a favourite shade of blue

a favourite shade of blue

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Back in Emergency

Hi guys,

As some of you already know, Grandma (Nan) is back in the hospital. The bladder infection is much worse and she's on medication to repair. She is waiting for a specialist, but we expect that this stay will be longer than the others.

When I know anything new I'll let you know. I saw her on Monday and she was doing well, but understandably frustrated.

Stay safe everyone! And enjoy the brightening nights as we head into spring.

All my best,
Mary

Saturday, March 26, 2011

short blog

Short blog as I spent a good part of the day in emergency again. Another bladder infection. I have only been out of the hospital for a week. GRRR. They sure don't seem to be able to fix this. I think they are not aggressive enough and don't treat it long enough. I'll tell my doctor this when I go on Tuesday and if I have to go back to the hospital again I will tell them the same thing.
However Ray took me out for dinner after we left the hospital. We went to TOPS our local family restaurant.  We go there often. I have been going to TOPS since 1980 when we used to have lunch there to get out of the school for an hour. So we get good service. I was happy about that.
This morning I pinned the second part of my label on the quilt but of course did not get to sewing it down. I'll start that tonight. This quilt has taken the longest to complete of any I have ever done. It went well in the beginning but circumstances have prevented me getting it done. Soon!!

I set the second set of bookmarks in the plastic canvas after washing out the excess stabilizer, so they are drying out.
I took the first set out too soon , took the weights off early and they are not flat. I guess I'll try steaming them, Ray's suggestion. He is a clever guy:))) Or I can wet them down , put the weights on them again and not take them off until they are completely dry.
That's about it for tonight.
Have a great evening......
Bon Soir.

Friday, March 25, 2011

I think I'm better

I did lots today and no nap either. We had lunch out with Bob and Buzz. They are leaving for Hawaii on Monday - for a month!! Fabulous, I wish you two a wonderful holiday.
Today was another gorgeous spring day, all the trees are beginning to bud, the sun was shining , it was warm, what more could one ask?
When we got home I fixed up my two book marks that I embroidered yesterday. That includes cutting away the excess washable stabilizer and them carefully washing away what is left. Not too much washing or the bookmarks will be too soft. It is a delicate operation LOL.
I set them up on a towel and plastice canvas then put a heavy book on top of them so they don't curl up.

As you can see these two are in the process of drying.
After that I set up the embroidery machine to make two more bookmarks. I sent one of these to a friend in Michigan in December aand it never arrived. So the cross is for her. I hope it arrives this time.
See the next two bookmarks below, they are still in the hoop and will be washed tomorrow.

While all this was going on I cut the label down to size and folded over 1/4" , ironed it down and sewed on on portion of the label. Tonight I'll sew down the second part, then off to Quebec it goes.Today I  mailed the Red Hat fabric to Oregon for the Bingo game. Then when the bookmarks dry they will be mailed off and my business with Canada Post will be done for a while.
See I have been busy. :))
And I made dinner LOL, took some pea soup out of the freezer last night so I just had to warm it up for tonight's dinner. Hard eh!
Now it is Blogging time!
Always something to do isn't there. I love that......
The federal government fell today, so we are on for another election, voting day is either My 2, or May 9. It appears that this election will not make any changes, the results will be similar to what we now have. What a dreadful waste of time and money.
Ah Politicians, what does it matter to them how much of our money they waste.
Mary called to see if they could stay the night Monday. That will be fun....
Time to sign off.
I hope you all have a great evening.
Kalinishta.




Thursday, March 24, 2011

More fun

Quinn,   No smiles? I asked him if he had teeth and would he show them to me LOL. He did

Dog at the door. There is always a dog waiting patiently at the mall door.
Photos are a bit out of place tonight but I know you will figure them out.

http://www.jigzone.com/puzzles/2011-03-23-94303519F
Another puzzle folks. Enjoy.
I like doing these little puzzles and there are options for sizes and styles of cuts.
There! this is a better size for me to read, hope it is suitable for everyone else.
Ray and I went out today, when don't we LOL.  We met our step grandson Rodger and his little boy , our step great grandson Quinn. It soon becomes a mouthful doesn't it :)) We did have a very nice visit , Quinn is quite the 8 year old hockey player. It starts early in Canada LOL. He loves horses along with his hockey. His grandpa has a race horse down at the track and Quinn was there at the track this morning working. I am not quite sure what he does there but he does something  and loves it. I took a couple of photos and have to put them on Facebook as I promised him I would do that. It was fun and I hope we can do it again soon.



