Short blog

I am not feeling too well tonight so this will be a very short blog. I do not like to miss one as people have no doubt come to expect a daily blog :>)) And I think if I miss a blog you will all go elsewhere and I don't want that.
I spent the afternoon napping and now would like to go back to bed again.
I did do a bit of sewing though , some stitching around the features on a very long crossways strip across the quilt. I am such a bad quilter so it isn't pleasing to me. Wrong choice of stitching. Oh well I should have not listened to the ladies at Community Quilts who said take two Quilts and get them done by next Tuesday. I may have to take it all out.
But the socks are almost finished, maybe I should stick to knitting LOL> Like that is going tohappen. Usually I send my quilting out or get Lynn to do it . I have tried for years to do Free Motion and have since come to the conclusion that it does not work for me. Too bad. Not a very up beat blog tonight is it. On the up side the straight line fancy stitch quilting looks very good. So I can quilt as long as it is straight lines.
And so to bed. Keep well. I hear there are lots of germs around right now.

Change

The streets of a city change and morph into something new over time but some lovely homes are lost to this process. In the photos today there are two little homes that I have admired for several years. The one with the pretty fence is owned by an older woman who is incredible neat and tidy both inside her house and outside. I personally have never been inside but have heard for those who have that the interior as perfectly taken care of as the exterior. At the moment there are not many signs of how beautiful it will be come summer,but I wanted to take the photo as who knows when it will be sold and torn down to be replaced by one of the large homes in the third photo. That is what is happening all over the city as we move on into the 21st century..
The next photo with the A frame entrance is another delightful little home in the same category, carefully and lovingly preserved by its owner and a delight to look at.
Further on we see the very awfully expensive homes that have replaced the smaller houses on this street. There are many of these huge homes in Vancouver now but I chose this street because of the high orange one. It took me a while to accept it , not that anyone cared LOL. There are others there beside it in more modest colours. The scarlet Rhododendron stands in front of a red house which was bought a few years ago and completely overhauled . It is a lovely example of what can be done to preserve the older types of homes.
Architecture and design is an passion of mine and I thought it might be of interest to others.
Good evening folks! :>))

a strange day

When did retailers stop doing things for customers. I took my special three gold (yellow gold,white gold and pink gold)bracelet in to a jeweller to have it repaired as one link was broken. The retailer asked if I had bought it there and I hadn't. She said they could not fix it because if something else happened to it they might be sued. What!!! In Canada!! I don't think so. Ray said we might trip over it LOL. But she absolutely refused to help us. We went down a ways to another jeweller and he said no problem, that will be $40, Fine!! We told him what had happened at the other store just down the mall and he was as stunned as we were.
Ray ordered his new glasses this morning $650 but with his eyes as they are with Macular Degeneration it is necessary that he have good glasses so we bit the bullet. We have had to bite a lot of bullets lately...big bills!!
We checked out the state of my laptop but they tech could not tell us what they plan to do with it. Yyesterday we were told they would replace it so we have to wait for that man to come to work :>) Life's like that Hurry up and Wait.
Ray bought me a cute little watch just an inexpensive one and for his daughter he bought a froggie alarm clock since she loves frogs.
My dear friend Gail who loves Jane Austen and reads her books over and over has me convinced to try one since I have never read Jane Austen just watched the movies on TV. The one I purchased is Mansfield Park- not as well known as Emma and Pride and Prejudice. But that works for me.
Later folks!!

TV NEWS

I have brought the Blue Footed Boobies up to the top as we all need a laugh occasionally :LOL.
Now for a commercial break, Oh you haven't heard the news yet? Well wait a minute :>))
BIG FIVE FLARE... 5 red sticks of gum come sliding furioulsy out of the package and immediately morph into a fire breathing DRAGON. I loved it. Some commercials are just plain fun, others are not:>)
Now for the news. Barack Obama visitied Kabul today, the things that really caught my eye was all the phone cameras clicking away taking pictures of the event. How times have changed wouldn't you say?
For Canadian readers , the floodways around Winnipeg have been opened . You know what that means don't you. The Mighty Red River is causing mighty trouble again. For Americans it probably means flooding in North Dakota once more.
Did you turn off your lights last night? Well do it tonight , just for an hour.:>)
Just looking at an enormous yellow Python , part of a refuge for Exotic animals. So many bought when small and they grow up to be very large and unmanageable so they are abandoned.
Do not buy your kids a baby alligator, cute when a baby but deadly when an adult. :>((((
Just a bit of advice from the blogger who has seen it all LOL.
That's my news content for tonight. Short eh!
No sewing today, my hip is so sore I can barely walk although I did but took it a bit easier for the day.
Now to rest again after I go downstairs. I'll knit for a bit. One sock done and the other started.
Same to you, take a rest!!

friends old and new

Life is so much richer with friends, old friends, new friends but the old friends are so much a part of you and your experience. The potluckers of last night have been together since the 70s so we share a long history and have a lot of fun and good times to call upon. Since we are all teachers or retired teachers there is so much to talk about, children to discuss and problems to solve, not all the children are problems :>) many adults fall into that category LOL. So last night we found solutions for all the issues LOL, don't we all solve the world's problems when we come together.
When quilting friends sit around a table we talk about patterns, threads, quilting designs, fabrics and batting. We help each other sandwich our own quilts on the church tables making our backs less vulnerable to pain as we share the task. We bring our quilting books and magazines to the table. I have a book that I brought to my Tuesday group , it had just a few patterns but lovely designs and pictures .One friend said, " Who would pay $25 for that Book"?
"I would" I called out,"it is mine" and we all had a good laugh over that small difference of opinion. One lady in that group I have known since she was 4 years old , now in her 70s.
I love her for her great quilting skills and her loveliness of spirit which I so appreciate.
I have seriously old friends from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and all my newer ones from the 90's. I count myself the most fortunate of women :>)
Some of the oldest ones are now in trouble from the effects of dementia and is is sad to see that but I cherish the special times we had together in our youth..
I called a dear friend in Delaware tonight and we had a great chat. Phones, e mail, facebook, photos,cards are ways to share ourselves with friends.
Life and friendships are so good, don't let any of that slip away from you.
Off my soapbox for tonight. Pictures to come :>))

