forgot my camera

I left the camera at home again today but I think I'll let you in on the quilt I am making. I call it The Skins Game and not it is not about golf LOL.  I worked on it a few hours this afternoon, setting the long strips and making another row which I plan to put on to the other four rows tonight.

We were just sitting down to dinner and the power went off , so it was a rush to light the candles so that we could at least eat dinner while it was hot. It was just out for about 20 minutes but everything in the apartment is electric so that means the heat is off and we have had the coldest weather in years so that is a bit of a worry. But all is well and we got the phone reset with messages and time and day as this phone is also electric so it went out too. And wouldn't you know it my cell was in need of a boost. I rarely use it and it is often down to one bar because I just look around in the phone to see how it works and that all takes up bars.  I am so bad about charging it up, even Ray remembers to tell me to do it . We were really isolated there for a little bit. No I am not complaining just explaining. But good news my laptop was working as I always have it wired in so the battery was on full power.
We went to a store on Fraser St. to look for another set of Corning Ware but they didn't have quite what we wanted so we'll look elsehwhere. Ray broke a piece of the set we have now but they must have stopped making that size and it was just the right size for when he makes scalloped potatoes.
The store was close to a sewing machine store, Mason's, so we went in there to look. Of course! They sell Elnas and some of the machines looked so lovely. Also they had that wonerful serger that threads the needles automatically. It is wonderful to watch :)) I have no need for a serger as I do not sew but it is a fabulous machine.
Ray had to pick up a prescription , I asked him what it was and he said that yellow one. HELLO!! I know what that one is. Good thing the pharmacy works on a better system than we do ....
It is supposed to snow again tonight or early morning. It will mess up the morning rush hour. I am so glad we don't have to brave that any more. This retirement has a great many benefits besides pensions haha!!
Time to get to work folks.
Have a lovely evening.
Lalani kahli.. think Africa :))
Feel free to comment!

a bit late

I am a bit late tonight got wrapped up in other things.
Today was the coldest November in Vancouver ever and today was my Sam's birthday.
But back to the cold, I got into my car this morning to goooo and meet Pat. For the 20 minute drive I almost froze because my heater took it upon itself to not work. COLD was the order of the day.  I tried to turn it on aseveral times with no luck. When I got to Oakridge I could not see Pat and she is always there ahead of me. I called her on the cell and she answered saying she was in the mall. We ordered our Starbucks coffee and had our Tuesday morning gossip , well we talk about quilting if that can be called gossip LOL.
I took my knitting to the sewing group because I have cold feet and want to get that second sock done. Then I can start on a pair for Ione.
Betty Lu  bought a house in Maine near the ocean and she was saying we could have a retreat there. Oh my would I love that, it would be so much fun. I really like the east coast-spent some time there when my son was living in Delaware  and grew to love it. Mind you I did not go there in the cold weather.
At Community Quilts Juliet who has been on a wonderful trip to South Africa with side trips into other countries showed us the beautiful fabrics she bought there . I took a photo of one fabric square that is from Zimbabwe. It particularly appealed to me. The center of the piece is quail I think, it looks like Quail to me. The colours are fabulous.
I took two pictures but for some unknown reason it says server rejected this photo. Never had that happen before. Too bad as it is a beautiful piece. I'll try and fool around with it after this blog is finished.
Will you look at that, there is more than one way to skin a cat :))
Photo on the side. I just went back and added this one to the blog.

Sharon invited a few of us over to her new apartment for tea. It was lovely and she had decorated her apartment with all her gorgeous quilts. And again I was so involved in the conversation that I did not get any pictures. My head is in a fog these days. The discussion seemed to centre around arhtritis as one of the ladies had been to the arthritis society for a badly swollen knee. Of course we , as ladies of a certain age, all have had bouts of  arthritis at one point or another so we enjoyed the talk LOL.
Sharon served lovely tea in beautiful China teacups and saucers accompanied by delicious petit fours. I had a tart and a piece of chocolate cake along with my tea. Also notice that of the 6 women there I was the only one left who had a husband. I am a most blessed woman.
After I was on my way home I tried the heater again with no luck and then half way home the darned thing decided it was willing to work so I had a bit of heat for a small stretch of time. I ran into a traffic light on Marine Way at Main Street that was not working. That made for a large back up but eventually I got through and the road was a straightaway from then on :)
Another great Tuesday!!
Keep warm folks.
Dobri noce.

