KarensCosmos

I Want to Ride My Bicycle Quilt

2012-01-08T16:57:00.000-08:00

One of Ian's favourite things to do is ride his bicycle. His favourite bike trips include visits to Prince Edward Island, France and Amsterdam. He is also a city planner and loves the big cities. Over the years I have picked out fabrics that might work for a quilt for him, however recently He asked me to make him a quilt. I was thrilled to do so and knew I wanted to somehow combine his love of cities and biking.

Kate of Bike Swim Quilt had sent me a lovely mug rug that was a graphic representation city map http://www.flickr.com/photos/swimbikequilt/5756737764/in/set-72157628644512865 that started me off on the inspiration trail.

I did a google search and flickr search of bike quilts but surprisingly there were not too many. But this one from Krista stood out for me and the idea of linear layers with different quilting styles took hold. >a http://www.flickr.com/photos/spottedstonestudio/6327464042/in/photostream

Then I added roads and embroidered the words of the Queen song. The back I pieced from left overs and added some batik hugs and kisses. Binding stumped me for awhile but black KONA did the trick. I ALMOST had this ready for Christmas but was slow at the hand sewing of the binding so a few days later I gave it to Ian - He was thrilled which warms my heart. But its not done yet - I want to embroider some little bicycles and put on a label and I was a few inches short on the binding. For christmas I got some lovely binding clips which really helped me out and did not stick into me like pins do - Thanks Matthew and Dawn!

This project is my submission for the VMQG UFO challenge - hopefully I can get these last things finsihed by the time of our meeting.

WIPs and UFOs watch out!

2012-01-03T08:47:00.000-08:00

Rhonda is hosting a quilting finish incentive program see: http://gapquilter.blogspot.com/p/2012-finish-long.html]

What a great idea and boy do I need the help. The idea is that you post pics of your works in progress or unfinished objects at the beginning of the quarter and then post pics of your finished projects at the end of the quarter. There are even prizes!

Here are my UFOs and WIPs

1. Ian's quilt - "I Like to Ride my Bicycle" - just needs a label, a bit of binding - 10 " or so, corners mitred, a bike embroidery and quilting of the sunflowers - ohh and a good wash and dry.

2. Cynthia's quilt - "Fassett Flower Garden" - top needs piecing finished and squaring up, back needs a piece, then sandwich and quilting and binding and label and washing and drying

3. Red and Aqua - "Pinwheels" - I have been in two swaps and received only half of the blocks buts its time to bite the bullet and do something with them. I need to take stock of what I have, make a plan/layout, probably make a few more blocks and piece the top. I have quite a few options for backing so need to narrow that down and piece the backing - then square up, sandwich, quilt, bind, label, wash and dry

4. Dresden Block - from Lily's quiltalong - need to redo some of the quilting, maybe a border change???, bind, label, wash and dry

5. Green and Pink Pinwheels - redo quilting - bind, label, wash and dry

6. Raw edge applique - may need to reglue some pieces - quilt, bind, wash and dry

7. Halloween quilt - piece backing, fix border on front, square up, sandwich, quilt, bind, label, wash and dry

8. Christmas wall hanging - finish quilting and binding

9. Baby quilt - finish hand quilting, bind, label, wash and dry

10. Flower Applique quilt - cut my losses - sash blocks to finish top, decide on backing, sandwich,

11. Matthew and Dawn's quilt - "Falling Hexagons" draft pattern/plan,

12. Aqua Circles - take out basting stitches, re sandwich, quilt, bind, label, wash and dry

August Camping Trip

2011-11-03T22:54:00.000-07:00

Now that Autumn has arrived in its rainy wetness, cool greyness, early darkness, I remember Summer fondly

A Dog's Life

2011-11-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

Hi - I am sitting here typing away catching up on work in my home office - aka the living room floor with a big golden retriever on one side and a little shih tzu mix on my other side - each is blissfully asleep. I know that if I get up each will instantly awake - ready for a walk, a treat or just to accompany me to the kitchen - ready for anything. What great attitudes they have!

The little one is Betty Boop and the big one is Softie. Betty was hit by a van and badly injured - pelvis broken in 3 places. She has had surgery to put her back together again. She is so plucky - its day 8 following the accident and she is determined to get around even though her back legs are still weak and one is bandaged up. Whenever she sees you she wags her tail like crazy. If I had been in a similar situation I would be feeling sorry for myself and taking it easy - her attittude is so much better!

Softie is the ultimate chill out dog - and its contagious in a good way. If you are having a bad day he comes over and sits with you and a simple pat or rub around the ear and he is so happy that the good humour rubs off on you.

Research has shown that having a pet results in positive effects on human health and behaviour. I am appreciating that today - even though Softie seems to shed as much fluff and hair in a day that you could make another shih tzu out of it.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:26:00.000-07:00

Quilt Design

2011-06-19T19:34:00.000-07:00

Some neighbourhood girls coloured our path as part of getting ready for the street party. The design would look lovely made up as a quilt using solids.

Quilting

2011-01-14T23:30:00.001-08:00

Well I have not posted much lately but I have been busy with family, work and quilting. I am loving that I am actually finishing some quilty projects. The key for me was to make small projects.

A little challenge was what I needed so I am going to make each quilt in Simple Contemporary Quilts. I have made two quilts so far - in a mini size.

I have made some mug rugs - little quilts to go under a mug or cup but large enough to also hold a sweetie or goodie - Yum. One for Pat featuring Softie, one for me with Cath Kidson fabric to go with my CK mug from the CK shop in Edinburgh. Two for a swap partner and three with a Christmas theme. I received two fabulous mug rugs as part of two swaps - their quality and style is amazing and inspired me to keep going. The next round of mug rug swap is happening and I have a great partner, but shh shh shh its a secret swap.

I joined the pork chop swap - an exchange of squares of fabric and made a quilt top. Then I got inspired and made it into a cover for my sewing room chair. Need to finish that - its looking great.

The Old Red Barn Co Quilt Along is continuing and this round is ticker tape quilts. I have always wanted to try this style of quilt so I am giving it a go but again making a smaller sized quilt. I joined another round of the pork chop swap and will use the squares from that in making a ticker tape quilt.

Really good news is being selected in the lottery to participate in the Doll Quilt Swap 10 edition. We find out who are partners are and make a secret quilt for them.

I was so lucky in the last two rounds to recieve fabulous quilts from my partners. They have pride of place in my studio.

Fun times!!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-24T16:39:00.000-08:00

Well I have not been blogging much but have been creating which feels great.

Its a small but merry Christmas for us.

Progress

2010-11-16T14:37:00.001-08:00

Finally admitted that yellow was not working for me and picked a soft robin's egg blue for repainting my office. I love the difference and have gone to just stand in the space because it feels so right. Also took the opportunity to rearrange the furniture and swapped out a high table with free standing cupboard from IKEA. Actually bookcase, table, chest of drawers and tall cabinet all came from IKEA. The room arrangement works so much better too and luckily everything just fit.

I have some art to put up on the walls and need to finish recovering a chair and then the room is done. Can hardly wait to use it.

Now I want the kitchen repainted a similar watery colour

A Walk In the Woods

2010-11-11T20:48:00.000-08:00

Pacific Spirit Park was wonderful to walk through this misty Remembrance Day

Quilting Mini Projects

2010-10-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

FlossieBlossom set up the Mug Rug Swap and made 2 little mug rugs for my secret partner. "A" indicated green and grey and dots among her favourites, so I used that as a starting point. I used a piece of vintage Key West screen print fabric of a turtle to applique over scrappy squares of greens and greys. I also made a mini wheel of the same fabrics. For the backing and binding I used some grey fabric that I bought in Amsterdam this summer. I quilted the pieces with wavy lines of light to dark grey thread and a grey spiral on the wheel. These are small pieces about 7 inch diameter for the wheel and about 6" by 8" for the rectangular mug rug. These were a lot of fun to make and were good practice for me to hone up on quilting skills.

I also made a Mug Rug for me with some of the Cath Kidston fabric and mug I bought in Edinburgh. I really like that I made it reversible and used some of the oil cloth for the place to rest the mug on. I love the strawberries too!! This is going to be my go to hot chocolate mug - its nice and big and feels good to hold. Lots of room for marshmallows. I think there are lots more mug rugs to make in my future. Its nice that they are small and can be finished relatively quickly.

And here is the mug rug my partner Kelly made for me. It is so beautifully made, with wonderful colours, design and fabric. I love it.

Kelly also sent me some fabric scraps and a post card with the gees bend quilt pictured - love them too.

I find Kelly's work very inspiring because it is so well done - check out the detail of her stitching --my work has a long way to go to reach this level.

Den Haugue Rose Garden and Kuiper Windmill

2010-09-13T00:33:00.000-07:00

Let's Eat - Holland

2010-09-12T14:24:00.000-07:00

Say CHEESE in Alkmaar

2010-09-12T13:51:00.000-07:00

Ian's Tour de France

2010-08-13T00:02:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam Fauna

2010-08-07T01:37:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam Tourist

2010-08-07T01:25:00.000-07:00

It turned a bit chilly one day in Amsterdam so Pat turned his jacket into long pants - very weird but he was happy. He was determined to get clogs from Holland and we got some from a market vendor and he happily clogged the day away. He looks a bit like a street performer dancing away with an empty cup in his hand - dontcha think?

