Si CAN do anything!!

I can't take credit for finding this.. Bonnie had it on her blog today.  But since I love watching Duck Dynasty, and I know my MIL loves Si... this is for her!  :)

No... he's not a Husky...*insert sarcasm* LOL

If pictures are worth a thousand words... this one speaks volumes.  Yes Jake is a Husky, although he doesn't have the stereotypical colours, this is most definitely his element.

Homemade Gifts

Now that some of the recipients have received their gifts, I can show you what I made.

Fleece jammy pants with adorable paw prints!

Eyeglass cases, zippered pouches (she has some great tutorials).

Table runners (search the internet and youtube, there are all kinds of tutorials on these).  DMIL received the Christmas themed one, DSIL received the orange and green one as those colours, along with chocolate browns and bright yellows are her fav's.

And of course, some mice stuffed with stuffing and catnip for the kitties.  

The kitties loved them!!

I forgot to take pictures of the Christmas Crackers, without the "crack", but they turned out great!  

There are other pics.. but they'll have to wait until the packages are received in London, Ont.

I really love the idea of giving handmade gifts versus overly-priced store bought items.  Supplement those with some good quality items from the dollar stores: cooking utensils, glass cutting boards, note pads, etc. and everyone gets items they need and can use.

Canada Post Amazes!

I cannot ever remember Canada Post delivering on a Saturday or Sunday, but apparently they do when Christmas Eve is on a Monday.

This is what I found in my mailbox on Sunday the 23rd!

More packages from far off places (Utah, Arkansas and New Zealand!) for the Sandy Block Drive.  I volunteered to put together 2 quilts for the victims of Hurricane Sandy.  And on Monday (the 24th), one of our neighbors came to the door with a package, from Idaho, USA.  Canada Post had delivered it to the wrong address... I'm so grateful for nice neighbors!

So now I have all 84 wonky log cabin blocks (42 per quilt) to put together, sandwich, quilt, bind and send to equilters.  I will definitely take pictures of these before I send them off.  Thank you Michele for organizing this.

Gotta love the Fur-Babies

Every time it is watched, Iams will donate a meal to a pet living in an animal shelter.

Taking out the trash... Canadian Style

The song "This is how we do it" keeps going through my head when I watch this... too funny!!

We Canadians are known for being tough and braving cold weather so what this man did shouldn't come as a surprise. He was just about to hop in the shower when his wife reminded him he hadn't taken out the garbage, writes YouTube user janeladele in the video's description. So on Dec. 20 he rushed out in the show pushing the garbage can. With wind chill the temperature was about -36 degrees Celsius. Does anyone else find it strange that he put on a toque, but not pants? I guess about 45 per cent of heat is lost through one's head so maybe it makes sense. Either way, his wife and kids found it very funny. And he probably scored big points with his wife for taking out the trash.

We may just have a White Christmas

Last night it was raining, then the rain slowed and it became colder... great, freezing rain, everything is slippery... then by 11pm it was snowing... This is what we woke up to this morning.

When you have a husky, this is their favourite time of year

Eating snow... yes.. it's fresh!

Jake: "Leave me alone mom... I'm just going to have a little nap."

Perfect for some snow dyeing!  :)

Bonnie had this posted on her blog... I thought it was appropriate!

Blogger Day of Silence

Productive Day!

I still can't post any pictures of anything I'm sewing, cause most are Christmas presents.. and some of the recipients read my blog.. :)

But I did get 'other' stuff done, yes, dreaded housework. 

Cleaning up our bedroom consists of picking up all the clothes all over the room, DH has a nasty habit of throwing his anywhere, including the floor. So, toss them all in the laundry hamper, and voila! I found my cedar chest... again! LOL

After the trek down 2 flights of stairs with an overflowing laundry hamper, *wheeze* into the laundry room I go.. but wait! I'm almost out of laundry soap, and I'm definitely out of fabric softener. Jillee to the rescue!!

I love this woman! Her blog has literally hundreds of great ideas/recipes.
A few months ago I tried her version of homemade laundry soap... and although I didn't have the Fels Naptha" bars, I substituted something else, and it worked well enough.

In August when I went to visit my mom in London, Ont. She had suggested we take a border trip - to Port Huron for a day. I'm in!!

We happen to hit a Walmart while we were there and I told her I needed to check the laundry aisle. Sure enough.. there were the Fels Naptha bars, for a measly 99 cents each, and they were right beside the Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and the Mule Team Borax. You have no idea how hard it is to find those two items here, but I did. The Fels Naptha... a lost cause in this area... so I picked up 5 bars. I figured that would do me quite a while.

For some reason I can't find Suave hair conditioner here either, and made sure I picked up 2 big bottles of it at the same Walmart.

Needless to say... I now have 20 litres of laundry soap and almost 3 litres of fabric softener. Yay!!

And now I can do some sewing (while the laundry is going), cause Bonnie is on Quilt Cam this aft... started about half an hour ago... so I'm outta here!

You can!!

When they tell you that you can't.... remember this.

 

 

Sandy Quilt Block Drive

Hurricane Sandy did a lot of damage.  Many people are in need.