BRRR

Whew , was it ever cold today. And windy too. Now I know what wind chill means. We usually live a sheltered life out here on the west coast.
Ray and I went to Costco for some meds he needed and it was so cold when we walked back to the car  that my face froze. At least it felt as if it froze. Tomorrow I WILL wear my heavy winter coat, scarf , gloves and hood and boots.
What was I thinking, wearing my regular jacket. I have learned my lesson. I bought that coat for winter in Quebec and thought I would not have to wear it again. Good thing I have it. It is even cold in the apartment . I must turn the overhead fan off I think.
I did not feel like sewing today and although the guilt in my soul was flourishing I had to refer to Ray's wisdom when he told me some time ago that it was a hobby not a job and if I wanted to not do it for a day or a week then I didn't have to.
However I assuaged my conscience by cutting. So I cut the strips for my current quilt the skins game LOL and sliced the strips into 5 inch bits. I kept two WOF strips to add to the bottom of each of the sections I have done. Then I performed that prodigious task of pinning the strips to those sections, but I did not sew. However I felt that I had done some work and I felt good about that.
We had Ray's lovely soup for dinner and I sat in my chair and ate mine. I am so lazy today, it must be the cold although you would think that it would make you want to move around .
Tonight I am going to watch TV and knit.
We took Sam out to lunch today as it is his birthday tomorrow. We had a very good time with him, it is hard to believe that he is 35. We have been so fortunate to have had such a long and joyous time together.  Not too usual to have the friendship and love of a grandchild for so long. And I forgot to bring my camera. I was annoyed with myself, so no photos tonight.
Keep warm folks ,have a nice evening cuddled under your quilt with a cup of hot chocolate.
Bon nuit.

shmoozing at home

We stayed in all day, well at least I did. Ray went to the bakery for bread. I stayed at home to sew. And sew I did, on the animal skins quilt. I spent all afternoon on it . I think it was nearly 4 hours sewing on the 1 inch strips to the sides of each of 10 squares . I did 2 rows and sewed the two rows together with a 1 inch strip between each row. It took some time to do  the centre strip because I had to match up with each row of blocks with the posts on the block above. But it is done and I am happy with it. Now there are four rows completed out of 10 rows. Who says it is quick to do just squares, not in my opinion. I often wonder  about people who claim to get several tops done in a day. I have heard that believe me but I cannot see how that can be possible. Maybe I am just way too slow.
Ray made Vegetable Soup today . When he had finished the soup and it was just burbling away on the stove he called me into the kitchen. Take a picture of that Nan and put it up on your blog. It is so beautiful it could go in a cookbook .I laughed but he is right, it belongs in a cookbook. And it was good to eat too!

Looks good doesn't it.

A close up! See it boil and bubble .

Designed by Raymond!  haha.

Now snow today but the forecast is for piercing cold, I don't care for  the cold ,   the good thing is  I have boots and a heavy coat which I bought for Quebec in December 2 years ago and haven't  worn since. We have to go out tomorrow so I'll need those clothes. I feel so sorry for street people when it is really cold.  What on earth do they do, I hope there are enough shelters to accomodate them.

Whoops I see the size of my font changed back to small. That happens when I add the photos and I forget to change the font back to large so I can read it.

I am reading a book called The Red Door. It takes place after WW1 and many events are related to the War. But this is a murder mystery with the detective being a veteran of the war and suffering from shell shock , in our day PTSD.  I remember my dad talking about shell shock and the many soldiers who suffered from it. This book is what I call a gentle mystery, the murder almost being just an incident to hang the solving of it on. It makes the story very interesting as the detective Rutledge  pursues the clues to solve the mystery. There is none of the  blood, guts and gore that seem so prevalent in some of today's mysteries. I like these gentle mysteries , they are an exercise for the brain and a race to the finish to see who gets there first, me or Rutledge. LOL. The author is a mother/son writing team know as Charles Todd. The book review says this particular book , the 12th in the Rutledge series, is not the one to start with but I did not find it too difficult to read.

