Quilting Weekend!!!

First off Thank You to the Potters' for their great hospitality on this awesome weekend with friends. We even dropped into the Morse Museum and viewed Carrie & Dale Anne Potter's Double Vision exhibition (see my press review below) - just LOVELY!!! I can't wait until the book featuring Carrie's photos and Dale Anne's quilted items along with the write ups is released - hopefully in the fall.



We even checked out the other impressive displays and was very intriqued with this hat one - pics even turned out - WOW!!!



Then we zipped into Moose Jaw (hotel left LOTS to be desired I tell you - we'll know next time) for Mark Lipinski's Trunk Show (AWESOME but man oh man you needed an open mind for this baby) and then Sunday the Quilt Show!!!

Hmmmm I can tell you that my first meeting with Mark will always be unforgettable!!! See he walked into the Quilt Patch and recognized Dale Anne right away along with Susan and was whisking the gals out to WalMart with him. They said Rose Anne was somewhere in the store too, so off he went calling in this very male booming voice for me and when I answered and looked up at this solid man he told me to get my butt going as we were off to WalMart now!!! WELL I can tell you I stopped my browsing and booted it out the door without a peep, much to the chuckles of my friends and curious looks of other shoppers etc. - that is until I realized he was just a large teddy bear!!!

Yes a lovely time was had by us all (Dale Anne, Susan, Jody and myself for sure) and I still think my weak stomach muscles still don't know what the heck hit them with all the laughter and relaxation I indulged in! LOL! Now I can't post any of Dale Anne's Double Vision display or photos of Mark as requested by the artists. Sorry. Here's one of Susan and Dale Anne and you can see the fun they were having and then some of the quilts that I just LOVED without Mark!









Then after a horrible night in a "non-smoking" room that was reeking of cigarette smoke (place was booked solid) we ventured off to the park to the outdoor Quilt Show. I've uploaded some overall pics and one of these days I will upload the individual Quilt Show pics into my Webshots but I've no time this next two weeks. Sorry.









Susan just loved these ??? flowers - not sure if they are a daisy, brown-eyed Susans or mini sunflowers but they were everywhere along the roadsides. AND talk about my first time through at night and seeing mounds of snow everywhere ??? in June??? - well I know better now! The natural salt fields near Chaplin Sask.



And then the weekend was drawing to a close - I always hate that time!!! So after relaxing Sunday evening again at the Potters, Susan/Jody and I left in opposite directions Monday morning to return home to the day to day chores etc. BUT man some of those quilts sure have given me lots of ideas!!!



And I just could not resist taking the pics to all the different cloud formations - yes while driving through the windows - not bad eh?





Now these of the canola fields I actually stopped and even attempted to hop up onto my car trunk, didn't succeed and landed up with scraps and bruises for my troubles. WELL not to be outdone I got the pail out of the trunk and did climb up for this shot!!!



This one is near the exit on Hwy #1 to Grand Valley just west of Brandon MB. Awesome valley just filled with canola.





And this is east of Brandon somewhere and reminds me of the old western movies of the "hanging tree"!

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Double Vision Exhibition
July 3 – August 31, 2008
Morse Museum & Cultural Centre, Morse, SK
“Through another artist’s eyes!”

First off I have to say I’d been anticipating seeing this exhibition by one of my very dear quilting friends for some time and the day finally arrived. There were days when Dale Anne would send us “snippets” of images of one of the projects on the go and ask for our feedback. Well I’m not sure what she got out of our comments as there was no way we could have guessed what those “snippets” (more like teasers as some of us called them) would grow up to be and from the display I definitely was way off target!!!

Now July 25th I finally travelled to Morse, Saskatchewan to meet with fellow quilters and on the 26th we all took in the Potters’ Double Vision exhibition with a personal tour by Dale Anne. It was just awesome seeing Carrie’s photos hung alongside the inspired fabric creations by her Mom. The fabric interpretations of Carrie’s photos or parts of them were phenomenal to say the least. I’m still amazed at how Dale Anne came up with some of her ideas, but I sure love the pieces in their own entirety. Some, naturally, I still needed Dale Anne’s verbalization to see the connection but the pieces by themselves are definitely WORKS OF ART.

