Some nights are just like that....

We have all been "not quite right" this week.  Some of us downright sick for days and others just under the weather. In any case there are some unsettled little peeps in my house that have needed a lot of attention.  (And one BIG peep that is a whole post unto himself!  We won't go there today!)

Yesterday morning was going fine and breakfast was baking in the oven (brown sugar cinnamon croissants) under the watchful eye of Fuzzy...Moo's baby polar bear.

Who is a little bit of a diva... Hmmm,I wonder where she gets that?!


By last night both kids were in need of some Mamma love. Now keep in mind that they are 12 and almost 10.  Bean went to sleep after a long cuddle and a chat and I thought Moo was down. But, while I was trying (unsuccessfully!) to locate a tutorial I lost somewhere in blog land, my little Moo comes out to the kitchen with Fuzzy in her arms and both of them wrapped in the last afghan my Mom ever knit and she says, "Can you rock me for a little while Mamma?"  "I'm not trying to stay up late or anything, but I just need to be rocked"  So of course who can refuse that?  Off to the rocker we went, under the lights of the Christmas tree, in the still of night, and we rocked.  When she was asleep I carried her to bed and tucked her under the afghan.  Then I was alone to think.......How precious is this time with them?  How fast will it go by until she is rocking her babies under the last quilt that I made and I am not with them?  It makes me glad to know that they will remember that I was there and took the time even at this age to sit and rock them to sleep on the nights that were tough for them.

It made me miss my Mom and Dad..... as I sometimes do at major events like Christmas and the coming of the New Year.
So tonight when she came out in the same fashion...with Mom's afghan and Fuzzy in tow, we went, to chalk up some more memories for both of us.

Take the time.....

Starting to Settle!

This is Asia, she thinks she is the best present!

Well, Christmas is all over but the clean up, but I am in no hurry to get on with that!  I am taking some time to be with my family, most of whom are sick...yep it has been one of those years!  I was supposed to be off work from the 18th of December until the 6th of January but.... a few patients were not doing well, so I made a trip in to the office for a couple days to get everyone through until January.

As I was enjoying an uninterrupted scroll through my reading list and a peek around blog land tonight I found this post which is definitely worth passing along. Home Spun Threads is offering ALL her patterns for free!!  I don't know how long this will last, but she has some really cute patterns in her shop.

Outside of all the sickies in my house I had a great Christmas!  My hubby bought me an Ipad, which wasn't even on my list but I had mentioned a while back that I would like one. (I just thought that it was entirely too expensive for us as a gift!) I am thrilled and scared all at the same time!  I am not very tech savvy so it will be a learning curve for me, but if I can figure it out it will be a great asset for work and of course a little play!  I found a great sewing app that keeps track of all your patterns and fabric yardage and projects at various stages. "Santa" was also very good to me this year!  I was asked for a list of gift ideas in early December.  I am entirely practical and don't like to have money spent on things I won't use so a list is the best idea for all of us.  My hubby is not familiar with sewing things at all and I had put on my list a pair of KAI scissors as a gift.  Well he thought scissors would be a great stocking stuffer!  He really just about choked when she said "that will be $110.00 please." Of course he was too embarrassed to say "oh sorry I must have misunderstood" or something...anything!  He explained later that the clerk had the scissors on hold for someone else and she had called the woman to ask if he could buy them as a Christmas present if she didn't need them right away!  So he felt obliged to buy them.  Poor loving man! I do admit that I am thrilled with them though.

Well I can finally post some of the gifts we made this year for presents:

Placemats with pockets and fingertip mitts for my step daughters 

These are the mitts my son made from a felted wool sweater!

Moo's painting for her Dad....it is just beautiful!! She doesn't usually look this sleepy!  

Mug Rugs for the girls in the office...my first "free motion" quilting attempt! 

 This is the sweater for Bean and night gown for Moo that I made..  Thankfully they love them!

Well there are more things to see but my monkeys need to go to bed so good night for now!

Giveaway Winner!!