You can find it in the Library.

Time to go folks. Have a great evening.

Kalinishta...

soap

I know I wrote about soap once before but once again I am on the topic of soap. I do love all kinds of soars from bar to liquid. I bought some lovely liquid SoftSoap today with a beautiful scent in a mauve container  and a bar of strawberry scented soap. My stock is getting full again. I never run out of soap,good thing you say :))
Really I should talk about the weather though. We had snow last night and woke up to a winter wonderland. It seems early for this much snow but Mother Nature pays no attention to us.

This is the tree outside my living room window, the one that houses all the little critters but there were none there this morning.

These are outside my bedroom window, different type of tree as you can see.

It is expected to be cold tonight , thank goodness for a warm home and a cozy bed. I am grateful. It is going to be snow again tonight I think and colder tomorrow.

A poem I wrote in the 80s....

Outside my window winter came,

I wiped the mist from the windowpane,

And saw the world had become so bright

By the gently falling flakes of white.

I heard the crunching, crackling sound

Of someone's boots as they touched the ground.

It was the only sound that night

As the muffled,silent world turned white.

These are the first two verses but they reflected my thoughts as I observed the snow this morning.

We did grocery shopping this morning and went to the casino in the afternoon, it has been awhile but things are not really any better there. I was pretty lucky but Ray was not.  So we won't be going  any time soon again. However I had a good time, it doesn't take much to amuse me. LOL.  On the way home we stopped at the bakery and then dropped into a small pizza restaurant for a large slice of pizza and it was surprisingly good. We will go there again.

Rick just called , he is home from Calgary for the weekend. It is extremely cold in Calgary so this seems to be delightful for him. He wanted to know what our plans for Christmas are. We are having Jim and Sam for dinner so that made it easier for Rick and Carla as they are working many days during the holiday season. It is kind of him to concern himself about us, but then they always do that for all holiday occasions.  He and Carla will come on the 27th for lunch and we can give them turkey LOL.

That's my thoughts for tonight folks. Stay warm and cozy near your fireplace.

Bon Soir.

a bit racy

What! What does she mean by racy? We had lunch with Bob and Buzz today and Buzzie said I should make my blog a bit more racy. My eyes popped at that one. But I asked the question, what do you mean? You should give more details of your life.  But no more knitting, too much knitting already....Well Buzz there is only so much of my life I am willing to reveal LOL. She told me to write it early because sometimes I am too late , sometimes I don't get home until late :)) I am a busy girl if girl is the word. I wonder how much detail of my life would be of real interest . So tonight I'll try for a bit more detail.
We had a great visit, lunch was only a hamburger so the company had to be good. We talked about having lunch at the Silver Reef casino in Washington state, but then we always talk about that and don't do it. They go every couple of weeks with other friends. However we are staying away casinos right now. They are not paying these days neither in Canada nor in the USA.  After not going for a while we don't really feel much like going. And that's a good thing.
Earlier before we had lunch we went to the Post Office to mail the brown socks to Katie,on the way we saw this cute little boy, around 2 yrs old sittingon the floor  in front of a shop. I looked around for an adult and found mom a bit away. She said he was too heavy for her  now but he wanted to be carried so he was protesting. A baby sit-in Haha ! he was so cute. No tears though! Just a protest.
After we broke up with Bob and Buzz Ray and I walked a bit in the mall , then we stopped in at Home Outfitters. I wanted to try and find a pair of medium sized red mugs for our morning coffee. No luck, so we moved on to Zellers , no red mugs there but we found a pair with cute Scottie dogs on them. Scotties are my favourite dogs. My son had one at one time, Bonnie was her name and she was the sweetest dog. I know scotties are not known for their gentle natures but Bonnie was an exception.  She was not a small dog so when she jumped up on you it was none too gentle. However I loved her and have wanted a scottie ever since. So I make do with pictures of scotties on mugs. I know I will love the mugs. We succumbed to a small box of chocolates too.

