I'm Having FUN!!!

Okay I said I'd be relaxing out at my sister's in NW Ontario and here's proof of it. It was actually a very overcast day and I sat outside between visitors to the quilt sale and stitched on my cool ties. Yep seems like all my vacations this summer have been sitting outside and stitching!!!

And here's a peek at my sister's lilies - the whole front is covered in various coloured lilies and white daisies and some small flowers too. Just lovely along with the hummingbirds at the feeders and actually getting pretty worked up with others invading their feeder!!!



Now here's the outdoor stuff: the stripped diamond willow and there is a willow basket too made by my BIL and the stone geese and ducks made by one of their friends that are for sale this week too.



And here is Len with a newly constructed planter birdhouse chair that Sylvia put an old kettle with lovely red flowers planted inside for show - will have to take that picture too!



You can see my old bomb in the background parked out front in the soupie grass to let visitors know where to park rather than around back and going to the wrong doors. And below is a pic of the lovely sunset over the water across the highway from their home. There was also a rainbow but heck it hadn't rained much at all - like a spinkle maybe??? But the pic is not so great!



Okay here's the layout of the once craft shop now decked out with various quilted projects on sale from Sylvia and her friend Fran and a couple from me. Mostly I have my small items but they too have been selling. Mostly placemats, table runners and baby quilts have sold so far.





Naturally, there are many that are just on show and yes three are favourites of many stopping in and continuously asking if the person would change their minds and sell the quilt - nope it's definitely not for sale. Basically to show what that person is capable of doing. Now this next picture is basically the "display only" wall just behind the cash desk and it gets lots of compliments. There is one with visitors checking it out too.





Okay, my basic postcards all sold and my sister said I should make up more and put them out. So not being prepared at all it's a little limited but in the bag of scraps from Linda there were some fall leaves fabrics so with Sylvia's Heat n Bond and luckily I brought some Fast 2 Fuse with me so I whipped these up today - now wonder if they'll go or not.

Okay, I checked and there a way too many emails for me to read tonight! I 'll do a few and then off to bed as I'm beat like by 9:30 here and sleeping in till 8:00 or 9:00 and then breakie before the early birds start dropping by on their way to town etc. LOL!

August Already

Okay it's a new month and I'm going to try my darndest to have a new attitude and get my life in some semblance of order!!! Enough is enough already, I need this apartment in order so I can CREATE and work on more of those postcards that I'm being asked to "sell" more and more lately! I've seen images in my clouds and canola field pictures and danged I'm ticked at myself that I didn't stop and get the images of the flax (purple blooms) fields on the way to SK as on the way back the blooms were all GONE!!! I joked that Scottie beamed them up or something cause I was only gone three days!!! Not FAIR!!!

These are the storm clouds June 13th travelling out of Winnipeg MB.









These are the sunny ones July 28th outside of Morse SK on the way home.

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"!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

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!

Retreating

Well after leaving Dale Anne's I drove straight to Medicine Hat and promptly replenished my missing laundry items and then onto Heather's. He He He, she got the arrival mixed up so wasn't home nor had her cell with her so I was a bit "lost" as to what to do. So onto Kerry's I was going but turned around quickly as the Kowitch's passed me going home - LOL! So I had a nice relaxing day with them both and Friday, after Kerry's brother's funeral service, we proceeded to Sylvan Lake and our quilting retreat! This was a no shopping trip with a quick stop for a refreshing head soaking and water bottles and ice cream we got back into my hot car for the rest of the trip - must say Heather DID NOT WANT TO - thankfully she listened when I said get it!!! LOL! Thankfully supper was kept for us as I was STARVING!!!

The weekend quilting retreat was very relaxing and mostly the food was great as usual so it was lovely chatting and stitching with my online friends. This was the least attended retreat that I've been too but then lots of room to work too - not sure if that is a plus or minus though. The weather cooperated and so did my car so far!