Amsterdam Canal Cafe People

2010-08-07T00:52:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam Social Housing

2010-07-26T07:04:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam Domesticity

2010-07-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

Amstel Park

2010-07-26T06:04:00.000-07:00

Cafe People in Amsterdam

2010-07-14T05:48:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we 3 took the train into Amsterdam to visit a sewing machine store to see if they could fix my sewing machine. I am afraid I may have fried the motor. I ended up buying a second hand machine in like new condition and will try and get my machine fixed in Canada. We made a couple of wrong turns from the station and it was very hot to walk around. We found this little cafe and a late lunch - excellent. Pat even got a little extra protein in his sorbet!! The buildings are beautiful in Amsterdam. I have been doing a lot of sewing while Ian is on his tour de France trip.

Floral Holland

2010-07-10T01:01:00.000-07:00

The Netherlands is the heart of the flower industry. Flora Holland is network of companies, ranging from breeders and growers to sales experts and export firms, representing every aspect of the business. FloraHolland flower auction plays a key role of matchmaker, intermediary and knowledge center.

By offering the best and broadest assortment of flowers, FloraHolland wishes to tie (international) commerce flows to the marketplaces. FloraHolland offers its members the best sales opportunities at the lowest possible costs. FloraHolland is a service providing company that is a co-operative enterprise and not focused on generating profit. Its warehouse is supposed to be the largest building in world. Flowers come in to the warehouse daily and are shipped out or picked out by buyers within less than 24 hours. Flowers are shipped to the warehouse in lots which are moved on long trolley like carts. Buyers bid at an auction that starts with the highest price and goes lower. Decisions are made within seconds.

Flora Holland has a self guided tours on elevated catwalks that allow views into the floors and the auction houses. An amazing abundance of flowers assails the senses - as you enter the building. The facility smells divine. There is a vending machine that sells bouquets!! We ordered tulip bulbs to be delivered to our home in time for fall planting.

Go Fly A Kite

2010-07-09T23:36:00.001-07:00

It was a beautiful Sunday at the beach - we got turned around a couple of times and ended where we wanted to go but had decided not to go - how ironic. It was very sunny but the breeze made it delightful and perfect for kite flying.

On the way home we spotted deer in a park and Ian pulled over so Pat and I could get out and see them. Pat took pictures and this is the best one.

Amsterdam Rotterdam - We Made It!

2010-07-04T02:36:00.000-07:00

We have nicely settled in to our house exchange in Amsterdam. The flight here was uneventful and we met Devon with no problems at the airport although Devon's luggage did not make it and was delivered yesterday. At the airport we were assailed by World Soccer paraphernalia and Pat got an orange soccer ball. We watched the match between Netherlands and Brazil on the TV - lots of happy Dutch people with the result. On Saturday we took the train to Rotterdam to see the Tour de France prologue. It rained a bit but we had a good viewing site. Silly Pat would not let me take a photo of his face - I must have tried 30 shots and it made me laugh so much how quick he was. Rotterdam had lots of interesting buildings and development - Ian took the last photo. We had a good meal at Engels cafe. Lots of young people dressed in white were on the train going to the Ajax for a big clubbing party -they looked so energetic and fresh - we conked out while they were just starting their evening!

DQS 9 Doll Quilt Swap Edition 9

2010-06-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

The fun has begun! There are 200 participants and each of us makes a small quilt for a secret partner. Imagine the logistics of getting all those quilters organized and matched up. The swap mamas are doing a fabulous job!

I’m thrilled with my secret partner! I know what I am going to make and got the inspiration from the favourites posted. I am very excited to begin and hope it will be well received. We send the quilts out at the end of August and in the meantime post about our progress in the flickr group.

This is the 2nd round that I’ve been able to participate in and it’s so much fun! The discussion groups are very active and hilarious

Here is the quilt I made for my partner last round. She was in the Netherlands

And this is the quilts I received from Mari:

There are some fabulous artists involved so it’s so fun to see all the wonderful creations.

Back in the Saddle Again

2010-06-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

It as been a very busy month since my last post - but all good. I have been participating in the Red and Aqua Swap and these are the string blocks I made. I need to find my photos of the red and aqua pickle blocks and the others- they must be on the other computer.

The May swap finished and I got some lovely fat quarters from my swap partner and embroidery scissors and chocolate and a charm pack that I really love. My partner was in Kingston, Ontario. I sent some chocolate and fancy shoelaces, a swatch recorder and fabric. I also made her a pickle block because she has a blog named Pickle Block. This block is paper pieced and tricky to make. It was also the first block to be made in the red and aqua swap.

I also participated in the Porkchop fabric square swap. Flossie got this exchange organized Seven sets of women exchanged packages of 25 fabrics cut into 6 inch squares. So you end up wit 200 different fabrics. Now to decide what to do with them.

Poppyprint (Krista) suggested I go to the Lions Gate Quilters Quild Show in North Vancouver and it was amazing. The leaf quilt detail is from a quilt Krista made entitled Autumn Dyes - I love it. There were many outstanding quilts. This Salmon by Pam Cove caught my eye too. I was to meet Krista for the first time but she was always one step ahead of where people thought she was. Hopefully this week we will connect at the first meeting of the Modern Quilters Guild being held at a new sewing lounge called Spool of Thread.

I had two friends travel to Vancouver and I was so pleased to catch up with them. Catherine traveled from Burlington, she and I were in Planning school together and then we worked for while in Burlington on each others maternity leaves and then together in the Planning Department. It was great to exchange info and hear about each others children. My friend from high school Liz travelled from Ottawa and we had a great day - non stop chatting and laughing. Now that our children are mostly grown we are finding time for ourselves and looking forward to new challenges in the future, in the next stage of our lives.

The "Before"

2010-05-16T16:35:00.000-07:00

Our new house has a small room on the main floor off the living room and behind the dining room that I can use for my sewing and office. I debated if I should use one of the rooms in the basement or the spare room on the second floor or the nook at the end of the kitchen. This room won out because I can still be close to what is going on in the house, its warm and I can spread out into the dining or living area if need be but all the "stuff" can be put away out of sight - the most important criterion for Ian.

Here is the before picture.

Lots of stuff to put away, but I have done it and am happy with the layout.

The room is a sunny yellow and I have had bad reactions to yellow rooms - I think they are very pretty to look at but I don't feel right in them. However in this case almost all the walls are covered with "stuff" so the yellow just peeks out. We will see how it goes.

Will post about the "after" another day.

Crazy Hair Day

2010-05-16T16:26:00.000-07:00

Totally Pat - "Best Day Ever!" he says.

Its TOOO Exciting

2010-02-28T14:33:00.000-08:00

Watching the Olympic Gold Medal Men's Hockey Game with 2 boys age 9 and 8 - most enthusiastic fans!! They have Canada shirts and Canada flags and have been jumping all over the living room. Now as we go into overtime they are nervously chewing the flag sticks and huddled anxious for what is going to happen in the next 20 minutes .... Lets get ready to cheer on Team Canada!!

and Canada won - boyys running through house screaming in joy

Pass It On

2010-02-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

I was surprised to see that Marguerite had nominated my blog for an award.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_3-xduicsjN0/S3y4VvtjlAI/AAAAAAAADN8/2lQAVsqaxVs/s1600/beautiful_blogger.jpg

I am happy to accept this award, and follow the rules:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award. Thank you, Marguerite
2. Paste the award on your blog (see above)
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself (see below)
5. Nominate 7 or 8 blogs (see below)
6. Post links to those 7 blogs (see below)

Seven Interesting Things About Me

1. I had very fine straight hair until after the birth of my 4th child and then my hair turned wavy. When Patrick was born he had a lot of dark straight hair, he lost that hair and was pretty much bald except for fine straight light brown hair and then he grew a crop of curly blonde hair - all within 4 months of his birth. He looks completely different in his baby pictures at birth, one, two, three and for months of age. At that point my hair started to go wavy too. For years hairdressers permed or curled my hair and now they offer to straighten it.

2. I have a large nose which I never noticed until my friend's boyfriend made a comment in first year university - I am pretty oblivious as to what I look like. Sometimes I will see my reflection and wonder who that person is.

3. I had a pet skunk called Stripe - even though he had 2 stripes and a dalmation named Pepper who had a blue eye and a brown eye and who smiled at people. I guess I liked black and white pets.

4. Most of my baby teeth had to be pulled out by the dentist because they did not fall out on their own.

5. Some people think I am tooo serious and other people think I am tooo funny, everyone thinks I am very brave when I really am not, some people think I spend too much time on work, some people think I spend too much time on my family. Some people think I am conservative, others think I am liberal. I just march to my own beat.

6. My mind never stops, I am always thinking of something - I was very surprised to learn that people can have nothing going on in their heads. I can get so focused that I lose track of time.

7. My bike got clipped by a car when I was about 11 and I was thrown off and bumped my head and lost conciousness for a moment. As a result of the bump I lost my sense of smell. Sometimes I can smell strawberries, coffee and burning toast and not much else.

Blog list

Gee I like everyone's blog on my list so i just picked randomly:

#
Saucy Sprinkles
#
DOMESTIC LIGHT and MAGIC
#
Little Acorn
#
Acorn Collective
#
Posie Gets Cozy
#
quilting down the stairs
#
Ric-Rac
#
rose hip

OMG - We Bought a House!!

2010-02-21T10:06:00.000-08:00

From the real estate description: "This is it! Gorgeous totally renovated character home on beautiful tree-lined street with 6 bedrooms, family room and 3 bathrooms in the vibrant Commercial Drive area.

Extensively updated in 2006 with new roof, kitchen, appliances, electrical, plumbing, decks, bathrooms and double-glazed windows. Functional layout emphasizes design and liveability. French doors from large spacious kitchen lead to tiered deck with fabulous view of McSpadden Park. Nicely landscaped yard has a lovely blend of roman pavers and garden areas.

