Tribute BOM this year and it is just wonderful. The fabric is beautiful and the instructions are so clear and perfect. I highly recommend it!! And it is for a good cause – the devastation from the flooding has been terrible.

A new iPhone App

2011-01-19T22:22:00.001-08:00

I am playing around a bit with my iPhone. I found this nifty app that records videos like old movies. Now we are going to see if I can post it on my blog - after I promised Jim I wouldn't!

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YouTube Video

The camera has a few different lens -- 1920 - 1970 - etc. Very fun!

Civil War block and a few more Morris Garden blocks.

2011-01-10T18:11:00.001-08:00

I have been back to work this past weekend – two night shifts!! So today I finally got to sew up the second Civil War Block – yay!

I have also been working on the Morris Garden quilt and I made 15 more blocks last week. I quite like the new ones! That brings me to a total of 50! So I am half way there.

A couple of Christmas pictures….. I didn’t take a lot of pictures and my sister’s son Carter got the camera and took a few – good thing for Carter or we might not have any Christmas pictures!

This is the three sisters -- together for Christmas dinner for the first time in 20 years or more – probably more. It was certainly a fun time – we haven’t lost our ability to consume a few bottles of wine. Pretty informal bunch aren’t we!!

Pam – Sandra – Sharon

Here is a picture of Jim and Jenny on the way back to Vancouver after Christmas – the roads were pretty bad on the way home – this spot is the highest highway in Canada.

Jim is busy right now – he has decided he needs to make Caesar Salad dressing from scratch so he is Googling and planning – so I have a bit of free time before dinner! I am not working until next weekend – so more sewing …………………oh he’s calling……….

Photo - A bit of a test post.

2011-01-04T15:32:00.001-08:00

I have been working a bit on the Morris Garden quilt as well this month. I have about 35 or so blocks completed and I think I have decided I need 98 or something. Somewhere I have written down the number of blocks I need because I keep forgetting...... oh that reminds me I need to go to the Alzheimer's website and do the test!!

I order a bit of the new Barbara Brackman Morris Tapestry fabric today. I sure hope she stops bringing out new William Morris fabric lines because it is cost me a lot of money!! I am trying to save for retirement now and it is not really working.

Part of this post is from my iPhone.

I have been trying to post from my new phone and I was having trouble uploading pictures but now it seems to be working. This is a picture that was on my phone of Phoenix at the wedding.... so cute!!

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The Block -- a few small issues in uploading!

2011-01-03T18:39:00.000-08:00

A picture of the block I made today. I was trying to post this picture - which I took with my new iPhone - but I was having a few problems......

This is from the blog Civil War Quilts from Barbara Brackman -- of course if you follow my blog at all you know I am working on another quilt from fabric by Barbara Brackman -- the Morris Garden quilt. Barbara Brackman is going to post a new block each week - they are 8 inch blocks and each block will have a little story and history lesson to go along with the block. Thanks to Tazzie for the inspiration!

My New Years resolution is to do a bit more quilting and a bit more blogging this year - and I think this is a good start!!

Sounds like Canada has scored another goal.......better go see what's happening in the World Jr. Hockey game against the U.S. I will be back.....soon....I promise!!

Civil war block

2011-01-03T18:11:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!!

I have been away for Christmas.

I have a new toy -- an iPhone!! I also have discovered a new Blog - thanks to Tazzie and a new project!! I did the first block today.

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Location:Seaview Pl,Lions Bay,Canada

Fairy Quilt

2010-12-19T09:37:00.000-08:00

Hopefully this picture is clickable so the quilt can be seen close up. I was hoping to finish it for Phoenix and send it down after Christmas but it will not be quite finished. I am not sure what sort of quilting to do in the sashing - trying to decide if I should just do a 1/4 inch outline or hand quilt a few hearts etc - or stipple. That is my main stall...

A bit of Quilting to report

2010-12-13T19:18:00.001-08:00

I have been working on the Fairy Quilt for Phoenix this fall. I was hoping to have it quilted in time to take to Cranbrook for Christmas but I don’t think I will. I am pleased with the way it turned out. I found the perfect fabric for the border and sashing on my way to retreat in November.

Here is a picture of Jim and I all dressed up for the wedding!! It was very cold – but a lovely sunny day – I look a little cold! The bridal party had some photo’s taken at this spot. They weren’t there for long I’ll tell you! It was cold.

My “Mother of the Groom” dress – which I stressed over quite a bit and I was very pleased with the dress I found in the end.

The cutest kid there!! Phoenix the flower girl!!

Nana and Phoenix dancing

2010-12-12T10:26:00.001-08:00

I suppose I should say that I didn't know Jim was video taping me so that is why I have such a stupid look on my face!!

A few Wedding Pictures

2010-12-12T09:44:00.001-08:00

Jessica and Phoenix getting ready to be the flower girl. The Italian Hall was beautifully decorated in a Winter Wonderland theme.

Eric waiting for his bride.

Here comes the bride and her father.

And now you may kiss the bride!

Darla and Eric – December 4th 2010

I am doing a bit of a test post here with the a new editing and posting program I discovered from Windows – Windows Live Writer. So we will see how this works.

Waiting for the cream to clot

2010-11-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

Okay -- where the heck have I been you ask?? I have been just too busy to blog because we have been clotting cream.....Yes.. another Jim experiment! It started out with an English tea bridal shower was being planned for Darla ( Eric - middle son) fiance. So Jim decided that she needed an old fashioned "Cream tea" and he would make some clotted cream - he had ALWAYS wanted to make clotted cream... so I was told.

First the research - the recipe - which is basically whipping cream - pasteurized but not homogenized - Avalon Dairy in Vancouver had the correct whipping apparently - it even comes from Jersey cows. It is a pretty simple recipe actually. Bring the whipping cream to room temperature and then let it simmer in a double boiler at 170 F for anywhere from 1 hour to 12 hours..... Jim opted for the 10-12 hour range.

It forms this little crusty layer.

Once finished - let cool and then take off the top layer and fold it and mix it all up.

And below..... clotted cream -- wonderful clotted cream.

Jim took this little "artys" shot of the final result.

And how much clotted cream do you get from 2 litres of whipping cream -- too much.

I took a bunch to the bridal shower - It was a lovely English tea. I dug out Aunt Dot's Pink Minton tea service from pre 1950 - it had probably been in the box for 25 years. I made little cream scones and bought some special strawberry jam. Darla's Nana is from Wales and she gave the clotted cream two thumbs up..... but was that enough -----NO - one needs to perfect the recipe - so the following weekend MORE clotted cream was made -- I am now pleading that he stops this NOW - I can't take it anymore!!

Luckily I was at a quilt retreat for the second batch but there was a lot left over and we are still eating it. I think ~~we need~~ Jim needs to sit down - eat the rest of it -- finish it off - get it out of the house and be done with it - get his fill and let it go... he's made it - it's fabulous and enough already.....lets get back to something a little less fattening - like prawns!

Off to the Adams River

2010-10-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

Jenny and I are off tomorrow morning to the Kamloops B.C area to meet Jim and see the great Adams River Sockeye run return to it's spawning grounds.

Jim was already there last week so here are a couple of pictures that he took last week.

The red spawning sockeye................

The dead sockeye...................................

Makes you wonder why they are so desperate to get back there!!

Jim had meetings again this week so he has gone up to Kamloops and I am going to meet him there at the end of his meetings and go see the river and the salmon. All these years and I have never been to the Adams River - this is supposed to be a very big years as there were 25 and/or 34 million salmon returning this year -- ( those numbers are an estimate!)

Jenny gets to come and we are staying at Sun Peaks - just outside of Kamloops - pretty exciting. Although I am not as happy as I would like because I spent an hour and a half in the dentist chair yesterday getting an old crown replace ( amazing how something that was put in - in 1992 is now "old" ) -- anyway I am quite sore - it is on my "bad" side - so I have been taking Aleve and Ibuprofen most of the day. I sure hope it doesn't turn into the pain and agony that I had last October.

I have been busy working on my Civil war BOM quilt. I am really enjoying making this quilt..................

And the main reason I am enjoying it so much is this little featherweight I call her Daisy -- Well she just loves this fabric!! And is sewing it beautifully!!

I tried to sew the Morris Garden Lady of the Lake quilt on her but she just did not like that fabric but she just LOVES the Civil War fabric and her and I are bonding!!

Pam

House reno's that continue.......

2010-10-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

I know this has nothing to do with quilting.... but I am quilting as well...

Work to be done on the soffits...... the back of the house has been mostly painted at this point and Jim is changing the old white painted soffits with new cedar ones.

This is how they looked...see the ratty old mesh covering the soffit vents.

The change to cedar -- which was not too difficult as the new cedar is put right on top of the old soffits....I didn't get a "before" picture of the white soffits on the inside of the deck -- but they looked just as bad as the ones on the outside of the deck - trust me!

I like this photo because Jim is wearing his "Beer is my Life" T-shirt!! In this picture you can also see that the outside wall of the house on the deck is still white and the roof of the deck has yet to be washed. Most of this was done without my help - I think I was quilting this day.....and a neighbour who had a special saw was helping this day...... but finally I was called to service....

As you can see the outside wall is no longer white - the roof has been washed and the new vents in the soffits are going to be installed..... and I got to help.

Isn't that lovely..... new cedar - new vent covers... newly painted brown trim - although the brown trim around the window still needs another coat.... it really doesn't ever end!

And a nice new deck.... time for a beer!!

Isn't it lovely!! And Jim has officially declared that his work for the season on the outside of the house is finished!! Thank goodness!!!

Now for the closet.......................

Last Weekend.................

2010-10-03T21:47:00.000-07:00

Before I get to what we finished this weekend .... let's take a look at what we did last weekend - or maybe it was the weekend before - I can't remember - it all seems to blur together in a haze of sore muscles.....

After we finished the painting of the outside of the house - which is now officially "not WHITE" The new colour is Mortar.... with a little bit of Baffin Island and Dark Chocolate Brown trim - we still have yet to paint the white doors - which will be Carmel Apple - like the garage door.

Once the paint was dry - it was time to move the wood pile back to where it belongs - under cover - right up against the newly painted house - but away from the rain. The wood pile had been under a tarp on the lawn for the better part of the summer and we had a very rainy September so we needed to move it.
I got to help!

Here is Jim - as more than half the wood pile is moved by the time I decided I needed to take pictures.... so the wood pile went from here....................

To here....................

The other half of the wood pile.

Jim has a bit of a hoarding instinct when it come to wood. He will come to a dead stop if driving down the highway and sees a tree down that would be good burning wood -- like a Cherry tree - or Arbutus... it's a bit of an illness I think. When they were building the new highway there we all kinds of trees being cut down and Jim would go back at 6 AM with his chainsaw and truck and pillage the dead fall. Lord knows you can never have enough firewood!

Then as I was looking around the back yard I realize what a total disaster it was - Good Heavens -- I need a picture of this mess....

Old bird cage...( poor Abigail) -- dead washing machine... lawn mower --- what a mess!!

So a picture of the front of house --- which looks lovely after I swept up all the dead leaves. That was one of my assigned tasks - after moving the wood pile!!

I did get to go to a Quilting retreat on Saturday though - QBTB - and I worked on the Civil War BOM for almost 10 hours and I finished 3 blocks!!

More to come -- and the back yard looks much better this weekend -- bird cage is gone!!

Photo of the day

2010-10-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

I know I have been neglecting my blog lately -- as usual. I have been working a lot lately and Jim has been cracking the whip with a bunch of house reno work lately - so if I haven't been at work I have been helping with painting/washing/moving wood piles/hauling junk etc at home.

Picture of the day~~~~~

The other morning I got up to find this collection of glasses in the bathroom -- on Jim's side of the bathroom counter....... is this really necessary????

Celebrate the Sockeye

2010-09-15T21:20:00.000-07:00

This is a year to celebrate the sockeye - so my Salmon Biologist husband tells me! He has been out on a couple of fishing boats this summer and with a 34 million return this year we are all celebrating the sockeye here on the west coast of B.C. and maybe all over Canada.

I have a few pictures he took this summer.

This picture was taken just a couple of weekends ago at the mouth of the Fraser River - in the picture you can see all the little splashes of water - those are jumping sockeye - just a few of the 34 million!

Jim took another trip to the West Coast of Vancouver Island -- known to him as Area 20.

He spent the day on a fishing boat - mostly watching I suspect.

And eating!!

The season has come to an end. We are planning a trip to the Adams River in October to see the Adams River Sockeye spawn. I have never been there but this year is going to be a good one - so I have been told.

I have been working a lot this past week - 5 shifts in one week - so this post has sat in my list of posts to edit for about 10 - waiting for me to finish.

I am off this week - with a cold - and I am totally and completely annoyed. I had a cold last March and I feel one cold every other year is plenty - so two colds in one years is unacceptable. I don't think this one is as bad - and I have things to do this week so I am just going to do them!!

Gibsons Fibre Arts Festival

2010-08-31T09:52:00.000-07:00

I belong to a little Friday stitching group sort of know as the "Gathered Threads" although we also call ourselves the "Loose Thread" as it is a pretty casual bunch and we quite often will invite any one that happens to wander by looking remotely like a quilter to join us for the afternoon. I also will lovely refer to them all as my "Quilting Peeps" Last Friday a few of us took a little day trip to the Gibsons Landing B.C. for the Fibre Arts Festival. It was a very small show - with a quite a large Merchants's Mall - we was heavily weighted in the Fibre end of the Arts.

