a favourite shade of blue

a favourite shade of blue

Sunday, March 30, 2014

rectangles

Download now as a pdf pattern
Block of the Day
Crow's Nest is what this block is called.




This quilt is rectangles within rectangles turned is different directions.


Here is a cute little blue puppy to applique.


Not a busy day just a quiet Sunday. We did go back to the grocery store to buy some more water but that was all. 
We had a lazy day and did very little . 

Spring is just around the corner. Adam is sitting out on his deck in Louisiana reading a book and watching for the alligator that lives around the golf course beyond his fence. It was lovely down there. We won't be far behind.

Peter is now in England for his Father in law's funeral. Not a very nice time for Judith. My condolences Judith and Peter.

Jim is back in Edmonton practicing for the show he is in. I must ask him what the name of the show is. He has , finished with Rick's apartment , at least I think he is.  He did a wonderful job of helping his brother. I am so proud of him. All my boys make me proud.

Richard is almost at the end of his bathroom renovations. I think it is just painting now that needs to be done. 

Matthew's birthday is on Monday, I won't tell you how old he is. We treated him to dinner at the Keg to celebrate his birthday. Happy Birthday Matthew. I hope it is a good one. He is my youngest son.

We two old folk have no things going on in our house. Our life is buy though with friends and family visiting and going out for lunch and sewing. I sure do enjoy my life.

You know that old saying, If life gives you lemons makes lemonade. Here is  another thing you can do with lemons ,make a quilt.


Now this is a lot of hexagons. Can you imagine doing all that work. It must take a lifetime.  i wonder if the quilter uses papers to make each hexagon. It boggles the mind.

This seemed appropriate for the season.

And this is the end of today's blog. Not too long I am afraid.

Have a good evening folks.

Good night.

just rollin' around for the rest of the night LOL




















Saturday, March 29, 2014

dragonfly



a few free patterns here,  the table topper is very eye appealing


Block of the day

Download now as a pdf pattern

North Star is the name of this block of the day. 



A lovely tree pattern for you to make. And it is Spring, the red  bits can't be apples in the Spring so they must be blossoms.

All we did today was go to the grocery store for our weekly shopping.  We did not go for coffee or lunch after the shopping , just came straight home. Why ? I have no idea .  
All I did was read a bit and work on my laptop. I was so lazy and that irritates me. I need a kick in the pants LOL. But I'll take my pants off first. Haha.

Adam said Lake Charles was under a tornado watch. No tornado though so that was good. 

We did not have rain today and it was nice to be able to walk outside and not get wet. Yesterday was quite wet and the seat of my walker got very wet and I hated to sit down on it. So I didn't.
Most of the time i can only stand or walk so far and then I need to sit for a few minutes to rest myself.


I am pretty sure Adam took me to this museum when I was in Delaware .  It was a good museum and had a lot of excellent art work many by the masters.  This one Spring Rain was painted by John French Sloan. It has the feel of a Renoir, perhaps it is the times that make it look that way, 1912.
Renoir was born in 1841 and died in 1919 so he had quite an influence on the world of Art. 

this is what i call a one piece wonder because it is made of repetitions of the same block. Personally although I admire the work I find this kind of boring.

This quilt was made by Ray's niece and is her first quilt. Amazing piece of work for a beginner. Congratulations Pam. I love this quilt.

Or Saturday night  ......

And that is that folks.

Have  a great evening.

Good night.














Friday, March 28, 2014

Stabilizers

There are many things to think about when choosing the proper machine embroidery stabilizer including: stability of garment, stitch density, stitch speed, colour, design size, and digitizing.
Here's a good article that explains them:
www.threadsmagazine.com/item/4631/making-sense-of-stabilizers



March 28, 2014
Diamond
Here is today's free Block of the Day pattern

Download now as a pdf pattern


Good instructions for Disappearing Nine Patch.  Why you want it to disappear is a good question LOL.





http://freequiltpatterns.blogspot.com/2012/11/disappearing-9-patch-16-patch-and.html



Aha! I got a new camera today. Coolpix. - Nikon.  My old camera was fading as I had dropped it and broke the hinge off where the card went in. And it was all taped up. It still worked but for my birthday I wanted a new one and Ray , kind soul that he is  bought me a lovely new camera.

Small print , I must fix that.

Ray and I went out to the mall for our exercise walk this afternoon and then down to The Crossing and London Drugs to purchase the camera. We bought it from Darrel , we have dealt with him often but had not seen him for a while. He said he had had to have a kidney transplant. He had been very sick and his kidneys had failed. His wife was a perfect match for him and she donated a kidney. It is amazing that she matched. I was happy to see him back at work and looking healthy. We had a good chat and bought the camera from him.  I also bought the case to carry the camera in.

