Name banner for Phoenix

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

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

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.