What a great experience being a part of the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway!  Thank you to everyone who came by and left a comment.  It was a joy to read each of them.  I really have to figure out how to reply to posts with blogger.  If anyone knows please let me know!  I tried to reply to comments but I had to copy and paste each address into my gmail account which ended up being very time consuming so if I didn't get to every one I am very sorry, but I did read and cherish each and every comment.  As I said, my children would be picking the winner and they too spent a great deal of time reading the comments.  They were very moved by many of the replies and were very inspired by what some people do to help others.  So thank you for opening their eyes to even more giving ideas!


Now for the winner!  We put the names into our Santa hat and the little sleepy heads still in their PJ's with the help of the dog, drew the winner.

And the winner is..........

Who Said:

sweet limes said...

I love that you are connecting this to giving since that's what Christmas is all about in my eyes.

My favourite thing to do at this time of year is inviting a few people who don't have family (or family close by) for Christmas dinner and other festivities so they don't have to be alone for the holidays. So far I have a lady from my local fabric store coming, a lady and her mother down the street, and a gentleman our family has known for about a year who has no family to speak of. I do this because I have no family other than my own husband and kids, and I used to hate spending the time alone.

Charity. Love that you asked this because I love talking about the charity I do. I had a daughter who was still born at 40 weeks and the hospital gave me the most darling little gown to dress her in because it was all so unexpected and my bag with her supplies got lost in the shuffle. Turns out they have a small supply of these on hand for those sorts of situations. I make gown after gown all year round and on my daughters birthday I take them to the hospital she was born and hand them over to the nursing staff there. I want the mother's in similar situations to have something they can hold onto after their little one dies and leaves their arms empty. I know how much it meant to me and I want to offer that little bit of love and comfort to other mother's like me.

Thank you so much to everyone for all of the inspiration!  Sweet Limes, I will email you for your address and the fabric will be headed in your direction.  The kids and I have also decided to add in a few left over pieces of eyelet that Hazel made my son's baby quilt out of because we thought that it would be a nice accent to some of the fabrics for the baby gowns. 

Merry Christmas to every one!  Thanks for sharing!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED FOR COMMENTS!  THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR COMING! The winner will be posted Saturday morning.....after I wake UP!!


I am so glad you are here to visit!  I am really excited as this is my first giveaway ( I am pretty new to blog land!)  I am grateful to Sew Mama Sew for running this because I was struggling to find a way to do a giveaway and this is perfect.

There is a little history to this giveaway but I know you are busy so I will keep it short and sweet.

This is Hazel:

If you want to read back a bit in my blog you will find labels for Hazel.  Hazel is a dear friend of mine from British Columbia were I spent 12 years. She is almost 87 years old and a life long quilter. Well, she is no longer able to quilt and I have been blessed with her stash!!  There is so much that I am absolutely unable to use it all and it would be un"Hazel" like to keep it all to myself anyway.  She is a very giving lady and I wish to honour her by continuing this trend.  So for today's giveaway I am giving away some of her fabrics.  Many of the pieces that I was given are vintage and many are quite beautiful and unique. 

I am doing this giveaway not only to share what Hazel has given me in fabric but also in character. I would like to see Hazels generosity and spirit spread as far as possible outside of my community.

So here is the deal:

I am giving away these three pieces of fabric.  They are at least 2 meters each, one of them is three.  The colours are brilliant and the feel of the striped orange one is divine! The others are lovely too of course but there is just something about that one!

Here is the HOW to and the FINE print ;-) 

1). Leave me a comment on this post telling me what is your favourite thing to do, at this time of year, to show the spirit of giving?

2). If you do any type of crafting for charity of any sort (or would like to) and you are willing to share a little bit of what I send to you by making a little something for a charity or group in need in your area tell me about it in the same comment and I will include with the 3 pieces, a box full of assorted other fabrics.  Many that match the first three.  Some are large, some are scraps all are useful for something!  It doesn't matter to me if you make a pillow case, a doll dress, a snack bag, a hair band, a pin cushion, a mug rug,  a soft stuffed animal or if you trim a tea towel!  What ever it is you wish to donate, if you will share....I will share:  

So that is it...one comment either way, seems easy right?  Right!!  It is Christmas!!!  So take a minute and think about how you can share the love, then tell me all about it!  