Then we bought some bread at the bakery as we were out. 
It was time to come home.  The mall today was crowded and very busy. We wondered what was causing all the crowds but did not figure it out.

When we came home I sat and figured out how to use my new camera. I can't find the slot where the card goes in so after this blog is done I'll check out the book or the CD to see where that is. If all else fails It will go back to Darrel, he'll know what to do. But I am sure I can find it.


In the case with the little flashlight attached.

Closed lens



Open lens.


Tiny tiny block.

Haha so true.


I love this picture, I call it Oreo cookies.

this is but a portion of a quilt but the colours enchanted me and you can see the beginnings of the pattern.


Adorable owl basket for your towels.


Bird chirping weather here -rain along with sun. Fascinating phenomena.

time's up folks.

Have a great evening.

Good night.











...

Thursday, March 27, 2014

tonight

Hi folks,
Tonight I am going out to Cake Therapy with Kathy . I'll do the blog when I get back home.

Sometimes I wonder why this blog gets lost. It is a big pain.

So Kathy and I got to Cake Therapy early and got good seats right at the front. Plus we did get cake, rhubarb cake. There were so many people there that not everybody got cake. But it was a fine time and Tom had lots to show us as well there was a good Show and Tell.
Here are some of the sights.


Wonderful colour in this quilt, it says Spring.

Wow busy quilt.

Soccer quilt for a sporty boy.

Last month's project, love the yellow.

I don't know what this pattern is called but it is lovely.

They made big projects and today I made these blocks for the guild.

And I made this one for Tom's. It was too small but they were gracious about that and said they would enlarge it.

That was my evening. Day time was a bit different. Marg came over for a visit. We had a nice time.  Earlier in the day Ray and I went to the Crossings and at McDonald's we had a salad. It was a good lunch. Then we went to the market for tomatoes.
That was it for the day. We came home and relaxed before I went out with Kathy.

Have a good evening folks.

Good night.















Wednesday, March 26, 2014

quiet Wednesday

Today was a fairly quiet day even though we went up to Metrotown for a walk , a bit of exercise. In the paper this morning was an article about doctors writing prescriptions for exercise. A good idea i think. How many minutes of exercise, how many days doing the exercise, how fast to do the exercise, how high the heart rate. That would be useful to patients. Any way we do whatever we can, it is not a lot but it is some.

Today;s block , not too hard , squares and triangles.

Block of the Day Checkerboard.


Download now as a pdf pattern


Here is the Orca at the entrance to the coffee and sales store where we go while waiting for the ferry. This time it was a crushing crowd There must have been a company of boats waiting ti be filled . Our ferry was by no means full so they could not all be from our ferry.

These pictures are of us, Matthew, Caroline, Lisa and Adam at the Keg.
The three gus and oops no pictures of we three ladies on my camera. I'll ask Caroline for them or Lisa.

Back to today , after the mall walk, we went home but on the way decided to stop at the little hair salon. I was in need of a hair cut and had been dissatisfied with my precious cut at my usual salon. Well I found out that my original hair cutter was a lot better so I will go back to her next time.

Back home I unloaded the pictures on my camera. My poor camera is falling apart and I know I'll need a new one soon. I hinted to Ray that I'd like a new one and my birthday is coming up. i wonder if he caught my drift LOL.

Today is Meaghan's birthday. Happy  Birthday Meaghan my dear granddaughter. We'll see you soon.



Birthday Queen Meaghan  and Princess Charlotte LOL. She loves her tiara.

  I love  these scrap bins. Use the yellow ringed bin for yellow scraps and so on . If you have enough room for all these bins it would be lovely . A big sewing room would be the thing to have.


Aha Here we are , I found the photo of we girls.
Nan, Lisa and Caroline. It was delightful to be together. I love my daughters in law.

And that is my day folks. 


Have a great evening.

Good night.




Happy Days.
























Tuesday, March 25, 2014

lots to do and see

Another busy day at the Boudreau household.