There were two that tugged at my heart and purse strings with the hopes that I might purchase one of them for myself! Yes, the interwoven piece, aptly called “Woven I” is still my FAVOURITE right from the very beginnings of it’s involved steps, but a close runner up is “Reflection in the Rain” which has been purchased – Congratulations!!! I was totally blown away with this Mother/Daughter showing of their talents and would truly love to see such an event again and anxiously awaiting the printed book with the artists’ write ups too. Good luck to both of you in your future endeavors and wouldn’t it be something to one day see your names on billboards or in magazines and be able to say "I knew her way back when . . . " – oh yes that would really be something!

Thank you ladies and also the Morse Museum for hosting this exhibition.

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OAKIE DOKIE, that's it folks! I'm pooped and need my beauty sleep! LOL!

Off to meet Mark Lipinski!!!

Okay, I'm off today to join up with other quilting friends and check out Double Vision of Dale Anne and Carrie Potter in Morse SK. Then Saturday off to Moose Jaw to check out the quilt shops, take in a trunk show by Mark Lipinski and Sunday enjoy the quilt show outdoors. BUT who knows maybe visit with other quilting friends while there. So next week there may be other pics to view again! Off I go, Off I go, Off I go!!!

Another Postcard???

WOW I'm not sure if I'm sick or just got the creative muse working overtime but I finished another single postcard tonight!!!



I LOVE IT!!! Now just hope my young friend enjoys this greeting too!!! First off I googled "Canadian sailing" and gathered various pictures for helpful ideas. Then for this postcard I gathered from my stash five different fabrics and composed my picture along with another session of practicing with the invisible poly thread! I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Oh and I was approached by a co-worker to purchase another of my postcards as a souvenir for a visiting official! WOW, guess I better get cracking and make up more of them and even small scenics to have on hand. Now to really get this sewing room organized so I can work more practically???

Okay guess I better get back to some work again.

Beet Leaf Buns!

Okay these Beet Leaf Holopchi in my mind are just to DIE FOR!!!

This is how our family makes them, BUT I used the frozen bread dough and it worked just lovely for my first time - see the proof is in the pictures and my tummy!!! On the left there is enough for three meals and on the right about a dozen smothered in a cream sauce and inhaled promptly!



Okay the link above will take you to the website with a story and the recipe along with pictures. If for some reason that does not work contact me and I'll send you a regular email of the recipe.

YUMMY!!!

Okay I KNEW I could not wait until tomorrow to enjoy this meal. While packing up two portions and setting aside another for tomorrow's supper I snacked on three small buns!!! OHHHH they were delicious and thankfully there isn't enough to overindulge with tonight! LOL!

Another Postcard!

Ohhhh ain't she cute and I hope my young friend likes her!!!

I picked up this fabric of various country Angels at Peachtree Heirlooms (Regina SK) on my trip to Alberta this year and this is the first project I did with it. Well I backed the Angel with Wonder Under Lite and cut it away even between the branches of her wings and then adhered it to the background and use the clear poly thread and straight stitching to anchor in place. Then I quilted around her and also the apron and collar. The lone yellow flower is a button that I cut the shank off and used the clear poly thread and anchored it in place, then added the ladybug and the dragonfly accents to finish it off.

Ohhhh the temptation!!!

OH MY!!! I don't believe I actually made these beet buns!!!

Now to patiently wait for supper tomorrow to enjoy them with fried onions and then sauted in cream - Ohhhh can I do it???? I know it's too late to enjoy such at this hour even if I haven't had supper!!!

Am I CRAZY!!!

Okay, a co-worker last week brought me in a serving of beet leaf wrapped buns (a Ukrainian dish) for lunch and YUMMY awesome feed! Well he asked if I wanted some leaves to make my own buns - UMMMM - yep I hesitated cause that meant I had to learn how to make this and not just find the recipe for those that asked! LOL!

Okay his wife politely let him leave me some in our work fridge and I FORGOTS them - darn it. So I went in today and they seem to be okay so off to Safeway to get the frozen dough and yes I'm going to try and make them up tonight. It's hot and muggy in my place and I think I'm CRAZY but then it just goes to show that I LOVE these things and even bought the half and half cream/milk to go with them and I've tonnes of onions in the crisper too! So I did get the dough to rise nicely and tore of bits and wrapped them in the leaves and they are now baking - maybe I'll have a few feeds yet!!! MMMMM HMMMMM! It says 20-25 minutes to bake so might be back to let you know.

