We do it right!

On the North shore of New Brunswick when we do snow, we do snow...lots of it!

It snowed all day and blew a gale. As you can see by the sky in one of the shots, it was indeed a stormy, blustery day. No complaints here though. It's December in Northern New Brunswick...it is supposed to snow!

Didn't get to have a visit from my friend but will take a rain check for early next week. I decided to make the scones then. They are yummy with a hot cup of tea, so you will have to wait for that recipe. I did however make my War Cake. This is an old favourite in our home as you can see by the shape of my recipe page. It really should be re-copied to a new book, but I just never seem to take the time.

This was a wartime recipe. Easy to send overseas to your favourite soldier. Inexpensive to make and needed no butter or eggs. At Christmas I "gussy" it up and add a bit of candied cherries and a few nuts and a glaze, but through the year it is just plain old war cake.

The moon was awesome last night. I didn't get great pics, because I didn't take the time to use my tripod, but this gives you an idea of what I could see from my kitchen window.

Well fellow elves, my list is long and the days are short, so I must run.

If it wasn't for the last minute I wouldn't get anything done!

16 more sleeps til Christmas and all is WHITE with my world

I have to tell you that my blog title is a totally optimistic play on words.
I have not finished my Christmas shopping. I still need to mail parcels 5 provinces away but before I do that I have to buy them and wrap them. Meat pies not done. The only baking in the freezer is one small container of shortbread cookies. All the plans I had to make X amount of Christmas gifts this year are only a fond memory.
I'm sure the fact that we will be missing both Mom and Mom in law this Christmas and the house has been in construction mode for so long and a very dear friend lost her daughter at a very young age last week and I have been sideswiped by a very menacing nasty flu bug and it was so grey and dull and drab every window I looked out of have contributed to my "let's ignore Christmas this year" attitude; BUT I decided to treat myself to a 3km walk last evening in the lovely falling snow. Before I was a half km from the house my attitude had improved just seeing everything so clean and white and Christmassy looking.

There is a lot to be said for having a white Christmas. Maybe if you have never had one it doesn't matter to you, but I entered this world in December in a Northern Canadian city and maybe that's why I feel a wonderful kinship with winter. Winter without snow is depressing to me, plain and simple. Christmas without snow?...well let's not go there!

So today? Well today I will make a batch of cranberry scones
( I'll post the recipe tomorrow) and maybe a War Cake or two for the "larder", wrap the few gifts that are purchased invite a friend for tea this afternoon and then this evening around suppertime (Mr. O has a Christmas supper to attend that thankfully I do not need to go to) I will head into town to do a bit of shopping. The stores are not too busy around supper time and I should make some headway in checking things off my list. edit: My friend just called and when I looked out again, it would seem the snow is getting much heavier and starting to pile up, so she will take a rain check on the visit for tea and scones and I may be shopping tomorrow instead...ahhh winter!

But back to my title...things really are white with my world and after getting back from my walk I a snapped a few pics. My night-time photography skills are a bit lacking but bare bear with me. ( I had to google to be sure which bear/bare to use; don't want any "necked" visitors showing up!)

Looking out my window this morning I have come to realize yet again that

God sure has a way of cleaning things up eh?

In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life; "it goes on".   Robert Frost

December 1st !!!

“How did it get so late so soon? Its night


 before its afternoon. December is here


 before its June. 


My goodness how the time has


 flewn. 


How did it get so late so 


soon?”Dr. Seuss

(image borrowed from here )

I say this every year at this time...I think I am going to put 


those words to music before long.


 It is good to be home and get back into the swing of things,


 but dear me I do miss my Mom. (I think that is part of why I


 am avoiding Christmas...sigh)

I have been busy, just like everyone else, just not busy with


Christmas preparations.  


We have  moving things back into our newly re-re-finished


 basement; new wiring, electrical panel, painting, new


 flooring, baseboards, painting, moving my sewing room,


 painting moving the guest bedroom from upstairs to down


 (and now Mr. O thinks maybe that was not such a good idea


 so we may be moving it back upstairs and shuffling some


 more). 


I do hope to have some pics and an update by


 tomorrow. Did I mention I have been painting? Oh yeah I


 have painted the bathroom and have been making new


 shower curtains, painting frames, fixtures, little cabinets, 


searching for the right colour towels etc.


Got to run!

Just curious...

