The Tooth , Magazine Therapy, A Package, and some quilt process..

Part one a Tooth Saga..
Recently, Bruce and I stopped to buy some groceries and a few things for the prize box for my little ones at school. While we were there, I saw on the shelf, one of my favorite candies " Edinburgh Toffee". It had been quite awhile since I had sampled its sticky goodness so I bought a bag as a treat. Mint,chocolate, licorice and vanilla flavors are some of my favorite toffees. Someone ought to have reminded me that middle aged teeth do not always like chewy candies, and while enjoying one, I suddenly found myself with a large chunk out of a wisdom tooth.. Yikes.... Fortunately, it did not hurt, but unfortunately, it was rather a large hole where there once was a tooth. Yesterday, I phoned the dentist's office and, today after class, I was able to arrange a visit my dentist... To say, that it made me anxious would be an understatement, but I was more fearful of how much of a pain the holey took could become if I didn't take care of it. It didn't take long after my arrival at the dentist- fifteen minutes later with a frozen mouth, I found myself chomping down on a piece of gauze and minus a wisdom tooth. My dentist also sent me home with some instructions to prevent a dry socket(not a fun condition that my husband experienced) and a prescription for antibiotic and Tylenol 3.. It is now a few hours later and other than the residual freezing, it is feeling not too bad- even without the Tylenol, perhaps I may need one before bed but so far, so good)

Part Two.. A visit to Chapters
One of my vices( besides sticky chewy candies LOL) is a love of quilt magazines and books. The book store is literally on the next corner from the dentist's office. I figured I had earned a little diversion after my dental experience, so I checked out the current quilt magazines. I picked up a collection of ten or twelve magazines, and after some perusal, I narrowed it down to these three that came home with me..
Over the summer, I discovered Quilt Life magazine. I really enjoyed reading the inaugural issue and was very pleased to see a copy of it on the Canadian newsstand. Chapters carries a pretty large selection of magazines- that include a number of US and International magazines. There is now a Canadian magazine too - so many choices- which ones would you pick? What makes you choose to buy a magazine or book? For a number of years, I subscribed to Quilters Newsletter (still do), and the Australian Patchwork and Quilting ( still like it a lot but no longer subscribe to it). Currently, I usually buy Fons and Porter..."For the Love of Quilting" and, once in awhile, still buy the Australian Patchwork magazine. I pick and choose more than I used to - each one runs about 7 or 8 Canadian dollars. It quickly adds up not to mention that the piles of magazines get taller and taller.. This time I chose based on what patterns were in the magazines that really might be added to my bucket list of quilts to make.

Part Three_ A Package in the Mail
Armed with some new reading material, some fresh bread and medication we returned home to find a lovely package of fabrics and rotary cutting blades that I ordered from a company called Sew Sisters in Toronto.. I was so pleased to see it had safely arrived and everything that I ordered came too Woo Hoo....
The first one is a backing for a nature quilt that I am thinking about making for a special someone. Usually I work from my stash but this project has involved collecting panels and other fabrics... The design is still in my head... but it is coming along. I also ordered the large rotary cutting blades- they are the best price I can find here in Canada so I was thrilled to get them for even less on this one day sale.( about 20 dollars Canada for 5 blades)
Sew Sisters also had some of Kaffe Fassett fabrics on sale - I was a bit surprised how large one of the designs was ( the orange petal shaped piece is very big) but they are all lovely. I am so looking forward to seeing Kaffe speak here at a local museum in early October. I wonder which quilts and needlework he will bring to show us?

This collection includes a very cute Raggedy Ann and Andy fabric for a baby wrap- and a piece of Valori Wells Sole fabric line.

Recently some bloggers have begun to write about their process while quilting. Here is the beginning squares to my latest convergence. They are wrinkly here but I did press them, before they were cut up into the strips.VBG
And Voila... Here is the newest completed quilt of this year. It is amazing what a difference quilting, binding, not to mention pressing, make to the look of the quilt. I got it bound last week and it is ready for some special people- It just needs a label on it..