One good thing this year! Heather's Aunt from Grand Prairie joined us this year and I think she had a lovely time (I hope so!) and she went back to Medicine Hat to visit so both Heather and Kerry had a ride home and I could continue with my northern trip without some backtracking. WOW! Hope they had a lovely visit after resting up!

I'm still ?Retreating?

Sorry, this is long as I didn't have PC access much at all this vacation!

Chuckling, I called my Dad from retreat and he was shocked to hear I was still not home after a week! LOL! Then when I said I was not going to be home for another week he just could not figure out WHY!!!

This is the time that I HATE, the goodbyes and then the driving again in my HOT CAR (no AC and can't open my front windows without them popping out)!!! Well if you can call it that but definitely doing various quilty projects either for myself or my friends enroute home.

Okay, I'm enroute to Leduc AB to visit Jody1 (or Jody L) but first a stop in Red Deer with Annette of Natures Colours for some silk ribbon she had dyes herself and who mentioned that Sew You Like 2 Quilt was having a moving sale and so I drove downtown to check it out. WELL am I ever glad I did as on the 60% off table there was my backing for my Stars Galore quilt top - blue with scattered gold stars and slivers of moons. Yahooie, now I have two quilts to be quilted soon by Sylvia!!!!

Okay, now back onto the road to Leduc and even managed to pay my Sears bill as I saw the sign from the highway! WOW! I arrived at Jodys' place in time for supper and some relaxation. They both went to work and I relaxed, checked out Fabricland closing out sale and checked a few emails (finally - talk about computer withdrawal this past week) at an Internet Cafe before heading back to stitch a bit. Then Jody1 and I drove into Edmonton and checked out Earthly Goods, supper and her hair apt before heading back to Leduc for the night. Talk about a thunderstorm too!!! And I got to check out Jody2's quilted projects too - WOW!

Then the next morning I headed into east Edmonton (Sherwood Park) and a very nice visit with Isobel W and her pug (I think it's Hamish - there I go bad with names again) and then back around the city and a pitstop at Ikea. Except for the chair I still want there was nothing that jumped out at me to BUY!!! Guess that is good considering funds were tight eh!

Next stop was near West Edmonton Mall (nope didn't even venture there - no inclination at all) to visit with Oonagh A and Terry T. Afterwards Oonagh and I checked out Fabricland too as they had a 3 for 1 sale last week but zippo for me this week - thems the breaks and supper out. Then I zipped across the city to visit my Dad's younger brother and checked over his well kept yard/garden and also his home renovations. Yep you sure can tell he's related to my Dad - never sits still! LOL! Then back to Oonagh's for a bit of chatting, got her back into Yahoo, some stitching and overnight.

Well up to this point it was tolerable weather with some thundershowers and now it decided to turn up the thermostat - WHY???

So onto Fort Saskatchewan to Pieces Quilt Shoppe and some stitching with Susan and a visit with her family. BUT half hour after I arrive the Heavens open up and one heck of a boomer storm starts up, even knocking the city's power out too. So there we stood around the shop for over half an hour without power and the streets are all dark before closing up and heading for the farm. Hmmmm Randy phoned and said not to bring my car so we left it in Lamont and boy was I GLAD as their lane to the house was clay soup!!! My car would have sashayed and then bogged down or Heaven forbid, sunk deeper and stayed put, and maybe ripped something off too!!!

Now I'm not going to go into the details of what a large house with seven kids and 3 adults is like but I as I told her I'd gladly house sit for them anytime and even trade her family for some of mine anyday!!! I always thought she might have been biased in saying she had "good" children but even the one or two she considered misbehaving - I thought were good period!!! LOL! I could not believe I was in a house with seven children and a dog too!!! I definitely knew I was in a house with seven birds though and they too chirped madly whenever I talked - my tone I guess set them off - LOL! Yes I truly enjoyed my visit with their family and just LOVED the humongous dining table - room for all plus more if we squeezed in!

