What I've accomplished!

Yahooie I've figured out my sister's PC for pictures and can upload my camera through her all-in-one printer with my memory card - so easy! She has to use her cable but that went smoothly too - yep I'm teaching her more stuff - poor girl!!! LOL!





This is a Bear Paws quilt top that Sylvia finished off this week - WAHOOIE!

Well I finished off her crocheted top kitchen towel (no picture).

Also worked on finishing off the two 21" colourwash quilt blocks ready for the flower appliques for the centre of my quilt someday to be finished off. I've yet to do the other three corners and the inbetween side border blocks. My plans are for various flowers in a ring connected with a vine appliqued using the Upside Down Applique technique I've just learnt on Quilt University.

I also completed my "Earthy Flair" MPQ Quilt Show Challenge wallquilt to be handed in March 15th. I also cut out another one for myself out of the Dandelion Days fabric line but not quite finished that as yet. AND Sylvia made one for herself but she says she's cursed the pattern instructions along with me a few times.

The one on the left is Sylvia's and the right is mine.



Here is mine just laid out to see what it will look like and I've got to buy more of the mossy green to finish off the binding.

Then I stitched up six of my hand form pincushions, turned right side out but not stuffed - will finish off in Winnipeg.

I've been working on my Celtic table topper in the evenings and just about finished the hand stitching and then need to add the false border and 2" border before the binding.

I'm still hoping to stitch up at least one of the Moondance "spacer" blocks just in case it does not measure up to what is specified. Then Sylvia will be able to help me determine what is needed to make it "FIT"! She's my lifesaver when it comes to patterns not working out for me! AND this Moondance has been one heck of a challenge for me right from the beginning!!!

And here is Len coming back from a session of ice fishing while we are sewing and PCing! We had a yummy supper of Trout one day!!! Thank you Len. Yes they have lots more snow than Winnipeg had (well at least when I left last weekend) and last night we got another dump on the tail end of the Albert Clipper that zipped through SW Manitoba and into NW Ontario.

Another Quilting Retreat

Yahooie I had a lovely drive on DRY pavement and all the traffic was heading to Winnipeg so thankfully no crazies passing me on double no passing lines. The sun was shining and I had to turn down the heat numerous times as it warmed.

Well I got to Kenora and stopped at Cottage Quilts and saw Adeline (she was teaching a hand quilting class) very briefly then stopped at Sunset Baits (yep it's a fishing shop) and had to pick up two dozen crappy minnows for my BIL - yeah right hope that plastic bag don't spring a leak in my car!!! Then back on the road and I was at Sylvia & Len's just after 2:30 and promptly stubbed my toe on their exercise bike - YEP that damn busted toe again!!!!

I've unpacked my quilty stuff and even planned out a watercolour block and have it half stitch up! Not bad for the first day!

More CQ to show off!

First off sorry I haven't checked my emails and I see they have piled up but first off TT dropped by and inserted my new DVD drive and then what a sweetie he connected and ensured my new printer was installed before leaving for home! Hey I was game to connect it myself as I'm learning to do but he said he'd do it so I watched as this was newer stuff.

THEN, I jumped right back to finishing my CQd Bookmarks and gosh I'm so happy with the outcome I wanna keep them all for myself! LOL! Nah, I'll package them up tonight yet and they'll all go in the mail tomorrow morning and hopefully the girls receiving them like my choices. They were fun to do and I'm sure I'll be doing more for gifts etc. Okay here's the group pic and no I'm not naming them - that's a surprise I hope.

Orchids Blooming!

I just don't believe it, but in this frigid temps outside and kinda coolish inside as I don't like the smell of heat or the clanking water pipes (and it's cooler by the windows too) I've one that bloomed last month (Phal equestris) and again it's shooting out more buds and I've another plant (Phal Jack Crawford) budding out too! AWESOME!

Hopefully it's not too cold and then I loose the buds before they open! Sure would LOVE to see these exotic type blooms gracing my drab apartment!

Right now it's -28C and feels like -41C with wind gusts to 31 KM/hr and tonight it's supposed to go down to -35C and feels like -47C with wind calming down to 15 KM/hr. Good thing I'm not venturing out tonight and from the looks of it tomorrow is not any better either but supposedly warming up for the weekend!!! BRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!