short post

I am going out in half an hour so this will be a short post.
If you are reading Jean, your comments arrived so you are doing somthing right. :>))
Barb is Aaron's aunt on his mom's side and she is the one who is ill with pancreatic cancer .
We had a lovely visit with him today and it was so interesting that I forgot to take my camera or to take his photo. And I wanted an updated picture of him. Oh well!
He is doing well in La. Working hard, taking care of little Adam and enjoying being there with his dad and Lisa. So good for him!! I am relieved that he got out of the army after three hitches and three tours in the middle east, Iraq included.
I am off in a few minutes to my potluck party with my teacher friends. Most of us are retired now. I got all four of my tea towels finished and ready to give away. I hope they like them.
Tomorrow I will add the photos of the last two to my blog. One I am not so enthused about but there is nothing I can do about that at this late date.
Got to go now, too early to say good night :>)) So Adieu~~

a family event tomorrow

I have done 2 more embroideries today. We took the car to the garage for servicing,spent too much time on this slow computer, went to dinner at the Swiss Chalet, had chicken, baked potato and sour cream, talked to my grandson who is in town from Louisiana, took our income tax to the accountant and sat there while she figured it all out and talked to the computer tech about my laptop which he says has started shutting itself off as well as the other things that are wrong.I suggested to him if it were that bad maybe he should replace it rather than fix it. He had that thought himself but needs to do a bit more checking, so we'll see what happens. If he decides to replace the mother board it will take two weeks because he has to order it and of course it will have to come from Toronto, everything does :>(( I am already unhappy about not having it.
I still have one more embroidery to do before tomorrow night when I go to potluck with my teacher friends. That will be all my friends have an embroidered tea towel. What to make next ??
It will be very busy tomorrow too, the foot doctor at 10:30, the family doctor at 11:40 to renew prescriptions, meet grandson for lunch at 1:00 and go to my pot luck at 5:15. I'll be late getting home. But a good night's sleep always perks me up :>))
Aaron , my grandson is here because his beloved aunt on his mother's side is dying of pancreatic cancer. It is such a horrible disease, my sister's husband died of it three years ago. We were at the hospital with her twice a day so I know how that is. Despite the tragedy of Barb's situation it will be good to see him again, it has been a while.
When family is so far away it is not very often that we get to see them. This year will be good though as all the family in Louisiana is coming up in August so that will be two visits this year and if we go down there in the fall it makes three!!!
Enough of my life, but this is about my life isn't it? It is a good life :>))
Have a good sleep .

late blog, long nap

I took a long nap this afternoon and didn;t get up until dinner time. What a lazy day for me.
I am still missing my laptop so I have to climb the stairs to get to the PC and since my hip is really bad I don't like doing that. Ah the blessing of old age LOL.
However I did do two tea towels, one you have seen before , the cappuccino one but the other is new to you and new to me. It is a display of Autumn leaves. Not that it is in season but Autumn will come as surely as the sun will shine , such wisdom.
I ran out of stabilizer but was able to improvise . I used iron on stabilizer instead of sticky and it worked fine for the tea towels. As usual I put the clear washable on top to make sure the stitches did not sink into the fabric.
My machine behaved beautifully today just one thread breakage , the black thread and it always breaks.
Ray had his root canal and now the freezing has come out and he is in pain. Not at all surprising, he did take some extra strenght Tylenol but it seems to me something stronger would be in order. We don't have anything stronger so Tylenol it is.
I did finally undo that sock I was unhappy with and started a new one with different yarn. Because I was happy I knit right down to the turning of the heel in one evening. It is nearly 9:00 so I won't get a lot done tonight but it is a good start.
Funny thing Happiness makes everything go better. Not Coke!!! :>))
But that is another blog!
Enough for tonight folks.
Have a good one.

Tuesday is a special day

Hi Mary, this is my apology to you for neglecting you :>))
As I walked into my second group today, the first one being in the church where we work on our own sewing, Mary made it clear she needed to talk to me. "Nan, we need to talk" she said in no uncertain terms. Oops I thought , what have I done now :>(. Mary said she had read my blog of March 8th or 9th , can't quite recall and I had written about my Tuesday groups but mostly about the first group and hardly a thing about the one she was in. So here it comes. This group is so much fun, our mandate is to make quilts for hosptials, senior's homes, young people and children. We make hundreds of quilts a year. It is such a procuctive groups of fabulous ladies. Where to begin... We hold the session every Tuesday at Mary Alice's home. She gives it over for the day every week to many women who come to help cut fabric, layer tops , quilt them , bind then and add the labels on the back. It is a beehive of industry and a true quilting bee!! But not everyone comes to sew, all are welcome. Mary Alice deserves a medal for her contribution to the community.
Mary for instance knits socks and I note that Meredith who binds and quilts was wearing a pair of Mary's socks today. Lynn and Mary Alice along with Robin, and Shirl quilt on the machines. Jocelyn, Elizabeth, Paulina and most of the others do bindings. I entertain!!! And when I can see I do bindings LOL>
That is just the upstairs group. Downstairs is where the workers cut,make strips for bindings and layer the quilts. This is just a small part of what these amazing ladies do every week. The other part is they are wonderful friends who are so willing to share their skills with each other and to give support to all.As I noted Mary knits socks, so do I , Lynn quilts for me and who know who else, she has never said, Paulina shares her cat stories to entertain us,Betty makes up to 10 quilt tops a week, she is 85 years old , handquilts and hand appliques all her own quilts, Ione keeps us all in check , after all what can happen if so many ladies are having fun LOL and organizes much of what goes on including the weekly sharing of quilts that we make for ourselves.
I personally get so many laughs at this group and that is good for the soul.
There Mary , are you happy now LOL!!!
I like to keep everybody on the Qui Vive whatever that means :>))
Time for dinner, Ray is cooking. Life is good!!

