Pieces on My Mind

New Blogger Giveaway!

2012-02-11T08:02:00.001-08:00

Wouldn’t you all just love a little post-Valentine’s Day giftie! Well Whimsical Mermaid may have just the thing for you! Her give-away is being drawn Feb 15 – so why not head on over and meet a new friend, enter the draw, and enjoy her whimsy!

WIP Wednesday - February 8

2012-02-07T10:12:00.001-08:00

Small steps, baby steps. That’s all I’ve been able to take these last few days. In between a trip to see my parents, an RV show, a dinner and cards evening, physio appointment, housework, shopping……well, it all subtracted from sewing time.

So all I have to share with you all is this:

Squares diagonally sewn to make HST patches – the first steps in the blocks for Secret # 1 (or 3, depending on how you look at it – start date or delivery date).

These came out of the cutting day spent with my Sis in Law where we produced these piles:

As you can see in the top picture, the sun is shining brilliantly here again today – the groundhog appears to have been right and spring is on its way! Heading out to enjoy some of that sun, and get some more shopping done!

I’d like to ask for some help – I’ve had a couple of requests for small quilt projects (that won’t take long to do once I get going), one of them being a triangle table mat/runner. Does anybody out there have a pattern, or know where I could get one?

I’m linked to WIP Wednesday at TN&TN. Head on over and see what the rest of Canada is up to!

Happy baby steps! Blessings, Peg

Busy, Busy, Busy

2012-02-05T11:56:00.001-08:00

At last, all caught up! Emails read and answered, FB posts and comments enjoyed, Blogs all caught up. Now it’s time to get my own blog up to date.

Last week Wednesday we headed out – destination: Kelowna; purpose: cardiologist visit with my dad.

We took the long way around. Leaving home with just small patches of snow around where the plows had piled it up, we went through snow country. At Manning Park Lodge, we stopped for a hot drink, and saw the skiers lined up waiting for the bus to the slopes:

And noted the snow that had fallen off the roof

It was a gloriously bright day, and we enjoyed our little walk in the snow. As we continued east, and arrived in the South Okanagan, there was much less snow:

A stop at Osoyoos, and we turned northward. Arriving at Kelowna, it was almost spring-like:

After a stop for a late lunch, and some shopping we finally made it to Mom and Dad’s in time for dinner with them. Why did we make a usual 4-hour trip into an 8-hour trip – you may well ask! The stop at Osoyoos was to pick up this little gem:

We found it on Craig’s List, a good price, and a good way to get back into a regular exercise program for both of us.

And the day and a half with my parents was great! We often do the return trip in a day, and it can be exhausting – but we had the time to spend, and enjoyed my mom’s wonderful cooking, and played some games with them, just (mostly) relaxing. My dad’s visit to the cardiologist was encouraging, and we’re anticipating good results when he goes back for further testing. All in all, a great three days.

Returning home Friday afternoon, there was a parcel in the mail. Back in December, Alderwood Quilts sponsored this giveaway. It was just one of many that I entered. All Sue asked was that we submit a photo of a Christmas quilt – and on December 10, lo and behold, my shower curtain was on her blog. I learned on arrival home from our early January trip that I had WON this fabulous pattern:

The color-way that really caught my eye was this:

and now with its arrival, I can start searching out fabrics. How gorgeous is that! Thanks, Sue, for this most welcome prize. I can hardly wait to get started!

Saturday we met friends to go to the RV Show. They’re shopping, and it’s so much fun to go along and look at all the goodies out there! They came home for dinner, and another couple joined us, and we ate and laughed and played cards until bed time.

So it’s no wonder I haven’t had much time for blogging.

Or sewing either! Must go ride the bike and then get at the machine, or I won’t have much to share on WIP Wednesday!

Happy, busy life! Blessings, Peg

WIP Wednesday Feb 1

2012-01-31T21:40:00.001-08:00

Well, the rains came and took away the snow and ice. With it, left the lovely peace and quiet of being house bound!
But that also meant I could head out to meet my SIL for a day of quilting. We’re doing a project together, but it’s a surprise, so no details yet! S belongs to a guild, who host a drop-in quilting day once a month – so that’s where we headed. We had a great day in a bright and cheery room, full of other quilters:

And we got all these little squares cut out:

We had the use of a friend’s strip cutting ruler, which made the task just speed by. If you don’t have one of these, or access to borrow one, rush right out and get one. They are a god-send!
While there, I met, in person, two other blogging buddies – check out A Loose Bobbin and What Comes Next? Fabulous quilters, wonderful folks!
And the quilting tips just flew around the room – there was always somebody with an idea, a technique, encouragement! This is what quilting is all about – IMHO!
Later, we spent some time on the computer with EQ7 – another fabulous tool! And I got another surprise project planned out! Many, many thanks to S and Janet (What Comes Next).
The next 2 days, I got busy while I still had the strip cutting ruler, and got started on the cutting for the second project:

You can see in the corner of the second picture is my rotary mat – don’t know what I would have done without that when I was cutting all those angles!
So no sewing, but the start of 2 more WIPs.
I’m linked to TNATN WIP Wednesday! Head on over and see what everybody else is doing.
Happy cutting! Blessings, Peg

WIP Wednesday–Jan 25

2012-01-25T07:19:00.001-08:00

And a couple of finishes!

It’s been a very productive week, with progress made on all fronts – simply because it’s been too cold and icy to go anywhere!

The Quilting Canadians on Quilt With US have started another BOM for 2012. Each month a different member will select a block and post the instructions. This year, no theme announced yet, and because it’s January, and I always think blue in January – and I found blue in my stash that’s been sitting for a while……………. I got started with January and February blocks:

First block is Crossroads, second is Steps to the Altar. I think a blue and white quilt is going to look great!

Then our LQS BOM project – 3 months passed and 3 blocks/parts completed. This is the latest – top rectangle, 4; second rectangle, 2; third rectangles, 2 each; bottom square, 8.

And a couple of projects started – and finished! First – each month at our BOM class, the instructor offers a project that can be done as well as, or instead of, the quilt block. In December the project was a ‘block carrier’ – meant to store our blocks safely as we get them completed, and be able to carry them back and forth to class. I had an extra block from our first month, so used that:

It’s about 19 inches square, so it will carry pretty large blocks, and the flap on the right side, keeps everything tidily inside:

And when it’s folded, the tie keeps it all together, and makes it easy to carry when you have your hands full:

The pattern is copyrighted, so unfortunately can’t share it with you all!

I also finished another scrap quilt – quilted waiting for binding, but, sorry, forgot to take a picture.

And yesterday, with the advent of Robbie Burns’ Day today, I was in a mood to try something Celtic. I’ve had this book for a few years:

I know that Celtic history is more often associated with the Irish more than Scottish, but I know that some of my Scottish ancestors originated in Ireland – and not having any desire to make Haggis – I decided to make a small table mat to reflect my Celtic ancestry. And it will do for St. Patrick’s Day as well! One day – start to finish:

I’m quite pleased with this first experiment in bias tubing applique – might just have to do another one. Now if I could just find the right project to use up all those yards of tartan that I have hanging around……

Linked up to WIP Wednesday at the Needle and Thread Network – head on over and see what everybody else is doing

Happy Robbie Burns day! Blessings, Peg

Happy Birthday Baby Boy

2012-01-23T08:10:00.001-08:00

My baby – not such a baby anymore - is celebrating a birthday today. It’s not a major milestone, but a marker of the years that have passed.

On Saturday, we wondered if the ice we’d been ‘enjoying’

would recede enough to allow a celebration.

Well, it did – and he and our DDIL and her parents came for dinner and games! We laughed, we teased, we lost (to the birthday boy), we ate, we prayed, we shared – and ushered in another year for Mr. Soccer

Happy birthday, son – we love you! Blessings, Mom

And then the Ice came and FNSI with it

2012-01-21T09:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, I made a quick trip out for some ESS work. An hour inside, and it started to rain, just a little bit, but enough to completely freeze the windshield on the van.

So it was a good night to stay indoors and join FNSI

I got all caught up with the LQS BOM Mystery. The more I do, the more I wish I knew how this is going to come together in the end. The last mystery I did, the colors just seemed to flow, not so much this time around!

Finished: top rectangle – 4; second rectangle – 2; third rectangles – 2 each; bottom square – 8. It was a productive FNSI. Head on over to the links to see what everybody else got up to!

Later in the evening, we took a look outdoors – the rain was light, but put a sheen on the snow to make it a mirror!

And create a fairy-land in the trees

And hang icicles around everywhere!

This morning, temperatures are just above freezing and the light rain is still falling. Trees and plants are completely iced in, but that will change

Another good day to stay in doors and sew, sew, sew!

Happy coziness! Blessings, Peg

The Slippery Slope

2012-01-21T07:47:00.000-08:00

of 60!!

We live in a senior’s neighborhood – and several of our friends here had warned us……

But who knew the slide could be so fast!

I turned 60 a couple of months ago. No fanfare, no excitement, just another birthday.

But a couple of months before that………….I made the mistake of visiting my doctor, just to get a renewed prescription for eczema that had cropped up a little before that. But he’d been away when that was diagnosed, and this was the first time he’d seen me in, well, a few years it turned out!

So when I told him my hands still hurt from arthritis (and showed him the arthritic changes starting), and complained about stiff hips and sore knees – he decided to send me for just about every test under the sun.

I am healthy, really I am!

But apparently I have arthritis, osteoporosis, and an antibody that could lead to an autoimmune disease. Oh, man! So began the process of deciding what to do about these – pills to keep arthritis discomfort at bay (already doing that!), injections to minimize the damage that osteoporosis could cause, and a visit arranged with a rheumatologist to decide what, if anything, was to be done about the antibodies.

The good news in all of that is that the antibodies are not now, and may never, causing a definitive process.

In between there, I woke up one morning with a shoulder so sore that I could hardly move it. I took more of those pain pills, and applied some heat, and made it move – and a few days later got to the doc to learn that I have tendonitis in that shoulder. So off to physio for a few visits. Later when I got to the rheumatologist, he confirmed the tendonitis diagnosis, added bursitis to that, and wanted to inject cortisone. I rejected that idea – real fast! So I’ve been continuing with the medication, heat, exercise – and I’m at the point that the shoulder discomfort is manageable most of the day, once I get it moving in the morning. A recent x-ray confirmed no bone involvement – so it’s back to physio some more.

But then I swallowed a chicken bone about 6 weeks ago, and consequently had a chest x-ray. Which prompted another call from the doc – come on in, we need to talk!

It appears that I’ve developed what they call compression fractures in my neck and upper spine. Oh, great! They’re from the osteoporosis, which is already being managed, so nothing more to be done, just awareness of the fragility. So now I’m not allowed to go jumping on trampolines, or sky-diving – can you believe it!

And…….get this………..my blood pressure is up! Another pill – to counteract this side effect from the pill I’m taking to keep my shoulder from hurting so much. The doc has promised me that it’s not a ‘forever’ medication. Just have to take it until I can get off the anti-inflammatory meds.

All I can say is – quilting doesn’t involved any jumping, or diving, or lifting heavy objects. So hi-ho, hi-ho, it’s off to sew I go!

Good health to you all! Blessings, Peg

Nosey Parker Neighborhood –Sewing!

2012-01-20T08:34:00.001-08:00

A couple of months ago Kat came up with the idea of sharing with the Nosey Parkers in our Neighborhoods. I didn’t get around to sharing my neighborhood at the time, and missed the Christmas challenge. But here it is January and she’s challenged us to share about our sewing experience and space.

To answer her questions:

1) How long have you been sewing? Are you a first generation sewer or was the knowledge handed down to you? Basically tell us about your journey...