Post your comment here by the 17th, winner will be chosen by my children (who are successful "givers in training"!)  Your parcel will be in the mail by the 20th... as long as you make sure I have a way to contact you!!  PLEASE.....If you are unsure if your email is linked, or you don't have a blog, leave it in the comment.

You are welcome to follow my blog if you like or if you wish to just visit for today, I am happy you dropped by.

Have a great day!

30th Post giveaway!

Well, this is my 30th post and as promised I am doing a give away!  I have been procrastinating about writing this post because I was struggling with how to do the giveaway and thank Goodness Sew Mama Sew has made it easy for me!  They are having a blog wide giveaway here and I decided to join that.  So, the details will be posted on the 13th but as you probably know I will be parting with some of my dear friend Hazel's fabrics!  She was a fabulous quilter and is a truly generous soul. You will have to tune in on the 13th for the details though cause true to my "procrastinator" ways... I am not ready yet!!!

I have been getting a lot of Christmas sewing done but most of it I can't show just yet because some people may be lurking to find out what they are getting!!!! Ha! I know who you are!!
I will show the apron that I made for my very first swap though. I am not sure it will get to my partner in time for Christmas given the very taxed postal system and I want her to be able to at least see it for Christmas!  It was mailed December 1st but that doesn't mean it will arrive for sure, so here it is

It is a Heather Bailey Pattern called Daily Spice.  I was trying to get my partners favourite colours; black white and red, but that combination was no where to be found in our little fabric stores here in the north!  The main fabric is black and red though so I hope it will do! It did turn out really cute and I added some fun tuck ins too.  So I hope it makes her Christmas a little merrier!

In other news, my little Bean has turned 12!  He is getting so big and I am not sure where the time went!  He had a little party on the weekend and it was a good thing because by Tuesday (his actual birthday) he had strep throat and was really sick! 


Well, there are lots of other things to chat about but it is late and I better get to bed or my sewing time tomorrow will be shortened by my need for sleep.....zzzzzz

Have a great one and if you are in the path of the blizzard headed our way....keep warm!!

I was VOLUN"TOLD" !!

Look what happened in our yard!!

YES WE HAVE THIS MUCH SNOW!!  AND MORE!!!

 Well, I am back to the computer at last!  I have been crazy busy with the kids school council.  I was "voluntold" to be on the playground committee for the new school that the Ministry is building for us.  Almost 800 students and NO PLAYGROUND equipment!!  YIKES.

Any way so 2.5 weeks ago I was appointed the lead on planning a craft fair and small business vendor event they wanted to have to raise money for the school.  WHY?  Because I sew.  I must know a lot of crafters....NOT!!!  However, I am good at last minute magic!  Pulled together a small committee of "go-getter" girls and we organized 23 participants, a bake sale and a silent auction!! WHEW!  I ended up being a vendor too because a few of the other Moms have some of my reusable snack bags and they thought those would sell well at the event.  So whilst I was planning the whole thing I had to put my Christmas sewing on hold and sew a bunch of things for this event.  Can you say time management issues!! Haven't been to bed before 2am for weeks!  But I did get some things sewn for the event so that was good.

                  

These are my version of crayon rolls.  I don't like ties because the kids want to do things themselves so I put a tab with an elastic and sew a button to the back of the tab and there you go! Toddler Friendly! If you click on the pictures you can see better detail.

The kids each sewed a stuffy as well.  Bean made his own pattern for a fish which he wants me to put into a tutorial, so I will try to get that together as well soon.  You can see his fish in this picture along with some of the other things we made.  The fuzzy things are dust cloths.  You can see here that we added pupils to TREY as his blue eyes look a little spooky in the picture below!!

Moo made a TREY owl from this pattern.  It is copy righted so we emailed and asked permission to donate the owl to the fundraiser silent auction table and she said YES! Moo was very happy that she contributed and the owl went for $8.00.  Two little girls had a little bidding war over him, it was cute!  All said it was a great event but it certainly put a crimp in my holiday sewing.

