little done today

http://www.countryjunktion.com/2012BOM.html   If you are collecting the little quilts of the month March is now available for free. January and February will now  cost you.

Good news today , my dealer Tom is opening temporary facilities tomorrow and says to bring in our machines for servicing. My embroidery machine will be visiting tomorrow for sure. I have a commitment so I want to get at it.

After I received my last antibiotic today the cleaning lady came. She always does my room first because I like a nap. She is a very considerate lady. That was my day....
Because I have so little to talk about ,having done nothing ,you are in for a treat of photos.

Hope he doesn't jump on a pin. :))

I like the coincidence of all these sevens, my lucky number and birthdate. I'm hooked on the number seven. LOL

A bit of philosophy and a bit of a helpful thought to those in need, to those who are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.

A bit late but so cute. Now there are some meteorologists who could be termed a rodent LOL. None that I know though, we love ours.

And a challenge. Find the Baby, ignore the French, it says the same thing hahaha. This is as big as I can get it. Aw shucks maybe it is too easy.

http://www.sewcanshe.com/  A camera case , looks pretty simple.

Very sad news, my daughter in law Lisa lost her mom today, my deepest condolences go out to Lisa and her family. I talked to Adam , Lisa was sleeping , totally exhausted with all she has had to do.

Have a great evening folks.

Buenos noches.

Nothing new to report

No sewing/quilting sites today. Phew I hear you say LOL.
 However if you are like me you enjoy perusing these sites even if you don't make anything from them or if you plan to make something and it doesn't quite happen.
And the city  750 strong of Greenwood B.C. ,  has just won the honour of having the finest water in the world, The water comes from an underground aquifer.  They should bottle it and sell it. I love   good water and drink a lot of it every day to kepp my kidneys working well. See what you get when you don't get quilting sites Haha.

Oh well I can't resist so here is your quilting for the day.

I  received a nice comment from Anonymous who said she/he had discovered my blog and enjoyed it. So thanks Anonymous for reading and commenting and I hope you come back again. I write one every evening.

Now for my day. After the nurse left we went to the clinic. There was a student nurse there who wanted to see what the procedure was so the room which was small became a bit crowded with 4 people in it. But things are going well so we are happy.

We went to Mr. Ho's for lunch. I get such a kick out of this one server who sort of takes me under her wing and decides which lunchean we should have. She changes the items around on the lunch for two so we can get what we want. I wanted some fried rice , she said nono way to much LOL. We'll take it home for supper I said to which she replied , breakfast too. When we were leaving she told Ray to take good care of me. Then she said to him but you do that!!

I know we have all been in a public place where some kid is running around seemingly all by himself and creating havoc. I love this sign LOL. Now don't think I am against kids, not so , I love them but sometimes it is better if parents know what they are doing (the kids that is).

We have a dog . I finally was able to get a photo of  dog while standing still instead of from the window of a moving car LOL, This is one nice boy.He had his leg all tangled up in the blue strap and he allowed a stranger to help him untangle it up . Gentle giant!

The library sent me a notice today that I had two books out and they were due on Thursday. I hadn't read one of them so we went there and I renewed it. You can renew a book once. I started to read it when I got home. Good mystery so far!

Now doesn't this make you feel like kicking up your heels like a lamb in springtime. Soon!!!

Time out folks!

Have a lovely evening.

Bon Soir.

sunday times

http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/2012/01/tool-time-tuesdayfabric-heart-bookmark.html
So cute and so useful. Try one or even three or four.

.http://youtu.be/2UoUzK19Vww  spray basting on the wall , a video. Fascinating technique if you have an empty wall. I don't, mine all have something on them.

http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/2012/02/qm-shorts-no-mark-stitch-flip/?utm_source=QUMK_0221_2012&utm_medium=eletter&utm

What a time saving technique as long as you have a steady hand. And no wine drinking LOL.
I hear that some quilters imbibe a bit when they are free motion quilting so as to relax. If that was me I would be relaxing under the sewing table LOL.....

 We had to go to Safeway today for a prescription and that was the extent of our travels. Both of us were tired. I went to bed for a long nap.
Kathy is coming tomorrow morning to have a look at my embroidery machine. I hope it is something small that I just can't figure out. At least I have taken the road less travelled and stopped the insanity. LOL  Thank you Albert Einstein.

Isn't this a hoot, Now who would think of  making a snow man standing on his head. It is quite funny, isn't it?