The only sewing machine in our house when I was growing up was an old treadle, that my mother used for mending. Period. My first personal exposure to sewing was in home ec in high school, where I made an apron, something like this:

That was some nearly 50 years ago. I went on to sew some clothing for myself, and later for our daughter when she was young. But it wasn’t a passion for me.

About 10 years ago, I discovered quilting – and found the passion.

2) Where do you sew?

I sew in what used to be our family room off the kitchen – and in the master bedroom. More about that below.

3) What does your sewing room/area look like today in it's real state. Take a picture of it if possible and show it to us real :)

My sewing area is in 3 parts. First my design wall is in the spare room:

The actual sewing area, like I said, is just off the kitchen, in what used to be the family room.

We moved the big TV into the living room, and keep the small one in the corner – used both when I’m sewing and when Grizz is cooking. The ironing board is out and handy more often than not.

Going around the room, fabric is mostly stored in this cupboard:

With some of my patterns on top

And current/planned projects on the shelf:

Bonnie, my sewing/embroidery machine takes pride of place on the desk, with lots of handy storage in the drawers on each side:

Behind Bonne, Bitsy, the serger, awaits her opportunities to contribute, along with a lamp to illuminate all my mistakes:

Also behind Bonnie – scisoors basket, a thread holder for the big cones of bobbin thread, drawer unit for threads, a sewing basket with thread and more notions, a basket of smalls, everything as close to within reach as I can make it. And of course you can see the iron:

Off to the side – a trunk with quilt pattern books, a few old sewing patterns, and things that I don’t need too often, and on top of it, another drawer unit of embroidery threads. The machine beside the drawer unit has absolutely nothing to do with sewing, but needs to be handy for handling blood samples when I visit clients.

And then, last but not least, Big Bertha takes up one wall in the master bedroom. Right now, the only space for her:

Underneath is my hope chest, but now also some bins with batting, scraps and quilts waiting for BB to do her magic!

4) What is the first thing that you made which you were really proud of? Show us pics of your favorite project.

This Delectable Mountains quilt was made for Grizz, to reflect the mountains among which we live, using his favorite color. Done long before the days of BB, I had it professionally quilted at Quilted Cats.

5) Do you always stick to the "rules" when you sew, or are you more improvisationally minded?

Lacking much imagination, I generally stick to the rules – even finding it much easier to buy a kit, than to try to pick fabrics. Although come to think of it, I’ve had to pick a lot of fabrics lately. Must be stretching and growing!

So that’s my story. I’ll be linked to Kat’s Nosey Parker January post. Why not head over there and see what everybody else is sharing!

Happy sharing! Blessings, Peg

WIP Wednesday # 22

2012-01-17T16:17:00.001-08:00

As a true-blue Canadian (why isn’t it true red?), I’ve been linking up along with other Canadian bloggers, to show my quilting progress. Take a look at The Needle and Thread Network, to see we’re all doing with quilts, needle work and other crafts.

Winter has arrived with a vengeance in our area. Friday evening it was beautiful, and driving into town on Saturday morning was a fairyland. Things warmed slightly – but not enough to melt any snow – and last night I listened to the wind howling, and just knew what we’d see when we woke up! Well I wasn’t wrong!

The view out our front window is still pretty, so white and pristine, but that tree is MOVING, believe me! Eighteen inches of snow is more like 3 feet in some places.

And getting the dog out to do her business…….well, it’s just plain hard work. And as long as the snow keeps falling and the wind keeps blowing, we have to clear a space every time she wants out. I think we’ll take her water away and save ourselves a whole bunch of work.

It was quite funny watching her first thing twirling in circles before the wall of snow trying to figure out where she was supposed to go.

We even have to listen to the news to find out the temperature as the snow blew right into the covered patio, and between the thermometer and window:

All this just means I’m staying indoors and off the roads, and getting some quilting work done.

There’s another scrap quilt loaded on BB:

And I’m making progress, at last, with the Mystery BOM hosted at our LQS. These blocks are the first completed (2 of each):

And here’s the pile of pieces cut for the next set of blocks:

For this project we’re using Marti Michell’s templates. If you’ve never seen them before, they help with all the corners on triangles and other odd-shaped pieces to make matching points easier.

It does mean a fair bit of cutting – on all sides of the fabric. But I have the solution for that. For Christmas Grizz gave me one of the best tools I’ve ever had – a rotating mat:

So when I need to cut a different direction, instead of lifting the ruler, moving the fabric and replacing the ruler – just turn the mat! It’s fabulous! I just have to remember to put the template in the center of the mat, so when I turn it around I don’t have to stretch across the table to make the cut.

I’ve also chosen scraps for the Quilting Canadians BOM for this year – I’m going to go with blues. I haven’t done much in blue (I’m not much of a blue person), and this is a way to use up some of those blue pieces laying around.

Some day I’ll get to posting an actual finish – I see some are getting things done already!

Happy snow days – and progress! Blessings, Peg

Help!

2012-01-16T23:02:00.001-08:00

I’m looking for a stitch regulator for my mid-arm quilting machine/frame. The frame is B-line and the machine is a Brother. The Cruise Control stitch regulator appears to be the preferred product, actually the only one that I can find for this particular frame, but I haven’t found a local source for this product.

So…..does anybody know of a Canadian source? BC, Alberta preferred. Or – is there a source in NW Washington?

If anybody has any ideas, please, please let me know!

Thanks in advance for any help!

Peg

And then the snow came

2012-01-14T15:21:00.001-08:00

After the Christmas rush, which included a couple of birthday parties and some ESS work, I slept through midnight on New Years’ Eve…..so we could get on the road New Years’ Day.

You may well ask where we were going………should be to a warm climate, right!!! NOT!!! Instead we headed north to snow country – the reason – my niece’s wedding.

Up there, the snow has been around for a while already, so most roads were plowed – and for those that weren’t, well, we have good snow tires, and experienced drivers. I love snow, love to watch it fall, love to smell it, love to glory in its purity. I did wish we lived somewhere we could have snow more often.

The wedding was beautiful! The bride gorgeous, the groom handsome, the snow and frozen lake made a fabulous backdrop

And we had a good time with some of the family (not many able to make the trip at this time of year).

We stayed around for a couple of days to visit and catch up on all the news – admiring my sister’s wall mural:

And playing Kinnect with my youngest niece

Even Grandpa played!

We arrived home to a Christmas house (oh, how I wished I’d finished it up before we left). By the time that was all down, we were unpacked, laundry done, household necessities addressed……..all of a sudden it was the weekend.

And then the snow came to the valley here! So pretty, falling straight down in the dark, with the streetlights shining behind it. Did I say I love snow, it’s whiteness, the peace and calm it seems to bring to the world.

It was just as pretty as we drove out this morning – me to a quilt class and Grizz to run a couple of errands

Yes, we had to shovel, well Grizz shoveled - and the snow plows are out for the first time this season…….but there’s something so magical about snow on trees, snow in the darkness of night, snow falling on tongues sticking out to catch it, snow on a hillside with kids sledding. Did I say yet I love it!

They’re telling us we’re in for more snow, and I’m going to enjoy this! And drink hot chocolate with marshmallows to celebrate!

Happy winter! Blessings, Peg

WIP Wednesday–Jan 11

2012-01-12T11:35:00.001-08:00

Not much quilting happening here – other than getting things ready to roll for the New Year. We were away the first week of the year, and since we got home, mostly just taking down Christmas and getting back into the swing of things……….
But after Christmas, I had time to stop in at the LQS and picked up some Christmas goodies:

Not sure what they’ll look like when I get them done – but they’re PIPs (Projects in Planning).
Another PIP – a surprise quilt from these:
I found these lovelies at The Quilt Nook in Vanderhoof (on our trip away). Now there’s a lovely quilt shop, tucked away in the North country, with lots and lots of choices – and a fabulously helpful quilter-owner! If you’re ever up there, be sure to stop in.
The LQS BOM Mystery is still on the go:
Next installment on Saturday so stay tuned!
And………….last but not least…………….on Dec. 31, I pulled my first quilt off of Big Bertha (B-line quilting frame, purchased just a couple of months ago), and it’s now awaiting trimming and then binding.

I used multi-color variegated thread, and did simple stippling.
It went well. I can see spots on the back where I think I was moving too fast around curves, so the tension is not what it should be. Also ran into a bird’s nest about 2/3 of the way down, and had to crawl underneath to cut it with an exacto knife. Luckily – no fabric was cut, and if you don’t know where to look…….. All in all, I’m quite pleased with this first effort.
So that’s my WIPs – linking to The Needle and Thread Network. Why not head on over and see what everybody else is working on! Oops, tried to link, but I'm too late - but do check the others out anyway!
Happy progress! Blessings, Peg

Wednesday's Words - Christmas at the Gas Station

2011-12-28T16:35:00.001-08:00

The old man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn't been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. It was just another day to him. He didn't hate Christmas, just couldn't find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through.
Instead of throwing the man out, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the heater and warm up. "Thank you, but I don't mean to intrude," said the stranger. "I see you're busy, I'll just go."
"Not without something hot in your belly." George said.
He turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. "It ain't much, but it's hot and tasty. Stew ... Made it myself. When you're done, there's coffee and it's fresh."
Just at that moment he heard the "ding" of the driveway bell. "Excuse me, be right back," George said. There in the driveway was an old '53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front.. The driver was panicked. "Mister can you help me!" said the driver, with a deep Spanish accent. "My wife is with child and my car is broken." George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold, the car was dead.
"You ain't going in this thing," George said as he turned away.
"But Mister, please help ..." The door of the office closed behind George as he went inside. He went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. "Here, take my truck," he said. "She ain't the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good."
George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the office. "Glad I gave 'em the truck, their tires were shot too. That 'ol truck has brand new ." George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The Thermos was on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. "Well, at least he got something in his belly," George thought.
George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered the the block hadn't cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator. "Well, shoot, I can fix this," he said to himself. So he put a new one on.
"Those tires ain't gonna get 'em through the winter either." He took the snow treads off of his wife's old Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn't going to drive the car anyway.
As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, "Please help me."
George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. "Pressure to stop the bleeding," he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. "Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin'," he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease.
"Something for pain," George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. "These ought to work." He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. "You hang in there, I'm going to get you an ambulance."
The phone was dead. "Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car." He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two way radio.
He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. "Thanks," said the officer. "You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area."
George sat down beside him, "I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain't gonna leave you." George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. "Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through 'ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain."
George got up and poured a cup of coffee. "How do you take it?" he asked.
"None for me," said the officer..
"Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain't got no donuts." The officer laughed and winced at the same time.
The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before.
"That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the officer.
"Son, why are you doing this?" asked George, "You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt."
The young man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!"
The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing away," George said to the cop, "we got one too many in here now."
He turned his attention to the young man. "Son, it's Christmas Eve. If you need money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I got. Now put that pea shooter away."
George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. "I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week."
George handed the gun to the cop. "Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can."
He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things." George handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Bein' stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun ain't the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we'll sort this thing out."
The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. "Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer."
"Shut up and drink your coffee " the cop said.
George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the wounded officer.
"Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?"
"GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man.
Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran."
George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other.
"That guy work here?" the wounded cop continued.
"Yep," George said, "just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job."
The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, "Why?"
Chuck just said, "Merry Christmas boy ... and you too, George, and thanks for everything."
"Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems."
George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. "Here you go, something for the little woman. I don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day."
The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means something to you."
"And now it means something to you," replied George. "I got my memories. That's all I need."
George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell. "Here's something for that little man of yours."
The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier.
"And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too," George said. "Now git home to your family."
The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. "I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good."
"Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said. "See ya the day after."
George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. "Where'd you come from? I thought you left?"
"I have been here. I have always been here," said the stranger. "You say you don't celebrate Christmas. Why?"
"Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn't see what all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn't the same by myself and besides I was gettin' a little chubby."
The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor.
The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. "That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man."
George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. "And how do you know all this?" asked the old man.
"Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again."
The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned."
George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room.
"You see, George ... it's My birthday. Merry Christmas."
George fell to his knees and replied, "Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus"
This story is better than any greeting card.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T07:28:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I realized suddenly it was the day before the day before Christmas!!!! Yikes! And everything that I thought I could do ‘tomorrow’ had to be done ‘NOW’!