It's Early!!!

Yep here it is and I just LOVE IT!!! Thankfully I make myself one so I'll have it forever!!! I'm even thinking of making extras up just in case someone wants to buy one to send to their "sweetie" for Valentine's!



Okay now onto a different project and hopefully it being "small sized" I can maybe get most of it finished today too??? See I'm stitching up a 15" x 19" bright star block wall hanging for my patch pal. There are four 2" blocks to make up the bright star and six of those in the quilt so not that much to sew up and then three borders and binding. I'm hoping to finish this off this week so her parcel can be mailed out SOON!!!

Okay, guess it's back to work as I would LOVE to start my Hat's Off postcards too but first this baby!

Another good day!

OMGG you should see what came up for a topic in one of my groups when checking emails – YEP – this girl could not resist!!! It’s called “Hat’s Off” and a foggy idea came to mind. Well I googled and sure enough came up with five samples that I incorporated various bits and pieces together and with my STASH will have some SMASHING postcards!!! I can’t wait!!! Mail out is Sept 1st so will have these finished in time too, I'm sure!!!

Yes, I’ve already drawn up my own idea of all the pieces and now just to pull all the materials etc together and when my “Romance” postcards are finished I can get busy on these!!! It will be a bit tricky as I have to work from the back to the front but think it will be okay and look just SMASHING when finished. OH yeah I’ll definitely be keeping one for myself and who knows maybe making extras for sale too.

Good Feelings!!!

Well after a couple of days with niggling sharp pinpricks in my foot I decided to go get it checked out - see I stepped on some glass shrads Tuesday evening cleaning up the car breakin. My Dr. definitely thinks there's a piece in there and sent me for xrays, but ZIPPO evidence - could be a sliver. So basically we leave it alone and one of two things will happen: ONE, the body will fight it and eventually push it out; or TWO, the body will encase it and it will just stay there. Time will tell, but I felt better doing something about it.

AND, then I went to the Library and paid my overdue fines so there would be no delays in getting a requested book "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne that my friend says is a very good "positive thinking/feeling" book to read. There's even a CD, so I'm hoping that is available for my road trips coming up soon.

ALSO, after coming home and making supper early for once, I went through my emails and then got down to business and gathered materials needed for my "Romance" PCs for the FAPC swap coming up. It's funny as this was the first time I signed up for a swap without an idea, just to keep one of my friends company. Well searching the internet for ideas I came across some scrapbooking borders and VOILA off to the races I was - mailout is not till August 15th - am I sick? Naturally I put my own spin on it and after 3 hours, I can say I LOVE IT!!! Thank goodness I always make myself one too as so far I'm very very pleased with this one. And I'm just about finished, but have run out of steam, so am going to put my feet up and read/watch baseball!!! Maybe tomorrow I'll finish them.

Yahooie - they're done!

Okay, finally like just about 3 weeks late but my two CQd 5" unfinished blocks are completed and ready to be mailed off to their new owners tomorrow!!!

Now for some stupid reason the colours are totally off and I can't adjust them. The top left satin where they hearts are, is supposed to be a creamy sand; the bottom left sparkly where the mother of pearl buttons etc are, is supposed to be salmon; the bottom right is supposed to be natural suede; and the top right is supposed to be a dark taupe. DUH it's either the camera or my lighting in this apartment that is messing pics up.

WHAT A !@#$% Day

Okay guess the day started out great, up in time to have breaky at home and get to work on time too. Even work started out so so which was good until the movers showed up like 4 hours sooner than they were too and the guys weren't around nor their desks cleared. Okay, even that sorted itself out so not bad I guess.

For some reason I've been achey all over since holiday and was thankful I had my massage after work. Well that's when things got worse! I for some reason went out the back door instead of front to go around the block and passed my car. UMMMM no not passed, stopped dead! SHOOT I swear these punks do not deserve court protection, but their faces and names plastered all over the place for all to see and for each additional theft another digit amputated! They do not deserve "children's rights and/or protection". Yep you guessed it my car and my neighbours were busted into.



