Don't laugh, this is major for me!!!
OK my cell phone contract is ending soon and I got a reminder letter WITH a $25 coupon towards accessories. So this time I decided to go sooner and make use of that coupon.
Well this time the $0 cell phone offer was not an option as I decided I wanted a handsfree option for the vehicle and the Bluetooth was only available with a purchased phone for $30 - oh well it's been a number of years with $0 types - I can bite the bullet this time. No I did not want a Blackberry or those keyboard type phones - I don't text and don't intend to - so didn't even look at the options for them.
And talk about fortunate for me today, see they had a sale on the visor type Bluetooth units and the one I got is $130 on sale for $70 minus my $25 coupon so I decided not to quibble and just paid the difference. I wanted to have my contacts transferred over but that's another $15 so I declined and just spent the past hour setting that up myself and this time entered in the 204 area code for local calls which will be a must this fall. It's done.
Now just to connect my Bluetooth visor unit into vehicle power and charge it up and I'll be able to make the connection after that. No I do not know what I'm talking about just read the steps and that's what it said!!! LOL! Wonder if I'll be able to unplug it and take it in with me - don't want to leave temptation visible for vandalism. BUT I did read that to make a call I need Voice Recognition in my phone so back to it I went and searched and yeppers I found that option and tested it by calling my sister - who laughed at my "playing with my new toy"!!! Yep I'm way behind the times compared to them but heck now I can legally use my phone while driving - no I didn't do that before just shut it off or passed it onto others to answer for me. I've the univeral car charger that I plug the home charger into and it stay charged while mobie. LOL!
I can just imagine what my co-workers will think when I tell them - HMMMM!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
Darlene's Retired!
Oh boy, you know no matter how I was feeling, even if we had differences of opinions, Darlene was always there with her special comforting hugs for me and her unquestionable support! AND I can't forget her almost compulsive encouragement to continue with my quilting and crazy patch embellished projects - she just LOVED my postcards too! Well even though she always went away for four weeks on vacation in early spring - she always returned - well this year it did not last! BOOO HOOO HOOO!!! See she was only back for a couple of weeks and then more vacation leave to use up excess time before officially RETIRING!!!
Not sure if you remember seeing my Northern Solitudes hanger on the Oriental like bamboo hanger I purchased from Ten Thousand Villages, but she's always been hinting at my making a "fancy" Kimono to hang from it. Nah, not my thing, but then wait is she hinting that she'd like that for herself? Hmmmmm??? That got me thinking and as those who know me well - that could be a mistake - LOL! So promptly I started to research what they look like, how I'd make a pattern for a small hanging and after many hours and a first rejected attempt I finally got the Kimono together and ready for the embellishing. Ohhhh I had such high expectations for this baby - yes majority of them materialized - BUT heck I didn't realize it would take me like 46 hours in the next two weeks after the Quilt Show to actually get it finished!!!
Yeppers at 1:30 am Thursday morning of her retirement party it was wrapped and my short and sweet speech prepared! I was even going to sign it so John (deaf co-worker) would know what I was talking about but he said "NAH, I'd be too nervous", so I let him read it before the party! When I was called up for my small presentation I did a lead in which I signed and John chuckled and everyone laughed. Kinda relaxed me but still did not help when it came to actually expressing my Thank You and Good Bye to Darlene.
I think it was safe to say she was really surprised with my gift for her and today she told me it's already hanging in her living room! Now to find the time for a visit here and there as she lives close by!
I LOVE this picture of Darlene but have to explain that she was having difficulty expressing herself during her Thank You speech with thoughts of our past ADM and friend Lorne, who retired a year ago and passed away a few months later.
Not sure if you remember seeing my Northern Solitudes hanger on the Oriental like bamboo hanger I purchased from Ten Thousand Villages, but she's always been hinting at my making a "fancy" Kimono to hang from it. Nah, not my thing, but then wait is she hinting that she'd like that for herself? Hmmmmm??? That got me thinking and as those who know me well - that could be a mistake - LOL! So promptly I started to research what they look like, how I'd make a pattern for a small hanging and after many hours and a first rejected attempt I finally got the Kimono together and ready for the embellishing. Ohhhh I had such high expectations for this baby - yes majority of them materialized - BUT heck I didn't realize it would take me like 46 hours in the next two weeks after the Quilt Show to actually get it finished!!!
Yeppers at 1:30 am Thursday morning of her retirement party it was wrapped and my short and sweet speech prepared! I was even going to sign it so John (deaf co-worker) would know what I was talking about but he said "NAH, I'd be too nervous", so I let him read it before the party! When I was called up for my small presentation I did a lead in which I signed and John chuckled and everyone laughed. Kinda relaxed me but still did not help when it came to actually expressing my Thank You and Good Bye to Darlene.