Keep on smiling Quinn, those Doritas are good LOL

Messy fingers, how do I fix this. Grndma had a little hand cleaner that solved the problem.
Later on we went back to London Drugs to pick up the photo of Ray's grandmother that he had duplicated for his uncle. It is his uncle's mother . He, Dick and Ray are almost the same age. so she was mother to Dick and grandmother to Ray. Here she is doing what women did in the 1920s- Mary Cambly.


Cherry blossom time. Vancouver is so beautiful in the spring! We see a variety of cherry blossom around the city. This one is called Accolade. The first Cherry trees were a gift in 1930 from the Japanese cities of Kobe and Yokahama dedicated to Japanese Canadians who served in WW1. There is also a memorial in Stanley Park with the same dedication to those  |Japanesewho lost their lives in WW1 fighting for Canada.
I have been embroidering today, finished the label for the Redwork SBS quilt. Now I have two bookmarks set up and they are being embroidered too. I feel that I have accomplished something today. How good that feels after such a long drought!! I'll take pictures tomorrow.
Have a lovely evening what's left of it :)
Gothugher Da.



Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Canucks won!!

The weather today was gorgeous. Spring is such a beautiful time. The The trees are beginning to bud and some of them are flowering, it was 15' and the sun was shining.
Richard and Richard just left. They came for a sandwich , a beer and to watch the hockey game and a great visit. It was wonderful to see them.  And to top things off the Canucks won the hockey
game.  Hurrah!!
I slept for  long time this afternoon, I was so tired.  But I feel much livelier now. :))
And Mary got my embroideries onto the stick. Well I really got them onto the stick  but she told me what to do.  So I did a sample stitch out of the little design I want to add to my label to see if everything worked. It did !! So I am now back in the embroidery business. Here is the stitchout.

Bad lighting but cute embroidery. There is another one opposite this and they are called Twin A and Twin B. Maybe I should do both of them. I am so thrilled with Mary's fixings. She is so clever....
This fabric below is the one I mentioned last night with the hats. It is kind of growing on me despite the fact that it is not what I wanted originally.


 I am looking forward  to getting back to my sewing and embroidery. It is time to get started on Charlotte's quilt which is going to be really cute ballerinas. I bought the designs from Elsa's designs some time ago. Whoops.  It isn't Elsa's and the designs are on the PC and I don't want to turn  it on. Lazy bones LOL. I found the site, it is Kreative Kiwi Embroideries. Some really cute designs on this site.
I finsihed the book that Marg brought over, it just took me 2 eveings to finish it. A new author for me Mary Jane Clark. I thought she might be related to Mary Higgins Clark but Marg said there was no relationship. She writes one of those short chapter books that leads you on and on until it is finished.  The book is called Dying For Mercy. if you like mysteries you'll like this one.
Have a great evening folks!
Buensa Noches....

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

how much is that doggie in the window

Remember this song,Doris Day I think was the artist. Anyway here is the doggie in the window of the pet shop. So cute. We sometimes got o the pet shop for our doggie fix since we have no pets and we love dogs.
He is a little poodle just in case you didn't recognize the type :))
What a relaxed kitty, aren't all cats relaxed , they must have limbs of jelly LOL. I like beige coloured cats. When we lived in Nova Scotia we had a cat who gave birth to 3 kittens, one white, one black and the biggest of the three was beige. It was a beautiful kitten. This one appeals to me too.


Sam took us to dinner at the Keg. Ray and I ordered the small prime rib. Believe me if that was small I'm glad I didn't order the medium or large.
I had a baked potato with the trimmings. We also had stuffed mushrooms and goat cheese, small breads toasted and laced with butter , with salsa to top it off. That was delicious!!
Sam is so good to us, we love him dearly.
 I am getting to the end of my hydro boxes because I think I have pretty well taken most of them. There was a different one on the way to the Keg and I might get Ray to drive that way again.