Within a short stroll to great shopping, restaurants, recreation, Trout Lake and public transit. Features include hardwood floors, crown molding, french doors, skylights, stylish tiling, gas range, stainless steel appliances, microwave convection oven and large open kitchen plan. Potential to convert finished space in basement to suite."

There are 3 bedrooms upstairs - 2 small and one good sized but compromised by kneewalls - and a small bathroom. On the main floor there is a good size living room and kitchen and dining area plus a bathroom and a small bedroom. The walk-out basement has 2 small bedrooms, a family room, bathroom and laundry that could be a second kitchen. The lot is 25' by 100' with a small front yard but great backyard that backs onto a lovely park. There are two tiers of deck in the backyard and a good bike storage area. The house is half a block to Commercial Drive which is a great people street with shops and restaurants. The house is 5 blocks from our existing house and closer to the sky train stop.

We have been looking for over a year and have lost in several bidding wars. But this one must have been destined for us. The house went on the market on Wednesday, the open house was on Saturday and offers were accepted Saturday night - so not much time. There were 3 offers and they chose us. They want to close at the end of March with moving date of April 2. I think we were lucky that they were selling in the middle of the Olympics - it seems everyone in Vancouver is taking in the Olympics.

This coming weekend is the closing ceremonies and the final hockey games so we are going to put up our house up for sale the week after - SO NOT MUCH TIME TO SELL OUR HOUSE - am a bit freaked out by having to move so soon too!!! And we still have to sell our lovely house in Toronto. And it needs work done before we can sell it - arggghhh. This could all end badly.

Olympic Fever

2010-02-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

Wow - I loved the opening ceremony and the Aboriginal dancers and art - so beautiful. Valery arrived on Friday night from Calgary and she and Ian caught the last bits of the ceremony on tv. Saturday we watched Olympics on TV and went to Pat's soccer game, while Ian worked at Yaletown Live Site. Sunday was a great day - beautiful weather and we met my friend Karen and went to the Aboriginal Centre, Robson Square and the Bell Cube aftet dropping Ian off at Yaletown. Lucky Patrick won tickets to the medal ceremony and the Nellie Furtado concert so he and Valery went to that. They had great tickets a few rows from the stage. Looks like Pat really had fun!!
Ian and I had dinner at Brix - watched some of the Olympics under candleabra light - and had a gorgeous meal - pretty neat Valentines Day. Ian was off Monday so he and and Valery and Pat toured around and went to the Down town live site while I worked. Early Tuesday morning Valery flew back to Calgary - It was great to have her here for a visit.

Hopefully Valery remembers to send photos as she had the camera. I took one shot which I hope turns out of Valery at the Terry Fox memorial site. Valery has been training for what seems like a long time to be a prosthesist and has just got her first job. They studied one of Terry Fox's artificial limbs at school.

No Children Were Harmed in taking This Photo

2010-01-30T13:43:00.001-08:00

Pat's chores are feeding the dog, emptying the dishwasher, cleaning his room and vacuuming the stairs. He is great at feeding the dog, fairly good at the dishwasher, not good at cleaning his room and LOVES to use the handheld dustbuster on the stairs. There is always some kind of role playing that goes along with the vacuuming. Today I found him lying upside down doing the vacuuming!!! What is that about??? What an inventive kid - he thought it would be fun. LOVE HIM

Oh yeah his pants are really that short on him - he has grown another 4 inches in the blink of an eye.

Doll Quilt Swap #8

2010-01-24T20:53:00.000-08:00

I am making a small quilt as part of a swap - I know who I am sending a quilt too but don't know who is sending a quilt to me from amongst the 160 swappers. People post a bit about what they like and post their progress on quilts they are making and its a fun (and funny) community of quilters. I am having a lot of fun creating a colour wheel quilt for my partner. I have admired the colour wheel quilt posted in Purl and did some research on dresden plate quilt blocks. I made a template from a book and guessed at how many strips to make and then I found this post from Kristen and she worked out the math - luckily I was close in my guesstimating. Wonder why I did not think about math to figure it out LOL. I love rainbows and enjoyed picking out fabric to try out. Luckily I had a good selection of scraps to choose from thanks to the Pork Chop Swap swap with some of the Old Red Barn Company quilters.

Thanks for all the Quilty Fabric

2010-01-14T07:53:00.000-08:00

I won four fat quarters from Allison at in the Sew Mama Sew Christmas Giveaway. I really admired the pink flowers on the aqua background in the picture on her blog and that is what stuck in my mind and what I thought I won. So I was surprised and pleased that I won 3 other fat quarters which at least one if not all by Urban Chiks. Thanks Allison for your generousity.

My lovely bloggy friend Marguerite from England surprised me with a big piece of strawberry fairy fabric mix from the flower fairies series. It was delightful to come home after a month away and find this thoughtful gift and a lovely felt heart. Thanks so much Marg - get well soon.

I am making 2 pink blocks for Dana's quilts to promote breast cancer awareness. Fabric strips from from my fabric swap partners will go into one block and a large pink flower and pink ribbons will go into the other block.

Absolutely lovely fabric "scraps" were sent to me by 8 lovely ladies in Flossie's Pork Chop Swap and I want to use some for some string blocks and some to make a cover for my sewing machine.

Really am so very grateful for the internet quilting community of generous women and men.

PS the forsythia in the photo was picked from my garden this morning!!!

Wonky Quilt in Progress

2010-01-12T09:58:00.001-08:00

What's Up?

2010-01-09T13:58:00.001-08:00

We had a lovely Christmas and travelled to Toronto so that we could spend the holidays with most of our children - Matthew was in Edinburgh, Scotland. Everyone enjoyed their presents and we ate too much good food. We took a family trip to the CN Tower which Pat had never been up and the pic of Val holding onto Pat warms my heart.

We stayed in our Toronto house and I was struck again by how much I love that house. It is a lovely Arts and Crafts house that Devon did a lot of work on renovating and putting a new kitchen and bathroom. The spaces in it are lovely and the location in the Beaches neighbourhood is perfect. I must have gone on a bit much about how great the house is because every time I said something nice about it Ian would bring up something great about Vancouver. I was not comparing just enjoying. Unfortunately our tenants did not leave the house in the best shape and so we (mostly Devon) have been doing a lot of small repairs and fix ups. We had a housecleaner in and Ian spent two days cleaning up the yard. Devon has to repaint the basement floor but did get the walls repainted. We had our favourite painter Spiros in to repaint the halls and will get the floors buffed up. Alexander was going to help, but got sick and then Devon got sick so I am staying on a few extra days to help "supervise".

Yeah!! I did get Caitlin's quilt finished and when we took her back to University she put it right away on her bed. She is really pleased with it and so am I. I have also made a lot of progress on Devon's wonky block square and am feeling good about that. I have the material for the circle quilt but the leader has been ill and has not posted yet the instructions I need. I am appreciating the delay though as I can get better caught up on my other quilts. I just have to quilt Pat's and after finishing Cait's I feel so much more confident about the quilting part. I have joined DQS8 which is a quilt swap of small quilts and I am looking forward to making a small quilt and really taking care of getting it right. We will find out who our partner is shortly and there is a lot of excitement and anticipation building. The quilt needs to be posted in early March and that works well for me.

Happy Holidays

2009-12-26T13:48:00.000-08:00

This is one of the charms I received in the swap - I love how old fashioned it looks - its really tiny too so I am pleased how the detail came out with my new camera. This charm was made by Bren at the inspirationinstitute.com

Cardinal

2009-12-22T07:36:00.000-08:00

Two days ago Pat and I saw a bright red cardinal and his taupe wife at the end of the garden. We were very impressed by how red the cardinal was. Today the cardinals were just outside our kitchen door - picking up bits of ice to get the water from them. They were puffed up and beautiful ... but no picture ... sigh

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

2009-12-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

Charms from Saucy Sprinkles Vintage Pink and Aqua and Christmas Swap arrived this morning. WOW. Each charm is so beautiful.

I sound like a broken record but my camera is out of commission again ... Santa do you hear ... I need a new camera ... EDIT - Pictures Added - New Camera is Great

Here are the little lovelies: Lisa: vintage snowman charm - crystal and silver beads

Karol at blogfork.blogspot.com silver snowflake and pink and cream irridescent snowflake

Chandra at wishandwonder.blogspot.com pink and aqua Santa book

Karen at bluemuf.blogspot.com silver christmas tree with aqua star and tiny stars

Deanna: vintage buttons with ribbons and snowflake

Sasha from saucysprinkles.blogspot.com silver snowflakes and the sound of music album with Julie Andrews on the cover - with glitter

Bren at the inspirationinstitute.com a vintage silver button, a bell with vintage santa and a little white dove

Jill from littleneststudio.blogspot.com a silver angel with pink and aqua beads and bows

anonymous: white 3d glittery snowflake
anonymous: sliver ball ornament with aqua bow
Me: silver sleigh bell and vintage reindeer

Thanks everyone!!

I want to put all the charms on the charm bracelet Sasha enclosed right away and wear it tonight. Can you tell I am excited. Truly the charms are so pretty and Christmasy - silver pink and aqua was an inspired theme.

Rain, Rain, Go Away, Come Again Another Day - A little bit of sunshine put to good use

2009-11-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

It rains alot here from November to March - pretty much nearly every day it seems. So its pretty grey and soggy. Its really beautiful weather in the summer - not too hot and usually sunny all day. But right now its wet Wet WET!

One little bit of sunshine has been poking around the living room and has really burst on the scene today. We bought a meyer lemon tree (bush) in a pot that was in flower. It lived on our little balcony this summer and the flowers turned to tiny green lemons (baby finger nail size) but now I have 10 good sized lemons - bright yellow and two green ones working on turning yellow. The fruit is very pretty - smooth skinned and perfectly lemon shaped.