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| Closeup of 1st Goldwork attempt and silk floss embroidery |
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| Appliqued fans and silk fabric Obi |
I LOVE this picture of Darlene but have to explain that she was having difficulty expressing herself during her Thank You speech with thoughts of our past ADM and friend Lorne, who retired a year ago and passed away a few months later.
Good Bye Martin!
Boy life sure is not fair!
See last fall Martin, one of our Aurora Quilters, had chest/breathing problems and by Christmas was diagnosed with lung cancer (a non-smoker)! Surgery was not an option and I'm so glad that our group got together and made him a comfort quilt to help keep him warm! Jeanette (his loving wife) informed us that Wednesday morning, April 18th, Martin passed away in the hospital. Definitely too young! He is so sadly missed by his fellow quilters as I'm sure by his family and friends!
See last fall Martin, one of our Aurora Quilters, had chest/breathing problems and by Christmas was diagnosed with lung cancer (a non-smoker)! Surgery was not an option and I'm so glad that our group got together and made him a comfort quilt to help keep him warm! Jeanette (his loving wife) informed us that Wednesday morning, April 18th, Martin passed away in the hospital. Definitely too young! He is so sadly missed by his fellow quilters as I'm sure by his family and friends!
There were a few of us who attended Martin’s Celebration of Life and it was lovely to peruse the Storyboard Jeanette had prepared. Also what a lovely touch to see the two quilts (Aurora Quilters and Victorian Quilts) made for Martin gracing the alter where his urn, flowers and stuffed animals rested. Jeanette looked lovely, teary eyed naturally on occasions, but she wore the dress Martin loved most – her final party for him - what he wanted!
Good bye dear friend! You will be missed by many!
2012 Quilt Reflections Disappointment
"Sometimes life stinks, but one must find the roses and help get through it!"
Disheartened - Explanation!
I think I've calmed down enough to explain what happened when Sylvia & I were dropping off our quilts for judging/showing at this year's quilt show. First off I will say that I know nothing about quilt show organization, rules etc but do know that it could have been handled differently starting back in January. The actual quilt show was AWESOME and if it wasn't for the heavy "storm cloud" of feelings over us, we would have enjoyed the show even more. It even passed through us to totally "withdraw" our items period, but reason did prevail.
OK here goes! Around the end of March I received a phone call from the Quilt Competition convenor who had been trying to contact my sister (lives in Ontario). Well she & hubby had been back and forth to Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, and then back to Winnipeg for about a 4 week period dealing with health conditions and surgery sooner than suggested. So I asked if I could assist and get a message to Sylvia for her. Basically I was told that all competition quilts will be hung but room was in short supply for show quilts and it was possible Sylvia's three quilts would not all be hung and needed her to number them 1, 2, and 3 and for sure one would be hung. OK I passed that on and Sylvia even withdrew one show quilt, they only needed to be picked up from the quilter and the binding stitched in place. Remember she was not home to do this in the past month and I'm sure she's not the only one finishing a quilt that month before the show. So the Easter long weekend I drove Sylvia home to go get the quilts and we worked on those two and came right back to the city as Len was just released from having back surgery and she did not want to be away from him long. That week was quilt drop off and then the Show.
We arrived to drop off our quilts and while Sylvia was in line I dropped off my Boutique items. I turned around and heard Sylvia's anxious voice - very unusual for her so I promptly went over to ask what gives. She tells me that none of her Show quilts would be shown just the one Competition quilt. I promptly asked for an explanation of why they phoned and said one thing and then turned around and did the opposite. Needless to say the answers were wishy washy about too many large quilts this year, not enough frames, many competition quilts (no number restriction/person) which all were to be hung so it was decided some Show quilts were not going to be hung. You guessed it I lost my cool - I did NOT yell as was reported to an Executive member (if I had the Hotel Security would surely have been there right away) - but definitely was very frustrated and disappointed and ready to cry! When I realized I was not getting any satisfaction, I did mention I'd be blogging about this - see my blog is my FAMILY - my sounding board - my release. WELL one of the Committee members said I was not to "bad mouth this show as I could shut it down" her words not mine (as if I have that kind of clout). THAT got me totally annoyed - I have always tried to remain fair within my blog even when I am annoyed - so that got my goat and I said they should have thought of that before this happened!!! Very immature of me yes and I wish I had just kept quiet! But like my boss says: "at least you know where you stand with her and how she feels"!
Afterwards an Executive Member, my girlfriend, did call me to explain how the decision was reached. See when they realized the space was limited they withdrew names of those who had Competition quilts from the Show quilts group and apparently hung ONE quilt of the remaining names in the Show category. I guess it's fair, but after all was said and done, it was not acceptable to Sylvia or myself period. I'm not sure what will happen in future shows but I should hope this problem does not arise again as I've heard that many others were unhappy and dissapointed with this outcome - not just us. Just totally too bad!
