Let It Snow.....

 We took a little drive out of town to drop off some items to our favourite Mennonite Thrift Store and went and had lunch by the river. Very pretty....very cold. We wandered over to where they normally pen the swans up for the winter, but.....the area was empty. I'll have to check around & see if they are being wintered in Stratford this year.

 My frozen balloons & star ice candle. Not thinking.....I put 5 water filled balloons outside in the snow several days ago. With the temps in the minus, they should have frozen solid. But....I forgot just how insulating snow can be. The bottom half of 3 of the balloons are still water!!!! I turned them over & will check in the morning. So, my ice picture is rather empty....roflmao!!!

When I helped moved my aunt/uncle into their senior living apartment, I nabbed all their old pictures and empty frames. A little black craft paint & new pictures, and I'm good to go!

Merry Christmas 2012

A light dusting of snow fell during the night & it was just enough to give the outside world a pure and clean look for Christmas. It was quiet here this morning, after travelling into the city & having dinner with son & DIL the night before! What a lovely surprise - my son can cook like a chef.....who knew!!! ;-)

To everyone....A Merry Christmas of Peace & Joy!

On the crafting front, I really need to find the crocheting pattern for the wreath above. I made tons of these wreaths in red, white and green....many moons ago! I was selling them at Christmas craft fairs and to family friends. They were a hit & still are, I'm just too lazy to produce more in that quantity!! But....I would love to have a whole tree full come next year. And I need to get back to making these lovely little x-stitch stockings for other family members. So...I decided that most of 2013 will be devoted to producing Christmas items & finishing up other UFO's (which there are many) I always feel rushed come Nov/Dec to get handmade gifts finished up.....so, lets just do Christmas year round this time. I"m rather looking forward to that.......

Think Twice ~ Cut Once....DOH!!!

Sigh......!!!!

This is "Ruff Patch" from the Quiltmaker Magazine. The original size was for a crib quilt. I "upped" the size of the squares from 2 1/4" to 3" for a larger quilt. BUT, I forgot to write out all the new measurements, thus.....the outside checkerboard border is short in all directions and I can only laugh at myself .....BIG DOH!!!!

 

I actually have lots of the brown/beige 2 1/4" already cut, so a little more sewing and maybe, just maybe.....I'll finish the top tonight. Watching/listening with Bonnie Hunter later in the evening, so I"ll likely work on this quilt or the other Christmas Gift Quilt.

 

This little tree is going to get some red bows in the next day or two. Maybe one at a time, or several....not sure!!! It's in our local public gardens and each winter we tell ourselves that it needs some red bows for the holiday season - and I always forget to bring the bows when we wander over there!!! Bows are at the door....just need to put them in the car ( and then, we'll take the other car) and the circle continues!!! ;-P~

I love blogger....there are several more pictures loaded, but not showing up! Later......I need to be sewing, not farting around with blogger!!! LOL

Cats & Catching Up!

Cat #1 ~ Spookers

So Gram....you want to sew????

 

 Cat #2 ~ Squiggles
So Gram....You want to cut fabric???(or maybe tidy your mess up!!) ;-)

 Cat #3 ~ Ninja
So Gram ~ Keep the other 2 rotten female cats busy in your sewing room, and I'll chill on the Christmas quilt in the living room...thank you!!!

 After a solid week spent flat on the couch after throwing my back out, the 3 grand kitties have came to visit for 10 days. Not a lot of sewing, cutting fabric, ironing....is happening, due to the over active cats!!! We managed to visit a thrift shop during the weekend and I gave in to my 'no spend' brief thought.....perfect fabric for the Lady of the Lake quilt and a Debbie Mum quilt booklet.

That's it...the cats are all sleeping ( afternoon nap for them) so, I better see if I can sew for a hour or two!!

Cat Sitting

Hmmm, blogger doesn't like me today!!!