So I tucked in and got ‘er done!

The last of the baking

Some extra bread to have on hand

Last gifts to wrap, and one last parcel arrived at the post office (phew)!

Menus written (so we don’t forget to put the peas on the table)

And we celebrated our dear friend’s 70th birthday. Lots of fun!

What did you do on the day before the day before Christmas? Bet you didn’t sit around and relax with a cup of cocoa either!

Today the kids arrive from Alberta. With 2 dogs in tow!

Let the merriment begin! We’ll start with attending our traditional Christmas Eve service……..and go from there.

With the holiday weekend here – and a busy few days of appointments in between weekends – and a trip to the north country starting January 1……………….I doubt I’ll be back again much for a couple of weeks at least. So I want to wish you all the very best Christmas – may you be warm and cheered and blessed.

And a Happy New Year!

Many, many Blessings Peg

Woo Hoo!!!

2011-12-21T15:01:00.001-08:00

My 2011 BOM for Quilting Canadians on Quilt With Us is done! Well, the flimsy is done – it will be added to my pile of quilts waiting to get onto Big Bertha.

I have more to say about BB, but first:

I combined several of the ideas you all shared with me – and here it is!!! I’m really pleased!

Now about BB – I finished off my practice piece and released it from the bars.

Here’s a close-up of the last little bit:

When I pulled it off and turned it over – I discovered this in one area. This is where the machine was ‘making funny noises’ when some friends came over to play. We changed the bobbin thread and rethreaded the top, and all went smoothly after that. Lesson learned – when the machine sounds funny, things may look funny!

In the next day or so, I’ll put on the first of my scrap flimsies – and keep on practicing! This is fun! And so much easier than wrestling with a quilt on my domestic machine!

Happy quilting! Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

2011-12-21T07:51:00.001-08:00

Commemorative Quilt

This morning I received my on-line Quilter’s Connection magazine – which featured this article: http://www.timescolonist.com/Quilt+Royal+Museum+honours+Home+Children/5884082/story.html#ixzz1h6HpsElb

At this time of year,when children and the needy are uppermost in our minds, it’s hard to think of these young ones torn from their homes and families and sent to a foreign country. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

Home Children is a common term used to refer to the child migration scheme founded by Annie MacPherson in 1869, under which more than 100,000 children were sent to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa from the United Kingdom.

Australia has recently apologized for its involvement in the scheme, and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a formal apology to the affected families in February 2010. Conversely, on 16 November 2009, Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney issued a statement that Canada will not be apologizing to child migrants.

The practice of sending poor or orphaned children to British settler colonies, to help alleviate the shortage of labour, began in 1618, with the rounding-up and transportation of 100 vagrant children to the Virginia Colony.^[1] Labour shortages in the British colonies also encouraged the kidnapping of children for work in the Americas, and large numbers of children were forcibly emigrated, mostly from Scotland. This practice continued until it was exposed in 1757, following a civil action against Aberdeen businessmen and magistrates for their involvement in the trade.^[2]

The Children's Friend Society was founded in London in 1830, as "The Society for the Suppression of Juvenile Vagrancy through the reformation and emigration of children". The first group of children was sent to the Cape Colony in South Africa and the Swan River Colony in Australia in 1832 and in August 1833, 230 children were shipped to Toronto and New Brunswick, Canada.^[2]

The main pioneers of child migration in the nineteenth century were the Scottish Evangelical Christian, Annie MacPherson, her sister Louisa Birt, and Londoner, Maria Rye. Whilst working with poor children in London in the late 1860s MacPherson was appalled by the child slavery of the matchbox industry and resolved to devote her life to these children. In 1870 she bought a large workshop and turned it into the "Home of Industry", where poor children could work and be fed and educated.^[3] She later became convinced that the real solution for these children lay in emigration to a country of opportunity and started an emigration fund. In the first year of the fund's operation, 500 children, trained in the London homes, were shipped to Canada.^[3] McPherson opened distribution homes in Canada in the towns of Belleville and Galt in Ontario and persuaded her sister, Louisa, to open a third home in the village of Knowlton, seventy miles from Montreal. This was the beginning of a massive operation which sought to find homes and careers for 14,000 of Britain's needy children.^[3]

CHILD EMIGRATION TO CANADA The attention of the Dominion Government has been drawn to the fact that the children sent to Canada from England are street waifs and workhouse paupers, and that the professional philanthropists engaged in the work are largely prompted by mercenary and not charitable motives. A demand will be made that parliament should investigate the matter before voting any money to promote this kind of immigration.

The Star, 18 April 1891^[4]

Maria Rye also worked amongst the poor in London and had arrived in Ontario with 68 children (50 of whom were from Liverpool) some months earlier than McPherson, with the blessing of the Archbishop of Canterbury and The Times newspaper.^[5] Rye, who had been placing women emigrants in Canada since 1867, opened her home at Niagara-on-the-Lake in 1869, and by the turn of the century had settled some 5,000 children, mostly girls, in Ontario.^[5]

The emigration schemes were not without their critics and there were many rumours of ill-treatment of the children by their employers and of profiteering by the organizers of the schemes, particularly Maria Rye.^[6] In 1874 The London Board of Governors decided to send a representative, named Andrew Doyle, to Canada to visit the homes and the children to see how they were faring.^[6] Doyle's report praised the women and their staff, especially MacPherson, saying that they were inspired by the highest motives, but condemned almost everything else about the enterprise.^[7] He said that the attitude of the women in grouping together children from the workhouses, who he said were mostly of good reputation, with street children, who he considered mostly thieves, was naive and had caused nothing but trouble in Canada.^[7] He was also critical of the checks made on the children after they were placed with settlers, which in Rye's case were mostly non-existent, and said that:

Because of Miss Rye's carelessness and Miss MacPherson's limited resources, thousands of British children, already in painful circumstances, were cast adrift to be overworked or mistreated by the settlers of early Canada who were generally honest but often hard taskmasters.^[8]

The Canadian House of Commons subsequently set up a select committee to examine Doyle's findings and there was much controversy generated by his report in Britain, but the schemes continued with some changes^[9] and were copied in other countries of the British Empire.^[10]

In 1909, South African born Kingsley Fairbridge founded the "Society for the Furtherance of Child Emigration to the Colonies" which was later incorporated as the Child Emigration Society. The purpose of the society, which later became the Fairbridge Foundation, was to educate orphaned and neglected children and train them in farming practices at farm schools located throughout the British Empire. Fairbridge emigrated to Australia in 1912, where his ideas received support and encouragement.^[11] According to the British House of Commons Child Migrant's Trust Report, "it is estimated that some 150,000 children were dispatched over a period of 350 years—the earliest recorded child migrants left Britain for the Virginia Colony in 1618, and the process did not finally end until the late 1960s." It was widely believed by contemporaries that all of these children were orphans, but it is now known that most had living parents some of whom had no idea of the fate of their children after they were left in care homes, and some led to believe that their children had been adopted somewhere in Britain.^[12]

Child emigration was suspended for economic reasons during the Great Depression of the 1930s but was not completely terminated until the 1970s.^[12]^[13]

As they were compulsorily shipped out of Britain, many of the children were deceived into believing their parents were dead, and that a more abundant life awaited them.^[14] Many children were welcomed into loving homes, but others were exploited as cheap agricultural labour, or denied proper shelter and education and not allowed to socialize with native children. It was common for Home Children to run away, sometimes finding a caring family or better working conditions.

Here are some more articles, if you’re interested:

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Quilt+honours+Home+Children/5886278/story.html

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2718444&archive=true

http://www.camrosecanadian.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3408010

I was interested to read of a place in Duncan, BC where these children were taught farming and domestic skills. The bottom line here is that these children were not sent away to give them home and security, but rather sent away to become labor, cheap (and maybe even slave) labor at that!

And this statement:

"There was quite a push to keep the colonies British, and children were used," Skidmore said. "They were basically whitestocking the colonies."

This sounds like they were stocking a fish pond! Really!!!! Maybe the intentions of the pioneers of this movement were altruistic and caring, but it sounds like most of these children suffered immensely. My heart aches for them! If only we could go back in time and rectify the mistakes made, give back to those who were hurt.

These quilts at least tell the story, and bring to light the history – and maybe, just maybe, there will be some recognition given to the recipients of this movement. We can only hope!

Blessings, Peg

Ho Ho Ho

2011-12-20T15:46:00.001-08:00

I could almost hear that jolly old elf when I picked a box up from the post office – with this return address:

Inside was a veritable treasure trove, from my Secret Santa. I took pictures of the inside of the box, the gifts still wrapped, the gifts all unwrapped and on display – then hit the wrong button on the camera and erased them all. So when I discovered that this afternoon, I went back and took some more pictures. I’m sorry I can’t share the opening of the box with you all, each gift was wrapped individually, and so pretty!

Regardless, here’s what Secret Santa sent to me:

Push pins with button heads, Werther’s candies (we’ve managed to eat a few already), some lovely fat quarters just waiting for that perfect project, a small box of chocolates which I did share with Grizz, and even a treat for our Sadie – which was wrapped in ‘doggie’ paper too.

But look what they’re all sitting on:

Isn’t this just a gorgeous table topper – I’m thrilled, and the color is just perfect for the dining room and will be taking pride of place right away. Even the back is beautiful!

Thank you thank you Secret Santa – I can’t wait to discover your true identity so I can send a proper note.

And Suzanne – thank you so much for organizing this for us all – it was so much fun, and I’m so happy I decided to join in!

Happy early Christmas! Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

2011-12-19T06:37:00.001-08:00

First of all, I’d like to thank my encouragers out there. My last post expressed frustration with a BOM, and your comments have given me new courage to face it this week.

Still on the wall today:

Not sure if anybody noticed, but I did get the December tree standing upright! LOL!

And the map applique is now finished – it looks kind of lost in that ‘sea’ doesn’t it! I’m quite happy with the way it turned out within itself, but maybe it should be bigger??? What do you all think?

I’m test-driving this grey-green from my stash for borders and sashing – 1/2 inch sashing between the blocks, which would mean about 3/4 inch around the ‘sea’. Oh, maybe if I put the map square again and used sashing fabric to put it on point – would that make the map look less lost. And the more I look at it…..the map looks off-center……..because there’s more of Canada in the north-west than in the south-east. It really is exactly centered – I measured! So maybe some adjustment there would make a difference.

Opinions please!!! I need help! And my quilting group isn’t meeting again now until January.

Anyway – I’ll be linking to The Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday – head on over there in a couple of days to see what the rest of Canada is working on.

Happy designing! Blessings, Peg

FNSI Results

2011-12-18T07:15:00.001-08:00

I’ve been feeling a little discouraged with the whole quilting thing lately. Working on a BOM mystery with our LQS, and the fabrics don’t go together as well in the second block as they did in the first, so I’ve spent the last few days just trying to figure out what I’m going to do. And not knowing what the next 10 – count them – 10 – blocks will be, I’m just baffled. I’ve already switched fabrics around once – but do I keep on switching – and how many times can I do that before I don’t have enough fabric to finish the quilt!!! Arrrggghhh!

So, needless to say, I wasn’t in much of a mood to sew on Friday.