Still in the packaging.

When we got home around 3:30  I read some of my e mail, got sleepy, so took a nap.
Too much detail?
As you can guess I did not sew today, I wanted to but my day took a different turn and it was not to be. I do not sew at night, whenever I have tried that there were too many mistakes and too much unsewing. So it is not really worth the effort which is why I KNIT in the evening Buzz, knitting is a no brainer. haha!
Ray made tuna sandwiches for supper, he makes the world's best sandwiches so I was delighted, no dishes to wash either just plates that are now in the dishwasher.
Tonight we will watch TV and I will do things on my computer and knit. Apparently we will have snow tonight, probably most of it at higher levels but some on Vancouver streets. Cold is on the menu too. I was cold when I had my nap and had to put on some heavier socks and a sweater.
Rick my second son has been working in Calgary and he was hit by that bad snowstorm there and freezing cold this week, he comes home tonight to this cold and snow. But it won't last.
Time to sign off  on this detailed report LOL.
Have a warm cozy evening, cover up with your quilt and enjoy a mug of hot chocolate.
Sliep Lekker.  :))
You are welcome to comment   ;)))

sewed today

I did stay home this morning and got down to business-the business of working on that snowflake with the Heat Away stabilizer. It took forever to get rid of the stabilizer and it didn't completely go away. I used a toothbrush to sweep away the little bits but in the end they were still there. Then the snowflake was way too soft and needed to be sewn up the middle. I still was not happy with it and and unhappy with the time it took. So I personally would not recommend Heat Away for FSL. But I would use the regular water soluble ,2 layers to make it if I wanted to do it again.

the snowflake parts on stabilizer.

Here it is with the toothbrush  brush out , very messy.

Close up.Pictures of a failure LOL

After a bit of lunch I began the animal skins laptop quilt for Ray. I cut  1" strips  for the sides and also the crossways strips. It was kind of fun putting them together and I got two rows done. It sure was a good thing that I had arranged the squares in rows and marked the rows so that the first row and second row went together correctly.  I noticed that it was important to make sure the strips going vertically matched up on each row. At first I thought I just had to run the the horizontal strip across between the rows but it was not to be because the vertical strips had to match up so that they looked like even rows.  I'll add the pictures of the quilt parts tomorrow after hopefully accomplishing two more rows. I will need two hours to do that.
Then I had an appointment with the doctor for prescription renewals , at 2:30 I finished sewing .
After the appointment which was fun as the doctor told me she was starting a Log Cabin quilt and we talked about that. She is not a quilter so this was her first attempt at piecing. I told her how to make sure she cut on the grain and a few other things.
So that was my day, hope yours was successful.  Good evening.
Bon Nuit.

unusual dinner

My dinner was different . A can of sardines sprinkled with vinegar, shredded cabbage dressed in vinegar and olive oil andcucmber drenched in vinegar and lightly salted. Oh and yes it was delicious. Can you tell which kind of potato chips are my favourites. I love salt and vinegar despite the fact that it peels the skin off my mouth UGH!
We tripped the light fantastic at the mall this morning for exercise, I took a couple of photos, one is so cute even though the camera work is not good-once again the lighting did not work for me.  However you can see the subject  if not well then reasonable.

The little guy trying to pet the puppy throught the window. Too bad the picture is bad but it was a Kodak moment!!

We strolled through the  new seasonal calendar store . It is amazing how many subjects are printed on calendars and that is just the decent ones. No naughty pictures in the Calendar Shop :)

The mall at noon, everyone is eating haha.

Hydrangea....We found this beauty in a pot behind a kiosk, it is even more beautiful in reality but still the colour is spectacular.

This was a sign on a Japanese restaurant entrance. It appealed to my quilter's eye.

