Ah, Christmas break :)

 

Well, Christmas is over for another year! 3 potluck dinners, 3 Christmas parties, 3 fancy cakes, 2 family gatherings over - phew! The stars of our show, Claire and parents Lisa & Greg, were there.

 

It seems to be tradition to wear red, here's the pater and his partner looking lovely in their Christmas red sweaters. Our family celebrates Christmas twice, once with the pater, usually the weekend before, and once again on Christmas day with the mater.

Even Claire was dressed in red. She was only semi interested in the Amish puzzle ball I made her. Her attention was all on the presents from Great Grandma! They were an immediate and definitely hit, go Great Grandma!

The table runners and table toppers I spent the Fall making were also a hit, here's the mater's on her coffee table - looking good! I have to admit I'm jealous .... I didn't get one :(

But I did manage to visit our local antique shop, another yearly tradition for me, and once again found a piece of my china (not that I need any) - my present to myself!

I have been enjoying my time off work, especially the sleeping in bit.  I made the mistake of tearing apart my sewing room - you know -  cleaning. Day 4 and it's still not completed, but will be by the end of today! Never mind, I will have a CLEAN and organized sewing room soon, and in the process will have rediscovered many items and forgotten UFOs. Maybe one of them will inspire me to complete it in 2015! Let's hope so.

So, how were your holidays??
Ho Ho ho

Where Does Your cat sleep?

Iris, seen above, likes to sleep with me. That's ok by me, but she likes to sleep in the middle of the bed! That means poor momma has to sleep around her, awkward most nights...... You know what I mean, cats rule, don't they? Simone on the other hand has been a mystery as to where she sleeps. I caught her in one of the designated cat beds, once, and I've never seen her use it since!

 So, last night I was stunned to find both Iris AND Simone sleeping soundly on MY BED! Not snuggled up close together mind you, but ON THE SAME BED in the SAME ROOM! Simone is making progress, breaking down Iris's curmudgeonly demeanor! You go girl!

The last of this year's potluck's is over. I am exhausted, phew! It was a great success and kudos go out to JP for all her hard work entertaining our Sew What's group :). Sorry, no pics, I forgot my camera :(. Secret Santa was kind to me again this year, this year I received a mini Christmas quilt top and backing - or a door hanging if you prefer. Many of us received projects to work on in 2015, so we have a group challenge to finish our Secret Santa projects by our next potluck. Should be doable!

Thank you Secret Santa!

So, it's cake #2 today. I made my Chocolate peppermint swirl cake for the ladies. Today's cake is a white peppermint swirl cake for the family dinner with the pater an his partner.

Now, wish me luck getting the cake, the cole slaw, the ice cream and the presents over to my sister's place without incident ....

Fa la la la la, la la la la :)

Decorating

I was inspired this year by a quilt friend's FB post of her veranda Xmas decorations. Then I remembered this twig tree I rescued one year lights and all!  It has lost most of the twigs at the top, but that's easily camouflaged with nice big red Bows. Unfortunately I don't have an electrical outlet at the front, so it won't be lit up, but it's decorated :) I'm thinking it may need a few more Xmas balls, I may be able to find one or two more ...
The mater and I did the Swiss Chalet dinner on Friday and squeezed in a wee bit of shopping @ the Toys R Us across the street afterwards. Claire will have some nice gifts on the 25th from her great grandma! That left Saturday free so I got started on my housework and was inspired to start decorating for the holiday season. Here's this year's tree

No sewing to report. Saturday was the second of three potluck dinners, I took Lasagna, it was good. Read a good quote last week:

 "If you don’t begin to be a revolutionist at the age of 20
then at 50 you will be an impossible old fossil.’

by Bernard Shaw

One more to go and one more week of work, then I can sleep in and relax a bit. Looking forward to it :)

 TTFN

No Snow yet :)

I'm totally NOT complaining about this weather! Snow means cold and I don't like the cold, so I'm not complaining about this weather AT ALL. It's Sunday and it's sunny, what more can you ask for eh? Even Simone is loving it as she is still going outside and rolls around on the cold cold patio stones - she loves it, crazy cat!

It's been a quiet week, which is good as it gave me time to complete some Xmas shopping, not that I had a lot to do this year - yeah!