Still Tired

Sheesh a full night's sleep and in my own bed and after a 2-hour nap yesterday afternoon and I'm still exhausted. Go Figure!

BUT Friday's mail delivery was awesome with the major surprise was my Passport sitting waiting for me to return and repack ready to fly out somewhere!!! Yeah right, you know those phrases:

"Have car, will travel"
"Have money, will shop"

well I have one:

"Now have Passport,
still need money,
then will escape!"

ROFLOL!

2008 Gimli Retreat

What can I say about the Lakeview Resort and their hospitality along with their sponsors for this lovely get-away quilting weekend!!! I enjoyed myself immensely even if the weather was a might wicked for road travel home today! I even accomplished something and so did the others in my party. There were also some lovely projects that others were working on too even if I didn't take every picture. We even zipped out on Saturday and took a short stroll to some of the local shops before buckling down to stitching again. BUT this year I was tooooooo chilled to venture into the hot tub or swimming pool but I did enjoy predinner cocktails both evenings! LOL! I was very pleased to stitch with my sister and niece again and also my niece's friend Dianne (yep a retreat virgin - there actually were a number of them this year). She enjoyed herself so much that she's coming back next year again - guess I didnt' scare her away with my picture taking - much to her dismay!

All I can say is I am glad we have tomorrow as Louis Riel Day (Yahooie no work) and I can relax and maybe catch up on other stitching as I'm totally wiped now that I've relaxed from driving in the snowstorm and supper out.

Sylvia's MPQ quilt show challenge wall quilt - completed before retreat.



Sylvia's fabric landscape - inspired by her recent trip to Arizona.



Pat and her Mom, Sylvia.



Sylvia and Rose Anne - quilting sisters!



I'm determined to get the hang of this free motion quilting but it just may get the best of me!!! I used Glad Press n Seal and traced my quilting templates then temporarily stuck onto my top and away I stitched.



VOILA, my MPQ challenge wall quilt - Earthy Flair!



Sylvia's bear paws quilt top - just about completed!



Pat's UFO MPQ workshop of Celtic table topper - completed!



Pat's second project using 4 FQs!



And Dianne with part of her first rag quilt - with helpful hints n suggestions from both Pat and Sylvia! I've not made one as yet but brought a magazine with instructions for her.



And my "wind down" project of hand applique on my UFO MPQ workshop Celtic table topper that HAS to be finished soon too!!!


If you're interested in seeing the other weekend pictures just click on "retreat" and it should take you to my Webshots "Retreats/Shows" Gimli Retreat - February 2008 album.

Three Hours of Stitchin'

WOW it's been a while since I've enjoyed such a session of sewing and I was very productive too with just about zippo "rippit" too. I managed to get half of my guild's challenge piece half sewn together and hopefully Thursday I'll get it to the stage of sandwiching and ready for quilting this weekend. I hope so as I'll be at the Lakeview Retreat in Gimli MB with my sister and niece and will have some help with free-motion quilting! Yes, I'm still just learning that and not very good at it, but trying still. Practice makes perfect??? Maybe I'll have pictures this weekend of it to post.

Also having a hay day watching and listening to a triple header of hockey tonight too!

Next Purge - On Hold a Bit!

... Is the sewing room next, or did you handle that yesterday, too? Can you get your machine back in there now? ...

I had to chuckle as this was in an email to me and thought I should blog my answer.

YOWL, Angela had one look in there (and that is mucho better laid out than it was before Linda helped me a while ago) and she was just "ITCHING" to tackle it but I said "NO I could not handle anymore today"!!! So this was mentioned numerous times that she would love to come again when my pantry unit is ready for storage and help clear out and sort my stuff with me and then she'd sit and shred more bills n statements while I put the fabrics away how I would use them!!! WOW I think she's one silly girl for punishment! But then she did say I was just so overwhelmed with the clutter that I just did not know where to start and that was where she was good at - you're not kidding!!! Little did I tell her that I have no clue except maybe by Christmas, Oriental, Batiks, Holidays, Landscape and then free for all by "colour". Well then I'll have the plastic towers on wheels for my crazy patch fabrics and the hodge podge pieces I've gathered. I hope that will work cause I sure as heck don't want to tackle that again!!!