I even got to stitch one afternoon with her friend in her country ranch-style home too! WOW what a treat! Could have done without the donkey/mule's welcoming though! LOL! One good thing though from this country visit is that the roaming bears decided to vacate that area at least, considering we did some outdoor touring!

Okay, now talk about "stupid me" - I'm leaving on the road again on the hottest day so far! DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!!! At least I stopped and bought lots of water and ice for my coolerbag! But it was a long 10 hour day driving back to Dale Anne's in Morse SK!!! Then I find out I added like 1.5 hours unnecessarily for taking what I thought was a shorter route but NOT!!! ROFLOL! Yep got there safe and sound but talk about wiped out!

Yep I'm alive, at Dale Anne's, showered and out of my stinky driving self (phewie!!!) and fed and more water to drink - I better not go swimming or I'll sink for sure from all the water and pop I downed plus an Ice Cap!!! I also met some deer and antelope in the ditches and some were in the fields and also came upon "after the fact" of a 4-door newer half ton in charred ruins at the Petro Can in Lloyd... (all units there putting it out etc) so continued to Kindersley and fueled up there. Then south of K... I come across billowing clouds of black smoke and stinkie too and as I'm passing it see there's a house there too. So I turn around and pull into the drive incase they need help. Here there's an older lady on the step laughing at me as she saw me slowing down and turning around and thanked me for checking on her - she was burning plastic garbage like 3 FEET from there doorstep!!! I said I was concerned (and yes scared of driving in and not knowing what I'd find or if it was safe to do so but could not just go on either) and then left with black soot spots on my window and a yuckie feeling in my chest - but it went away. Anyways after all the sunflower seeds I ate plus the garlic sausage, onion rings, mozza cheese and nectarines for my picnic lunch in the Sobeyes parking lot on a curb under the tree in Lloyd...!!! I need some decent food this next week or two for sure!!!

Yep I'm TIRED and glad I'm here for a day for sure. Hope to head home hopefully Monday. Yep thankful I have this day to relax. Anyways, I helped Dale Anne with finishing off the facings (instead of binding) on a couple of her quilted projects for their Double Visions exhibit opening July 3rd - YIKES!!! I pray that she gets the remaing few pieces completed and gets some down time before setting up and opening day!

Thank goodness I was smart enough to stop over a couple of nights with the Potter's as there was no darn way at all I could have driven 7+ hours to Winnipeg the next day after that trip too! But I think I'm gonna have to smarten up and either buy another car with AC/cruise/radio or learn to drive in the evening when it's cooler!!! This time I filled up my empty water and pepsi bottles and froze them and had to buy one regular bottle as I forgot I needed one to periodically soak my head and cool tie with! LOL! At least this trip was uneventful except for the mosquitoes that greeted me when I tried to stop and visit with friends in Portage la Prairie. So short and sweet and home by 7:30 pm to shower and unwind and hopefully back into my regular mode sooner than later!

Sorry for the length, but that's two weeks of posting here!

A learning time!

Well I had a great day yesterday stitching with Dale Anne in her studio and her DH cooking all meals for us - what an awesome cook - at this rate I'll definitely not fit my jeans!!!

Yes, I worked on finishing up my needlecases for possible sales and also shopped in Dale Anne's stash and got my borders for my Delectable Mountains blocks that I'll be stitching up at Western Retreat and hopefully another quilt top for my sister to practice her quilting on. That's two tops I'll have ready but no backing yet for my own stars quilt top - what a chore finding that!!! I even got a box of goodies from Dale Anne for my CQing and 1930s projects - WOW - like Christmas for me! And a belated BD gift of two booklets for making your own quilt labels - gotta read through these better but quite informative from the flip through.

Yep, I kept sneaking prep pics of this baby and was getting excited with each step Dale Anne was working on. Actually at one point I mentioned I wanted that I wanted that for a vest and got "No not this piece!" ROFLOL! Yep, I can't wait to see what your creativity has in store for this piece! WOW!!! So can't wait for her Double Vision exhibition but won't see it till the end of July! Oh well I'm seeing some pieces in person now!

