Category: Summer

Family, Grandson, Life, Longarm Quilting, Pyrex, Quilting, Summer, Uncategorized, Vintage Pyrex

Free motion Fun and Sunshine

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Just a little peek at what I have on my machine. I’ve been trying some ideas that I’ve had since reading a great book during my holidays.

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I’ve really been loving brighter more cheerful colours lately and this little beauty fit right into that.

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We really have had a sunny and hot summer a lot more humid than we are used to but I hate to complain, it won’t last much longer.

oh one more thing..oh how I love these boys! We had a very quick but wonderful visit with Sarah, Jerry and Jerry’s other Grandma. The cousins were pretty happy to have more time together.

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birthday, Blogroll, Family, Fishing, Friends, Summer, Uncategorized

My Birthday Weekend

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I love my Birthday, I consider it a celebration of life……years ago I decided that one day just wasn’t enough. So Although my Birthday is at the end of June I always say it’s not over until Erik and I have gone fishing and camping in September and he has to grill a smokie for me on the campfire.

Well my birthday is officially over…..I guess

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We enjoyed a spectacular weekend of perfect weather. Two nights with campfires both nights were warm with a clear sky.

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Three days of fishing

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We caught our limit of Lake Trout……..Yumm!

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and Bass

and then while Bass fishing I caught this (thankfully after 15 minutes of fighting with it Erik brought it in!) For those who don’t know it was a Pike (39” long and 14 lbs)

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I love September fishing especially when we get great weather, I was also able to take a couple of swims……the weather has changed and we may only get a few warm days here and there before the cold air starts to settle in for the next several months.

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Thank you Erik for another awesome Birthday Weekend!!!

Fishing, Friends, hiking, Life, Summer, Travel, Uncategorized

Fly in Adventure!

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This was our second trip up to Pickle Lake for some visiting and fishing.

We drove from Thunder Bay (which is along Lake Superior)  to Pickle Lake which is a 7 hour drive. Hwy 599 isn’t too bad though there are parts that are gravel and I’m not sure I’d want to be driving it late at night.

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After spending a night at the base camp visiting with our friends Dwight and Karen who own and run North of 51 Outposts

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We flew out in the morning to Bow Lake (Northstar Air)

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Thank you to Pam our great pilot (who is the same age as my eldest daughter..when did they start letting kids do all these jobs?)

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nice smooth landing! The gear on the dock belonged to the fellows who were leaving, ours was being unloaded. Our pilot Pam not only flies but loads and unloads the plane..though the guys pitched in.IMG_5435

then we were left on our own…..

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The second day we portaged through the bush to fish on the other side of the rapids, it was work carrying in everything we needed. (It made me think of some of the things you see on the Biggest Looser) But the fishing was great and well worth it, I think Erik would agree even after carrying our limit of walleye on a stringer through the bush! (thankfully there were no bears looking for easy pickings!)

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We had a great couple of days of fishing, and eating Pickerel aka Walleye.

Bloggers Quilt Festival, Blogroll, Family, Fig Tree Quilts, Moda, Summer, Summer Gypsy

Bloggers Quilt Festival

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I made this quilt using a pattern called Summer Wind, I had originally made it with a different fabric collection and in a different season of my life. The first quilt was pieced in a 3 day marathon session, when I needed something to completely take my mind of some challenges that life was throwing my way. I had always intended to use the pattern again and when I found myself with a stash of Gypsy Rose from Fig Tree Quilts I knew I had my next Summer Wind Quilt.

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When I first posted pictures of this quilt that I made for Erik’s Daughter Megan, the pattern designer Carrie Nelson commented that she thought its name should be Summer Gypsy, which I really liked and renamed the quilt.

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One of the things I really love about this pattern is that you start in the centre and work your way out border after pieced border.

Megan has decorated her room about this quilt. She really has great taste in colours and has done an amazing job (I’ll see if she’ll let me share a peek)

I used a pantograph called here and there to quilt it. I think this design flows beautifully across the quilt and I personally think it looks like hearts which is another reason I chose it.

I’m adding this last picture to show you the quilt I made for Megan to go with her older bedroom, she chose the colours for that room herself too. It’s interesting how our tastes change over the years isn’t it.

Blogroll, Finland, Summer, Travel

Lace Making and Old Rauma

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I’ve always been interested in lace and years ago I was interested in learning to tat, I was about 19 at the time and I didn’t know anyone who knew how and any books I could find were not very helpful so I gave up the idea.

While we were in Finland last summer we visited the town of Rauma and it  just happened to be Lace Week!

This girl was demonstrating the art, it was fascinating! I’m not sure that it’s something that I’ll be taking up though!

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Old Rauma was fascinating, it has  a population of over Six Hundred. Nearly 30 hectares of aged wooden houses are from the early 1700’s. A total of 600 buildings  narrow and narrow winding streets and alleys and irregular lots. Many of the buildings have become shops but there are still many that are peoples homes.

It was fascinating.