So I've just heard from Sylvia and I have to wait till the other Pantry goes on sale (taller one - this week is the shorter one - shoot) and then we'll tackle that whenever she has some free time again. Only my serger is in that sewing room and it was accessable until we moved one cube unit into there so now I've got some maneuvering to do but hopefully I don't need that machine too soon. Yet it would be lovely to get my sewing machine back into the sewing room and set up my ironing board in there too. It's small but if things were put away then I'd have the floor room. Plus I have quite a number of plastic bins that have fleece and other garment sewing fabrics in it which I'm not going to use now, so that will have to be purged and then hopefully some shelves in there and the batting and other stuff off the floor and into there! Okay that's enough on this purging, my toe is throbbing just thinking!!!

YES I have pictures of that sewing room as of Feb. 8/08 but you'll have to wait till I have the after ones taken to see the before and after!!!

OUCHIE!!!

Well yesterday trying to wear my boots taking boxes, recycle and garbage out my banged up toe really hurt even with ice on it a while. Well when I finally woke at 11:00 am (totally out of it) I got out of bed and OUCH then looked and sure enough there's the bruising. And there's a red mark inside that really really really hurts.



Shoot I still have the scars on that poor foot from the summers insect bites that got infected and now the toe - chuckling! Guess I'll be treading warily for a couple of days.

BUT I can tell you I was a might confused and stood in the doorway wondering where my clothes went to??? I guess I'll have to reaquaint myself with the storage again as even the tops have all moved drawers as the were relegated to lower wearing status! Soon I'll have to go shopping for decent work tops and then that drawer will have more in it! LOL!

Step TWO!!! - PURGING!!!

OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS am I ever SORE - will I be able to move tomorrow!!! ICE and Ibuprofen to the rescue but ohhhh does it ever feel like a weight lifted off my shoulders! First off before I go any further I must say my visits with my girlfriend are few and far between but I LOVE her dearly and thank her muchly for her organizing skills! She (along with other friends and family members) has been on my case to "purge" for years and I think I've only done it once before and that was with her too - besides the times I moved and they aren't often either.








See I kinda "tidied up" Thursday and Friday and took the dreaded "before" pictures of my MESS and on Saturday, she arrived before the noted 10:00 am armed and ready to go from the minute she walked in the door! The agenda was to tackle my closet and dressers to get rid of clothes I had not worn in years and also to sort it for the United Church's Clothes Closet (for low income persons reentering the workforce) and another Church group for casual clothes which I have lots of. Well this whirlwind (and I called her that and a slavedriver many times through the day - lovingly though) did an awesome job of "guiding" me but really I was ready to do this major purge and did it willingly and even with only a couple of "iffy" times. Well we filled and carted out 15 boxes about half and half and then a couple of bags to the garbage. WOW!!! I had room in my closet to hang up all the pants my niece just handed down to me when she purged her closet - I'm decked out for work pantswise, now to get some tops!!!

Then Angela asked if I wanted my bedroom changed and I said sure but asked what she had in mind and it was more to my taste so we did that too. WELLLLLL if I'd known I'd end up with a broken swollen and painfully sore toe maybe I would have rethought that one (yes I iced it down)!!! LOL!!! Yep we were moving the huge dresser and it crashed right into my baby toe and I just sunk to the dresser with my lips in my teeth and she felt so bad. I finally sucked it up and continued with the moving then thought we'd stop for lunch - it was after 1:00 already! Nooooo she carted them boxes out to her car so I would not have to have them sitting here till Thursday when I could drop them off myself. Then I put my foot down "gently" and called her for lunch - healthy salad - then back to work - UGH!!!







Angela had brought her crock pot and French Onion Soup and wine so she was here for the "day" and now that the closet and bedroom was done she started on my entrance! WOW I don't know where her energy comes from cause I was so dead by this time I could barely bend down. Well we hauled the boxes of fabric from the entrance into the living room for me to sort through and she parked herself beside me and started shredding my 20 some years of banking and credit card bills (after 6 hours she just made a dent so guess I'll have to keep going with this). We chit chatted and continued until supper of her yummy soup then back to it!!! I managed to go through four boxes of fabric and I've just over one box for myself and the rest packaged up to take to the Aurora group for sharing etc. I now have all the bags of magazines into one box and it's parked next to my bed so I can relax there and flip through whenever and the purge them too.