Mary opened up her computer and I opened mine so between the two of us we think we got some good stuff done. It was such a hoot since she lives across the ocean on Vancouver Island And I am here in Vancouver city, two different places. It is so amazing to be able to do that. Anyway she was able to do a transfer for me and I got  some things on my memory stick that I wanted. I hope to try them out soon when I feel like doing some work and if I can stay home.
I took my laptop to the store and spent some time there but there were no designs on the laptop so it was a wasted trip. Well not truly wasted as I got to see Ben and Clayton, nice guys.
Time to check out, have a good night!!

Monday, March 21, 2011

Later tonight

I am a bit late at writing tonight . We had to go to the annual general meeting for our complex. Not very interesting but something of a civic duty like voting in an election.
Home now and ready to write :))
The day was very busy as I had to go to a "Don't hold your breath " , fabric store. I participate in an on line bingo game in which we send a fat quarter of a themed fabric to the coordinator. The person who wins the bingo game gets all the fat quarters that have been sent in. I have actually won quite a few times . This month the theme was Red Hats. I called all over and there were no fabrics left of red hats except for this piece of fabric that was covered with little hats some of which were red. No choice so I had to buy that. I did not like it though. We need to focus on fabrics that are current I think.
After we left the store we decided to go to IHOP for a bite of lunch. I directed Ray to the wrong street and we wandered around a bit trying to find the restaurant. But life is like that, you usually do wander around a bit  before finding your way LOL.
It rained today so there were not many dogs sitting around in the rain
thus no opportunity for picture taking.
I called Tom's today , Tom wasn't there . He and Kerri were at a seminar for Janome. Hmm- Wonder if there is new machines in the works. I wanted to ask him about Windows and Carol told me that that was the programme they use for their embroideries, so I think I have found the place to go for setting my embroideries up. Cross your fingers. I'll call in the morning to see if he has a bit of time for me. I would be so thrilled to get things working around here again.
We came back from lunch, went to the bakery for bread and to Safeway for some prescriptions.
Hello!!  I made dinner tonight :)) Not that it was hard, just had to warm up yesterday's chicken and gravy and I baked a potatoe in the microwave. Really difficult stuff LOL.
By this time I was so tired I had to lay down for a half hour before going to the meeting. Too long a day I am afraid.

Another hydro box....
On to watch Kirsty Ally dancing with the stars.
Good night  folks.
Buona notte

Sunday, March 20, 2011

my sister visits

Margaret came over this afternoon for a visit. We have not seeneach other for a while. When I am in the hospital I worry when anyone visits in case they get an infection too. Obviously a naive assumption. But Marg stayed home so it was nice to see her this afternoon and to gossip about things. She went to the States with her daughter Karin over the weekend. They had a nice shopping strip.
I have spent a number of hours trying to get my embroidery designs to work with Windows 7. I don't know if I mentioned it but I do not like this programme. I loved XP and since then there has not been a Windows programme that has been the least bit satifying. I wish I knew what to do. Mary will be coming over from Victoria soon so maybe she could help me.  I seem to have forgotten what to do to set up the file system. So I could not do my embroidery,Waaaa!!!!
We went out this morning/afternoon to , Wait for it, London Drugs. We haven't been there for a while but the 2 men I usually ask for help were not there today. However I find that computer people do not know a lot about embroidery. Aha , I just had a notion, maybe I should try Tom. He would know what to do, since he sells the machine.
My new magazine, I haven't bought one for several months but the colours on this cover appealed to me so I bought myself a treat :)) It is still in the plastic sheath but I'll take it out later when all my other things are done.

Dog of the Day
Daisy.....

She was outside looking in at Tim Horton's where her owners were enjoying a coffee.


 We asked if we could take her photo and she posed for a sitting LOL.
That's all folks!
Have a great evening.
Laku noc.


Saturday, March 19, 2011

no joke to me

It is not a joke to me that I am visiting my own home right now and have no idea if I'll be able to stay here LOL.
Again I had to stay in the hospital for 7 days to have intravenous anti biotics. Not fun believe me. I was stuck with more needles that you can imagine. The day started out with needles continued throughout the day and ended with needles.  I am bruised all over. However it is over and hopefully stays over. It seems that I am over the infection but I intend to check it out again after I get the requisition from my doctor.
My grandsons visited often, Sam every day , Ricky at least three times and Rodger once. That was a great surprise. He promised to bring Quinn ,step great grandson, over to visit us. That will be a treat.
I was  able to get out today for a while and took a few photos of the Hydro boxes.  I just love the way these boxes have been fixed up.

