chickens again

Just a cute little old fashioned pot holder. Maybe your grandmother  or your mother  had one in her kitchen. Note I said Her kitchen. That's the way it was in those days and maybe in these days too. Not in my household. We have a his/hers kitchen. Whoever feels like cooking owns the kitchen LOL.
http://tipnut.com/chicken-pot-holder-vintage-pattern/
Click on the link.
I get so many wonderful links on the internet and like to share a few of them with you. Just add them to your collection :) Who uses them?
I took the day off, we watched the football game, still are for that matter. The Lions have to win this game or they are out of the play-offs. At present we are ahead 23 to 10 against Saskatchewan and 2:38 to go. I wonder why some football players hold the ball out in front of them and it slips off their fingers. I have seen that happen several times in this season. I am not an expert at football by no means. OOPS The other team got a touchdown 1:38.  How disappointing.
I was going to cut some strips today but that has not happened yet. Maybe tonight I can get my you know what out of the chair and do something useful.
Although I did knit the turn of the heel and the decreases on brown sock #1 while I have been sitting here watching the game.  Now it is all down hill. I refer to knitting the leg of the sock and the heel as going uphill and the foot as going downhill. Why ?Who knows.
I bought Mark Lipinski's Fabric Trends for Quilters. It is a 2 sided magazine, so look at the front and turn it around for the back, like 2 magazines in one. The back side/front side can't tell which is which has the new fabrics with swatches featured of each line chosen for the magazine and the frontside patterns and the fabric swatches used. I like to buy it every time it is published .I don't particularly like the fabrics chosen for this time, except for Raspberry Sorbet by In The beginning. They always have fine designs. There is an accompanying article on the latest trend in dogs-dyeing your dog to match your shoes or whatever you want to match. In this photo the dog is dyed pink. I saw an item on TV about that. Dogs of many different colours. Poodles seem to have the best hair for that.
Other fabric designers have one or two pieces of the line that I like but not the whole line. It is an interesting magazine and a look at future trends for us Canadians. All new fabrics take at least 6 months to get across the border.
We won the football game but it was a squeaker, right down to the wire.
Enjoy your evening folks.
Guten Abend.

gaining weight

I heard yesterday that people gain between 7 and 10 pounds on an average between Hallowe'en and Christmas. How to work against that? I have a theory about gaining weight. Eat breakfast, a light lunch and dinner. Then nothing until morning when breakfast starts once again.  No sweeet or salty snacks , just water. Starvation , maybe but good for weight loss. No counting of calories, no writing down what you eat just good plain weight loss . Not a great or quick loss just steady.  Walk a bit every day, fast if you can , slow if you can't go fast. But move it around ;)
Good luck, that is my thoughts on weight. Those of you who know me probably wonder what I know about losing pounds, I am still chubby,a word I prefer to FAT. But I'll have you know that using my method of weight loss which I don't always commit to so my loss is slow, I have  lost 13 1/2 pounds.  it has taken a year but it works. The main thing is don't eat after dinner.
For dinner tonight we had just vegetables and they were delicious, carrots, onions, celery, cauliflower , brocolli,potato, tomatoes  cucumber in oil and vinegar . Dipped my bread and butter in  the oil and vinegar,mmm my favourite!! No Meat. Delicious!!
My friend Jean in Delaware phoned me this morning to suggest I do a system restore on my recalcitrant computer to restore the internet. Thank You Jean, it worked. That's why I can do this blog!!!!
http://www.birdbraindesigns.net/category/21-free-designs.aspx    
There are 3 pages of free redwork designs on this site. They look small so probably for a 4x4 hoop, but they are cute.
And I sewed this afternoon :) One of the blocks I am doing for the guild was short one square.. Try and match a colour which is what I was trying to do. Not an easy task , no matter how many fabrics you have of that particular shade the tone is off.  So that was my search for the day. I finally found one that is close so I went with that.  I like this block , it is a good one.

My camera has turned blue again, this is actually purple not blue. Does anyone know how to change it back to the right colour. Remember when that happened before. I went back to London Drugs and they fixed it for me. However I would like to know how to do it myself since I probably turned it blue. How ? Your guess is as good as mine. LOL.
I looked at my fabric for the backing to SBS and decided not to go to Fabricana but to get those clever ladies at Community Quilts to show me how to get it right. That's a relief, making a decision is always a relief. Right or wrong it's the decision that counts :0
Tomorrow I start the animal prints quilt, hopefully!!
Check out the blog for Oct.27, the one that has the photo of Catherine, below the picture is the blog for the 28th. A few people have mentioned that there was no blog for that day but I hid it below the picture. Haha did you find it?
Enough said folks, have a great night!!
Buona notte.

internet problems

I'm late again tonight, the same internet problems that I had before have attacked me once again. My PC upstairs cannot get on the internet at all but this laptop downstairs is able to. That makes it a mystery because I have a wireless router and if it is not working which it is not then neither computer gets on the internet. However I should not complain as one of them is working. I wish one of my family was available to take a look at it. I have been taking my laptop to London drugs but the PC has so many wires I am afraid to go near it. It is definitley not wireless LOL. I spent the whole afternoon trying to get things to work to no avail and trying to find a design for my friend's linen napkin. I found a few that I liked and printed them off to take on Tuesday. She can make up her own mind and all I have to do is sew them out. Therefore there was no sewing again except to check and see if the fabric I wanted to use was enough for the backing of my redwork SBS. I am sure you can guess the answer to that one. No it was not enough so back to the store.  I am slightly dislexic so cannot figure out which way to cut the backing . I take it to Shirley at Fabricana and she tells me where to cut it and where to fill in the extra spaces that I need to make it the correct size.
Lynn our daughter, well Ray's daughter, but I feel like she is mine too asked us to look for The Chipmunks Christmas. We found a three DVD package with Christmas, Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving for the little great grandaughters. We also found a CD so I think we'll go back for that too. Haley Rose is in love with Dora the Explorer and I am sure it is she who is driving this Chimpunk thing.
Then came  the frustrating  afternoon. I hope the evening is more stable.
Katie is getting ready for winter up north.She was unable to get the antifreeze  and the block heater for her car. I sure hope she can get that sorted out,it is important. She is off hunting again this weekend.

Though I'd tack this one up tonight.

Ione did this and hand quilted the same design in the spaces as the appliqued one. It is a beautiful quilt and she made it for Honour House. It is a treat to look at.

Do you ever get feeling that you need to take a few days off sewing, that maybe it will all get better after a break. That is where I am today.  If we go to Fabricana tomorrow I'll get enthused again , at least to get the backing done.
I think I may get Lauren to do the quilting. I have a friend who tries to encourage me to do the quilting myself but I am not good at it and think I might mess it up. She always says it isn't my quilt if I have Lauren do the quilting. But then I know it will be beautiful and professionally done.
Done  for tonight folks.
Have a lovely evening. Kalispera.

great granddaughter and blog for Oct 28

Katherine our great granddaughter her mom is pregnant due in January. What does this look like LOL.             Look below the picture for Thursday's blog.

I love this girl, she is so funny.

Blog for Thursday Oct 28, 2010

I added this last night but am going to write today's blog here anyway.

Somehow the font starts in the middle of the page but it seems to be working.