I also completed the body of another of the wonky rail ties (8X9)rows so it will be a queen sized version of the blue/green rail ties. There is still 20 more blocks that I can use to make a small couch quilt... I did get rather carried away when I was making those blocks!

Recently I was visiting a fellow blogger,Elaine wrote about a very cool technique that uses square in a square blocks by Jody Barrows. Elaine is having a little trouble with blogger just now, but do check it out( I just clicked the 2nd link), if you are curious about ways to cut up a Square in a Square design. It reminds me of the techniques used to make the disappearing 4 and 9 patch blocks. Quilters do create such amazing designs... I checked on Amazon for Jody's book, but so far, I have not had any luck finding it..

We are beginning to get healthier in our house ( wisdom tooth not withstanding) and getting settled into the fall routines. The trees are turning, the moon is full and Fall has definitely arrived here in Alberta...

Hope this finds you healthy and having fun creating, in whatever medium feeds your creative soul..

Warmest regards,
Anna

September - the connecting roots....

Here are a few of my father's beautiful lilies- some of which came from plants out of my grandmother's garden. She loved flowers- irises, lilies and pansies were some of her favorites. The frost has come and September has been wet and rainy. We keep hoping that we might have some warm days yet before we have the long winter season.


These last two weeks have been busy ones... This past week was the first full week of school; although I have been back in the classroom since the last week of August. My school kids and I are getting to know one another... My assistant and I have begun the necessary assessments that help us better determine appropriate programming for this group of children. Yesterday we had our annual "Corn Fest" where are families come to see the school and meet the staff. I have been laminating, photocopying and making new things for the classroom so there has not been much time/ energy to quilt.

Last weekend I went for a quick trip to my folks on Saturday. It was a spur of the moment trip that involved my 17 year god daughter A., driving her first long trip( 200 miles round trip). She wanted to see her friend, M., who lives is a bedroom community of the city in which my parents live. A. picked up her friend M., and they drove off to a local restaurant while my friend Val and I, went on to my parent's home to have lunch with my parents. My god daughter A., is the one in the middle. Val and I have been good friends since 1988. Where has the time gone? Our children have gone from babies to near adulthood. Val's friendship is one of the great gifts in my life. While Bruce and I have one adult son, her girls certainly are daughters of my heart. Her younger daughter E., is interested in sewing and quilting- perhaps one day we will make a quilt together.

While we were there, Val and my dad got talking about genealogy and family roots. My father took out some family treasures that my great grandmother Carrie- Belle brought with her, when she and her family moved to Alberta early in the twentieth century. She was a teacher on a reservation in the Dakotas. Carrie Belle was given these beautiful moccasins and pouches/ medicine bags by her First Nation families. The bead work on the moccasins is fabulously intricate and are greatly treasured by my father. One pair was made for a baby, while the blue ones were made for a woman. I don't know if my great grandmother ever wore the moccasins.
This week was also an anniversary of sorts for us. It has been 7 years since my grandmother Grace passed away in an accident. I have written about her before in an earlier post called " Remembering Grace". She was nearly 87 when we lost her- I miss her a lot- I was her oldest grandchild and I spent many happy times during my childhood with her and my grandfather on their farm. My grandmother was the kindest person I have ever known- she and my mother were wonderful role models in my life. They taught me the importance of caring and empathy.
Every post needs a quilt and this quilt was made for my grandmother to honor her 85 years. The quilt is a colorwash quilt with 30X 40 two inch squares. After she died, the quilt was returned to me.

Sometimes when I wrap myself in her quilt, I can remember how she smelled. Did you know that your sense of smell is one of your most lingering senses- that smells can trigger some of your oldest memories?

My blogging friend Michele just lost her father recently. Do go and check out her current post which is touching and eloquent- She has created a beautiful butterfly quilt.

This lovely photo sat on my desk at school for the last few years. It is a photo taken about a year before my gran's passing. It was taken on the farm that she so loved, and is of her and the two men whom I love very much - my son and my husband.

