Sisters Quilt Show part VII

Every quilt is a piece of art in my mind, but some are just obviously meant to be displayed, usually on a wall, as simply art-work to be admired.  Take a look at these:

 

 

The quilters of these 2 pieces even added an actual frame:

Had to include this one as this looks so much like our Sadie:

 

Each little piece of the ocean wave is a small block!  How, oh, how do these quilters do this?

Each leaf on these birch (aspen?) trees is individually added for a total 3E effect:

 

This quilt literally glittered in the sunshine, with the beadwork:

Happy, happy show!                      Blessings, Peg

A Top and a (App) Tip

Oh, the weather outside is….delightful!  It rained on Friday/Saturday, and ‘our’ mountain was invisible.  Sunday it stopped raining in the afternoon (long enough to get leaves raked up), and the clouds started to lift.  Monday morning the mountain shone in all its glory – with fresh snow! 

The sky is actually blue on the other side of our house, but the clouds are rolling back in on this side.  It’s crisp and frosty, almost makes me want to go skiing.  But instead I pulled out a jigsaw puzzle that I’ve been saving all summer. 

 

But while it rained, the baby quilt top got finished, and is now ready to go onto the quilting frame:

This was fun!  Fractured 9-patch, with Dr. Seuss prints.  And it’s big – 49x68 – lots of room for a mom or a dad to cuddle with the wee one.

 

While shopping for some of this fabric I picked up a tip, well, actually an app for the smart phone.  Every quilter needs one of these.  It’s Robert Kauffman’s Quilt Calculator.  This is what the icon looks like:

And here’s a glimpse of what you’ll see inside:

It’s fabulous, no more trying to do the math, it’s all done for you, and even some cutting instructions.

So if you have a smart phone – go shopping in the apps store.  This is free!  A quick install and you’ll have it at your fingertips.  Even better, no need to have a data plan on your phone, you don’t need the internet to work the app once it’s installed.  Have fun with this one!  And you’ll have just the right amount of fabric for all those winter projects coming up.

Happy winter!                 Blessings, Peg

Celebrations!

As much as I love to travel, and love to spend time with my kids, I do like coming home.  It was a wonderful away-from-home Christmas, but I’m happy to be back in my own bed once more.

Before we left, we had our extended family Christmas gathering:

where this wee great-niece was the center of everybody’s attention:

and then a pre-Christmas dinner with DS2 and DDIL1:

We left home on Wed, Dec. 18, stopping in Kelowna for a night with my parents.  A quilting friend joined us for dinner, so I got a chance to talk quilting for a bit, and figured out a quick bookmark pattern with her.  There’ll be pictures and a tutorial when I get some made.

Next day, on to Calgary.  We spent 3 nights at our DD’s and DSIL’s house and talked babies (they’re expecting their first probably in May).  While there, we did some last-minute gift shopping that could only be done in Calgary, went out to visit one of my aunts, worked on a jig-saw puzzle that their cat decided was a great toy in the middle of the night so we had to redo almost everything we’d done the previous day, and just relaxed.  Their closest friends’ baby boy was born on the 20th, but we weren’t allowed to visit at the hospital, and they didn’t go home until after we were away.  Oh, well, we’ll see the baby when we go back in the spring.  We did send along their baby quilt:

Dec. 22 on to High River to our DS1’s and DDIL2’s home.  There we talked renos and repairs and had work to do!  After the June flood, they had their basement to repair, as well as their vet clinic needed to be completely restored.  The clinic had been completed (almost) by a contractor, and they were able to move back in at the end of November, but the house they’re doing themselves.  We arrived to walls and floors completed, and a fireplace awaiting a new face, which Grizz and DS1 finished in short order: 

Now that we’re done that, there’s a little more electrical work (that our DSIL will do) and then the ceilings and finish work.  They took the opportunity to improve the insulation in the basement, and will have a lovely cozy area that they’ll use much more than they did before.

Christmas Eve DD and DSIL joined us there for the night, and Grizz and I got our first gift from them:

Yes, a little girl joining us in a few months, and now the talk turned to names – oh, so many to choose from!

Christmas Eve dinner was DDIL2’s traditional seafood chowder, and homemade rolls,

and DS1 cooked up some partridge that he’d bagged.  After that a game of Things – discovered that the Thing that Grizz would wish for if he found a genie in a bottle is an island!  Lots of laughs, and some very bad guessing!

Christmas morning was the usual excitement, but before we got to that, the bird had to be put on the smoker!  And everybody but me did the cooking – now how fabulous was that!!!

So you see the duck tucked in there as well?  More of DS1’s hunting fare!

There was a little bit of electrical work for DSIL to do in between times, needed to be done because they were headed home after dinner so they could leave the next morning to spend a couple of days with his brother and sis-in-law.  That only took a few minutes, and we got back to the gaming table – Mexican train this time!  We tried to Skype with our kids in BC, but for some reason it didn’t work, so we talked on speaker-phone.

Dinner was everything a Christmas dinner should be, and everybody was looking for their turkey-pants afterward.