Not much on the sewing side either, although I did manage to complete an Amish Puzzle ball for the wee one in the family. Hope she likes it and has fun!

TTFN,

Happy Christening!

Happy Christening !

  

This is my niece Lisa, her DH Greg and sweet Claire :)

  

Claire was all dressed up in a lovely Princess dress and behaved herself for most of the ceremony. Her godparents are Christine Smith & her DH, Yes, that's right, Christine Smith, Lisa's BFF. For those who don't know, my sister (Claire's Grandma) was Christine Smith before marriage -  fun coincidence eh :). On the right is Claire and her uncle, my nephew,  Mark. It was a fun day. Many of Greg & Lisa's friends were there with their babies - most are around Claire's age! Greg's mother was there, her Great Aunt (me) , Great Grandma, Uncle Mark and Greg's father. It was a happy family day!

I have been busy - as usual. Last week I showed you the table runner I made with the fabric I received from my "secret sister" @ last year's Christmas potluck. Well here's a pic of the table runner and 2 of the four place mats I have now finished (sorry for the bad pic). I took the last 2 place mats to our sewing evening to finish up the binding. I mentioned  they were for my "Step Monster". I was looking forward to a nice social evening and feeling rather pleased with myself for making the effort for this woman. It's so very hard to find something for someone in their 90's, now suffering from Alzheimer's, but I hope this gift might please her. I was kinda expecting something positive and supportive from my sewing sisters .

 WHERE WAS MY BRAIN ???? 

I won't detail the negative reaction I received from my "sewing sisters". Must remember my motto:

After a full week's work while feeling less than stellar (I've been suffering from severe Sinusitis),  the 1 hour white knuckle drive there (usually a 20 min drive), all that negativity certainly blew the wind out of my sails !!
 But then, just as we were leaving our hostess for the evening gave me this little baggie with some Twinnings Irish Tea! My Tea! How sweet!  How thoughtful! Something kind and positive!
THANKS, I NEEDED THAT!

So, with my faith in the power of sisterhood somewhat restored, and to bolster my regained joy of life, I treated my self to a new Quilt book ....

 Wish me luck!! Tomorrow is December 1st - YIKES!

TTFN,

Happy Camper :)

I'm a happy camper :) I just spent the last week searching and searching and searching for one blue earring. Valuable you ask? No, but an earring I wear all the time whenever I wear jeans - so Always! Today while emptying the pockets of my housecoat in prep for washing - woohooooooo - there it was! Really? I know I searched that pocket several times. Just go to show you - never give up :)

My "Christmas Cactus" is about to bloom has bloomed and I didn't even do anything special. I think it kinda likes a bit of neglect. Don't know why it's called "Christmas" catcus as it never blossoms at Christmas!

Finished up this small table runner. Got the fabric, backing and all at last year's Secret Santa Christmas potluck my Sewing group holds. Lots of fun, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm hoping to get 2 placemats made out of the other half of this fabric for a nice table setting for the Pater & his partner. The pressure is off this year as I've been included in the name draw - don't have to shop for 10 people ....  just 5, phew! I'm ahead of the game this year anyway as I started my Christmas sewing back in the summer. Maybe this year I can finally relax an enjoy the season :)

Last week's snow is quickly dissolving (yeah). Off to baby Claire's Christening this afternoon - pics to follow :)

TTFN

November Prize :)

Well, it's finally happened :(. My lovely tree is losing its leaves :( and there were flurries this week! Luckily none of the white stuff stayed around to totally harsh my mood, but none-the-less:( :( . It's Sunday and I've been coping (not well) with computer/Windows/Security issues. It has taken me close to 2 hours to get/stay online, and I have finally, yes finally uninstalled that annoying security program from the bank which wants to save my personal info on an American server - Well no, that's NOT going to happen thank you very much!! Stay out of my business USA! They're probably snooping anyway, but we must try to maintain our privacy!

So I got a pleasant surprise at guild meeting last week - my Felines & Flutterbies won Honourable Mention - woohoo!! I'm happy to have my stitching recognized and appreciated :)

I will add this award to my portfolio of wins (yes, I have several now) and be happy to celebrate ! Considering it took me 10 years to finish this quilt I'm proud of this one :) !