One of my husband's cousins sent us some terrific family photos of a family reunion taken in August. It came in the mail this past week and Bruce and I enjoyed looking at the pictures of family and reading about their connections in a family genealogy book. I love old family pictures and I wonder whether my grandchildren's children will wonder about their crazy old relative 100 years from now.
Many of my parent's generation lived in the same communities as their parents and grandparents. We are such a transient society these days that one's family is spread all over the globe. The internet and technology has made the world so much smaller and accessible to maintain and renew connections with family and friends.

The cool weather has brought fall colds to our home- unfortunately, my husband's developed into bronchial pneumonia. We are hoping that a heavy dose of antibiotics will cure the hacking cough. As for me, it wouldn't be September without some sniffles and a scratchy throat... Too much talking and small children seem to combine to bring a fall cold...

Thanks to all of you who stop by and leave your beautiful comments. I appreciate them more than words can say. When I can,I do so enjoy visiting my blog friends. It is always fun to see what is happening in blogland.

Until next time,
Happy quilting,
Anna

Jasper, Quilt shops and Summer's end...

This summer has passed as a bit of a blur- especially the month of August- It is often that way- July arrives and I am usually ready for a rest and time to rejuvenate and catch up to myself from the busy school term. Sometimes I have a list of goals that I want to complete and other times summer is a time to reflect and do things as they fit in. This summer was the later... In my last post I wrote about some of our travels to the mountains of Jasper- Bruce and I had a lovely time there- While we were up looking around Pyramid Lake( it is above the Jasper town site) we came across some benches where we stopped to contemplate the beauty of the lake and mountains surrounding it. This rock caught my eye- I pondered how long it had taken to form that round boulder- Mother Nature sure is a master artist...

I have to say, my husband Bruce was a good sport about my passion for quilting and checking out the quilt stores. We stopped at three on our five hour journey to the mountains. The first one was in a little place called Edson. Edson is located in the foothills of Alberta- some beautiful knob and kettle farmland but the mountains are still nearly an hour away. This little shop called Quilters Quarters was in smaller house.
All the nooks and cranes were filled with luscious fabrics.

In my hands are some glorious reds and a sunflower fabric that I decided to add to my stash. I bought a second piece of sunflower fabric that was a batik on black for the sunflower collection.
Our next stop was in a place called Hinton.. When you get to Hinton, you are suddenly closer to the mountains although Jasper is at least hour away. Hinton is not far outside of the park gates. Jasper is part of an unbelievably beautiful national park.

The Sew What Shop was a little hidden but well worth the visit. The ladies were helpful and I found three pieces of fabric to add to my collection there. On one table they had some books for sale that had been in a quilter's collection. The woman had passed away recently and any money given was directly donated to the Cancer Society on her behalf. I happened to find a book called " Ghost Layers and Color Washes" by Katie P.Masopust which I gladly bought.( It is out of print I believe).It is nice to know that I will have contributed to a worthy cause as well gain a lovely book.

On the left hand side of the cutting table you can see a very fun fabric that is of volkswagon beetles ( you know Herbie cars don't you?) I bought a half meter that I will use in a child's quilt in the future. The two pieces that are in front of me were from their sale section- I do love buying from the clearance fabric rack.

I also bought a Mrs. Bobbin's calendar for next year. Check out this link if you want to see some of the..Mrs Bobbins cartoons. She makes me laugh- perhaps she will do the same for you!
We came a few miles into Jasper town site the next day, after a great night's sleep in our cabin. The last quilt shop is called Stychen Tyme. It is a bead,yarn and quilt store all in one. Now if there ever was a shop made for me- this is it. I have knit and still do use beads to make jewelery. The fabrics are beautiful there and you can see some of the gorgeous wild life material and kits available there. I mostly bought beads to add to my collection.

The shop is located on a main street called Patricia street.