Lovely isn't it?
I did not mention that there was a dog, Golden Retriever Cross, not really golden but sort of red. He was a beautiful dog and stayed a while while I patted him. His name was Blueberry.
I didn't have my camera at the hospital so I took a picture of this dog outside the library. He looked friendly but of course I don't go near stranger dogs. They might not be a nice as they look. And Ray was once badly bitten by a dog walking on a leash whose owner could not control him. Lesson learned.


We went to the pharmacy for another prescription and then to the library as I had no, NO books to read. Now that is a tragedy. :)))
 I read everything I had while in the hospital. 
 Ray also brought up the paper every day so I could keep up on things. The dreadful events in Japan have captured all our thoughts and we can only pray that the ones in charge can help and that the world can come to the assistance of the Japanese people.
I see that MAry has adopted my signature and signed off in Japanese LOL.
Thanks Mary!!!
Time to go, I didn't think I had anything to say.LOL.
Dobranoc

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Not so much an Out Patient...

As an In Patient...

Hey ladies, it's Mary again. Grandma is in a hospital bed. Again. It's almost like a running gag at this point isn't it? :) She's doing fine. My dad (her son Richard) visited her today in hospital and I'll let you know if there's anything serious on the table. Right now it just looks like more of the same.

Oyasumi Nasai!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

more photos

Mostly photos tonight. I am sick again, more bladder infection. The bacteria I have is resistant to the antibiotic I have been taking. So I am on a new type of antibiotic.  If this one does not work I'll have to be an outpatient of the hospital for a while. Not a very cheery picture. Going to the doctor and to the pharmacy has been my day. Not all of it of course. Ray and I went out earlier in the morning for a walk and some lunch.
I was going to embroider but didn't feel like it. I guess I am a bit fed up with this illness. I am not usually sick this long. But time to get over that and get on with my life.
The good news is Ray wants to stay home tomorrow morning   and I can do some sewing and embroidery. Well maybe not that much but certainly some LOL :))
So here come the pictures....

We passed  by a shop that sells eyeglasses and I loved the display in the window. The use of shoes is brilliant as it immediately attracts women buyers, this lace model looks like a Cinderella slipper.

This red boot serves as a stand for a pair of spectacles.
Another thing that entrances me is the same image displayed over and over so of course this rack of bicycles is an obvious attention getter. 
These were on display at the guild last night and I just had to take a snapshot of them. The members of the guild made them for a donation quilt that the group will put together.
So that's my tale for this evening. Just call me Sheherazade and the 1001 and One nights.LOL
Have a lovely evening.
Erev Tov.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

oh what a beautiful day

Wonder where I went tonight? I went to guild, first to dinner with Kathy and Judy . At dinner I had a small Greek salad and some garlic bread insteand of my usual entree of breaded sole. Of course the small salad was really small so I had dessert. Strawberry shortcake and it was huge . I could not seem to get it right LOL. I could not finish my cake but it was good.
At guild I was royally treated to hugs and glad to see you back. It is good to be missed . I too was happy to see everyone. I sat with Lynn Mary Alice and Ione. It was good to see Lynn as it has been a long time.  And Ione finally got her socks haha.
I took my 2 quilts to Show and Tell and the little mug rug as well as the top for the children's hospital. We played games and chatted as we did our own sewing. I didn't take anyhting as I forgot it all. It was my day of forgetting, left my guild library books at home, forgot my keys and my sewing kit. I guess it was just too exciting for me :))
Jocelyn's baby quilt. I love the fish and the fish fabric.

Early in the day my grandson Ricky came over with a brand new very large monitor to install for me so I could see  better. He said his Dad , Richard, had bought it for me and when I called Richard he said he and Carla decided to give it to me for my birthday a month early. I am thrilled. And very fortunate....

Ricky laughing at someone's joke.
Thanks to Kathy for taking me to guild tonight!!
Time to go folks.
I hope your evening was fine too.
Bon Soir.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

big money!