This summer when I was away on vacation, I had my daughter with me at a quilt shop I was visiting. She fell in love with several patterns from this book

This is way out of my comfort zone and very far removed from my choice of quilting patterns. However once I sat and took the time to look at the patterns in the book, they started to grow on me.

I decide to purchase the book with the intention of making one of the quilts as a Christmas gift for my daughter. Well as you may know, my life ended up taking a few unexpected twists and turns and I have done little to none in the quilting department. One thing good though; the book has no "best before" date so it's project will sit patiently waiting until I can get to it.

So what I am curious about is this; do you find yourself making the same kinds of projects,with the same colour ways, or do you venture out and try all kinds of techniques, colours and styles in your quilting?

While browsing different blogs this morning, I stumbled across a BLOG offering a Karla Alexander pattern give away. You had a choice of several patterns and lo and behold when I checked them out it would seem K A definitely has a wide range of patterns to her credit. She is certainly not stuck on one style! If I win and I am not holding my breath here people; but if I win, this is the one I would choose

It is called Fish Out Of Water. A perfect wall hanging for the wall at the cottage, or for my son who is an avid salmon fisherman. Wish me luck!

Lest We Forget

11.11.11

It is a very nasty day today and I would much rather stay home and sew, but I will be heading into town to honour our Canadian soldiers. I can't help but think that many of those men and women would rather have stayed home safe and warm too, but set that aside to serve for our country. It is the very least I can do.

Every time I listen to this song (and watch the video) it brings me to tears. Take a minute...

In Flanders Fields

- John McCrae

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

I entered a give away

for a primitive snowman.

I think he would look lovely in my sewing room. Made from an antique spool. Check it out here

She had me at "Hello"

I knew yesterday was going to be a busy day. I decided to put supper in the slow cooker, so Mr. O would not have to wait too long for his supper.

(Nothing fancy; a small piece of beef, some onion, fresh garlic, potatoes and a few carrots. Quick and easy.)

A trip to town to do a few errands, and then hurry back home for an appointment with a gentleman from Edmonston. When he arrived he introduced me to Ruby. She is a real gem.

Meet Ruby...

You know how sometimes you go somewhere and you just fit in right away; there is a comfortableness that comes over you and you just know you are going to like it there? Well that's how Ruby feels...she fits in perfectly! Really she does. I was concerned about my Horn sewing cabinet not being compatible with Ruby, but they just go together like two peas in a pod. Perfect. Meant to be!
Mom (bless her heart) left me a bit of money in her will and I wanted to treat myself to something that I normally would not have purchased. After all;  my other Janome is a real workhorse and I love her to bits...but Ruby is a big girl with an opening space of 11 inches! Lots of room for machine quilting there! I did a bit of shopping around at several different brands of big machines and I kept going back to the Horizon, so I made arrangements for Ruby to come for a visit to see how we would get along. when I was asked what I thought about her, the first thing that came to mind was a scene from the movie Jerry McGuire where Tom Cruise is trying to explain himself to Rene Zellweger...he is rambling on (quite eloquently I might add) when Rene interrupts and says, "You had me at "hello". I couldn't have said it better.
When Ruby stepped out of her box

I was smitten!

Thanks Mom! I love you.

p.s. in case you haven't see the movie

What's In A Name

Today while reading some comments on my sisters blog For The Love Of Threads  I clicked on a link from one of the commenters. That took me to Carri's blog entitled A Passion For Applique . While there I was checking out her Blog list on her sidebar and decided to check a few of them out. That brought me to Dawn Hays blog As Sweet As Cinnamon . Scrolling through her posts brought me to this . 

Dawn was having a give away and brought up the topic of how we chose the names we do for our blogs. She has a place to list the link to your blog and asks that you give a bit of an explanation of your blog name. Well that got me to thinking back a couple of years ago when I started blogging and the history behind my "handle". Long before it was a popular expression I used to say just that. It is what it is. This is what has happened or this is what we have or these are the rules...it is what it is, we have to deal with it. I am sure my kids would remember me saying it to them many times..."I know it isn't fair but that's life and it is what it is..so let's make the best of it and carry on. I wanted to primarily talk quilting on my blog but soon realized that I would not be blogging often if I only talked about my quilting accomplishments, because  if you go back and check this out you can see that quilting didn't even make it into the first post. Not THIS ONE either. It was only post #3  that I first talked quilting, and showed a quilting cartoon. Post #4 I did some stitching. Well you get the idea...my quilting blog became my "this is my life blog" for no other reason than It Is What It is. I promise quilt talk tomorrow though...sigh.

