Tuesday, November 27, 2007

I'm alive and kicking!

Well, not really kicking but it sounds good! I do want to apologize for the lack of posts! Life has been more than crazy busy as of late with the holiday and what not! I do hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We had 24 (twenty four) people over for a fun filled Thanksgiving weekend! Seven (7) stayed with us and the rest stayed in a hotel in Plattsburgh.

Friday, I was a Montreal guide tour for a group of young teenagers! I bet you can guess what they wanted to do? Another group went to the Biodome. My daughter and niece stayed home to go ice skating in the afternoon. Unfortunately our niece, eager to learn some fancy skating moves from her cousin who takes figure skating lessons, fell and broke her arm while attempting a jump. Actually, it wasn't even the jump that did it! As she was getting up from her fall she slipped and attempted to break the fall with her right arm. Both bones were broken. Ouch! She is doing well now!

I finally managed to get some sleep last night! Yes, it seems as though I've been up since last Thursday! Today is my last intense class for the month so you should be getting some quilting post from me. I've booked Wednesday as a quilting day! Hum........ I do need to get my secret Santa gift done! Oh....... have I ever mentioned that I work well under pressure? I despise it, but it's true!

Thank you for stopping by!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Chocolat Swap!

Wooooouuuuuu WHHOOOOOO! Today I received chocolates from my swap partner Yvonne from Quilting down the stairs.

Somehow I just did not expect this package to arrive so soon. I figured it would be something I'd receive by Saturday. To be honest, I thought it was the order I had placed from American Girl . It was so professionally labeled! Wow, I said to self, that's efficient! Not that I need it in a hurray but..... it's always nice go get mail . So, you can imagine how surprised I was when I saw the Chocolate Moose bag in the box!

In the bag, was a cute light purple box. Inside was lots of goodies! I just love the fabric the chocolates came wrapped in! It's a eggplant purple! Stephen would say eggplant is not a colour but a vegetable! Men! Notice the chocolate lollipop under the cute card? It's a turkey pop and that's for my little Pumpkin! Wasn't that sweet of Yvonne to think of my daughter? What a sweetheart!

Underneath that gorgeous fabric was lots of chocolate goodies!

I've already had samples and they are delicious! I just love chocolate! It's such a cure all!

Thank you again Yvonne for the goodies! The chocolate with the cashews is all gone! Gosh that was good!

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else receives!

Thank you Sharon for organizing this swap!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Tagged I'm it!

I have been tagged by Anne Heidi from Piece by Piece to answer questions regarding why I craft.

Firstly, I will say that the word "craft" is not a word I like to use for what my friends and I like to do. I find that it conjures up ideas of plastic canvas tissue holders and a plethora of cheaply made items. I think in America, the word "craft" has been associated with "craft shows", which means tacky hand made stuff for sale. Of course I'm generalizing here. There are individuals who make beautiful things and sell them in shows, however, the majority is not the case. So, I avoid craft shows like the plague.

1. When did you start to create and make crafts?
I have always been busy with some form of artistic expression. If I wasn't colouring I was drawing.

As a youth, I enjoyed photography and had my own Brownie camera. I remember photographing a Girl Scout camping event. Later on, I began to knit some scarfs and by the age of 15, I was hand embroidering my Jeans.
What your are seeing are a pair of jeans I did in high school. No, I no longer fit in them! But I did for the longest time. As you can tell, I've used these for renovations. May Britt had suggested that I make a purse or bag from them, but upon finding them for the picture, I concluded that they are way too messed up to make anything. It would be nice to fit back into them though! lol

After embroidery came knitting. This is the first sweater I made, which used a circular needle for the top part.

Gosh, did I knit lots of sweaters! I still have quite a few tucked away in a bureau. I've also given many sweaters away. I sometimes wonder if my old boyfriends still have the sweater I made them.

After knitting came photography. I think this medium has always been a part of my life on and off. In my early twenties (20) I had access to a dark room and bought my first serious camera, an Olympus OM1n. That was quite the camera back then!

In my early 30's I studied photography full time. On weekends, I would often head to the park or downtown to look for photo opportunities. I rarely left home without my camera!

This is one of my favourite shot! I have many that I love. I'm a black and white kind of gal. I still have all of my darkroom equipment that I hope one day to set up again.

I started to cross stitch when I became pregnant with my little girl. My doctor informed me that I needed to give up the dark room aspect of photography due to the chemicals. Sadly, I haven't gone back to photography since my pregnancy. For those who like to do the math, it's been over 10 (ten) years. ;o)

I cross stitched on linen. My favourite were Amish patterns. I loved the look of it! As you can see, I haven't done anything with them. There are a few more buried somewhere.

I started to quilt in February 1996. You can read about it on my first blog entry entitled Introduction.

In 2002, on a trip to the Maritime, I picked up rug hooking! I bought this canvas at a shop called Tapis Hookés de Chéticamp Hooked Rugs. Cheticamp is known for its rug hooking! It's a small Acadian town, rich in history.

As you can see, this hobby has been sadly neglected! Not much has been done on it! So... okay I did take it apart a few times, as I felt my hooking wasn't good enough. Stephen made the wooden stand to hold the John Flynn machine quilting frame system. I've never used the frame for machine quilting! lol

2. Why did you start crafting?
I don't know why I started to create! Well, I didn't back when I was young. My maternal grandmother was always busy making something. I have a braided rug that she did a long time ago. My mom can actually pick out fabric from dresses she wore as a child.