We all need a helping hand LOL and these little guys fill the bill. Hmm I want one !!

I have a little tip for all the embroiderers out there. If you are pressing /ironing  your embroideries DO NOT STEAM. It makes wrinkles around your work. Ask me how I know. Now I am trying to figure out a way  to rectify that. If I do then I'll put the fix on the blog. 

Watching Downton Abbey, Season Three. I understand there is a Season Four coming up in the Fall. Good!! I find this series engrossing.

Knitting time , I have to get some done, it has been sitting there for ever. I am finding it hard to get it worked on .

That's it folks.

Have a good evening.

Guten Abend

what happened

I am so late tonight. I have been messing around with my embroidery machine trying to get it to work.  I did all the instructions that were in the group files but still the machine reverted to the internal designs. I have tried to call Tom but he is not available because of the fire. It is very frustrating. I am going to try Mason's maybe. But somewhere in the back of my mind I have heard that Mason's doesn't do a good job.
I am disappointed as I wanted to get some things done this week. Oh well. I guess I'll have to make lemonade. LOL.

We went to London Drugs to buy a new memory stick as I thought that might be the cause of my problems but it did the same thing. We even tried the old SD cards, no luck there either.

I saw a totem pole in front of Jordan's Carpet and Flooring ,seems an unusual piece of statuary for a commercial venture. But it is beautiful.

The weather in Edmonton was dreadful and the roads were dangerous but Jim took off for California anyway. I pray that he gets through all right. He is going down th Los Angeles to visit a friend.

Peter is in London and sad that there is no Tim   Horton's in London. Plenty of Starbucks though so he can get coffee or lattes if he is desperate.

Some photos of Adam on the slopes.

On the slopes literally LOL. But Adam and Adam had a lovely time.

Ray and I are so disinterested in cooking but we keep trying . I said to him today maybe we should try some of those frozen dinners for a while until we get over this. So we did. I had Shepherds Pie for dinner and it was very tasty, we'll definitley buy this one again.

http://sew4home.com/projects/storage-solutions/1096-hello-kittyr-sewing-basket-pincushion 

Neat sewing basket for those who are more energetic than I am ;)))

I couldn't let a blog go by without something to drool over even if you don't make it. haha.

It's time for me to leave you -  hope you are all fine and have a great evening.

Seminole piecing

http://www.eldrbarry.net/hatr/megquilt.htm
Seminole  table runner. There is a lot of other stuff here but just click on the blue line that says Seminole Runner.
I did a Seminole table runner  several  years ago. It was a pattern by Terry Atkinson and cost me $8.00 for the pattern.  It was fun to do.

Wow this is long isn't it?

It snowed today , fat flakes that didn't stay long around our place but in other parts of the city and surroundings it did stick to the ground. And then came the rains, what a mess of slush, dangerous to walk on.  Ray and I don't have the sense to use an umbrella so we both got a bit wet.

We had to go to the clinic today to question about the exchange of appliances. Ray took that up with the nurse in the clinic.

Then we went to Cockney Kings for fish and chips. Good as usual.

I just thought I'd share this with you I got a kick out of it and hope you enjoy it too.

This afternoon I had planned to embroider a piece for a friend , so I plugged in my memory stick and my machine just kept reverting to  the internal designs. It was so weird. I tried ant tried but then remembered the words of Albert Einstein . Definition of Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.

With that in mind I stopped doing the same thing over and over LOL. I checked the stick into my PC and it looked all right there but in my laptop it was not behaving. So my thought is that the memory stick has become defective. Tomorrow I will go and buy a new one. The only thing about that is formatting the stick. I forget how to do that. It has to be formatted both in the computer and in the embroidery machine.

Vikki from my embroidery list has given me some good advice regarding this which I will try soon

So that messing around took the better part of the afternoon, no time for a nap today LOL.

I have been having a lot of trouble with pains in my eyes lately and think it may be the laptop. Tonight they are quite sore so I am going to sign off.

Bon Soir.

 

visitors

http://thehappyzombie.com/blog/?p=543   A unique take on the traditional Monkey Wrench.

http://www.fabricfreedom.co.uk/QuiltsAndProjects.html   This is the Talk of the town so to speak. I made this one a long time ago, taught to me by a friend. I like it so much that maybe I'll make another one.