I have been in about 15 different quilt shops over the summer- Earlier on, Lou and I went on a couple of road trips around the Edmonton area. Over and over again, the places I enjoyed most were determined by the friendliness of the staff and the atmosphere of the stores. Some had more fabric choices and some had less, but all had their own unique qualities. Of course - there is always on line fabric shopping, when one can not find the one piece one is looking for locally. I did find on line the last piece of the Hungry Caterpillar fabric after no success when visiting the local ( and not so local places). There are lots of choices out there - some more reasonably priced than others. It is getting more costly to quilt- I am glad that I have collected fabric for awhile to form a good sized stash.

Bruce and I enjoyed the mountains of Jasper a lot. He was able to go meteor watching 2 of 3 evenings during the Perseid meteor shower and still have enough energy to drive around to the glorious lakes and waterfalls of the area. This photo was taken at Athabasca Falls which are quite breathtakingly beautiful.

A view of the Athabasca falls...
The summer has given me the opportunity to spend time with my loved ones- both family and friends. It was great to reconnect with all, especially with those whom I had not heard from in awhile. I quite like this photo of my parents and myself taken in July.


Bruce and I went to visit my parents just before I returned to the classroom last week and we brought this quilt. It looks even better in their living room. I am very happy with the way the border set off the blocks, and how well the quilt matched their living room decor.

I also finished and made a label for this convergence quilt. It is now in the hands of my teaching partner, Doreen whose friendship I celebrate. We have enjoyed being partners for the past 7 years. I appreciate all the extra things that she does to help our students be successful. This last year our school was renovated, so we had the opportunity to work even more closely together. This was my way of thanking her for her continuing support and gift of friendship.

The fall brings my favorite flowers- This is one of the bouquets of sunflowers that Bruce has brought home from the grocery store. Sunflowers make me feel happy- I have long been a fan of Vincent Van Gogh's sunflowers - one day I am going to make another Snippets wall hanging of sunflowers!


If you are still with me- there is a wonderful giveaway worth checking out. You can find it here . Quilted fish is her blog name- she is giving away some lovely fabrics and doing it soon.

I hope that fall( spring for our southern friends)brings you many warm days and pleasant times with loved ones. I lost a high school friend to cancer last week, and I was reminded about the swiftness and fragility of human life.

As a new school year begins, I am remembering to stop and enjoy each day's special moments and the important people in my life.
I hope you take the time to enjoy your special moments and people too.
Warmest regards,
Anna

Do you wonder where August has gone?

Medicine Lake,Alberta

I know its been awhile- Perhaps you were beginning to think that I was giving up blogging? or that I was lost somewhere and couldn't find my way home?LOL Went on a long journey? Well it is true that my husband Bruce and I went away on a short little trip. We visited the mountains around Jasper Alberta in the heart of the Canadian Rockies. It is very beautiful there don't you think?

Summer vacation is soon over for me-classes begin again next week. Perhaps a sign of the seasons changing, is the changing weather- this morning it was quite cool and I put on a pair of slacks and shirt rather than my usual summer sun dress. I have even been thinking about putting on my slippers....

My aunt ( my mother`s sister) came to visit me today- we had a lovely time together- looking at some genealogy books, talking about our projects and having some lunch that I prepared for us to share together ( turkey spread, buns, tomato bean salad, greek salad, salsa and fresh fruit). While she was here, she showed how to do a bow knit knitting stitch so that I could make a baby blanket or scarf( that is a whole other post). My aunt asked to look at some of summer projects.

Here is a little tour of some of the projects that I have been working on these days..

This convergence quilt is done -Waa hooo..... I must have been more wonky than usual whenI was cutting this quilt because I had lots of difficulty getting this quilt straight- I am pleased with it now - we seem to have recouped it from its original bad haircut!