For lunch I had a small bowl of chili with a bun and coffee. What's up with me tonight talking about my daily menu, but it was healthy LOL.
Ray had an appointment at Vancouver General  Hospital with his new rheumatologist soon to become his old rheumatoligist. His favourite one moved to Kelowna and he was assigned to the new one who is now moving to Calgary. I wonder what it is about Ray that his doctors leave town. haha.
We went to the library so that I could replenish my supply of reading material.
I meant to finish the snowflake we did last night but once again I was too busy to do anything creative.
I am hoping to stay home tomorrow and do some quilting and embroidery.
Have a good evening folks.
Hai  !

long day, late night

It has been a long day and night with very little down time. My regular Tuesday activities took me most of the day, then an embroidery class took care of the evening . It was lots of fun though. At sewing this morning all I did was prepare some applique pieces for another butterfly.
Wendy and I talked about the book which testified to the horror of leprosy,that I mentioned to you earlier. The book was a truth and a fiction account of exiles off the coast of Crete before a cure was found for leprosy. It was a really interesting book and I recommend it to those of you who love to read. It is called The Island by Victoria Hyslop. Wendy has the second book called The Return about Granada. Can't wait to read that one too.Then Sharon and I discussed the series by Shirley Tallman that I also mentioned here a while ago too. She had just read the first book after I recommended it to her. Wasn't this supposed to be a sewing group? haha....
Most of the members of that group were making Christmas table runners all the same design. Fun to see them and to see how they all looked very different.
Community Quilts was the next stop where we discussed the quilt show and how successful it was.  VERY!!
On to Betty's for her fancy egg sandwiches, those wonderful little round ones with the olive in the middle. Since I knew I was going out at 4:45  and would not have much time for dinner I ate several.
And wouldn't you know when I got home Ray had made some devilled egg for me to have for a sandwich. Good thing I love the stuff and enjoyed his sandwich a lot too. But I was full after all that making everyone happy , myself included :))
Kathy picked me up to go to Embroidery club where we made snowflakes using a different stabilizer ,Heat Away. It is a dry method of doing Free Standing Lace. Kathy and I did not like that stabilizer and will not use it again. The reason being it tore up and made it hard to do the embroidery, but the  design was good and I think I'll make more. Tomorrow after I  heat away the stabilizer I'll take a photo. Fun time for all. We are all getting to know each other better each time we meet so it is more fun each time.
No more talk about eating LOL.
And it is time to go.
Thanks for reading.

too pooped to pop

Brown socks these were supposed to go at the end of this blog but things do not always work out the way you want them LOL

Oh boy what an exhausting day. I could hardly believe it as it all started out so well,  reading the paper, drinking coffee, eating toast, showering at my leisure, just relaxing. Then Ray came home from the hairdresser and  and we were off. We walked themall for an hour and remember when I dropped the ice cream cone last week , week today I made up for it LOL. We took the vacuum in again, went to Safeway to see if they could call the eye doctor for my drops and they said they had 4 more there for me, nice surprise. Came home to a letter from air miles that took a long time to get sorted out but in the end I had 750 air miles on an old card that was transferred to our present one. I had to get everything ready for my class tomorrow and to prepare my stuff for tomorrow during the day. By then I was tired. Doesn't take much does it.

More photos from the show tonight. We made $5000 for Community Quilts batting and thread supplies.

Redwork by Ione I think.

I like this one on the right because it is more aggressive in colour.

This beauty was emmbroidered by Ione , the blocks were a donation, we get many of those. It all ended up as a beautiful quilt.

I took this for the little tea pots on the mantle which are so precious. I love tea pots too.

Sweet little tea villages on every table.

Lauren the tea maven!

So prettty , I may have published this one already but it is so pretty we can look at it twice.

So here goes!! Whoops here it went !!
Now for something a bit more prosaic, brown socks. Well can't find them, the new photo programme is not doing the job. So
I'll just sign off for now and come back later .
Well the socks did come up as you saw at the top of the blog so I am due for a relaxing evening and hope you all have one too.
Buona Notte!