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Sunday, November 30, 2014

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,




Saturday, November 22, 2014

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


Sunday, November 16, 2014

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

Sunday, November 09, 2014

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

Sunday, November 02, 2014

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