Guild Meetting last night

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

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

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

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!

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!