Ray and I went to the states early this morning . We had a good day but coming home in the rain and the dark. Our usual route was full of accidents . Two of the bridges had accidents on them.On the  Alex Fraser a semi trailer had overturned and blocked of the bridge front and back so the roads in all directions were jammed. they were warning eveyone to miss that bridge. That's the way we usually come home. The second choice was the Patullo and there was a three car pile up on that bridge. We had to go right across Surrey to Highway one. It was dark as I have said and raining. We got kind of lost, didn't know where we were or where we were going. At last we found our way out of that impasse and the Port Mann bridge was clear except for the accesses which were a bit blocked but we got over them quickly. In New Westminster there was a line up to get onto the Patullo but the police had the access blocked off . It seems the whole Lower Mainland was a mess! 

It was a relief to get home and relax. That kind of driving is nerve wracking. I was so thirsty that I drank one whole can of ginger ale.

No sewing today but knitting will be happening. I did a fair amount of knitting last night so am well on the way to the heel.

Downsizer.net quick and chunky socks. This site shows very clearly how to knit a chunky sock.

My tomorrow plan is to sew and to put my SBS quilt together to see how much fabric I need for the backing. If there is enough of the cream with red images that will be good but if not I'll need to improvise and piece.

That is it for tonight ,have a great evening everybody.

Bon Soir....

pandas

We are watching Oasis, a TV station which is showing the birth of baby giant pandas, they are so tiny and pink and  hairless, really a very immature specimen. In this case twins were born ,in the wild usually one of them dies and often the same occurs in the lab. But the clinic where this set of twins were born has developed a technique in which each baby spends two days with the mother and two days in the nursery receiving milk which has been expressed from the mother . I wonder at the size of the mother as opposed to the size of the cub and the amount of time the mother is in labour for such a small infant.  This is a very fascinating look at the beginning of life for the giant panda.
We had a day of errands .My conputer  last night said I had a Trojan virus so I shut it down right away. This morning we took it to London Drugs where Ben took care of it for me. Thank goodness he said it was just a warning from Kaspersky , my security  programme  . Good thing I took it in as the virus wanted me to open something that would let loose a tornado , if you will. All is well tonight.
We left the laptop and went to Sears where I returned the pair of jeans I bought last week. The legs were way too long or I am way too short. There  was a line up and every person in the line up was returning things they had bought. One cashier on the desk. Really anyone that wanted to purchase may have turned away and left.
We had a bowl of soup and a coffee for lunch, then back  for the laptop. After that we returned a couple of books to the library, didn't take out more as I still  had a few at home.
Then I called Caroline my DDIL who works at Lazy Boy. I wanted to ask her about Ray's lazyboy chair which had broken a spring. She said she could make an appointment with the repair man to have it fixed. What a great lady she is.
I feel so guilty because there was no sewing happening  here today and I have a
 lot to do.But even though I call it work it is not a job so I can take a day off once on a while.
So no pictures either.
 Have a great evening. I will knit the brown socks.

Achy breaky

Not heart, just sore and headachy. I hope this is gone tomorrow. I haad lots of pain last night bna a headache tonight, but you don't want tohear about that. However I could not resist seeing as I have a captive audience. Marion called tonight and all she could say was thank you,thank you and so on for several more thank yous  and it is so beautiful. Can you guess she got the quilt and was thrilled. Also she is getting a new bed and it will go on her new bed. I am so happy she is so happy. Enough of happy sappy you say LOL-however  it is good to make a dear one happy. Ray's eldest sister who was there at the time asked Where is mine ;), I'll have to have a look on my quilt rack.

Oh and I gave the red socks to Paulina for her winter foot warmers, she was happy too.
Can you believe it ,an excellent day except for the headache.  I did not hear from Maryanne as to whether  she received the towels. They only had to go across the water to Vancouver Island and Marion's quilt had to go across three provinces to Manitoba. The vagaries of the postal system amaze me.
Orland Kurtenbach honoured tonight in the Roger's arena for his contributions to hockey and the Canucks.
Sewing? Isn't this supposed to be a sewing blog? Well partially, I have other things I think about and enjoy. But for tonight , sewing took place along with the ladies at the church and I forgot to take photos. It was the busiest place this morning, I got there later than usual and it was abuzz with fabric flying everywhere , some were cutting up squares of Christmas Fabric in a joint effort to make a table runner. I forgot to take fabric but that was fine I am actually into square table covers lately for some reason. The table runner today was very long but could have been made shorter  by leaving off one of the square elements. But many of the of the ladies went home with all the cutting done for their TR.
It was fun though with so much going on.
I just did some of my applique, still need to check on the butterflies to see if i can stop making these haha. 
One of the ladies asked if I could do a bit of embroidery for her. It is a beautiful little linen table napkin that she wants a bit of embroidery in one corner. I am afraid to do it as I might make a mistake. I would feel terrible if that happened. She wants it for a participation in one of her groups where all members are to do one napkin each and embroider something that is special to B.C. Well what can she do if I make a mistake, cut off my head. But I might lose a lovely friend. Oh I would hate to mess it up.
Later at Community quilts I agreed to make another pair of socks for Ione. There Ione now I have to do it LOL. I had a good chat with all my friends there one at a time as they are all scattered around the house. I just make the rounds ;)
When I got home Ray said Katie had called from Fort MacMurray. I wonder if the snows have begun, no doubt as it is so far north. The storms swirling around the central part of the upper  continent both South of the border and North of the border would make snow  a resonable assumption.  I missed her and she was going out tonight so I was not able to call her back.
However I took a couple of beautiful tree photos from across the street. Some  I'll put on the side and some here in the blog.

These yellow trees are such a beautiful lemon colour.

I am leaving now to read my book. I finished the Cliff House Strangler by Shirley Tallman. That makes three out of four. I'll begin the fourth tonight.

Have a lovely evening and stay safe from the weather.
Bon Soir.

A hornet's nest

Someone in the embroidery world or several someones had started a huge controversy claiming they have been able to embed a tracking system into their embroidery designs so that if any one sends the design onto a friend or to sell them they can be sued. The letter about this was really quite brutal and there had been so much on the e mail about the legality of such a scheme. They have also named  embroidery design companies and said not to purchase designs from them. Not that I would allow anyone to tell me what to do but the whole controversy is tempest in a tea pot. Sometimes I find people so entertaining.  That said Embroidry designers make their living from their work so in effect it is not ehtical to send their designs to someone else or to sell them.
Last night I  finished the red socks and started the brown variegated ones.
Today I really worked hard on my sewing. I put the little blocks from yesterday into a small wallhanging.  That meant cutting all the small borders before putting them into a semblance of a quilt. It took me most of the afternoon and part of the evening to make it.  But it is almost ready to go on the door, just need to buy a bit of cord to hang it on the door. I'll get that on the way home from sewing tomorow. I like mine but I love the one Kathy did so I'll put them both up on the blog. The orange one is Kathy's .

I think I am going to buy the bats design in Kathy's design as I do really like it. And the three little characters too but I'll wait until later in the week, maybe they will go on sale. haha, I like a bargain as well as the rest of you. The green one is mine, we made these designs in an embroidery class , not the spider though. I did not have time to make two more designs so used the ones I had. I do like the Hallowe'en designs and colours.

Now I am off to knit, I hope you  all have a good evening.