Here is Dianne and Sharon - smiling for the camera as we have our morning Starbucks fix waiting to get on the Ferry at Horseshoe Bay. It was a gray day in the morning but it quickly became a lovely sunny afternoon.

A few photos of some of the items on display at the Festival. Some items I took pictures of the labels and some I did not.

This was an amazing little fruit bowl all made from felted wool.

This small quilt was made by Gail Hunt. Gail was one of the founding members of the quilt guild I belong to and she wrote a book called Quiltworks across Canada.
It is a great book.

The photo doesn't really do the quilt justice. It is just full of texture and detail.

This is called "The Eyes Have It" by Trisha Joel of Gibsons B.C. "It is screen printed fabric suggesting eyes and the red suggests danger" I was quite drawn to this quilt - must be the eyes!

There were a series of quilts hanging together on a wall with this label. The picture is a bit blurry. Jim had the new camera and I was back working with the small little Canon - obviously not working well with it!

They were all done by a Carola who is a local quilt shop owner in Gibsons. I have no idea how she found time to make these quilts. I have had Carola at our quilt show's Merchant's Mall a couple of times and Carola works non stop - she is always at the many quilt shows with a booth. She is a great person and has a shop in Gibsons called Carola's Quilt Shop.
After seeing her booth at so many quilt shows I finally got to go into her actual shop and spend money there!

There was this beautiful piece - it is all felted wool.

Here is another piece that caught my eye. Of course I don't have a picture of the label and I can't remember the details.

This one is called "Mandala" and it is felted wool. It is by Hieke Fink of Prud'Homme Sk.

This one is called "On and Off the Grid" by Janet Tufnall of Sechelt B.C. It is layers of fabrics that have been slashed and sewn and maybe slashed again. Quite interesting.

The were a few items there that would not really be in the Fibre part of Fibre Arts - but lovely to look at none the less.

My favourite of these was this hand painted little gourd. It is by Gloria Micheal from Half Moon Bay B.C.
It was for sale for $200.00... which I thought was a pretty reasonable price.

This shawl was the piece that won Best of Show. It certainly was lovely.

Most of the items were for sale and I could have bought a couple of things!! But I didn't. I'd love a dragon fly gourd....

The show was really heavy in the wool - knitting, weaving, felting etc and only a few quilts. The merchant's mall was also mostly wool shops with only a couple of booths selling fabric. So ---- I decided maybe I should try my hand at KNITTING..... LOL. But I found a little free pattern and bought the required supplied and decided to try making a pair of socks.

I am hoping that the knitting ladies at my Friday Stitch group will guide me along. I started the "tension test" piece last Friday and I think I maybe should knit a scarf first. Maybe socks was a bit ambitious. But it is supposed to be a very simple pattern.... no heel as they are tube socks. But really....... socks....... what was I thinking!! I have done some knitting in the past but I think it was probably 30 years ago. So first maybe I will head down to somewhere like Micheal's and get a pattern and wool for a scarf. It seemed like such a good idea at the time!

It is raining today - it hasn't rained here in a long time and we really need the rain so I won't complain. I am hoping to finish up the quilting on the table runner and put the binding on today.....but first coffee and maybe a bit of the Y&R!!

Abbotsford Air Show

2010-08-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

At the Abbotsford Air Show this year there was a flying Avro Lancaster on display. Jim's father was a pilot in the RCAF in Second World War and flew this airplane in Bomber Command.

Jim had the opportunity at the Air Show to spend some time with the crew and go up in the plane and even sit in the pilot's seat. He was pretty thrilled with the day. We got the see the plane fly. There are only two flying Lancasters left in the world and one of them is in Hamilton Ontario. I think the other is in England.

Jim belongs to a Lancaster Forum on line and has met some of the crew involved with this plane on line but he got to meet a few of his internet friends in person this weekend.

A few pictures of Jim's adventure.

Jim in the pilots seat -- the fellow standing beside him is a crew member and a member of Jim's online forum as well. All the crew members are volunteers and spend hours and hours maintaining this plane.

Jim was just so thrilled to be able to sit in the pilot's seat - even for just a few minutes. Jim's dad flew a lot of operations in these planes. His dad died in 1994 - just a few weeks after we got married.

Jim has a picture of his dad just like this one - taken during the war.

This is Lisa - one of the members of Jim's online forum as well as a volunteer member of the crew. Lisa's grandfather was a pilot in the war as well and belonged to the same Squadron as Jim's dad and flew a couple of the same planes as Jim's dad although they did not seem to know each other during the war and Jim and Lisa discovered their connection through the forum.

Here is Jim walking beside some of the crew and the plane as it is being towed out to the runway for a flight.

It was quite a special day for Jim and his friends from the Lancaster Forum made it all possible for him.

What have we been doing this week!

2010-08-04T22:20:00.000-07:00

First of all I just finished working a couple of night shifts!! This past couple of week has been very busy. My sister and her husband came for a short visit - driving through on their motorcycles. That was fun!

I have been quilting a bit here and there. I am working on the table runner that will go perfect with the new "decor" which we call -- Whistler West Coast Contemporary - or WWCC for short!

The fabric is Moda - Misty Mountain or Misty Evening or something like that - the table runner was a kit for our LQS -- The Cloth Shop

See how well it goes with the slate stones on around the fireplace.

It was hard to get a picture with both the table runner and the fireplace in view to get a real feel of the new table runner. I am very happy with it. As you can tell it is not finished - but I did buy some backing fabric for it on my travels this summer so I hope to finish it soon.

I have also been puttering away on my Fat Quarter Club BOM Civil War Quilt. I am sewing it together on my Featherweight - so that is sitting on my sewing table and I work on it every so often.

Jim has been busy as well. He is working on the painting and re-finishing the back of the house. We need to repaint all the white trim brown and he has been busy sanding and re-finishing the soffits and fascia board and posts at the back of the house.

The Soffits were all...... hmmm the word ... crappy looking??? anyway they have all been sanded and refinished now!! Jim has been working hard. The goal is to get rid of ALL the WHITE!!

White posts ---- soon become brown posts...... actually I think they may eventually become cedar posts!

They now look a bit like they have been carved out of chocolate..... but better than white!

We have also had a couple of "events" here this week. First of all - the day my sister was here my Whirlpool Duet Sport Washer that we bought in December 2008 blew out all it's bearing with a lot of noise and excitement!! Apparently it is not under warranty and the cost to fix it is the cost of a new washer..... buyer beware - Whirlpool was not very helpful and we are now getting a new LG washer delivered on Saturday. Unfortunately -- Jessica and the babies are coming for a week on Friday - so going without a washer is not an option!! What timing!!

And today Jim blew out another tire on his car - so apparently he needs a new set of tires....... so needless to say Jim is a bit cranky tonight. I --- am happy to have finished my night shifts and have my little grandbabies come for a visit.....so Life is okay.... and tomorrow I will go for a lovely walk with Jenny and life will be a bit better..................

A new camera

2010-07-31T11:55:00.000-07:00

Before I left on my trip to Calgary and Cranbrook this summer Jim decided he needed a new camera. Jim always enjoyed taking pictures and slides with his Nikon camera when film was still used. Once the change to digital occurred we bought a little point and shoot digital camera and just took touristy pictures when we traveled. Recently I was told that most of the old Nikon lenses that he had in his camera bag would still fit on the new digital Nikon cameras. So after much research - in true "Jim Style" he decided to buy a new Nikon D90. And I got to take it on holiday and play around with it.

It has a ton of cool features that I discovered while playing around with it taking pictures of the babies in Calgary. I took lots of pictures and deleted lots of pictures!

Once I got to Cranbrook I did not take as many pictures but I did manage to take a few around the old family property.

Cranbrook has quite the deer problem and these are a couple of pictures of the deer right in my parents back yard. There is a You tube video floating around out there of a deer in Cranbrook that had just given birth and then attacked a dog that the doe thought was getting a little too close for comfort. There are just hundreds of deer wandering the streets of Cranbrook -- every year I go there it seems there are more and more deer around.

This is a picture of the old barn out the back. It was lovely and green this year and not too hot - which was nice. Some summers I go there it is well in the 30's and just too darn hot for me.

Not super technical pictures but I am certainly enjoying the new camera. Maybe now I will blog a bit more!!!

The Grandbabies

2010-07-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

I know I have not been around much lately. I have been busy - and I actually have been doing a bit of quilting - but not much.

I just got back from a nice visit in Calgary with the Grandbabies!!

Phoenix is just a little dolly!! I haven't seen her since Christmas and she was only 6 weeks old. She is now 8 months and she is such a little girl. She LOVES her brother and is starting to stick up for herself and grab the toys back that Hunter took from her. She really looks like Jessica.

One of my favourite pictures of her.

Sitting by the pool - she is such a cutie!

Hunter is just a joy. He is fully of life - curious and determined and non stop action!

Looking more like a little boy than a baby these day. He LOVES his sister!!

It was a great visit - although the weather was terrible!! Pouring rain and 8 degrees Celsius!! I always say that whatever time of year it is -- if you go to Calgary you must pack for all 4 seasons!!

Jim's Big Excitement.

2010-06-24T18:55:00.000-07:00

I have a quilt show story to tell.

On the first day of the quilt show Jim was home from work for the day and he always likes to come and see the quilt show. So he arrived Friday - I gave him a little wave I a caught a glimpse of him paying to get in to the show. I was very busy the first day of the show. Some time later I saw him again coming out of the show -- with such excitement he grabs me and says "we were the inspiration for someone's quilt" I have no idea what he was talking about but he was so excited!! And he dragged me into the gym to show me the quilt....

I know this quilt - I have seen this quilt be created and quilted at a number of QBTB's and a couple of Bowen Island retreats.

And so I read the description.

Jim was so excited!! I told Jo Ann she totally made Jim's day!! She was actually quite surprised that he had attended the quilt show - and completely impressed that no only did he look at the quilts but that he was actually reading the descriptions - which she thought was pretty good for a husband. The cute thing was to see Jim so completely excited that he was an inspiration for a quilt. And I must say that the work that Jo Ann did to quilt the fish on the quilt was amazing --- it is a HUGE quilt and she had this one little stencil that she used and just a regular sewing machine.... amazing... great job. And thanks so much for making Jim's day!!! He is still talking about it :)))

A Few Pictures from the Quilt show

2010-06-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

I am going to post a few pictures I took at the show. I was so busy that I was never able to see the whole show at once.

This quilt is a wool BOM quilt that I am actually working on from Creative Edge -- I really love the setting of this quilt - the small squares of wool to outline each block -- fabulous!! I have two blocks completed and I am working on my third block. It certainly gives me motivation to finish!

I thought this quilt reminded me a bit of the Picasso Exhibit at the Met in New York.

This quilt is made by an elderly gentleman in our guild. He spoke at our last meeting. I think he started quilting when he was in his 70's and he designs his quilts on an Excel spreadsheet and then hand dyes silk and cotton to construct them. It is amazing.He had a couple of quilts in the show - I really like the two moons and the colours in this quilt.

His description of the quilt.

Queen Elizabeth -- looking regal!

This quilt was really well done - it won a ribbon. Our show is not a judged or juried show and we give a"Viewer's Choice" and" Member's Choice" Ribbons.

This quilt - the Sashiko was machine stitched -- amazing how perfect the machine sashiko stitching was. Beautiful!! And on the machine!

A fabulous and colourful New York Beauty -- on my "to do" list!

Beautiful sunflowers. We had Ruth McDowell come one year and do some workshops - I never got a chance to read the description of these Sunflowers but I wonder if they were from her workshop.

This quilt was all about the endangered species that we have in the world and it has small images of the different endangered animals and a Tree of Life is quilted in the centre of the quilt. Very well done. I don't know if you can get a better look at it if you can enlarge the picture.

These next two quilts were great examples of how to get a striking quilt with scraps and the shadow effect - I really like both of them.

I have a few more photos but that's all for this post. Stay tuned!

The Lions Gate Quilters Guild Quilt Show

2010-06-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

I have been very busy since I got back from New York with the Quilt Show. I was the organizer of the Merchant's Mall. This year we had a new venue and 17 merchants -- much larger than our previous shows. For many years we would just have 5 merchants at our shows - last show we had about 9 merchants. This year I think we had a great selection of merchants. Quite a few of the merchants were from out of town - places we quilters from this area don't get to shop at very often.

A few pictures as I wandered around the room just as we were opening up on Friday morning. Not great pictures and I didn't take that many as I was so busy!!

There was Hamel's Fabrics from Chilliwack - they have been attending our shows from the beginning. They have a very large online business and I love their prices - they have great sales - great kits and Pauline is wonderful to work with every time she comes.

There was Quilters Dream Fabric which had beautiful batiks -- I spent a bit of money there! This was her first year at our show.

I had the room set up with merchants around the perimeter and then a short row of booths in the centre so it was easy to walk around. It was just jam packed full of beautiful colours - fabric, beads, pattern, wool.

Eileen Neill Studio's from Vancouver Island. Eileen sells beautiful beads and now she is selling little silk screening templates and will make templates from photo's that people send her. We are going to get her to do a class on silk screening - it is really cool what she is doing with the silk screening. I took a beading class from her one year and then spent tons of money on beads!!

Hand dyed wool from Wool Penny Rugs -- hand dyed right here in my little area of the world! Oh - and I spent a bit of money there as well!! You have to support the merchants you know!!

A couple of shops from out of town were Katja's Quilt Shoppe from Kamloops B.C. Katja had a jam packed booth and lots of great fabric and kits.