What do you do when life gives you lemons - you make lemonade!! Here is my recipe made up on the spot:

Ingredients

1/2 lemon
3 tsps sugar
1/4 cup water
6 small ice cubes
extra water

Method

Squeeze half a lemon so that all the juice and as much pulp as possible is captured in an 8 oz glass. Add squeezed out skins and ice cubes to fill glass. In a small dish add 3 scant teaspoons of sugar to 1/4 cup of water along with a bit of lemon zest - a few grates is all and microwave on high for 30 seconds. Stir hot mixture to ensure sugar is dissolved. Pour hot mixture over ice cubes, add water to fill glass, stir to mix ingredients and ENJOY!!

Pat and Ian were both surprised how good this was and how much better than our usual frozen canned lemonade. It felt like we were drinking stored summer sunshine in the lemonade.

This brightened up my day - hope it brightens yours.

Flossie's Scrap Fabric Swap

2009-11-06T19:59:00.001-08:00

Flossie wants to make a scrap string quilt using all the colours of the rainbow. It uses a lot of different fabric so she organized a swap with 8 others and by sharing we get a greater variety of fabrics.

Here are my scraps to swap. Most have been tossed into a bag and have been there for awhile - I thought at the time "Ohh this is too big to throw out- may come in handy someday" - well today is the day!

I was really surprised to see how much "scrap" fabric I had squished into a plastic grocery bag - there are enough to make well over 100 6" square blocks!!!

I hope to use the scraps I get for the string blocks in my circle quilt for round 4 of the ORBCQA.

Millefiore Quilt

2009-11-04T20:41:00.000-08:00

This is the fabric I am using as the inspiration for the circle quilt of the ORBCQA. It is a Kaffe Fassett fabric called Millefiore and is in the pastel colourway. It has a 1000 colours in it or at least 11 - pastels with attitude!!!.

The colours include:a mauve, lavender, periwinkle blue, soft spring green, lemony yellow, a salmon tone, an aqua, pure pink,a purple grey, a very light grey and tiny tiny sparks of crimson. It reminds me of coloured swirled glass.

I am participating in a fabric swap hoping to get some of these colours to make the string blocks which use a lot of different fabrics.

This photo is from Hancocks Paducah online fabric store as I still have not got my camera cord fixed.

Shh - Its Halloween

2009-10-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

This has to be the quietest Halloween ever. Only six or seven groups of children have come to the door. There is not even a dent in the bowl of goodies and it is almost 8 pm.

Pat and I carved pumpkins - he did the gory clean out the guts part, provided the ideas for the pumpkins and I did as he commanded. They look pretty good. Pat is out with Ian trick or treating with Softie - who was dressed as Vampire dog but the cape kept falling off.

I dressed up to hand out the treats - a ghoul in purple fancy dress

Most Original...that's my kid

2009-10-30T18:19:00.000-07:00

Patrick won the "Most Original" costume prize in his class today. It makes me laugh he and Matthew come up with the strangest ideas for Halloween costumes.

One year Matthew he wanted to be a skunk but the tail had to huge and held erect and sway. Another year he gave me directions on making his costume that included a fur covered head and a plastic tentacle like arm. I don't know if it actually had a name but it was just what he wanted. This year Matthew is organizing a Halloween party in Edinbourgh and he is going as Zombie Jesus.

Patrick's idea this year was "Bedtime". He wore his black soccer tights and undershirt and black gloves and then inserted himself between 2 pillows in a pillow case so his body was covered by the pillow. He wore slippers and a night cap and carried a teddy bear with a small pillow around his neck that said "Now I lay me down to sleep."

Picture to go here.

Zig Zag and Wonky Quilt Along Status

2009-10-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

I have finished the zig zag quilt top and a little border to go around it. It went together well and I love the dash of red and the flannel backing. It will be a very cozy quilt for Pat. I wanted to do a puffy quilt as per Pat's request and planned to make the quilt as a duvet cover but did not like how floppy the top was so I tried to quilt the top to the comforter but my machine could not handle that. So I have sandwiched the quilt with two thin layers of batting. Now to quilt it. I am still mulling over what kind of stitching pattern to do - straight line I think - but following along the zigs and zags. It looks great on Pat's new bed and with the IKEA fabric of his window valance.

Pat had a great deal of input into this quilt - both solicited and non-solicited!!! He wanted a cuddly quilt that was red ad white and black. I pulled fabrics from my stash and he discarded the "flowery" ones and kept telling me to pick the simpler patterns. We went shopping and he picked the red flannel which I think makes the quilt pop. I was going to do the zigs with a variety of fabrics but he wanted one fabric per row. Now that it is done I think all his choices were the right ones and it made the quilt his. I also love that he was so sure of his wishes - no going back - no second guessing - just clear direction - do this - do that. He also kept me going on the quilt with his enthusiasm and reminders to work away.

I hope to get the quilting done this weekend and the binding and washing next week.

The zig zag quilt is the Old Red Barn Company Quilt Along Round 2, Amy of Park City Girl led this round and provide an excellent tutorial to follow along. These virtual quilt alongs are great because I get my sewing done in "off peak" moments when real time classes are not run, but still can call upon or participate with other quilters from around the world.

Photos to be added here.

Round 3 is the wonky block quilt along led by Quilt Dad. He showed us how to make 3 different kinds of wonky blocks. The process is quite simple but I found this round challenging for several reasons. I wanted to finish the zig zag quilt first so my head would be free but it took me longer than I planned so I began to think about this quilt too much. I am using black fabrics for my son Devon and they are hard to see to sew together. And the big kickers - you need to be spontaneous to pick fabrics at random to make it up as you go along - that is very hard for me. I am a planner and I plan so I had to get over this. And lastly you have to cut off part of fabric that you have sewn - arrggh this felt like wastage of lovely fabric. I cut up some strips and hated how they looked - too random.

Two days ago I sat down and just willed my way through making blocks and made 5 and a half. I used wider strips of fabric and only 3 rounds instead of 4 or 5 but I really like how they are coming along and made 4 blocks today. I think I need to make 42 blocks for a queen size quilt top so I am nearly one quarter along. So many of the quilt along participants have finished and round 4 is about to start so I want to keep making blocks this week.

More photos to be added here

Pay It Forward

2009-10-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

Rachel at Crafty Sauce was looking for some people to play pay it forward and so I joined in. She is still looking for another player so check out her site(http://craftysauce.blogspot.com)

If you would like to receive a handmade gift from me, and are willing to make and send a handmade gift along to three of your blog readers, please let me know in my comments. Once you accept, you will receive something from me within 365 days. In turn, you will have 365 days to fulfill your end of the bargain.

I would love to make a quilted something for 3 of you!!!

So all I need is three of you to tell me that you want in. Let me know!

Pumpkin & Spice Fabric Giveawy

2009-10-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin Patch Primitive Fabrics is giving away a Bundle of Red Rooster's Pumpkins & Spice Fabrics by Whimsicals. The bundle includes every fabric in the line with the exception of the panel. That means the prize is 27 Fat quarters!!!

If you want to enter, you will need to have a blog AND post a link to the giveaway and let them know you learned about it here. To count your entry you must have a link to Pumpkin Patches blog... not a blogroll, it must be an actual post about the giveaway.

So go on over to Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe's blog to enter at:
http://pumpkinpatchprimitivequiltshoppe.blogspot.com/

If the entries reach 250, a second bundle goes in the pot and there will be TWO winners, one bundle for each!
If there are 350 or more entries a $100 Gift certificate to the Pumpkin Patch will be added as a third prize.

The winner will be picked on Halloween - timely eh? Have fun with this

13 Bootiful Treasures

2009-10-14T16:11:00.000-07:00

Saucy's Halloween Charm swap arrived today it included a bracelet and charms provided by the following swappers:

sweetsassystudio.blogspot.com - pumpkin, pie and chocolate - yum

roostreehouse.typepad.com - spiders, black cat, silver cat, flame, lime and orange balls - fun

Saucyssprinkles.blogspot.com - Halloween pin, mini chocolate bars, skeleton head, cupcake - eclectic

lifewiththeks.blogspot.com - vintage halloween card - beautiful

scoopfrommamee.blogspot.com - neon spider and trick or treat basket with goodies - cool

Sue - orange glass pumpkin with amber beads - happy

Tiffany - candy corn on black disk - elegant

Sharon - pumpkin, bats on lime and witches hat - contemporary

Linda - silver jointed skeleton - frightfully scary

Maureen - silver cat and amber bead - detailed

Doreen - black and silver bat - classic

Sandra - Silver and black Boo blocks - jingly

Melinda - skeleton on scrabble block with silver leaf - unusual

Extra - Wicked in silver frame, google ring and bubble yum - surprize

Loved each and every one - ladies thank you so much!!

Photo's to follow

Material Obsession

2009-09-11T12:15:00.000-07:00

On our little holiday I purchased "Material Obsession" by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke. This morning after Pat left for school I wandered over with Softie to Little Nest a neighbourhood cafe to have breakfast, enjoy the sun and read this book about modern quilts with traditional roots.

Breakfast included poached eggs with shaved parmesan, baguette, green beans with lemon anchovy vinaigrette and a bread pudding muffin with chocolate, pistachio and fresh cherry. Heaven - need to do a post on Little Nest another day.

Having spent a fair bit of time quilting and thinking about quilting it was delightful to read this inspiring book. The authors give really good advice about getting into quilt making and their patterns are wonderful.

