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My daughter and her husband ended up driving up from Texas and were exhausted so went right to bed after supper leaving Auntie Emily and Grandma to spend some quality time with Jerry. He is such a sweet baby and so happy and inquisitive at 7 months. Well until he started to get tired and realized that he didn’t know where Mom and Dad were, of course he woke them up but now that little family is asleep at least for now…
My Opening Day Top is complete well almost. When Katie put the top on her bed she decided she’d really like it to be larger. Do you think I could easily find the fabric I wanted for the borders? Aster Manor was released May 09, so although I could find it the shipping prices to Canada we’re restrictive and I just did a run to the border. Then I had a light bulb moment and called Sarah’s Mother in Law in Texas, to see if there is a quilt shop nearby. Well it turns out there is a wonderful shop just around the corner from where she works Quilters Emporium. The shop owner was so nice and very helpful and now I have not only the border, but a couple other pieces I was hoping for. I wish their shop had their fabric online but I guess I can’t have everything. This shop is now on my list of places to visit while in Texas!
I have my backing for Elizabeth so she’s next, she’ll go on my longarm this morning.
Now I have to decide which quilt I’ll start piecing next I have a few bed size quilts that are on the top of the list and a few smaller projects. Then there are the 3 Bliss charm packs
and yardage that I’m itching to get sewing with, they are such happy summery fabrics that would be very uplifting to use during these gray days of winter…..hmmm something I’ll ponder while I quilt Elizabeth.
I’ve ordered 3 books that I’ve wanted for ages but just felt like I couldn’t justify them but something hit me last week and I decided that since I’ve wanted them this long I must really want them!
I already own a few of the patterns in Spice of Life Quilts and Schnibbles but I love those patterns so much it will be good to have in book form as well.
Well Elizabeth and I have a date! Have a great day!
Guess who’s coming home! One week from today my Sarah will be home with my Grandson!!!
He’s going to need some warmer clothes cause his Grandma is planning to take him out in the snow, for a sleigh ride or two or three! Now he doesn’t have to miss out on his first real winter of his life. Yes I know that Texas has winter…….but not like we do!!
His Great Grandparents and Aunties are so excited…. But not nearly as excited as his Grandma!
On the quilting front my week ended up sidetracked we sure never know what a day will bring and Tuesday was one that turned into a pretty big blip in my screen….hopefully I’ll finish piecing my Opening Day top today. And later today I’ll get some results that will explain a few things.
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Kelly at Charming Chatter is challenging others to choose a word of the year. The first word that came to mind for me was Harmony. I think for the most part I live in Harmony with my loved ones. I love the Harmony I see in the relationships with my children. There are however some aspects in my life that aren’t lining up right now and perhaps that’s why the word came to mind. It’s close to finding balance I suppose and I could have chosen balance as my word… or peace of mind.
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Now that the tree is gone I have the floor space to lay out the blocks for Katie’s quilt. The pattern is
Like many other quilters I’ve been thinking about goals for 2011.
I have a usual list of quilts in different stages to finish up, and some are very close to completion and I’ll have some time to do that this winter.
This one is next; this will be my daughter Katie’s. I’ll share more about it in future posts.
I’m going to challenge myself machine quilting wise. I’ve ordered some new rulers that I’m very excited to use and add the techniques to my work.
I have some people who I hope to gift with quilts this year if all goes well.
The local Quilt Guild has a lot going on this year and I’m trying to find some ways to be more involved. This is Quilt Show year so that might be a good opportunity for me.
There are also a couple of groups or clubs that will be starting up that interest me.
So that should keep me busy quilt wise.
On the taking care of me front, I have been walking again which I hope to continue to try to do daily. The exercise is important but more importantly for me I find it relaxing and soothing to be outside enjoying nature. When you walk everyday you can’t help but notice the subtle changes around you. When you look at winter as a whole it’s not very interesting but on a daily basis the snow does change with the weather, grey days tend to me milder days while the bright sunny days tend to be cold and brisk.
Erik gave me Cross Country Skis for Christmas. I haven’t been skiing for several years but always enjoyed it. I’m really looking forward to getting out there again.
Next week I’m going to give Yoga another go. I really enjoyed it last time…..but let it go because it was another to do on my long list of to do’s.
My friend Alva has made a wall hanging that I’ve admired for several years now. This year she gave me the start to it and the pattern. I promised myself that I would get it pieced this year. Only a fellow quilter could understand the relaxation that comes in piecing something like this. It took me a couple of days but it was well worth it.
I also plan/need to work on my photography skills in 2011!
And one more picture if you’ll indulge me……It’s a Grandma thing…….isn’t he the most adorable little gift!
This year I received (well the family did) the most precious and priceless gift. My Grandson Jerry!