Today was the big scary day, we took all our stuff to the accountant to see if we got money or gave money.  The good news is we get $2900 returned to us, some of which came from charity giving and medical bills.
Good thing we get money back considering the way everything in this province is going up, up, up!!
That was the morning. We came home and had lunch. I bought some veggie chicken nuggets on Saturday and thought I really needed to eat them . So I cooked them up and had them with salsa. I loved the salsa but I wouldn't go out and steal some. So that is off my list, back to real chicken balls LOL. I do like meat, not a lot but definitely some meat for dinner.
Ray bought some ham to go with the hambone Carla gave him on Sunday and he made his fabulous pea soup for dinner. It was so good!! I'm still slathering over it but one has to take care not to eat too much at one sitting-right? And we need some for tomorrow. Oh that's not  right, I am going out to dinner tomorrow and I'll fill you all in late in the evening. :))
Margaret came over in the afternoon to exchange books, she gave me on and I gave her one so it was an even trade. We visitied for some time, she and her friend are planning another trip to New York, they loved it when they were there on their cruise in September. She wants to go over to New Jersey, can't she just take a ferry or go over a bridge on a bus? Sounds reasonable to me :)) Hey, but what do I know about New Jersey.
I tried to give you all a link but for some strange reason it got lost in the ether. I find lots of things do that to me. I need to understand the ether better. LOL
http://quilting-tutorials.blogspot.com/2011/03/mug-rug-monday-rail-fence.html
This blogger has a weekly mug rug pattern on her blog, she puts it up on Mondays. May give you some ideas , they are very simple ones to do and look easy and fast.
Talking about colour, anything colourful catches the eye, which is why nature has the most beautiful colours of anywhere except for fabric  of course. Were we talking about colour? Well we are now haha
One day when my grandson Sam was a lot younger, we were driving along and I spotted a bed of beautiful red tulips. I guess I commented enthusiastically . Sam said ," Grandma, you are so easy to please". I guess he didn't get it or he doesn't have the colour eye.He does love black, does that tell the tale? I always remember that comment and it is true I am nearly always happy.

Doesn't this make YOU feel happy. :))

It's time to go, have a great evening.
God Afton.


Monday, March 7, 2011

winners

We had a lovely day today. We met Bob and Buzz in The Silver Reef Casino in Washington state where they have a great buffet ,2 for $9.99, on Mondays, senior's day. We get all the breaks haha. It was very busy of course and quite lined up for lunch. However we got there early so our line up was small. We had a lovely visit with Bob and Buzz, it's getting to be a habit LOL. And although I took my camera  I did not take it out of  my purse.  
Did we play a few slots? Well you decide on that one Haha!!
I am waiting to hear from Jim . He said he would call  when he got home today. I don't know what the  weather was like or how the roads were but he was going through the Rockies so being that it is winter I am sure the weather would not be balmy.

This photo was taken going through the Williamette Pass in Oregon in a snowstorm , Ray, Jim and I were going south to Phoenix and Lake Charles , following behing the sander truck. This one wasn't too bad but the one we did at night in a snowstorm was really frightening.

I hear that the eastern part of the continent had more  awful weather. My sympathy to all of you who live in the east, you have had a bad winter so far. Snow is lovely to look at but dreadful to deal with when  there is a ton of it. But here are my two snowmen haha...Adam and Adam :))))
It seems to me that I have given up on sewing, the days have been so busy. I need to get the little quilt I made pressed and finish embroidering the label for Jolie Ann so it can be sent off to Quebec this week. Oh isn't that hopeful LOL.
One can't take oneself too seriously but it would be nice to take oneself a bit seriously. If I don't get any work done this week I'll give up on myself LOL.
Have a lovely evening.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

a visit to Charlotte

Jim went home this afternoon after a great visit. Many thanks to him for all he did for us.
We had dinner with Rick and Carla, Meg and Lewis ,Charlotte and Ricky..... It was a lovely day!!Charlotte was so sweet even when she cried.
Over the shoulder look. Carla is holding her though it looks as if there is no one there. LOL
Babies love to get their backs massaged don't they and so do we :))
Great grandpa and great grandma loving Charlotte. She is adorable, I hope I can get out to shop for her soon. Rick tells me she has already so much and needs nothing. However I need to shop for her. Haha.
And that was what we did today !!
Have a lovely evening. 
Guten Abend.