        Konbanwa as they say in Japan.

the rains came down

We got caught in a downpour around noon ,it was coming down in buckets. I looked around for the cats and dogs LOL.
We had to go out today to pick up a few groceries, things that we use every day. We couldn't buy much since the elevator was out of order , who knows when it will be fixed but we are hoping for tomorrow. We are up on the third floor and I in particular find it difficult to climb those flights because I have CAD which makes it hard to breath with too much  effort. However the good thing is there are little rest stops every so often so I was able to stop until I got my breath. The news says lots more rain for tomorrow and of course snow up in the mountains. That's the weather report  for this day Sunday October 24.  :)
There was a segment on Sixty Minutes earlier in the afternoon on Jane Goodall and her work with the chimpanzees. It was fun to see the actual pictures of her interacting with the animals. An amazing body of work.
I had to run to Michaels for that red wool and found a mix of browns so bought that one too.

Interesting blend of colours I think. It should knit up very nicely.
Ray said he wanted something to put outside the door for Halloween so I started a little wall hanging. Well started it , top is done. Then I had to make dinner , funny after dinner I never want to work just sit and do my other stuff like computer and knitting.  I'll get back to it tommorrow if we don't go to the States. We are thinking about it but Ray may not feel quite up to it .He is still a bit under the weather. I hope we stay home so I can finish this little hanging.
Kathy made one and it is adorable.  Maybe she will let me put it up on this blog with credit of course LOL.   Mine is the blocks we made in class, not as cute but I had two of them ready to go so it made the job shorter , so I can get it up tomorrow evening.
Here are some photos of the changing trees in and around our home. It is so glorious to walk through this canopy of amazing colours.

This is in our courtyard taken from the 3rd floor through a window. Love that deep red.

The leaves are just starting to change on our street it seems to both of us it is later this year. When it is all changed I'll take more photos. There are some trees that I want to take on the property next door, hopefully tomorrow. Autumn is such a beautiful time of year.

Have a good evening listening to the rain from your cozy chair.

Goedenavond...

I am a nurse

Poor Ray was sick again today so I had to put on my nurse's hat and take care of him. I must have been good as he felt better in the afternoon.  Haha! It was easy though as he is not demanding,  I hope he is up to scratch tomorrow.
Since we did not go out except for some bread and a chicken for dinner. He felt up for that so he was better. The chicken was already barbecued and was delicious. I just added some cucumber and tomatoes in oil and vinegar. I love that. We both do. So it was an easy dinner.
During the day I had time to sew so began the blocks for the guild. I got three out of the four done and stopped after dinner. I wonder why it took me all afternoon but realized that I sew very slowly in order to get the seams all right and of course as I mentioned last night these blocks are really nine patches. Ione wrote to me this morning and said that these blocks are idiot proof. I guess she has not been reading about my problems with 9 patches.  I was very careful and the blocks are not too bad. They can always toss the ones that don't work LOL. So here they are.

Pretty aren't they.
I didn't tell you that On Tuesday three people gave me those adorable chicken pin cushions, Lynn, Ione and Paulina. They are really pretty and they get along well with the other three chickens in the coop. The mayor has approved back yard chicken coops in the city . I don't have a back yard but these sit well in my sewing room LOL. thank you ladies!!

The new girls on the block LOL.

I just discovered  there is a spell check for the blog, amazing what you can learn by clicking on the buttons. That's how I found how to add pictures to the body of the blog instead of them going down the sides. However now I need to know how to fix up the sides and the background of this blog. I see so many lovely looking ones and don't know how to make mine more beautiful.  Blogger does not seem to have the information I want or at least it doesn't make it easy to find. :>)

I ran out of red wool for the second sock, we had wanted to go to Michael's for another ball but that did not happen. Tomorrow I think.

That's my day and now it is time to take it easy. Rest easy all of you.

Bon soir.

 

Canada - the home of the refugee

Did you hear that Randy Quaid and his wife skipped bail in California and came to Canada . They are now asking for refugee status so they can stay here and keep away from American officials.  Oh Canada the home of the free....
Ray and I got our flu shots yesterday and now we have sore , itchy arms. But I have not had the flu ever since I started getting these shots in '96.   I'll put up with the pain.
No sewing today , just a lot of miscellany.
We mailed 2 parcels today , one to Marianne and Gus (embroiderd towels) and one to Marion (quilt) , Ray's sister who has  cancer, And I forgot to take the picture of it, it is a Dresden Plate and is on my Webshots http://community.webshots,com/user/nanboudreau  if you care to take a look in the Nan's pics "Blue Plate Special"  in pink.
I hope it keeps her warm and cozy when she is taking chemo.
Ray had to get a new pin for his master card so we went to the bank for that.
 We had lunch with our friends Bob and Buzz, just at Burger King but we had a very nice visit. We have to laugh, when we were younger we had each other for dinner and cooked really good meals. Now neither of us want to cook so we eat out. What happens when you get older  I wonder. After all it just means a couple of extra plates at the table not like the huge dinners we all used to have at one time. Then Ray and I walked the mall for half an hour or maybe a bit more. We had to go to Wal Mart to return 2 items we bought the other day , light bulbs, not strong enough, and a t-shirt for me. It said my size on it and when I got it home it was way too small, that is another thing I wonder about , I have not gained any weight so why do the sizes not fit. I used to get good things at Wal Mart now not any more. The clothing is very thin or way  smalerl than it used to be and NO I have not gained weight ;), in fact I have lost some. The tees I have from a few years ago are actually too big.
 I had to go to  the library again as the call came in that there was a book I had ordered waiting for me. It was another Shirley Tallman Mystery . Murder at Cliff House. I already started it. I was reading a knitting mystery but it was not that good, a slow starter but Cliff House started out running at the first sentence. I was captured. Too bad she has only written 4 novels.
After we got home I was so tired taht I lay down and had a 30 mintue nap. Then it was time to make dinner. Adam and Lisa had given us a large chunk of ling cod when they were here, ling cod is my favourite fish. I put it in the oven as it was very thick and it would cook better there than in a frying pan. We had wild rice , I bought the new single servings of minute rice and it was delicious. Then I topped it off with fresh asparagus.  I actually cooked dinner but Ray said he did as he poked the fish with a knife to see if it was done LOL!!!  What a card he is.
Here is the instruction for that block I need to do tomorrow.

Set you magnification at 200 to see this.

Day is done, gone the sun....
Have a good evening. Time to knit.

sent to me by a friend I LOLed

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2010/10/charming-stars-quilt.html  nice quilt with charm squares.

My wife and I were sitting at a table at her high school reunion, and she
  great quilt with charm squares
kept staring at a drunken man swigging his drink as he sat alone at a nearby table.

I asked her, "Do you know him?"

"Yes", she sighed,

"He's my old boyfriend.... I understand he took to drinking right after we

split up those many years ago, and I hear he hasn't been sober since."

"My God!" I said, "Who would think a person could go on celebrating that long?"

And then the fight started...

But I promised you a mention of Jane Goodall who lived her life among the chimpanzees of the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve studying and living with the chimpanzees. She was with this particular  family through out the whole life of some members of that group-she was like a beloved grandmother who loved them , talked to them, helped them when in need, hugged and cuddled them  through sickness and health. Jane encouraged study and research of primates that still goes on today. I did not know that chimpanzees suffer from many of the same diseases as we do, for instance polio. Many mammals are subject to our diseases as pet owners already know. Jane married and she and her new husband came back to the reserve to continue the work. She gave birth to a son who lived his early days among the chimpanzees. Jane Goodall lived a full life of service and devotion to her chosen family.
My work for today was during a short period after Ray and I came back from the doctor and then the pharmacist and went to pick up our vacuum for the repairman.
.At the guild the other night I picked up a package of pre cut pieces to make a block for the 124 club  which is the arm of the guild that makes quilts out of the blocks we sew.I thought there was just one block to do but to my surprise there were four LOL. All I managed to do was draw the lines on the diagonals of 16 squares and of course pin them so they would not move on me. That was it for the day.
Hmm I'm having a bit of trouble adding the photo.