We had a lovely day. First Ray and I met our dear friends Bob and Buzz for lunch. That was the usual fun. We have been friends for a long time and it is always good to get together. Thanks for finding my ring Buzz in the pocket of the coat you took for the church.

Ray and I went for a bit of a walk but his leg is bothering him and he can't walk too far.  He thinks it is from the statins he is taking for cholesterol. I think he should try without them and exercise and eat well to keep that cholesterol down but the doctor has a fit at any mention of that. It is not fun for him when that leg causes him so much distress.
After we got home Margaret came over with a book by Karin Slaughter  entitled Fallen. Another good visit- she and her daughter Karin are coming to my birthday party but Marg thought it was a secret and talked to Ray first. He told her I knew all about it.
Then  two of my friends from the Pot Luck group Jan and Jan visited for while bearing gifts , a lovely orchid and a gift from Nepal .

We all taught school together , they are still teaching while I retired in 1996. They brought me a nice gift from Patti who spends her summers in Nepal climbing mountains with her husband. What a pair, they are so adventuresome. They are great skiers too. Thank you Patti for the lovely little bag of tea.

They wanted to know all about my kids so we talked about that and how Adam took little Adam skiing in Utah for Mardi Gras, a bit of a departure from the usual Mardi Gras celebrations. LOL
I also talked to Adam on the phone , he said little Adam is a good little skier and show a bit of adventure too.
In between guests I managed to do a bit of knitting or should I    say a bit of unknitting as some of it was wrong. :(((

                                                 Good night folks.
Have a great evening.

                          

                                      

blazing, amazing

http://www.quiltingboard.com/tutorials-f10/rhondas-new-shortcut-block-triple-strip-block-t167602.html
 This is amazing, a strippy start and a wonderful finish. I am enamoured of it.

Now I am going for a nap, can't keep my eyes open. The cleaning lady is here but she always does my room first as she knows I sometimes nap in the afternoon. Nice lady.

http://mychellem.blogspot.com/2011/09/extra-scrappy-pinwheels-tutorial-video.html

Videos on this site maybe   9 of them and all different techniques. Lots of fun to watch and to learn a new trick or two.

I slept the afternoon away , I wonder why I was so tired. Oh well, it was a very good nap.

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/02/four-squared-quilt.html 
I like squares as they are  symmetrical and that suits my sense of order .

It was a nothing day, just the nurse ,the medicine delivery and cleaning lady. Three phone calls by someone who wants to sell me something. Don't you hate that. It is such an intrusion when they call at dinner or when you are napping , not that they would know any of that. it must be a thankless job.
I don't need anything and mostly don't want anything. Well maybe I want something once in a while but I can't rmemeber so as my dear old mother used to say if I forgot what I wanted," It can't be very important". And she is right.

Ah the little princess, isn't she beautiful with diamonds and pearls. Now for another cutie.

There don't they warm the cockles of your heart.  I think this little guy is so adorable.

Watching ET fashion designer do her shopping at Winners. It amazes me because I can never find a thing at Winners. But then I am not a good shopper. If the racks are all different and packed full it discourages me. It just looks like a big jumble to me.Too bad it would save me money it I could shop that way.

My boys when they were a lot younger. I hope to get a picture of the five of them at my birthday party next month. Then I would have photos of them when they were younger and this one and one of them as adult men. I'd like that . Matthew is the youngest and in the front , just behind him on the left  is Peter  the third son, and on the right Adam who is the eldest son,behind on the right is Richard the second son and right Jim the fourth son. Handsome looking group aren't they?
And so good night dear friends.  Enjoy your evening.
                         Bonswa.

To the doctor

A Clean Machine is a Happy Machine
Sewing machine care
http://homepage.mac.com/mbgoodman/clean/     Maintain your sewing machine for
in order to  keep it humming for eons.

http://www.quiltmaker.com/patterns/details.html?idx=13917   A pattern for Project Linus for those of you who do these quilts. It is adorable.

We went to see Dr. Vortel this afternoon. He said he can't keep me on antibiotics forever so I will be going off them on the 29th of February. Hopefully it will be fine but if I get sick again it's back to the hospital and he wants me to go to the largest hospital Vancouver General where there are a number of infectious disease specialists as well as the big guy I went to see last week Dr, Bowie. But he did say he would not abandon me ,for which I am grateful as I trust him and like him.

I got my FQs packaged up to send in for my on line Bingo game.
I have won several times in these Bingo games, so it is a bit of fun. Anyone want to join us? Let me know. The cost to play is one FQ and then if you get the first Bingo you get all the other player's FQs too. 