What touched me the most was the underlying encouragement to do what you felt like doing and that "quilting does not have to be about boundaries" and to have a great time while doing it.

Kaffe Fassett's forward to the book recognizes that quilting can be a large canvass for expressing the emotions of our lives and he goes on to say "in order for many of us to do this on a level that communicates with others, we need a great deal of encouragement and confidence building. So true.

I have been so fortunate to have stumbled on Joy's Hope blog that led me to Dana's Old Red Barn Quilt Along, then creating the strawberry quilt as part Dana's Rail Fence , then working on Amy Parker's Zig Zag quilt and now getting ready, gearing up to do John Cary's Wonky Blocks.

The Old Red Barn Quilt Along is the epitome of the best of the quilting community that provides that needed encouragement and confidence building. I have "met" lovely people around the world who share an interest in quilting through this group. The personalities are so different but the support and encouragement is universal.

I will figure out how to do the links to Joy's Hope and the ORBQA and post them here so you can see what I mean.

It is amazing.

Salt Spring Island - A Great Break

2009-09-11T11:53:00.001-07:00

Roses

2009-08-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

This is an amazing rose. It has been treated to have rainbow coloured petals. On some leve it is so artificial but Pat was fascinated by it so we bought one. It HAS been fascinating to see it open and have the new colours emerge. Its growing on me.

BUT how did the grower create this effect???

Jennifer Paganelli - Generous Gifter and Fabric Queen

2009-08-13T19:50:00.003-07:00

Jennifer Paganelli left a comment on my blog which surprised and pleased me no end and then - then - sent me 4 fat quarters of her beautiful fabric!! It arrived today and Pat volunteered to open the package for me - much tearing and tossing of paper ensured and then Pat said, Oh this is nice, you will like it and gave me the fabric. Yes, I like it. Yes, I LOVE it!! Now what to make with it - my head is spinning with ideas.

Jennifer designs Sis Boom for Free Spirit. Her designs are feminine and fresh and lend themselves for use in clothes and home decor as well as quilts. The fabric has a lovely hand - it feels soft and silky but is strong. This is fabric to stroke and dream over and will be a delight to sew.

Thank you so much Jennifer.

Picture to follow when I get batteries for camera...sorry

Happy Birthday Matthew

2009-08-13T19:50:00.001-07:00

Matthew was born early in the morning on August 13 1984. Happy 25th birthday!!

With Matthew I started on the wonderful journey, voyage, safari experience of motherhood. He was such a beautiful baby who grew into an inquisitive creative child, a moody teenager and then blossomed into a very interesting man with eclectic interests.

It truly feels like just the other day that I marveled at his perfect amazing smallness and vulnerability and the infusion of love as I held him for the first time. Now I look up to his 6 foot 2 or is it 3 height and marvel at his capability, strength and intelligence and the love deepens.

Matthew is quick to remind me that I made all my mothering mistakes with him as he was my first born and he is right I did learn on the job. He is, however, his own person and for that I am so grateful and proud of him as he finds his way in the world.

Ketchup

2009-07-24T20:06:00.000-07:00

Time has passed and I want to capture some of the good things that have happened. A bit stream of consciousness.

Visit with Sasha - of Saucy Sprinkles was in town last week from Saskatoon and we got together for a coffee that turned into a drink and a heartfelt chat about our children, education, blogs, women, authority, funny things and challenges we have faced. The time flew by and it was a delight to meet in person this really special kind woman - who brought cupcakes!!

Old Red Barn Company Quilt Along - gee this has meant a lot to me. So many women have participated in this quilt along and supported each other. We have different learning styles, beliefs, colour preferences, etc., but share so much. I am blown away by how wonderful the quilts are.

I am a bit stuck on the actual quilting of my quilt but will have some time next week when Pat is at daycamp to sew.

Zig Zag Quilt Along - This is another project I am looking forward to and am pleased with my design for it, Patrick helped with the fabric selection and boy was he right!! It will be a quilt for him.

Garden - The tomatoes are growing and so are the herbs and we picked weeds out of the patio. Ive spent a bit of time on the hammock and its been a delight to sway back and forth. Our neighbour has raspberries and some of the plants have migrated to our side of the fence and we have been very appreciative of the sun warmed berries off the plant and into our mouths. I planted a blueberry bush and it has not done so well - maybe next year. The blueberries have been plentiful in the store and I have made some clafouti and muffins which were big hits.

First Quilt and what I have learned...

2009-07-10T22:40:00.000-07:00

Camille at Simplify is hosting a parade of quilts where participants blog about their first quilt and their most recent quilt and what they have learned.

Its going way back but my first quilt attempt was from a pattern in Woman's Day or Family Circle magazine in maybe 1980. I thought it was so cool - cylinders of fabric stuffed to make rows and rows of rows. Very modern. I bought fabric and stuffing and began sewing without following the directions - just sort of winging it. It was a total disaster. I did make another attempt and pieced a throw size top but could not figure out how to get the stuffed look and it sat un-quilted forever. Sorry no photos of those sorry experiences.

In 1984 I made a quilt for my first born - Matthew - I designed a swan applique framed by pale blue eyelet quilt top and made it into a duvet cover for his crib. There are lots of wonky bits because I made it up but oh how I love this quilt. It just brings back how little my son was and how much I loved being a mother and especially being his mother. I will take a picture of it and post it tomorrow. Gee I am all choked up just thinking about it.

In 2000 I made a real quilt for my last born - Patrick - I took a quilting class and was pleased to finish it for his birth. It has a teddy bear for each of his brothers and sisters and lots of hearts incorporated into it. I put a lot of effort and time into it which contributed to a little sibling rivalry. Matthew (aged nearly 16 then) expressed concern that I had not made him a quilt and when I brought out the swan quilt to show him he sort of mumbled: "Well what have you done for me lately???"

I asked if he wanted me to make him a quilt and he said sure but doubted I would deliver. I could not let the challenge go by and so took another class to make a sampler quilt in secret for him. I learned so much from Helen and am forever grateful for her guidance. The blocks were pieced by hand over a year and I was sooo, sooo slow, finally Helen said machine quilt them together. I could not get the blocks to be the same size and she said - we are not going for perfection - we are going for delight. Then I prevailed with quilting the top with a regular machine - stitch in the ditch - it was torture - lots of bunching and ripping out and doing over. I finished the quilt for Matt's 18th birthday and he was totally, totally surprised, blown away and happy.

And so I have progressed and persevered and learned a lot, including:

fabric is seductive, and addictive
creating ideas for new projects is enervating and engaging
mistakes, flaws and revising are necessary to appreciate your mettle as a person
finishing quilts is a struggle with so many new temptations to begin new projects
incredible satisfaction and peace accompanies a completed quilt and you see it wasn't that hard afterall
the quilting community is incredibly generous and supportive

My newest finished quilt will be my strawberry quilt from Dana's Old Red Barn Co. Quiltalong - only 5 weeks to make or Cait's - 3 years in the making. Which will it be???

Happy Canada Day, eh!

2009-07-01T10:41:00.001-07:00

This is a yummy layered jello dessert . This first attempt had me searching for a conversion between grams and ounces. I would make more layers now that I have got the hang of it - very easy actually.

Have yourself a great Canada Day! We are off to see the new playground at Pat's school.

Strawberries

2009-06-23T19:09:00.001-07:00

This Father's Day we went to a u-pick berry farm.

We picked very ripe and very small berries bursting with flavour.

I made rhubarb and strawberry jan and strawberry jam - neither of which set - berries were probably too ripe.

Also made strawberry Ice cream and crepes with strawberries, cream cheese and maple syrup and strawberry smoothies.

We had strawberries in our cereal and strawberries with milk and strawberries straight.

YUM!!

Monkey Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing

2009-06-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

Pat's Soccer Team (Portugal)is having the last games of the playoffs tomorrow and I said I would bring cupcakes. Here they are in the team colours - Yeah Team!!

These are also posted for Saucy's Virtual Cupcake Saturday. Saucy is very creative and is having a cupcake baking class that I would love to attend (too far - boohoo)but she has opened it up so we can link our blogs and see what those that can't make it to the class have done.

The cupcakes taste delicious if you can get past the intense look of the icing - its what my little guy wanted and he thinks they are perfect. He was really intrigued by the gel food colours so I have hidden them away. He wanted to use them in his bath but we compromised and he had dark green milk instead.

Monkey Cupcakes
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour muffin tin or use silicone or paper cup liners.

In a large bowl combine and mix the following ingredients:

1 cup of flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 teaspoon baking powder

In a small bowl combine and mix the following ingredients very well:

1 large ripe mashed banana
2 tablespoons plain or vanilla yoghurt
One beaten egg
¼ cup of milk
¾ teaspoons of vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Add half of the banana mixture and 5 tablespoons of butter to the flour mixture. Mix until the flour mixture is moistened and gradually mix in the remaining banana mixture. You may need to add in a bit more milk but the dough is a bit stiff.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups and cook for approximately 20 minutes. Cupcakes will be golden brown. Cool and frost cupcakes with buttercream icing.

Buttercream Icing

Mix 2 cups of icing sugar, ¼ cup of butter, ½ teaspoon vanilla and dashes of cream until frosting is spreadable.

ENJOY!!

I really need to do something about this

2009-06-17T13:44:00.001-07:00

Stay Tuned - Deconstruction underway - A new improved version coming soon. (I hope)

Devon has been using our guest room/craft room and in a cathartic response to his move to Toronto I have emptied my fabric cabinet with a view to re-organize the room. Its been two weeks and it actually looks worse in person but I am keeping the door closed - out of sight out of mind. I know - I really need to do something about this and I will, soon, I promise.