There I got it, pretty aren't they?
Earlier in the day I spent a lot of time looking for my memory stick, I called Tom's and Kathy but neither of them had found it. After checking the bag, pockets,purse,etc. I noticed that part of the pieces I cut and had put in a bag were under something on my sewing table and lo and behold there it was.
So despite the fact that I got little done I did spend the day being busy and I did knit while watching The Mentalist :>)
Have a good night . I will!!
Kalispera.

a mosquito

Do you remember the fairy tale Seven at One Blow where a tailor killed 7 flies at once with his swatter and went around claiming to have killed Seven at One Blow whereupon people thought he was a great warrior?
There was a mosquito in our elevator room, must be some stagnant water down there somewhere. Unfortunately for the mosquito I was faster than a speeding bullet and beat him to the draw. He died on the door. Does that make me a great warrior or just an average one tra la la!!  
I had to go to the store myself this morning as Ray is not feeling well. I took in the library got another Shirley Tallman book about San Francisco, Murder on Nob Hill, a Stella Cameron book , she sets her stories in Louisiana, and one more book but I can't think of the title. Then I tripped over to the bakery and bought some fresh bread and a curried pastry, love that. I bought a scratch ticket and it had six dollars on it and I called Sam to see how he was. He was better than on Monday, sounded like his regular cheerful self.
I spent the afternoon cutting border strisp for 2 borders, sewing them together for the long sides pinning them on , sewing them and pressing them Sonow the Sunbonnet redwork quilt top is done . Now I musr decide what to do about the quilting. I can do the straight quilting but don't like to do the free motion in case I ruin the quilt.  So that leaves me with asking Lynn to do it or taking it to Laurne for long arm quilting. The other option is to think about doing some gentle lines around the girls. I think I'll go onto the site where I found the designs and see what suggestions they have for quilting. I worked until 7:00 from 2:00 taking time out for a sandwich and a bowl of soup, the remaining soup from Ray's beef barley. It was even better the third day LOL.
At 7:00 I called Marianne and we talked for an hour about the funeral in Thunder Bay of Ray's cousin's wife Judy. Marianne knows all the people in Thunder Bay as she lived there for years but I barely know any of them. But i did find out what everyone cooked and ate  LOL.
My day is secmented inot time slots. We go out in the morning have lunch, I check my mail for anything important before I start sewing or embroidering, Do that until supper time , write my blog and check my mail again and knit from 9:00 until I go to bed to read my book. Some days I do nothing and that's nice.
So Criminal Minds is on and I want to watch it. We were watching the hockey game but some times I jsut don't want to watch it any more.
Tomorrow I want to talk about an article I read on Jane Goodall the chimo lady.
Have a great evening folks.
Bon Soir.

many quilting hours today

Well all days have just 24 hours but my day has been long and lovely. I left home at 8:30 and got back at 10:00 with a couple of hours at home getting ready to go out again.
I continued to work on my applique- must count and see how many butterflies that are done.
I am going to send one of my quilts to my sister in lawin Winnipeg to comfort her while she is taking chemo and to give her something to hold on to when she feels sick.
We had fun at quilting this morning. Betty Lu bought a captain's house in Maine. We are trying to get her to agreeto a retreat haha. Although it would not be the first time I attended a retreat on the east coast. My son lived in Delaware . While he was away about 10 of us from all over the states and Canada came for a week of fun and games ,literally. We went to Amish country in Pennsylvania, bought fabric , looked at quilts, ate Amish food in old farmhouses, sewed. It is one of my favourite memories. And that is where I met my friend Jean who often surfaces on this blog. LOL
Community Quilts was also lots of fun and laughs.  Mary was back from Saskatchewan where she visited her brand new granddaughter. Jocelyn is back from Russia so everyone was there today. We worked on bindings which is what we usually do unless we bring a machine. Some of the members do bring their won and they do quilting.  It is a busy place believe me. In the basement is hwere they do the cutting for the quilts and arrange the blocks , sandwich and pin. It is a buy house on Tuesdays.
Tonight Kathy and I had an embroidery class  at Tom's. Kerry , Tom's wife was one of the teachers , I really like her. She says she'd like me to be there more often. And I would like to do that but Ray keeps me busy.
The class was  in the hoop quilting and flip sewing , designs by Hoop Sisters. We needed to make 4 sections of a design but I only made two. I'll get them done this month  before the next class.I took some photos of other people's work.

Jane's work, interesting choice of fabrics.

Michelle almost finished hers.

still in the machine.

Most people used Christmas fabric but this lady did hers in blues. It is fun to see how things turn out when everyone does something different.

That's my thought for the day. Good night all.

a warning

to embroiderers. Be careful hwat you use as your stabilizer, don't try to use old stuff to save a dime or two. I did that today and my embroidery was so off the mark. I noticed it at first on the dreaded apron when I began the embroidery but lots of times I think the embroidery is not right and at the end it turns out fine. So this time I just carried on . Half way through I began to see that it was not right but for heaven sakes I was not going to take it out so I finished the design. I would not give it as a gift but I can use it here at home in the kitchen LOL where I spend so much time.

My error was to use the piece I had in the hoop from when I started on the apron the other day and patched the hole with a piece of sticky that was left over from a previous roll. It was a small piece that fit on the hoop so I used it, not paying attention to the crease/fold in it. It meant that there was actually double sticky stabilizer on the hoop. Anyway it didn't work properly as you'll be able to see in the photo.

See the outlines are off, the R in Rouler is half done and the pieces of the body do not meet. Anyway not good but the design is really cute. I think I might try it again on another apron. Funny I have made several of these aprons and they all turned out just fine. That was my afternoon-wasted.
We went to Wal Mart for margarine. That margerine cost us $150.00. Prices sure have gone up lately. LOL
I bought 2 more hand towels to do for my pot luck group. That will be my next pot luck hostess project.
I did some more knitting on my sock yesterday and will do more tonight after I prepare for my class tomorrow night. That may take a while as there is a lot of stuff to do. I am almost tempted to back out of the class or to go and watch.
Canucks won last night 5 to 1.About time- but the Lions lost again. Time is almost up for them. Watching sports is hard on the heart LOL.
My sister in law in Winnipeg goes to the hospital tomorrow to see what kind of chemo they are planning for her.  She is such a nice happy person. I hope they have something that will work for her.
Have a good night folks.
Dobrai nochy.

great page of tutorials

http://pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/2010/10/16/halloween-quilt-spider-web-log-cabin-block-tutorial/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=halloween-quilt-spider-web-log-cabin-block-tutorial

Some really great tutorials on this blog , but it is really too long to type in so my suggestions is to just type the http://pinkchalkstudio.com/ and see if you can find the spider block. Then click on pinkchalkstudio blog on the pager that comes up.
Also when the page for the spider block comes up scroll right down to the end of the lesson and you will find some great blogs. Take a look at them.
I have had no internet access since 3:30 so app. 6 hours which is why my blog is late. So here goes for today.  I spent so much time trying to get it fixed that other work was suspended. I called up Shaw , waited for over and hour and then when I got through the  Tech told me my router was not working and I needed to called Cisco. I was ticked off by this time and came back downstairs, decided to try the laptop again not expecting it to work and surprise it did.
Of course our regular Sunday morning is housework but in the afternoon we went to Fabricana , oh what fun. I wanted to ask the ladies there about what I should do about borders for my Redwork quilt . They see so many quilts in their daily work that they are very skilled at helping. So their opinion was a small white border and then use the red of the quilt for the outer border. I think they are right as another colour won't work on that red and white fabric. So I bought .4 of a meter of the white, I had used up all the white I had, which cost me $3 and a few cents. My next trip will be for backing. Once I am done with the top a fabric will speak to me for the backing.
I completed the last row when we returned.  And I got all the bad brown stitches out of my apron.