As such, Michele at Quilting Gallery has organized a drive to make quilts.

For more information, see her site.  Sandy Quilt Block Drive.

It's Official - The Country Register is coming back to Ontario

Well, it's been official for a couple months now, but I've been really busy getting things set up and put in place.

The previous publisher decided in the spring of 2011 to move on to other things in her life.  When I went looking for the paper online later in the year it wasn't available.  That's when I contacted the founder, Barbara in Arizona and found out the opportunity was mine if I wanted it.  Duh!  YES!!

I sent out flyers to almost 400 businesses around Ontario: quilt shops, fabric stores, tea rooms, wool/yarn stores, craft stores, beading stores, etc.  To date I've had several contact me wanting to advertise, YAY!

This is going to be an amazing newspaper.  The London International Quilt Festival is touring Ontario with a trunk show of quilts from Africa.  Garnet is, so far, booked at 25 different quilt guilds. 

We're going to publish his schedule in the paper so that readers will know where he is and when.  He's also going to blog about his travels and provide an article for each issue with pictures.  This is going to be fabulous!  Not only will you get to see some incredible quilts/fabrics from Africa, but the quilt guilds will get some exposure from this, and hopefully some new members.

The first issue will be Oct-Nov 2012.  It's a bi-monthly publication and will be available for free for customers to pick up in all the stores and shops who have advertised in the paper.  I'm also going to try to get them into the Ontario Information Centres at the edges of the province, and as well at various craft shows throughout the year.

Once the paper comes out, if you see that your favourite shop is not in the paper, please contact me with their name.  Stores will want to know if their customers are asking about them.

Also, any suggestions for what you, as the reader, want to see in the paper are welcome.  Feel free to favourite recipes, stories about life, crafts, family, humour. 

We have a website and a facebook page. 

Drop by and say hello! (or "like" us on facebook).

A Real Waterbed - laugh

This is too funny not to share!!  


It's in german.. but you really don't need a translator...


Watch the 2 ladies at the end... LMAO!!!!

Ricky Tims' Super Quilt Seminar Experience

I'm sad it's over.  It was an amazing experience.

Thursday morning we hopped on the bus and left Ottawa at 6:30 am from the doors of The Running Stitch and headed south to Rochester, NY.

The bus driver made excellent time.. even with a couple of stops and our obligatory halt/check at customs, we made it there in 5 hours.

The information we absorbed over the two and a half days (Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday) was mind boggling.  Thankfully we were provided with a book detailing all the seminar information, instructions and tips.

According to their stats, this was the biggest super seminar they have put on, with over 750 quilters in attendance.  There were 56 of us on our bus, and we ran into a few other Canadians as well... so there may have been as many as 100 of us from north of the border.

Ricky Tims, Alex Anderson and Libby Lehman were awesome!  Their presentations were eye-opening and very entertaining.  These are seriously funny people and do really well in front of crowds.  Libby had us in belly rolls almost continuously.  She has the greatest sense of humour.

Ricky put on a piano concert on Friday night and told the tale of his quilty beginnings.  Talk about inspirational.  There is no end to this mans talent.

I didn't take any pictures or video of the concert (as I saw some did with their phones), I thought that was just inappropriate and rude to do.  Especially since they didn't have Ricky's permission to do so.

So I'll just leave you with pictures I took of a lot of the quilts that were on display, quilts they (the presenters) had made, and others they have acquired for their personal collections.

See more of Alex's quilts here.

Libby's circles just draw you in, so exquisite.

See more of Libby's quilts here.

Ricky's Bohemian Rhapsody
See more of Ricky's quilts here

Look at the couching on this... spectacular!

Ricky and Libby signing autographs.

You know how you can never touch a quilt on display?  Well, they set up a table with examples of their techniques, that you could touch/fondle/examine!  How cool is that?

This was The Quilt Show booth, where you could sign up for the online tv programs.

There were several more quilts I would have loved to get pictures of, but as you can probably guess, trying to get a picture without at least 3 people standing in front of them was a chore.

If you ever get the chance to go to one of Ricky's seminars, DO IT!!  You won't regret it.

And if you're wondering why we can't get these world renowned quilting professionals to come to Canada.... one US Customs Official in 2010 screwed it up for us.

You can read about it on Bonnie Hunter's blog here and the original post from a Canadian Quilter Daphne Greig.  Once the quilting world found out about this, the US quilters decided they weren't taking the chance.  So, that is why we have to go to the events in the US.

Ricky specifically said that they plan seminars/events as close to the borders as possible so that those of us who can, travel down to take part.

He will be coming to Canada soon for a Bernina tour but is not bringing any of his quilts.

I don't want to leave this on a sour note... so courtesy of Libby.. here is one of the jokes she told us:

What's the difference between a skinny quilter and a fat quilter?

The skinny quilter quilts all day long, checks out what's in the fridge, and instead heads to bed.

The fat quilter quilts all day long, checks out what's in bed, then heads to the fridge.