I did go out in the morning and do some quilt-related shopping. Big Bertha (quilting frame) was in need of supplies so I can move forward with actually quilting a quilt. I went over to the local guy who ~~makes~~ made these frames. Sadly, because of life circumstances, he’s decided to go out of business. Sniff, sniff! This means when I need help or maintenance……………….well, there is none! He did give me some good advice and some tips, for making this all easier.

And I was able to pick up a foot, a bobbin holder, cones of thread and pre-wound bobbins at a good price!!! So I’m almost all set. I’ll spend some more time practicing until the muslin is all used up, and then I’ll load on the first quilt.

But back to FNSI – I took my Canada map off the wall, and intended to do ‘some’ of the satin stitch applique – next thing I knew it was half done. So I persevered – and voila!

I do have to say that my tension level was high going around some of those tight corners, and this morning my shoulder is super sore, so maybe I should have stopped at ‘some’. But it’s done, and I can start working on sashing and borders and get the top together – to add to my pile of flimsies waiting to be quilted!

Happy FNSI! Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s (Late) Words

2011-12-15T07:02:00.001-08:00

Is it true? Is it really true? Only 10 days to Christmas??? Can’t be! Can it?

Yesterday Grizz asked when we need to take out the roast for marinating and the turkey to thaw for brining – and reality hit.

Only 10 days! Oh, my!!!!

And then I went and checked our advent calendar – and sure enough – there are 14 little ornaments on there!

Actually I am ready, except of course for the last-minute groceries and the cooking.

But I don’t want it to come yet

Because then it’ll all be over! And all that will be left will be the wrapping paper!

And the memories, and the pictures, and the full tummy!

Oh, well, there’s another one coming next year – and I can start again …………. in just 12 days! Let the shopping begin!

Happy last-minute prep, everyone! Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

2011-12-12T08:44:00.001-08:00

Before I get into sharing what’s on the wall this week, I want to share some Christmas spirit with you all. It’s the 3rd week of advent, and more and more I reflect on the wonder and glory of Christ’s birth. Have a listen as David Phelps sings ‘O Holy Night’:

Hope you enjoyed that!

So I’m finding I’m moving in tiny baby steps these days. Back on the wall:

I found a soft grey-blue background for the center of this piece, I think it reflects the colors of the waters around our coast-line. And the map of Canada, pieces all outlined, just need to choose the colors, and start the applique. I think I’ll use a medium grey for sashing and borders and then see how it’s looking.

These little pieces didn’t make it onto the board – they’re the beginnings of the next block in our LQS BOM mystery:

I’ll be linking this up to the Needle and Thread Network WIP Wednesday. It’s for Canadian quilters – so let’s show off Canada!

Happy Christmas season quilting! Blessings, Peg

FNSI Results

2011-12-10T08:52:00.001-08:00

A quick post before I head out for my Cake Therapy BOM class where we’re doing a mystery quilt!

Last night was reasonably productive! First finished up this little wall hanging:

The panels were purchased at Yellowstone Park on our trip in June – got it quilted, bound and a hanging sleeve attached!

Then played with Big Bertha for a while:

The practice is coming along quite well, if I do say so myself – soon be time to load an actual quilt on her!

And lastly – worked on the Canada Map for my Quilting Canadians BOM:

The map will be appliques and centered among these blocks:

Not huge accomplishments, but I’m satisfied!

Happy Friday Night Sewing! Blessings, Peg

A Great Giveaway

2011-12-09T20:57:00.001-08:00

I almost forgot to tell you all about this! But over at Alderwood Quilts you can win the pattern for this fabulous Christmas quilt!

Head on over and put your name in for a chance! I did!

Blessings, Peg

Favorite Things

2011-12-08T07:31:00.000-08:00

Do you sometimes think of your favorite things? Does the Sound of Music song float through your mind at times?

Fellow blogger and quilter M-R watched the movie recently and came up with her list of Favorite Things, set to the tune:

My Favourite (Quilty) Things
Quilt blocks, design walls and all-cotton batting,
Rotary cutters and warm woolen feltings,
Brown paper challenges tied up with strings,
These are a few of my favourite things.

Cream coloured fabrics and self-healing mats,
Workshops and courses and quarters so fat!
Wild geese that fly through our quilts and hangings,
These are a few of my favourite things.

Women in white gloves at huge Quilt Show bashes,
Fabrics that stay in our purses and stashes,
Warm quilting nights that melt into mornings,
These are a few of my favourite things.

When the cutter bites,
When the pin stings,
When I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favourite things,
And then I don’t feel so bad.

It’s too bad our sewing rooms don’t usually leave us enough room to dance like Maria, while we sing this song!

But I’m sure lots of us will be singing it, at least to ourselves, while we enjoy one of our favorite pastimes!

Happy favorites! Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

2011-12-07T07:22:00.001-08:00

Sensory Overload

That’s what I’m feeling right about now. This is such a wonderful season, and I enjoy all of it. But at times, I just can’t seem to take it all in!

The Sights!

The Sounds

The Shows

The Shopping

The Scents

The last two days, I’ve been doing the Christmas baking, and I think it was all the aroma that sent my senses reeling!

But oh, how wonderful it all is – family and sharing, food and gifts, fun and fellowship.

In the midst of it all, we don’t want to forget

Why We Say Merry Christmas

If you’ve noticed my header photo, you’ll see the candles lit each advent Sunday as we move toward The Day

Besides the advent wreath our house is filled with reminders like this:

Celebrate Jesus – the Reason for the Season!

Happy Christmas! Blessings, Peg

Occupied

2011-12-06T08:45:00.000-08:00

Just found a link-up called ‘Occupy Your Sewing Room’ (see my side bar to follow it). The challenge is to occupy your sewing room for a day between Dec 3-10, to do some of that Christmas sewing – link up – and be eligible for some fabulous prizes!

So, I’m linking up.

And here’s what I did:

Down Winterberry Lane was planned to be a ‘together’ project with Jo from Pieceful Afternoon to be shared with you all on our joint site Cross Border Quilters. Well circumstances interfered, and Jo hasn’t been able to get to her sewing machine for quite a while now. But I really wanted to get this done for Christmas, so I got started. You can follow the progress of this quilt over at CBQ.

When it was finished, I couldn’t believe how big it was. Somehow the ‘finished size’ disclaimer on the package just went over my head. So, it sat for a bit, waiting for me to decide what to do with it – and then last week when I was decorating the house, I thought…..hmm…wouldn’t a Christmas shower curtain be nice. So yesterday I spent most of the day measuring and cutting and measuring and sewing and measuring and cutting and sewing – I lined the quilt, added tabs, hemmed it and got it hung up. We did take a break in the middle of the day to take the dog out for a walk – it was just gorgeously sunny out there and we just couldn’t miss an opportunity to get outside for a bit without rain dripping down our necks!

Anyway, I’m thrilled with this!

Happy decorating! Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

2011-12-05T08:16:00.001-08:00

Well, here we are again – the wall hasn’t changed much, but there is a little addition, and some moving around……well, just take a look:

The last block of the Colors of Canada BOM is done – it’s the one at the bottom, a Christmas tree. I think I need to figure out how to het the tree standing upright in this design – any ideas anyone?

The Colors of Canada BOM was done with Quilting Canadians on Quilt With Us. I started the year with a brand new package of grey and beige fat quarters, and determined to use them in the blocks. Besides that, I just picked what ever colors suited my mood on the day.

The block names, in case anybody is wondering:

                                        Maple Leaf – Jan

                      North Winds – Feb            Bear’s Paw – Mar

Flying Geese – Apr                                                     Shoofly – May

Bow-tie – June Lady of the Lake – July

Wandering Star – Aug Shortcut to School – Sept

Homeward Bound – Oct Dble Friendships Star – Nov

Christmas Tree – Dec

So what’s the plan? I want to design a ‘map of Canada’ to applique and put in the center, then sash and borders, and voila (I hope) a great table mat!

This will be shared over at Quilting Canadians, as well as on The Needle and Thread Network (Canadian blog).

So proud to be CANADIAN!

Happy Canadian quilting! Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

2011-11-30T07:20:00.001-08:00

I have so many words running through my head right now, I’m not sure where to start.

How about:

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY – to our DD and DSIL…..two years ago today we were all in the Dominican Republic celebrating! Happy happy day to them!

Then INTRIGUED…..a new Canadian linky blog has started – a chance to showcase your WIPs. If you’re a Canadian blogger, with needlework of any kind to share – here’s your forum. Let’s see how many of us are out there!

And EXCITED and SCARED – all at the same time. A few posts ago, I shared a little bit of my bucket list. Well, the bucket is a little emptier now, the list a little shorter…..because Santa arrived early around here and this is now standing in our bedroom:

Yes, quilters, it’s true – for you non-quilters out there, it’s a mid-arm quilting machine. I so wanted one of these, but thought it was truly a pipe dream, but circumstances just came together all of a sudden, and here it is. EXCITED!!!! Now I can finish up all those quilts that are tucked in the boxes you see underneath. and SCARED!!!! Not sure that I really know what I’m doing. Thankfully I have a couple of friends with the same machine, so I can get help and advice.

As you can see, there was some furniture rearranging to be done to make this fit in our house, specifically in the master bedroom, the only room with a wall long enough. The lady that sold it to me even supplied a ‘skirt’ to attach to it so I can hide all my secrets.

Today I’ll load it up with some practice fabric, and test it out for the first time.

Here’s to Words – so happy to have them to express all the wonder and joy of life!

Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday–a BOM

2011-11-28T08:43:00.001-08:00

Back in January, the gang over at Quilting Canadians on Quilt With Us decided to do a BOM, that Shannon titled Canadian Colors. I joined the group, and have posted, I think, the blocks as they’ve been completed each month.

For Christmas, I had received a lovely package of fat quarters in greys and beiges, and decided to use those as much as possible in these blocks. As the year went on, I didn’t pull out the previous blocks to ‘match’ colors, I just pulled from my stash, and the fat quarters whatever I felt like using that day,and made the block.

Here’s what’s done so far:

These are in the order of the blocks from January to November. December’s block will be posted shortly, and when that’s put together, then I can start to assemble the quilt top. I’m just not sure if I want to leave it in this order, if I want to wash it, and how wide, and what about borders? Lots of decisions to make – should keep me going!

We’ll be doing another BOM next year – no title yet, but there will be several of us taking turns choosing the block for the month. My first month is February – starting to think…………

Happy designing! Blessings, Peg

My First Quilt

2011-11-28T08:09:00.001-08:00

Bonnie Hunter has challenged us all to post about our first quilt and I decided to join in. Whenever I look at my first quilt, I think of all the lessons learned.

I only started quilting about 10 years ago, inspired by my son’s then-MIL. This is a sampler, made mostly from scraps of fabric that were around the house from other projects, including DD’s high school sewing classes. The pattern is taken from Jennifer Chiaverini’s book, Elm Creek Quilts.

What did I learn?

cutting – really needed to go out and get some rulers!
piecing – fairly straight forward when the lines are straight
triangles – gotta watch that bias
matching corners (not very many of them actually matched)
applique – machine applique is so much quicker
curves – still a struggle

When it came to quilting it, I was completely daunted. In the end, I tied the center, stitched-in-the-ditch around all the blocks, and border

and hand quilted cross-hatch in the border.

It was a challenge, but I made it through!

Head on over to Bonnie’s blog to see other first quilts!

Blessings, Peg

Happy Thanksgiving…….US

2011-11-24T07:13:00.001-08:00

Have a Blessed Day! Peg

Ta Da

2011-11-23T06:59:00.001-08:00

Because I know Myra is waiting for this……….