I even suggested that maybe in future the Committee not put out the "hue and cry" like they did in January and February begging for quilts to be entered as the numbers were down for this show. By the way Sylvia's registration was sent in in October. Yeah well March poured in so many quilts it was now "overloaded". Also suggested they should have maybe gone back and hang those according to when their registration was received - mine then would not have been hung as I was in the last group to register! But like my niece and one of my girlfriends said - no matter which way they solved the delimma there would have been hurt feelings and dissappointment - they did what they thought was fair! I hope so!
OK enough of this - it's been eating at me for a couple of weeks and I have to let it go! Like I said it's been a rough few months for me and I don't like these feelings/emotions or lack thereof!!!
Disheartened - Explanation!
I think I've calmed down enough to explain what happened when Sylvia & I were dropping off our quilts for judging/showing at this year's quilt show. First off I will say that I know nothing about quilt show organization, rules etc but do know that it could have been handled differently starting back in January. The actual quilt show was AWESOME and if it wasn't for the heavy "storm cloud" of feelings over us, we would have enjoyed the show even more. It even passed through us to totally "withdraw" our items period, but reason did prevail.
OK here goes! Around the end of March I received a phone call from the Quilt Competition convenor who had been trying to contact my sister (lives in Ontario). Well she & hubby had been back and forth to Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, and then back to Winnipeg for about a 4 week period dealing with health conditions and surgery sooner than suggested. So I asked if I could assist and get a message to Sylvia for her. Basically I was told that all competition quilts will be hung but room was in short supply for show quilts and it was possible Sylvia's three quilts would not all be hung and needed her to number them 1, 2, and 3 and for sure one would be hung. OK I passed that on and Sylvia even withdrew one show quilt, they only needed to be picked up from the quilter and the binding stitched in place. Remember she was not home to do this in the past month and I'm sure she's not the only one finishing a quilt that month before the show. So the Easter long weekend I drove Sylvia home to go get the quilts and we worked on those two and came right back to the city as Len was just released from having back surgery and she did not want to be away from him long. That week was quilt drop off and then the Show.
We arrived to drop off our quilts and while Sylvia was in line I dropped off my Boutique items. I turned around and heard Sylvia's anxious voice - very unusual for her so I promptly went over to ask what gives. She tells me that none of her Show quilts would be shown just the one Competition quilt. I promptly asked for an explanation of why they phoned and said one thing and then turned around and did the opposite. Needless to say the answers were wishy washy about too many large quilts this year, not enough frames, many competition quilts (no number restriction/person) which all were to be hung so it was decided some Show quilts were not going to be hung. You guessed it I lost my cool - I did NOT yell as was reported to an Executive member (if I had the Hotel Security would surely have been there right away) - but definitely was very frustrated and disappointed and ready to cry! When I realized I was not getting any satisfaction, I did mention I'd be blogging about this - see my blog is my FAMILY - my sounding board - my release. WELL one of the Committee members said I was not to "bad mouth this show as I could shut it down" her words not mine (as if I have that kind of clout). THAT got me totally annoyed - I have always tried to remain fair within my blog even when I am annoyed - so that got my goat and I said they should have thought of that before this happened!!! Very immature of me yes and I wish I had just kept quiet! But like my boss says: "at least you know where you stand with her and how she feels"!
Afterwards an Executive Member, my girlfriend, did call me to explain how the decision was reached. See when they realized the space was limited they withdrew names of those who had Competition quilts from the Show quilts group and apparently hung ONE quilt of the remaining names in the Show category. I guess it's fair, but after all was said and done, it was not acceptable to Sylvia or myself period. I'm not sure what will happen in future shows but I should hope this problem does not arise again as I've heard that many others were unhappy and dissapointed with this outcome - not just us. Just totally too bad!
I even suggested that maybe in future the Committee not put out the "hue and cry" like they did in January and February begging for quilts to be entered as the numbers were down for this show. By the way Sylvia's registration was sent in in October. Yeah well March poured in so many quilts it was now "overloaded". Also suggested they should have maybe gone back and hang those according to when their registration was received - mine then would not have been hung as I was in the last group to register! But like my niece and one of my girlfriends said - no matter which way they solved the delimma there would have been hurt feelings and dissappointment - they did what they thought was fair! I hope so!
OK enough of this - it's been eating at me for a couple of weeks and I have to let it go! Like I said it's been a rough few months for me and I don't like these feelings/emotions or lack thereof!!!
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Catch UP
OK I'm not sure if I've posted some of these pictures so here goes!