Not sure about her car, but I can say mine is OLD, nothing laying about and has an immobilizer AND the CLUB on it so what the heck is with these IDIOTS brains!!! They even busted the door handle and scattered the glove box contents around inside (guess looking for those new phangled toys every has nowadays - GPSs) taking some tools stored in there to help start my car when needed. AND you guessed it the police aren't even coming down to check it out, just recorded it, gave me a number and told to clean up the mess and go to Autopac for a damage/repair report. !@#$% Yes I'm XXXXXXX!



And I've two trips planned for the next 2-3 weeks too!!! Should be interesting with plastic taped with duct tape!!!

Postcard Eye Candy

Now I was doing some BLOG viewing and checked out one of my favourites and got my socks knocked!!!

YEP I just LOVE the way Robin framed her special 12-month postcard beaded journal projects and I'm hoping some of my viewers who've not seen her blog Beadlust will do so soon and return for more!!! I just LOVE her solution for a framing delimma!!! Thank you for sharing Robin and I look forward to more inspirational treasures from you!

Something Different

Well remember the stitching PJ party I was going to yesterday evening? And remember it was supposed to be a summer picnic complete with painted hennas by Kathryn? Well here's mine - I'm still not used to seeing something on my hand! LOL!

And then a nice surprise for me today too. I had called my sister about getting my second pantry and she tells me her daughter called and saw a picture of me with my orchid wall hanging in the freebie local Primes Time newspaper found in various store foyers! WOW!!! And then Linda who coordinated the gathering of various photos for the editor to choose from called saying she picked up a few papers for me (my Safeway didn't have any visible) so now I can't wait to read the article on the Guild's ABC quilts spearheaded by Vivian C - a long time MPQ guild member. Then a couple of hours later another friend called to chat and also tell me about my picture in the paper. Yep I's tickled pink!!!

Sewing Room Update

Yes, I'm one step closer again!!! See Angela brought her hubby this time and picked up my newly purchased second pantry and hauled it home for me. Well they had decided he was putting it together for me and then she organized as always (I'm chuckling cause I said it was sitting in the hallway till I had time to make room for it) started hauling stuff out and in it went beside the other one! WOW looks good together!

So then she also wanted to help me undo the mess but I shooed them out as poor Bruce was just sweating buckets after working in my overly warm cramped apartment. BUT now I guess I have no excuses for not getting more organized!!! Definitely this fall that sewing room should be mucho better!!!

Thank you my dear friends for your help today!!!

What a SATURDAY!

Well talk about a weird day!!! It was a measly 17C today but felt like ZERO inside and out - LOL! AND pouring buckets with wind gusts apparently up to 67 km/hr (felt like 100 though). Well my niece and family arrived back, safe and sound, and first thing was weren't the workers around to seal off the eaves? I said NOPE and it's cold in the house and if it's not done soon you'll be pouring money down the drain trying to take the chill and damp out. Well I left to go home - realized I left something behind again - returned to pick it up and there's Randy with the propane heater in the addition to help warm the place up.

I left for my PJ party and had a lovely summer picnic feast and stitched some on my Brazilian Dimensional Embroidery class piece and chatted with the ladies. It was a bit different from the previous ones as there were no stitchery related games but the new owner Kathryn brought in her henna supplies and we chose our designs and she painted them on us. Now this is a first for me so I've nothing to compare this too but my hand feels funny and I can't wait till the unveiling in the morning. We all got goodie bags with various stitchery items and mine were various threads/flosses for my projects, a pattern and a gingerbread charm (Kathryn's designs are called Gingerbread - how appropriate).

Well on my way home there were branches everywhere along with water puddles and closer to home on the Legislative grounds a huge tree was busted close to the ground but thankfully not on the road. Then when I got home again I tried to check my emails and still had no connection so I called MTS and apparently there was a problem with the new MS updates and ZoneAlarm and also with my Router. So after about an hour or more by myself and then with a techie we bypassed the router and I'm reconnected. Guess I'll have to get my Internet guy to check this out but at least I'm finally reconnected to my "friends"!

Through My Window Projects

Thank you Jo of NZ for your kind words and hope you're checking back for your answer as I've decided to post it here in case others are wondering the same about this technique. I was gifted a pattern "Through My Window" by Patchworks Studio along with the eagles fabric and along with my sister's help I managed to do it up but the instructions were either not complete or not clear for me to follow.