The flimsy is done. I struggled with deciding on the borders, and was not happy with any of the fabrics in the piecing for an inner border. So I went shopping. When I found this tone on tone red/brown it seemed to be just the ticket. And a little bit brighter gold for a flange….

And I was happy. The flying geese with the print background, when added to here, just looked too busy. So after consulting my pals at our quilting group, we decided this finished the top quite nicely. I may use the strips of print with flying geese on the back, just to keep it interesting!

Another mystery solved (and for Toni – it was a mystery in the making because steps were revealed one at a time, no knowledge of what the finished product was going to look like).

Thanks Myra for hosting this Mystery Quilt-along, it was great fun!

Happy solutions! Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

2011-11-23T06:48:00.001-08:00

Tis the Season……………

to bake
to decorate
to shop
to create
to wrap
to write letters
to mail
to share
to give
To Be Jolly!

Tomorrow is US Thanksgiving and Sunday is First Advent – the Season really is here! Ready or not! Let’s have fun!

Enjoy the Season! Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

2011-11-21T10:06:00.001-08:00

After a play day yesterday:

A morning visit to a Christmas store where we picked up a few ‘necessities’

An afternoon of planning a quilt project and buying the fabric with my sister-in-law (no pics – it’s a surprise)
An evening of birthday celebration with family

As you can see we all tend to congregate in the kitchen. The flowers on the end of the counter were a gift for me. I reached the ripe old age of 60 a few days ago, and have been celebrating since. Another sister-in-law is celebrating her birthday tomorrow, so this was OUR time! We ordered Chinese, so no cooking and minimal clean-up for both of us – what better gift could anybody give! Just so much fun being together.

Oh, and I finished this for our kids:

Filled the pockets, and gave it to them to take home – so now they have their calendar for the big count-down.

But now it’s time to get some work done. The house is tidy, breakfast is finished, and it’s on to some quilting, and maybe a Christmas gift or two. Not that sewing is work, it’s just another kind of fun

Anyway, back to the Wall. On the Wall today is Myra’s Mystery quilt

I now have the inner border fabrics, so can get this all together – and add to the rest of the pile for quilting LOL!

Happy sewing! Blessings, Peg

FSNI Results

2011-11-19T15:44:00.001-08:00

Friday Night Sew-In for me started earlier in the day and spilled over into Saturday. I really did get a lot accomplished:

Finished up these little Christmas gifts:

They’re passport wallets – make great little stocking stuffers.

Then I tackled some more of my scrap blocks:

The first is a lap quilt – the second a full-size bed quilt, too big to get a picture of the whole thing. They’re just a riot of color, was a good way to use up scraps, and will give me lots of quilting practice along with the other 4 lap quilts that are waiting to be finished. There are still more scrap blocks, enough for a single bed I think – wow, who knew that scraps could add up like that!

For more FNSI results, take a look over here

Enjoy! Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

2011-11-17T07:38:00.001-08:00

I know, I’m a day late – I kept thinking about my ‘words’ all day yesterday, but got caught up in……emptying the back of the truck, and reloading all the regular stuff (what was in the back of the truck you may ask – but I’m not telling yet); bottling wine – our first batch made at home and it’s yummy!; sewing on some Christmas gifts; book club meeting………and suddenly the day was gone.

But I do want to share some thoughts on reading. I’ve always been a voracious reader – when younger often had 3-4 books on the go at the same time. I guess I just couldn’t wait to get them started when I got my hands on them. Interestingly, I can remember when I could remember which page I was on in each book, without book marks! That’s no longer the case for sure – I can’t remember which page I’m on in a magazine I’m reading and put down for 5 minutes.

As I got a little older and family and church and community and work took up so much more of my brain-space, I could only handle one book at a time – but I read 2-3 a week quite often, certainly no less than one a week.

Now…..one book every 2-3 weeks, and reading often puts me to sleep! But still I read on – reading gives me so much pleasure – I can travel, meet new people, learn new things, solve a mystery……..My favorite read is a mystery, but I like historical novels as well, and Christian novels and lifestyle as well.

Book Club meeting was last night – and I hadn’t finished the book. It’s ‘The Tenderness of Wolves’ by Stef Penney.

My fellow club members were very gracious in not revealing the identity of the murderer during our discussion, even though I told them it mattered not. The book:

purported to be a mystery, but the mystery appears to play only a minor role
there are so many characters it’s hard to keep track of who’s who – one club member counted 63 characters
lots of history, which always fascinates me – and I was glad to learn that much research went into getting the history accurate in the fiction setting
wolves don’t seem to be significant in the story-line, so not sure where the title comes in

I learned some interesting facts about the author at the meeting – this is her first novel, she’s from England, a screen writer, has never been in Canada ( why she set a book here is beyond me), is agoraphobic (probably why she’s never been in Canada).

It’s an interesting read, and if you’re into Canadiana and history and a little mystery, you might want to pick it up.

One of the reasons I didn’t finish reading this book, was that I was trying to catch up on a previous Book Club title, from a meeting I missed. ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’ by Mark Haddon is actually one of my favorite reads this year.

A mystery centered around an autistic 15-year-old, who discovers a dead dog in his back yard. It’s junior fiction, but fascinating. I really appreciated the way the author described autism through the thought processes and actions of the hero. It’s a must-read as far as I’m concerned. Just be aware – foul language is used frequently.

I’m thinking we need a ‘read-in’ night, just like we have a ‘sew-in’ night – and share our latest reads with each other. What do you think?

In the mean-time, I’m going to be getting things out of the way today, so that I can join Friday Night Sew-In tomorrow and make more progress on Christmas (I hope). Sign up here if you’re joining us!

Happy reading in the mean-time! Blessings, Peg

A Great Place to Visit

2011-11-15T06:04:00.000-08:00

Ah…..The Great Outside……that’s what the nearby city of Chilliwack is called. And now we have proof! Watch this……………

Our Town!

The mountain in the first scene is what we see from our back yard – it’s Mount Cheam (Shee-am), known by hikers from all over!

Come on over for a visit! Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

2011-11-14T09:18:00.000-08:00

Finish one and start another………….mystery quilt that is!

This one is near well on its way:

Just needs borders now. Myra over at Tactile Pleasures hosted this one.

Now our LQS is hosting another – Block of the Month mystery, that will take a year to complete. Here’s the fabrics I chose for this one:

No idea what I’ll do with a kids’ quilt, but surely there’s a charity out there somewhere…….

While at the LQS, I picked up another advent calendar project:

This should be lots of fun to do.

Countryfolk is the name of our LQS, and each year they sponsor a local family for a Christmas hamper. For a donation o $10 or $25 you get a sheet, or three, of coupons to use in the store in the next year – and all of your donation goes directly to the hamper. So if you’re in this area (and if you are you know where the shop is), do stop n and help out – a needy family will benefit!

And here’s the Big Finish:

Well, not quite finished – needs to be quilted yet, but Down Winterberry Lane is on its way to being ready to display just in time for the Christmas season! I’ll post details over on Cross Border Quilters.

There are some plans for quilts in the works – but………….they’ll be a secret for a while yet!

Happy quilting! Blessings, Peg

Jim Byrnes

2011-11-13T09:02:00.001-08:00

Blues – but not only blues, a smattering of Buck Owen, Beatles, 60’s rock and roll and even Johnny Cash – that’s what Jim Byrnes shared last night at our local Art Council concert. He was fabulous, and we enjoyed an evening of great music and some laughs.

And his lead guitarist was fascinating to watch as his fingers played those strings like they were a keyboard – wonderful!

Born in the US, Jim is now a Canadian icon and apparently enjoys live performances, so you may find him in your area at any time. If you’re looking for a good concert, watch for Jim Byrnes – you’ll be in for a good time!

Happy happy entertainment! Blessings, Peg

Poppy Day

2011-11-11T07:25:00.000-08:00

Otherwise known as Remembrance Day – and in the US Veteran’s Day.
We’re all remembering those who served our country in the military, who fought and often gave their lives for the freedoms that we enjoy in our countries. There’s much to be thankful for, much to relish as we walk through our every day lives.

We’ll be joining friends, neighbors, local representatives at a service in remembrance………….LEST WE FORGET!
Please remember Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

2011-11-09T08:16:00.001-08:00

‘Ask not what your country can do for you,

ask what you can do for your country

John F. Kennedy

This quote has been running through my mind lately, not sure why. We’re into municipal elections in this province, so the signs are up all over the place. And there have been a number of leadership changes and elections across the country, as well as in the US over the past months. Maybe that’s why.

When I look at the campaign claims, and then see the back-pedaling afterward, I wonder if these politicians truly are wanting to serve their country/province/state/municipality – or are they in this for themselves. And in our economic atmosphere, it appears to be harder and harder to ‘serve’, because there just aren’t enough funds.

Then this morning I read the post at ‘French Village Life’ and was completely intrigued. Wishing that this concept could be spread world-wide – give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for life. What a wonderful service is Emmaeus!

A glorious example of walking among them! And without politics (we can hope).

Last night we sat at our local Emergency Social Services meeting – a small team of trained folks available to assist families to get temporary housing/food/etc. in the event they have to be evacuated from their homes due to an emergency. This is our little bit for our community, but there’s always politics – begging for funds, seeking support from governments, applying for grants. It’s sometimes disheartening to want to serve, but have hands tied because of ‘politics’ and having to ‘play the game’. But at least we know we’re there if somebody needs us, which thankfully hasn’t happened in quite some time!

Are you involved in a volunteer organization? What is your experience?

Here’s to ‘Helping Hands’. Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

2011-11-07T08:21:00.001-08:00

It’s Monday already – where has the week gone?

We spent part of the weekend in Tacoma WA – sadly for the funeral of a cousin of my mother’s, a young man of only 37. We traveled with my parents, which gave us some time together that just doesn’t seem to happen often enough! The service was lovely, and we were able to touch bases again with his family whom we also don’t see often enough. A reminder of how very precious life and relationships are and how important it is to keep in touch.

Our DS2 and DDIL were here for a visit yesterday – just a nice relaxing afternoon. We made some tentative plans for Christmas gatherings – and that will be here all too soon – when our DS1 and his fiancée will be with us as well.

And now back to the regular week – including doctor’s appointments, Emergency Social Services meeting, book club book to read………and of course, some quilting!

On the wall today:

Still working on Down Winterberry Lane. Do you see the print strip at the top? There’s another one at the bottom. Well, I cut it at 2.5 inches, because that was all the fabric I had. On Friday, I made Grizz stop at a quilt shop (well actually 2) in order to see if I could get more of that fabric. I was in luck – I got the last 3 fat quarters at Folktales in Linden. Whew! So I’ll pick this apart and replace it with a 4.5 inch strip, as is called for in the pattern. I think it will make a difference, don’t you!

Then the pieced outer border goes on, and we’re almost ready for sandwiching and quilting.

Also on the wall:

This little wall hanging (17x21) made up from blocks of prints that I picked up when we were in Yellowstone Park this past June. The prints are of paintings done by Thomas Moran, of various scenes around the park. The original paintings were done in 1876 – this is a great memory of that trip! It’s ready for sandwiching and quilting.

So my work is cut out for me this week – pardon the pun!

Happy progress! Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

2011-11-02T11:22:00.001-07:00

“I’d rather regret the things I did,

than regret the things I didn’t do”

This quote was at the bottom of an email message I received a little bit ago, and is attributed to Lucille Ball. ‘Lucy’ is a person I have long admired, and she appeared to have done, or at least tried to do, most things that she wanted.

After reading this quote, I recalled a time in my life when a health problem cropped up that pointed out my very mortality, and I remember thinking of all the things that I wanted to do but may never have the opportunity to do. And now……I’ve been mulling over the things that I regret – and they’re almost all things that I wish I had done or could do.