Fat quarter box. I love reds and oranges, these really attracted me . The next photo is a box of lovely fruit and vegetable fabrics.

Ray made his wonderful beef barley soup for dinner. We had fresh bread and butter with it. Ray is such a great cook. I am a lucky wife.

So that was my day and this is my night. Time to go, thanks for reading folks.

Guten Abend!

Oh my aching back

My back is killing me today for some reason. After grocery shopping I sewed on my quilt despite the back but every time I got up and down I cried. Well cried out...
But I persevered and replaced the block that I had put in backwards . It takes more effort to do that than to do it right the first time. But some days we just make mistakes. After replacing the block and sashing I had to cut more sashing . The strips were already sewn and jsut needed cutting to the right size whixh was 9 1/2 ". Then I needed to make some alternate strips for the 9 patches. Many people have said that 9 patches are the easiest block for novices to do but I disagree with that opinion. I'm no novice and always have trouble with that block getting the corners matched. But I got them done with lots of pinning and sobbing LOL.  It was  time to sew the sashing  and the 9 patches together. That done I had to pin that last row onto the rest of the quilt. But by then it was dinner time and after dinner there was no way I could get back to sewing it on, so it is all prepared for tomorrow. I hope we can go to the shop and find a nice piece for a small border. I want  a white background with a red design on it and a piece for a half inch stopper. The ladies at the store are so good at finding the correct piece.
We have the weirdest electric kettle. It is very attractive with a chrome piece that sits around the glass where you can see inside the kettle. Every time the kettle boils the chrome piece pops off LOL. It makes for exciting times.
We are watching the football game, our team is getting beaten up. We have 2 players off with injuries. Our teams have not been doing too well this season. Disappointing :(

Quilt for Honour House, not disappointing LOL, My dinner partner Barb made and donated this top. It was quilted by our Long Arm quilter Lauren.

I loved this blue and yellow quilt, those colours are so fresh and clean. A very appealing quilt for Honour House.
I took these at the quilt guild so that is why you see all the backs of the members heads, a most alluring sight ;)
These are my thought for tonight. I wish you all a good evening.
Life is too short to sleep on low thread-count sheets.   Leah Stussy
Buona Sera.

YES! his kidneys are doing fine

Ray had a visit at the hosptial today to see if his kidneys were doing okay.. The doctor said she could not be happier about his test results. His number was 46. Both Ray and I thought that was out of 100 but no, the top is 60, so he has 2/3rds kidney function. What a relief. After the massive infection he had a couple of years ago his function was at 20. The doctor said he would not need dialysis. We were very relieved.
We went to Denny's afterward for something, breakfast /lunch . It was 11:00 so take your pick.
I am going to add the photo of the towels I did yesterday before Marianne and Gus come to take them away.

Ray has gone to the airport to pick them up. Notice how much brighter the photos are now. These are such cute designs.
Marianne and Gus had to leave right away to catch the ferry before it gets too dark. After they debark they  had to drive from Nanaimo to Comox so it will be quite a long trip taking into account the ferry trip  and if they catch the ferry or have to wait for another sailing. Not an easy thing getting around when you live on Vancouver Island.  She said they would be coming back soon, so I hope so as I was looking forward to a visit.
I spent part of the afternoon preparing some sandwich fixings and then I lay down and read my book-finished it.
I had two nice chats on Facebook with my nieces, one here and the other in Winnipeg. Isn't that great?
Now I am just computing and later on I knit!!
Good night folks.
Buona Sera.

evening is too short

Kathy and I jsut got home from our class at Tom's. It was a sewing class this month and the project was a casserole carrier. I bought some beautiful pumpkin fabric for this project. It is a fabric that delights the eye and feeds that soul with fantastic colours. Colour is such an amazing thing , it really excites me, particularly those rich clear colours with no gray in them. Bright reds, oranges, greens,blues are the ones tha catch me immediately.
Tom was very helpful to me at the class. I am not really a sewer , I am a quilter. Sewing is hard for me but that is the reason I am taking these classes becuase I want to knowhow things are constructed. If I understand that then I can understand the structure of all my sewing. So Tom seems to recognize that  and is very good at helping me to get it. There is a reason for all things and when you get the reason it is easier to understand. Tom is good to everyone in the class helping us patiently and skillfully.
I did not finish my project, never do in the class , but I can read the instructions at home and figure it out from there. Tom said if I wanted to come into the shop at other than class times it was good by him.
Earleir in the day I took my camera back to London Drugs where I bought it because my pictures were so dark. I asked the lady there about it and she took a look and said the ISO was at  and it should have been at 200. I think that was the lenght of time the shutter stays open. So hopefully my next photos will be better.

Look I just added this beautiful photo of lavendar fields, the colour is so gorgeous. Sorry it is in the wrong place but who's to say it's the wrong place LOL.

After we got back from lunch I decided to make two embroidered towels for Marianne and Gus for their bathroom. First I did a cute pumpkin/jack o'lantern  and then an adorable set of feet , witches feet. It is such a fun design. I  think they will like them. That took me all afternoon but a lot of the time is spent on computer stuff and running up and down stairs. It is complicated. First find the designs on the upstairs computer, then put them on the stick.  That seems easy doesn't it. There are so many things that can go wrong and today they did!! But I did get them done... I used a sticky stabilizer in the hoop and a clear stabilizer on the top of the towel which I attached with a spreay in the corners of the piece so that it would not gum up the needle.
It is late now so I am off to bed, we have to get up early in the morning.  to go to the hospital.
Have a great evening.
Bon nuit.

a night to remember

If remembrance is somwhting I can aspire to ;)
Kathy and I went to dinner with our dinner group. There were just three of us tonight as Judy said she could not come so Barb joined the two of us. We had a good dinner but snce I have not been there since June I thought I noticed a few shanges and so did the others. The Greek salad was not as big as it once was and my sole and rice did not taste as good as it used to. However there was nothing wrong though just a bit different. I did ask if they had a new chef, which they didn't.
When we got to the guild Judy was there with a cast on her arm , that was why she didn't make it to dinner. Good excuse LOL
Early in the day Ray and I went to FedEx to send the computer cable back to Adam and Lisa. It cost $61 and he thought it would just cost $25. He is horrified at the cost of things in Canada. That's the way it goes , as Barb said tonight "Some days you're the dog and some days you're the hydrant." We nearly fell over when she said that.
At guild tonight we had a speaker from Quilter's Connection . She is the editor and founder of the new magazine. She showed us her own quilts , some of which are featured in the magazine. She features just Canadian quilters and designers. If you have ever designed a quilt she would like to hear from you. In my opinion most of us have designed out own quilts. Some of mine are quilts in which I have not used a pattern of another designer so that means I designed my quilt . LOL I see quilts that the ladies in Community Quilts have "designed" and they are beautiful. I have taken some photos but won't bother to download them tonight.
She explained how a magazine is out together and said it is a lot of work. I can only imagine the amount of labour involved. It is like giving birth every three months :>)
We had a very good Show and Tell, cookies ,cakes, juice and coffee.
We have a huge inventory of quilting books and our members can take out four books each. I help in the library checking out the books that members want to read. It is a fun job because you get to meet nearly everyone at the guild , to talk and joke and have a good laugh while you work. Nothing could be better.
So that's' it for tonight.
Bonne nuit.