You may remember me making the large wonky tiles quilt last summer for our dear friends to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. I thought maybe they would enjoy having matching pillowcases so with a couple of spare blocks( I have another 100 to turn into another quilt or two VBG) I had some scraps from the borders of their quilt and used them to make two pillowcases for them. Happy anniversary dear friends!
I do love Convergence designs and here is a second one. This one still needs to be quilted and bound(I even have the binding made- Now if I could just get it spray basted so that I could quilt it) It is fun to see how the design converge - I really loved how the red stop border sets this quilt off..
Perhaps you remember when I was trying to decide whether I wanted to use this fabric for a border for this quilt? I really like how it sets off the blocks- Sometimes I find it helpful to see a few quilts that have been made using a particular pattern. This is a BQ pattern from Maple Island quilt patterns- I have now bound this quilt- It is waiting for its label and then I can give it to some special people in my life.. Fabric variations really do change how patterns look. This is the same pattern as the previous quilt, but with a little more variety in the big blocks. I am sure it would look different again with all scrappy fabrics. Mars the cat, came to be our assistant when we were setting out the quilts to be photographed. I am very pleased to have 3 quilts finished except for labels. I have some more blocks to join of the tessellation quilt. As well, I have more wonky rail tie blocks that need to be sewn together LOL. I hope to get some of these blocks together so that I have two more quilts made into quilt tops.

August is soon over but it is nice to have finished some projects this summer. The sands of time stop for no one...I wonder if I can put my pedal to the medal so that I can go a little faster?

These past few weeks I have visited some friends and family as well as enjoyed a few books. I recently finished reading " The Forgotten Garden" by Kate Morton ( good story) as well as some more of Joanne Fluke's Hannah Swenson cooking mysteries.

Last week I attended a workshop to help me improve my teaching of reading. I will go and spend some time in my classroom this week. I want to get a few things set up before class begins next week. Our school was renovated this past year and they are working fast and furious for us to be ready for school opening. There are lists to be made and some materials prepared and new lessons to develop _ I can feel the pace of life starting to rev up.

My friend Lou and I went on another local shop hop. Bruce and I stopped in some quilt stores on the way to Jasper. More about that next time...

Some Thank you's

I want to acknowledge two very fine ladies who sent me giveaway gifts in the mail..
Nancy from Blogging near Philadelphia sent me a lovely cupcake pincushion pattern with some sweet buttons.Thanks so much for your thoughtful and generous gift Nancy. Do visit her blog - I enjoy reading her postings - I am sure you will too!

Elizabeth sent me the coolest Abby pincushion and thread bag. If you go to her August 23 posting you will see one that is the same pattern that she made for me. I will try and take a photo of it to show you her brilliant work. Thanks so much ladies- I am such a fortunate person..

There are some wonderful giveaways going on around blogland.

If you are wishing for the Accuquilt Go you can enter to win one here: Paulette has a great tutorial going on for the the GO or here: Jackie has some lovely quilts on her blog. You might enjoy visiting her shop too..some really yummy fabrics including Kaffe Fassett.
( Kaffe is coming here to Edmonton to speak- I must go and get my ticket soon.. Waa hooo)

Aunt Spicy's friend Erica has a very cute pair of earrings that she is giving away. I remember having some of those carved earrings some years ago. I love the updated look of those earrings.

Pat is celebrating a writing opportunity by having a giveaway. I enjoy reading her quilting and stories - She has such a great sense of fun...

Enjoy your last days of summer if you live in the Northern Hemisphere (I am sure my friends in the southern hemisphere are looking forward to warmer days and the flowers of spring just as we are looking forward to all the colors of autumn. Such an interesting concept to be thinking about fall and spring at the same time!

Warmest regards,
Anna

Travels with Anna....

Lilies from my father's garden..
I am not sure where the summer has gone ... Well that is not quite true.. my days have been full enough with some quilting time, family time, a little cleaning and a bit of local travelling... Since I last posted, I have been away visiting my parents and getting a bit of quilting done.Over the summer, I have read a few novels that included some by Jennifer Wiener, Earlene Fowler( State Fair) and a book called the Knitting Club by Ann Hood. There is a stack sitting on my night table that include "Three Cups of Tea", The Forgotten Garden and Leaving Gee Bend..)