So I’m making a ‘Bucket List’ (have you seen that movie?).

My list includes things like travel – to distant countries as well as around North America, quilts that I want to make – and maybe even design, flying a plane, writing a novel, bouncing grandchildren on my knee (now that one is out of my control, but I can wish can’t I), learning to decorate cakes, finally retiring finally…….and aging gracefully, albeit I would love to have Lucy’s red hair!

I dream about these kind of things, but somehow just never seem to DO anything about actually achieving most of them. Not sure where to start, but with a milestone birthday coming up, I think it’s time for action – time to make a plan for at least one thing on the list, and work toward that goal! Time to regret a few things I’ve done!!!

Do you have a Bucket List? What do you do about achieving those wishes? Do you regret the ‘un-dones’ in your life?

Let’s get it done…..together……..will you join me?

Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

2011-10-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

On the wall this morning is Down Winterberry Lane, the ‘together’ project that Jo from Pieceful Afternoon, and I are doing.

You can follow the story of this quilt on our joint blog, Cross-Border Quilters.

Next step – outer border!

Happy online quilt group projects! Blessings, Peg

Christmas is Coming!

2011-10-31T08:16:00.001-07:00

It’s hard to believe. Today is Halloween – for those of you that celebrate, hope you have a good night! But unbelievably in blog land Christmas is in the air. Some have been getting ready for months already, but you really know the Season is almost upon us when……Secret Santa appears on the horizon.

I’ve not joined this swap before, but when one of my blog buddies posted that she was participating, it caught my attention, so thought I’d join in. It’ll be fun! I’m looking forward to meeting another new friend, and creating something unique just for her (?his) special Christmas gift!

Today is the last day, so if you’re wanting to join the fun, best get there soon! I’ve put the link on my side bar for you.

Happy seasons! Blessings, Peg

Blogger Quilt Festival

2011-10-28T08:29:00.001-07:00

This year I’ve decided to enter a quilt festival for the first time – a blogger festival! Amy hosts this festival twice a year and it’s fabulous! Great inspiration and wonderful new friends to meet!

Go on over to take a look at all the quilts – the festival runs this week – but wait until after you’ve looked at the quilt that I’m entering LOL!

This quilt was made for our DD’s wedding – the basic pattern was Blue Posies chosen from Carol Doak’s book Easy Stash Quilts. I have to admit that I didn’t make the quilt all by myself. The groom’s godmother, Hermie and mother, Maureen Goldsmith (accredited Canadian quilt designer and teacher) were my partners. Having Maureen to help with making the design unique and perfectly suited to the bride and groom was wonderful!

This first picture is the front of the quilt – the center is as the original design intended ….. and then we added the borders. Colors were chosen to reflect the favorites of the bride and groom, the colors for the wedding, and the fact that the wedding was held on the sea side in the Dominican Republic. The wide, light-colored border is hand-embroidered with various words and phrases supplied by the bride and groom to personalize the quilt:

This second picture is the back of the quilt – we took squares of fabric with us to the wedding and had everybody there, and then family members at home as well, sign blocks, which we assembled to make a ‘greeting card’.

You’ll notice that the top right and bottom left ‘fill-in’ squares made ‘hearts’! That was just the way it worked out, not an actual plan at all!

We presented the finished quilt to the happy couple at the reception held at home, about 5 months after the wedding itself!

This was a great project, and one that we are all very proud of. I especially like the fact that it was a joint project, bringing both sides of the new family together in a wonderfully creative way!

Happy festival! Blessings, Peg

Quilt Shows

2011-10-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

Two quilt show in two weekends – what more bliss for a quilter.

While we were in Alberta, the Canmore guild held their show – an absolute delight!

Then we arrived back home in time to take in the local guild’s show, another inspiring day:

Happy happy shows! Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words - Who’s The Boss?

2011-10-26T07:13:00.000-07:00

On our drive home from Alberta, through the mountains, we enjoyed all the signs of fall that we were seeing, the snow on the mountain tops, the changing leaves. The sun shone brilliantly giving a glow to all around us.

In the midst of all of this beautiful scenery, we came across cars slowing and stopping at the side o the road – and of course looked to see what everybody was watching.

This pair of elk bucks were just feet away from us locking horns:

It was a magnificent sight, and we were close enough to hear the sounds of the antlers clacking.

Not sure what caught their attention, but suddenly they paused in their contest to gaze at all the on-lookers:

Apparently a traditional male ritual, we felt honored to be able to witness the show. We’ve no idea who won of course, but it was a competition worthy of both.

It got me thinking of the ways that we humans sometimes ‘lock horns’ to see who’s the boss – thankfully we don’t have to actually wrestle out in public for all the world to see. But hopefully when we’re in such a contest, we can take time to ‘count to ten’ and clear our minds so we can see the issues clearly.

Happy sighting! Blessings, Peg

Banff

2011-10-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

While in Alberta, we all went out to Banff National Park to the Banff Springs Hotel to enjoy their brunch buffet.

The hotel was originally built by CP Rail, and is an elegant landmark in the midst of the mountains.

Small touches around the grounds attest to its history and days of yore:

We’d never been inside the hotel before, and stood in awe at the doorway to the dining room:

We thought we’d been transported to a cruise ship! Our table was beside a large window with a fabulous view:

And the food, oh the food – more than we could ever even begin to taste. From scrambled eggs to eggs benedict (with ham or salmon), from bacon to mussels and oysters, veggies, salads,

and of course sweets:

It was a good think we hadn’t eaten much breakfast before our 1:00 brunch!

It was a fabulous day! Happy dining! Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday–Down Winterberry Lane

2011-10-24T09:59:00.001-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been working on the Cross-Border Quilters project. Down Winterberry Lane was Jo’s (Pieceful Afternoon) and my choice for our fall project. Last spring, we did Pumpkins and Spice, and ‘met’ each week for a ‘chat’ to decide what we’d attempt to accomplish for the week, then post our progress weekly on our joint blog (link above).
Our fall project is a Christmas quilt – Down Winterberry Lane, another pattern from Whimsicals.   Life and circumstances has conspired against us in this past month or so, and we’ve not been able to follow the same plan as we did in the spring. Both Jo and I have had some difficulties with being able to sit down and sew – my problem has been a sore shoulder that’s limited movement to a degree. It’s getting better, and the more I use it, the more mobility I get, so I’ve persevered. I don’t know if Jo wants to share her limitation, so I’ll leave that to her.
In the meantime also, I was away most of September, and again for a few days this month – and Jo is now actually in Virginia visiting her newest grandson!
So our decision was to just pick away at this quilt as best we could.
Well, now I have all of the elements prepared, and on the wall, ready for assembly:

I’ll need to do some adjusting with borders and backgrounds to make everything fit (the panels changed size when they were washed), but it’s coming along!
You can see the step-by-step progress over at Cross-Border Quilters (link above or on the side bar) – each day this week, one element will be featured.   Fingers crossed by next Monday I’ll have the top assembled.
Happy designing!                 Blessings, Peg

Upcoming Nuptials

2011-10-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

DS1 has found his soul mate – K is a fabulous person and they’re just so happy together! Take a look at this engagement picture:

Their friend took the pictures, and will be following them to Nova Scotia for the wedding to do the honors there.

And so the planning has started – first step for us was to meet the bride’s parents, who flew out to Alberta last week.

We had a wonderful time, and have made some new friends.

The women went wedding dress shopping – such a thrill to be included in this special day. Here’s one of the dresses, not her first choice as that has to be a surprise – but doesn’t just seeing this make you want to get married all over again:

We had lots of fun at the shops, and couldn’t resist taking a shot of her feet:

It’s amazing what can be hidden underneath all that lace and tulle and sparkle and elegance!

Lunch at a retro restaurant helped us get through the day:

The real working juke box had an amazing selection of tunes from Elvis to Frank, Shania to Ian.

While the women shopped – the men bonded over beef jerky, beer and cigars:

We are going to have so much fun at this wedding!!

Happy planning! Blessings, Peg

FNSI Results

2011-10-22T07:27:00.001-07:00

I didn’t get near as much done as I thought I might, but I did make some progress. For FNSI I chose to work on Down Winterberry Lane – Jo at Pieceful Afternoon and I have chosen this quilt for our fall project. We’re a bit slow in getting going, but detail will be posted on our joint blog Cross Border Quilters.

But, to show you what I managed to accomplish:

These are the elements for the first of 4 sections for DWL – the pinwheels, ornaments, gifts, candy cane stripes were all done previously, and now this first panel is ready to be assembled into the section.

I couldn’t believe how long this took, but should have known – because I always wash all my fabrics when I get them home, the panel was of course out of square, and there was a lot of fussing to get it square, and add the borders to come out the right size! But I made it.

Great time sewing with all you out there – later today, I’ll head over to the linky site to read up on your adventures.

Happy sew-in Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

2011-10-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

Well, the new design wall has been put to great use this week. As you’re reading this, we’re actually in Alberta visiting our kids – but I delayed posting of the quilting work done.

Here’s what’s on the wall

1. Elements for Myra’s Mystery Quilt-a-long:

I’m actually all caught up now with the 3 blocks of my choice, a whole pile of 4-patch blocks, and the latest, these Shaded 4—patch:

There are 24 of these altogether in various combinations of all of the fabrics for this project. I kind of like this block – Myra showed a way of making it without making a whole bunch of triangles! This is only the 3rd step so, if you want to join in, I’m sure there’s still time – just head on over to Tactile Pleasures – in Fabric and follow the link on her sidebar.

On the other side of the ‘wall’ are the elements completed so far for Down Winterberry Lane that Jo and I are doing over at Cross Border Quilters.

Pinwheels, ornaments, gift boxes, and some candy cane – lots of fun. Jo is away right now – but I’ll post some more detail of all of this next week after we get home.

Happy wall elements! Blessings, Peg

FNSI is coming

2011-10-14T18:56:00.001-07:00

And I think I’m actually going to be home to be able to join in! If you want to join the Sew In on Friday Night (aren’t I clever getting those words in?!?), Oct. 21 see the link on my side bar or go here to sign up.

It’s kind of fun knowing there are a whole bunch of other crafters out there working on projects at the same time as you are. And you get to share your accomplishments the next day, and see what everybody else got done! Almost as good as being at a retreat!

Happy Sew-In. Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

2011-10-12T08:04:00.001-07:00

Fall has arrived – and with it the rain. No less than can be expected when you live in a rain forest.

Despite the rain, fall is my favorite time of year – for color!

Trees here are just starting to change color (not enough frost yet), but we’re headed through the mountains in a couple of days, and we’re sure to find some of this:

In the meantime at home, because there aren’t enough real leaves around to decorate, artificial have to do:

See the ‘leaves’ falling down on the left side o the mantle – that’s my ‘clever’ way of hiding some of the inevitable cords that come with all the electronic equipment – a sleeve of fall leaf fabric wrapped around the cords.

But outside – we do see color – morning and night:

We still bring inside the color of the roses still blooming outside (one of the advantages to a milder climate):

Rainbows are often seen – a couple of weeks ago, I spied one falling out of the mist onto the top of the mountain behind us, but by the time I got the camera, it was gone. But here’s a picture for you to enjoy:

I love rainbows,not just for the color, but for the promise of God – I think it was one of His most brilliant ideas ever!

Rain may come with gloomy skies and drips down the neck, but it comes with its own sparkle when the sun peeks through even briefly:

Happy fall – weather and color! Blessings, Peg

Thankful Heart

2011-10-11T06:51:00.001-07:00

Thanksgiving is always such a full weekend, and it can be so easy to lose sight of all the wonders of life in the midst of the busy-ness of a celebration meal. But with a ‘cooking’ husband, the work is made so much lighter – and we did a lot of our prep a day ahead.

