Tuesday, November 30, 2010

It's that time of the year!

I am starting to panic...I just looked at the calendar and it says it is Dec. 1 tomorrow! What in the world happened to November? Never mind November; what happened to 2010?
I had such grand plans to be ready for Christmas way early...what a laugh!
I may need to hire me some help to get all the things done in my sewing room that I want to get finished. This gal looks like a likely candidate...(not sure where I found this picture, so I can't give proper credit)

Doesn't she look like she means business?

This is how I will be moving in my studio the remainder of the week. I am hoping by Friday I will have 2 or three finished things to show you. One of them is a big one too...
are you curious yet?


In the meantime, I have a few more pics of some of my fine feathered friends.



I love my chick-a-dees.


I also wanted to mention I am making progress on my Birthday Block sampler that I am hand quilting. 


I have 4 blocks quilted and am working on block #5 . Only 7 more to go...oh yeah and the sashings and borders. Slow work, but fun to see the progress. This is the block I am working on now. My stitches are not that great, but I keep telling myself that practice makes perfect.




A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault.  ~John Henry Newman


Saturday, November 27, 2010

Stuff

I seem to be having a hard time to settle down and write these days. I like to have a bit of a focus to my posts, but this one will be a little bit of everything...hence the title...STUFF.
My company has been and gone. Our birthday celebration was not a riotous affair.

At 96 we tried to keep it somewhat low key, but still we managed to tire our "party girl" a great deal. So much so that she wanted to do nothing but sleep the next day.
This morning I was admiring "Mom's" yellow birthday roses. It is ten days since we bought these roses and just look how lovely they still are.
Yellow roses are her favorite and looking at these beauties it is easy to see why.
I know it is late in the year to be doing this job, but I did mention a few posts back that I am still doing my "spring cleaning". This week I cleaned windows...a dreaded job, but this was my "frog" for the week. Looking through sparkling clean windows makes it so much nicer to enjoy the outdoor antics of my feathered friends.




In the case of the blue jays...beauty is only skin (or feather) deep. They are such aggressive birds and so greedy. They chase the doves, sparrows, grosbeaks and chickadees away every chance they get. I guess I will just have to consider them  my "winter crows".
I mentioned last post I was taking a quilt as you go workshop. I have gotten 10 of the 12 blocks all quilted and 1 row of 3 blocks assembled/quilted and 2/3 rds of the second row of three together as well. It is not a technique that will work with all quilts but it is very suitable for this one. I have had to set it aside to work on a few Christmas gifts, and hopefully I will have a few finished projects to show next week.

My daughter in law received her tree skirt in the mail and assures me she loves it. My niece also received the baby quilt I sent and she is thrilled. I am pleased...
Just look at me, I don't post for a week and when I get started I don't know when to quit.

One last thing I have been meaning to mention is this...I owe you an apology for a post I made in Oct. I had to laugh when I went back and re-read the post. I know what I meant to say, but that is certainly not what came out...


Remember this?



Do you  remember what I wrote concerning this pic?
Let me refresh your memory...

"You've heard it said, "Somedays you're the statue, and somedays you are the seagull".  Today I wish you a "statue" kind of day."

Now how rude was that! ...do you see what has happened to that statue? What I meant was "I hope you don't have a statue kind of day."
My apologies.



Thursday, November 18, 2010

Have you missed me?

I've been busy, it takes a good part of my day(and night) tending to a frail, vision impaired, (somewhat demanding) elderly person. I have no training or experience in the type of care I am giving and it has been a 24 hour a day job. My husband and I are the only family around so we have agreed to getting some outside help, but it was a long time in coming. (long story) I do hope that things get settled and Rose will be able to get back to the care home she was residing at previously(another very long story). In the mean time, her daughter and son in law have driven here from Ontario to visit and celebrate her 96th birthday on Friday.
Just a small family supper.

I have a workshop on Saturday I thought I was going to have to cancel out on, but my sister in law will be here to relieve me of my duties for a few hours so I will be learning to assemble a full sized quilt in a "Quilt as you go" fashion. Hopefully that will help the UFO basket to get emptied out...well a girl can always hope! We were to have several blocks made and sandwiched ready to quilt, so I chose to use a collection of blocks I won several years ago in an on-line challenge. We all had to use the same fat quarter of fabric as our inspiration. Funny how people pick up on one color over another to accent with. I am hoping that a brown sashing will help unify them. No matter; it will make an excellent car quilt. Here is pic of how I am choosing to lay out the blocks.

Can you figure out the common fabric we all received?

In the mean time I have managed to get another batch of apple butter made...yum yum!


I discovered a new recipe quite by accident... I started out to make a batch of molasses cookies from a favorite cookbook I ordered free on-line about 10 years ago. 



Half way through the assembling of ingredients I realized I was following the ingredient list of the recipe below the one I actually wanted to make and therefore ended up making a batch of molasses date bars!


I also made the cookies though so all was not lost. I am a messy cook, but I did discover a new recipe that I will definitely be making again.





I leave you with a notice of a give away from a fellow New Brunswick quilter and blogger. Drop by here to see what she is generously offering. You won't be sorry...




Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The Latest News

Well let's see where do I start? The other Mrs. O has come to live with us! My 96 yr. old (well she will be 96 on the 19th of this month) has temporarily moved in with Mr. O and I. Needless to say, there has been a bit of adjusting to do.

The "other" Mrs. O;  all smiles after her sponge bath, new hair do and breakfast.

I received an e-mail from Martha. It reads as follows:

Dear Wendy:

I received your package yesterday.  The fabric squares are beautiful and I am looking forward to making a quilt with them.  I would like to thank you again for such a fun giveaway.  I enjoyed looking at your great blog.  I will be visiting often to see your great quilts.
Martha deHoop

Happy to hear your package arrived so quickly Martha. 

I finished my penny rug candle mat. It is done according to the kit I received; however I may make a few more and add to it, thus changing it from a circle to an elongated diamond shape. 

I have been enjoying watching the birds at the feeders and tried to get a few shots of them this morning. I have not been able to get the chickadees yet, but I did capture the jays and the grosbeaks.




Other critters have been entertaining us with their antics, one of which is a local squirrel. He is very busy these days hiding apples in the trees. Apparently he is not content with having them in the apple trees. It is not high enough for him. This is one of a few he has tucked into the branches of the spruce in the side yard. 





These apples are about 20 - 25 feet up. I sure hope this is not an indication of how much snow we will be "blessed" with this winter.
If you look closely in the second picture, the squirrel is below the red apple and a little to the left. There is also a second apple in the crutch of the tree near the bottom of the photo.
Not having a cat around leaves the birds and squirrels free range of the place. I do however miss Sadie very much. She has been gone quite some time, but I still miss her. I am working on Mr. O, but he says "No more pets! We are on the road too much..." but I say, " A house is just not the same without a pet..."


Our beloved Sadie


"If you don't like something change it; if you can't change it, change the way you think about it."  ~Mary Engelbreit








Friday, November 5, 2010

Where do I start?

Well it has been a whirlwind 2 weeks! As you may remember I mentioned that Mr. O was away for 2 weeks. I was fortunate enough to have so many things fall into place while he was away. I had 2 quilt retreats back to back, a workshop scheduled, and my old quilting buddy (who had moved home to Newfoundland and was back in the province because of her husbands work) was able to come and stay with me while Mr. O was away. Now you may be wondering if it was because I am nervous to stay alone, but that was not the reason at all. When we used to be neighbours she would come and stay with me when her husband was on the road and we would stay up till the "wee" hours quilting and piecing and enjoying each others company.

It was just like old times to be able to do this again for 2 straight weeks. I neglected the housework, yard work, and anything else that might have stolen time away from quilting. It was like a holiday and like most holidays you need to come home to rest afterwards. Well for me I needed a couple days rest afterwards too. We were up till 1 or 2 (or 4) almost every night and hard at it again the next morning.

It was fun!

I managed to finish the top of my Winter Wonderland quilt, and I hope to take it to the long arm quilter today.

The workshop we took was for a tree skirt and it is finished and bound and ready for gifting.

I also made a quilt for my niece's baby. The pattern was courtesy of Moda Bakeshop, and I added a few prairie points for a little interest. 

I purchased the fabrics at "Life's A Stitch" in Sault Ste Marie while I was visiting Mom in August. I also managed to find the perfect backing..have a look.
  


I used a Hobbs Heirloom 100% fusible batting. This was new to me. It was a pre cut packaged batting sized for a baby quilt. It is a little thinner than most cotton battings I have used but was sure a breeze to sandwich. Just layer and press and quilt. Easy Peasy!

At our guild meeting we had Sande Gunning from The River Gallery make a visit and introduce us to wool. She brought a nice selection of batiks, threads, wool cuts and books. I know I said I was buying nothing else until I used some of what I had but what can I say I am so weak, and actually I have used some from my stash, so I guess it was ok. I also purchased a lovely book of wool projects.



We made a small wool needle book and then the next day Cam and I took a wool penny workshop. I will be making a candle mat in scrappy colors. Here is the start of it.


Before Mr. O left for Australia I left a little note in his wallet with the names of some Australian quilting magazines. I said I really wasn't interested in Opals or other trinkets but I would love a few magazines. Look what he brought me!


13 magazines, one of which came with a finishing dvd! 
If you look close you may notice that 2 of them are actually American magazines (which made me chuckle,) but hey his heart was in the right place; and the nice thing was I didn't have those specific magazines! Thank you Mr. O.

Well my friend has gone back to Fredericton to be with her husband for the remainder of her time here in the province and life is somewhat back to normal (whatever that is) here at home. Mr O is having trouble adjusting to the time difference of 13 hours and can't seem to settle into sleeping during our night hours, but that will come. I know I won't be able to keep the same sewing pace as the last 2 weeks , but I am motivated to get at some projects that have been dragging, so I hope it won't be too long before I can show some other FINISHED projects. Till we meet again...

May your fingers be nimble,
Your threads seldom tangle,
And your love be apparent
In all you create.