My garden

Yesterday I had a bad time as you know with my embroidery, today was a bit better . I did get my project finished despite that fact that there were lots of things wrong with it but all fixable. I started this design around 1:45 and finished it mostly by 5:00. After dinner I fixed the bad parts.
It is a 2 part design A and B, so it was a challenge for me. I did what I usually do and that is adjust the design for the center. If you ever do a 2 part embroidery design don't do that as the machine does not adjust the second part, part B and you know you can never make the right adjustment afterwards, ever!!
So when I finished it there were white gaps where the design was off. The fix is to find the correct size satin stitch and do that in the white spots. One could never tell unless you knew it was there.
I am happy with the outcome. The photo is very yellow , so the towel is yellow too, but is really a very nice cream colour. I will give it to my friend tomorrow. There is always a way to get things done, as The Bruce observed when watching the spider; If at first you don't succeed , try, try, try again.
My laptop is in the hospital. It has been doing some very strange things so it will be Friday before I can bring it home. I feel lost without it and have to come upstairs to the PC. Thank goodness I have this one as well as the laptop. Don't we become very attached to our toys.
Ray had to go for a root canal in his wisdom tooth. He at 72 still has all his teeth including the 4 wisdon teeth. This is the second root canal this month.
Bon nuit. Sleep well.

yesterday good, today bad

Sometimes you have such a good day and everything comes together beautifully and the next day it all goes wrong.
Today I started a new embroidery on a brand new towel. It is a two stage design with an A part and a B part, a new technique for me so I thought I was especially careful before I started, WRONG!! :>(
It is supposed to begin with the A part, reasonable isn't it. You'd think:>)) I noted that the colours seemed to be off but on my machine the colours are alwasy off and I need to have a print out of the colour chart. So when the colour said sunflower instead of blue green I paid no attention. Shortly I noticed that not only was the colour correct but I had started on the B part of the design. It was not far into the design so I figured it could be embroidered over.
Back to part A and the leaves in green, that was right but the leaves were not exactly what was in the print out. I thought maybe it would be okay. Way into the stitchout I realized it was sewing the design I had done last. WHAT!! Yes what! I was really puzzled for a bit. Then I went into the edit programme, it looked okay but this machine is really bad at what it shows. I noticed a very small part of my previous design under the one I was sewing or so I thought,and knew then that my machine was stitching out that design , the one in the back. So out went that towel sad to say. However I seldom make big mistakes like that and if I had not been so absorbed in the 2 part design I may have observed what was going on. However all is well and I have learned something today and it is; nothing is a complete loss :>))
Tomorrow I'll try again, one lesson I have learned is to take a rest if things go wrong and let it all settle down.
Good Evening folks.

National Quilting Day

Did you get a chance to quilt/sew today? I hope so!
I did .
It was a good sewing day for me as I was able to get all my snowball Halloween
blocks , all 36 of them, sewn into rows and then the rows sewn together. Last night I laid them all out the way I wanted to put them together and took a photo with my digital camera of that plan so I would remember, well the fact is I would not remember that's why the photo.:>) It helped but still I made a few changes in the design. It's a good idea to photograph what you want to do , makes it all easier.
When I got that part done it looked good. So tomorrow I will add a small black border all way round and then a piano key border to finish it off . In the end this little quilt will be 48 inches square so it will be a wall hanging.
I think my sewing day was quite successful. And I hope yours was too.
We went for groceries this morning , the bill was $114 . Lately our bills have been $50 to $75 but this week we bought items we rarely purchase and it was all junk food. Now I know how much junk food really costs. We do not know what got into us. Oh Well it will last quite a while as we don't eat much of that kind of non food.
If you really want to cut down on your food bills just eliminate the junk food and it will be healthier too.
Take care!

The Butcher's Boy/ a review

By Thomas Perry who is a writer who can make you feel sympathy for a contract killer. Who do you love to hate, not in this book you don't. You seem to be rooting for the killer as he is the least of the evils in the book and they are the Mafia dons. They betray their contract with him, oh I am getting way ahead of myself. I am not quite finished but before I complete this review I'll get the book and read the last chapter. I am pretty sure I have it figrued out though.
The book was written in 1982 and reissued in 2007, it is as timely now as it was then and right in keeping with today's reading interests. I have not read another book by Perry before but will definitely look for more books by him in the library tomorrow.
The book begins with a seemingly uselss murder when a car blows up and people think it is an accident. A young member of the Justice Department begins to take a look at the accident and starts to think it is not a fortuitous incident, so begins to look further into the clues when she is called away to another city where a US senator is also murdered. That begins a long spiral into the causes and linkages of both murders. One thing follows after the other until many have been killed.
We see the hitman who is never named in the story only as a chapter in which his thoughts, musings and actions are on display. It is an interesting literary device and one that makes you feel at one with him. Clever and strange at the same time.
The young investigator from the Justice Department has her own set of problems while on the job.
This is a great read once you get into it. I read into the night last night and finished it this afternoon , well a few minutes ago. And the ending? Well I do believe we will meet the anonymous one again.
Definitley worth your time.
'Til we meet again ;>)