Let's give this another try!!!;)

 

 

While away cat sitting, I started a crochet blanket for my son and daughter-in-law. I just about froze while at their house!  My DIL loves the colour hunter green and I had about 10 large balls of it and only had to purchase the cream colour. Everything I had in my stash!!! Love that!

 

Cat Sitting at my son & daughter-in-laws!

 

I tired to feed them their snacks in a circle, so I could take a picture of them all together!!!

 Ninja ~ good name for him. He completely disappears in the house and is very quiet!

 Spookers was helping me with my crocheting. Thank god I took my fleece pj's, as it was damn cold in their house. And being in the city, it was noise galore at all hours!! ;(

 Cemetery hunting ~ We had to uncover at least a hundred markers until we found my great grandfather and great grandmother. Joseph and Amy came over from Kent, England in 1906 and unfortunately - Joseph died within 6 years of being in Ontario, Canada. Amy remarried in 1918 only because her daughter ( my grandmum Mabel)  was being harassed by her soon-to-be ex-husband and his family. Amy married another Brit ( a soldier ) that came over with his 1st wife in the same time period. His wife had died after giving birth to her 6th child, and only 2 lived out of the 6. Very sad indeed.

 Long story short...this new husband was useless and only interested in the money that Amy had. Amy was also struggling with TB, and trying to hold onto the businesses that Joseph had started up, their home in the city and 100 acres in the country that they had purchased. The 100 acres was just sold several years ago, and my aunt that inherited it - wouldn't let anyone else buy it. That was totally sad on her part, but....it's the way it goes!

My grandmother and her 8 month old daughter ( my aunt) spent a year 'hiding' at a ladies shelter run through the Salvation Army. She would finally divorce and then meet my grandfather.....that's how I came about. But first they had to move to Detroit and then New York in order to avoid the ex and his family.  They had 3 more children and in total had 11 grand children.

There are many, many skeletons in this family tree, and it's so interesting as I uncover the truth and correct the many stories that have been told. I have many old letters, odds 'n ends, legal paperwork, border crossing paperwork with pictures and finger prints etc etc. I'm slowly opening each one ( very fragile) and reading them and transcripting them so I can produce a story of my great grandparents lives down to my grandparents.

It was very rewarding when I finally cleared away the fallen leaves and found their marker. A 100 years has passed since Joseph's death .....there is much to uncover still!! ;)

Finish it up FRIDAY...?

OMG ~ Ocra Bay is sooooo close to being finished. About a dozen red blocks to be made, cut in half and trimmed to the required measurements needed. Oh, how I hated those red blocks!!

 

OMG ~ Carolina Crossroads in Xmas fabric is ready for the final sewing! Rows are numbered and it's only a matter of sitting & sewing (omg  ~ and matching up seams)

 

 And memories of childhood!! I did this as well as my son ~ so funny!! Likely true for everyone!!

Tidy up Wednesday

Tidy Up.....The ends of the 3 scarves - weave in the ends and add a fringe on both ends. The pattern called for adding tassles at the colour changes on the zap - I opted out, as I know the kids aren't fussy about having something like that, floating in their faces.

 

 Revisiting Carolina Cross Roads re: Bonnie Hunters Mystery Quilt. Hmmm, what year LOL!!!! I pulled it out once again - counted, sorted, tallied up....and will finish cutting up the required pieces and either continue to sew on it or kit it all up for another day. I did this quilt in my Christmas fabrics and really wish I would move my butt to finish it! Even if only the flimsy top......sigh!!!

 Hopefully, the last lawn cut for the season. Very nippy out today, but very refreshing. My backyard has given me grief since we bought this house 8-9 years ago. Large parts were covered in "wandering charlie" and I've done every thing organically to get rid of it. 1st pic: reseeded this spot about a month ago & it's growing like crazy.

 2nd pic: With the heat we had this summer, compounded with lack of rain - the lawn died a crispy death ( which is fine usually) but, it's coming back full of @*&$&#^ CRAB GRASS and I've been slowly digging it out and reseeding.