Fabric Give away! One on NOW....One coming up!

There is a really sweet give away over at Retro Mummy!   Beautiful fabric is the deal of the day...Quick quick!  Go See!

Bean's fish creation!

We are sewing up a storm here for the craft fair.  It is all small tedious stuff though so I don't feel like I am getting too much done.  We are making reusable snack bags, sandwich wraps, crayon rolls, stuffies that the kids are dreaming up!  Nothing has a pattern and I am just cutting and sewing and hoping that it all works out!  I would like to try a few mug rugs too, they just seem like a great teachers gift!  I can see one on each desk with a peppermint tea in a cute mug to ward of the headaches that must threaten their everyday!  You can see I am NOT teacher material!  I don't do noise!

I do do fabric though!  And the sound of the machine is sweet.  But I have a task to do, and that involves the fabric that I received from a dear friend. I have to sort it out because the snow is starting to settle in here and I have to park my car in my garage for the winter months or it will refuse to start in the morning!  My 30th post is coming up soon and I am hoping that I can do a give away.  A lot of the fabric is small pieces (Hazel was a quilter!) so I am sure there will be some scrap bags.  It is not designer fabric, but a good lot of it is certainly vintage!  Hazel is 86 (or so!).  It is all very clean and neatly folded, or it was until I tried to sort it all out! There is also a fair bit of fabric that is not quilt fabric, I think it is more clothing type fabric.  Is anyone interested in a grab bag of surprise fabric?  There are some pretty laces and a stunning silver sparkly type piece and of course florals and well really just a whole variety of things! Does anyone make quilts for the Alzheimer's Society that need multiple textures and types?  Anyone have little girls to sew costumes or play things for? There is definitely lots to share?  Anyone sew for charity?  It would really be a delight if some of the fabric that Hazel has given would go into a piece made for a good cause.

I'd love to hear from you any ideas of what you would like to see in the give away...the aspect of variety is definitely covered!

 This was my first sort of the fabric onto tarps in the garage. Some of the piles are 18" high at least. The yellow recycling bin holds a bag of tiny, tiny pieces!

 This is the pile of random craft projects and UFO'S all individually bagged. There is even a bag of smocking pieces.

This is a bin with vintage patterns and small pieces of baby printed flannel and a few others like that shiny purple one!

 Thanks for stopping by!

Another Go Give Away and the Mistletoe Make and Bake Blog Hop!!

Just wanted everyone to know that there is another GO! give away over at Simply Solids Blog.  Thanks to Lucky Duck Dreams for the heads up on that one!

There is also a very neat Blog Hop happening!  The Mistletoe Make and Bake 2010 Blog Hop Started today!  It looks like it should be a great week for Christmas treats!  Thanks to Paulette for the invitation to share in this one! This list is copied and pasted...I am not that great with making such snazzy posts just yet!  As you can see I can't get blogger to "un-highlight my first" lines!  It started typing in red and I didn't know how to fix it so I accidentally highlighted it and now, well I can't get it off!  Yep, still learnin'!

November 15th-20th, 2010

Here is the line-up~

November 15th

Sherri K. Falls of This and That Patterns 

November 16th

Heidi Kaisand of Chicks & Hen

Monique Dillard of Open Gate Blog

November 17th

Celine Perkins of Perkin's Dry Goods

Patrick Lose of The Latest News from Patrick Lose

Kelly Ann Richardson of Kelly Ann's Quilting

November 18th

Lissa Alexander of Moda Lissa

Julie Stewart of Quilts 4 Julie

November 19th

Roseann Kermes of Rosebud's Cottage

Brenda Riddle of Little Acorns

November 20th

Vickie Eapen of Spun Sugar Quilts

Melisa Morrison of Sweet Home Quilt Co.

November 21st

On the seventh day, we’ll rest. And eat cookies!

 So mark your calendar and get ready for a fun week filled with cookie bliss, wonderful projects and awesome prizes!!