And Di-Versity Quilt Shop from Pritchard B.C. Both were great additions to our Merchant's Mall this year.

Here is the Di-Veristy shop with another quilt shop owner having a look around - the merchant's really seemed to enjoy the weekend - even to the point of shopping at each others shops!! Di-Versity had some really cool kits made up. I can't seem to find a web page for them and they are quite off the beaten track in a little town that only has a gas station on the highway.
A local shop that we have in North Vancouver was there for the second year - great fabric from South Africa as well as great batiks and kits - plus some really cool Melly and Me patterns and stuff - Creative Edge Quilt Shop in North Vancouver -- can't seem to find a web page for that shop either.

There were a few other shops from out of town that I didn't get pictures of but were really great to have at the show.

Aldersprings Design from Gibsons B.C

Carola's Quilt Shop from Gibsons B.C

The Quilted Bear from Ladner B.C

Victorian Cottage Treasures from Creston B.C

Stitches from Salt Spring Island B.C

Classic Stitch from Surrey B.C

I hope you enjoy the virtual Merchant's Mall -- I'm going to go make some coffee now and get my purchases out of the trunk of the car and see what it is I actually bought - and ~~hide it all~~ mix it in with the rest of my fabric before Jim gets home from work!!! LOL

Finally a post about the fabric I brought back from New York

2010-06-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

First here is a picture of the Statue of Liberty from the plane!! We never did get to the Statue of Liberty -- but that is okay because we will go next time!! And there will TOTALLY be a next time!! I am in love with New York -- although I knew I would be before I even left. I have always wanted to go there and it lived up to all my expectations and then some. I must have been a New Yorker in a previous life!!

I did buy fabric -- of course, what else would a true "Fabric Collector" do in New York.

I went to The City Quilter and bought some New York themed fabric. I bought a couple of yards of these two fabrics for myself - I bought a few fat quarters of various prints to cut up and give to my Friday stitch group ladies as well. My favourite New York fabric is the blue city scape fabric - the colours are really lovely in real life. I have no idea yet what I will do with it.

I bought this 1/2 yard bundle from the Purl Bee in Soho. I really loved the little owls and the purple fabric in the bundle - and good price for the shop - which was a little more expensive but was a very cute little shop. I would have loved to get a little bit of Liberty of London fabric - which they had a fabulous selection. At $35.00 a yard -- or a nice little bundle of 6 fat quarter for $95.00 it was a little too rich for my fabric collection --- now maybe if I was in London.......

I bought this little mini panel from the City Quilter. They had larger panels as well but this will be just the perfect size for some little New York project -- with my New York fabric....... maybe I need to make a New York Beauty!! Or maybe I just need to add it to my collection. Pretty soon I may need some new Ikea shelves.

I bought this fabric for Andrew's girlfriend - Anri. I gave it to her last weekend, she loved it. Neither of us know for sure what she will do with it but you certainly can't find this fabric in Vancouver. I bought it the first day we wandered in to the City Quilter and by the time I went back a few days later they were all sold out of all yardage and just had a few fat quarters of the Peace/Love fabric. I bought her 1 1/2 yards of each - I thought she could make a bag or something, the pattern is quite large. It is definitely pretty cool fabric.

I have been busy since I got home -- first thing I had to do is work a couple of night shifts! And I have been busy with the Lions Gate Quilters Guild Quilt Show which is June 11th and 12th. I am in charge of the Merchant's Mall --- good plan to put the "Fabric Collector" in charge of the Merchant's Mall!!!! I have organized a fabulous bunch of merchants - I think...... It will be our biggest Merchant's Mall ever -- 15 Merchants - most of them from outside of the Vancouver area. So if you live in the Vancouver area please come to the Quilt Show -- June 11th and 12th at the Delbrook Rec Centre in North Vancouver -- 600 Queens Road - it will be a great show!! There is more information and a map to the show on the website so just click on the above link.

Happy stitching!

The New York Yankees

2010-05-15T06:31:00.000-07:00

We went to the baseball game last night. This is the view from our seats!!
It was great fun -- I had a hard time choosing who to cheer for - The Yankee's or the Twins......

A local boy from Vancouver area plays for the Minnesota Twins ---- Yah Justin!!!

Here he is up to bat --- gets a good hit and bats a runner in to score ---- 4 - 3 Twins.....Yah Justin!!!

Up to bat Alex Rodirguez --- hits a Grand Slam -- 7 - 4 Yankees .... Yah Alex!!!

That was pretty much the end of the game - but the Yankees scored one more run and we left the stadium along with the thousands and thousands of people. What a blast!!

Good luck to the Twins for the games today --- we are off to the 9th Ave. Food Festival....

New York just keeps on getting better

2010-05-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

We have been quite busy the past couple of days. We wandered around Soho and the Lower East Side yesterday. Lots of walking again.

In Soho I was able to go into The Purl Wool and Quilt shop. They have a new shop which has both the wool and fabric - instead of the two separate shops. Cute little shop - and I did buy myself a lovely little bundle of fabric. I was coveting the Liberty fabrics the shop has there -- but a small stack of Liberty Fat Quarters was $95.00!! A little too much for me!

I did take a couple of pictures of the new shop - a long and narrow space - full of colour!

We also wandered into the Lower East side and we had a Pastrami Sandwich at Katz's deli.. Now that was an experience!! This is the deli that was in the movie - "When Harry Met Sally" It was frantic and crowded and the sandwich was fabulous - a bit pricey - but the people watching was worth the price of the sandwich and the pickles were to die for!

After a busy day walking for another 6 hours - which seems to be our daily average - we came back to the apartment - had a little rest - I snoozed and snored - until 5 PM. We then hopped on the Subway for a quick trip to Times Square and got Theatre tickets for the Broadway play "Race" with James Spader - who I love!! The play was great - James Spader was fabulous and we had wonderful seats - and we just missed the "package left in Times Square" incident by a few minutes.

This morning we headed out early to spend the morning at the American Museum of Natural History.

It is HUGE - 5 Floors!! We saw as much as we could - I think you have to be selective there because you could never see it all in one visit -- hmmmm - I guess we will have to come back to New York!

Then -- It was off to see the David Letterman Show -- How fun was that!!

The guests were Micheal Keaton and Jenna Fischer from "The Office" Micheal Keaton was a real hoot!! What a once in a life time experience - I was so surprised that we got tickets. Another great day - I think we are starting to get tired though.................................

The Friendly Giant --- Look Up - Way Up........

2010-05-11T20:27:00.000-07:00

Day Two in the Big Apple

2010-05-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

Today was the day to head "Uptown". First thing though we went off to Joe -The Art of Coffee - definitely worth the stop.

Then we headed to the Subway to get our Metro Card and the subway map -- next stop - north bound to Time Square.....
Except......as I studied the map on route -- Jim announced -- just as the subway was leaving a station -- "This stop is 42nd Street and Time Square....... so... we waited for the next stop!

We got off at 50th Str. - so this is the first photo of Uptown.. we then got back on the subway - south bound to Time Square.

Getting out at Time Square station -- we came out from underground and had no idea where Time Square actually was! What we were looking for was the Ticket booth - that sold the same day Broadway show tickets....

What we found was Bryant Park...... which was lovely...

We wandered around Bryant park -- me following behind. As you can see up on the right there was a living art display taking place - it was called "Walk the Walk"

Bryant Park is a very pretty little park - very close to Time Square! And well known to all of us who watch "Project Runway"

We did eventually find Time Square - and the Ticket booth. As you can see from the pictures Time Square was teaming with people on a beautiful sunny day. Heaven knows how we missed it!

Next we headed out to find Rockefeller Center -- that seemed almost as difficult! We did manage to first find Radio City Music Hall.

Finally after more wandering we found what we were looking for - Rockefeller Center.

Look up......Way up..... and I'll call Rusty!! I think only Canadians will know what that means -LOL

We decide to take a tour to the "Top of the Rock" Fabulous! Fantastic! Amazing!!

Don't we just look like a couple of tourists!!

I took 172 pictures today - we walked from 11 AM until 5 PM - not quite as far as yesterday. We had another wonderful dinner in Greenwich Village and now for some big news.....
We got tickets to go see David Letterman on Wednesday!!! Totally Cool!!!

We have decided we are going to be staying - maybe we will head back to Vancouver for Christmas..........

New York City!!

2010-05-09T19:07:00.000-07:00

We have arrived in the Big Apple!!

Our first view of the city as we are in the taxi. We came in to New York through the Holland Tunnel. It is a very long tunnel under the Hudson River. Quite cool!! Everything is New York is something you've heard of before on TV or in the movies... driving through Jersey City - the New Jersey Turnpike -- I kept thinking of The Soprano's all the way from the airport -LOL

We have a very cute little place to stay in a very "happening" part of the city.
Greenwich Village is full of great little restaurants and old building and thousands of people. The building that was on the show "Sex and the City" is just around the corner. The coffee shop from "Friends" is near by. So far we have been out to dinner in two very good restaurants - and I think we could go to a new restaurant every day for 6 months - that is how many there are in walking distance from where we are staying.

Jim in our new little home away from home..... or maybe our new home!! I think it will be hard to leave!

The view across the street from our apartment. Apparently the building across the street was once owned and occupied by Mick and Bianca Jagger.

This is the building where we are staying.

We have been walking all day today. We left early this morning and walked down 14th Street to the High Line Park which runs above the street along the Hudson River. It is a new walkway that is being developed from an old, unused train track. It is still under construction but about a mile and a half are completed for walking. It is a very interesting walk and we really enjoyed the sites from above the street level.

This is part of the walk - it doesn't look like it is above the street but it really is. There are plants growing "wild" through the old train tracks.

The Hudson River.

A few of the street from the walkway.

I always seem to be following behind Jim - because I am always stopping to take pictures - and then most of my pictures end up being pictures of Jim - walking up ahead!!

After walking west to the Hudson River we headed back to the Greenwich area and then started walking north - we walked up to Washington Square park and then up 5th Ave.

We walked and walked.....

We walked all the way up 5th Ave from 4th Street to 25th Street -- where I "remembered" that The City Quilter was on 25th street - between 6th and 7th Ave -- could you believe we were so close!!

Jim thought that they might not be open on Sunday..........

So we walked and shopped........Now that was a good day!!

This post is for Kim

2010-04-18T20:32:00.000-07:00

Kim from Still Meadow wants to know when I am coming ashore!! I have been busy!!

Mostly I have been working - I worked 7 days in 14 - I still have a few more days to work before I am rewards with a trip to Washington State for a little vacation. And then the beginning of May we are going to be flying to NEW YORK CITY!!!! for 8 nights!! I have always wanted to go to New York. We have rented a little one bedroom apartment in the "West Village" we will be almost real New Yorkers!! I have found 2 quilt shops close by -- The Purl in Soho and The City Quilter.

We have been busy with the prawn pots --- STILL!! I am totally excited about the end of prawn season!! I have been out pulling the "pawn prots" more than I really think is necessary now. I have discovered that Jim is a bit of a hoarder! And I keep saying "pawn prots" instead of "pawn pots"

I was off yesterday with my Friday stitch group to a Craft and Sewing sale and I picked up this table runner kit.

It looks like it was made to match the new slate on the fireplace.

It is a simple 4 patch design - I think it will be perfect for the table. Now I just have to make it.

I am also working hard on the salmon table runner. My quilt guild is having a show in June and I am going to put the salmon in the show. It has been a big even to machine blanket stitch around all those edges!! And the number of threads to pull through and bury and clip!! Quite the event -- hence I have been far to engrossed in tying off thread to actually blog about anything! That is my excuse and I am sticking to it! LOL

A couple of pictures of the Prawn boat

2010-03-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

I was able to take a couple of pictures of the "Prawn Boat".

As you can see it is a very sophisticated system!!

At least I didn't go overboard!!! Oh yes -- there is a story to that. I came home to his last helper walking around the house in my white fluffy dressing gown -- he went overboard!! Jim ended up rowing the boat - with a foot of water - back to shore with the helper hanging on to the stern --- LOL. Always an adventure :)))

Adventures in Prawning

2010-03-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

We have a little rowboat - a small flat bottomed - very hard to row - rowboat - and some prawn traps.

This past winter Jim - and a very strong young man - Zack - have been setting out from our house - using the little rowboat - which is down at the beach - and setting out the prawn traps. A couple times a week we get a nice little load of prawns.

Yesterday he didn't have anyone to help so I volunteered to be Zack -- I have been going to the gym - I figure I am much stronger than I was a couple of months ago. Oh boy - it was HARD work. The tide was very low and we had to pull the flat bottomed HEAVY rowboat off the TOP rack of the boat rack. Carry it MILES!! to the water over slippery rocks. And then row! I am not a very good rower - one arm is stronger than the other and I tend to go in circles - and being left handed I sometimes get my left and right confused and then I circle even more - so Jim did most of the rowing. But I did a LOT of pulling. We collected 6 traps - two traps per line -- the lines are like 10 thousand feet of wet rope!! By the end of the almost 3 hours it took --- we collected about 8 1/2 pounds of prawns -- and we didn't have to share them with Zack and I required a big dose of Advil.

Here is what the bucket of live prawns looks like -- these are B.C Spot Prawns.

A bowl of prawn tails -- ready for freezing or cooking. If we cook them fresh Jim likes to leave some of the heads on the prawns so he can suck the heads --ewwwwww...

I have very little to do with the prawns. Jim prepares them and then he is the one that makes all seafood dishes in our house.