 3rd pic: The lovely creeping charlie. Another patch that needs to be done and I'm giving up. Spoke with the other half and told him we need to hire a lawn company that's licenced to use heavier chemicals to finally rid the lawns of it. This cuts into my sewing time - don't you know *wink wink!!

The weather forecast calls for COLD weather and rain. Tis a good reason to get the outside jobs done, so I can play inside!!! Sounds good to me!

Happy Thanksgiving

Today was Canada's Thanksgiving Holiday! Lots of turkey, stuffing, veggies and belly aches!

We went driving outside of town to view the fall colours before the leaves completely fall from the trees. Lots of corn still in the fields ~ as well as soybeans waiting to be harvested!

 

 

 Good Grief ! I knew we were heading in this direction, but I honestly didn't expect to find Mary Maxim's open on a holiday Monday. I had the store to myself (sort of) and yes, there were husbands out sitting in their cars while the wives shopped. It's always funny to see! Mine included ~ I could hear the radio in the car being turned up as I walked towards the store ;-)

 I bought nothing ~ really, really weird feeling! LOL I was enjoying our country touring and just wasn't in the mood to shop. Sorry Mary Maxim.....but I did pick up their latest catalogue ( for browsing only) ;-)

Wet wordless Wednesday

Fall Knitting & Bow Ties



 

Zig zag scarf pattern from the Better Homes and Gardens magazine called "Knit It" - dated 2002.

I try to knit or crochet new scarves for my young niece & nephew each year and this one really checked all the boxes for being cute & different. It's working up really quickly and while the pattern calls for colour changes on each zag, I opted for multi-coloured yarn through out!

 On the agenda for this evening is knitting during the half hour of Coronation Street and if Bonnie has quilt cam tonight - I'll be cutting up these 3 piles of fabric for bow ties. One pile is for the men's shirt bow tie quilt, middle pile is for the more floral/feminine bow tie quilt, and the top pile consists of 5" squares from a trade I did with a British group of ladies. They'll be cut up also into bow tie units!

Must fit in a hour or so up in the attic. Lots of odd bits & pieces of poly cotton fabric and older craft/knitting/crocheting etc books & magazines have been weeded through and boxed ready for the "Bibles for Missions" thrift shop. I try to divide my donations up between all the thrift stores in my area and we visited this shop on the weekend and with their recent move to larger quarters, they are in need of restocking - so, I can help with that! ;-)

It's the 1st day of October ~ I look forward to a very productive month!!

My Plans for October

Hopefully, that will be this October - not 2013, 2014 LOL!!! But first, a pretty picture!

 Fall colors ~ not a lot of trees have turned in our area, but I spotted this one on my walk yesterday.

 My attic before, during & after my hissy fit today!! While some folks would love a full size, walk up attic - it's been a curse to me. Let's load it full of craft stuff....year after year after year.....!!!! Let's look for one craft item which we know is up there....somewhere....and the melt down happens!

 Another lovely picture from my walk on Monday. Taken at our local golf course just before the sun disappeared and when I realized I'd be running home ~ can't miss Coronation Street at 7:30pm ;-)

 Ya...back to the attic! Big sort going on with all the bits and bobs of yarn. Sadly, the white boxes are from my office working days - I left in 1990 and the boxes are still going strong. Likely full of the same CRAP from that time period also....shakes head!

 And because I need another lovely picture in this pathetic posting ~ the front window at our local garden's office/potting shed!

If you never hear from me again, you know where I am......the @*&%* attic!!!

Can't see the forest......

You can't see the forest for the trees......!!!

Well, actually I can - not directly, but I know it's there!

With my slice & dice fever still happening - GOD - does this fabric breed or what....I'm still waving my rotary cutter around like a wand. Just wish I had the magical powers to get everything done with a simple 'ta-daaaaa'.......umph!