Thanks Devon

2009-06-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

Devon came out at Christmas and has stayed with us to help out with Patrick while Ian and I worked. He has been a delight to have around because he is so easy going and has such a calming influence. He is also hilarious - he should write comedy because he can come out with a quip so fast and so unexpected you fall down laughing from the humour. Really.

Patrick has gained a spot in the school daycare and so Devon is returning to Toronto to seek his fortune or at least a minimum wage job. Definitely will be playing paintball and may breakdown and get a new vest. It will be black and have lots of pockets. He will not wear a coat unless its a serious blizzard but wears his vest year round.

Devon has taken such good care of Patrick and is stricter with him then we are and way more fun. Its amazing to hear him help Pat with homework and to see him teach Patrick how to behave and act responsibly - he was listening and taking to heart the things I said after all. He is a wonderful son and has grown up into a fine young man. He will be a great dad.

I miss him but am glad he is making his own way on his terms.

Red

2009-06-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

I am not a big fan of red for me - its intense and bold not really me at all. I like blue and green - calm and peaceful. But I love red in its place - strawberries, our Canadian Flag, candy canes and on Patrick - its his favourite colour.

Patrick embodies intense and bold - Red is his colour.

Pat was delighted to be part of the Red Team - to wear red and to decorate and ride his red bike at his school's sport day.

See what I mean.

ORBQ Quilt Top and Backing

2009-06-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Here are my quilt top and backing for the quilt I am working on as part of Old Red Barn Quilt Along. Liking the quilt and the process very much - have "met" some really interesting people around the world who share an interest in quilting. I find it amazing that with the same pattern so much diversity is being created. Even when some have used the same fabric the quilts are different and all are beautiful. What a lesson for us all - we can be the same and different and beautiful in our own unique way.

I'm also struck by how much we worry and wonder about our choices but we keep working on fueled by our desire to create and by the incredible fellowship offered in support of each other.

With a cupboard full of fabric (understatement) I am so thankful for the opportunity to use some of it and to see one little dream of mine along its way to be realized.

Now on to the actual quilting...wish me luck

And how do you mitre corners anyway?

What is your word?

2009-06-15T19:53:00.000-07:00

Take the quiz at
http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyourwordquiz/
and find out what your word is.

My word is "Love"

You see life as possibility to form deep connections with a few people.

Relationships are the center of your world, and you always take time to bond with those you love.

You are caring and giving. You enjoy helping those you love.

And when it comes to romantic love, you feel passionately ... even in a very long term relationship.

Blocks Ready to Sew Together

2009-06-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

Week Three - Blocks

2009-06-03T20:18:00.001-07:00

I have been sewing the strips and cutting the blocks this week. I made a trip to Fabric land and found some adorable red gingham fabric with ants that I thought would make a great border but when I got it home the red was too pinky - still a very cute fabric. But I also bought some green striped fabric that looks like a pretty good border contender. I will decide on a border when I have the top together.

Its been fascinating to follow the flickr group that Old Red Barn set up - so many people have joined and so many different quilts are being created. Truly amazing.

I am loving this!!!

Old Red Barn Quilt Along and Giveaway

2009-05-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

Dana is having a quilt along on her blog based on a quilt she made last year and gave away. Dana has a thing for quilt give aways!!

The quilt along is expected to take six weeks: and I am participating.
Week 1: Gathering of supplies.

I used fabric I had on hand and had most of the supplies – except the scissors are not just for fabric and so were dull, the rotary cutter had a piece missing, my pins are needles and I don’t have a pin cushion

One of the best parts of quilting for me is picking the fabrics. I have a few strawberry fabrics that have been buzzing in my brain for sometime and this seems like a great opportunity to use them. The fabrics I am using are:

Karen Jarrar for Marcus Brothers - Large Strawberries

Flower Fairies by the Woodrow Studio © the estate of Cicely Mary Barker 2002 – Strawberry Check and the Strawberry Fairies

Kaye’s Kitchen by Kaye England – Strawberries

Timeless Treasures Fabrics, Inc Patt #Kidz-C4386 - remind me of strawberry vines

I have this backing fabric in mind but may pick something else. (Sorry - it has no identifying info)

Week 2: Cutting the fabric.

The blocks are 12 inches by 12 inches finished and each block is made up of five 12.5 by 2.5 inch pieces.

It looks like the blocks are made up of various fabrics but we will know better when the directions for next week are posted on Monday. I am using five fabrics instead of 12 and am making a smaller quilt with 20 blocks instead of 35 blocks.

I did a little diagram to help me figure out the cutting layout to reduce wastage and to compensate for making a smaller quilt. Sure hope I calculated properly in cutting the fabric.
Week 3: Sewing the blocks and trimming them to size.

I did week 1 and week 2 work on Friday so I will be starting week 3 work on Monday

Week 4: Assembly of quilt top.
Sometimes I get stuck at this point but I purposefully planned for the quilt to be a smaller project s it would be more manageable.
Week 5: Quilting the top, batting and backing
Sigh...this is where I usually get stalled. I am hoping that by having internet buddies working on their projects I will be encouraged enough to keep going.

Week 6: Binding
I will chose binding fabric when the quilt is pieced.

Each week Dana will give full instructions and then we will have the week to get it done. Dana says; "Easy enough, right?"

Also, each week Dana will give away quilting related stuff that corresponds to that week's work.

At the end of 6 weeks participants should each have a completed quilt.

Give away

AND at the end of 6 weeks Dana is giving away: "the big daddy of all prizes . . . a Janome 6600P sewing machine."

Silver Linings and a Giveaway

2009-05-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

Am going through some challenging times at the moment but the good news silver lining is that I will be able to spend more time at home, with Pat and sewing.

I have been making a birthday bunting banner that has been stalled for a bit until I find the right shade of purple to finish the appliqued letters.

More time means more time for blogging and today I stumbled across Julie's wonderful blog Joy's Hope

Please read Joy's Story it helps put life's challenges in perspective. Julie has an etsy shop and it has beautiful flowers she made listed.

AND there is a giveaway on Joy's Hope for a banner (How coincidental is that?!!) made by Trish of Daisys and Dots http://daisysanddots.blogspot.com/

So, how can you win your choice of super awesome bunting?

Go to http://www.joyshope.com

and see all the options... Here is one of the buntings you could win.

Found At Last

2009-05-17T18:32:00.001-07:00

I have been searching for these photos forever and now they are found!!

These are the quilts I made for Matthew and my cousin's baby girl a few years ago.

Matthew's quilt is a twin size sampler quilt and the blocks are pieced by hand. I call the baby quilt down the Fairy Lane. I think the blocks in this quilt are called Sister's Choice. They are machine pieced and frame a lovely fairy fabric.

Sunday Breakfast - Finnish Pancakes

2009-05-17T10:15:00.000-07:00

I was stumbling early this morning and found a recipe for Finnish Pancakes;http://www.omnomicon.com/finnish-pancakes. Aleta got the recipe from the Massachusetts Poultry Association, Inc.

Finnish Pancakes
4 tbsp butter, melted
4 eggs
2 c milk
1/2 c flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 450oF, and pour the melted butter into a 9″x13″ baking pan. (I put the butter in the baking dish while the oven preheated) and took the pan out when the butter had melted and was slightly bubbly)

I whisked the eggs until well-blended and then whisked in the milk, flour, sugar and salt with the eggs. I poured the mixture into the pan with butter making sure to get the floury bits at the bottom of the mixing bowl into the pan. I baked it for 20 minutes. The edges were nicely browned and the top was light golden. The pancake puffed up quite a bit in the oven and then deflated when taken out.

I cut the pancake into four and served each piece with thinly sliced granny smith apple pieces dipped in lemon and sprinkled lightly with cinnamon sugar and then generously drizzled maple syrup over it all.

This was delicious - very light souffle, eggy like confection. Very easy to make too.

Bowen Island

2009-05-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

It took us forever to get on our way on Saturday - housework, laundry, a god trip to Trout Lake Farmer's Market to buy herbs but around 2pm we were at Horseshoe Bay waiting for the ferry.

We arrived on Bowen island and visited the toy store where we bought bristol board for Pat's school project and a baseball bat. The storekeeper suggested we go to Tuscan restaurant for dinner so we made reservations and then headed to the beach. We explored the beach for a couple of hours. Pat went swimming brr brr and more brr but he loved it. Watched crabs scramble under rocks, found cool rocks and admired the driftwood.

Dinner was a delight. We got the chef's table which meant the table beside the serving counter next to the open kitchen. Christophe Langlois is the chef owner At first Pat was tired and crabby and hungry and complained that he did not like anything on the menu....then the kitchen staff plated several dinners for other guests and Pat asked the waiter what they were. He explained them and Pat chose homemade fettuccine pasta with mussels, oysters, halibut, scallops and pommodori sauce. It was huge. He was in heaven with every bite and kept sighing and exclaiming how good it was as he shoveled the food in.

We had a great bruschetta with avocado, cheese, tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I had halibut on fettuccine with a saffron, asparagus and tomato sauce and Ian had a pizza and pernot. Everything was so delicious.

Pat had triple berry white chocolate creme brule and it was an educational experience. The chef showed the new kitchen staff how to use the blow torch and turn the dish just so to get the right level of "brule" Pat stood to watch and pronounced the dish perfect. The chef came over to speak with us and Pat gave him two thumbs up which made the chef laugh.

The chef told us he really enjoyed Pat seeing eating his dinner and that several other guests ordered the dish because Pat was so clearly ecstatic. (Pat also ate I/3 of my supper - must be another growth spurt)

http://www.tuscanypizza.com/

I knew you were coming and I baked a cake

2009-05-17T09:15:00.000-07:00

Cait and Pat had so much fun goofing around!!