WOW!!!

Well talk about SPOILED rotten we are here!  See Dale Anne's DH does the cooking and talk about awesome meals (hamburger soup for lunch).  I feel bad when he asked if I like hot food and said No, please!  BUT he did find this awesome Spicy Fresh Mango Pineapple Chutney (substituted red peppers instead of Jalapeno peppers just for me) and talk about an AWESOME salmon steak dinner!!!! YUMMY!!!!!  Yep, I definitely thanked him left, right and centre for cooking it and then topping it off with Mango ice cream for dessert!!!!

Catch UP!

Okay, I had no time last week and still a bit rushed but at least an update for now.

I started my vacation Friday and that "tornado" watch/warning(???) was issued but the city mostly got wicked thundershowers off and on.  And yep I was out running last minute errands and got SOAKED down to the skin - not once but twice and then back to work for an hour or so!!!  Then when I left work finally (not quite as early as was suggested) I got packed up and headed out by 5:30 p.m.  Well the sky to the SW was ghastly and kept darkening as I drove further.  Well around Elie I noticed the skies changing fast and there was this one "funnel" looking shape and I pushed the pedal and booted it as fast as I could without going way over the limit.  Once I reached Portage la Prairie it was just a thunderstorm conditions and no lightning so that was good.

Well my weekend in Dauphin was great and Dad was quite jovial and happy to have someone cooking for him again.  See Sylvia and Len were out there for a few days before me!

Then today I left Dauphin (leaving some of my clean laundry at my sister's) in coolish temps and arrived near Regina to hot and sunny conditions and sure enough thunderstorms again before arriving at Dale Anne's.  Now I'm here for a couple of days before heading west again for Medicine Hat.  Now some sewing time!!!  

More Postcards!

Yes finally I have another set of CQd postcards completed and ready for mailing out tomorrow morning! YAHOOIEE!!! I'm only like a couple of months late with half of these and the others not so bad and one even ahead of time and will sit awhile. Hopefully I'm forgiven for such tardiness once the ladies receive them. If I must say so myself I think I'm finally getting the knack of this CQing stuff!!! LOL!

WOW! I Have LIGHT!!!

Yep, I'm in an apartment and someone thought it wise not to have ceiling lights in the livingroom - DUH!!! - and my luck with lamps is the pits. Anyways, I've finally gotten a floor lamp with a Tri-light that also has a reading lamp on the side, but even with the 150 watt setting it's not enough in this room and then the other day the bulb burnt out and talk about being in the dark!!! LOL!

Well today I finally went to WalMart and checked out their light bulbs and found a Tri-light DAYLIGHT (13-20-25W = 30-70-100 W) like those regular energy saving new twisted bulbs made by Feit Electric called ecobulb®PLUS and talk about LIGHT!!! Even on the low setting this place is totally different and I can't wait till evening to try out the other two settings and see what kind of light I get then! I know I'll be getting this type but regular ones my sewing room.

Just had to share with you even though I've not completed any interesting sewing as I've been back to working OT again.

Birthday Celebration!

Sunday:

Thank you to my niece Pat and Randy too for the lovely lunch - it was basic to them but for me to have a BBQ and those oven roasted potatoes and my favourite veggie that was GREAT!!!! And when I got home I only had one ceasar with my shrimp cocktail and then just Pepsi with my frozen pizza. It was a quiet evening except for the phone calls which started with my niece April (WOW!), Sylvia, Angela, Florence, and last but not least my friend from Dauphin, Delores. I forgot to call Dad but then I talked with him Saturday evening.

Monday:

Now I'm just waiting for my ride to arrive and off I am. I see the sun is shining! Hmmmm can I get away with sandals or should it be socks and runners???? I decided on the runners and maybe shouldn't have!!!

While at Morden last month, I suggested a mini jaunt for today as I had the day off and Norma grabbed it and ran some more inviting Dianne and left me to invite someone else. Thank you very much Norma for being the driver and letting me have the opportunity for a country quilty jaunt finally. So I called Edna Bennett who I chauffeur to and from MPQ meetings when I do go and she was glad to join us too.