Very good news

Ray went to the cardiologist this afternoon and the cardiologist said to him " I rarely get to give this news but your heart and arteries are totally in wonderful shape. I am very happy to be able to tell you this" Now how good is that?  I on the other hand have dreadful  CAD but medicines keep me on my feet.
Look what I found - a coloured background, I keep finding new things to play with all the time. Fun Eh!
Tuesday stuff today, It was so much fun. I took a 1/4" foot to Betty. I happened to have two of them and she had none so I gave her the extra one. That wasn't necessarily the fun part LOL but it got the day off to a good start.
I finished one of my butterflies and began the next one, the top wings are a beautiful yellow, the bottom ones are orange and yellow. I just got started on the top and then had to go to Community Quilts early to give an update on the facebook page that I did for CQ. I told the group what I did and that I was not sure that Facebook was the way to go as you had to belong to FB to access the group. So I didn't think that was the way to go. What is the way to go is another question, I am not sure. Of course I'll have to ask Mary for advice. Thank goodness for clever granddaughters.
Sock work : When the sock is down to the correct length for the foot it is time to decrease for the toe.
On needle one knit to the last three stitches knit 2 together , knit one. On needle two  /k1,Sl1,K1,PSSO,
Knit ti the last three stitches on needle two and knit 2 together,K1.  On needle three K1,SL1,K1,PSSO. Knit ti end of needle three. Now knit around all three needles , no decreases. Do these two rounds until there are 5 stitches on needles one and three and 10 stitches on needle two.
Now we do the Ktichener stitch which grafts the toe.
Because it it easier to see it than to explain it go to this site:
How to Kitchener Stitch (Socks Casting Off ...7 min - 6 Nov 2008 - Uploaded by TheCraftsChannel


How to Kitchener Stitch. Used for grafting the toe of socks, this forms an invisible join between the two sets of stitches.

youtube.com - Related videos
Go down to the second video for clear photos.
That's the end ot the sock. Good luck it you have followed these instructions you should have a nice winter sock.
I am thinking of  showing how to do Applique with freezer paper. Wait for it LOL.
Have a great evening.

French Seams

I did French seams today for the first time. Always something new to learn in this life. The first time takes a lot of effort but I'm sure the second time will take fewer minutes. The project is a pillowcase for Honour House which Community Quilts is furnishing with quilts and pillowcases. So that is my donation to the project for today. French seams are those that are sewn twice,  first the seam is sewn on the outside ,pressed, then the pillowcase is turned to the inside and sewn with a seam that is a bit larger so as to contain the edges of the first seam. It is a very neat system and no ravelling of the edges. I liked it.   I'll do another one for CQ.
I had another request for winter socks today, no rush, my friend said , so I'll finish Katie's first then take care of my friend. She offered to make me a chicken pincushion. Very handy because when Katie saw mine  said she would love to have one . Mine are very used as you know I pin a lot so I didn't want to offer her one of mine. This will be great.The  barter system is alive and well in Vancouver ;))
It was a qiuet day for us, I hardly slept last night so I had a long nap this afternoon so very quiet for Ray LOL
Adam and Lisa left early this morning for Vancouver Washington where Adam has a meeting with the NOAA Committee. He has been on that board for some time , I always have to ask what it is but know it has something to do with the health of Oceans. It is a federal government initiative. They will fly home from PortlandOregon.
http://www.c-some-stitches.com/view.php?item_id=244
If you have an embroidery unit on your machine these are some very nice free standing lace Christmas designs. They would look lovely on your tree. When I first strted FSL my friend Gail sent me some vilene and it was great to work with. Of course I used it up and bought some other type of washable stabilizer which I don't like quite as much but it does the job. I must get ready to sew some of those soon. I have been sewing and making embroidered towells and such so have not done any FSL for some time. I need to get going soon.  But not tonight, tonight I'll work on my sock once I am finished here....
Have a lovely evening.
Guten Abend.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had such a lovely day at Rick and Carla's ,Adam, Lisa and Sam, joined us and Meg, Louis and  Rick Jr. all were there for dinner And a wonderful dinner it was ,turkey,yams,potatoes,mashed carrots and turnips,brussel sprouts,gravy, two bread dressings,cole slaw,corn. Can you believe this!!! Rick made his famous pumpkin pie and it was oh so delicious. What good cooks Rick and Carla are and what great hosts. It was such a beautiful day.
Earlier we took Adam and Lisa to the aiport to pick up a rental car. So they were able to drive out to Rick's themselves and didn't have to depend on us. That was good as they stayed a bit to visit with everyone. They were enjoying themselves.
Mary called from Victoria to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving, we had a good visit on the phone and then Katie called from Fort McMurray to wish us a Happy Thanksgiving. We also had a good visit over the phone.
I did nothing today as far as work was concerned even though I took my knitting with me. It stayed in the bag for the whole day and I didn't even think of it. Now that is relaxed :>))
We have so much to be grateful for in this country, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving.
Now I did actually work today but forgot about that job. At Community Quilts the ladies there wanted someone to make a Facebook page for the group. I kind of volunteered and was quite concerned about whether I could manage to do the job.  However you have to be on Facebook as far as I know to access the group.
Mary had given me the instructions on how to do this and I just followed her instructions line by line .She does give extremely clear instructions. I am grateful to her.
I had as you can see a very happy day. I hope you did too.
Good night .
Bon nuit.

good news

Henrik Sedin is now the Vancouver Canucks 13th Captain.  He deserves this honour. I read an article about Henrik and Daniel in which they said in their native country of Sweden they are nobodies and because of that when they go back to Sweden in the summer they can actually rest and not be swamped by sports writers.  They are such nice guys.
TURNING the heel:
 Row 1: Wrong  side facing , Purl 13 stitches,P2 together, P1, turn.
Row 2: Slip 1 Knit 7, sl1 ,k1, pass slip stitch over ,k1 turn
Row 3:Slip 1 , p8, p2 tog, p1. Turn
Row 4: sl 1 ,k 9,sl 1,k1,psso,k1.Turn
Row 5: Sl 1,p 10, p2 tog, p1.Turn
Row 6: (right side) Sl 1, k 11,sl 1,k 1,psso. 14 stitches on needle.

GUSSET:
With right side of work facing , pick up and knit 10 stitches up left side of heel.
With second needle knit across 20 stitches on holder or needle #2.
With third needle pick up and knit 10 stitches down right side of heel.
Knit first 7 stitches of heel onto third needle and slip the remaning 7 stitches onto needle #1.
On needle 1 knit to within three stitches of end of needle,k2tog,k1.
On needle 2 knit all 20 stitches.
On needle 3 knit1,sl 1,k 1,psso.
This is one round of the gusset.
The second round is just plain knt on all three needles.
Knit these 2 rounds until needles one and three each have 10 stitches while needle 2 still has 20 stitches.