Bones

I am watching Bones right now so you'll have to forgive me if I am slow to get this blog done ;>) Mmm we have seen it but with TV the way it is these days, so many repeats I guess we'll watch it again.
We were up and out by 8:30 this morning and on our way to the USA, Washington state, to have our interview with American customs in order to get the Nexus Pass application approved. The appointment was for 11:15 but we were there by 10:00. With this border at the , the Peace Arch crossing, it is often really backed up which is why we were on our way so early but this time the wait was only 20 minutes. We have seen it up to 4 hours wait. That's why we are applying for the pass. Once you get it you bypass the lineups and go right through. We often just don't go across the border because of the waits. It will take 3 weeks for the pass to get here and then we are good to go!!
Today we crossed at the regular border , yes, because we did not have the pass yet :>)
So we decided to go to the Silver Reef a casino outside of Bellingham. It has a nice restaurant and good food, we only go for the meal LOL. Like men read Playboy for the articles :)
We had a great time gambling and stayed for hours , which means we won some or we would have come home. We managed to bring home most of the money we left with so it was a good day!
Like every day is a good day :>)
Bon nuit!

so so sewing

Silly title isn't it. Lots of photos tonight.
But i did manage to sew some today. It took me all afternoon to make one block for my guild partner.
It is called Whirling Geese and is actually one of a huge number of 9 patch blocks. The centre block is a gem colour turquoise as described in the guild directions , it is surrounded by half square triangles. All the squares will be 3.5 inches at the end before they are joined together. I cut the half squares for the half square triangles at four inches , then drew a line diagonally from corner to corner and drew lines 1/4 " on either side of the diagonal line on the white square, put a black and white square together face to face , pinned the 4 corners and sewed on the 2 lines on either side of the middle diagonal line. Then I cut on that middle line to make two half square triangles. I cut them down to 3.5 inches to be the same as the centre square. I did that 4 times to make 8 half square triangles.
As you can see in the following picture these are all arranged around the turquoise centre square. I'll add the block later.
Then I finished cutting the triangles off my snowball blocks, arranged them on the bed to see how I liked the arrangement and picked up each row and pinned it together. Now they are ready to sew. But not tonight. :>)
Ray went to the eye specialist early this morning and he does not have to go back for a year which is really great since he has wet Macular Degeneration. He has been very careful in following the Doctor's instructions so all is well for now.
I am satisfied with my day, bought some more yarn too....
Oh and I promised photos of my butterflies too. So on to the photos.
Buenos Noches!!

appliqued butterflies

Tonight I just too tired from my busy day and keep falling asleep. So I'll write this blog quickly before I drop off again.
I was up early for me because Adam and Lisa left this morning at 4:40, then I fell back asleep until 6:00. Because it is/was my sewing groups day I get up early to read my paper and have breakfast. Then my friend Pat and I meet for coffee at Starbucks.
I schlepped around Zellers looking for some yarn that I thought might be what I wanted, no luck though. Now off to my first group where I set up my sewing tools and began work on the yellow butterfly. It is nearly finished and looks very nice as do the other ones. When I applique I trace the design parts onto white freezer paper because it is easier to see the pattern pieces through the white paper. Then I cut the traced pieces out along the traced lines , iron them onto the back of my fabric. I saw a tip a long time ago that said to place the applique pieces on the off grain instead of on the grain of the fabric as that makes it easier to turn the seam allowance , so I do that.
When I cut the pieces out and add the 1/4 " seam allowance, then baste the seam allowance because it the easiest way for me. Others do needle turn or other methods bit for this blog I just tell what I do. After basting the piece is ready to apply to the background. To find the middle of the background square which you cut an inch larger than you actually want it to be to allow for a bit of shrinkage from the stitching, just fold the square in half and then in half again. I have a copy of the pattern with the middle marked and put it beneath the BG square pin it to keep it stable and then apply the pieces as noted in the copy. Stitch the pieces down with silk thread and your stitches will sink down into the fabric and become invisible. My stitch is like this. I bring up the needle at one edge of the applique piece from the bottom to the top, then into the fabric, then needle down in the same place as where you brought it up, now pass the needle under the fabric and bring it up again about an eighth inch from the original stitch. just keep on like this and soon it will be finished.
Good luck with that. Tomorrow I'll take some photos.

our visitors are leaving in the morning/and a special quilt too

Back to Louisiana tomorrow for Adam and Lisa, but it has been lovely seeing them this week. Tonight we went to a special restaurant on Little Mountain. At least that is what we used to oall it in my day, now it is called Queen Elizabeth Park. The restaurant , Seasons, is on a ledge that overlooks the city . In the background are the mountains which now have snow would you believe, the city is in the foreground, it makes a beautiful picture. As my old dad used to say , "a picture no artist could paint" , although he was referring to something else LOL.. As we sat there waiting for dinner the lights on the mountains started to come on, then slowly the lights of the city twinkled in the night , it was so beautiful. I love this city.
Another city skyscape I love is New York City and especially the Chrysler Building one of the most imaginative towers I have ever seen.
Today on the internet there was a wonderful quilt, it was a series of quilts hanging on what was supposed to be a wall of a quilt show and the quilts had a number of people looking at them, all so different and in poses that indicated what they were thinking. If you want to see this quilt here is the place to go....
http://laurapetersonquilts.com. I know you will be amazed!!
Have a good night!!

