It Doesn't Take Much

To make me happy - really it doesn't. I spent the best part of yesterday hunting for a new ironing board cover - my board is not the standard size - it's longer and wider and I couldn't find one anywhere. I went through this same search a couple of months ago and don't know why I didn't buy two then. I am very hard on ironing board covers.

After a frustrating search, I decided I'd make my own - my way. Bad decision - more frustration and still no new ironing board cover. Then I remembered Debra had a tutorial on her blog on how to make your own.

This morning, in less than 45 minutes I transformed this:

into this:



I took Debra's advice and used an upholstery weight fabric so hopefully it will last longer. I will never buy another ironing board cover again. It's the little things that make me happy.

My First Award - WOW

I was really touched and pleased when Bunny at The Creative Hare nominated me for the Kreativ Blogger award. Thank you so much Bunny!

The rules of the award are:

1. The winner may put the logo on her blog.

2. Put a link to the person you got the award from in your blog.

3. Nominate 3 blogs - it was originally 5, but I changed it to 3.

4. Put links to the blogs.

5. Leave a message for your nominees.

Those of you who blog, know just how difficult it is to find something interesting to talk about, post or show every day. Here are my nominations for the award:

1. Nadine at the Quilt Epiphany Blog - Nadine is soon to see one of her dreams come true - having a book published next year. She's one talented lady and shares lots of tips and techniques willingly.

2. Rian at Rian's Pages - Rian is another amazingly talented lady and is so creative. She likes to 'keep it real' and can always bring a smile to my face.

3. Randi at Allen Quilts - Randi's longarm quilting is amazing and I am in awe of her talent.

As promised, here are the pictures of my friend Ursula and I, along with Maggie, at the Spa in Port Hope. Maggie is giving me a wonderful face exfoliation in the first picture.

I would also like to wish all my American friends a very happy Thanksgiving - have some turkey for me please!

Sandra's Beloved Little Kitty

Somedays there are just no words.

Elliot: April 8th, 2001 - November 23rd, 2008

Are You A Jackie or a Marilyn?

This is a two question quiz and I found it amazingly accurate - for me anyway.

Give it a try - and here are my results:

You Are a Marilyn!

You are a Marilyn -- "I am affectionate and skeptical."

Marilyns are responsible, trustworthy, and value loyalty to family, friends, groups, and causes. Their personalities range broadly from reserved and timid to outspoken and confrontative.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Be direct and clear
• * Listen to me carefully
• * Don't judge me for my anxiety
• * Work things through with me
• * Reassure me that everything is OK between us
• * Laugh and make jokes with me
• * Gently push me toward new experiences
• * Try not to overreact to my overreacting.

What I Like About Being a Marilyn

• * being committed and faithful to family and friends
• * being responsible and hardworking
• * being compassionate toward others
• * having intellect and wit
• * being a nonconformist
• * confronting danger bravely
• * being direct and assertive

What's Hard About Being a Marilyn

• * the constant push and pull involved in trying to make up my mind
• * procrastinating because of fear of failure; having little confidence in myself
• * fearing being abandoned or taken advantage of
• * exhausting myself by worrying and scanning for danger
• * wishing I had a rule book at work so I could do everything right
• * being too critical of myself when I haven't lived up to my expectations

Marilyns as Children Often

• * are friendly, likable, and dependable, and/or sarcastic, bossy, and stubborn
• * are anxious and hypervigilant; anticipate danger
• * form a team of "us against them" with a best friend or parent
• * look to groups or authorities to protect them and/or question authority and rebel

Marilyns as Parents

• * are often loving, nurturing, and have a strong sense of duty
• * are sometimes reluctant to give their children independence
• * worry more than most that their children will get hurt
• * sometimes have trouble saying no and setting boundaries

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz

Under The Weather

I caught some nasty bug going around and I've been battling it since Sunday - it's winning. Quite a few years ago when I had my gall bladder removed, they partially collapsed my lung and ever since then, whenever I get a cold or anything remotely resembling a cold, it immediately settles in my lungs and knocks me out.

As I've told you before though, I have a wonderful Doctor, and he knows just how many drugs I need to start feeling better and he's been pumping them into me since Monday. They are finally starting to work and it's a good thing, too, as I had to go back to work today.

While I hate taking Prednisone for many reasons, the one benefit is I have no pain in my joints so I've been making the most of that and doing some knitting.

We received this in the mail yesterday:

Initially, I thought it was junk mail promoting a new movie, then when I looked closer (click to enlarge) I realized it was a birth announcement.

I also wanted to share these with you that Sandra gave me:

Now, this isn't just some ordinary sticker book - it has stickers of my baby in it!!!!