While we were "resting" I called Pat and garner some sympathy for giving up some of my treasures but she said I was doing great and to keep going that I'll feel so much better - BUTTTTTTT! She just chuckled and laughed at my silliness. But at least Pat was mucho nicer than my sister Florence!!! She basically asked if Angela had a half tonne truck and if the "dump" was open to unload then and there! MEANIE!!! I can say I was ready to this task with what I thought was lots of boxes but thankfully Angela had brought six more we needed it all along with some of the totes I got rid of too!

Well now she's very very very anxious to get into my sewing room to sort that out so I can get this mess out of my livingroom so I could entertain again! I said NOT TODAY!!! (laughing tenderly) So who knows what and when that will happen but this place looks much better already with what we did do!!!

AGAIN thank you Angela and I hope you are not too sore tomorrow and that you get to rest some!!!

A Step Forward - Finally

Well I must say THANK YOU MAUREEN B for that added push with her recent email to CQ-Friends and also to ANGELA for insisting she come over this weekend and we start on my closet and drawers to clean out the "unnecessary" clothing (the better items are going to the Clothes Closet at the United Church).

See a couple of weekends ago we got together to finalize my passport application and I brought up the topic of my apartment - wrong move there! Yes are others have wanted to help and I appreciate that! Then I asked for her help once again in budget planning so I can hopefully make major dents in my debts rather than scraping by like I'm doing, so I can forge onward to retirement!

Well we've had a few emails back and forth today with much laughter on my part and tears of joy and love for a friend so special (even though it's sometimes months before we get together) and have decided on pushing ahead this weekend with the closets and the shredder and she thinks we'll even start on another room too!!! WELL she's not been over here in years, so I hate to have her over before I get to clean up, but if I go that route she'll probably never get to help me! LOL! So I warned her and she's still game - ROFLOL!

For shame, yes I know, but in my life a spic n span show home is not my thing and and never will be.

Not Much Better!

Well the weekend was kinda a wishy washy one as I did things and then didn't do things - just not in the best of moods and with an awful backache too. I did start some work on searching for a pattern for my Quilt Reflections Challenge Wallquilt for the silent auction but then ditched that attempt as I had like a half dozen and not one definite one. Then work on Monday was quiet and full of number crunching and Ibuprofen popping too!!! That night I did start my CQ-CA BookMarks for our group swap so that's a positive.

Tuesday was a different story totally! I started out with a visit to my Chiro who did his best to set my back to rights (feeling better than on the weekend) and then spent the day stitchin n gabbin an EATING with my friends Maureen, Faye and Beryl and did very well on my BookMarks. They just LOVE my stitching and here I had Marie Alton's Portholes of Inspiration beside me thinking I wish I could stitch like this!!! Then Faye had a pile of magazines to go to Aurora and one helped me decide on my Challenge Wallquilt and also planned my fabrics for it too. YAHOOIE something finally working for me!!!

Well after I got home I was fired up and filled in the registration form for that challenge and did up the label and the display label write ups and VOILA just have to wash my fabrics and away I go with another project. Hopefully finished by the deadline!!! I later sat back down and did a bit more stitching and planning on my BookMarks - they look good so far!!!

Not very productive!

Gosh talk about being in a pithy mood!!!

Well I did redraft my plans for my QU applique project but that is all, guess I'll have to get busy tonight and at least transfer it to the tear away stabilizer so I can sew tomorrow or I'll never get that project compete!

I started the evening off with some emails then read while having supper and then jumped to the gun and unpacked my new camera - tried it out and talk about sooooooo different from my old baby but still very easy. Gotta pick up another memory card though. So I switched the two in the camera bag and will have to think about maybe passing on my old baby to my younger sister so she can at least have her own pics of her family ASAP instead of waiting for the kids to send the pics!!! Have to see what she thinks.

Then I started to clear off the printer stand to switch printers (would like to find some shelf to add to the stand so both printers can sit there in case this new one won't do my postcard backs - if not then it will allow for the papers to sit neatly too. Anyways lucky I stopped to read the "Read First" pamphlet with the printer as there it was in B&W to insert the camera disk first then the printer disk and set up the specs etc then connect the cables. DUH my CD drive does not work for some reason so !@#$ - guess I can't switch them just yet and that means I have to get that fixed next week for sure!!!

Sheesh if it's not one thing it's another that sucks the $$$ from whatever I'd like to spend them on! LOL!

Okay guess I'll go back to beading and stitching!!!