From this point on knit all rounds until the sock meets the first  knuckle of the big toe. For many feet that is about 7 inches from the heel.
REST!!
We made dinner for Adam and Lisa instead of going out for dinner. We have eaten out so much lately, a home cooked meal is a treat. Simple food, hot Italian sausage, potatoes fried with onion, celery, large mushrooms and garlic. So delicious! Ray's special salad, my special cauliflower with cheese sauce. MMMM!!! We made the meal together, Ray cooked the sausage and I cooked the potatoes.
As for sewing today I just took out the redwork block that was in backwards. It is ready for when our company leaves and I have some time. I don't plan to do any work tomorrow as we are all going to Rick and Carla's for Thanksgiving dinner. Monday I plan to not eat LOL.
Now I am going to rest....
Buena Notte.

fish and chips

Adam came this morning on his way to Langley to return Sam's truck. Then he took the skytrain and bus to do some business and later returned to our place to take us for dinner tonight  at Cockney Kings, one fish small amount of chips and one oyster, Oh my it was delicious!! It is the best place for fish and chips. Many years ago when I lived in Victoria and worked for Island Farms totting up the driver's sheets , there was a good looking young Dutch man who had trouble with the language. One of his bills came in as James Bay Fish Ships. For some silly reason I have never forgotten that because it kind of made me laugh. Why would you remember something that made you laugh 55years ago. The mind is a strange thing.
I put the last row of Sunbonnets together today but discovered a block that was put in the wrong way and now I need to take it out.. This fabric is almost the same front and back but the embroideries need to put in the right way so another job for me to fix. WAA! That will be a job for sure. And there is still one more row of sashing to make and sew on. I think  I should just lay off until everyone leaves the
hotel. LOL
When Adam and Lisa leave I want to go to Fabricana to see if I can find some fabric for my borders and backing.
We returned my  library books this afternoon and I took out four more. I do so love the library but sometimes I just have to buy a new book.When I have read it I donate it to the library.

Now I am at the heel on my sock. I promised you that I would give the instructions for knitting the back of the heel. You need to look at where you started your cuff and that will be the middle of the back. From that point take a piece of wool and use it as a marker. Knit 10 stitches on the first needle ,take the stitches from that needle that are left and slip them onto the second needle ,then slip 10 stitches from the third needle onto the first  needle and slip the last few stitches onto  the second needle. You will have 20 stitches on the needle for the back of the heel.
Purl back on the 20 stitches. Then slip 1, knit 1 across the row. Purl back. Repeat these two rows until the heel which is actually called the Eye of Partridge is 2 1/2 inches. When I have that done I'll give the next instructions.
It's time to go friends.
Have a good evening.
Konbanwa....

a fun time

Ray and  I went to Zellers to buy some of those small Hallowe'en candy bars  . We felt we deserved them after walking the length of the mall :>). Don't think our doctors would agree but then we are mostly careful about our food.
We took the day off sewing and went downtown to the Edgewater Casino . I had a very good day, doubled my money a couple of times and came home with a good amount even after giving Ray some so he would have money in his wallet. As you can tell he was not as fortunate as I was. I have been having a lucky streak lately and know it will end at some point but in the meantime it is fun.
We left before we went broke obviously and then dropped in at Tops restaurant on Kingsway for dinner. I had their house salad with a wonderful house dressing that I love. We both had the Salisbury steak for seniors , another favourite.
Hockey season will soon be upon us, the newspaper this morning had a whole section on the Canucks and predicting that THIS time they will win the Stanley Cup. Don't hold your breath on this one LOL.
I mentioned the book I was reading at night this week but not the name of the author or the title. The author is C.J. Carver and the title is Back With Vengeance. I had not read this author before but will again. This book which really kept me going further into it with a good mystery that takes place in Britain  has memory loss in its heroine, an international component , spy drama and  domestic espionage.  What could be better?
Life is good!!  Count your blessings.
Have a good evening!
Bon nuit mes amis.

the high cost of making a mistake

Embroiderers will know what I am talking about when I say I spent half a day ripping out a small patch of embroidery when I began the wrong design. It took me half the afternoon to remove the stitches and they are still not completely gone. I was trying to put a design on a barbecue apron that I had made during a class at Tom's. Ha- it takes forever to rip out those few stitches and believe me it is not good for the eyes. I still have a small amount to remove but am taking a rest.There I put eye drops in my eyes so hope they are feeling better for a while. The other sewing item for the day also went unfinished as I began to make a pillowcase roll and the fabric was directional. Guess what I put it onto the cuff in the wrong direction. However the one good thing was that I was able to figure out how to do the roll :>)
Adam called this morning to say he was coming over on Friday to take care of some business and would like to spend the day with us after he takes care of business. That will be lovely as he is going back home on Monday and probably won't be back for a while, at least that's what I think.
Last night I began to read a book after I went to bed and didn't get to sleep until 3:00 in the morning. Adam called at 9:00 and I got up then for the day. Ray and I went out for a while and came back home , that is when I  started the error sob, sob. Now it is 7:45 and there are still some stitches to take out.
I volunteered to make a face book page for the Community Quilts and Honour House, or I think I volunteered , maybe I was volunteered. haha!!
I put a call out my dear granddaughter Mary for help with the facebook page. Funny thing I am on facebook myself but have no idea how I got on it LOL. I think Mary fixed me up with that. I probably responded to a request, usually that is what I do on facebook . rather than initiate contact.

LOOK

LOOK at this I have wanted to be able to add photos to the text instead of the side forever!!! I figured it out ,oh happy day!!
This makes up for all my mistakes today haha.
Okay folks that is all for tonight.....
Have a great evening!!
Bon Soir.

pop,pop,popcorn

Yep we are eating popcorn- love it. Gets the finger greasy though.
What a  day this has been I just got home after 9:00 after a busy day of going to all my groups.  Appliqueing in the morning at the church after Pat and I went for coffee earlier at Starbucks.  I am still working on those butterflies can't remember if  I took a picture of the peach one, it is really pretty. I don't feel like taking photos tonight so tomorrow I'll do it.
At Community Quilts Lynn taught me how to make a rolled up pillowcase and French seams.  Now the trick is to remember it all. But I do have a pillowcase kit of Christmas fabrics, just one case though so I hope I can do it right.
I volunteered to set up a Facebook page for Community Quilts. Now just how do I do that. I have one myself but am not sure how I got it . Oh the ups and downs of life.
Community Quilts is having a sale soon and theyhad some nice things there but the one I liked a lot was the folded star potholder. I have always loved that pattern but never made it. So I bought two of them, one for me and one for Kathy. Now they have to make some more :>))
  Lynn liked her socks, so did Ione so it is her turn now to get a pair after I finish the red ones for Katie.
Tonight Kathy and I went to a class to learn more about stabilizers. It was very informative and we learned about all the different stabilizers and their uses. There were some I did not know about so that was a good thing to learn.
I got a nice letter today from Emblibrary saying they were going to put up my three towel series at some point. I am in the line up LOL. But that makes me happy.
I finished my book The 19th Wife. A very good read if anyone is interested. It is about Brigham Young and jumps back and forth from his time to today with a story and a mystery.
We have discovered a new channel, 230, on Shaw, called  Animal Planet which is carrying the most beautiful films about our earth and its inhabitants. We have watched it a lot and it has shows we have never seen,now that is a nice change from reruns LOL
Now tha tmy keyboard is all greasy I am going to sign off.
Good night ladies and gents if there are any.