March was house/pet sitting time - kinda bad timing as Len (my sister Sylvia's hubby) was called in for his back surgery and was in the hospital here March 22nd through to the 30th. He's doing good and today walking much better with a cane in their daughter's home than the walker. Hopefully he'll be doing better yet before they finally head for home next week - just in time for more Dr appts in Dryden then back into Winnipeg again beginning of May for more appts and a quilt retreat for Sylvia & I. They should be collecting frequent "driving" miles!!! It's been nothing but long distance driving for them either east to Thunder Bay or west to Winnipeg!!!
Anyways here is McDuff who after a couple of days took a real shine to me and allowed me to even groom him which sure helped with removing some excess loose long hair.
Then spring break week I moved over to the second house and this time I could not resist taking pictures of the wall unit climber Simba, who even thought about jumping down onto the window seat after some invisible bug!!! I sure hope that TV is anchored down as it sure takes a beating as the midway point to his favourite perch!!!
And here is Mary working on her bobbin lace making me a butterfly during our Northern Lights Lacemakers gathering on the 25th (last Sunday of most months). I can't believe the number of bobbins this baby is needing, but I know it'll be beautiful! Just not sure what I'll make with it!
OK I think I've blogged about my disappearing 9-patch blocks quilt and Sylvia and Pat had helped plan out the layout so one of these days I'll stitch those up and decide on borders. So now my next crazy patch project - the About Seams blocks with my starter seam treatment! I even used my Carole Samples template #20a and can't believe how even my stitches are with this baby!!!
March was house/pet sitting time - kinda bad timing as Len (my sister Sylvia's hubby) was called in for his back surgery and was in the hospital here March 22nd through to the 30th. He's doing good and today walking much better with a cane in their daughter's home than the walker. Hopefully he'll be doing better yet before they finally head for home next week - just in time for more Dr appts in Dryden then back into Winnipeg again beginning of May for more appts and a quilt retreat for Sylvia & I. They should be collecting frequent "driving" miles!!! It's been nothing but long distance driving for them either east to Thunder Bay or west to Winnipeg!!!
Anyways here is McDuff who after a couple of days took a real shine to me and allowed me to even groom him which sure helped with removing some excess loose long hair.
Then spring break week I moved over to the second house and this time I could not resist taking pictures of the wall unit climber Simba, who even thought about jumping down onto the window seat after some invisible bug!!! I sure hope that TV is anchored down as it sure takes a beating as the midway point to his favourite perch!!!
And here is Mary working on her bobbin lace making me a butterfly during our Northern Lights Lacemakers gathering on the 25th (last Sunday of most months). I can't believe the number of bobbins this baby is needing, but I know it'll be beautiful! Just not sure what I'll make with it!
OK I think I've blogged about my disappearing 9-patch blocks quilt and Sylvia and Pat had helped plan out the layout so one of these days I'll stitch those up and decide on borders. So now my next crazy patch project - the About Seams blocks with my starter seam treatment! I even used my Carole Samples template #20a and can't believe how even my stitches are with this baby!!!
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| All About Seams DYOB RR World Wide Crazy Quilters "CQ Shapes Sampler" |
I've one more step to do with these pictures and then I can finish off the booklet that goes with these blocks and the mailout date is May 1st. Guess with all that has been going on I managed to finish off most items I'd planned to do. Now to get some much needed R&R and regroup!!!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
So Disheartened!
Lately with all the family/friends/work situations happening I'm finding myself more and more disheartened with others, myself, my quilting and yes even my work. I'm not sure what I'll do to set myself right but I can definitely say it's going to take something major after today's "situation" in regards to this weekends Manitoba Prairie Quilters Quilt Reflections. I'm too upset to go into my "how it unravelled" and "feelings" at this time, I need to regroup and calm down before my whole weekend is wrecked! My girlfriend even phoned me to "explain" and in the end said I was to apologize for "yelling" at the volunteer. That got me - yes, I was very disgusted and had raised my voice, BUT I definitely was not YELLING - if I was the Hotel security would have come to investigate!!! Yes I was rude and that was uncalled for, but considering the unfortunate circumstances hardly unexpected. I'm sure I'm not the only one who will be totally disgusted either, maybe just not voiced as freely.
Also in the last few weeks I've come to the decision that I'll continue to blog about my "life", to chat about my joys, disappointments of day to day happenings including my hobbies (my autobiography so to speak) and it's up to those who wish to read it to check my blog either from my email siggie link or the "follow this blog" link (except for those few who want me to send it to them).
Sometimes life stinks, but one must find the roses and help get through it!
Also in the last few weeks I've come to the decision that I'll continue to blog about my "life", to chat about my joys, disappointments of day to day happenings including my hobbies (my autobiography so to speak) and it's up to those who wish to read it to check my blog either from my email siggie link or the "follow this blog" link (except for those few who want me to send it to them).
Sometimes life stinks, but one must find the roses and help get through it!
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