He made this Prawn and Salmon Red Thai Curry last weekend -- it was fabulous. And I make really - really good rice! So for this I am happy to help out pulling the prawn traps on occasion -- but boy -- my shoulders are still stiff this morning.

On the quilting front I have been working on the Fat Quarter Shop Civil War BOM. These are the first two blocks. I have started cutting out the blocks from Month Two.

Happy National Quilting Day. I am hoping to do some quilting today - although it is a beautiful sunny day here today and it really is such a shame to be inside. Maybe I can sit on the deck and hand stitch some Dear Jane blocks......hmmmm.........maybe I need a glass of wine......Happy stitching :)))

A bit of quilting

2010-03-08T22:29:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a bit of quilting during the past few weeks while watching the Olympics on TV. Unfortunately I have put my Dear Jane to the side for the last little while -- I really MUST get back to it!!

I have been working on a wool BOM from my LQS --Creative Edge in North Vancouver. The blocks are from this book.

The wool fabric of the BOM and it is hand dyed from a local person right here in my area -- Wool Penny Rugs I have been collecting wool and patterns for a while now and I am finally working on one and quite enjoying the ease of the wool applique. Ah - well -- what is one more project on the go!

Block One

Block Two -- there are 16 blocks altogether.

The blocks are sitting on the lovely silk pillows that Anri brought me back from Thailand!

The other project that I have up on my design wall right now is the Fairy quilt for little Phoenix. I was thinking of putting it together sort of like this - with the blocks around the centre piece on just the three sides. There are some small flower squares as well that I want to put around as well.

I bought some more fabric in Portland to go with this quilt and then some of the prettiest fairy fabric for the backing. I am planning on making a bigger sized quilt -- more bed sized than crib sized - which will be good since she will probably be out of the crib by the time she gets it!! But Jessica has a some beautiful baby quilts that she is using now so I think this one can wait until she is a bit older. Although I had better get working on it - knowing me it could end up being a graduation present!

We just finished watching about 1/3 of the movie "Get Smart" Boy was that a terrible and stupid movie - and it didn't resemble the original TV show in any way what so ever. I really loved that old TV series with Don Addams. Well - at least we didn't waste too much time watching it - and it was on the PVR - I just pressed "delete".......

I have had quite the bad cold the past week - but I am starting to feel better finally this weekend... those Olympics just wore me out!! Finally got back to the gym today after a week of coughing too hard to ride an exercise bike. Hopefully I don't pay for it tonight....

Now back to real life

2010-03-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

It was hard to decide what to say in this post, so it has taken a few days. I have so many pictures I didn't know which pictures to use.... so many memories. It certainly has been something we will never see the likes of around here again.

We have been living under the "what will happen when the Olympics are here" umbrella for as long as we have been living in our house. The new highway has been under construction for most of the 8 years we have been here. We have been "talking" about the Olympics for all these years.... an now they are over. It is so hard to believe.
And I enjoyed them much more than I thought I would. We went downtown on 3 separate occasions and mingled in the crowds. We did not wait in long lines for much. We did not have a Japadog. There are many things we can do when the crowds are gone. We got downtown on one of the last nights to take some pictures of the city and the flame at night.

The Cauldron was beautiful at night.

The streets were full of people celebrating. It was a much younger crowd at night.

Bands playing and people dancing in the streets!

We watched many MANY hours of TV. There was 4 channels completely devoted to live coverage of all the events. CTV did a great job covering the Olympics. It was hard at times trying to juggle between so many live events. It got pretty stressful at times trying to watch two or three events simultaneously!

To watch Alex Bilodeau win that first gold medal.

We went to Whistler a couple of times. It was fun and easy to get there.

It was so much fun to meet all the visitors. This is a group from Austria. The young man on the far left is a huge Vancouver Canucks fan. This is his first time to Canada and he listens to all the Canucks hockey games on the internet - he has only missed two games so far!! He is a big fan of Roberto Luongo and was going to get himself a Luongo Canucks jersey. They were cheering for Canada in the hockey game.

What a hockey game!! I guess we couldn't have asked for a better ending.

One thing to clear up..... being that Roberto Luongo was playing on his home ice the local people were all doing the Looooooouuuuuuuu yell that they do so often. There was a newspaper article that stated that the Canadian fans were nice even when they were booing -- LOL!! That is because they were all Loooouuuuuuuu ing --- not booing.

I hope everyone that came to our city had a wonderful time and took away nothing but wonderful memories and maybe a pair of mittens! We really enjoyed having you here!! Thanks for the memories!

Images of Jim and one picture that is not Jim

2010-02-17T19:11:00.000-08:00

We have been out and about again. We are quite enjoying all the activity and all the excitement that is happening in our city.

A big congratulations go out to today's winners -- Yay -- Lindsey Vonn - I was cheering for you and Shani Davis -- What race!! Great day for the U.S today!! Great Day for Maelle Ricker yesterday -- Lucky Andrew was at the Snowboard Cross up Cypress to watch the race live and then won a couple of front row tickets to the medal ceremony last night -- Bare Naked Ladies!

Anyway as Jim and I are tourists in our own town - we did the touristy thing and take lots of pictures. I am the photographer and Jim often in the pictures. So I am going to post a few of our "touristy" shots.

Where is that torch????

This in in front of Canada Place - The Pan Pacific Hotel - also the media centre.

Years ago when we were traveling in Belgium and Holland it became a bit of a chuckle to see a bunch of tourists posing like this in front of all the monuments - so on every trip we now must have a few posing photos!

Then we decided we needed a few photos of Jim and the competition!! Anyone in a foreign jersey or the colours of their country was approached for a photo op!!

Norway

A couple of guys from Switzerland.

Russia -- there are a lot of these Russian jackets downtown. This guy didn't speak a word of English but he happily posed for the picture and could say the word -- HOCKEY!!

Sweden.

Today was Alberta Day at the Canada Pavilion. So here is Jim with the Mounties.

They were giving away Cowboy hats at Canada Pavilion. Jim took a hat and wore it for most of the afternoon but decided he was going to find someone to give it to before the end of the day. So I needed at least one picture of him in the hat. They were nice hats -- I kept mine.

Rocket Richard's Montreal Canadian's Jersey. That is not a great picture!

Here he is with a couple of guys from Russia -- who have been shopping up a storm.

They happily posed for the picture and then asked how to get to Pacific Centre Mall.

He was quite thrilled when Jim told him he could keep the hat!
Off he goes to shop some more -- ready for the Calgary Stampede!

And the last picture is Howie Mandel -- who was just standing next to me at the Roots Canada store!

I asked him if I could take his picture and he said - sure. Not a bad picture of him! And then I told him it was so crazy busy in Roots that we were going to go and come back to shop when it was a little quieter. I should have told him how much I liked him in St. Elsewhere.............................

Images of Vancouver

2010-02-16T09:41:00.000-08:00

It is pretty exciting downtown Vancouver right now. We spent yesterday wandering around the streets - having a great time -- along with a couple hundred thousand others!!

It was so much fun to see so many people downtown enjoying themselves.

These are just a few of the pictures I took as we wandered about. Yesterday was more of a fact finding mission -- to find out what exactly was going on and what we needed to see at some point during the Olympics. We found out it was VERY busy and we walked miles and miles and my feet hurt today. Jim calculates 5.4 Kms -- it felt like at least 6.8 kms!! LOL

These are the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery. There is a free Leonardo da Vinci exhibition in the Art Gallery - there was a bit of a line up so we didn't go in - but we will go back and see it before to long. I really want to see it.

There is a free zip line that goes from the Vancouver Art Gallery to Robson Square - with a huge line up of course.

This is Robson Square. There is a small skating rink in Robson Square - a few young children skating but it was not too busy on the rink.

This is LiveCity Vancouver - in here is Canada House and Manitoba House and a few other things. There is a quilt on display in Manitoba house that I want to see. There is also a First Nations Pavilion - "The Four Host Nations" which has some live performances through out the day which we will go back and see if we can get in to see one day.

This is Granville Street. There are a bunch of Olympic themes down here as well as the lanterns and displays set out for Chinese New Year.

These are lanterns for Chinese New Year. At night they are all lit up - it is supposed to be beautiful down here at night. We plan to go back in the evening to see the crowds and the lanterns and maybe catch a few live performances or try to get in to see a medal ceremony.

A picture of the massive crowds.

Here is a street performer on a unicycle juggling -- I was a little concerned he might electrocute himself if he wasn't too careful of the streetcar lines just above his head.

We saw many - MANY Canada hockey jerseys --lots of whole families decked out in them.

Lots of uniforms and jerseys from countries all over the world -- lots of Russians. This is just outside the "Olympic Superstore" at The Bay - there was a line up to get in there as well.

And lastly the Torch. The torch is on the waterfront and those are the North Shore mountains in the background. Cypress Mountain is on the far left of the picture. West Vancouver is straight ahead and North Vancouver and Grouse Mountain would be to the right - not in the pictures.

Valentine's Day 2010

2010-02-15T17:25:00.000-08:00

We have been very busy here with the necessary watching of the Olympics. We also were away in Portland Oregon for 5 days. Jim had meetings in Portland and I was a tag along. I visited the Japanese Gardens - which were lovely and of course Fabric Depot!!

We are now right immersed in Olympic mode here in Vancouver. It has been quite fun so far and we are early on...

Last night we had a nice Valentine's dinner as we watched the Olympics on TV and most excitedly watch Alex Bilodeau win Canada's first Gold medal.

Dinner was a Belgium theme as Jim tried to re-create the meal we had in Belgium 16 years ago when he proposed to me in a little cafe in the centre of Bruges

Belgium endive with goat cheese and shrimp with a bit of spicy lime hot sauce -- nothing to do with the dinner in Bruges - but very tasty!

Jim was very busy most of the day cutting up vegetables and making a chicken stock - I think the chicken stock took 4 hours! Although he said it didn't.

The meal -- it was a dish that was sort of like a chicken stew but it was made with chicken and chicken stock and angel hair pasta baked with Gruyere cheese top. He really did a good job this time. We have tried to re-create this dish before without success - it is hard to keep the angel hair pasta from becoming over cooked and clumpy. It was very good - well worth 4 hours of chicken stock cooking!

My contribution to dinner was a plum cake - make from plums from a plum tree we have out the back of the house. I froze a bunch this year - I am often too slow to get any plums as the bear usually beats me it.

Then the highlight of dinner was the Men's Moguls -- with the gold medal going to Alex Bilodeau.

We spent today downtown again immersed in Olympic fever!! What fun - and I have some great pictures to post - which I will do in the next post.

The excitement around here.

2010-02-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

The Olympic torch came through our little village on Thursday. It was a big party - with bands and balloons and lots of excitement. I am posting a few of the pictures I took.

You can see the stage set up here with the 2010.

Stilt walkers and the Olympic mascot - I have no idea which mascot this one is - there are three of them. We are all gathered waiting for the torch runner.

Here she comes!

I think most of the village was out for the event.

There were some young acrobats from the village preforming on the "silks" They were great to watch.

And here are a couple of pictures of Jim and I holding the touch. Ah -- we look pretty goofy but it will be something to put on the digital photo frame!! LOL

Jim is wearing his Team Canada jersey he got from Santa this Christmas.

One of the quilters from my Friday stitch group got to carry the torch earlier in the day in Gibsons - so this is her torch. It was a pretty exciting day. The torch will be winding it's way along the southwest part of B.C and then next Friday will end up at the opening ceremonies in B.C Place Stadium.

Name banner for Phoenix

2010-01-25T13:08:00.000-08:00

Instead of blogging about this - I should be finishing the banner so I can get it off in the mail.

But here I am - because I just had to post another picture of Phoenix - look at how big she is getting!!

I got this picture from Jessica yesterday - off of her Facebook page. It is amazing how she has changed since Christmas - and that was only a month ago. Jessica posted a little video as well that was so cute. She was trying to post some pictures of Hunter and Facebook was being difficult. So more of Hunter another time -- he is his usual "too cute for words"

Back to the banner!!

What's on my design wall

2010-01-20T20:51:00.000-08:00

So -- usually when I post on my blog I use the Picasa program to "blog this" For some reason it would not do that today - so I uploaded the pictures with the blogspot program. It is very different and each picture had to be uploaded individually.... I am not sure if I did it right. I supposed I should be blogging more often - that would help. I really prefer the Picasa program.

I thought I would post a few pictures of the mantel that was put on just after New Years. It is a piece of maple that is finished with a "live edge".

The reno is not completely finished - there are still a few things --- like a bedroom closet! LOL. But it is pretty well complete.   When Jessica and Dave were here for Christmas - Dave fixed (replaced) the dented hood fan - which was incorrectly installed by the contractor. I am very happy about that - so there is still a small bit of kitchen wall - behind the fan that needs to be painted.

We call this new look --"Whistler West Coast Contemporary" or WWCC --LOL    One can never take themselves too seriously! It is just nice to have it finished and know that as long as I live I NEVER have to do that again!!

The real reason for the post the quilts I have been working on this past few weeks.

I "sort of" told Jim that I would have the salmon wall hanging/table runner finished by Christmas -LOL. But it is now layered and on my sewing table as I type. I am sewing a small button hole stitch around the salmon to start with and then I will machine quilt around the salmon. It should be finished by next Christmas! It is a kit that Jim bought at a little quilt shop in Skagway in 2008 when we were on the Alaskan cruise.

The next quilt I am working on is the Morris Garden quilt.