Hope you all had a great Monday!

Gotta catch up!!

Hi there!
Again time goes by so quickly!  This week and a bit has been crazy like the rest.  Kids and Hubby have been sick, my son....the one with the cast on his hand...was sewing his dog beds for the humane society (we stuff them with fabric scraps from sewing!) and he sewed through his finger!  Right through! A finger on the hand that is in the cast none the less!  Then two days later just as we had gotten the puncture all doctored up he got hit with a ball at school and bent the pinkie finger on that "cast hand" back!  It was really swollen in the finger and down into the knuckle which was inside the cast so the pressure was painful as well.  It took me a while to decide whether I wanted it x-rayed or not.  I hoped it wasn't a broken finger or dislocated knuckle, so we waited over night and the swelling went down considerably, but the pain is still there.  He can move it today though so I hope that things are settling.  He has had so many x-rays lately I really didn't want more for another break on the same hand!

In the mean time we did get some sewing done!  I have been asked to co-ordinate a craft fair for the school playground fund-raising event so I made several snack bags and sandwich bags.  I also hope to get some baby burp cloths done and maybe a ball or two.  I would love to make aprons and mug rugs and so many more things too but as we all know time goes so fast and I do have to sew my Christmas presents up too!  I have decided that I can't do it all.  I will do what I can.

I did finish Beans sweater:

I also found these at the thrift store:

These sweaters are for felted wool mittens I hope to make for the craft fair (if time allows) if not the mitts will make great Christmas gifts as well.

I also picked up this jar at the thrift store to keep my laundry soap in.  I am trying to make the shelf look less cluttered and more pretty.  I hope that encourages more laundry doing!!!  In any case the jar is beautiful!

Here is a peak at what we are up to and will discuss in my next post:

This is Bean's first pattern creation! I had to entice him back to the machine after he sewed through his finger!  So I helped him come up with something he wants to sew...and that....was a fish!  He so needs to grow up to be a marine biologist!

Well, back to the sewing room for me, hope you all have a great day!

Time Management and another Give Away!

All week I had so many things I wanted to say, but again...it was one of those weeks were things don't go as planned.  I am wondering if there is a message in all of this some where?

I did manage to finish Bean's Christmas present, which I will try to post a picture of tomorrow. It is from the Fall 2010 Stitch Magazine. (Then I will have to tell the small people NO PEEKING at Mamma's blog until after Christmas!)

I also managed to score well at the thrift store this week and got a few sweaters to felt for some mitten projects Moo and I have been working on from here. It is so great to be able to teach them that presents don't have to be the newest gadget on TV...they can be made with love by your own crafty little hands!

However, speaking of gadgets....there is another GO! give away at Lavender Ridge.  I would really like a GO!  but so does everyone else in quilt blog land!!!  I am not dismayed though because visiting all these sites has really given me a great opportunity to see new ideas and meet great new people so all is not lost!  I have been visiting so many peoples' sites though my sewing machine is getting lonely and I have not had time to put together a proper post!

Our Costumes!

I know this is late but my children are wondering if I posted their Halloween costumes on my blog so I better do it before they wake up and ask again!

So here they are, I forgot to take pictures before we left! ( I always do that!)  Moo is a princess, I made this dress for her in the spring for a Masquerade Ball birthday party she was invited to. Well she really didn't have a thing to wear!  So, I made this little number!  What a leap from quilts to clothing!  Let's just say I forgot to start small!   

Bean is a Lolli Pop,  we blew up a GIANT balloon and paper mached for days!! (3 exactly!) of course he is in a cast that can't get wet so guess who got all gluey and wet!  Yep, me and Moo!  He held the balloon still while we worked though.

This is the dress in the spring, I think you can see the details better (except the sleeves) without the extra layers for frost protection!!

This was what Moo wore to the Halloween Party Saturday night!  I didn't make this one.

It is sure a stretch from princess to this! She is such a shy girl and I guess that she can play vampire on Halloween when the rest of the year she is so the opposite!

None of Beans friends had a party this year so he only needed one costume. WHEW!!!  He has such a great imagination, I don't think I could have made another brilliant idea in the time frame I had!!!