avalanche tragedy

In the north of the province , Revelstoke, to be exact there has been a terrible avalanche that buried many people. Two people were killed and it was due to the expertise of the rescue squad that were on the scene within 6 minutes that many were rescued after being buried alive. The event was advertised as a Great Canadian Snowmobile Event. Extreme snowmobilers who live on the edge held this event and heavily advertised it to the public which is why there were so many people on the mountain. People brought their children to view the event. One child who was dreadfully bruised was interviewed on TV and told how he was buried under the snow and how he literally swam to the surface. He had watched many snowmobile movies and knew what he had to do to survive. Nonetheless he was very frightened. It was a massive avalanche where the whole ridge just let go. It has snowed a lot this week and snow on snow often lets goes and comes rushing down the mountain expecially if the snow is too soft. Extreme athletes often go out of bounds where the snow pack is weak and the layers of snow are not well bonded.
Another hockey game tonight, Canucks won last night against Ottawa. Tonight we play Calgary.
I have decided to take out the stitches of the sock I am making , don't like it, the yarn is too heavy for my purposes. I did manage to get it to the turning of the heel. Hmm sounds like a title for a play LOL. But if I am not happy I just unravel it. I am a patient person LOL.
Take it easy and sleep well.

machine embroidery

I have heard machine embroiderers ask how to incorporate their machine embroidery into their quilting. It is as simple as just doing it. Make your embroidery blocks and treat them as any other type of quilting/pieced block. In this piece I had six lovely toile blocks that were purchased from Emblibrary.com. The six designs are scenes of London England
I wanted 12 blocks for this lap quilt, so 6 were done on white or off white fabric background and embroidered in dark grey thread while 6 blocks were embroidered on a black background with a silver thread. For the embroidery work that I have done so far I have used a rayon thread that has a lovely sheen to it and which suits me fine but others have said they prefer polyester thread because it does not fade. It it is a matter of opinion which thread you use. Machine embroidery requires a large number of threads as it uses so many colours for shading. My machine does not care what thread it uses so I have many colours in a variety of thread brands. One set was given to me by a friend who was dying of cancer and said she would never use them again. It was a beautiful gift at a time when I was just starting out and it gave me a great boost with my initial threads so whenever I use her threads I think of her with love. Another friend gave me a bag full of threads from one of her friends who asked her if she knew anyone who embroidered since she was no longer doing it. I gratefully accepted and then shared them with two of my friends as there were many similar colours.
Back to my quilt. After I had done the embroidered blocks, I found the greatest red stripe for the sashing and outer border, and on sale too. I cut it across the stripe to get the look I wanted and then did the binding in black. My friend Lynn quilted it for me. I made her socks in exchange for the quilting.:>)) It is one of my favourite quilts. I gave it to my son and his wife but maybe I'll do another one for myself. I saw the red stripe the other day and it was still on sale. What do you think? Should I run down and buy it?
Stay warm tonight if you live where it is snowing again.
Bon Soir.

great visit today

My friend and former principal took me out for lunch today . He has been working in San Jose California for the past 5 years so it has been a while since we have even seen each other except on Facebook. He had some great stories to tell and we talked for 2 hours. We alwasy talk politics, religion, economy, what our friends are doing, anything and everything. It was as if 5 years had been 5 days. He is a very clever , well educated and interesting friend. I have valued his friendship over the years.
I have thought long and hard about the internet and how we spend so much time on it and on our e mail lists with our internet friends most of whom we will never see. My conclusion is that there is no replacement for a face to face visit with an old and valued friend. In my life I have had the good fortune to meet many of my e mail friends face to face as I love to travel by car , my son Jim has taken me on many automobile trips. So I have been very fortunate. ..but I think we need to take time off from the computer to spend time with friends and family. So if your husband says let's go out, Go Out!! :>))
There were a few things to take care of when I got home since we have applied for a Nexus pass which will make it easier to get across the Canada/US border without having to wait in huge long line-ups. We made the appointments for our interviews and I had to get some things together to take with us. So next week we cross the border to see the US customs agents for the interview. It will be exciting. After that we go to the airport here to get our irises done and then we won't need to wait in the long line-ups at the airport. Oh that will be wonderful!!
My sewing machine is still in hiding as our company will be here again in a couple of days. So this week is a pass for sewing I am afraid. And I do want to get at it.
Maybe I will take one of the machines out tomorrow to feed my need.
So knitting will be the "cause du jour" for the evening. Now what will it be, baby sweater, one of my sock patterns, dish cloths. I still am not happy with the wool I purchased. Even though one sock is half way done I am still having second thoughts about it. I probably won't decide until one sock is complete, then if I decide it is not right for me I'll just unravel the sock and give that yarn away.
That is it for tonight.
Have a good one!!

new clothes and fabric

My goodness but we had snow today, just a bit but it did stay on the ground. Where was the snow when we really needed it when the Olympics were here.
I had a need to spend today so I went to Sears and bought myself another cardigan, white this time, a lovely gray suit and a mixed colour top with pictures of Paris on it. I am happy with my loot. :>) When spring is around the corner I always want to buy new clothes.
This afternoon I did 3 loads of washing and while the machines were working "hehe", I relaxed and watched Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive. I have never seen it before and sure enjoyed the movie. Aren't we so fortunate to be able to kick back and watch a movie from our living room chairs.
My son Adam and wife Lisa went over to Sechelt this morning so we had the day to ourselves. Poor Ray had to go to the dentist but I had a good time. :>)
I did think about sewing but that was all, so I took pictures of my fabric... does that count as sewing LOL. Tomorrow it has to be washed before it can be cut and stitched.
This was the night Kathy and I were to go to our sewing/quilting class but she is very sick and I do not want to cross the bridge when it is dark and wet, as my eyes are not that good these days, so here I am at home. Next month we'll be able to go. This class sounded way too easy anyway. Both Kathy and I could "give" this class so it is no biggie to miss it.
The Paralympics started today,with the cauldron being lit by Roberto Luongo. Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow night. What amazing athletes in these Olympics, if you have some free time, take the time to watch them. Too bad the Paralympics were not paired with the Winter Games . After two weeks the enthusiasm has died down. I think there needs to be some changes made in when these Paralympics are held. At least they have snow :>)) There must be lots of it up on the mountains. We could see the snow on them this morning and there was some on the cars this morning too. It looks so beautiful when the snow is up on the mountains. Too bad my camera won't take photos that far away even with the zoom. You'll just have to take my word for it !!
Buona Sera!!