I started it at the Bowen Island retreat last November. I soon realized that I didn't have enough fabric - so I ordered some Morris Workshop fabric this fall - and a fellow quilt gave me some fabric that was inspired by William Morris - so I have been cutting up more blocks for this quilt. I ordered some Morris Workshop -- Blue Iris fabric for the border - yesterday. So this will be an ongoing project for the next few months.

And the last thing I had up on my design wall this week is the little fairy quilt for Phoenix.

This is a group of blocks of the Cicely Mary Barker fairies. I was waiting for Phoenix to make herself known before I made her a little quilt - because this just isn't a boy quilt -LOL. I have the large Aburnumn fairy panel and I am not sure if I will make a large quilt with the small blocks going around the large fairy panel or make two smaller quilts - maybe the Aburnumn fairy as a wall hanging.

This post has taken me all day. I think I started it at 11 AM -- and now it is 8:49 PM!! Goodness.   I better go see how the Canucks are doing against Edmonton........

A knitting bag

2010-01-11T14:56:00.000-08:00

I made this bag as a gift for Jessica this Christmas. It is a knitting bag. Jessica has become quite the knitter now.

It has a Laurel Burch cat button on the flap. It is a great size for knitting project.

It matches the knitting roll that I made her last spring.

This is the blanket that Jessica gave us for Christmas. It is so thick and soft and warm!

Perfect for watching TV in the evening when it is a little cooler. Jim is cuddled up under it in this picture but that is not usually who is cuddled up under the blanket!! It is just the cosiest and warmest blanket. The nice thing about this blanket is that it is just wide enough to cover you up completely on the couch - and it is extra long to scrunch up under your chin and tuck it under your toes! It is a fabulous blanket. Jim and I have a deal with the blanket. I get it at night while watching TV and he gets it in the morning while he sits on the deck and has his morning coffee. Thanks Jess!!!

Jessica had not quite completed the blanket when they came for Christmas. So I actually helped out - holding little Phoenix and playing with Hunter as she frantically knitted on the "sweater" for Dave. She insisted she would have the "sweater" completed by Christmas morning. She was knitting it in panels - so the piece she was working on was a grey/black/grey panel. I was convinced that there was no way she could get it finished as she hadn't even begun to knit the sleeve and how was the darn thing going to go together anyway!! As it was she had it in the box for us Christmas morning. I can imagine I will be clutching my blanket as they drag me off to the nursing home when I am old and grey --- oh wait - that's now---LOL.

Happpy New Year!!

2009-12-31T17:30:00.000-08:00

A couple of cute grandbaby pictures to finish off 2009.

Phoenix in her little Christmas dress! Of course every 6 week old baby needs a Christmas dress!

And happy little Hunter in his reindeer antlers. Gosh he is so cute!!

And a picture of the whole rag tag gang of us around the dinner table on Christmas day. Nothing too formal about this bunch -LOL - I am the photographer and of course I am decked out in my Christmas finery -LOL
I couldn't even find my Christmas table runners this year -- they are still packed away in some box marked Linen closet!!

The grandbabies has gone home and I should do miss the holding of babies. I went through a bit of baby withdrawl the first couple of days -- in between the bouts of total exhaustion!! That Hunter is HEAVY!!

We are getting ready for a quiet New Years Eve with some neighbours and a bit of Prawn Thai Curry -- hopefully we can all last until midnight. If we were in Australia this would be over by now. I remember the year 2000 and watching as the TV would follow as the turning of the millenium went around the world. I think Vancouver is almost one of the last places on earth to get to the New Year -- maybe Hawaii is the last -- so it is now New Year in most of the world ---so Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T09:30:00.000-08:00

I have been busy with Christmas preparations. I baked cookies, biscotti and buttertarts in my lovely new kitchen!! I have been stitching a few Christmas gifts as well. I will have to post pictures after they have been unwrapped.

Jessica - Dave and the babies came from Calgary. Jenny has been enjoying Hunter - mostly the food dropping aspect of a two year old, but she also think Hunter should be playing with her as well -- and tries to "talk" him into throwing the ball for her.

The tree is up and decorated and it is lovely. We have not put out any of my other Christmasy items around the house because Hunter doesn't really like clutter -LOL!! He has been pretty good around the tree though and not pulled it down yet!! The mantel is still not on - so no mantel to hang our stockings with care.

A couple of baby in a box pictures -LOL

Hunter -- who has "All the features you have been looking for"

And a box turned into a bassinet for a baby.

Phoenix is such a little sweetie!! And she cries every evening right at dinner time -- doesn't seem to matter if we eat at 5 PM or 7 PM - she just doesn't want us to all be eating at the same time - that's okay - we take turns --LOL.

Merry Christmas to all!!

I am home and boy am I exhausted.

2009-11-28T21:34:00.000-08:00

I returned home after a week and a bit in Calgary and had to work a night shift -- so it was double exhausting. And boy are two babies a lot of work!! Jessica is doing fabulously with the babies - I am very proud of how wonderfully she is managing it all. Hunter is just a little going concern - walking everywhere and he doesn't miss a thing!!

A few pictures of the babies....

Here is Grand dad with little Phoenix.

Here is Great Grandma Pauline with Phoenix and Nana Pam - looking like a couple of old grannies --NOT!!
At least I hope not!

Here is little Hunter - cute as can be in his little cowboy hat -- fondly known as his "Yeehaw"

Here is a picture of little Phoenix. She is a very lovely little girl - she is not too fussy - loves to be held and cuddled and is quite content - likes to stay up until midnight though!

It was a very busy week - the weather was nice - sunny and +10 or so and I hear it rained the entire time I was away, so it was nice to be out of the rain. But nice to be home - now I need a rest!!

Thanks everyone for their wonderful comments. I just can't believe how busy it was - there were days that I didn't even think about brushing my teeth until supper time. Two babies are certainly a very good weight loss program if anyone is interested - now I must rest!!

I am off to Calgary tomorrow

2009-11-16T22:58:00.000-08:00

Okay -- two quick pictures --- Phoenix with her eyes open!!

Look at how long those fingers are!! And she has very long feet as well. She looks so calm and content.

I just finished two 12 hour shifts and I am "sort of" packed and I need to be up at 5 AM to catch a ride in with Jim. I am planning on taking the new Canada Line to the airport from downtown in the morning. But I needed to quickly post these two photo's of Phoenix with her eyes open. Gosh she is cute. I will take lots of pictures when I am there. Not much quilting will be done this week. I was thinking of taking something with me but decided not to bother. I am sure I will get lots of time to go out for nice walks with Hunter while Phoenix and Jessica are having a nap and such.
Thank you everyone for your kind comments. I will try to get on the blogs a bit in Calgary - but I might be busy!!

Phoenix Autumn Ross

2009-11-14T16:19:00.000-08:00

Finally some pictures. Jessica is home from the hospital and it sounds like she is doing pretty well. Phoenix is eating well and not crying much and sleeping well.

She is certainly a pretty little girl -- if I say so myself....

Here she is with Dad. She certainly looks a bit like Hunter don't you think.

And a picture of what Hunter was up to while Mum was in hospital. Hanging out with his little friend Lorelai.... hmmm..

Exciting News!!

2009-11-13T23:33:00.000-08:00

We have a new grand baby as of yesterday afternoon. Hunter has a little sister - Phoenix Autumn Ross. Unfortunately I have no pictures yet to share. The technology of getting pictures from a camera to nana seems to be missing this time. I think it is a problem with the camera phone and facebook. Hopefully I have pictures tomorrow. The baby was born at 4:57 PM on November 12th -- my mother's birthday. Although since I have yet to get a picture I am beginning to doubt her existance -- but I have heard her loud and clear in background of numerous phone calls. Everyone is doing well. Hunter is missing his mum I am sure - and not allowed to go to the hospital because of the H1N1 flu. I will be going to see little Phoenix and Hunter on Tuesday. Since the baby was supposed to be born sometime after November 17th - I can not go until after working this weekend.

Since I have no pictures of the baby I can show pictures of my weekend retreat at Bowen Island last week.

This is the kit that I bought in Skagway on the cruise in May of 2008. It was actually much easier to cut out than I thought it would be. I used Steam a Seam lite. It is amazing how much fabric gets cut away from the fish. I have since cut out the rest of the two borders and it is ready to be put together. The fish are not ironed at this time - just placed in position. About half way through cutting out the second fish I discovered that I had put the fish on the fabric upside down --so the second fish was opposite in colour to the first fish - red part of the fabric was on the bottom instead of on the top. I was in a panic. It was a kit and I had no more fabric - and it was going to look silly. As we all gathered around my table Sunday afternoon trying to decide what I should do - search on line for more fabric - place the fish in a different position. We actually decided we liked it better that way and all Jim really cared about was that they had green heads! So I think the colour movement in the piece actually adds to it a bit -- that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

My next accomplishment was my Morris Garden quilt. I made 20 or so blocks -- there are a LOT of half square triangles!! I am going to make as many as I can with the amount of fabric I have - which should be about 60-70 or so. Because I am still having mathmatical issues with this quilt. Thinking - obviously not clearly - I decided that each large square cut into two half square triangle would make two blocks - so 30 fat quarters -- two large squares -- four large half square triangles = 120 blocks. Except that each block required TWO half square triangles --- thus only 60 blocks - and not quite enough for the size of quilt that I thought I was making. I am sure in some previous math class some math teacher insisted that this Grade 10 algebra would one day come in handy!! To make the quilt the size I want I think I need about 72 blocks. So -- my dear friend Dianne gave me a bit of William Morris fabric from another line -- quite lovely and I ordered a few fat quarters from the new Morris Workshop line - and I think I can do this.........

A couple of pictures from the show and tell at retreat --one of my favourites was this little Red Rocks of Sedona wall hangings made by one of the ladies in my Friday stitch.

And a very pretty quilt made from a "Flower of the month" fabric club. Not a fabric club that I would have thought of joining but you just can help but feel happy when you look at a quilt just full of bright and pretty flowers.

I will post pictures of Phoenix as soon as I can. I am anxiously awaiting them!! I hear she has dark hair - like her mum and looks a bit like Hunter as well but she has very long fingers and toes -- 6 lbs 2 oz and 50 cm long and she is a very good little eater and doesn't cry too much.

Why perimenapausal women should not handle rotary cutters!

2009-11-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

I have spent the past few days getting ready for a 4 day quilting retreat. I am so looking forward to spending some quality quilting time with my favourite quilting peeps and away from the long "to do" list that still looms large.

I decided I was going to make that long planned for Morris Garden fabric "Lady of the lake" quilt. I bought a fat quarter bundle of the Morris Garden fabric quite some time ago. I have planned out exactly what quilt I wanted to make with the fabric. At first I was thinking a basket block but finally I decided on a modified version of the Lady of the Lake. I decided the best thing was to cut all the fabric before going to Bowen Island to be ready to just sew - sew - sew. I will take the little featherweight - perfect for piecing.

So I start cutting up the fat quarter bundle.

After cutting up about 18 fat quarters -- it suddenly dawns on me that 7/8 is NOT the bigger line - second from the end but it is the SMALLER line right at the end --- I knew that!! So all of my squares and triangles are cut at the 3/4 mark - not 7/8.

In a panic I decided to grab what ever two fabrics - whether they go together or not and make a quick test block to see if I can get it together by fudging the seams. There are a lot of half square triangles that have to fit along a long seam.

So I make my test block --- seems to work okay if I sew a narrow seam on the half square triangle. The block finishes up at 10 inches I have planned this whole quilt up on EQ6. Block size - quilt size - number of blocks. Planned out my fabric placement.

I don't like the block - it is too large. I am very visual and now that I have sew it together it just doesn't look right - the big triangles are too large for the small half square triangles. I just don't like it. I spend the entire night fussing and worrying and the next day I re-draft the block - the quilt - and re-figure if I have enough fabric because if I make the blocks smaller I need more - many more blocks. Oh the trauma -- And I thought quilting was supposed to be fun and relaxing!! I think I should just let it go - leave the blocks 10 inches. Jim says "leave the blocks the way they are - it will be fine" But I can't!!

So I cut 2 inches off every 8 3/4 inch half square triangle I had already cut. What a waste of fabric. I have saved the little bits - maybe I can use them in the border somehow. Although I have cut them the correct size now -- 6 7/8!! But I am still using the same size smaller triangles - so there are only 7 half square triangle around the block instead of 9. I am thinking with my muddled brain that I will have enough fabric. I had ordered extra fabric for the borders etc. My small squares are mostly still 2 3/4 instead of 2 7/8 -- so I am still going to have to work with slightly smaller seams there. Good thing fabric has some stretch!!

So this is the block. I like it. I am happy - and now I have to go back to cutting fabric -- I have a lot more fabric left to cut -- hopefully all goes well today -- if I never post again -- you know what happened!!

A recent finish

2009-11-02T08:06:00.000-08:00

This is a bag kit that I bought at the Seattle quilt show a couple of years ago. I decided I really needed to make it up and do some sewing. I finished it up last weekend at QBTB. I just wanted to show that I am starting to do something other than house renovations!!
And I discovered I have a perfect use for this bag - and I am going to make another one for a perfect reason very soon -- so that is good.

Jerusalem tiles and a table runner.

2009-11-02T08:01:00.000-08:00

These are the tiles that I ordered from Jerusalem tiles -- in Jerusalem. Now that they are all up in the kitchen I thought I would do a quick post about a table runner I am hoping to make.

There is a small group of tiles behind the stove. This is about 18 inches square.