Boxing Day, a day to rest and relax, a quick visit to an uncle who lives nearby, a short trip to Michael’s to pick up cross-stitch supplies for my next project, and time to enjoy the sun and warmth of a Chinook coming through.

Then we headed homeward – happy to learn later we chose the right timing as the next day snow and blizzard conditions set in.  Stopped again overnight with my parents, who treated us to breakfast at the local Jammery restaurant.

So all is unpacked, we’ve picked up our cat from DS2 and DDIL1, sorted through the deliveries we brought back with us, and are almost in routine again.

It really is a wonderful life!  Now to get ready to celebrate New Years!

Happy celebrations!              Blessings, Peg

Wednesday’s Words and Hodgepodge

I’m baaaccckkk!   Yes, missed the last couple of weeks as we were away for vacation, but ready to dive in and share a little more of myself.  I’ll be linked to Hodgepodge, click on the icon on my right side-bar if you want to read more of what people have to say.

 

1. Times Square is the setting for the infamous ball drop signaling a brand new year....when did you last 'drop the ball' on something?

Just this past summer.  After the floods in southern Alberta, there was a drive to collect quilts for the evacuated families.  I meant, I really did, to ‘whip’ one or two up, but somehow it just didn’t happen.  But I do have an extra quilt top here, will find another charity and send it along.

2. What is one thing you resolved to do in 2013 that you actually did?

I joined an on-line group challenging quilters to ‘Get ‘Em Done or Use It Up’ (finish those UFO’s and/or use up stash).  I did great finishing up the UFOs, mostly because there weren’t a lot.

This stack of scrap quilts needed binding

This BOM was all together except for borders and then of course quilting and binding

This block exchange sat for quite a while before I got around to it, but it was done before Christmas

And I used up stash for a lot of small projects, plus a couple of quilts:

3. Jack London is quoted as saying, "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club." Agree or disagree? Why? 

Sometimes I agree and sometimes not.  At times I just am inspired, no idea where the thoughts come from, but just know what I want to do.  Other times, I need books and quilt shows and internet searches to find my inspiration.

4. What was the best thing you ate in 2013?

Not being a foodie, I don’t pay that much attention to what I’m eating, beyond the few minutes while I’m eating it.  But I do have to say the brined, smoked turkey for Christmas dinner was fabulous!  Probably even better because I didn’t have anything to do with the cooking of it!

5.  Share an anti-resolution...that is, something you plan to keep on doing in the new year.

Love the best I can, share the most I can, laugh as often as I can.

6. The Pantone color of the year for 2014 is radiant orchid.  Like or no like? Would I find this color anywhere in your home or wardrobe? Will you add something in this shade to either?

I like it, it’s soft and yet vibrant.  But there’s none of it in my home or wardrobe, because I tend toward using more fall-type colors.  But maybe I should think about adding it to my wardrobe, it might look good with my silver hair LOL!

7. In three words or less sum up your 2013.

Family and fun.

 

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

It truly has been a wonderful year.  We’ve had lots of family times, lots of food, lots of reminiscing.  We welcomed two new family members, and celebrated our love and joy with and in each other.  Looking forward to more of the same in the coming year. 

And wishing that all of you have a wonderful 2014!

Blessings,      Peg

Back to Quilting

I realized a few days ago that I haven’t shared much of quilting on here lately.  Quilting has taken a bit of a back burner lately, with Christmas projects and all.  Also, working on a quilt that somehow isn’t going as smoothly as I’d like – lots of frogging and frustration.

But I did sit down to finish the binding on two.  This first one is a gift for a baby due late December:

And this one is a gift for a friend now in a care facility, hoping to get to see him before Christmas:

There’s a pile more in the basket waiting for binding, and they won’t take long so there should be more pictures to share in a few days.

In the meantime I’ve also taken up some knitting.  I saw this little afghan at a quilt show recently:

It looked so easy!  Yeah right!  It was like reading a whole new language – Sl1K????   psso????  Umm….guess I need some lessons or something!

But the book had another afghan that looked really easy, and is in fact (after a few stumbling tries).  So I’ve been picking away at this:

Knitting hasn’t been my favorite needlework craft – ever!  But now I’ve tackled continental style, and it’s going quite nicely, as long as I don’t miscount LOL!

Then Sunday in church, they announced that the mitten tree will go up soon.  Here is where they collect mittens and toques and scarves to give to the needy for Christmas.  Oh, I can make a scarf!  Might even be able to get through a toque or two.  So I’m going to put down my afghan and ‘whip up’ (if only) some small items for the mitten tree – but no mittens, at least not this year, maybe next.  And next year, maybe I’ll take another look at that ‘easy’ afghan and see if I can learn the lingo.  Knitting projects are so much easier to carry along to keep the hands busy than cross-stitch, which is my first needlework love.  I do have projects lined up, but I’ll concentrate on the Christmas needs first and get back to those later.  In the meantime, no idle hands so less eating, which is a good thing!