fish and chips

I took Adam and Lisa , Sam and Ray out for fish and chips tonight at Cockney Kings. It was delicious. I had oysters with my fish and chips, an added pleasure. Lisa loves to go there when she comes from Louisiana. That was her first request :>).
We spent the afternoon at Chapters looking at books and having coffee at Starbucks which is in Chapters so that you can have a coffee and read the book that you have paid for. No reading books you have not paid for. LOL. It was such a pleasant way to fill in the afternoon, books, coffee and family, what could be better . I had such a happy day!!
To me books are great friends, they entertain you, comfort you and guide you on times of trouble. I have found great comfort in poetry in difficult times. Poets have perceptive insights into life and love, better than a psychiatrist :>))
I did not sew today , the machines are in hiding LOL.
It was raining here and snowing as well, what a surprise after such lovely weather during the Olympics.
I have a theory about the rain, so listen up all you ladies. Rain is nature's moisturizer , it keeps your skin soft and supple. if you want to look younger than your age live in a rain forest :>))
That's all ladies, have a good night, sleep well and walk in the rain.

how about that and other miscellany

Whoopee my blog had 100 hits today and only 5 of them were mine LOL. What a treat...I am so glad Mary put the counter on the blog. Nice to know what is going on out there.
My quilting ripouts were fixed today so I had to put it all away since my son and his wife are coming in tonight from Louisiana and the bedroom had to be cleaned up , the machines taken off the desk and the sewing paraphenalia hidden from view . Now is that a job or isn't it. But when they go over to the Sunshine Coast on Thursday they all come back out for a few days . Then I can start putting those blocks together and I don't think I need to tell you which blocks , do I..
Mistress of the Game which I thought was a Sidney Sheldon book , isn't. Of course it isn't because he passed on to the other world in 2007 I think. It has Tilly Bagshawe's name on the cover too but I can't find out what her contribution to the novel is. Did he write it or did she write it or did she finish the manuscript or did he/ Nothing but questions. So that is the Mystery!! Someone rated it as 6.5 out of 10 and I would agree with that.
The yarn I purchased is not right. It is the same label as the other yarns I bought and was satisfied with but this one is much thicker than my originals the grey and red socks which were just right. So I bought another label, different brand and hopefully it will knit up better. It is so easy to buy the wrong thing and waste your money. Oh well it is good to be rich :>(( NOT!! I do that with fabric all the time. My drawers are full of fabric that is not just quite the right thing. Sad story isn't it?
And with that I say "Have a good evening"

happily ever after ending

I saw this headline in one of those magazines at the checkout counter in the supermarket.Yeh I read those things, dreadful isn't it? I carried on with the item only to discover the lady in question who is happy ever after just had a new baby and has a new husband and it may be in that order or it may not be. But the baby thing really got me.............Do I hear a long silence here. To myself I thought yeah baby this is not the ending but the beginning and may end in happily ever after or may not as the case may be. I hope she is happy ever after but we all know how that often works out don't we. I have had my happily ever after twice so I know a lot of how that works LOL, oh and I had 5 babies which in their time made me a very happy woman but no life is free from sadness which is what strengthens us I believe for the perils that we encounter throughout our life. When I was young there was a serial movie that was called The Perils of Pauline and I didn't know what that meant. I soon learned it was not the dangers of falling down Niagara Falls or other perils of that ilk. Pauline had a new peril every week , on Saturday. But at that time I thought perils were just that. I soon learned life held other dangers but never forgot Pauline.
Enough of life's struggles and joys for now.
My camera stayed at home today so no new photos to add to this blog, I am waiting for my granddaughter to send me a piece of html that will allow me to add the photos below the blog rather than off to the side where they don't remain with the blog they are suppose to be with. They do not march in tandem. I see many blogs that are very professional looking and so put together. I want one like that LOL. However I am having fun and isn't that what it is all about?
Happiness to all, and a good night to everyone :>))

ribbit,ribbit

What's it all about Alfie, I can't think of aything to write tonight, my mnd is a blank. well that's nothing new :>)
We always do our housework on Sundays so maybe that is why I have nothing to say. Housework is so mind boggling isn't it. I think I forgot some of it, definitely did not dust upstairs LOL> Still on one of my e mail lists the members are going on about the nostalgia of ironing, sprinkling the clothes with a bottle and shaker top and washing in a wringer washing machines. Thank goodness they didn't go on about washing on washboards. I did not enter into the conversation as I have done all those things and was almost euphoric when I got an automatic washer and dryer LOL, well I did have 5 sons 6 years of age and under at the time. Sorry if anyone on that list is reading this,I get it but am not with you on this :>)
Ribbit is ripping out stitches. Although I finished sewing the corners on my squares, squaring them off and cutting off the extra fabric on the corners , I still had to take out some of the corners because they were not quite right. since the fabrics on some of the blocks are black and the corners are dotted black it is hard for me to see it well . But most of them were okay, I was happy about that.
Is there something about getting old that makes you not want to cook. I could go out every day for dinner if I could afford it. Not that I was ever very interested in cooking , haven't even baked a thing since the 60s. No one in our family needs baking, if it is in the house we eat it , of course we do, isn't that why it is here? So we just purchase one item if we feel the need for dessert.
What kind if a wife and mother am I?
On that note I'll add a photo of the Forsythia which is what the poem I wanted yesterday was all about. Oh well a photo , yes, poem ,no.
Tata..