There is a small row of them on the wall with the glass door cabinets.

And then there are Jim's fish tiles - one on either side of the window. Jim decided he wanted some cobalt blue tiles in the kitchen - so that is why we ended ordering tiles all the way from Jerusalem. I posted about that here.

I bought this fabric at the Vancouver quilt show a couple of weeks ago and just had a recent "Ah ha" moment about a fabulous table runner to compliment the new tiles. I have 10 fat quarters of this fabric - five in each bundle. The fabrics are all slightly different but the same indigo blue with a white design. I now need to find the perfect pattern. I am guessing this could take years. Kim from Stillmeadow sent me a pattern for a really lovely table runner - I think I have some great fabric for it but I don't think it will work with just the same colour blue - although my problem is I am not good at visualizing something - I really need to see it finished first and then of course it's too late. One of the big problems I had with the renovation --- How am I to tell if I like this granite - colour, whatever - from a tiny little sample!! Boy am I glad this is over -- more or less over anyway.

Our computer modem has died and I hooked up an old - very old modem - I think our very first modem. And the computer told me that it was working but it has limited use and I need a new modem -- good thing I know that! At least it seems to be working - so who knows what the computer access will be this week. I am heading off to spend the weekend quilting at a quilting retreat as well. I have a few plans as to what I am going to do there -- mostly just relax I think!! But I have a pattern for a quilt to make with the Morris Garden fabric and I am going to do a bit of cutting this week. I also have a few Christmas stockings to make.

Some of this and some of that....

2009-10-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

I have been busy --- with a little of this and that and not much of anything!!

I made myself a lunch bag to take my lunch to work with me. It is a pattern from the Moda Bakeshop blog. I made the bag much bigger than the pattern called for. It is the small bag for a charm pack. Makes up in to a great little lunch bag. Everyone at work wants one now!! Yah........... That will be my next project ---LOL. Although I did promise that I would make a Christmas stocking for the Craft fair in November.

I was at the Vancouver quilt guild's Quilt show last weekend. It was a very nice little show. There are a few pictures of the show floating around blogland. I ran into Wendy -- from Snippets of a Quilter at the show. It was so great to see her. I haven't seen her in person since last year. Wendy has some great photo's of the show on her blog. I went to the show with my Friday stitch group -- Gathered Threads... Krista has some great pictures of the show on her blog as well... at Poppyprint. Krista's latest post is about her fabulous Halloween cookies.... worth the read!

I bought a bit of fabric from my favourite African fabric shop -- Kitambaa. This is African Indigo fabric!! I bought two bundles --- as they were different. Who knows what I will do with it. Love the buttons!!

Here is a nice picture of the new kitchen/dining area now that the furniture is back. Very modern....I am loving the new kitchen. It is so much nicer to work in -- bigger, it seems so much brighter as well even though the window is not much bigger than the old window it seems so much bigger. Maybe it is the fact that the area is not so closed in and we get light from the rest of the house as well.

The stone masons have been busy this past week. They are a group of men from El Salvador. They have been doing a great job but it is slow work because they can't work in the rain and we have entered our "rainy season" so they work only a day or two here and there. They were here again today and I will put up some pictures of the front of the house when I can take some pictures in the day light.

I had a dream

2009-10-02T18:35:00.000-07:00

It has obviously been a long time since I got to enjoy my hobby of quilting. Although not as long as it has been for Jim to enjoy his hobby - he hasn't made beer in 9 months - so he tells me. And I have had a few quilting getaways - a trip to Sisters Oregon and an occasional Friday Stitch group. I meet with a group of "Gathered Threads" on various Fridays throughout the month.

I have been working quite a few night shifts in the past month. This week I worked Monday and Tuesday night and then on Wednesday the contractor was at the house all day installing the baseboards - so I didn't really get a good sleep. I sort of napped on the sofa downstairs and noise and banging made their way to my ears as I dozed. And for some reason Jenny decided she needed to be up on the sofa as I slept as well!!

And I had a dream. I invited all of my Friday stitch group over to my house for a stitch day. They were looking for some fabric to finish the back of a quilt. I offered that they could chose some fabric for their quilt from my stash.... and they took ALL of my fabric away with them!! I was so upset - calling to Jim to go after them.... they didn't even leave me a tiny scrap!! What do you think that means!! I think it is the stress of this topsy turvey house!! We are certainly getting close but the tiler -- who was supposed to come yesterday is now not coming until Monday.... as we drag into another month.

I thought a cute little Hunter picture would cheer us up. Poor little Hunter spent time this week at the Alberta Children's Hospital. He had his tonsils and adenoids removed. He had a sleep study done a number of months ago and the recommendation was to have the surgery and they got him in pretty quick. Jessica spent the night with him at the hospital. He is home now and typical baby -- much better.

Isn't he cute!!

There is a new blog in town! A member of my Friday stitch group has started a blog and I think it will be a fun blog to follow. It is called Poppyprint. Krista is a very talented quilter and photographer. Krista is the organizer of the "Quilting by the Bay" ( aka QBTB) that we quilters are lucky enough to attend. It is a day of quilting from 9 AM until 10 PM... all the food and snacks are provided and brought out to us just about the time we think we should be eating again --LOL It is a fun filled day of prizes and visiting and a nice glass of wine.

At the last QBTB that I attended Jim BBQ'd up a nice Spring salmon for all the quilters for supper and I got a pair of hand knitted socked - made by Krista's mother. I was just thrilled. I love hand knitted socks. Jessica is starting to knit - so I am hoping she can knit me socks. She wants me to sew her a nice big knitting bag -- maybe for some socks.....

And at my guild meeting a couple of months ago.... June I think. Was it really that long ago??
There is a woman - Pippa Moore - Kimambaa Designs that has organized a group of women in Africa to make a few different crafts and then the crafts are being shipped to Canada and sold through Pippa with all the money directly going back to the women. I can't remember if I blogged about this before - but I am on a bit of a roll here so if I did mention this before.... here it is again.

This is my quilty content for today. I bought these four placemats. And we have moved the dining room table back into the dining room so maybe they will get put out soon.

Finishing up the African Wedding Quilt

2009-09-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

I was able to push some things to the side and put the binding on the wedding quilt. The wedding is October 3rd - so it needed to be done! There certainly was not much room to move about as stuff is piled on top of stuff. My sewing room was the last free bit of space left until we needed to clear everything out for the floors.

Here is a picture of the quilt - back from the quilter - who did a wonderful job on quilt it - binding is on and I am stitching the binding down in the evenings as we watch some evening TV. The quilt will be ready on time - I am almost finished the binding now.

A close up of some of the detail stitching in the border. I am very happy with the result. She stitched around all the individual people in the border.

We had a very busy weekend -- which continued right through Monday and Tuesday. The floors were being refinished - by someone who knew what they were doing! They are done now and they look lovely. We are still not able to move furniture into the house. We are planning on moving some items in on the weekend.

The first hardwood floor guy that we hired was terrible had we had to fire him after 4 days of making a mess of the job. I have pictures!! Anyway the guy who we got was able to rescue us and fix most of the first guy's mess. There are a few little things that we will be stuck with though - but I am NOT going to stress out about it too much! But if anyone out there is looking for a hardwood floor refinisher -- I can tell you who NOT to get!

We spent most of the weekend doing outside work. Repainting the garage door - painting the outside of the front of the house.

And Jim spent two days on the roof with a shop vac - cleaning the needles out of the cedar shakes.

Not a great picture with the sun in the wrong place but you get the point!

I was off to the dentist this morning to have a crown put on a tooth. So I spent the rest of the day in pain - boy did it hurt when the freezing came out. But I must get all those odd bits of dental work done in the next five years so I can retire with a good set of teeth - and no dental plan!!

Jerusalem Pottery

2009-09-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day I have used the new blogspot edit program - It is a bit different and I seem to be having a bit of trouble with it -- so bear with me.

When Jim and I were deciding what we wanted in the kitchen Jim announced that he really wanted some cobalt blue tiles - and I wanted a nice little feature tile on the wall behind the new cook top. Jim went off to do some tile shopping one day while I was working and he couldn't find anything that he liked -- cobalt blue. Apparently cobalt blue colour comes from lead base glaze which is not allowed any longer.

So we did a little looking around the internet and found a site called Jerusalem Pottery
The store is actually in Jerusalem. So I sent them an email - just to see if it still existed. I got a very prompt reply and I ordered some tiles - that were quickly shipped and arrived all in good order -- all the way from Israel. And it wasn't all that expensive. Cheaper than some of the brown tile mosaics that we saw.

This is the piece that will go on the wall behind the cook top. It is 18 inches square. Don't you love it!!

We ordered a few other tiles to go around the kitchen. A few to go on the wall under the glass cabinets and then 2 fish tiles -- because Jim NEEDED fish tiles.

The kitchen is getting close to the time to get the tiles installed. I sure hope they look as lovely on the wall as they do in my quilting room.

We cooked pasta last night

2009-09-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

The new gas cooktop and oven were installed yesterday.

The sink is working - new taps - running water. The dishwasher works -- Jim is pretty happy about that one!

The kitchen was ready for use! It was fabulous to cook at a stove.

We are getting close. Unfortunately we had a little setback this week. The hardwood floors were to be refinished this week. We moved completely out of the house. Jenny went to spend the week with Lillie and the hardwood floor guy started Monday morning. He said he would be finished Thursday. He rarely showed up to work - he did a terrible job sanding and was not finished Thursday - didn't even show up on Friday (both his cell phone battery and truck battery were dead!! RIGHT!) and we fired him Saturday morning. So.... the floors are not done and we will have to go through this process again. The kitchen almost finished - although the tiles for the wall still need to be installed and the stove vent still needs to be replaced - as the guy who installed it bent it with a screwdriver. And we are leaving the blue wrapping on the fridge until the floors are finished.

I got the African wedding quilt back from the quilter last week and it looks fabulous. I just need to get some more black fabric for the binding. I am having trouble accessing my cutting table right now!

A few more finishes

2009-08-23T13:33:00.000-07:00

The fireplace is now finished except for the mantel. The ledgestone is up and the slate is on the floor around the fireplace. There is hardwood to be refinished now.

A couple of pictures of the new granite counter tops. The appliances have yet to be installed -- but the nice corner sink is in place and waiting to be plumbed.

Next to tile the backsplash.

And another picture of Jim up on a ladder painting!! Hopefully we both survive this renovation!

Last weekend I was sleeping from a night shift and about 1:30 I heard Jim calling me very loudly - I got up to find him up on a ladder on the front gable of the house but one side of the ladder had come off the house and he was hanging sideways - holding on to the gable and the sideways ladder!! Quickly I had to get a step ladder for him to transfer to or it would have been a very long fall/jump to the ground. He says better he woke me up to help him rather than wake me up to take him to the hospital with broken bones! I agree!

A few reno pictures.

2009-08-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

We have been busy - very tired. It has been very hot here for most of the month of July and today was the first day it rained in about 6 weeks. The garden is very happy for the rain - and it has been terribly neglected in all the weeks with the work of the reno. I thought I would post a few pictures of how things are coming along.

Here is a picture of the new gas fireplace. The drywall is up and the living room is waiting to be painted.

This is the living room - now painted. The colours are Baffin Island and Mortar. Very contemporary apparently. The new pot lights are in place, and all the remnant of the old drapes and valances are gone.

A couple of pictures of Jim painting the area over the basement stairs. That was pretty scary watching him precariously perched on a rickedy ladder and a 2 x 10. Better him than me!!

The main support to hold the railing to the wall has been removed so we can paint the wall. So the 2 x 10 is sitting on the railing that is no longer attached to anything - except itself - that was why I was so nervous.

A couple of shots of the kitchen cabinets and the new space. We are hoping the counter will be ready soon. I am looking forward to seeing the kitchen with the counter in place. It is a fairly interesting piece of granite that we picked out.

Here is a view of the front of the house. The new entry, the new doors and no more white brick. The black tar paper will eventually be stone - Whistler Basalt.

And here is a picture of me -- washing the dirt of the garage door. It looked so much better after it had been washed - good enough not to paint!! But it will be painted - Caramel Apple.

These new paint names are so very interesting! The outside of the house will be a green - brown and caramel. It will be a huge improvement over the white brick.

There is still a lot to do. We are starting to feel a bit like things are getting accomplished slowly but surely.

High Desert Museum quilt display

2009-08-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post - as we are off to buy paint and will be spending the entire sunny weekend painting. We are lucky though because we have a heat pump attached to our furnance and we can run it in reverse when it is hot and therefore have central air conditioning -- something that is rare up here in rainy Vancouver.

I was able to take some pictures of the quilts on display without my flash because they were fairly well lit - but mostly close up pictures - any pictures from a distance were too dark.

I really liked this Pomegranate quilt -- and the new tile feature for my kitchen has pomegranates on it - one day I will post pictures of that. Look at the beautiful hand quilting on this quilts. How they did that with the poor light that they had was amazing. And how brilliant the fabric still is after all these years. I think this quilt was from the 1800's.

Here is a little write - up about the quilts. Funny thing about the write-ups -- as a Canadian I was only reading the first paragraph - as you can see from my picture - because I alway expect that the second paragraph will be in French. I asked the other women I was with if they were doing the same thing - and they were - too funny!!

This quilt was a beautiful quilt with each block done by a different quilter.

I love the border fabric for this quilt.

I see that Bonnie Hunter went to the museum when she was in Sisters as well and had quite a number of pictures on her blog. I was hoping to run in to Bonnie at Sisters - I know Marge got to see her.