2009-05-17T09:04:00.001-07:00

Secret Agents

2009-05-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

Garden Time

2009-05-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

It is so beautiful in Vancouver and so lush with vegetation. Our garden is just a small example of verdant Vancouver. The previous owner was a landscape architect and the garden is packed even though he took quite a few plants with him.

Leaving the Nest

2009-05-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

Cait is here for a week after the end of her school term and we have had a great time. One of the highlights was our trip to Whistler and Devon, Cait and even Pat went bungee jumping. It was Cait's idea but Devon was up for it too.

Devon just ran and jumped off the platform - it really looked as if he was flying. Cait jumped and swung wildly - they both said it was a real rush of feeling and then the swinging was fun. At first I did not want Pat to do this. It was terrifying to watch Devon and Cait fall over 150 feet, I could never let myself just go like that. They were so enthusiastic about it after the fall and said Pat would love it. He was beyond keen to try - no fear in him! He was so focused on the instructions his teachers would not believe it if they saw him. They holstered him up and counted down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and he stepped off into nothingness and spread his arms wide to fall freely. He was so pumped after being hauled up.

I asked Pat what it was like and he said "At first I got a tingly feeling in my privates and it felt weird with the first drop. Then the swings back and forth and up and down were SO FUN!!! He has been wearing his bungee t shirt ever since.

The 3 images here are by Whistler Bungee and were included in the CD they gave us.

April Fools from the past paid off in the future

2009-04-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

See the lovely book I won -

Its from a "contest" from Posie Gets Cozy, a blog I really enjoy. Alicia (blog and book author) asked for funny enagement stories and mine was Number 5 of 10 selected from nearly 400 entries.

Here is my story as titled by Alicia:

Note to Self: Check Calendar First

We got engaged after my exams at the end of second year and phoned home all excited and giddy to let my mother know our good news. She had a strange reaction - was not pleased at all. She told me to stop with the joking around and that it was not funny.

I insisted we were serious and she said,"So this is not an April Fools joke?" and I thought,"OMG is it April 1st ?" and then I turned to my boyfriend and said, "April Fools"? feeling suddenly sick and that maybe he was pulling a joke on me. He mistook my reaction and said "April Fools!!!" looking stricken, thinking I was telling him that my acceptance had been a joke. But then I really thought he was pulling a very unfunny joke on me.

Both of us thought the other was fooling around. It was terribly confusing, sort of like an Abbott and Costello routine. We sorted it out eventually, but everyone we told also thought it was a joke.

No one believed us...Do not get engaged or tell people about it on April 1st. But most people know that don't they!!!

Go on over and check out Posie gets Cosy for the other funny stories - I really like the dog and weiner story!!

Figaro's Garden

2009-03-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

Spring!!

2009-03-21T15:40:00.000-07:00

Today is a beautiful spring day in Vancouver. Pat and I took Softie for a walk with camera in hand. (The dock has been found-it just came to me to ask Devon to look in the wicker baskets in the bedroom cupboard and there was all the camera equipment - mystery solved)

The violas and crocus are from our yard.
We had fun at the park and then walking along Commercial Drive, having brunch at Little Nest and more park time.

The spring tulips are at Figaro's garden - Pat took this photo.

Pat is a dog lover and at the park we always meet nice dogs to romp with Softie. Pat was the dog photographer today.

Our Softie

Mack

Teddy

Charlie

2009-03-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

Ian and I celebrated our birthday with a little two day stay at Point No Point resort outside of Sooke BC on Vancouver Island. It was beautiful. The resort has 25 cabins — all with kitchens, fireplaces and stunning ocean views perched high above the shoreline on 40 acres of rugged, west coast waterfront. You can hike the trails to several private beaches or across a log bridge to the rocky point. There is also a private beach house at the eastern most trail where you can tuck in out of the rain and warm yourself next to the fire. The western edge of the resort is bounded by Jacob's Creek which flows on to a boulder beach.

We stayed in Cabin C - Hummingbird with a fireplace in the living area, full kitchen and bathroom, a queen size bed and private hot tub on the deck, looking out over the ocean and mountains. We had wonderful meals in the Tea Room restaurant and good hikes along the beach. It was mini vacation that we really enjoyed.
(photos from www.pointnopointresort.com)

Star Wars Supper

2009-03-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

Matthew gave Patrick the Star Wars Cook Book II for Christmas and out of the blue Patrick wanted to make the Darth Malt. Delicious! Then we made Sando Aqua Monster Soup for dinner with Sith Slush to drink and Annakin's Apple Crisp for dessert. Pat did most of the preparation of the recipes and it was great to see him so focused and on task. We added udon noodles to make the soup a little more substantial for dinner. These are all "keeper" recipes according to Pat. I would agree. Great book for Star War Lovers of any age. This is also an especially great book for cooking with boys. The pages are plastic coated - how smart is that?!! Kudos to creators Frankie Frankeny and Wesley Martin.

My Mind is Purple

2009-03-09T20:09:00.001-07:00

A friend at work was discussing how people solve problems and referring to colours that categorized the different ways of thinking. I found a little online survey about it and it told me my mind is Purple....

Of all the mind types, yours is the most idealistic.
You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense.
Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries.

You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

What colour is your mind?

http://www.blogthings.com/whatcolorisyourmindquiz/

Happy Valentine's Day from Mrs. Staggs

2009-03-09T18:55:00.001-07:00

One of the blogs I really enjoy is authored by Lena Staggs and she had a valentine swap which I participated and has just posted about it. Check out A Happy Miscellany in my blog list to see the wonderful tiny submissions. They are amazing!!! Lena made the heart in hand and it is very tiny and very sweet. Pat wants to use it on his miniature Christmas tree but I am posting it on my inspiration board until Christmas rolls around. I drew a little bluebird and enclosed a tiny valentine in a pouch on the back of the card I made Lena. It has been so long since I drew anything and it felt really good. Thanks for the opportunity to be a little creative. The photos are by Lena - my camera is out of commission - meaning out of batteries and I can't find the charger - so I am especially pleased to have these photos.

Pumpkin Pie

2009-02-21T08:36:00.000-08:00

We like Pie. Here is Cait with pies (and brownies) she made for me to take on a staff retreat.

Beth from Acorn Collective asked for a recipe for pumpkin pie. This is Ian's mother's recipe for a nice light pie filling. She served it at Thanksgiving. It is Ian's and Pat's favourite kind of pie. The pie crust recipe is from my friend Liz and it is her mother's recipe. The method of mixing the ingredients is critical to its success. I have used it for over 30 years - (it cant be that long!!!) Both mothers have passed on and its comforting that passing on these recipes keeps a bit of them still with us.

Pie Crust

2 cups flour
2/3 cups shortening
I tsp salt
1/2 cup of milk (You may not need all the milk)

Put flour in a large bowl. Put shortening into the bowl with the flour and cut the shortening into 4 pieces and then cut each of those pieces into 4 pieces and then cut each again into 4 pieces. Then with clean hands thumb the flour and shortening mixture over your fingers until the mixture resembles little grains. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time - important just add enough of the milk for the flour to form a ball and handle dough lightly. Pat dough into a ball, flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and cool in the fridge for half an hour. Roll cooled dough out on floured surface. Place rolled dough into pie pan and cook at 375 degrees fahrenheit until faintly golden brown at edges.

Pumpkin Pie

I large tin of pumpkin
3 cups of cooled scalded milk (I don't always scald the milk)
2 cups of brown sugar
6 eggs - separated
I tsp cinnamon (I use a heaping teaspoon)
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp allspice (I have never found this)
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt

Mix sugar, pumpkin and spices together. Add in egg yolks, then cooled scalded milk, to pumpkin mixture.
Beat egg whites until stiff and then fold gently into pumpkin mixture. Pour pumpkin mixture into lightly cooked pie shell.

Bake for 10 minutes at 420 degrees fahrenheit then lower temperature to 375 degrees fahrenheit and bake for 35 or 40 minutes.

Serve with whipped cream.

Up and At 'Em

2009-02-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

Sunday was a better day. I read more with Pat, cleaned up the kitchen, made a really good dinner of meat stuffed cannelloni with tomato and béchamel sauce and two pumpkin pies. Yum!! Pat and I also watched Nim's island video and we really enjoyed that. Pat also addressed 8 of his 24 valentines. Way to go.

Today was good too. I want to make a few valentines and started on that tonight. Devon helped me sort out an etsy account and paypal - he thinks I'm a dinosaur -but I am learning to evolve. What gets catches me up is remembering the passwords.

I did a bit of work on the craft room and Ian worked on the office.

Its so beautiful here...the sun was shining and there was a light dusting of snow on the mountains - just so beautiful.

Seeking Balance But Stumbling

2009-02-08T08:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I did not get up off the couch...I was glued to the computer...Stumbling....

The night before all kinds of good resolutions were made about what I really wanted to do this weekend.
Read Inkspell to Patrick,
Call Caitlin,
Put some order into the craftroom,
Make a nice dinner,
Make valentines,
Do some baking,
Clean up the pile of stuff in the hall, and
Check out what is left to do in the office

I started off fine with calling Cait and read a chapter of Inkspell to Pat but he had to keep nudging me as I was so dozy. (Must be those 12 to 14 hour days at work) and then I just did nothin, nada, rien ... except stumble

Amazing how I could spend all day and night reading about the wonderful things others were doing that I would like to do and could do but I actually did nothing. Give my head a shake!!!

February 2009

2009-02-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

Where has the time gone??? January has simply disappeared.

Cait has gone back to university and likes her new place.