We did a slight detour and dropped in on Pat Orr (thank you for the lunch and tour my dear) and went to Wilson's Restaurant (? - stop in if you're in the area) for a lovely luncheon buffet along with a brief tour of Neepawa and her home, before heading back on the road to our planned stop of Kickass Country Store in Plumas . We had a lovely personal type visit with Carol and Wayne and I definitely spent too much!!!

I don't know how Norma handled driving there and back as I was feeling a little worn around the edges and when I got home gobbled down the left over pizza and now feeling like crashing - all that fresh air and exercise and excitement I'm not used to sitting at the desk all day!!! Now hockey is on and I'll put my feet up and veg out!!!

In Stitches PCs

Yes I finally finished off my FAPC, In Stitches postcards and they are in the mail too. I've yet to finish embellishing my copy but that'll come when I've time. It was kinda neato receiving Faye's version of In Stitches done with her embroidery machine and then my version (already started before her's arrived) all done by hand. I like both but my passion is still handdone!



Now this is what I call recycling as I've used fabric selvedges to make up the background stitched together with invisible thread and then applied various embroidery stitches including some of Jo of NZ arched stitches with the half wagon wheel stitch. If you've not had the experience of checking out this awesome stitcher's BLOG please do so soon.

That Sewing Room!!!

Yep, I finally started sorting through those piles of cotton fabrics covering that room's floor - there's some bare floor visible! Now that took three hours and that's only the cotton off the floor - not the cottons in the pantry or bags - or the rest of the crafty stuff! Oh well that's a start, maybe with my cleaned up bedroom overtaken with my crazy patch plastic towers and the boxes of fabric in the briefly once bare hallway, it might just be incentive to keep going??? Guess time will tell, and the number of times I stubb my toes, but definitely no more tonight!!!

AND you know my friends, you were right!!! I found fabric I didn't even know I had and even some pieces I thought I was out of and naturally you can't buy that anymore! And yep another bag of scraps added to the pile waiting to go to Adeline too! Go Figure.

One's Worth!

Now I just received this and thought it worthy to post but did not want this humongous email send out so hopefully many still will get to read this when checking my BLOG! I love it! Not sure where it came from but whomever wrote is very people smart!!!


$20.00 is $20.00
Sometimes we just need to be reminded!

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by:
holding up a $20.00 bill.
In the room of 200, he asked,
'Who would like this $20 bill?'
Hands started going up.
He said, 'I am going to give this $20 to one of you
but first, let me do this.

He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill.
He then asked, 'Who still wants it?'
Still the hands were up in the air.
Well, he replied, 'What if I do this?'
And he dropped it on the ground and
started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.
He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.
'Now, who still wants it?'
Still the hands went into the air.

My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson.
No matter what I did to the money,
you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value.
It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped,
crumpled, and ground into the dirt
by the decisions we make and
the circumstances that come our way.
We feel as though we are worthless.
But no matter what has happened or
what will happen, you will never lose your value.
Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased,
you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you.
The worth of our lives comes not in what we do
or who we know,
but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE.

You are special - Don't EVER forget it.'
Count your blessings, not your problems.
'And remember: amateurs built the ark ..
professionals built the Titanic.
If God brings you to it -
He will bring you through it.

Comments on Yesterday

Talk about funny now but I can tell you the past two days were not that at all for me! But the comments I was getting back - the majority said I made them laugh with this one! HUH??? I just didn't get it - dummy me I guess - until I asked and one finally explained the "laughing" part.

See it was the fact that I "dressed up" because I was MAD and that was the way I got through the day was having something very "different" in my daily life to think about! Hmmmm, now I see why they thought it was funny and here I was fighting other emotions.

As for co-workers well they were surprised that is for sure! Some thought I had a date or job interview but when they found out that its a result of being MAD they left quickly - chuckling! Here's another picture that my co-worker asked to be put into the Staff photos instead of the one in there already - will see if it is done.