That is it for now, Happy November!!!

A Night Out!

Well, I did no sewing tonight BUT, I did have a really good reason!  My wonderful Hubby decided we were long over due for a date!  He bought concert tickets, he called my sister to babysit, he made dinner, and he took me out to a great Johnny Reid concert! What a great show and it was even better because Hubby took the time to make all of the arrangements.  I am grateful to have such a great Hubby...and now I must go to bed before I turn into a pumpkin!  I don't want to be a cranky wife to such a great Hubby.......

Another GO! giveaway!

I, like many other quilters out there, have been travelling around blog land looking for GO! give aways.  I am happy to let you all know that Micki of Irish Muses is having a give away!  It closes Nov 5, so hurry on over there and enter to win!  And while you are there wish her some luck with her knees!  She really needs to be able to get back to sewing!

Another Overloaded Week!!

My son dragged me out of the house early this week to see this...

And it made me stop and think...

I am feeling like I never have time to do Mamma things.  But I am coming to the realization that ALL things in my home are Mamma things.  I guess I have to get that Balance thing back in order!

Last Weekend I was out of town for a Massage Therapy Workshop in Sudbury, Ontario.  It was research overload as we had a complete overhaul on the protocols of Massage Therapy and Caner.  There was SO much information to take in and process, all very positive as far as treatment protocols go, but so much change in information was a lot to take in!

As always after being away for any period of time everyone's "I need Mamma" tank needs a refill so my week went to getting every one back on track and now we are at Halloween!  How did that happen?!

It was a busy weekend with sleep over's and sewing lessons and costume making and Halloween parties, pumpkin carving (in our PJ's!) and trick or treating tonight.  I somehow don't feel like I got anything done, but when I look around me at the happy people in my family....I know I did something....and....I did it right!  Sometimes being a Mamma has nothing to do with the things Mamma wants to do, but more so the people she does things for!  God help me remember the reasons I wanted so badly to be a Mamma, and not begrudge the time it takes to do them!

My son carving his pumpkin in his cast!
Should we let accident prone children handle safety knives!!

My hubby hard at work creating a scary face!
(Yes.... he cut his arm gutting the pumpkin!)

Asia feels the need to sit in the middle of it all
and supervise with her BOO! bandana on!

And finally here is the line up!!

IT'S SNOWING!!

Last night we had Rainbows!  Two of them......

And this morning.......

Welcome to the Great White North!!

It is October 21st and we have snow!  Granted it probably won't stay, but really.....SNOW in October!

These are the days when I am grateful that my office has no windows.  It helps to just ignore what is happening in the world around me while I work.  People in pain need me to have a clear and peaceful mind so I don't add any negative to to their current state.  Speaking of work, I will be travelling to Sudbury this weekend to take part in a conference on Massage Therapy and Cancer.  I really need the latest update on how our treatments should be handled regarding cancer patients.  Things have changed so much in the last 18 years that I am happy to have an update on new procedures.

On the sewing front, I am chugging along on Christmas gifts for the kids, but I can't post them because they read my blog.  I am making my son an item from the new Stitch Magazine from interweave.  They are great Magazines with many projects to try.  If you haven't seen it you should take a look!

There is a great Giveaway happening at Green Fairy quilts, you should run over and check out her site.  She has a great shop and a very cool video about their trip to Romania to deliver 50 donated quilts!! (They also donated food and school supplies!)  I love the generosity I am seeing all over from crafters of all sorts.  It is so inspiring.

Until Wednesday Calls is a great blog I have been following and she is doing a craft along.  I am very behind!  But I did finish a BBQ apron for my hubby in sail boat and wave fabric, because well...we sail (when it is not snowing!)  So I do have a picture of that to show you:

The pattern is the reversible apron pattern from The Paisley Pincushion.
I had to modify a little bit because my hubby needs the ties to be a clip, but the pattern was easy and well written.
Well that is about it for now, I better get off to work now or I will be late!!
Have a great Thursday!

Still Sorting!!

