Wow... the season is stressing people out

I think I've read about a half dozen rants (on blogs) today.  Yes we're a little over a week away from christmas, yes there are still things to be done, cooked, baked, purchased, cards and packages to send, knowing they won't get there before the "big day". 

It boggles the mind how much people put themselves through for this one day.

So why do circumstances warrant other people to be rude to so many others? 

Whether it's emails to blog posters telling them how they should live their lives, or someone saying they're sick of hearing about a certain subject?  Especially when that subject involved many people from all over the world, pulling together to do something nice for another person who is in a difficult situation right now.  (that one ticked me off - BIG TIME).  Fine and dandy if you don't want to be involved, but phrase it a nicer manner, rather than coming off as rude, uncaring and inconsiderate.

Where's the compassion?
Where is the "good will toward others?"
Why does the season have to be a competition as to who can buy the better present for the other (or bigger or more expensive)?
Why do people feel they have to compete with their potluck dishes?
What happened to the joy of giving?
What happened to handmade presents?  Remember years ago when people would make gifts for their recipients... and the recipient was overjoyed and so thankful that the gift was handmade, with love?  And appreciated receiving anything at all??

I think we should go back to putting lumps of coal in stockings!  LOL

Unfortunately, we now live in a society (for the most part), where everyone NEEDS everything.  Every electronic gadget, every expensive toy, over-priced shiny jewellery.  Heaven forbid if it's a piece of cosmetic jewellery!  A fake!

Many have forgotten what the difference is between a "need" and a "want".

People need to slow down, breathe, appreciate what they have, be thankful there's a roof over their heads and food in the cupboard, and not judge their happiness by the possessions they have (or expect to receive/acquire for christmas). 

Realistically, there are a lot of people who don't.  Or worse, they don't know where their next meal is coming from, or how they're going to give their children a christmas.

Quilters, and craftspeople alike, know what it is, know the feeling, of receiving something handmade.  Something you know that person spent time on, thinking it into reality, creating it with their own hands, and parting with it in order to make someone else happy.  And what did that cost?  A few materials and sometimes several labour hours of love.  I find that more precious than anything else.

I remember a few years ago, my brother gave me a rock... yes, *giggle* a rock.  If I remember correctly, I think he used it to weight a box so I wouldn't know what was in the box.  I don't even remember what was in the box now.  But I still have the rock.  The thing is the size of a large orange.  And it's not a special rock, like those ones you see in the stores for sale with the cute little pewter do-dads, although it does sparkle, maybe it's quartz or has some amethyst mineral to it, but it's pretty.

I do remember he asked me to save it for him... not to throw it away.  He had found it somewhere and kept it for some reason, so I know it meant something to him.  I still have that rock, and the box it came in.  I won't give it away or throw it away.  I might give it back to him if he asks for it, really really nicely!  :)

The point is, he and I were separated for 15 years (long story), and that present, with the rock, was one of the first things he gave me after we were reunited.  So even if it is only a paperweight on my desk, I see it and remember him, that 18 year old boy that I finally got to meet again after 15 long years. (He's 11 years younger than me... I used to change his diapers!... he hates it when I remind him of that) *evil grin* 

He and I are the best of friends to this day.  Even if he's a couple provinces away, he's as close as a text message or a phone call... which is more than I had from him between his years of 3 through 18.

I know he's alone this christmas, out there in Edmonton.  If either of us could afford it, we would fly him here to be with me.  Hopefully in the new year we'll be able to spend some time together, hopefully.  Maybe once he gets the job he's been trying to get, that allows him to travel from province to province, we'll have some time together.  Or maybe if funds come in from clients as I hope they do, I can take a few days and fly out to be with him.  We don't know, we're playing it by ear.

I miss him terribly, and I know he misses me.

In the meantime...
- I'm not stressing over the holidays
- people are getting handmade gifts from me
- I will be able to text/talk to my brother

... and I have a sparkly, pretty rock.

Orca Bay - Step 4

As Bonnie says in her blog post "there are many ways to skin a cat", and seriously, where did that saying come from?  It's creepy!!

Here's what I've been doing with my Orca Bay Step 4.

First, sew my teal/turquoise/green strings and strips onto 5.5" papers (I've done over 20 I think so far, here's 7 of the blocks).

Then, remove the papers

Now I starch them (with BestPress) and press them, hard.  I want to ensure they keep their shape, no shifting, no wobbling when I cut them, and no distorting later when we get to the point where they'll be sewn to something else.

Here they are, flat as flat can be.

Now to the cutting.
First, I'm cutting down the center across the strips.  No I'm not measuring anything at this point.  I know I have a lot of lee-way since my papers were 5.5" square and my strips extended past that point, and we only need them to be 5 1/8th".

This is where they get real pretty.
Using the Easy Angle Companion ruler as Bonnie suggested, I line up the 3 1/2" mark with the bottom of the triangle (or the center cut I'd made), and follow the ruler to make pretty little triangles.

On some of them, I shifted to either the right or the left as much as possible to have a sliver of trimming on one side, but a good chunk of sewn together fabrics on the other side - Crumb Starters!!

How well do they play with my purple strings from Step 2?

Let's see

I think they stand out well enough... and then think of black and whites surrounding them... this is going to be one pretty quilt!

Thank you Bonnie!!!

Beautiful Christmas Music

Ok, so maybe now I'm starting to get into the christmas spirit.  Kinda bummed me out a few weeks ago when I started hearing christmas tunes on the radio.  Like one of Bonnie Hunter's posts back then, I thought the same... "it's too soon!"

Especially when I look outside, it's sunny, minus 3 degrees celcius... and NO SNOW!  Makes me think we might have a brown christmas.. lol

Anyways, an email came in today.. one of Ricky Tim's updates, and I took the time to browse his site.  He's hilarous!  And has christmas videos of songs he's singing.

Loved this one:

It's called Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.

Very, very pretty.

Then I found this one:

Christmas In A Small Town

This too was really nice to listen to.  Both of these are available on his CD by the same name, "Christmas In A Small Town".

I'm not a promoter for him, I just really like the music... and he's one hell of a quilter!!

If you want a laugh... check out his version of Jingle Bells... WAY TOO MUCH CAFFINE!!  LOL

Enjoy!

Pretty Little Penguins (Orca Bay style)

Since I'm going to be pulling a few out of these and mailing them off to swap with a couple Quiltville friends in the US, I figured I'd better post a picture, before they're depleted.

They went from this....

... to this...

They are adorable!  Over 350 half square triangles, unfinished size is 2".  They will finish in the quilt at 1.5".

I did them three different ways.

One stack was done with the EZ Angle Ruler...

One stack was done with the pdf page from Quilting and Whatnot's site...

...and the rest were done the InkLingo way!!

Seriously, once I did one stack with InkLingo I didn't want to do them any other way.

I don't know why I didn't think of doing them with Linda's InkLingo product in the first place.  I have so many of her other products.  Since she's offering a deal/discount to those of us doing Bonnie's Orca Bay Mystery, I figured, what the heck.

And... why buy a package for just HST's when I could buy a product that would also give me a really cool quilt pattern.... I grabbed the Storm at Sea 9" package.  I love the looks of this quilt, so it's now on my "future" to do list.

Thank you, thank you, thank you Linda Franz... and Monkey! 

Now... since one of the ladies on the Quilt-Talk yahoo chat group posted a recipe for "pasties", I'm going to make them for dinner. :)