Remember this one?

Thoroughly enjoying my book. Of course it has me humming some of these oldies.

Beautiful day for a walk and maybe a few more stitches to my dresden plates.

November 1

Like many other people my mind always turns to our Veterans and war time songs and movies at this time of the year. Even though none of my immediate family are/were soldiers there is something that always tugs at my heart especially at this time of year. I have just started reading a book by JoJo Moyes entitled Ship of Brides. A book about a journey from Australia to England in 1946 on the HMS Victoria. A transport ship for some of the last Australian war brides to leave Australia; young women who had married servicemen and now being transported to their new lives, husbands and homes in the UK. A story about 4 women from extremely different backgrounds, brought together through having to share a cabin during their long journey. 

"The year is 1946 and all over the world young women are crossing the seas in their thousands en route to the men they married in wartime, and an unknown future.

In Sydney, Australia, four women join 650 other brides on an extraordinary voyage to England - aboard theVictoria, which still carries not just arms and aircraft but a thousand naval officers and men.

Rules of honour, duty and separation are strictly enforced, from the aircraft carrier's captain down to the lowliest young stoker. But the men and the brides will find their lives intertwined in ways the Navy could never have imagined.

And Frances Mackenzie - the enigmatic young bride whose past comes back to haunt her thousands of miles from home - will find that sometimes the journey is more
important than the destination.

Based on the true voyage undertaken by HMS Victorious,The Ship of Brides is a novel about love, blind faith, and an age when the collision between duty and love could leave you with more than a broken heart."

Hoping to sew a stitch or two on my dresden plate between pages, but I have to tell you I am hopeless with books. Hate to put them down til the last line is read.

Quilt Show on the Penninsula

This weekend I had the pleasure of spending a good part of my Saturday with friends at a (sort of) local quilt show. It was about an hours drive away and this is a small guild of about 35 members with this being their first show. I know some of the members and they just recently purchased our guild's old display frames. It was a win/win situation. Being a small and relatively new guild they had a limited budget to work with, so they got a good deal and I recovered some storage space in our home. The  show was held at the Inkerman Community Centre. Unfortunately I did not get names of all of the quilters and my photography was a little "off" but I will share a few images from their show.

They had my interest immediately after walking into the foyer! What a lovely welcome...

They even had a Banner! Way to go ladies!

What a charming quilt and a clever use of the dresden plate.

One of the many quilts that were hand quilted; in fact the majority of the quilts were hand quilted.

This little log cabin finishes up at 15" square... so you can imagine how tiny the centres are! The quilter really captured the look of an antique doll quilt with this one. All hand quilted of course.

This is done by the same quilter as above so you get an idea of her range of interests. They are 4 individual quilts depicting the 4 seasons. My favourite was the winter one...I could almost hear the wind blowing. She also did the leaf one pictured below.

Can't you just imagine a young girl cuddled up in this one?

Here is a close up of one block that is part of the quilt pictured below. I am not usually a lover of sampler quilts, but this one was very well done. 

Almost every block on this quilt would challenge the average quilter.

Just take a look at the quilting on this one. I dare say it to a bobbin or two of thread; and this was just the centre part of the quilt!

A lovely scrappy disappearing 9 Patch.

After viewing, shopping and chatting with the quilters we sat for a cup of tea and a cookie and then headed further south along our route. Mr. O had asked me to check on Winterpast on the way home so off we went.

Somewhere along the way we must have taken a wrong turn because before you could blink your eye we were on a country road with no one in site. We decided to stop and check a local sign to see if it might guide us home but no luck...

We decided to sit for awhile and discuss our strategy. Luckily we found a lovely cottage with no one around and we "borrowed" their porch bench for a photo op.

Do we look worried? I think not, however we I do look a bit more double chinned than normal because of the angle of the camera. It was a bit of a laugh trying to set up the auto shoot setting and getting just the right distance/height without having the camera (and photographer) toppling off the verandah.

From there we continued on to a local restaurant to have our supper. All in all a good way to spend a Saturday

***bloggers note: (long story) we were not really lost, we just pretended we were.