Well, I am still sorting the fabric I have inherited.  There was so much to go through and much of it was small pieces.  But I have sorted out a good bit of it into colour blocks and a little of fabric type.  At one point I was very distressed as to what I would do with so many tiny pieces.  Hazel was a wonderful quilter and every scrap was saved (and frequently rolled with other pieces into small bundles and neatly pinned so they would stay together) I couldn't bear the thought of not being able to come up with something that would properly honour her memory.  My lovely daughter at one point came into the garage where I was sorting (and stressing!) and took my hand and said "Mamma, I think you need to take a break."  She was right, when I came in I sat at the computer and Googled quilts with tiny pieces.  Of course 10,000 ideas pop to my screen, I clicked on Sew Mama Sew and there was the cutest little doll quilt.  You can find it here.  That little tutorial renewed my faith that something could be done with Hazel's 86 years of fabric!  Back out to the garage I went.  I am still not done but I am close.  In the bottom of the last box I began to find books and very old patterns so I decided that those could be done on another day.

So as I promised,  I will leave you with a picture of the almost 100 year old thread case and some other random snaps from the sort.

Please excuse the dust!! I was too excited about getting the pictures and tucked a few spools in when I realized that it could use a dusting!!  Well after almost 100 years....who wouldn't!!

These are just two of the multitude of doll blocks that were in a shirt box.  I think they may be different styles, because this brown one has her hat on differently then all the rest?  If anyone knows what these patterns are I would be happy to know!





Well that is it for now,  I will try to get some good pictures of the fabric in the day light tomorrow.
Have a Great Wednesday everyone!

It's here!

Remember me saying that a dear friend of mine (Hazel) was being moved into a care home and my sister was going to BC. to pick up her fabric for me?  Well, it is HERE!!!  Three huge Rubbermaid totes, one 2'x2' box, one smaller box and one, computer monitor box!  Plus an antique thread cabinet that my sister in-laws (Hazels cousin) grandmother made herself!  It is spectacular and as soon as I get my head out of the fabric boxes I will take pictures and post them!  Also in the box there was an unfinished quilt top, and several "doll" blocks (that is how she had them labelled) and a shirt box filled with cut out animal appliques!  I have hardly had a minute to look in the boxes to sort but there are a lot of small fabric pieces and lots of 4' squares and then several pinned rolls of projects that I haven't investigated yet.  Then there are some yardage cuts and an assortment of apparel fabrics and a whole host of other goodies!

When I get a little more organized I would like to be able to donate some of the fabric in Hazels honour to good causes.  So I will try to figure out the best way to do that....I am open to suggestions too !

For now though... I have to get some sleep!  It has been another crazy week!  But at least no one broke any limbs!  So for that and MANY other things....I am grateful.

Happy Thanks Giving!

Today is Canadian Thanks Giving Day.  I have been trolling around the internet all morning as I prepare dinner for my family.  I have realized that I have a lot to be thankful for. (Not that I didn't know before, but the more I read the more things come to mind)
I have food to prepare, people around me to eat it, and company to enjoy.  I have an amazing husband, terrific kids, five siblings who each bring their own version of "special" to my life.  My parents are gone and for that I grieve, but I am also thankful that they are "together " because they were not "OK" when they were apart.  I have incredible memories, and a multitude of loving friends, a beautiful country to live in with scenery that rivals anything on earth.  I have a God that I believe in and who makes His presence known in many ways as I walk this journey that is set before me.  Things are good, not perfect, but good.  I like it this way.

I hope all of you where ever you are, take a minute to think about what you have to be thankful for.  Every once in a while in this crazy world we need to stop and think, and be grateful!

All the best!

Penny

The GO!

OK so I have been all over quilting blog land during the fabulous Fall into Fall Quilt Bloggers Giveaway.  The more places I visit the more I realize how cool it would be to win one of the ever growing in popularity AccuQuilt GO!  fabric cutters.  There are so many choices for dies available that I can hardly choose which I would select!  Any how...I digress!  If you want to try to win one head over to Alderwoodquilts for a chance to win a GO! and 3 die to use with it!  Hurry, Hurry!