we are alone

Jim left this afternoon on his way to  Kamloops where he plans to spend the night cutting his driving hours today and makes for a shorter driving day tomorrow.
Ray and I had to go for tests this morningand all three of us went for breakfast after. It was a nice time together , one we won't be able to do for a while, although Jim did ask if we would fly to Edmonton for Christmas. I would love to do that but still need to ask Ray.
I took good advantage of the free time to do some more embroidery and did the final block of my Redwork quilt. I pinned up the sashing on the sides of the last three blocks but did not get to sewing them on. I was going to be a bit short of sashing pieces so needed to unpick one side of a white,red,white set of strips so I could cut another red strip and make it a red,white,red set of strips. That will give me enough pieces for the sashing I hope. No sewing tomorrow so this will all have to take place on Wednesday.  I have enough of the leftovers piece to make the pieces for the 9 patches.
Tomorrow will be one of those days when I go out in the morning at 8:30 , get home at 4:00 and then go out with Kathy for a class on Stabilizers, what to use with what. It should be informative. I just lost half my entry for the blog and cannot find it. I am chuffed, now what was I saying. Fiddlesticks!!!
I am sure you are all waiting for me to get this Redwork done so I stop talking about it, but the triple sashing takes such a long time to do and to put together. And I only work on one quilt at a time so have no UFOs. However I do have the squares cut for my animal skins quilt and just need to cut the 1 1/2 inch strips for the sashings, easy ones eh!
Got to love that.
Oh I recall now what I wanted to say. When I go to Tom's tomorrow night I am going to look at the holiday fabrics and maybe purchase some. Lots of fabric here but for the past few years I only buy exactly what I need , I love those holiday fabrics , but some have to go out  for more to come in, well maybe not I am sure I can find a space for a few FQs LOL. Also need to buy some rayon embroidery thread and KK2000. There I think I am caught up.
Have a lovely evening folks.
Sta Bene.

red all over

I seem to be in a mood for red today,like embroidering more redwork and starting a new red sock.
How to knit awinter bed  sock-
Choose 5 mm needles and Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight yarn. This wool makes for happy feet in the winter ;))
Cast on 40 stitches 13 on the first two needles and 14 on the third needle. Join the third and forst needles by knitting the tag and the yarn together for three stitches.
Knit in knit one, purl one rib for 16 rows. Knit in the back of the knit stitch to make the rib look nice.
After you have knit the cuff in ribbing then begin to knit all rounds in plain knit stitches.When you have finished this part of the sock I'll add the next portion fof the pattern. Or should I say after I have finished this portion of the sock I'll add the next portion LOL.
To knit a stitch put the needle into the stitch in the back , yarn over, pull the yarn through and take it off so - in ,over, through, off, that is the knit stitch. The purl stitch is to put the needle into the stitch in the front , pulling the needle toward you, yarn over,pull through and take off. Not too clear , then google knit stich and purl stitch . lots of very clear videos.
My other red for the day was 2 more redwork Sues, Kathy I use two different stabilizers, the iron on tear away,and then a floater full size of a non iron on tearaway, hooped them both along with the fabric and hurrah ,,,, no wrinkles. So that is the solution to our wrinkle problem. Now if I could just stabilize my face and iron out the wrinkles LOL.
And I did good multi tasking today too, watching my embroidery machine work and we all know if you leave the machine alone for even a minute it will misbehave, and I began knitting my red sock. So two things at once.
That's my day folks.
Have a great evening.
Kalispera.

the joy of the needle

Have you ever thought of the effect of quilting bees on happiness. Do you think that quilting bees have gone the way of the Dodo? I remember going to Amish Pennsylvania about 10 years ago and wandering up to the second floor of a quilting/fabric shop. That floor was set up for with several quilts on quilting frames with long slats so the frames were big enough to hold a king sized quilt. The quilts were basted onto the frames along the edges. They were marked with the quilting designs and with pencil much to my surprise since I had beentold not to use pencil as it does not wash out. I guess the Amish women were so sure of their skills it did not matter to them.  These racks were just waiting for theladies to come and work on the quilts but in my imagination I could see them surrounded by quilters all having a wonderful time chatting , laughing, telling tales of their day and stories of their children or grandchildren. I imagined all the happiness these ladies would be surrounded by. It was a beautiful thing. Throughout the course of that day I saw the most beautiful quilts in the shops that had been created by the women that worked upstairs in that room.  Where has all that gone? Not very far I think.
Today we quilters meet in our churches to hand applique or to quilt with our sewing, to embroidery by hand or machine g machine and to sew down bindings on quilts that we usually don't sell but do contribute to various hospitals and places where our quilts are honoured and needed. We meet on line to talk about our quilts , to chart our course and chat about our lives, find information on the hundreds of places we can find new patterns and designs.
We still enjoy the quality of life and happpiness that the Amish ladies of that past enjoyed around their quilting frames.  After a day of  taking a class or working in my group at the church or at Community Quilts I am infused with a sense of joy. My daily chats with friends around the world  is an important presence in my life. So we have not lost the quilting bee it has just altered a bit. The energy of the bee is still with us as is the joy of the needle. :>)
That being said, today my granddaughters Meg and Katie along with Meg's husband Lewis and Carla my DDIL came for dinner . They are on their way over to Sechelt for Mac's memorial service tomorrow.  We did have a lovely visit, I made chili , we had buns , cucumber and tomato in vinegar and olive oil. Tasty!! Lewis said it was marvellous.
Nuff for tonight....
Have a great evening!!

long walk

http://chasenbach.tripod.com/herbst/Page4Fall.html 
Great site lots of pages to keep you going and interested. I signed up for the newletter, looking forward to the latest news coming in twice a month.
We walked around the mall today for an hour or should I say we moved around the mall . We move slowly but I say we are just keeping our joints moving LOL.
After all that Chinese food the past two days I had a very uncomfortable stomach. I think it was the garlic ribs. They are delicious but loaded with garlic. So I ate lightly today and will do the same for a while.
Are you like a cat and love to sleep in the sun. I love napping on a sunny day. I was tired, bad night, so that is what I did. It was nice.
Company's coming so my sewing has come to a halt, need to keep my table and living room clean and tidy and as you all know sewing and embroidery is not tidy. Maybe Sunday I can do some work. Let's hope.:>)
My list of wants is to do the embroidery on the apron I made for my son Adam, Finish the redwork girls, start the animal skins , and find a use for my charm squares and embroider 2 towels for Marianne.. Carla wants 8 place mats with patchwork on them. For some reason place mats seem to be a lot of work to me. Does that make any sense.  Oh and I want to make some pillow cases and start another pair of socks. And I am working those pretty butterflies too.Whew! Is that enough... I'm tired just writing it all out LOL.
I feel guilty if I don't do some sewing each day , maybe I can cut something or talk Ray into going to a quilt shop. That isn't very likely except , except.... I need backing for the redwork girls that I am making for his great granddaughter in Quebec.  He will help me choose for that one :>)
Tom is out of the hospital, he needs a new valve in hisheart and the doctors want to do it right away but he is in practice for the opera and wants to wait until the performance is over. Hope it all goes well for him.
No pictures tonight. Have a good one. I'll set up my socks. 
Take care.
Bon Soir!