On the day………….. the dining room sat in repose

While we all gathered around the kitchen to visit and nibble and ‘help’

Gifts of flowers added to the décor:

After dinner, some watched hockey while nursing their full tummies:

Our family is growing – we added a fiancée and a girlfriend (both nephews) to this year’s gathering – as well as the fiancée of our own DS1. Good news, good times, good food! One of the best parts of having a big gathering – lots of help when it comes to clean-up – so thankful for sisters, daughters, and the various other women who are always in the kitchen with me! All is good – and thankfulness abounds……even after the day is over!

Happy thankful hearts! Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

2011-10-10T07:52:00.001-07:00

But first…………….Happy Thanksgiving Day to Canada

Happy Columbus Day to the US!

Reasons to celebrate – and how thankful we are that we can celebrate with friends and family. Yesterday we joined our friends-in-law for a wonderful meal. The table was set beautifully:

And we laughed and shared and ate and laughed and played cards and laughed and ate some more and planned our next meal together and laughed and laughed and laughed:

We had such a good time – I can hardly wait for the gathering later today with another side of the family!

In the meantime – I actually do have a design wall again! Thanks to everybody that shared ideas with me. In the end we adapted the idea that Barb (no blog) sent. A flannel sheet and a couple of pieces of doweling that were standing around. I sewed a sleeve in each end of the sheet, threaded the doweling through, added string, and hung it up on a couple of picture hooks. Two holes in the wall, and the bottom doweling adds enough weight to keep the ‘wall’ fairly taut and steady.

I can’t get back far enough to get the whole wall in the pic, but I’m sure you ‘get the picture’. The wall is about 90 inches square, so big enough for most quilts.

So, on the wall already, you see the beginnings of a couple of quilts.

On the left – the first three blocks for Myra’s Mystery Quilt-a-long. I’m a little behind, but also got these 32 cuties done for the same quilt:

Back to the design wall – on the right are the first steps of Down Winterberry Lane. Both Jo and I have been experiencing some limitations to our ability to actually sit and sew, so we’re slowed down somewhat. And now Jo is headed to Virginia to meet her newest grandson, and we’ve just decided to pick away at this the best we can. When we get back to it we’ll get going with our posts at Cross-Border Quilters.

Also got completed the October block for the Canadian BOM with Quilting Canadians:

It has been a fulfilling and satisfying week – once again, thankful that we have all we have, can do all we do, are blessed with family, friends, fun and fellowship! Blessings to all of you! Peg

Your Support is Needed

2011-10-07T08:25:00.001-07:00

Lori over at Family Trees May Contain Nuts shared this story, and it caught at my heart-strings.

This school in East Vancouver is struggling to meet the needs of their students with emotional, mental and physical disabilities and disorders. Read below to get just a bit of their story.

“Admiral Seymour Elementary School is located in Vancouver's Downtown East Side and is one of our city's needy inner city schools. Seymour's population is made up of 133 students enrolled in 7 divisions, including a district class for students with special needs. (Learning Disabilities + Behaviour Disorders) The demographics of our learning community are diverse; over 70% of our students speak another language at home other than English, which amounts to 42% of our population qualifying to receive ESL support, 32% of our students are aboriginal, and 25% of our students have been identified with having special learning challenges such as learning disabilities, behavioral challenges, medical diagnosis etc. Many of our students do not have designations that warrant ministry funding for support from counselors, art therapists or expressive art therapists. However, they are our most vulnerable children. The ones who are perpetually filled with sadness and anxiety. These are the children who seem to be falling through the cracks.”

They’ve applied to Aviva for financial support to try to meet these needs for the next 2 years. We can all help by voting for them – just go to the site: http://www.avivacommunityfund.org/ideas/acf11733 to read more and to cast your vote.

I’m tempted to rant here about the constant and repeated cutbacks to education, health care, and social assistance in this province – and to rave on about the inequities in our society. But I won’t – suffice it to say I think less spending on the elite and more on those with needs would go a long way to making life a little more palatable.

Won’t you help these kids????? Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words

2011-10-05T07:22:00.001-07:00

What’s in a name? I always like to know the meaning of names, and looked very carefully at the meanings of our children’s names before settling on them. That was after I discovered that a friend’s son’s name meant ‘broken nose’ – I always wondered why anybody would choose that name!!!

My name means ‘pearl’.

I’m named after my mother and a great-grandmother, so I’m pretty sure that my parents didn’t think about the meaning, just carried on a family tradition.

So why the discussion about names – well, Dawn over at As Sweet as Cinnamon put out the challenge to bloggers asking why they named their blog what they did - and is doing a give-away along with it! Head on over and join in the fun.

To answer the challenge – how did I come up with the blog name ‘Pieces on My Mind’? Well, I started it out as a primarily quilting blog, and looked for a word that would reflect quilting, but also wanted to be able to share about other aspects and happenings in my life – all those little pieces that make up my day and my quilts. Thus ‘pieces’. And then wanted to let readers know I’d be sharing various thoughts, ideas – and quilting – that came to mind. So there you have it!

Just another little piece of my mind! Blessings, Peg

Design Wall Monday

2011-10-03T08:14:00.001-07:00

Or that’s what it should be. I promised myself, I’d get back into my regular postings (DWM and Wednesday’s Words) now that we’re home for a stretch of time.

But I don’t have a design wall. We took it down to paint, and now don’t want to put all the tack holes back in the wall to put the same flannel back up on the wall. So, I’m looking for ideas for creating a design wall, preferably one that will allow me to pin larger projects up. Any ideas, anybody?

In the mean-time, though, not much designing, or quilting going on anyway. I have a sore shoulder that limits movement a LOT. Hopefully will be back at it in a few days.

So…….yesterday we took the opportunity, in reasonable fall weather, to drive down to LaConner, WA to take in the quilt show.

At the Quilt and Textile Museum, there was two special displays. One was a display of quilts using recycled material, or with a theme of recycling – but no photos were allowed of those. The other display was of Canadian artists – quilts reflecting another art medium. Here are a few of my favorites:

The juried show was at another venue, Maple Hall, but no photos were allowed. How disappointed I was to not be able to share with you all the lovely, lovely quilts displayed there! I actually found that restriction detracted from my enjoyment of the show.

After taking in all this eye candy, and being inspired yet again, we wandered through LaConner – such a lovely little seaside village, one of our favorite places to visit. We lunched at the Waterfront Café, enjoying the peace along the river:

And choosing not to eat in the brig:

As we walked we caught glimpses of some quilts that had apparently been displayed for a Quilt Walk during the month of September – not too many still up, but this one certainly caught our eye:

It was a lovely relaxing day – perfect excuse for avoiding cleaning the garage!

Happy quilt shows! Blessings, Peg

Back At It

2011-10-01T08:38:00.001-07:00

Well, sort of…..

Home almost a week from vacation, and days have been filled with all kinds of catch-up stuff. Sadly, quilting has taken a back burner. And the little that I did – well, I felt like a novice all over again. The result – this one little block for the Canadian BOM over at Quilting Canadians on Quilt with Us:

In the meantime – there was all that fabric I purchased on vacation to wash and press.

Then there was grapes ripe in the back yard – and grape jelly to make:

Buns to bake using that new Kitchen Aid mixer bought just before our vacation:

Windows to wash, ESS meeting and some work to be done, doctor appointment, Friends of the Library, a new TV to buy because the old one died…….. Wow, it really has been a busy week.

Right now I’m looking for ideas for making a new design wall, because we don’t want to put all the holes back in the wall after taking down the old one for painting. Any suggestions? The old one was just a flannel sheet tacked up against the wall. I’d like something that I can poke pins in to keep larger, heavier projects up.

In the midst of this, we took some time out – because the weatherman kept promising/threatening rain, but the sun kept shining – and made a year-end visit to the local show garden:

Today – time to clean the garage!

Happy fall! Blessings, Peg

A Loving Soul

2011-10-01T08:16:00.001-07:00

has gone to live with her Lord.

Ada, whom I called ‘Aunt’ but who described herself as a shirt-tail relative, passed away a few days ago. We’ll be celebrating her life this afternoon.

A few years ago, we arrived home from a vacation to a note that ‘Ada had called’. We looked at each other and said ‘who’s Ada?’. Well I called her number, only to discover one of the most wonderful seniors it has been my pleasure to know. She’s my father’s sister’s husbands’ sister. How’s that for a definition of our relationship?

Ada had a love for life surpassed by few – she’d lived many places and loved hundreds of people. She loved to travel while she could, and gathered friends from all over the continent. When she and her husband settled in this area, they became actively involved in their local church and she was envelope secretary there until she was 90, keeping track of donations, and distributing envelopes. She painted, cooked, and baked – and made tea the British way. What amazed me most was her technology skill – this senior could put lots of middle-agers to shame when it came to the computer. It’s where she kept track of all those envelopes….and where she met a whole new world of friends on a chat group!

The last few years has seen Ada’s health and energy slowly depleting, and she struggled with diabetes, skin cancer, and a heart condition. But as you can see in the picture, taken just a few months ago, her smile never left her. At 95, Ada had lived a full and happily satisfying life – she will be missed – but she’s with the Lord she loved!

And while I’m here – this is something Ada would have loved – this giveaway at Kelli’s blog. All you scrapbooker/quilters out there I’m sure would love a chance for this fabulous scrapbooking program, as well as the quilting goodies being added to the package.

Go with God! Blessings, Peg

Please Pass a Biscuit!

2011-09-28T08:10:00.001-07:00

Saw this on a post and it was too meaningful not to pass along!: When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage, and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. I remember waiting to see if any...one noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his Biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school. I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits. And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits." Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your momma put in a long hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides... a burnt biscuit never hurt anyone!" You know, life is full of imperfect things... and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each others faults and choosing to celebrate each others differences, is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship. So...please pass me a biscuit. And yes, the burned one will do just fine! And please pass this along to someone who has enriched your life... I just did! Life is too short to wake up with regrets... Love the people who treat you right and forget about the ones who don't. ENJOY LIFE NOW - IT HAS AN EXPIRATION DATE!..

You can all pass me a biscuit any time – bless you all! Peg

Cross-Border Quilting

2011-09-27T17:05:00.001-07:00

Well, as I believe I shared a few months ago, Jo (Pieceful Afternoon) and I are going to make the same quilt ‘together’ on-line.

It’s our own little on-line quilt group. And we have a blog to go along with it! So you’ll be able to follow our progress with this project over there.

Last spring, we made this lovely together:

Pumpkins and Spice was a great project from Whimsical Quilts. So we’ve chosen another Whimsical Quilt – Down Winterberry Lane.

This is going to be so much fun – first week starting today – so head on over to Cross-Border Quilters, and follow along as we share this adventure together and with all of you.

Happy sharing! Blessings, Peg

Mail call

2011-09-27T15:54:00.001-07:00

When we go away for a stretch of time, we have a wonderful neighbor who will look after things around the house for us – including collecting our mail, and keeping it safe. So when we get home, there’s always a nice pile to sort through, and it always feels like a HUGE mail day! When we collect for ourselves on a daily basis, it just doesn’t feel like so much.

On our return a few days ago, a parcel was included in the batch. It wasn’t an unexpected parcel, but we had no idea when it might arrive as it was coming from the US.

Inside the parcel:

This lovely tote is from Peggy at Daylily. A few weeks ago she was celebrating a milestone, and shared several of her crafts with a few lucky people, and I happened to be one of them.

This tote is made of plarn – in case you haven’t heard of that it’s yarn made from plastic bags. What a great way to recycle! The inside is lined completely with lightweight cotton fabric, so it should be all washable. And do you see the little pin attached to the note card? How perfect for a quilter!