:o)

Quilter's Funny

A recent study indicated that fabric gives off certain Pheromones that actually hypnotize women and cause them to purchase unreasonable amounts. When stored in large quantities in enclosed spaces, the Pheromones (in the fabric) causes memory loss and induces the nesting syndrome (similar to the one squirrels have before the onset of winter i.e. storing food). Therefore perpetuating their species and not having a population loss due to their kind being cut into pieces and mixed with others.

Sound tests have also revealed that these fabrics emit a very high pitched sound, heard only by a select few, a breed of women know as quilters. When played backwards on an LP, the sounds are heard as chants, buy me, cut me and sew me. In order to overcome the so called feeding frenzy effect that these fabrics cause, one must wear a face mask when entering a storage facility and use ear plugs to avoid being pulled into their grip. One must laugh, however, at the sight of customers in a quilt fabric store, with WWII army gas masks and headphones!

Studies have also indicated that aliens have inhabited the earth, helping to spread the effects that these fabrics have on the human population. They are called QUILT FABRIC STORE CLERKS. It's also been experienced that these same Pheromones cause a pathological need to hide these fabric purchases when taken home (or at least blend them into the existing stash), and when asked by significant other if the fabric is new, the reply is I've had it for awhile.

Tatting - I'm addicted again

Hand projects are so addictive!  Unfortunately, they're taking me away from my quilting! :)

There are so many beautiful patterns out there.  This one is called Nilakandi and is in Jon Yusoff's book Tatting Gems.

I still have a couple of threads to hide to finish it off.. but I was so excited that I finished it.

More practice is definitely needed... but I'm working on it.

Antiquing Discoveries and tatting

A couple sunday's ago I decided to head out to the Bentley Antique Market because I've seen the sign there several times over the last couple of years but have never gone. 

Jim is not a fan of flea markets, antique markets or shopping of any sort... so I left him at home sleeping... lol

My greatest find.....

A beautiful hanging light!  I have such limited lighting in my sewing room and I knew I needed something that I could position right over my sewing table... and this fit the bill, and it's gorgeous!  Beautiful heavy glass panels in shades of light green and whites, and what looks like brass/copper metal.  The lady told me if any of these glass pieces broke or cracked it would probably cost about $200 to replace just one.  It had a price tag on it of $60, and she had previously had it on hold for another antique dealer, but since they hadn't claimed it yet and she hadn't adjusted the price tag (thinking she had really undervalued it), I purchased it for the price on the tag.  Whoohooo! 

I love the fact that it is a hanging chain lamp, which makes it easy to position it where I need it in my sewing room.

During my tour of the antique market, I also came across these very old quilts.  Most of which are very obviously hand appliqued and hand quilted.

This one had really been loved for a long time.  I'm pretty sure it used to be red, so you can see how much it's faded over the years.

Another red one.

I really enjoyed looking and feeling this one.  It was quite apparent that the applique and the quilting was all done by hand.

Such a pretty quilt.  I could tell it was machine sewed and then hand quilted.  They wanted $85 for this and I almost bought it. 

On another note, something caught my interest a couple weeks back.  For some reason I was teased by some tatting.  I remember years ago I taught myself how to tat, and produced a few bookmarks at the time.  So I went on a search to find my tatting supplies.

I found them, and one little plastic shuttle that I had used... so I thought, let's try this again.  You don't realize how much you've forgotten until you try something you did maybe 20 years ago.

After a lot of false starts, several pieces that ended up in the garbage, and hours of watching video tutorials on youtube, I finally finished a couple pieces I'm willing to show.

Two tatted bookmarks! :)  These are just rings and chains (in tatting terminology), and I can see where I need some improvement still.  I've yet to tackle some of the more difficult techniques like split chains and split rings, but this is a start.

I was just happy to be able to do these, and have another hand project at the ready to work on in the living room when Jake urges me out of the sewing room.... after all, how can you say no to this face?

Check out this great MSN video: Amazing 'Sexy And I Know It' Cover

Check out this great MSN video: Amazing 'Sexy And I Know It' Cover

This kid is awesome!  Great voice!  And he did a wonderful job of this song.. so much better than the original by LMFAO.

Quilts in Bloom Show 2012 - pictures

No point in talking about these much, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  Let's just say we have some incredibly talented quilters in and around Ottawa.

Beautiful maple leaves

Doesn't this just look like fall?

This one is beautful in neutrals

I loved the quilting on it

I love the celtic dragonfly here

Awesome memory quilt, the ingenuity to make it look like a bookcase is amazing, almost 3D

This little beauty is less than 22" square... such tiny pieces! (see card below)

 

I love the celtic knots

Another celtic beauty

These were just some of the quilts on display (some even listed they were for sale!).
 I'll be going back again today - I was really disciplined yesterday and didn't buy a thing! except my 3 day pass  :)

Superior Threads has a table there an had some beautiful trilobal threads on huge cones for $14.  I'm going to pick up a read one in anticipation of quilting my Jamestown Landing. 

Also, I met Mari, the owner of Bytowne Threads - she's our very own local Aurifil distributor!

Another vendor table, Kallisti Quilts, had a wonderful selection of sashiko supplies, threads in all colours, not just white, and little kits and lots of patterns and printed fabrics.  I'll have to stop by her stand again.

More later.....