It was my sewing Tuesday today. Pat picked me up for a coffee at Starbucks this morning. Then to our sewing group. Pat sits at one end of the two tables and I sit at the other end. It has never been planned that way , it just happens. We all applique in this group , some lovely pieces of applique happening.  Some very large pies and others small or intermediate. It is all lovely and we all have a good time. It is a group where we have been together for a few decades and are all good friends.  So it is really lovely to be with each other.
I heard that one of our quilting friends fell on her bicycle and broke 5 ribs on the handlebars. It must be incredible painful for her.
Pat brought me home after lunch as Ray and I had to do a bit of grocery shopping. We did that at Safeway. Nothing for dinner as I was taking Adam and Lisa out for dinner at the KEG. We went to the Richmond restaurant rather than our usual one. However Adam and Lisa were visiting Matthew and Caroline. So they also showed up at the KEG. It was great to see everyone. Matthew and Caroline joined us for dinner. I had prime rib and baked potato. Ray had a a top sirloin steak, no potatoes but an extra serving of veggies including asparagus. 

It was a great evening for us all I was so happy to get together with my children. 

Adam and Lisa are leaving tomorrow morning at 7:00 AM. It has been fabulous to have them here for a visit and to celebrate my birthday next week. I might be wrong on the week but it is soon.

I took some pictures but forgot to put the little card in the camera so I have to use my cord to transfer them off the camera. I don't feel like it tonight so I will put the pictures up in the morning.

So that is the story. Come back again tomorrow for the photos.
Prime Rib at the Keg.

Top Sirloin steak for Ray.

Have a lovely evening.  More photos tomorrow.

                     Take it easy and sleep well.
                      Good night.
                    
                                   

Monday, March 24, 2014

pretty baby quilt

Pretty little  quilt for a baby.
from Riley Blake Designs!
http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/blog/2012/06/20/project-design-team-wednesdayraggedy-scallop-baby-/

The quilt has many scallops but it is a tutorial so that may make it easier. I hope so.

So to tell a tale, Adam and Lisa took Ray and me to Victoria for a celebration . We stayed in the Empress hotel. It was fabulous, wonderful service. First on the floor just down below ours there was a lounge that served food that was free with your room. They also served breakfast in there.  It overlooked the harbour with a full compliment of sailboats. It made me think of Richard and his love for sailing. I have  picture of him and Kate in this marina.

View #1 of the  inner harbour.

View #2 of the parliament buildings and a part of the inner harbour and the walkway around the harbour.  I took these photos from the lounge.


During the day we toured Victoria to see the sights . We drove along  the famous Dallas Road which  takes us along the waterfront. When my boys were young their dad used to take them fishing on the breakwater off Dallas Road. We drove along the waterfront to the Uplands where the house got bigger and the lots more spacious. It clearly showed that richer people lived there. We used to do that drive too when the boys were young. I always  loved it. Victoria is a wonderful city to live in and as we drove around yesterday I saw once again the beautiful attraction of the capital city.  No wonder my boys want to return to the city where they were born.

We had dinner in the dining at the Empress. It was just as you would imagine a perfect dinner service to be.  Ray and I had ling cod, Lisa had halibut and Adam had a rare steak. 
Dessert was Creme Brulee for me , I am not sure if the others had dessert but I was missing nothing. I even had a Caesar to drink along with my usual after dinner. Our waiter was Earl and he was wonderful too. Only one mishap, Adam's steak came well done and her had to send it back.. He said that should not have happened and he is right about that, But as he wanted his steak rare is did not take long to correct.

Ray at dinner. Doesn't he look great.
Isn't Lisa looking beautiful and happy.
Silver service!!!



Adam at the head of the table. Very patriarchal looking isn't he.

Earl our waiter at the Empress. Fun guy!

We sat at the table for 2 hours, eating, drinking and chatting. It was a memorable evening.
Adam said the trip was for my birthday which is coming up.
My deepest thank you to Lisa and Adam for giving us such a wonderful time. We surely enjoyed it. It was one to remember.

Then we had the ferry trip back to Vancouver. I like taking the ferry so that became another great event for me. Not everyone likes that ride but I do.

I did not take many pictures I enjoyed all the sights but did not photograph them. Next time I go to Victoria I'll take more pictures. I was engrossed in the hotel and forgot about the surroundings. I used to work at this hotel in the early 1960s  so it was enjoyable to see the hotel from the other side of the coin.  Once again Adam and Lisa many thanks for a wonderful time.

Today Ray and I went to Cockney Kings for a  lunch of fish and chips. then we went to the ostomy clinic and made an appointment for Friday to check me out.

We came home after that, Ray went for bread and I stayed home.

So that was our day. I need to cut on strip of fabric for a stem. It has to be on the bias. I'll check that out with Pat tomorrow.

Best Friends looking for a forever home.

Best friends again but different and they have a home.


Cat on fabric, nothing new about that. Cats love fabric.

Texas Star what a design to get right. This is amazing.

That's all folks.

Have a great evening

Good night.