I finally got caught up on my blog reading until my laptop died. I am currently using my husband's machine as we contemplate our next step- the warranty on my computer has just recently run out:(

We travelled the backroads to my parents who live 100 miles south in a city called Red Deer. The city is now about 90 thousand people ,but when I grew up there, it was only around 25 thousand. We have travelled the main highway many times over the past 35 years and it does get a little boring. The traffic is a lot heavier as it is the main corridor between the two largest cities of the province (Edmonton to Calgary)This photo is not too far east from my folks- if you look close you can see the rocky formations of the river bank.
Along the road you often will find what we fondly call Nid Nods. They are oil pumps and they are a common enough site on the drive.
Alberta countryside is sometimes referred to as knob and kettle land. Some parts of the prairies are quite flat but the prairies where I was raised is quite hilly. I loved the fields of canola(rapeseed) when they are yellow and ripe. My grandparents were farmers in the Alberta foothills and their farm was much like this land.

You can see my hand in the mirror taking the photo- It is sort of Escher like (some of Escher's brilliant work happens to be showing at Alberta Gallery of Art along with Looney Tunes) This picture was a fluke but sure was interesting...

When Summer comes, it usually means that I have the opportunity to have a longer visit with my parents. I spent four days with my mom and dad. During the visit we went shopping, visited Tim Horton's for coffee and checked out the local quilt stores. The quilt store trip did not produce any great finds - perhaps just as well, with the cost of a new computer on the horizon.. We visited a family friend, Sherry, who has an old homestead house that she and her husband are renovating. She is a fabulous artist and her home is filled with her beautiful paintings and lots of antiques. The quilt on their bed is one that I made a number of years ago, called Chimneys and Cornerstones.
Her husband Brian is a fabulous woodworker. Don't you love his beautiful sleigh coffee table?

On their property is a Pretty cool antique thrashing machine..

My parents celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary while I was home. To mark the occasion, we took a few pictures of our family. I particularly liked this one of my folks.

This family photo was taken after a celebration dinner that we had to mark the occasion. Unfortunately my husband and son (as well as one niece and her husband) were not able to be there, because they were working. Pictured here are my two brothers, my sister and their partners, along with myself and my parents.

Earlier in the day, I suggested to my folks that we should go and take a photograph of them outside the church where they had been married. We arrived at 2:25 in the afternoon at the approximate time when they would have been leaving the church. They obligingly stood outside the church where they exchanged their vows 55 years earlier.


For those of you who may be wondering if I have been having any quilting adventures... Before I went to my folks, I did get three quilts spray basted so that they are now ready to quilt. My teaching partner and I went to school and used the tables there to lay them out for spraying. Next goal is to find some quilting time... I made a new couch sized convergence quilt that I am very pleased with the results. Some of my summer projects are finally coming together but I have not taken updated photos.
Over the weekend, I took a tessellation quilt workshop- I have some blocks made. We had a bit of excitement during the Friday nite session as the power went out. Quilting by candlelight was somewhat limiting so we headed home about 40 minutes early. Perhaps I should learn how to use my grandmother's treadle machine...LOL

On Saturday, we learned how to make a disappearing 4 patch pattern block. Disappearing 4 patch looks more complicated than it is and is made with charm squares. Hopefully I will get some quilting done by the end of the week and have some new photos to show you.

Next week we are off to the mountains for a few days. We are going to Jasper which is a beautiful spot. My husband is hoping for clear skies so that he can see lots of meteors during the Perseids meteor showers.. The summer is moving along too fast-
I officially return to the classroom on August 30 and there will be school things to do before that time. The time does pass all too quickly..

Happy travels and safe journeys,
Anna

A North Central Alberta Fabric Journey...

Summertime and the living is easy .....This is one of my favorite summer songs from " Porgy and Bess"...

On Thursday, a dear friend Lou and I went off fabric shopping in the Edmonton vicinity...
Our first stop was a lovely little shop in a town called Mundare. Mundare is about an hour's drive north-east of Edmonton and the home of some great Ukrainian sausage. The shop's name is "The Chicken Coop". Here you can see the shop from the street. Come on in and meet the owner.

The owner, Val, has some lovely home decor pieces, decorative ware and fabulous fabrics and patterns. She is as friendly and welcoming as her smile.
Don't you love the beautiful wall hangings that you can see on the wall behind her!