I can’t say it’s been easy having them live in Texas but it is wonderful knowing that my daughter is so happy in her life with her new little family, which is a wonderful gift isn’t it.
Auntie Emily and Uncle Dave just returned from a visit to Texas. Doesn’t he have the most beautiful eyes!
They tell me that he loves his new quilt! (and also that his Mama loves it and says it looks perfect in their living room.)
I wish you all a Wonderful and Magical Christmas!!
Wendy
I remember learning about Lapland in school and thinking to myself I’d like to go there someday…
We stayed in this hotel in Rovaniemi, Finland. Even though it was July, it felt almost like Christmas, which is part of Rovaniemi’s claim to fame being so close to the Arctic Circle and of course the home of Santa Claus.
The room was a little different than in Canada or the US, twin beds to begin with, the room was much smaller as well. I am 5’1″ tall so I found the rooms in Finland suited me just fine but I would imagine taller or bigger people would miss the biggie sized everything that we have here.
The bathrooms were all compact as well.
This next picture was taken around 2am. The days were so long in July, they are the opposite right now of course.
We went exploring after dinner, what an interesting little town.
While we were in Finland my daughter and grandson moved to Texas….to live with my Son-in Law. While I am so happy that they are all together, I can’t help but wish that they would move up here. I called Sarah the other day to let her know she needed to come home and decorate our tree, she told me she had checked our weather that morning and our -35C with the wind-chill wasn’t much of a draw. Though she did tell me that her husband had warmed up his car that morning because it was chilly….
This will be our first Christmas apart; hopefully they’ll be able to join us next year for a white Christmas.
My second daughter and boyfriend are flying down today for a visit. Auntie Emily is so excited well so is Sarah, the sister bond is so special. I’m really looking forward to more pictures and stories.
Emily is delivering Christmas gifts. One is Jerry’s quilt that I was finally able to finish up. I thought it would be fun to get a few outside shots of it to share some snow with them.
I made his quilt using a layer cake of the Pure collection by Sweetwater (MODA) The blocks were shown in a recent quilting magazine that I’ve loaned to my Mom. I’ll add that information soon as it was such a fun block to sew.
Thank you to Jocelyn for commenting and refreshing my memory. Please check out Jocelyns blog post where she suggested that we run not walk and buy Quiltmaker Magazine because of a block that they had in that issue. She included a tutorial and link, and I that very afternoon went to Chapters and bought my own copy, and made a sample block that night. I also made a 1/2 version and is it ever cute!
Doesn’t this picture look so inviting with all the fresh show, no leaves to rake? I’m really looking forward to new pictures with Jerry on his new quilt.
I really did have the best of intentions to blog all summer and share pictures and stories of my adventures.
So what happened? Life. Computer challenges, I had to switch computers and for some reason I’m having trouble linking word 07 to WordPress, so I’m back to using WordPress. Procrastination, which I’m actually doing right now.
and now here it is the middle of October? how did that happen? I think I’ll start by easing my way back by sharing some of whats happened and I’ll share pictures and stories of my adventures in Finland during future posts.
After settling in a bit after arriving in Finland we found ourselves heading further north. I remember as a child in school learning about the North, the tundra and thinking to myself I wonder if I’ll ever see it.
Our first overnight stop was in Rovaniemi which is very close to the Arctic Circle and where Santa Claus lives. (Yes I paid him a visit and will share pictures of the village soon, I hope). Today I’ll share a few pictures from the Arktikum (outside picture above.)
the following pictures were part of a school display,
I had really hoped to update my blog as we travelled however best laid plans right.
I had saved a post but when I arrived home my net book suffered a virus and it’s gone so I’m back to scratch.
The week before we left was so busy….note to self before another international trip take a day or two off work to get ready. It felt so good to have our bags checked and relax while we waited for our first flight of our journey.
We left on the 18th of July and flew to Toronto where we had a wonderful visit with my friend Jaki and her very adorable children (I still can’t believe that I didn’t take any pictures of our visit) while we waited for our flight to Frankfurt.
It was an overnight flight and I was so tired you’d think I’d have slept but unfortunately due to many reasons it didn’t happen. When we arrived at Frankfurt we were both so exhausted and still had to wait 6 hrs for our next flight.
Erik managed to catch a few z’s. I couldn’t so instead indulged in a bit of people watching, what an interesting airport.
I think I finally managed a bit of shut eye on the connecting flight to Helsinki but by the time we were in the car I was done and slept off and on during the 2 ½ hr drive. It took me several days to feel well rested again, most likely because we were so busy I didn’t really get a chance to rest.
The visiting began: along with lots of coffee every day, awesome food and Longdrinks
The first day we toured around on bikes, it sure felt great to be active after all that sitting.
Wendy’s Quilting and Life 