Aside from that today was spent in the garden.  Correction, what is now going to be the garden!  Before today it was the middle of my back yard with two peonies and a handful of tulips plants in the middle of the grass!! I think it was a test for my Father that my Mother set up to see if he would cut around these plants while riding the tractor!  He managed, but it was making me crazy!  So now it is officially going to be a memory garden where I can be with my thoughts of both of my parents.  My Mom has a cemetery plot that I can visit and garden and talk to her at but my Dad was cremated and does not have a place that I can officially BE with him so the garden is going to be that spot, from here on out.
As for tomorrow...I think we are all going to be crippled!  I will keep you posted.

Crazy Week!!!

Well, I had every intention of getting a whole bunch of things done this week but as usual....Life Happens!

I started out trying to make a cover/carry pouch for this:

My best friend Bee (Lisa) from Bees Whimsey gets intravenous lidocane treatments for pain weekly and has to wear this bottle with a pump for 36 hours at a time.  The carry pouch they gave her is just not doing it for her!

So I made this one for her.  Green is her favourite colour and the inside fabric has whimsical chubby bees on it.

This was not the first one I made...I did a prototype but it was dismal!  And just not suitable, so I tried again and this one is much better.  So one task down....umpteen to go!  Then....life happened!

This is Bean....my "take after Momma, accident prone" little man.  He fell at school on Tuesday playing tag and they believe he fractured a scaphoid bone in his wrist.  So we spent Tuesday and most of Wednesday dealing with the wrist, the Orthopaedic surgeon, and the teachers who felt that he wasn't hurt enough for him to be able to call Mamma (after he asked 5 times to 2 different teachers!!!)  Wednesday was a rough day for the teachers and the principal....I am quite a Mamma Bear and I did NOT take kindly to them not letting him call me!  Plus, I have a fair back ground in health care and I like to be the judge of whether my children need medical attention or not.  

Any way that was handled well by the staff and sincere apologies were given to myself and my son. 

However, it did put a serious crimp in what I got done for the week!  As I mentioned in an earlier post "Iris" my body double was seriously lacking in the curves department and needed a little maturity in her prepubescent appearance!  So I cut out some fleece ovals, layered them and stitched them together to be a belly (the belly actually needed two pads!) and a tushy (just needed one)!  

Then I tucked them into a cut off nylon stocking panty and smoothed them out!

Now... doesn't she look more curvaceous!  And well truthfully more like me!  Now I will be able to use her for her purpose to make my garments fit me better!  I can't wait.

Then as I was cleaning up my sewing areas and trying to merge everything into one place I came across a box of old buttons that used to be my Mom's.  I have always loved Vintage buttons and she used to let me play with them as a kid so I was very happy to find them. There is a picture of the whole lot and then two really neat ones that I pulled out.  The first has an orchid picture under a clear coating and the second button is cut glass!  I love that one.

Also in my sort, I uncovered a long buried fabric stash.  A dear friend of mine gave these to me about 17 years ago.  They were from her stash and she considered them old at the time!  She is in her late 80's and can no longer quilt so my sister has gone to British Columbia to pack up all of her fabric and bring it back here to me as a gift from my dear friend Hazel.  I am sad for her but at the same time I am soooo excited!  I have promised her that her stash will be put to good use.  And I am sure with help from all of you....that some suitable purpose will be found for every scrap of her fabric.  

 As well this week, just to unwind my brain, I stopped by a second hand shop and I discovered this little gem of fabric!  It is beautiful!  A Waverly Original Glosheen, not a mark on it and the cut edges are serged so I think it may have been a sample for somebody?  If anybody has any idea what name this fabric may have I would be thrilled to know.  I have tried to research it but have not come up with any answers yet.  It has rows of these great flowers and then rows of geometrics and flower outlines like the one you can see.

Well that ends my week in review!  Sorry for the lack of posts this week but it was a little hectic!  Happy Thanks Giving or Happy Columbus Day!  Or just happy weekend!  Until later......