My friend Gail again with her new mauve, her favourite colour, walker. Mine is not my favourite colour as it is black. But I like my walker despite that.

When we got home from the doctor I got started on taking the stabilizer off the ballerina blocks and snipping the jump threads.
I got them all finished and now need to check the size and square up all the blocks . I told Ray I needed the ironing board out for a bit to press them. It is a bit of a nuisance as it has to stand almost in the living room but in an apartment and with no sewing room that is what happens.
Now I want to make a little mug rug while the machine is still on the dining room table. I have a cute design I am anxious to use.

That's the state of my mind right now LOL!!

My eyes are really burning right now , this computer is hard to read sometimes. So I think I'll cut this off. Have a great evening.

Bon soir!

Slave driver

We went to the clinic today and thank goodness everything was okay. In the morning my stoma had receded  and become recessed. The morning nurse was worried about it , but by the time we went to the ostomy clinic the stoma was back where it belonged and the nurse there said that happens occasionally. That was a relief as I didn't want to go back to the doctor .

We had a hamburger at McDonald's  and it was so big that I could only eat half of it. We rarely get hamburgers there so were surprised at the size. It was good though, next time we'll order one and split it.

I took a couple of pictures today. This one is of a new fence.
Here in B.C. it rains a lot during the winter and the ground gets soaked so the posts of the fences rot and the boards suffer from the incessant rain, so wood fences need to be redone over the years.

I'm having trouble with the edit part of this programme so you get the front of the car as well as the fence.

On Marine Drive which is a major road to get folks across town there is something new. It caught my fancy and made me laugh so I had to take a photo.  Arms , legs caps,  all out of joint on this pole. It is quite hilarious .

So the slave driver is Ray. he decided when we got home that I needed to clean out my yarns bags. He brought them all out here to the living room and put me to work.  I arranged the yarn into cottons for knitting dishcloths and threw out all the small bits I couldn't bring myself to throw out previously. That reduced the yarn to one smaller bag. The wool that I use to make socks was arranged in a knitting basket and again I tossed the smaller bits. I just could not bring myself to throw some of the wool out but it will go when I next get the tossing urge. Now guess what comes next....   Fabric of course. I did the magazines earlier. Now Ray is talking about the bedroom closet, OOOO he is getting boring LOL.

Then I got my knitting needles and crochet hooks back where they belong in the cases and wrapped elastic around my sock needles to keep them all in one place.  In the process of  cleaning out I found a set of templates for curved blocks that I have been looking for forever. Hurrah!!

Now don't you think I was almost perfect LOL.

Watching The Mentalist again even though we have seen it before. It seems to me all there is are reruns.

That's it folks, time to go.

Have a lovely evening!! 

lunch with Sam

Making pillowcases two at a time the easy way.
Here is an easy set of instructions!

http://www.maryquilts.com/pillowcase/

We had lunch with Sam today and talked a bit about my 80th birthday party which he is organizing. He said he is going to have it catered.  My kids are all coming so it will be so much fun. HE asked what I wanted and I said a cake LOL.

However this is a bit too early since my birthday isn't until April.

Ray and I went to Fabricana this afternoon after lunching with Sam to buy 2 Fat Quarters of 30s fabric for my on line Bingo game.  While we were there Ray spotted a really cute pair of scissors. We bought one pair and now I wish we had picked up a couple more pair for gifts.

Aren't these amazing ? It was love at first sight for me and Ray loved them too. He likes different things like this. A man of taste :))

But not of patience as he doesn't want me to spend time looking around so it's in, buy and out. For some reason he does not like to spend time in a fabric store even though he chooses great fabric and spots cute items like the scissors. 

We also went to London Drugs for Ensure as it was on sale and bought some of the lovely foamy hand soap, Dial I think it is. It is for disinfecting your hands and I love using it.

Tonight I'll do some more stabilizer stripping and hopefully get several more completed. I am eager to get on to the next phase,starching and squaring off of the blocks.

Cool outside  today with a light drizzle but still comfortable to me. I would like a real hard rainstorm as long as I am laying in bed and watching it slam up against the window. Crazy isn't it.

But then some people like to watch the snow falling. LOL.

Adam , my great grandson, on the hills of Utah during time off school for Mardi Gras. He had that experience last year too with his grandpa. Grandpa says he is a good little skier and he excells at other sports too.

