Ho Ho Ho

Here is the extent of my Christmas decorating:

I can't remember how many years ago I bought these gaudy balls (yes, they are pink!). I was going to make a gaudy ball wreath like Martha, but never got around to it. For my Canadian readers, I bought them when White Rose was going out of business, so you know it's been a good few years.

Since my spring wreath, complete with robin's nest, was still on our door, I decided today was as good a day as any to throw something together and hang it up. It's not terribly artistic and it's rather plain, but it's done and it's hanging up and sometimes done is better than perfect.

I'm still sticking to my "Christmas isn't happening in my life this year" motto - no tree, no decorations, no stress - yea, right.

Tomorrow is my turn to host our Stitch N Chat group, so I spent the morning baking - there are almond lemon bars, chocolate chip blondies and butter tart squares.

You'll notice I had to sample a couple to make sure they were fit for consumption.

I'm back on another round of antibiotics and prednisone as my nasty cough has returned. The ONLY good thing about being on prednisone is I can knit without my arthritis bothering me, so I've taken advantage of that and almost have my scarf finished.

Just a couple more inches and it will be ready to be blocked.

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.

Freaky Friday

My posts seem to be few and far between lately. There just doesn't seem to be much quilty going on in my life, but hopefully, after the wedding, I will rectify that.

I printed out the MQX catalogue today and I'm in the process of trying to decide which classes to take. I don't want to take too many, and on the advice of my APQS dealer, I'm not taking any hands-on classes. I've never been to a longarm show before, so I'm really looking forward to it.

A few years ago, I was fortunate enough to go to the Houston show. It was amazing and exhausting. One of my fondest memories of that trip with Onalee was the day we spent in Galveston. We rented a car and took a day off from the show and drove to Galveston where we spent time walking the beach, sightseeing and then enjoyed an amazing meal overlooking the bay.

We also spent a happy hour or two in Quilts by the Bay where we sat on the floor going through their considerable scrap bins and filled bags for some ridiculously low price. I was so sad to hear that this lovely quilt store was badly damaged by Hurricane Ike and they are now closed. According to their website, they are planning to re-open so I hope they are successful.

This is one of the pieces of fabric I bought that day - I loved it then and I still love it and it will always hold special memories of a perfect day.

Tuesday Ramblings

I've been very busy making some Christmas gifts for my Stitch N Chat group. I'd love to share them with you, but one of the members reads my blog and I don't want to ruin the surprise. Let me just say these are so much fun to make and I actually get to be a bit creative - at least as creative as I get! I'll post pictures after they have been handed out.

The crisis with my hair has been averted. My stylist who is on maternity leave heard of my predicament and called me last night. She cut and highlighted my hair for me today at her house! It just goes to show you that you get back so much more than you give. She was one of the recipients of one of my circus quilts and when she called me last night she said how could she possibly let me down when I had made something so special for her baby.

It's All About the Hair

How important is your hair stylist to you? I've been going to the same one for quite a number of years, but she went on maternity leave in August and is planning to take a year off. Her replacement has been doing a great job on my hair since then and I'm really happy with her.

I have an appointment this week for cut/highlights so I'll be all set for the wedding. I'm getting my hair styled the day of, but that will be happening at the venue. Today I got a call from the salon to confirm my appointment this week, but also telling me that the girl that has been doing my hair is no longer there and they refused to tell me where she has gone.

I don't want someone who has never cut my hair before to do it for such a special occasion. Part of me can understand the salon's position as they don't want to lose clients, but another part wonders do they really want such a pissed off customer either?

I have a few plans in the works to try and find where my stylist has gone - I don't give up easily - I'm too afraid my hair might end up looking like this:

Do you ever check out The Daily Puppy in my sidebar? I only see it when I have to edit a post but today's little guy is really worth checking out - he's absolutely adorable, but then, aren't they all!

I'm Getting There

This is what my sewing table looked like around 11 A.M. this morning.

I took everything that was stacked on the floor and crammed onto my shelves and dumped it all on my table. What a mess, but I knew if I put it on my table it would force me to clean it up.

I sorted through the fabric on my shelves and tried to organize it as best I could with the limited amount of space available. While this doesn't look too bad, what you can't see is 6 plastic drawer units with 3 drawers each full of the 'overflow'. I cannot buy one more book as I just don't have any more room on these shelves. I put all my longarm books downstairs with Tillie to make more room - and still it isn't enough. What I need to do is get rid of some of the books I don't like and never will.

Here's what my table looks like right now:

I'm not quite finished, but it looks a whole lot better than it did a few hours ago. I went to Staples and bought more binders and page protectors. I have a binder full of things I've printed off and loose patterns, but that binder was full to overflowing so I bought another one - and one for embroidery colour chart print outs. I have a few more pages to file then that job will be done.

I sorted all my magazines and arranged them by date. I discovered that not only do I buy books twice, but I also buy the same magazine twice. How sick is that?

I have a pile of things I no longer want and when I get more ambitious I'll list them and see if anyone could use them. You know what they say - one woman's junk is another woman's treasure!

Working on my PHD - Projects Half Done

You'll be glad to hear I didn't have to kill anyone today - my car was ready. They did some major sucking up and filled it with gas, washed it and also cleaned the inside. I'm just glad to have it back.


I need to spend some considerable time cleaning up my sewing room. It really is a disaster of major proportions and I can't stand it any longer. For someone who has only been quilting for about 5 years, it's amazing just how much 'stuff' I've accumulated. I have so many books, but books are a real weakness of mine. I love just looking through them, even if I know there are some I'll never make use of.