Matt has flown out to London and has taken the train to Edinburgh. He called the english countryside scenery "ridiculously pretty." Mat is planning to get a job and work in Edinburgh for a year - what an adventure lies ahead for him.

Devon is staying with us and helping out with Patrick. I hope he uses some of his time here to learn to drive.

Patrick and Ian have been skiing/snowboarding on early dismissal Fridays and enjoying themselves. The snow has disappeared in Vancouver but condtions are great in the mountains.

We have cleaned out the laundry/storage room and made it more usable as an office for Ian. The last piece of work is to relocate the laundry appliances to our main bathroom and to the apartment bathroom and then we should be set. My fingers are crossed that it will work out.

Work has been very busy but I have found some time over Christmas and on the weekend to work on the quilt I have been making Caitlin. It started off as a twin size quilt but now she has a queen bed so I created some borders to make it wide enough. Thankfully I had some extra material and am pleased with how it is turning out. LOL I can't sew a straight line that is for sure - but I am so happy to be sewing again.

Still looking for our camera dock - when its found I can post some photos.

Today was a good day - Pat was thrilled to have a friend over, I made chocolate brownie cookies with almonds, and a really good sausage casserole from Happy Loves Rosie's blog and watched Waterhorse with Patrick this evening.

Oh my!! I just found an old blog entry where I had promised Cait to have the quilt finshed for Christmas - 2007 - hope I make Valentines 2009!! Here are some photos from October 2007 - showing the fabric and the quilt before the new borders have been added.

Club Little House Reveal and Thank You

2009-01-11T10:02:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve the much anticipated package from Amy arrived containing 12 little gifts. I love each and every one!

Happy Holidays

2008-12-28T11:43:00.000-08:00

Pat took this photo of what he called the angel when we were out Christmas shopping. She has a lovely tranquil expressions but it made me laugh because she was modeling lingerie which Pat seemed to miss completely. The red house is across the street from ours and shows the huge amount of snow we received over Christmas

CLH update - getting warm

2008-12-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

Delivery status -
Your item arrived at the delivery Post Office in CANADA at 9:11 AM on December 23, 2008.
At Foreign Delivery Unit, December 23, 2008, 9:11 am, CANADA
Out of Foreign Customs, December 23, 2008, 3:49 am, CANADA

CLH Are we there yet?

2008-12-19T12:24:00.000-08:00

The Club Little House contributions left Amy's place and are on their way to destinations across the United States, Canada, Uk and Finland. I got a tracking notice and it is exciting and pretty neat that progress can be tracked. Heres the status of the parcel on its way to me.

Into Foreign Customs, December 19, 2008, 10:07 am, CANADA
Arrived Abroad, December 19, 2008, 10:07 am, CANADA
International Dispatch, December 17, 2008, 8:32 pm, FOREIGN CENTERJERSEY CITY NJ 099
Electronic Shipping Info Received, December 15, 2008

I can hardly wait....

Devon's Wish List

2008-12-03T19:18:00.000-08:00

i dont need or want anything... but you guys do owe me some moola :P

Caitlin's Christmas Wish List

2008-12-03T19:08:00.000-08:00

Caitlin’s Christmas List

Dexter Season 1 and 2
Gossip Girl Season 1
Grey’s Anatomy Season 4
Private Practice Season 1
Pushing Daisies Season 1
21 DVD
Across The Universe DVD
Atonement DVD
August Rush DVD
Becoming Jane DVD
Bucket List DVD
Definitely, Maybe DVD
Juno DVD
P.S. I Love You DVD
Sweeny Todd DVD
The Other Boleyn Girl DVD
First 2 books in Twilight Series (Twilight and New Moon, I have the others)
Gift Certificates (Chapters, Clothing Stores, Loblaws, etc.)
Wool (fun colours)

Christmas Came Early

2008-12-01T18:58:00.000-08:00

Ian gave me an early Christmas present at dinner tonight: The Best Christmas - 3CD pack with 75 Recordings I love it - this is the music I remember being played at home when I was a kid - a little nostalgia with my hot chocolate!!

Disc 1

White Christmas - Bing Crosby
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Judy Garland
The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas To You) - Nat 'King' Cole
Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town - Frank Sinatra
Sleigh Ride - Leroy Anderson AND HIS Orchestra
Here Comes Santa Claus - Doris Day
Winter Wonderland - Perry Como
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Woody Herman AND HIS Orchestra
Jingle Bells - Frank Sinatra
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Bing Crosby
Frosty The Snowman - Gene Autry
(All I Want For Christmas) Is My Two Front Teeth - Spike Jones AND HIS City Slickers
It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas - Perry Como
Silver Bells - Margaret Whiting AND Jimmy Wakely
The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot - Nat 'King' Cole
Christmas Island - Andrews Sisters
Christmas Alphabet - Dickie Valentine
Blue Christmas - Ernest Tubb
The Night Before Christmas Song - Russ Morgan AND HIS Orchestra
I'll Be Home For Christmas - Bing Crosby
Christmas Dreaming (A Little Early This Year) - Frank Sinatra
The Little Christmas Tree - Nat 'King' Cole
Santo Natale (Merry Christmas) - David Whitfield
I'm Walking Backwards For Christmas - The Goons

Disc 2

We Wish You A Merry Christmas - The Weavers
Mary's Boy Child - Harry Belafonte
Here Comes Santa Claus - Elvis Presley
I'll Be Home For Christmas - Perry Como
What Am I Gonna Do This Christmas - Frankie Laine
Mistletoe AND Holly - Frank Sinatra
Jingle Bells - Eddie Fisher
Suzy Snowflake - Rosemary Clooney
(Everybody's Waitin' For) The Man With The Bag - Kay Starr
Ol' Saint Nicholas - Doris Day
Zat You Santa Claus - Louis Armstrong
Boogie Woogie Santa Claus - Lionel Hampton (Vocal: Sonny Parker)
December - Kay Starr
Ring Those Christmas Bells - Peggy Lee
Christmas Carols By The Old Corral - Tex Ritter
Will Santa Come To Shanty Town? - Eddy Arnold
The Reindeer Boogie - Hank Snow
The Mistletoe Kiss Polka - Margaret Whiting
Merry Christmas - Judy Garland
The Toys Gave A Party (For Poppa Santa Claus) - Bing Crosby AND The Andrews Sisters
One For The Little Bitty Baby (Go Where I Send Thee) - The Weavers
The Christmas Spell - Peggy Lee
You Don't Have To Be A Santa Claus (When Christmas Comes Around) - Mills Brothers
Silver Bells - Doris Day
May Every Day Be Christmas - Louis Jordan

Disc 3

That Christmas Feeling - Perry Como
Santa Claus Got Stuck In My Chimney - Ella Fitzgerald
Mrs.Santa Claus - Nat 'King' Cole
Snow - Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Peggy Lee AND Trudy Stevens
Christmas IN Killarney - Bing Crosby
Christmas And You - Dave King
St. Nicholas Waltz - Lita Roza
C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S - Eddy Arnold
Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaiian Christmas Song) - Bing Crosby AND THE Andrews Sisters
There's A Train Out For Dreamland - Nat 'King' Cole
That's What Christmas Means To Me - Eddie Fisher
The Merry Christmas Polka - Andrews Sisters
Little Jack Frost Get Lost - Peggy Lee AND Bing Crosby
I Saw Mummy Kissing Santa Claus - Beverley Sisters
O Come All Ye Faithful - Frank Sinatra
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Bing Crosby
The First Nowell - Dick Haymes
The Birthday Of A King - Judy Garland
Cradle Song - Glenn Miller AND HIS Orchestra
O Little Town Of Bethlehem - Dick Haymes
Medley (Part 1) (A) Good King Wenceslas (B) We Three Kings Of Orient Are (C) Angels We Have Heard On High - Bing Crosby
Medley (Part 2) (A) Deck The Halls (B) Away In A Manger (C) I Saw Three Ships - Bing Croby
Star Of The East - Judy Garland
Silent Night - Deanna Durbin
O Holy Night (Cantique DE Noël) - Mario Lanza

Karen's Wish List

2008-11-30T20:12:00.000-08:00

Old Classics - Pop Christmas Music - Peggy Lee, Doris Day, Bing CrosbySweater from Anthropologie
knee socks
Jelly Fruit Slices
Peppermint Patties
Shawl for work
Mitts
Gloves

Ian's Wish List

2008-11-30T19:30:00.000-08:00

Ear Buds for Ipod Nano
Waterproof breathable cycling pants - goretex
PD James new book
John LeCarre new book and CD
Fedora
CD case for car

Patrick's Wish List

2008-11-30T19:14:00.000-08:00

1. WII
2. Fellowship of the Ring CD
3. Ipod Nano
4. Pokemon 2000 The Movie
5. R-4 (DS Game download from the internet)
6. Digital Watch
7. Sour Candy

Matthew's Wish List

2008-11-30T17:16:00.000-08:00

Hey Mom here are a a couple of things that I'd like:

Shock Doctor:
Titan Alloy Flex Cup
Power Compression Short with Cup Pocket
16oz Velcro Sparing Gloves Good brands are Fairtex, Rival, Twins, and Winning
Hayabusa long sleeve Rashguard
Hayabusa MMA Gloves
Combat Sport International MMA Training gloves
Custom mouth guard

Long sleeve shirts and sweaters (36" sleeves, 40" chest)

Smart Wool Socks and Fox River Socks

Macbook Pro Charger and of course pounds sterling would be helpful!

See you in a few weeks.

A Club Little House Sneak Peek

2008-11-29T18:41:00.000-08:00

Betcha can't guess what I made for Club Little House!!