I loved her wonderful selection of batik fabrics- the colors were rich and sumptuous-(some of them are seen in the bottom row) we wanted to buy them all.. There were some great chicken designs and fun applique patterns that had been made into samples.

And how about that cute baby quilt with the animals on the wall... It would look great wrapped around a sweet little one..

Here are our two piles of treasures that we found in the shop stacked in front of Val. My choices to add to my stash are the pile on the left, and ,the lovely lady with Val. is my dear friend Lou. She found some real beauties too. I love the gorgeous sunflower batik fabric she chose that is on the top.


Here you can see the Mundare grain elevator. These elevators used to be common sites around the province of Alberta. However they are quickly disappearing. My mother bought me a quilted wall hanging of a grain elevator a number of years ago. It hangs in my sewing room and reminds me of my prairie girl roots.
We stopped in a little place in Lamont and I found " The Hungry Caterpillar panel and fabrics. They had almost all of the fabrics but I am still looking for the fabric that has all the fruit and food on it. If I don't find it locally, I will check on line for it.
I love Eric Carle's books and would like to make the quilt for my kindergarten. He also did the illustrations for " Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and I have fabrics to make that quilt too. Looks like my project list is growing still...


I thought you might find some countryside interesting.Here in Western Canada, we are known for our prairie sky - you can see for miles on a clear day.

After we left Lamont, we stopped to get some lunch from Tim Hortons, a sandwich and donut place that is famous across Canada. We have Starbucks and Second Cup but when someone says they are going to Tims, it usually means coffee where you can get a double double... ( I think that means two cream and two sugar in a large coffee-) I am a tea drinker- Tim's is famous for having a contest called Roll up the Rim to win... By the way. Tim was a hockey player for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 60's.


We are back driving again and we passed many beautiful fields. This canola field is ripe- it has quite a powerful smell and is a gorgeous yellow. We left the country highway to join up with a ringroad called the Anthony Henday. It is a ring road around the city and so we drove from the North to the South and headed West to another community called Stony Plain. The metropolitan area of Edmonton and surrounding communities is about a million people. It is quite the contrast of city and countryside.

After about an hour, we arrive in Stony Plain, where there are two quilt stores there - one is called Sawdust and Tangled Threads which has lots of country and civil war type fabrics. The shop is in an big rambling house which seems fitting for the fabrics they have for sale. I have bought the Buggy Barn patterns in their shop. On this day, I bought a wildlife panel of bears which I am thinking of using for a quilt for my father.
The other shop is called Sewing with Class and, while we did not buy any fabric there this time, we admired the gorgeous samples on the wall. They had some quilts made in patterns we already owned, but have not yet found the time to make.

I seem to have more than a few of those sorts of patterns in my collection. Some even have the fabric to go with the patterns. So many ideas running around in my head - I sometimes feel like the hamster running around on one of those wheels. You know that hamsters can go very fast in the wheel but they don't seem to get very far... LOL

This past week I have been pretty low key. I had not been feeling well so I needed to do those things one does when one doesn't feel well. You have to go get checked out. Everything came out fine and I am feeling better.

In between doctor and dental checkups, I have still been putt-ing along cleaning out spaces that don't get cleaned out often during the school year. The house is beginning to look better, the sewing room tidier, and, perhaps I might still get to my current quilt projects. VBG
I have finally chosen a border for one of my quilt projects- I auditioned more than a few pieces, for this particular couch quilt. I will show you a photo when I post next time.

Today's mail brought a lovely giveaway package containing some handmade pocket mirrors made by Ebony love Thanks so much for the lovely mirrors - they are too cute and perfect for a purse. Do stop over to her blog and check out her lovely things.

Lastly, don't forget to stop at my post yesterday and check out those wonderful giveaways going on in blog land. The blog posts are interesting and the bloggers are all wonderful writers sharing their life and their loves. The giveaways are really a bonus. I continue to meet so many wonderful people through my blogging experience.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by for a visit. I am always glad to hear from you.
Your comments are very much appreciated. Until next time, be well.
Warmest regards,
Anna