Well -- Jim is ready.......

Sisters, Oregon

2009-07-24T20:15:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I posted. So much is going on with the renovation that by the end of the day I just don't feel like doing much else than sitting down and zoning out for a bit.

The trip to Sisters was just a fabulous get away with my quilting peeps. We drove down to Portland the first day and spent the night very close to Fabric Depot. Had a nice meal at the Olive Garden. I've never been to an Olive Garden before and I would certainly go back again if I had the chance. I don't know if there are any in Canada.

The next morning we drove to Sisters - via the Pine Needle in Lake Oswego -- I was so excited what a fabulous little shop!! I bought a great kit there to make a Civil War basket quilts. Beautiful fabric!!

Then we spent two nights in Bend. What a lovely little town. We had a great meal at the Deschutes Brewery Restaurant. I bought Jim 3 -- count them 3 - T-shirts!! Jim was of course happy to be rewarded for his hard work as he had to spend the weekend painting the ceiling while I was having fun. I also rewarded him with one bottle - a large bottle of the Deschutes Red Chair IPA - which he said was "brilliant" For all you out there looking for a brilliant IPA.

The next day we spent at Sisters. What an amazing experience. The whole town does such a fabulous job of this show. I think it should be on the "to do" list for all quilters.

I uploaded a few of the pictures I took as we wandered about. The weather was amazing. There were lots of spots to get out of the sun for a bit as well.

Look at the crowds by early afternoon.

They did such a wonderful job of hanging the quilts - with like quilts hung together. I think this was a row of quilts that were classes done by Valori Wells.

These are two very beautiful quilts. The woman in the picture is reading all about the quilt.
It was great to have all the information about the quilts but it would be impossible to read it all in just one day.

These are the women from Gee's Bend - signing autographs for their book. When one member of our group asked them to sign her book they broke out into a song - she recorded it on her camera.

This was a group of quilters that belonged to a Barbershop Quartet and spontaneously sang a few songs.

A couple of lovely basket quilts. This is a close up of one - it is similar to a block I had in mind for some fabric I had bought last year.

I love the way this quilt was hung - tucked away behind a tree. The work that went in to planning this show must be a full time year round job. I was just so well planned and laid out.

A friend and I were admiring this quilt and the two sisters that made the quilt were right there and talked to us for a bit. This is their first quilt in the Sisters show and they had been to the show last year and were so inspired they wanted to enter their own quilt. So I got a picture of them together with their quilt.

And we got an opportunity to listen to a little talk about design and colour by Freddy Moran and Gwen Marston.

It was a great day at the show. At one point in the day our little group was taking a rest in front of the Stitching Post and talking to various quilters. I guess the woman next to me was talking to someone in our group about where we were from and when she found out it was the Lions Gate Quilt guild she asked if they knew Pam - they said you are sitting next to her..... too funny .. she was a quilter from the Vancouver area that read my blog.... so Hello to Marge!!! - and yes I am still busy with those darn reno's!!

In the afternoon a small group of us left the show and went back to Bend so we could go to the High Desert Museum and have a look at the display of quilts from the 18's and 19's century. It was a wonderful collection and I was able to take quite a few pictures without my flash that turned out quite well. We wandered around the rest of the museum as well in the short time we had. Great place to visit - we saw the Birds of Prey exhibit - a couple of eagles and owls. I am glad we got to the museum as well. Bend, Oregon and area is a place that I think I need to go back and visit again..... maybe next July!!!!

Back from Calgary and a couple of pictures of Hunter

2009-07-06T20:09:00.000-07:00

I am back from Calgary. It was a long and tiring drive yesterday. There was so much traffic - lots of trucks and RV's doing well below the speed limit and very difficult to pass most of them. Unlike the U.S. the main Canadian highway that runs from B.C. to Alberta (Highway 1) is just a two lane highway for large parts of the trip. The highway is being widen and parts of it through Banff National Park and Yoho National Park are under construction -- with a speed zone of 70 kms an hour. It seemed I was always stuck behind some large line up of slow moving vehicles. Then once I got close to Vancouver there had been a number of accidents and the drive from Chilliwack onward was at about 10 kms hour - mostly in 1st and 2nd gear!! So the trip ended up taking about 2 hours longer than my usual 11 hours.

It was great to see Hunter. He was very excited to see me and didn't make strange at all -- I think he remembers the hugs and kisses and cuddling that Nana gives him! He was very happy to see me.

We had a great Canada Day at the park with Hunter and a few other friends and their grandchildren.

Here are a few Hunter pictures.

Hunter had a little Canadian flag - it looks like someone just snatched it out of his hand in this picture. He is so cute - and has just the sweetest smile - his whole face lights up when he smiles.

Our little gathering at the park. Isn't that just the cutest face!! It was a very good day at the park - all the little ones were happy and had a great time.

Here are a couple of cute pictures. Hunter is not quite walking yet but he did not like the feel of certain textures - like the grass - on his knees. So he would do this little "elephant walk" on the grass. My parents have a carpet hallway runner that he didn't like to put his knees on as well. He would crawl all around the living room rug and the kitchen floor but as soon as he got to the little carpet runner he would get up on his feet and hands.

There was quite a bit of work done on the house while I was away. The drywall has all been installed - taped, mudded and sanded. The new fireplace has been installed in the living room/dining room. Jim worked very hard yesterday to get the place all clean and free of drywall dust before I got home. The kitchen floor tiles are going in on Thursday -- just as I head down to Sisters Oregon. The cabinets are supposed to go in on July 13th -- just a I get ready to go work a couple of night shifts. I seem to be missing most of the renovation right now. I sure hope that it is all getting done right! It is hard to decide if I would rather be around and make sure things are getting done right or be away and just worry from afar. I don't know which is more stressful. But all in all the whole thing is stressful - so at least I got to spend some time with Hunter as I was stressing out about the kitchen cabinets - the drywall and the floor tiles. The trip to the Sisters quilt show has been planned for a very long time - so I will try not to feel too guilty knowing that Jim will be painting as I wander around a fabulous quilt show. I will bring him back beer!

I am so tired!

2009-06-28T12:54:00.000-07:00

I don't know if that is a great title for a post - but boy are we tired - both of us! It has been a very busy week. Good moments and bad moments - frustrations and successes!

A few highlights from the week.

I went to my Quilt Guild meeting on Tuesday and the speaker was Pippa Moore. She lives on Vancouver Island - sells African Fabric and teaches courses. She has recently been to Africa to help set up a program in Uganda to help women earn money and support their children through quilting with the local fabric. It was a great lecture about the women and the process of teaching them how to make items to sell. I bought a set of placemats that were made by a woman that was the third wife of a Muslim man that had died of AIDS and the first and second wives had also died - so the third wife is left to raise all 10 children. I discover Pippa has a blog -- Check it out. She actually has a post about her visit to our quilt meeting on Tuesday. How great is that!!

My African Placemats

If you go to Pippa's blog and go back in the Archives to February 2009 you can read all about the trip to Uganda and the project. Well worth reading about.

I made a couple of small items - while I was stuck in the basement and Jim was away and it was too hot to take the dog in the car. Although I was able to take her for a few nice walks I could not do much else.

This is another little bag from "This and That" designs - Clutter Bag.

I also made a little carry case for my MP3 Player - now in the mess I can not for the life of me find the recharger for the darn player!!

The latest house reno adventure -- the drywall was delivered and the young boys delivering it put all the long 4 x12 foot sheets on a trolley to wheel down our fairly steep driveway in the rain and lost control of the trolley and all the drywall ended up in a heep at the bottom - stopped only from ramming into our garage door by the rented Bobcat.

The adventure continues. I will not be here for the next week. I am off to visit little Hunter - and the rest of the gang --- but mostly Hunter!! It will be Jim's turn to hold down the fort and manage the mess!!

The past few days have been really awful!

2009-06-17T09:04:00.000-07:00

First I would like to say that Jim is away at meetings this week and I worked Sunday and Monday. Jenny was the only one that had a really good time because she got to have a sleep over at her pal Lillie's house.

The firplace has gone from this........on Sunday.

To this when I cam home from work on Monday night.......

To this on Tuesday........

I should have taken some pictures of the men working on Tuesday but I just wanted to get out of there - what a noise and mess.

This is the pile of brick sitting outside. The brick off the front is now being removed.

There is not much quilting going on that's for sure. I have a "Quilting by the Bay" for June 27th - so that will be my little vacation from all of this.... and of course my much anticipated trip to Sisters in July.

As I was driving down our street yesterday morning I stopped briefly to answer the phone and I looked in my mirror and there was a little black bear ambling down the street. Then the garage door would not go down when I got home at supper time --- so the garbage can in the garage got to spend the night on the deck with all the doors closed. What a nice meal that would have been for a bear. Just what I need is a bear rumbling through my garbage in the middle of the night.....Jenny barking... me alone and the phone wasn't working last night either. All has been fixed this morning.. phone back on.. garage door down and it's garbage day and the messy part is now finished. Funny how Jim managed to miss the whole thing!!

Day Three

2009-06-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

These are pictures from yesterday. I am a day behind in my blogging and the builder moves at the speed of sound!

Here is the kitchen yesterday. Everything gone - wall between the kitchen and bedroom is gone and the closet is gone. Just waiting for the hardwood floor guy to come and take out the hardwood floor in the kitchen and closet so the new wall can be rebuilt.

A picture from the bedroom looking towards the living room. Fireplace still intact. As you can see the sliding doors on the right are the dining room.

This is the front of the house as of yesterday - those piles just keep getting bigger and bigger.

I spent a good deal of time this morning looking for my slippers. The problem is - I can't find anything - where I usually put things - or where they are supposed to be - isn't there any more. I finally found my slippers - where they really didn't belong. I couldn't find my camera battery charger either this morning - that has also since been located.

It is all starting to drive me a little crazy and we are only 4 days in!! I think the rebuilding might be a bit easier than the destroying - but I could be wrong.

I guess it's too late to turn back now!

2009-06-10T15:48:00.000-07:00

The renovation started Monday morning.

Here are a couple "before" shots of the kitchen. It was a very, very small kitchen. Amazing that we bought the house because the kitchen was so small.

The entire floor space was only 39' wide by about 50" long.

You can see the size of the kitchen quite well in this picture. You must agree that it need to be made bigger!! The bank of cupboards that came out over the counter and block the window drive me crazy. It is like being in a little cage when you are in the kitchen. You can't see anyone in the rest of the house. So now - walls are coming down - windows made bigger - doors made where there are walls. What are we doing!!

Monday the master bedroom bathroom was removed and yesterday the work began on the kitchen.

This is what Jenny and I came home to yesterday after our walk.

You can already see how just taking out the over hanging cupboards that the kitchen is more open.

Jenny is NOT happy. She is quite out of sorts. She has to be kept in a room away from the work and away from the open doors.

The first day of construction I went out for just a couple of hours and left her on the deck. As it turns out the door from the garage to the deck was open - the garage was open and when I got home she came prancing down the driveway to say hello. I have no idea how long she had been out wandering on her own. Quite happy I am sure to have escaped. Good thing she came back!! Anyway a little closer supervision has been required and she does not like it.

You should see what the place looks like today!! Good heavens. I haven't even picked out floor tile yet. I will post more pictures - it is amazing what a disaster it is up there.

Guild Meetting last night

2009-05-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

Last night at our guild meeting the speaker was one of the original founding members of our guild - Gail Hunt. Gail has gone on to write a few books and I have one of her books. I think it was one of the first big "hard cover" quilting books that I ever bought. I was quite pleased to read in our newsletter she was coming to speak. I got her to sign my copy of the book.

This hand dyed piece is one from her collection of quilts featuring each Province and Territory in Canada. This one is Nunavut.

Gail is now teaching and does some beautiful work - lots of hand dyed fabric and special surface designs. She can be found through The Fibre Art Network of Western Canada.

Lots of thread work and pictures. She has had her quilts shown in many shows and magazines and has won a bunch of awards.

This is Saskatchewan -- lots of thread work in this one.

I bought the book "Quiltworks across Canada" when it first came out in about 1998 or so.
Gail packed up her family - husband, 4 kids and a dog into an RV and spent a summer traveling across Canada where Gail met with quilters from each province and interviewed them - got a workshop from them and pictures of their work. It is a wonderful book. Every so often I bring it out and look it over again.

This is one of the workshops in the book. I really would like to try this one - it is so beautiful - but you know me -- it's on the list. The workshop is by Carol Galloway from Manitoba - and the difficulty is advanced! But the instructions are very clear and well laid out with great pictures. So maybe one day!

Look at some of the pictures in the book. Canadian quilters.

This is a collection of quilts by Win Burry in Ontario.

It was certainly great to meet Gail Hunt and get my book signed.

On the renovation front - things are starting to get going. The designer guy gave us some plans the other night and the contractor is hoping to start in about 10 days. And Jim thinks the front entry way needs to be re-designed and a new entry built outside of the house in the front porch area. I think Jim might have won the lottery and not told me!! Anyway he has now asked the designer guy to give him some drawing for a new entry!! But the kitchen plans that have been drawn up look good and I am happy with the design. Who knows what tomorrow brings!

What is happening here?

2009-05-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

First off I thought we needed a new picture of Hunter!! I like this picture - he looks so gosh darn cute with his little glasses - which he never leaves on for more than 30 seconds! And it's not that bad of a picture of me - LOL. As I usually take pretty terrible pictures.