I love it – thank you so much Peggy – appreciate all your work, and thoroughly enjoy your blog!

Happy mail call! Blessings,Peg

Fabric Finds

2011-09-27T14:55:00.001-07:00

As we traveled along the Cascade Loop in NW Washington, I kept my eye open for quilt shops. I warned Grizz ahead of time that this was a necessity, so he was well prepared. With a few projects in mind, the opportunity to shop at some ‘new-to-me’ quilt shops was a chance too good to pass up.

Our first stop was at Burlington, to get stocked up for the trip, and a couple of hours at Anacortes go me started. We’d been to Anacortes before, most recently just last May, but the quilt shops were closed the day we were there, and I really wanted to explore this new territory.

Both The Quilt Shop and Fabrics Plus had some great finds:

These beauties will go perfectly in Winterberry, the ‘together’ project that Jo and I will be doing this fall. You’ll be able to follow our progress on our joint blog, Cross Border Quilters. We’ll get started when I’m home from this trip.

Also at Fabrics Plus, was this gem:

perfect for the wall-hanging that I won from Myra.

As we wandered through the Loop, we came across Twisp (don’t you just love that name), a little tiny town, with a wonderful shop called Quilt Haven – and yes, Lori, I really did stumble across this one!

There I found a couple of fat quarters that I know will go with some Christmas fabric I have at home (I know because the same fabrics were right there beside these):

Leavenworth has its own surprise quilt shop. Seeing this building at first you think it must be just another hotel or B&B:

But when you get over on that side of the street, you learn what it really is:

So on in I went – oh, the quilts, and the patterns, and the fabrics! And I found these to get started on Myra’s Mystery Quilt:

It needs one more fabric, but I just couldn’t find the right one – but I wasn’t worried, we were only a few days into our trip, and I was sure there would be more shops down the road!

In Chelan, I found Woven Threads

– an absolutely delightful shop, with enough eye candy for any quilter – and some more Winter berry fabrics:

That cream looks like snowballs – how apropos.

Also, there was a blue to go with the oriental find in Leavenworth:

And then we got to Omak – Needlyn Time, another wonderful shop – and everything is on sale at a maximum price of $7.99 per yard for their 25th anniversary celebration, until the end of December. So if you can, get on out there and take advantage of this great sale – even Grizz asked why I didn’t buy more while we were there

Here at last was that one elusive fabric for Winterberry (plus another just because):

And this red to go with the one found at Fabrics Plus in Anacortes:

The last 2 quilt shops that I knew I wanted to visit were in Oliver, BC. Unfortunately Heatherz Threadz was closed just at the time we were there, and being almost saturated with fabric finds (is that possible?), I didn’t return. But we did stop at Wine Country Quilts, and I found some more:

Another brown for Winterberry, and the blue just because, as well as the panel for an Advent Calendar (maybe a project to with DDIL):

That’s the sum total of everything I found – more on the projects to follow…..soon!

Happy Quilt Shop Hopping! Blessings, Peg

The End of the Trip

2011-09-27T14:43:00.001-07:00

As I said in my last post, we finished up our trip around the Cascade Loop in Washington Satet by heading back to Canada through Osoyoos, BC.

We have a favorite campsite here, Gallagher Lake, and have been returning regularly for a number of years now. While here, we visit a few favorite places which include a couple of quilt shops. We also like to try out a couple of wineries – this is, after all, Wine Country.

But one of our favorites is a hardware store in Osoyoos:

Deceptively the outside looks just like any hardware store, but the treasure trove inside entertains us for a couple of hours at least.

Just inside the door is always a seasonal display, that gives just a hint of what all you can find in here:

This time the color theme was purple, and the display made me want to redo some room or other in our house, just to use some of these goodies.

Besides hardware, there’s camping gear, barbecues and attendant tools, yard and garden supplies and decoration, games and puzzles, plumbing, electrical, carpentry tools…….and then there’s the following:

Spices, kitchen gadgets, all manner of gourmet cooking aids

Coffees and teas of every description and the pots in which to make them – and behind that, all the small appliances anyone could want in their kitchen

In The Parlour can be found all of the little niceties to spice up any décor, and lots of things for gifts, too

Every room in the house seems to have a section – and then there’s the garden – if you don’t like the regular yard activities, you can still make it look like you do with all of their artificial plants, ponds and garden statues:

This is just a little taste – if you like one-stop shopping – this wonderful store on the Main St in Osoyoos is the place to go!

Happy shopping Blessings, Peg

Giveaway

2011-09-27T08:22:00.001-07:00

Found this adorable fabric give-away this morning - go on over here and check it out!
Blessings, Peg

Cascade Loop Part IV

2011-09-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

As we were slowly wending our way homeward, we came to Okanogan County – just due south of the Okanagan Valley in Canada. Our travel day was short, so we had time to explore the area after getting settled in the campground.

Okan0gan, Omak, Riverside – all communities with their own flavor, and so close together, we almost didn’t realize we’d left one community before we were in the next.

One of our favorite pastimes when we travel is finding old buildings, and having an opportunity to appreciate the architecture, and the skill and labor that went into erecting buildings that have survived decades if not more than a century.

At Okanogan, we took a few photo-ops.

The Courthouse:
United Methodist Church
Firehall museum (sadly closed for the season)
Post office:

It’s amazing to see the differences in styles as buildings were built throughout the ages – and so wonderful to see the preservation of history!

Back to Canada, and we settled at a favorite campground at Gallagher Lake, just north of Oliver. We have a few now-traditional spots to visit in this area, which include a couple of quilt shops.

Cascade Loop Part III

2011-09-22T14:58:00.001-07:00

Heading back the way we’d come, we decided to check out an RV park at Chelan, so we could take in the view from the hill we’d been told about.

We found a fabulous RV park, Lakeshore, a municipal park, but one of the biggest we’d ever seen, and a delightful oasis in this arid climate:

We’d recommend it for anybody.

Not sure if I mentioned it before, but there’s a quilt shop here – more on that another time.

We took that drive up the hill, known as The Butte, as had been recommended. From below we could just barely make out the two towers that were our destination:

The sign said it was a primitive road – and they weren’t lying!

Narrow, switchbacks, wash-board, even some bare rock at times – we were amused to find out-houses at the top (Sis and Sis-in-law, we decided they were there just for when you get the chance to take this drive.) But oh, the views when we got up there!

We’d had to park our trailer for a couple of hours until check-in time, and we looked back down at it waaaaaaaay below us:

The first pic is the approximate area of the RV park and parking lot – the second is a close-up of the trailer (it’s the one in the middle).

We continues our exploration of the area, driving around the lake to other small communities. Climbing the Chelan Hills on the north side of the lake, we found more lovely views:

Happy exploring! Blessings, Peg

Cascade Loop Part II

2011-09-22T14:53:00.001-07:00

After leaving Winthrop, our plan was to head to Wenatchee and explore around there for a few days, including Leavenworth.

On the way, we stopped for a brief walk through Chelan – well known for a casino, although we didn’t see one. This signpost caught my eye:

Apparently you can get many places from there!

We enjoyed our stroll around town, meeting a couple of locals, one of whom recommended a drive up a nearby hill to take in the views. We determined to get settled at Wenatchee and come back for that. Before we left town, we came across this 100+ year old church, apparently all original except the seating which was ‘replaced’ in 1920.

And we headed for Wenatchee – but, we couldn’t find a campground. So we kept going, and found ourselves at Leavenworth. Okay, so with no definitive plans, we just switched directions – instead of carrying on around the Loop, we’d just enjoy this area once again, and then go back toward Chelan.

Leavenworth – a little piece of Bavaria in the Cascade Mountains. The mountains are a perfect backdrop for the flavor of this little village:

And we enjoyed our walk through the various shops, stopping for a bit to sing along with the ‘ooh-pah-pah’ band:

Because we had our dog, Sadie with us, we were stopped frequently so young and old alike could pet her. These girls were more than willing for a photo-op:

There must be something about bassets, everybody seems to love them!

Local hand-made quilts at one store caught my eye:

And I was more than pleased to, eventually, re-find the local quilt shop. I’d forgotten it was there, but took advantage of the opportunity to do some shopping. I’ll share all the ‘finds’ in another post.

We took the time to head to an antique mall just up the highway, and were pleased to find there was a flea-market in the parking lot. Check out my previous post about the treasure we took home from there.

Also in the area is a town called Cashmere, the home of Aplets and Cotlets, a delightful fruit jelly candy.

They appear to be prepared for snow!!

As we wandered the street we spotted this sign above a pub:

We couldn’t see the name of the pub, but thought it was humorous that the crow appeared to be passed out!!!

A couple more antique malls yielded some more take-homes – I’ll put all of those in a different post.

We stopped at Smallwood’s Harvest:

for a bite of lunch a a look-through their fabulous country store and culinary specialty shop.

This is one fantastic family destination – with the stores for the big folk, and entertainment for the little folk:

Happy, happy touristing! Blessings, Peg

A Treasure Found

2011-09-18T17:02:00.001-07:00

On our travels, we’ve arrived at Leavenworth, WA – a lovely (famous) Alpine village in the middle of the Cascades. But I’ll share more about that in another post. Right now I want to share the thrill of the hunt (and, no, we weren’t geocaching!)

We headed out to Apple Annie’s – a huge antique mall, just north of Leavenworth. To our surprise, parking was extremely limited – because there was a flea market in the parking lot!

Booth after booth, so much to see, thank heaven there was time!

I spotted a couple of items that looked interesting – and then we went inside. Oh, my, so much more to see, impossible to even begin to take it all in – and pictures, well, the walls were so high…..

Anyway, as we wandered through the commercial booths (as opposed to the ‘non-commercial’ – and I use that term loosely – outside, I spotted an item the same as one I’d seen outside…….at five times the price.

Well, we couldn’t believe our luck when we got outside again, and it was still there – so it’s coming home with us:

The case is in fabulous shape!

Isn’t she a beauty – and do you see the knee pedal, that detaches from the front bottom right side:

And the cord detaches – just look at these old round plugs:

The machine tilts open so the cord and knee pedal can be stored inside the case. But it’s definitely not a Featherweight – not meant to travel!

I checked the Singer site (it’s their 160th anniversary), and have received a certificate authenticating it as being manufactured in 1910. I had already done that for my other antiques machine:

which we already knew was manufactured in 1895.

I can hardly wait to get home and put this one on display!

What a treasure! Happy antiquing! Blessings, Peg

Cascade Loop Part I

2011-09-16T07:48:00.001-07:00

We left home for our annual fall vacation last Monday – plan: to thoroughly enjoy the Cascade Loop in Washington State. Not too far from home, but far enough to be ‘away’.

Crossing the border, we stopped at Burlington for a couple of nights, first to stock up with groceries – and for me to get out to Anacortes to a couple of quilt shops (more about that in another post).

Heading east on Wednesday, we actually got into the Loop – and shortly after, found this delightful little chapel:

It’s called Church in the Wildwood – and we took a few moments for some peaceful meditation.

Teeny tiny, but a great stop for a little break on the road – I just love finding these!

Our next stop was at a bridge over a Gorge in the Skagit River – complete with waterfalls and a dam:

It was a loooooong way down

to this:

Don’t you just love where cameras can take you!

We stopped to admire the views at Diablo Dam:

And arrived at Winthrop – restructured in the early ‘70s to reflect the West of about 1900.

We wandered the streets, and found an outdoor café where we could ‘ride the saddle’ if we so chose:

Even the medical clinic reflected the ambience:

On our way we saw this mama and baby crossing the road:

They didn’t stay around long for this photo op!

We’re now 5 days into our vacation, only 9 more to go – can hardly believe it!

Happy sightseeing! Blessings, Peg