 

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No matter where we girls live…..some of us have to have our workshops!

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Blogroll, Family, Grandson, Life, Summer, Uncategorized

It’s My Favorite Month…

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and it seems to be flying by!

Our Little Man has already been here for a month………

One thing about living in Canada is that we have a year of Maternity leave, most of the time the Mom uses the full year but parents are allowed to split the time off. Now I realize not all countries have this but we do and now that I’m a Grandma I really think we Grandmas should also get at least a 6 month leave from work to enjoy our little bundles…..or better yet retirement with full pay/benefits etc  so that we are available to enjoy and help out.

He has stolen all of our hearts of course,  especially mine…

And what can I say about his Mom.  I am so proud of my daughter, what a wonderful Mommy our little guy is blessed with!!

On other news We have been to Duluth twice in the last month, first for Erik’s Birthday (just the two of us) and a second trip as a day trip to take the girls shopping.

We took these pictures at Gooseberry Falls, they were amazing! We visited last summer and there was hardly any water compared to this

We’ve also been busy with other projects that have been keeping me outside.

and I’ve always wanted to run….so I’ve been working on that this summer at this point my runs are half walking and half running and I’m out for about 45 min. I think its best to work my way up and avoid any injuries. I’m really enjoying myself!

In less than a month we’ll be heading off on Vacation….a very exciting trip for sure!

for now though I’m still working my full time job and then fitting in everything else and for the last month my quilting has been on  a hiatus but the itch is there and it won’t be long before I get back at it.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summers too…


Blogroll, Life, Summer, Uncategorized

Tori

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We have often visited the Heritage Site in Finland MN and have heard about the festival they hold every August called Tori. This year we decided to make a day trip down and see it.

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There was a market with different crafts for sale, beautiful woven rugs which are a favorite of mine, though I’m not sure why I didn’t get better pictures.

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The food was yummy even though it wasn’t really the Finnish food we’d expected. There was entertainment, but we had hoped for some Finnish flavor, it was enjoyable though.

The booth that caught our attention the most though was the black smith. He and his wife were in costume and so informative.

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Blogroll, Family, hiking, Life, Quilting, Summer

well it finally arrived…..

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Summer that is, even though August wasn’t much better than July we were able to make the most of it anyways.
I left off with fishing…
well August did see some quilting, some piecing this is the quilt in progress for a coworkers sister. Using the Clementine collection from Moda.
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I’ve also been working on my Block of the Months from Fat Quarter Shop, I do have to get busy with August’s block though before Septembers finds it’s way here.
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I’m really loving this quilt, though I have to admit it’s awfully hard for me to work inside during the summer. My day job is at a desk and when I can I much prefer to be outside in the summer.
One night we did a little target practice..a first for me and I somehow managed to hit 2 cans at once, twice!
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One weekend we drove down to the states and finally toured The Split Rock Lighthouse, it was spectacular. This picture is taken of Lake Superior from the Lighthouse.
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"Lighthouse Keeper"
a few shots in the Lighthouse keepers house:
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Blogroll, Family, Fishing, Life, Summer, WEather

Where is Summer?

wendysquilting

We are still waiting for the real summer weather to arrive, and now Environment Canada is telling us that we’ll have to wait until next summer for seasonal temps. I think we might have had 3 or 4 days where the temps have been over 26C. I know to people in the south that sounds great but our summers are so short and winters so long here that we really do treasure a few weeks of toasty weather.
We were really fortunate that during our holidays we were able to get out fishing a couple of times, not alot of fish caught but good times non the less. One of Eriks daughters was home for a visit and joined us
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Sarah had announced their wedding plans a week before my holidays so a visit to Fabric Land was called for for the finishing items needed for her dress. Katie and her friend came along and I couldn’t resist a picture of her buying fabric for a dress she had in mind. I’ll share pics of the dress in a future post.

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The last week of holidays were spent in Wisconsin Dells, thankfully the temps there cooperated and we had a great time, camping and playing. What a very interesting a fun place.
Katie had a little fun the night before we left.
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We had a little visit at Cracker Barrel, I’ve always loved their chairs.
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The boat tour was so interesting, I highly recommend it to anyone visiting the Dells.
Dells rock formations
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I was also able to conker some major fears of mine and can’t wait to go back and do it again!! Funny how you can be so afraid to try some things….myself I’ve asked Erik to make me try these things just in case I might like them. He tells me that if I want to go again I have to go on the:
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I’d better not wait too long on that one.

Blogroll, Family, Life, Summer

I have a son! (in law that is)

wendysquilting

I have been on holidays for the last 2 weeks, I took a total break and I’ll post about our adventures abit later.
First though the big news.
My eldest daughter Sarah and her Texan sweetheart were married on Saturday. It was a nice family and close friends wedding and will be followed next fall (once the immigration process is complete) by a larger wedding in Texas.
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The kids! Emily,Sarah, Jeremy, Katie and Mary
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Jeremys mom (who also quilts!) and I
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Erik and I and family
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