Saturday, March 5, 2011

and on the 6th day

I rested nearly all afternoon caught up in a book. It is a compelling read by Lisa Jackson entitled Without Mercy.
It is wonderful how you can spend so much time just resting and reading. I guess I needed the rest or I wouldn't have taken it LOL.
The story started out a bit slowly but soon picked  up the pace. It revolves around two sisters, one of  whom was sentenced to a very isolated  school in the wilds of Oregon for delinquency and drug abuse. It is the type of place that practices tough love and has a large component of religion. There have been some strange goings on, a student there has disappeared and seemingly vanished into thin air. A teacher has been discharged for fraternization with a student.
The older sister thinks something sinister is going on at the school and gets hired as a replacement for the dischatged teacher. And there are a lot of secrets happening. I was compelled to keep on reading.
But this is not the only thing I did today. We all went grocery shopping and stopped at Tim Horton's. We call it Timmy's so if I use this term you will know what I mean. Then I spent some time on my new computer figuring out how to use it with my embroideries. Not as easy as you think. I had to call on Jim for a few tips. I wish he could stay LOL.
Then I called Adam to wish him a happy birthday tomorrow. He, Lisa and little Adam are somewhere in Utah skiing. Little Adam is learning and he learned so quickly that he did step one , skipped lesson 2 and went directly to lesson 3. Good for him!!
Great grandson Adam on his 1st day skiing .
Fun on the lift:))
I just had to drop this little photo into  my blog. I am sure you will all get a laugh out of it considering how topical it is at the moment
 LOL!!!!

Have a great evening folks.
Bon Soir!

Friday, March 4, 2011

rug is done

Took me three days to make this little mug rug .Day one create the front and embroidery the face of the rug. Day two sandwich and quilt. Day three ,today, square up, add the binding and TRY to do that difficult 45' join on the binding. That took me so long and in the end I said to HECK with it and just did a 1/4" straight join. Then I sewed the binding down. It is done. Look!!
This snowman design so a free one from Charming Station which has  198 free redwork snowmen designs.
I  changed the position of the embroidery from the left to the right. However I have found a solution to keeping my rugs clean. A plastic envelope from one of my quilting pattern is just the right size to slip these into-perfect. None of the cleaning items I used would clear off the coffee stains,  although when I spilled  coffee on my nightgown and put it in the washer the stain came right out. Weird!
I found a 6 inch square with snowmen on it from a trade and used it for the backing.

There , isn't it cute?
As for the rest of my day, I had to go back to the doctor as I had another infection. Once again I am on antibiotics, not very happy about that !! Then I went
 to the lab for a  test and a kidney function test. And off to the pharmacy for the pills.
Jim, Ray and I went to the mall for a bit of lunch, then Jim had to go downtown.  when I got home I did some more clean up of things from upstairs.
With all that my day was pretty busy.
I am reading a book by Danielle Steele called Sisters. It is kind of drippy and simple. I don't think I'll read another of her books, not enough depth for me and very repetative.
That's all folks!!!
Have a lovely evening.
Kia Ora.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

cleaning day

We spent a good part of the day cleaning out my computer stuff upstairs. I can't believe how much STUFF there was upstairs, and how I have been too scared to throw anything away just in case I needed it or it was really important. Well not now, I threw away a ton of stuff,jewel cases and too many extra discs . Too much paper  and special photo paper, extra cameras and attachments. I was ruthless, hope I won't be sorry. However there is not enough room down here for all that and it is things I have not ever looked at. Some games that are ancient given that you can get all the games you want on the net. And on it goes. I am pleased with myself for being brave LOL.
We did go to London Drugs this morning and I bought a cute little brooch for my coat  as well as a pocketbook. We looked at some printers, laser ones but they are very large and again no room for something that large. Jim always wants to take me to see electronics that he hopes I will buy LOL.
Tomorrow he wants me to sew a seam on the pocket of his heavy winter overall. Let's hope the machine will do that.
Then we went to dinner at Mr. Ho's, Chinese of course. Ray and I love the garlic dry spareribes, but Jim doesn't care for them so we eat them all. 
Jim likes to go to his favourite restaurants when he is here. He does so much work for us so we take him to his restaurants. Fair trade.
Of course I did not sew, no time!!
My friend Jean from Delaware called me this morning,we had a lovely visit over the phone. We discussed toilets amd embird, an eclectic kind of discussion haha.
No photos today, I just can't seem to get any taken for some reason but there will be pictures on Sunday when we get to see Charlotte.  Hurrah!
I need to shop for her  pretty soon.
Kathy is quite ill right now so we did not go to our sewing class tonight. I thought it was last night but I was wrong. Too bad as the class was making a cover with trapunto for our sewing machines and I wanted to do it. But Tom will save the instructions and the materials for us. I wonder if we can go there one day and do the class.
Time to go folks.
Have a great evening!!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