Ups and Downs

It's been a while since I've posted, nothing new except for trying to catch up on some stitching swaps and promised projects besides the normal daily comings and goings.

This week has had it's personal trials too! A brief rundown is I had received a call from both companies holding my loans with a special deal for me. Well one I really didn't think I'd get any such deal as they've already told me such in January so why now - I was right zippo!!! BUT the one that got me sooooooo MADDDDDD was the other call where I was told my May & June payments could be delayed (which is good for my vacation and I know it's added onto the end but a bit of a reprieve) and that I was offered a 4% reduction in the interest rate! Now that perked my ears up, so I asked what the catch was - nothing, just had to come in and sign the rewritten paperwork and maybe I'd like funds to pay off my other card. I said no I'm making my payments and I could not afford my payments increasing. I was told they'd probably drop slightly and that sounded good so I made the appointment and started to feel a little better.

SHORT LIVED I can tell you! I arrived and another clerk escorted me to the inner office and said she'd get my papers to be signed. Well to make a long story short, there was a couple of catches, one was another $500 advance plus $425 to pay off my other small CC and only 2% reduced interest rate cause I was not adding a larger amount to my loan thus increasing my payments by $20 too!!! WHAT???? I told her this was not what was discussed and forget it I was not taking on more so naturally no delayed payments and I was mad and would not discuss more gathering my stuff to leave before I said more. She did apologize for my having been misled with inaccurate information and gave me my May cheque back to help me a bit - I took it and left.

YEP I was MADDDDDD and went shopping for munchies and then home to fume, stitch and watch hockey! I just don't understand how one can work for such a company and such misleading shennanigans!!! Just no morals at all!!!

Well this morning I was still MAD and thought I needed something to help distract me so I could work today! So I DRESSED UP, yep, hope you're sitting down as wearing dresses and fancy shoes is definitely not normal in my life in recent years. I now LIVE for casual and comfy at work and home! So here's how I walked into work today and I can tell you it was quite the reaction and actually distraction for me too!!! LOL!

2008 Aurora Morden Retreat

First off I have to thank Tami for arranging this weekend get-away and also my roomie Norma for the lovely companionship and the wonderful experience in travelling in her Smart car, nicknamed the Lil One. I was a might leary about the size and the type of ride but I can tell you and only when we had a cross wind did I feel some uneasiness but heck I experience that in my "boat" as the girls call my Parisienne. The seats were very comfortable and only one bump (actually a rut in the road) caused both of us some discomfort, otherwise I'd even say the ride was better than some other larger vehicles I've been in and new ones too!!! It was just awesome to not have to worry about driving and the getting there for once!!!

WOW considering I started out the weekend still feeling under the weather I had a lovely Friday stopping into Carman's fabric shop and Tea Room for lunch. Then onto the Morden Quilt Show and meeting up with the gals at the Super 8 Motel for a weekend quilting retreat. We even had one of the vendors drop in to see what was going on with a new shipment of fabric and we got first dibs on purchasing too - lucky gals eh! Also had others dropping by and commenting on how great it was that we arranged such on the same weekend as the Quilt Show - that was the plan!!!



It was awesome to just relax and visit and check out the various shops in the town and even into Winkler Saturday for their Tea Room lunch and Fabricland shopping - now talk about a totally different store from our Winnipeg trio - well worth the drive for a periodic shopping spree!!! I just could not believe it, but they had some of the same fabrics but then a tonne of totally different stuff in quilting, regular and fancy fabrics!!! And never mind the odds n ends that they also sell in there. WOW!!!

Well by Saturday supper time I was feeling under the weather again and Sunday I knew I had it back again! SHOOT already! So I definitely relaxed the evening and Sunday just vegged when I got back.

The girls were sweeties as they stopped Sunday for lunch at Boston Pizza so I DID get my feed of pizza finally this weekend! LOL!

Check out the retreat and Quilt Show photos here!