Then there are the UFOs. I really admire people who make lists of all their projects and know exactly how many UFOs they have. I don't want to know - it would probably be daunting and it's information I can live without.


Let's not forget about the "forever projects". I have at least one of those - a Dresden Plate scrap quilt that needs,I believe, about 140 blocks that finish at 6". It's from this book:

Whoever named this QUICK and Easy should be ashamed of themselves!

I also have another quilt that seems to be turning into a forever project as I keep dragging my heels with it:

It's made with Fossil Fern flannels from a kit I bought off Ebay for a song. Actually, it's more like a "What on earth was I thinking" project - all those curved seams on flannel. No wonder the seller wanted rid of it.

Well, I guess sitting on the computer thinking about cleaning up my room isn't going to get it done. Maybe I'll wait until tomorrow and start fresh first thing in the morning... Procrastination isn't always a bad thing!

Scraps & Shirttails

I got some exciting mail today. Bonnie's new book arrived and I'm looking forward to looking through it tonight.

I glanced quickly through it at lunch and it looks like it won't disappoint. Bonnie has given so much to the quilting community through her website with free patterns, stashbusting tips, mystery quilts, etc. I hope her book is a resounding success - she deserves it!

I haven't ranted about anything for at least a few days - so here it comes. I took my car in for service last Tuesday morning - 9 days ago - and it still isn't fixed. Now this car is just over a year old and only has 15,000 km. (less than 10,000 miles) on it. I took it in for what I thought would be an oil change and was told the cylinder head needed to be replaced. I know absolutely nothing about cars and this didn't mean a thing to me, but I've since learned this is major and requires rebuilding the motor to get the part replaced.

It's covered under warranty so cost isn't an issue. I also have a courtesy rental car so that shouldn't be an issue either - but it is. I'm probably going to end up sounding like the worst kind of snob here, but I'm just trying to tell it like it is. I'm used to a certain standard of luxury in a car. The rental car doesn't even come close. It has power nothing - I think it has been about 20 years since I've driven a car that doesn't have power door locks and windows. The seats are unbelievably uncomfortable and there seems to be a metal piece that protrudes right into my tailbone.

I talked Leo into taking it last Friday so I could have his car for the day and even he complained about the seat - and he doesn't usually care what he drives.

Why is it taking so long to repair? Good question - they tell me it's because of parts availability - some of them have to come from the U.S. and some have to be manufactured. As of today, they are still waiting for some special washers. How special can washers be?

If I don't get it back tomorrow someone is going to get the brunt of my anger - I'm not sure who yet, but they should be scared - very scared. Leo could tell them all about my wrath!

Tooney Tuesday

This label for the circus baby quilt turned out so cute I just had to share it with you:

I just ordered some sewing machine needles on Ebay and was saddened to see our Canadian dollar is down below 82¢ U.S. This is good for the country, but bad for poor old consumers like me. We have been spoiled with a strong dollar for the last year and I'm just kicking myself that I didn't buy more U.S. cash when the dollar was at par.

It will be interesting to see what happens to the dollar after the U.S. election.

There's A Bear In The Circus

If this quilt looks familiar, it's because I've made one very similar before. It's become my favourite baby quilt pattern and since I have a bolt of the fabric, I can accommodate a lot of babies! The pattern is from Mary and you can find it here.

I've been anxious to try sewing a Beanie Baby to a baby quilt as demonstrated by Dawn Ramirez in her Pajama Quilter Reloaded video. I did get this little bear sewn on, but I had to use my domestic machine as I couldn't get the bulk under the hopping foot on my longarm.

I think he's sewn on there pretty good though - he won't be leaving the circus anytime soon.

I used Bubbles for this one with Superior's Lava thread. I really like this thread, especially for 'fun' quilts - their variegated colours are great.

What A Difference Fabric Makes

I saw a tablerunner in my LQS yesterday made from batiks in fall colours - it was really stunning. I asked if they had the pattern and they told me it came from this book:

Well, I have this book - and I actually remembered that I have it. When I came home I took another look through it and found the pattern:

Now, I wouldn't have given this a second glance in the book, but made up in the 'right' fabrics, it took on a whole new perspective. The centre was done like pebbles with the fall leaves all around it. Just goes to show you what people with a vision can do.

I couldn't resist buying this pattern:

It's a tea cosy - double sided and the sample looked adorable. Now I don't drink tea, and Christmas isn't happening around here this year anyway, remember, but it is large enough to sit on the floor as a decoration - or even in the middle of a table as a centerpiece. If I get my act together soon enough, maybe someone will get to enjoy it this year in their house.

I have a love/hate relationship with my Rowenta iron. I purchased it about 4 years ago and I love it - when it works. I've had to send it back twice for repair, but since they gave me a brand new iron both times and didn't charge me a penny, I can't really complain. Yesterday, it stopped working - again! I think there is a short in the cord somewhere. I'm not sure whether to send it back a third time or just ask my electrical guru at work if he would replace the cord for me.

Yesterday seemed to be the day that lots of things decided not to work around here. I think I've mentioned that I volunteered to distribute our Guild's monthly newsletter. I sent the e-mail out yesterday morning to approximately 110 members but 'something' was wrong with our computer and people received the e-mail numerous times but didn't get the attachment- which was the actual Newsletter.

So, I went off to do some retail therapy and left Leo to figure out what was wrong. After spending hours on the phone with our Internet provider, they discovered our router had died so he had to replace it. Meanwhile, at least half of the 110 people I'd e-mailed, e-mailed me back telling me they had received multiple copies of my e-mail but didn't get an attachment. Don't you just love modern technology!