Where do things go

I ask you, how do things just disappear. My mom used to say Mr. Nobody took things or did things in our home, LOL so I guess he still lives in my house. Today I wanted a poem about The Forsythia Bush to go along with the photo I took with my camera and also misplaced . No poem, no photo!! No Blog? Of course not.
I need another topic for discussion... This is it , serependipity - the act of stumbling upon something good while looking for something one can't find. That seems to fit at least the part about not finding. The good luck portion of the meaning is I bought a new magazine today. I had not intended to purchase The Love of Quilting for a while because I have bought it for some time and am finding that there isn't much I wanted to do but this one jumped out at me because it offered a CD in the plastic sleeve. Come on now, who needs another CD, especially about 50 quilting TIPS but I got suckered into buying it. It is so easy to charm me LOL. Two quilts about using some lovely panels for the centre of a quilt, I am becoming very interested in panels as a quick and pretty way of making a quilt. I just did a lovely little baby quilt for a newborn boy, with boats and things nautical, just had to add two borders, fun and easy and the mom loved it. And I have ordered a beautiful dinosaur panel which I will get this week . No idea who to give it to as there are no little ones at the moment to give it to. Maybe I'll keep it for myself LOL. I do that a lot.
So I am asking , what happened to piecing?
Well piecing did happen here today on the snowball blocks. got them all pinned, some of them sewn and now I am out of the black dotted fabric. But I have some nice black on black which I think would work around the edges of the quilt. There is more than one way to skin a cat :>))
There will be no photo and no poem tonight, not that that will upset too many people LOL
Remember I picked up three books at the library yesterday? My sister came over this afternoon and brought another book for me to read. It never rains but it pours.:>)
My eldest son is 56 today and he retired yesterday. Congratulations Adam ((()))
So it is time to make socks..
Good night folks!! AH English LOL

gorgeous day

Oh what a gorgeous day, sun shining, trees blossoming and flowers blooming, makes for one beautiful day and one that makes me happy.
Right now I am having a cup of tea and a small piece of beautiful white cake filled with some type of raspberry jam and covered in whipped cream-mmm delicious. That is supper...We had a big lunch at IHOP more stuff my doctor would not be proud of me for eating, corned beef hash, they have the best at IHOP. eggs, hash browns and pancakes. Good thing I couldn't eat it all but it was so good. Fasting tomorrow LOL.
We went to Richmond this morning to buy some fabric for sashing, borders and backing for my latest heart quilt that I plan to give to the newest baby who was born last October. Our great grandchildren always get their quilt within the first year. That is the very best I can do LOL.
Then I had to go back to Michael's as I thought I had bought the wrong yarn for socks but no it was the right yarn. Totally wasted trip. We had to go and pick up a parcel at the post office . It was the latest Robert Bateman print from the Show of Hearts where anyone who donated $169 received the print. We have bought one for the past 4 years. The first one was of Otters and we gave that one to Sam our grandson when he bought a new house. We still have the Polar Bears and the Siberian tiger. This year it is a sleeping Snow Leopard. These prints are so gorgeous, that word again. See it was a gorgeous day!!
I went to the library too and took out three books , a Sidney Sheldon, one on Louis X1V and another mystery, but then isn't all of life a mystery? Ha that is my homily for today "Life is a Mystery", never to be solved. That is what makes life so much fun.
I finished the back of that baby sweater finally but am taking a rest from it and casting on the stitches for the purple socks. It will be a good night!!
Tomorrow I will sew the squares on the squares of the snowball blocks.
And I need to wash the fabric and cut it for the heart quilt.
Buenos noches amigas !!

Book Review - Gotham Diaries

Gotham Diaries by dual authors Tonya Lewis Lee and Crystal McCrary Anthony is a look at the inside of the elite African American high society in Harlem/ New York. I do not know if there is any truth to this part of the novel or of there is a parallel high society of African Americans in New York but the story itself is most interesting embodying the same pitfalls as any other closed social group. It begins with a realtor Manny Marks , a homosexual who wants to fit into the social group to which he has not been born and his lover who wants only money. It involves his friendship with two of the women, one of whom Tandy who is now in a state of penury due to her husband's death which has left her totally bereft of funds which she is trying to hide from her social aquaintances. Now she too has to resort to the same deceitful tricks as the realtor . The other woman Lauren is married to a very rich entrepreneur and she herself comes from money. So the realtor and the fallen society woman are both after the rich woman's money and hatch up a cruel scheme to enrich themsleves. The story revolves around their efforts to get $10,000,000 from their friend. They are found out and Lauren delivers a fitting punishment to both of them. Lauren's husband is found to be unfaithful to her and that causes some angst in the story but of course as he is so rich he gets away with the betrayal.
You need to read the book to see what happens to Manny and Tandy at the conclusion of the book. Worth reading!