I took the Kalidescope baby quilt, finished and bound for show-n-tell. Today I will use up some of the leftover wedges to make a label. Since the baby hasn't made her appearance yet it will have to just say "For Baby", but that's ok.

Yesterday a friend and I drove way across town to the Columbia store to pickup a new winter coat for the mater. She looked at the coats online and decided which one, which size, which colour etc. I had an "invite" to the store so was able to get the coat on "sale". Unfortunately, as I suspected, the coat is just a wee bit too tight, so it will be another drive back there next Saturday to make an exchange :(. On the way back from the store we decided to drop by the new Mary Maxim store - NOT open until Nov. 22!! Grrrrrr.
Once I got home I spent the afternoon making 2 Christmas themed placemats. Every year our guild donates placemats to Meals On Wheels, the idea being the placemats will go out with their holiday meal(s). I'm rather pleased with my contributions this year - I managed to use up some scraps from previous projects and come up with something which looks rather  nice (pic is of front and the back:)).

So, that was my week, how was your's??
TTFN

November - blah :(

Well, it's November and my lovely tree is finally losing it's beautiful red leaves :(. I'll miss them, but I'm sad mainly because this is a harbinger of winter and snow :( :(, winter is NOT my favourite season.
Having a good weekend, how about you? Did the mother thing on Friday after work including dinner, so that left me free on Saturday. Fortuitous as it turns out as there was a Hell on Wheels marathon Saturday :)   oh yeah ....

Do ya think I may have something for the strong manly guys ? Well, let's see, Vikings, Hell on Wheels, Rome, Deadwood, yup! the trend in TV watching is becoming apparent ;) On the textile front I've been busy.

Got the baby Kalidescope sandwiched and decided to machine quilt - gasp **, yes I machine quilted something! I was so sure the mother to be wanted/liked green, so was enthusiastic about this baby quilt. Turns out the mother to be has decided on purple for her second baby ! Yikes! I didn't get anything done for the first kid and now I'm a colour behind! What's a girl to do??

Lost my place a couple of times, and in the end had to go back and sew a couple of spots. Used my Kenmore on this one as it has a working walking foot. Stitch in the Ditch was perfect for this baby (pardon the pun). This afternoon will be trimming and sewing on the binding - yeah, I may have something for show-n-tell at guild this week :)

TTFN

Happy Halloween

Remember when ?

Remember when Halloween was the most, ok maybe the second most exciting thing in your life (Christmas being the first)!! Remember when everybody, I mean everybody got dressed up and went out trick or treating ? Fun wasn't it. This year was the third year I've had absolutely zero kids at the door, not one :(.  Luckily I accidentally witnessed the local campus daycare kiddies doing the tour of the university's community centre. What fun!! 20 2year olds all dressed up in costume - too cute!

Remember all the kids you used to hang out with? Remember the kids in this photo ? Heck, I can barely identify myself (hint: top left corner as Red Riding Hood, I think that's my sister in the black mask beside me as a Skeleton). Of course, that was the idea, being anonymous, right? If you can identify yourself here please take a moment and send along a comment.... would love to hear from you.

TTFN

Good Morning!

The sun was shining, briefly, so I snapped this pic of the view from my kitchen door. :). We are enjoying some lovely Fall weather and I am feeling thankful as we all know that the cold weather is just around the corner :(.
I was feeling rather punk towards the end of the week and convinced myself I was getting the cold which has made the rounds in my office, so stayed home from work on Friday. After sleeping a good part of the morning away I got ambitious and went into the sewing room.

I got the last row of blocks done, the rows put together and the top is all done. The borders are ready to be attached, but now I have to make a decision. I think it needs a flange separator between the quilt top and the border. Green or pink or blue ? hmmmm, what to do ....
Did I tell you of my excursion into Internet shopping? Well, I normally choose to support my bricks & mortar quilt shops and refrain from shopping online. None-the-less, I have not been able to find an acrylic 1" honeycomb template for my Lucy Boston POTC. Grrrr, so last week I finally succumbed and ordered it online from Paper Pieces. Well, it was easy! fast and rather painless! Apart from Mastercard denying my purchase (at first, why I don't know) I now proudly possess the necessary template!!

One step closer to getting started on this project ..... wait for it :)
TTFN