I actually started this post yesterday, with the plan to get back to the quilt that has had me screaming in frustration.  I did get to it, and got the unfinished block done, plus two more.  One more to go and I have enough to finish the quilt, but I’m almost out of background fabric, so have to see if I can find some today, or at least a coordinate so I can do some sashing.  Sure would be nice to get this done up before Christmas. 

I am linking up with Needlework Tuesday – head on over to see what others are working on:

Happy Christmas crafting!               Blessings, Peg

Monday’s ‘Musement

And not a ‘C’ in sight…..

Why is spelling so hard?  Why can’t the spelling rules apply always, not just sometimes?  Why can’t words spelled the same way, sound the same?

I was always a good speller (even won spelling bees), and still am, most of the time, but there are some words that stump me regularly

• vaccuum – oops, got that wrong, only 1 ‘c’ but two ‘u’s – does that make any sense?
• nemonic – wrong, there’s a silent ‘m’ at the beginning
• read – ummm….is that ‘reed’ or ‘red’, all in the context, but couldn’t somebody have come up with a different word?

And then there’s grammar, much of which has to do with how a word is spelt (spelled?) 

• there, their or they’re – each has its own meaning and obviously its own spelling
• its or it’s – the first is possessive, the second a contraction.  And why, when every other possessive has an apostrophe, isn’t there an apostrophe when we say something belongs to it

I could go on, but won’t.  This little quote made me smile, just because for whatever reason English is such a difficult language to spell, at least that’s what I’ve been told.  And the little bit of spelling of other languages that I’ve learned seems to uphold the truth of that.  And yet, English is the universal language – have to wonder why it was chosen when it’s so difficult to learn the spelling.

But when I read a book, magazine, newspaper, or sign, and see words misused and/or misspelled, I get downright annoyed!  Really – in this computer age is there any excuse?  And I have to assume that magazine and newspaper writers are educated, as are the editors of books, so shouldn’t they know how to spell!  And if spelling is difficult for them, as I know it is for many, maybe they should find good spellers and grammarians to double check their work before putting it out there for the public.  After all, if our children don’t read good grammar and correct spelling, why should they be expected to learn good grammar and correct spelling, and how can they?

I’m sure that I’ll have made some grammar errors in this missive, please excuse me if I have.  But I know that the words are spelt correctly – after all Spellcheck told me so!

Here’s to spelling bees!                    Blessings, Peg

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Is It Here–Is It Really Here??

 

It’s a few days yet before the actual first day of spring, but we’re certainly starting to see the signs.

There’s some green on trees, there’s an occasional crocus, and Mr. Robin came to visit a few days ago:

We’ve even seen a small bird in our bird bath (but too slow getting the camera out).  And nearby a pair of eagles are back in their nest, but the nest is in a place where we can only see it as we cross a bridge, so no place to stop for a picture.

I know I’ve been very remiss in keeping you all up to date with life and times round and about.  Sorry about that, but not actually accomplishing much of anything.  I spend all my time day-dreaming about the grandchildren that we’re going to greet in the not-too-distant future.

#1 is due in late May, but we expect to see her almost anytime now.  DD has been on restricted activity for the last couple of months, and the wee one every so often threatens to join us.  I spent most of February in Calgary with them, all is much more stable now, and actually she’s safe to be born, but we’d all like her to do a little more growing first.

#2 is due in October to DS1 and his lovely wife, who is experiencing the worst of the morning sickness (all day!!) right now.  Because of a couple of previous losses, an early US was done and all indications are good.  They’ll be under obstetrician care, which makes us all happy!

So, you’d think I’d be quilting and sewing up a storm, but I’m not!  Lots of plans, but for some reason I just can’t get motivated.  So this is what’s sitting around my sewing space:

A quilt on the machine that is being quilted, slowly, oh, so very slowly:

Fabrics for a diaper bag:

Fabrics for a baby quilt (need a few more colors for this one):

DD’s MIL has just returned from Calgary, and brought over the fabrics they were able to choose for the baby room, and we have some dates now set aside to sew crib sheets, change table covers, pillow cover, sleeping cozies.  All good practice for the same kind of sewing that I’ll do for baby #2.  But this will all wait a couple of weeks.

First, we’re headed to Alberta for a week to visit the kids, and take a few things to them (after I get down to the basement and dig through some boxes – UGH!).

Then shortly after we get home, Grizz is scheduled to have his second total knee replacement surgery.  All the prep work has been done, so he’s good to go.

Back in January, I joined Thea at California Dreamin’ in a pledge to start a new quilt each month, and I personally pledged to finish one each month (not necessarily the one that was started).  Well…..that hasn’t happened.  But once we’re home from this trip, I’ll start fresh with the pledge and get going.  I’m sure once I get started, I’ll be hooked again, and unable to resist the call of the sewing machine!  Maybe I’ve been waiting for spring!

Happy that spring is almost here, happy to being almost a Nan, happy to know the little ones and their mothers are getting such good care, happy to be able to get out and see them all.

Wishing you all just as much happiness!           Blessings, Peg