3. Why do you create?

I'm an individual that must have some form of artistic expression. I guess you can say that I started "crafting" as a necessity. I cannot be without creating! It's a part of me! At the moment quilting takes up that need. Who know what direction my art will take me in the future. When I look at some of my photographs, I have the desire to get back into it. I guess the complexity of setting up a darkroom in my present home keeps me from getting my hands back into the chemicals!

4. What do you create?

At the moment, quilts!

5. Has this changed since you began crafting?

Not really. I do incorporate other artistic medium in my quilts, such as hand embroidery. I am presently dwelling in machine embroidery!

Well thanks for taking the time to read this. Now it's my turn to tag........ Are your ready? Tag, you're it!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

We have a flimsy!

Yes folks, I managed go get some focus going! lol Gosh, I've been awful as of late. I'm just so all over the place! lol

Meet Winter Sentry, a Robyn Pandolp pattern from her book Stitched with Love: A Mother's Legacy. I do love that book and can certainly see myself doing other quilts from it. I started this hand appliqued project in 2005.


Yesterday, I worked on the small star border. Those are 4 inch blocks! Yea, for a while there I thought I was Libby! lol I tell you, my stiletto sure came in handy. I'm sold on that tool! I will say, I'm pretty proud of how those blocks came out! Sharp!

I haven't given her a name yet! As I continue to machine quilt her I'm sure something will come up. I do like her! She'll look sweet on my brick wall in the kitchen!

Speaking of machine quilting, given that my Bernina 1090 is at the dealer for a cleaning, I used my Bernina 180 for the task. Gosh, what a different experience! There is much more foot pedal control on the 180. I do not need to reduce my speed. I like my 1090 much better for machine quilting, we know each other so well! ;o)

Today will be a library day for me. I have to tend to some much needed school work. sigh! Oh well, I can quilt when I get back this afternoon!

Have a great day every one and thank you for stopping by!

Monday, November 5, 2007

Blah, blah, blah... catching up!

You'll never believe what I did this weekend? I actually sat and watched football all day with my husband. Don't faint, I know..... it's so unusual for me! lol I must admit, it was such a great excuse to get some hand embroidery done!

What am I working on you might ask?

This is one of the panels for the French Cottage Garden quilt that I had blogged about a while back. This was a pattern I fell in love with on Wendy's blog! I cannot begin to tell you how costly blogging has been for me, but so worth it! ;o) It has become a major contributor to my lack of focus, but I digress!

I had asked my mother if she would do the hand embroidery so that DD could have a quilt that would be partially made by her grand mother. Unfortunately, my mother can no longer do any type of hand work. She had started the other panel and had to stop due to severe pain as well as numbness in her hands. So, I have taken over and am more than half way done with one panel.

I haven't decide yet if I shall take out the little bit of work that she did on the other panel. She chose to use the Stem Stitch as opposed to the Back Stitch, which is what the pattern called for. It took her so long to do the little bit that she did! I may just work around it!

On the quilting front, not much is happening. I took my Bernina 1090 to the dealer in Montreal for a good cleaning. That's the baby I use for machine quilting. I love that machine! It's an older Bernina but so reliable and sweet! Do you have a machine that you wouldn't part with? That would be mine! I plan to keep that one! She is the first sewing machine I bought myself. You see, I started to quilt in 1996, on my grand mother's Remington sewing machine that she bought in 1959. My mother still has the receipt, $125.00 with a cabinet! I made quite a few quilts on that machine but soon realized that I would not be able to expand with it. That's when I bought my 1090 in 1997.

I think today I may just piece some blocks that have been set aside. It would be nice to report a flimsy, wouldn't you think? Okay, off to get some much needed focus!

Thank you for stopping by everyone and have a great day!

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Happy Birthday!

Today is the day I was born. I don't think anything spectacular happen on that day except me! lol You know how some people had major historical events such as walks on the moon etc.. Nope, it was an ordinary day in the city of Montreal!

I did received a gift from my in-laws. What a yummy fabric package! It's hard to unwrap it, it's so beautifully presented. Gosh, I'm turning out like Connie with her Susan Branch fat quarter bundle! I'll just admire it from my mantle! lol

Well, unlike Connie, I have no patience and I did unwrap this beautiful package. What I found was a gift certificate to my favourite quilt store of all, The Quilted Crow. I haven't decided how I shall be spending this gift yet. Their new BOM is certainly tempting me, but I have so many hand applique projects to complete already! I don't know that I'd enjoy it!

I know I've mentioned this before, but I just have to say it again. I really don't understand why kids are in such a hurry to grow up. Being an adult is way over rated. If I was a kid, I'd be able to run around in the park yelling, "it's my birthday" and they'd be all happy for me. I'd have the kids come over for cake and ice cream party. I guess I could run around the park today, but I don't know that I want such a young crowd as my party. I'd feel more like I was babysitting! lol

Nothing spectacular is planned today, unless that is I go running around in the park and invite people! lol Perhaps that wouldn't be such a bad idea, it would appear that this day has been forgotten by my husband and daughter! No birthday wishes as of yet! Oh well.... I'm an adult now! ROFL

Have a great day everyone!
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