sign in

I noticed that there are quite a few people reading my blog . If you have an extra please minute make a comment and I will respond to it :>) Thank you!!! And if you don't want to comment thank you so much for reading :>)))
The embroidery machine was working today stitching out a tea pot.
It was not my intention to embroider a tea pot I wanted to do a lovely coffee mug, another one different than the previous two, but the image on my machine is not very clear so I did a tea pot instead LOL. Some things just don't work the way you want them to. Still it is a nice image and my friend won't be unhappy I don't think.
Tomorrow I'll do the coffee mug.
We went wool shopping at Michael's this morning and bought some lovely purple yarn to make socks for another friend on my list. Her cats will love them LOL... I bought Softee again , I like this yarn as it is so soft. Funny thing some yarns hurt my feet which have neuropathy in them and need to be tenderly take care of. The Softee is really nice to wear, I love my grey ones.
The baby sweater is going into the pending file for a while haha!! And the 5 needles for socks are coming out again ... I used to use 4 kind of metal needles to make socks but a friend convinced me to try 5 bamboo needles. They work really well , it does take a bit of getting used to the 5 needles and to finger knit the stitches onto the needles instead of knitting them on with the needles in the old way that my mom taught me. Still not quite coinvinced that it is the best way to do it. Whoops wrong again, I have to use the four needles for the Softee , and use 5 b 2 1/5 mm bamboo needles for the thinner yarn .
Gotta go , The Mentalist is on right now.
Bye!!

so far so little

I did so little today of any importance. We went looking for bed pillows and found some that work for us, had some Chinese food for lunch and then came home. I was supposed to go to a class tonight but my friend Kathy is unavailable and Ray does not like me to drive at night. I'd have to go across a very busy bridge at rush hour that has so many accesses to it that it is quite frightening. We call that bridge design a "Malaria germ" LOL . The huge trucks on the bridge and ramps scare me silly. Once one of them nearly drove right into me and I had to move over so fast into another lane. Fortunately for me that lane had no traffic in it at that moment or I woud have been gone. And that wasn't a terribly busy time. In other words I am staying home tonight. But I did call and ask that Tom, the owner of the shop, save me the panel and I'll pick it up next week. It is so cute.. a lovely dinosaur panel. That's why I signed up for the class anyway LOL I'll take a photo of it next week.
After sepnding half the afternoon looking for the supply list which was hidden in the delete section of my computer I decided not to go as it called for sandwiching the panel as a prerequisite to arriving at the class.
Another time...:>))
However I did manage to get the lines drawn on the last of my squares for the Snowball blocks, tomorrow I'll sew some of them. Promise LOL!!
Tonight I'll knit on that dratted baby sweater with the holes or more professionally the yarn overs or YO in the pattern. The back should be done soon and then the fronts. so soon I'll be back to my beloved socks VBG. I have customers waiting. I might knit socks any way as a rest in between the pieces of the sweater.
I'll call it a night !! Night!

stitching and stitching :>))

I'll bet you thought I was going to say something else LOL. I had such a great day at my quilting groups today. First I went to the group at the church where we had some lively discussions about the Olympics. We were all so happy about it and some of us were actually volunteers for the whole event.Not me though! They had great stories to tell but the one I like the best was this one. Heather and a friend were standing in front of the Russian van which was emblazoned with ads for the Winter Games that are to take place in Sochi Russia in 2014. There were two men standing off to the side , one of whom was wearing a red and white Olympic jacket. She asked if he would stand with them for a photograph and he grudgingly agreed. After the picture was taken she asked him what his "Sport" was. Was he annoyed as he was the famous Evgeni Plushenko who had been bested by the American Evan Lysacek and was very unhappy to be unrecognized by the ladies.
Another said that all the skaters performed their skate programme the day before the event. When Plushenko arrived for his practice session he just stood on the ice and posed and poatured , did not practice just posed. Pretty arrogant I'd say and he did not win the Gold. Again he ws very unsportsmanlike dissing Lysacek for not being a man because he did not do the quad jumps.
Oh and I said that there would be no more Olympics but it was a big part of our sewing today.
I did sew though on my appliqued butterflies. I finished the purple one today and started the yellow one. The pink and green butterflies are finished already.
Then it was off to Community Quilts . the friend I make the socks for said one of her friends asked her, What do I have to do to get a pair of socks knit for me " LOL I have no idea but she will have to stand in line.LOL
Then I went to see my 85 year old friend who has had pneumonia.. but is feeling better now.
C'est fini mes amies. Bon soir!

BINGO- Quilting group game and sewing

Haha I won the Fat Quarter Bingo on my QW2S-FQBingo group for the second time this year. I have been very lucky on this group , won quite a few times, enough so that I felt guilty and stopped playing for a while. The FQs are cartoon fabrics this time. Cute , I can hardly wait to get them.
Another good day for Walmart. We went for a few things and came home with over $200 worth of goods. Oh well no need to go again for a couple of months. We used to say Walmart was a $100 trip but the last couple of trips have been way more than that. Are their prices going up? Or are we buying more. And no clothing either, the tops are so thin now that I don't think I'll buy from them any more. I have some great ones that I liked so much I bought all the colours , they aren't in the store any more. I'll have to change suppliers LOL.
We went to McDonald's for Chicken McNuggets I love them with barbecue sauce.
Ray is making a model of the MAyflower and it has eight sails. The project came with just a piece of fabric and a pattern. Ray didn't know what to do with it so he sked me to help him out. We pinned the patterns to the fabric and cut around them, then folded over the seam allowance which was marked so I knew where to stitch. Very small SA,about 1/8" so I had to sew very close to the outer edge of the sail. It took me a good part of the afternoon because I had to heavy pin it, my glue did not work. Why is it that Glue doesn't ever work once you have opened the bottle other than for the first time LOL. However it is done and my husband who never, ever says anything remotely romantic , not in 33 years stunned me by saying I like you!!
Amazing! I was stunned. He also said it is a good thing we have that sewing machine isn't it. He fought long and hard trying to get me to NOT buy it. He never apologizes either and that was one in a way.
Two good things today.