Here he is again and that is grandpa in the background.

Time to go folks. Have a good evening, I think I'll knit. Oh no I said I'd remove the stabilizer.

God Aften.

paper shredding

http://erinrussek.typepad.com/one-piece-at-a-time/2012/02/mimis-bloomers-block-1.html
For the lovers of applique try this one, the first of a series of blocks. Remember to bookmark the site though so you don.t lose out on any ensuing blocks.


http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/02/salt-air-diamonds.html
 I really like this quilt with strippy diamond blocks.

Facing the music, haha.

Grocery shopping today and  I went around the store with Ray, I had been sitting on my walker and checking out the magazines , so this is a victory for me. We didn't buy much though, seems that we don't need very much these days.  We stopped at TIm Horton's for coffee and a muffin for me  and a bagel with cream cheese for Ray.

Then we called Margaret to take her to the casino. She was happy to go and she did quite well this afternoon. I did well too and came home ahead of the game even after giving Ray some money. He did not win today. But we all had a good time.

After dinner I began to remove the stabilizer from my ballerinas and to snip the threads at the back first. It takes a bit of time to do that as you must be very careful when pulling the stabilizer from the back of the block. I always support the embroidery with my hand before pulling the stabilizer off.  Otherwise the threads can be damaged. and thus the embroidery ruined.  I have three done , so you know what I'll be working on tonight. The next step is to square up the blocks and then to cut the sashing. Buzz said she would come and do the cutting for me so if all goes well that will be soon.  Oh and I plan to give the blocks a bit of starch to give them body.
It  snowed  today, yes, I said snowed. Not the lovely big fat flakes of snow that cover everything in sight and look beautiful but thin almost rain flakes which did turn to rain again in half an hour. So this is winter!!! And in February too!!
This is the windshield -heavy rain , really you say!! Good thing we were parked LOL.

I hear that Brad and Angelina are expecting twin boys and thinking of tying the knot.  Eight children , it's about time to commit.

Good night folks , have a happy evening. SWAK.

old friends

http://pamhollanddesigns.typepad.com/gabriella_goodness_and_he/   
I am reminded of when I first encountered Pam Holland on the first list I was on. She was an accomplished quilter and held forth at her shed with her quiting group, where they did most marvellous quilts. And shooed the chooks(chickens) out of the door.   She lives in South Australia when she is not teaching around the world. Pam is an interesting lady and you can find out more about her just by typing Pam Holland into your search engine.

http://countryjunktion.com/2012BOM.html>      Block of the month #2 for February- free for this month. January's block is still there but it isn't free any more. They are just free for the month they are depicting. Actually they are little wall hangers. Keep tabs on this site if you want to catch each month as sometimes I may not recall them or may not be available to put them on the blog.

I had a call from my specialist Dr.Vortel today and he said that based on Dr. Bowie's advice he will be taking me off the antibiotic. Whenever I have been off them I have ended up in the hospital as the infection just takes over. I guess they need to see what will happen  once they take me off it, but Dr. Vortel said he was not going to keep me on it for the rest of my life. I sure hope they have a plan  B. LOL

I am knitting a hat right now and I bought this huge ball of yarn that is driving me nuts because it is loosely packed and keeps slipping and sliding off the ball. It is so frustrating-and the pattern is keeping me bobble eyed. All in all not too good an experience. I think  I'll go back to knitting dish cloths, don't even need to look when I knit those LOL. Maybe I should reach deep down into the ball , find the other end and start to wind it all back into a tighter ball.

Still thinking of what to use for sashing of my ballerinas, I have some lovely turquoise batik but am afraid it may overpower the girls. I think I'll have to go to the  store for some assistance. And I need to cut the threads at the back and remove the stabilizer. Lots to do yet before it becomes a quilt.

These two  pictures show the fabrics I have that might work. If you have any suggestions make a comment and if you can suggest some other colour comment on that too.

Lots of rain today, a good day to stay home but of course we didn't ))))

There was some discussion on one of my lists about Charm Packs, Jelly Rolls and the 10 inch square cuts, Layer Cakes they call them. It was said that those particular cuts could hide some bad cuts, such as selvages, half the charm instead of a whole piece, off the grain to name a few things mentioned. Then there is the cost.

I personally love them but then I just handle them and do not use them. At least so far LOL.

Time out ! Have a great evening.

Kalispera.