So - the news from the homefront. We all remember the photo of the new wallhanging finally up on the fireplace wall. Well - now the plan is to remove that wall!!

The fireplace is a great big brick rectangle in the middle of the house. It is about 37 inches wide by 87 inches long. We have decided we need to do a kitchen renovation - and hired a designer guy to help with the remodel. The kitchen is very small and needs to be made a little larger.

So - the designer guy says - "you really should decrease the size of the fireplace - that would make a huge difference" And the fireplace is not all that attactive - the brick is old and dated the actual fireplace is old and dated. But it is not going to be as easy as it sounds - and it doesn't really sound easy. The fireplace needs to be removed from floor to roof - the floor will have to be redone - the ceiling redone - the roof patched. A new fireplace, and chimney installed -- and we haven't gone anywhere near the kitchen.

Now the designer guy has been sick for a couple of weeks and we don't have the plans yet and the builder guy is "supposed" to be starting next weekend. We haven't really decided what to do for a new fireplace - have no idea what the kitchen will look like and haven't ordered cupboards - because we don't have a PLAN!

We are going to remove the valances and curtains from all the windows in the house -- so all the drywall will need to be redone above the windows - and off course we are allready having to redo the ceiling because of the changing of walls for the kitchen and removing the fireplace.

And summer is coming!! Supposedly it is better to get started instead of waiting for fall. But with summer comes Jim working full on with the start of the fishing season and I have holiday's booked. I was hoping to go to Calgary - which might have to be put off until August. And I have a road trip with my quilting peeps to Sisters Oregon in July. I am excited to go - rooms have been booked in Bend - quilt shops picked out! That trip won't be cancelled - and it is a short trip - 4 days only.

I am looking forward to the new kitchen and the more open living area - but I can feel the stress level rising here. Good thing I don't monitor my blood pressure! Or - maybe I should.

I am working on getting a few Dear Jane blocks ready for hand stitching as my sewing room might become a bit of a living room storage room. So ----- it should be an interesting summer.

The African Wedding Quilt

2009-05-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

Is Finished -- well the top is finished. I am thrilled that it is finished a very happy with how it turned out. The panels that the bride wanted in the quilt are on the sides and I off set them because I didn't like the way they looked at the same eye level. I am going to talk to the long arm quilter about putting some decorative stitching in the black panels on the side - or I may decide to put a bit of applique there instead. I will decide after talking to the long arm quilter.

A few pictures of how it fits a queen sized bed. It is a little long and narrow but I find it fits the bed nicely.

I put a narrow piano key border on the bottom and a wider piano key border on the sides.

I think I need a better name than the "African Wedding Quilt" Any suggestions?

We have been busy here as we have decided to do a bit of a kitchen renovation - which is growing into a bit more of an event - as all renovations do I guess. We went out all day Friday to look at fireplaces --- what do fireplaces have to do with kitchens. Ah yes - it is growing!! Even though the wedding is not until October I really wanted to get the top finished an off to be quilted before I have to give up my quilting room to storing all the living room furniture - which seems to be where the kitchen renovation is going.......

The new Sea to Sky Highway

2009-04-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

Also know as the "Highway to the Whistler 2010 Winter Olympics" is finally finished. At least "our" section is finished.

It was a week or so after we got back from Calgary that the new section opened - but I am slow to blog - as usual. Most people in the world won't care that the 6 years of highway construction we have lived with is finally over - but for us it was a big exciting event! LOL

There is still a few small areas of the highway that are not yet finished but the major roadwork between Horseshoe Bay and Lions Bay is now completed. The highway construction began in September of 2003. So we have been driving on about 13 kms of highway that has been under construction since then. The highway was a two lane road that had to be changed to a 4 lane highway because of the Winter Olympics in 2010. We live about 90 km south of Whistler. The entire highway from Vancouver to Whistler was upgraded to a 3-4 lane highway - the entire 100 kms or so. Our section of the highway was one of the most difficult sections to be built and there was a part of the highway that was not able to be widened at all so a new highway was carved out of the mountain above the original road.

The first day that the highway opened Jim phoned on his way home from work to say he was driving the new highway. He came home and we took a drive together on the highway and I brought my camera and took some pictures. It was a beautiful sunny day and so exciting to be driving on a piece of road that we have been waiting for almost 6 years to be finished. I had been in for a walk with Jenny earlier in the day and had driven home along the old road at 2:30 and by the time Jim came home at 4:30 the new highway was open.

As you can see in the first picture the original road to the right is now an off ramp to Horseshoe Bay and the new 4 lane highway head up the hill instead of snaking along the side of a cliff right along the water. The original road was very winding and there were many, many car and truck accidents along this road. There have been a few times over the years that we were not able to go home because the road was closed due to an accident or a rock slide. This is the only road to get home or to the 2010 Olympics in Whistler.

The new highway is quite a steep climb up Eagle Ridge. Look at the brand new pavement!

Driving over the top and then you come down to the left of the Horseshoe Bay ferry traffic which now has to merge into you!!

And here is the view from the new highway - around the top of the hill. Isn't that lovely!

As you can tell the new highway has me pretty excited. It does make the drive a few minutes shorter - so not much of a savings in time but it is just such a nice drive now. Did I mention that we have been driving in a highway construction zone for 6 years!! Orange cones...traffic control people.... mega sized dump trucks.... sitting at midnight for 25 minutes while they blasted rock.... listening to them blast rock....driving over gravel and holes at 20 km hour.... Now you know why I am so excited :)))

Beading workshop

2009-04-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

I loved the Beading workshop. Eileen Neill had so many lovely little beaded items for us to look and and get inspiration from. It is amazing how simple the stitches really are - a few basic stitches - back stitch - stop stitch and a few others.

I started a little piece when I was at the workshop but I didn't like the first few beads that I put on it so when I got home I ripped it out and started again.

My little Dear Jane table has temporarily turned into a beading table. I - of course - bought some beads, containers for the beads, thread, and some other bits and bots. I could see beads getting a bit addictive. They can be almost as pretty as fabric!!

This is the little piece I am working on at present. I had put some blue beads on at the workshop but they were too big and bright. I may add a few of them on at a later time. This is a 5 inch square of batik - made into a little "quiltlette" There is still a lot more to do on it yet.

See the lovely little beaded edge on it. So easy to do. I am going to put a bunch of fringes on the bottom and beads around the other three sides.

This is the Macro setting on my new camera - always fun to play with.

I can work on it more tonight while the Canucks play the St. Louis Blues in the 4th game of the series. The Canucks are up 3-0 in the series. So the St. Louis Blues need to win the next 4 games in a row - or they are eliminated. So I hope the Canucks win tonight. It has been exciting to watch some playoff hockey - it has been quite awhile since there has been any good playoff hockey in Vancouver. So sorry to all you St. Louis fans.

Knitting needle roll

2009-04-15T19:31:00.000-07:00

Before we went off to Calgary I made a little knitting needle roll for Jessica. She has taken up knitting and has been busy making scarves and blankets and such. I didn't post about it before we left because it was a surprise.

I made it out of Laurel Burch fabric. Perfect fabric for Jessica. I included the collection of knitting needles that I got from Jim's mum.

It was a pattern that I found online. Very easy to make up and I might just make a few more.

Love the cats!! I love Laurel Burch fabric. I have a great collection and it was nice to find a good use for some of it.

All rolled up with a couple of black ribbons.

I am working the next two days and then I am going to a beading workshop with Eileen Neill on Saturday. I am quite excited about this workshop. If you go the the website and click on the Beading picture you will see what I am going to be making. It is really cool! I have always wanted to do the beading embellishments on quilts but have never been brave enough to figure out how to do it myself.

I have made up my little "quiltlett" and I am all ready to go! I hear she is a wonderful teacher and I have seen her fabulous collection of beads she had for sale at our Quilt show last September. So I plan to take lots of money with me to the workshop!!

Wish me luck!

A few more really cute pictures of Hunter

2009-04-08T17:22:00.000-07:00

Here is Hunter with his Grand Dad - wearing his Canucks Jersey. Like a good grandson he favours the Vancouver Canucks over the Calgary Flames!! Go Canucks Go!!! Boo Hiss Flames! Grand Dad says there are still a few seats on the Canucks bus for Uncle Shane.

Here is Hunter with his little walker. He is so cute pushing the walker all over the room. He crawls very, very fast and he loves to stand up. I find it amazing how fast he can walk with the little walker. He doesn't yet walk on his own. He can use the walker to pull himself up and then walks all over -- just too cute. He just loves the walker. It plays music and he reaches over the handle and pushes the little music button and then dances to the music.

Here is his new little birthday chair. It is so cute. It is just the right size for him to sit and then it talks - reads a little book, sings songs, counts and plays music. I sure don't recall all these cool little toys when Jessica was a baby. He is very serious here -- wondering when Nana is going to stop taking pictures!!!

And of course a bath picture! I just love the bath pictures. He is just so darn cute in the bath. I would bath him all day!

Happy Birthday Hunter!!

2009-04-07T20:44:00.000-07:00

We are back from Calgary and I have lots of birthday pictures - so many it is hard to chose just a few. We had a great time.

Jessica and I made Hunter's Birthday Cake. It is fun to be ONE!!!

Jessica made Hunter his own little cake to eat. I don't think he was too sure about the whole cake thing - although he quite enjoyed the whole Icing thing!!

Here he is with his Nana and Grand Dad.

He had just a ton of presents to open. His little pal Lorelie gave him a drum set.

Isn't that just too cute ---- a Rock star in the making!! He sat there for quite the long time on his drums - drumming away. His uncle Eric would be proud!!

Getting ready to go to Calgary

2009-03-31T23:01:00.000-07:00

I am slowly recovering for this terrible virus that has fallen on our household. I went to the doctor last Monday and got some antibiotics - I seem to have ended up with a sinus infection. I do not go to the doctor very often and I am not a good patient -LOL ... but I am taking all the antibiotics. I can breath again but Jim and I are both still coughing on and off.

We are off to Calgary in the morning for Hunter's birthday. I will take lots of pictures. I also made a little surprise for Jessica but I can't post a picture of that yet - as she is reading my blog. I think she will really, really like it.

I always like to have pictures with my posts - so since I can't post pictures of what I have made recently - here are a couple of pictures of the Moon and Venus from a few weeks ago - taken from the deck.

This is what I have been doing for the past 12 days

2009-03-19T10:13:00.000-07:00

I have been sick and laying on the couch feeling miserable. I am not a good patient and I am really, really cranky. I almost feel better and then I start to cough again. I actually tried to work one day last weekend - that was a mistake.

I did manage to sit upright a few hours to finish the binding on the baby quilt. I wanted to have it finished to send for the baby by the end of March.

Here is poor Jenny. Completely annoyed that she has been stuck at home for two weeks with no interesting walks to be had. Although the neighbour has felt sorry for her and taken her out for a couple of nice walks.

Jenny spends most of the day just sitting by the couch or bed wondering if life will ever get better than this -- much like me!

What Have I been doing!

2009-03-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy few weeks. At the end of February we had a turkey dinner to celebrate Andrew's 23rd birthday. Andrew, Anri and Eric came for dinner - we also wished Eric a Happy Birthday as we really hadn't seen those two boys since Christmas. I would have posted a picture but the both looked like they needed to stand a little closer to the razor! I always say that it seems with boys - as soon as they are old enough to shave --- they don't! -- anyway we had a good dinner and a good visit.

I finally talked Jim into getting the wall hanging that I made for the dining room up on the wall. That was exciting. It has been finished since the Quilt Show in September. It was hard work though --- new holes had to be drilled and a new piece of wood to be fitted for the sleeve.

I am thrilled it is up! It looks wonderful on the wall - just like it was made to go there. Although in reality this wall hanging was started long before we moved to this house.

I ordered and recieved a copy of Bonnie Hunter's book -- Scraps and Shirttails. I ordered it from her website so it is signed by her as well. It really is a great book and I am so glad I decided to order it --- falling Canadian dollar or not.

I was off on Saturday to a "Quilting by the Bay" retreat and managed to get quite a bit done on the "African Wedding Quilt" I didn't get a picture of it at the stage it is at right now though. I should have but by the end of the day I was feeling like I was coming down with something --- the "thing" was the "whatever" Jim had passed on to me - as he was sick on Friday. So by Sunday we were both very sick and laying around the house coughing and miserable. Today --- the misery continues..... and on top of that it SNOWED today as well. But we are both too sick to go anywhere anyway! I can tell you though Jenny is NOT happy with us... we are not very interesting dog parents right now and she thinks we are just down right no fun at all. I think at this point she is wishing she didn't adopt us.

But on a happy note -- we should end with a picture of Hunter - who is so gosh darn cute. Look at those cheeks.

Here he is with a little friend. Hunter is now pulling himself to a standing position on everything. He rarely is on the floor - only long enough to get himself upright. I can't wait to go there for his Birthday in April.

So... last Thurday.. the phone rings at 6:30 in the morning and it is Jessica's number - but we are half awake and too slow to answer. When we finally do answer it has already gone to the message machine.. I hear this heavy breathing and then all this little chirping and Hunter chatting away. I called for Jessica - no answer.. so we listen for a while and then hang up the phone. After a bit I get up and phone Jessica and ask if she phoned us --- No she didn't.... so I says - well Hunter did then!! What a hoot, he was playing with the phone and I was the last person she had called on that phone so he managed to press redial and send.. So I said ... maybe he shouldn't be playing with the phone anymore. But we still have his little message on our machine... He is just too cute!