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......

Whew!

I feel like it has been a marathon weekend!  Although I do not have a lot to show for it....I was crazy busy all weekend!  A good part of it though was spent visiting blogs from the Fall into Fall Quilt Bloggers Giveaway!  There are so many sites to visit and so many new people to meet, it has kept me up til the wee early hours of morning!  As far as fall goes over here, we woke this morning to a true frost.  Everything was white and glistening.  It was a little hard to capture with so little sun, but if I wait for sun....the frost is gone!  So here are a couple of frosty pictures.

I did do some sewing and some strategic planning with regards to "Iris". (My body double!)  A few posts back I mentioned that she needed some curves if she were really going to impersonate me!  So I worked on that this weekend.  I must leave for work though so I will have to return with pictures of that and my other endeavours later!  Have a good one!

Fall into Fall Quilt bloggers give away is on now!

And it certainly does feel like fall is here. You should go and check it out here! There are SOOOO many give-aways and fabulous blogs to visit!  

The kids got up the other day and the view in our front yard had vanished into the fog!  I live across the street from a farm and there is a hill up beyond that.  My favourite thing every fall is to watch as the colours come down the hill towards us day by day.  It is just brilliant and it is the same every year.  I took all sorts of pictures that morning and I will post some of them at the end.  Through the week I have been blog hopping and trying to figure out what I was going to make for the people on my list for Christmas.  There are so many cool ideas out there I am just as lost as I was when I started!  I have also been buying fabric and random patterns thinking that I will some how magically have time to make all these things!  Seriously!  If I can't ever focus....I am never going to get anything made!  I think that my head start on Christmas sewing has done me in... I really work better under pressure!  But I don't want too!!  Oh well tomorrow is another day and I WILL get something done tomorrow!