There are 24 different pictures - all of my baby! I'm like a little kid when it comes to stickers. Sandra had a book made up for Elizabeth, her bridesmaid, with both her little boys in it and she also had one done for herself with all their engagement pictures on them.

If you can't live without some of these in your life, they can be found at Moo.

Heaven...I'm In Heaven....

At least I was for the last couple of days. My friend Ursula and I treated ourselves to a stay at The Hillcrest Victorian Inn and Spa in Port Hope.

Port Hope is one of the smallest towns in Ontario and it was absolutely charming. The Inn is set on a hill overlooking Lake Ontario and surrounded by forested grounds.

After looking through all the little boutiques on the main street, we checked into the Inn. We were treated to a complete tour of the building by Rochelle, the Innkeeper. This was the point where I realized I had forgotten my camera and started kicking myself. The following pictures are all lifted from their website.

This is the front entrance in the background and former dining room of the original house which was built in 1874 as a gift from a father to her daughter on her marriage. Rochelle pointed out the 'coffin window' on the left. It goes right to the floor and opened up completely to allow removal of a coffin.

The living room had a fire burning all the time and was a great place to relax while waiting for treatments.

As for treatments - you name it, we had it and every single one was AMAZING! I'm not sure if it was the small town atmosphere or just the charms of the house, but the staff were the best I've ever experienced. They were friendly, professional and experts at their job. We were made to feel so welcome in the Inn - told to help ourselves to any cold beverages from the fridge and just make ourselves at home.

My favourite treatment was a reflexology pedicure and massage - I never want to have a pedicure sitting down again!

Then we get to the food. This is the dining room with windows on three sides which overlooked the pool and lake.

The meals were absolutely delicious and so well presented. They serve breakfast and a three course lunch and dinner. Just in case you were hungry in between, there were fresh baked scones, muffins, cookies and homemade preserves available all day, and afternoon tea was served in the late afternoon.

Can you tell we had a good time? It really was the best spa I've ever been to and you should have seen their little greeter. Maggie was about 4 lbs. of curly fur and gave me a face exfoliation with her kisses every time I picked her up. Rochelle took a picture of me with her just as we were leaving and promised to e-mail it to me. I hope she remembers so I can share it with you.

Lest We Forget

And The Winner Is.....

I used the Random Number Service to pick a number and the winner is Suzan! Now here's a picture of what you've won.

There are 5 fat quarters from the Hanna Bella collection by Robyn Pandolph; the little jewellery bag that I made; 4 patchwork cards I made with envelopes; and an issue of Australian Patchwork & Quilting. Now, I do have to come clean about the magazine - it was the one I bought twice and found when I cleaned up my sewing room. Although it is old, it is a very good issue, though - must be, I thought it was so good I bought it twice!

Suzan, please e-mail me your name and snail mail address and I'll get these out to you this week.

The wedding - what can I say other than it was absolutely perfect. Everything went exactly as planned and her fairy tale wedding came true. I don't have any good pictures yet though - I figured we paid good money for a great photographer so we let them take all the pictures and the only picture I took all day was at the beauty salon when we had our hair done. I value my life too much to post it here.

We did have blank CDs at the door in self-addressed stamped envelopes and asked everyone to please put their pictures on the CD and mail them back to Sandra & Darren.

They are in Boston right now on their honeymoon so I'm just going to have to be patient. It isn't one of my virtues. I promise I'll bore you to death with wedding pictures as soon as we get them.

In the meantime, here is one that one of her friends posted on Facebook today.

I Can Almost Hear the Wedding Bells

Ben thanks you all for the birthday greetings and I thank you for the congratulations on my blog anniversary.

I want to do this right and get a picture of what I will be giving away so those that don't win can see what they'll be missing :-)

I'll post a picture and do the drawing on Monday, November 10th - after the wedding. Hopefully I'll have recovered by then. Any and all comments received until then will be entered in the drawing.

Just two more sleeps....

I'm Giving Away the Store!

Tomorrow is a very special day. Not only is it my baby's birthday - he's going to be 7 - it's also my blog anniversary. I can't believe it's been a year since I started blogging and what I find even harder to believe is that so many of you take the time to read what I write and leave comments.

I have made so many friends through my blog - people I've never met, yet still consider friends.

So, to honour Ben's 7th birthday and my blog anniversary, I'm going to have a drawing for a give-away. I'm not sure what it's going to be yet, but I'm sure I can come up with something quilty that you will like.

You don't have to have a blog to enter - just leave a comment on this post. If you don't have a blog, please make sure you include your e-mail address so I can get in touch with you. I'll mail anywhere via Canada Post.

Here's a picture of the birthday boy.