So my sister walked me through as follows:

1. cut a piece of Steam a Seam 2 Lite or whatever you use that is double sided fusible the size you want for your finished picture or postcard size

2. draw or trace your wrought iron window or gate shape ensuring you have joins everywhere or you'll loose pieces when cutting out see through spaces (mark these with an X to be safe)

3. cut a piece of black or whatever colour you want for the front framework and remove the back side of the drawn S-a-S and adhere to the wrong side of fabric

4. then watch carefully as you cut out the see through spaces of the front fabric and position over your panel or backing fabric until you decide on your window view

5. then carefully remove the paper backing and place over your background and iron to adhere in place and trim off excess backing

6. for postcards: use either a straight stitch or a satin stitch to anchor the edges down - depending on the finished look you are wanting - then finish off postcards as you wish

7. for a wall hanging: before Step 6, I would stitch on the borders (see above eagles) and sandwich to batting and backing slightly larger than front, then do Step 6 as a "quilt as you go" through all

8. attach label, hanging sleeve and bind.

Catching Up!

WOW does it feel good to be catching up on my commitments - well some of them at least. I did finish off the two fabric postcard swaps last night and got the pictures taken and then today before work even posted them! Double, or even triple WOW for me!!!

Postcard delimma

Ohhhhhh I'm so close to having another two sets ready to mailout - will do so tomorrow morning and pictures posted maybe tomorrow evening. BUT I have to tell you my faux paux!!! (sorry Linda if I butchered the French)

See I was going gung hoe and was feeling good for a change in working with postcards and was just zipping along and even had to pen my backs as I've still not changed the printer cartridges even though I bought them last week!!! So there I was checking them off the lists and numbering them and GASP! I've made up TWO for one person!!! SHEESH!!!

Well guess I'll be testing out my idea of making up a slightly smaller new back and adhereing it to wonder under or steam a seam Lite and sticking it on top for another swapper. I'll have to see if I can do a find blanket stitch around as I can't use the sewing machine as it would wreck the front look and the finished satin stitched edging. Why oh Why did I have to goof like that! LOL!

Still Stitchin'

Well it's been a week since I'm home from vacation and all I can say is I wanna go BACK!!! Now don't get me wrong, I love my messy space and home surrounded by nearby family and friends but shucks I miss the freedom of travelling and yep I LOVE eating out even if it's picking up grocery foods and just parking my butt somewhere for a picnic. I love seeing new and favourite road haunts but I don't miss living out of a suitcase. LOL!

And then here I am home - but not home and back to living out of a suitcase while house/cat sitting (they took the dog with them this time) for my niece. See their house is in a semi state of renovations and they are taking a week's reprieve at the lake - well deserved!!! I just can't wait to see this house totally finished and their furniture back home and hopefully their lives back to "normal" if that is possible after this past year of "whatever"!!! I do know that there is no way I can live like this again - growing up with a carpenter father and home renos here and there was enough in one lifetime for this girl!!! LOL!

Okay enough rambling, onto what the topic is about! See when I left on vacation I took some hand stitching (mainly postcards) with me to try and NOT fall too far behind on deadlines. Well I've finally finished this weekend the one set (CQd Garden) and just about finished the (BDs) and just have to get back to my home and assemble them rather than cart all that "stuff" to my niece's so they can go into the mail this next week.

ALSO, I've started my CQd 5" embellished blocks and I can say that I LOVE them so far and better remember to take pictures as I think I'll be wanting one for myself someday. Okay guess I better get off this baby and back to my stitching! It would be awesome to get these off this week too, but I'm unsure what metallic floss I'll use for my spider and web - darn it - these are my sort of "signature" on my pieces and now I'm trying to go one step further and doing different types and embellishments with them. Hey I remember someone saying that no matter how experienced you think you are - there is always room to learn and improve! Now that is how I'm looking at my CQing as some of the eyecandy out there is just so BEAUTIFUL and DELICATE looking (something I need to strive for).

Okay back to the easy chair, baseball(?) and my stitching!

Retreat Photos

Okay, I've finally uploaded most of the pics taken while on vacation and they can be found here in my Webshots album. If you like check them out!