back is back to normal

Or almost, but it is a lot better. My chiropractor said there were 4 ribs out of place ,no wonder my back hurt so much . But today was so much more pleasant .
I played around on my new computer for a few hours trying to get things all figured out. I learned a lot of things but still have to practice. Getting my embroideries to open is a trial in Windows 7. I think I might buy  Embird and the iconizer. I think though that they have a big learning curve. Still I do want to be able to work with my designs more effectively than I do now.
Jim and Ray worked on fixing the toilet today, just a small fix so they said. So off they went to Rona to exchange the stuff Ray bought the other day. I said why don't you just buy a new toilet? Hands in the air in absolute horror. $ 160 for a toilet they cried when we can fix it ourselves for a lot less. First trip, whoops we need to go back for something else and then a new tool was required. Don't ask what the final bill was, I didn't, LOL. It always amuses me how many times they neeed to go to the harware store, kind of like quilters. How many times do we go to the store while making a quilt. I go several times myself.  haha!!
We had planned to meet Peter for dinner at Cockney Kings where Jim wants to go when he is in Vancouver so the fixing job had to be deferred until we got back home. We had a great visit with Peter who was on his way to his Barber Shop group which he has sung in for the past 18 years. Fish and Chips and oysters were good too:))

Jim and Peter, Peter got caught in the bright sunlight.

My dish cloth production for this year....And lucky I was to get this done.
The mug rug update, just a small amount of work done on that task.
I sprayed the pieces all together which makes it easier to do on a small project than pinning. Things were getting busy around here so I just managed to get a few lines quilted with a feather stitch along the vertical lines and stay stitched along the edges. Then I went looking for some red fabric to make the binding and I found some binding of the same fabric in the rug  and it is /was all ready to go. It was left over from the binding on my SBS quilt. But I did not get any time to sew it on. Tomorrow! This is a really cute little rug but I won't show you until it is done. It is diffi ult to do any amount of work when company ishere even if it is family. They come to visit. But Jim has worked for the past 2 days getting things done for us. Some vacation LOL....
Have a great evening friends.
Buona Sera!


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

I cooked!!!

I cooked a roast this afternoon, made the gravy and cooked the veggies.  My name is Ray LOL. He usually does things like roasts but he and Jim were putting the new computer desk together. Jim brought the computer downstairs , set things up , found all my embroideries "hurrah" , and it works. I am so impressed with the ability to do all these things. I can only do my email and blog , the easy stuff. But it will be great for me now as there is no way I can do the stairs with these limpy legs. I am a happy woman.
But the day started beautifully with a call from Sam inviting us out for brunch.. And of course we went, had a great visit the four of us.
Sam is in the process of finalizing the purchase of a house. I am looking forward to seeing the house.
I called up my chiropractor this afternoon,I have a rib or two out of place and tomorrow I see him so hopefully the pain will be gone.
After that  I looked up a redwork snowman embroidery design to make another mug rug.  It should be done tomorrow ,hopefully!
I made the top and cut out the middle and the back, then I had to make dinner.
That's where the roast came in.
And the burnt corn.... I find cooking boring so had in my life often set something to cook and forgot about it so inevitably it burned. Thus the burnt corn. I was sewing and got absorbed. However the roast and gravy was delicious and we opened another can of corn LOL
The site for the redwork snowman and hundreds of his pals is Charming Station Embroidery. Have a look in your browser for some fun designs.
By the time we got things cleaned up from supper I was too tired to sew any more but that was a full day's work so to speak. I am getting better.
Our  grandson Ricky came over tonight to watch the hockey game and the station did not broadcast it tonight. We don't know why as it is on, Ricky found it on his I phone, whatever you call them. I just have a phone, no I. LOL.
He and Jim have gone out to Dairy Queen for a good gossip. Men are bigger gossips than women haha!!
March Sunbonnet Sue, isn't she adorable?
Have a lovely evening folks.
Lilale....