My containers are all labelled and stacked and I've added two more larger containers to hold the pieces for these two quilts. I must remind myself not to look at anymore old quilt books. Best to donate them back to the thrift store for another victim to buy them ;-)

The 1st is from Lady's Circle Patchwork Quilts, dated March 1986. Delectable Mountains Variation and I've resized it (hopefully) for a larger block. The original HT squares were just to small for my patience. I love the pattern, the colours are iffy here - but I thinking more reddish, less orange. But, seriously.....it's all coming from stash, so the colours will be...hmmm,whatever they are! LOL

 2nd Quilt added from American Patchwork & Quilting dated June 1996. This one will be a good stash reducer quilt.

I think when Bonnie Hunter starts her next mystery quilt in November, I'll continue on with finishing up all my UFO ones. Actually have a couple of Bonnie's mysteries to finish.....not sure how that happens ( who am I kidding) I love being involved with these mysteries and the camaraderie of all the quilters combined. I just need to stick to the quilts that I've started and am drawn towards.

ROFL ~ this is me....scratching my head and figuring out the size I want to work with!! Ha ha ha!!! Grade 12 math was many eons ago for me, but I think I've got it hammered out!!!!

Now....back to cutting!!!

Pineapple Blossom ~ Done....?

 



Well...sort of!! I've been dragging this quilt inside & outside, upstairs & downstairs over the past year or so.....ahem!!!!

The hand quilting is taking a looooong time & I didn't want to mess it up any further than I have already!

So....last week as I dragged it back inside after sitting outside hand stitching in the lovely, warm sun ~ I managed to catch the bottom corner ( without knowing) and it pulled the batting out, about 6 to 8 inches of it! Grrrrr....!!! That was it - the binding was made and applied - PRONTO!!

I'll continue to hand quilt it during the colder months and the fear of shredding anymore of the batting and outside border has been taken care of - good grief!!!

 

I picked up this stamped embroidery piece at the Mennonite Thrift Store for $1. I noticed it was a little wonky, no problem - I just want to start practising my hand stitching and this hit the nail on the head price wise. On closer inspection, someone had written in INK, the different colour codes onto the actual fabric...hmmm. Again, it's a sample piece for me - so I shouldn't worry.

Well, sort of......!!!!

Kitting Up the UFO's

 

 

I have a knack for starting quilt projects ~ then starting another one ~ then another, and then realizing I've used the same fabric in several of them AND holy crap, I'm going to run out of that fabric and be stuck with several unfinished quilts due to my knack (aka: stupid DOH moment)

 

See this picture.....Yup!!!

I've got several quilts on the go, all using men's shirts! Plus, I'm now cutting the shirts all up into itty bitty pieces (cuz I'm rather sick of them at the moment) and putting those pieces into the scrap saving system.

 

STOP!!!!!!

 

 

OK....breath deep! Out come the UFO's, put on floor with pattern - take picture and then load on computer, put on computer screen and proceed to find, cut & bag up all the required missing pieces!!I'm going to try and do this everyday.....everyday, EVERYDAY!!!

I just read Bonnie Hunter's blog post of being on quiltcam tonight ~ I'll be there, working on this Bear Paw Quilt!! Good Luck to me - Yah!!! LOL

 

Sewing at the beach

Headed to Lake Huron for some quiet sandy beach time. Took my hand piecing, didn't do as much as I'd like as it was windy & hard to hold the little pieces.

I did play around with some beach rocks and made some tiny little animal prints ;-)

 

 LOL ~ just a shot looking thru my lovely granny sunglasses! Finally caved into getting a pair of sunglasses that fit over my prescription glass & have those bling sides to them also ~ gotta save those eyes, only one pair per lifetime!!!

 Just another shot of my little hand piecing project that went camping with me back in August. I was at the campground laundry mat, perfect time for some stitching! So, it's getting around this year! Lake Superior camping and then Lake Huron for some beach sitting. Totally forgot to take it with me on the 3rd of this month, as it was the airshow in Toronto and that's on Lake Ontario. Just need a trip to Lake Erie now...LOL!!!