A Season of Birthdays...

This weekend I have spent relaxing after a busy few weeks of writing report cards. They are now completed and in the hands of my principal, who also has read them. In between writing, I have tried to get a little quilting and blog reading done, not to mention playing that crazy game "Farmville" on Facebook.
I am not sure why I spend so much time trying to create a fake farm, but there it is...I know that it makes my mother laugh to see me farming my farm...
We all have things that we do that we find amusing/distracting or, are our so called" guilty pleasures". When I get up in the morning, I listen to a local radio station called CKUA . The early morning show is called "Rise and Shine" and is hosted by my favorite radio voice. Her name is Alison Brock. She asks people to send in request songs that she calls " Guilty pleasures".. The other morning she played "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. Do you have some guilty pleasure song that takes you away from your day to day life? one that makes you smile? or one that you want to get up and dance? I digress...
My sister in law, Margaret celebrated a birthday today- She has a few quilts that I have created for her and her husband. Here she is holding her " Trip around the World" quilt that resides in her summer home in Newfoundland. The one on the table is a mate to my sister in laws quilt.. It belongs to a friend of mine that lives in Manitoba.. Have you ever created more than one version of a quilt when you make a pattern? I could not decide on the color combinations so I made two..
I have enjoyed playing with the Ricky Tims convergence pattern. Last fall my sister in law and her husband celebrated a special anniversary so I thought they would enjoy this quilt...
My favorite of her quilts is from my quilt photograph vaults. This one is one that I called "the Secret Garden".
" The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett was one of my very favorite books as a child. I made this quilt for Margaret around 2003. She is a distinquished professor in the library school at the University of Alberta. I knew I had to make her this quilt. The pattern came from the Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine in the early 2000's.

This past week,our god daughter Elizabeth celebrated her 16th birthday. I really wanted to finish this 10 minute block quilt for her, but so far have only managed to get her top done. I still need to decide whether I will add some fancy quilting with variegated thread in the big spaces. The blocks are large (20 inch) in measurement so I am thinking they may need more intricate quilting... Hopefully over Christmas vacation I will get it quilted... I used two layer cakes (24 pieces each) from Connecting Threads for the blocks.
From a distance, it is hard to see the multicolored background on the black batik. I love batiks and I will have used every last scrap of this one to make the binding for this quilt. I am not sure what fabric I am going to put on the back of this quilt.

A friend of mine just celebrated a special number birthday. A few weeks ago when I went to the bead show, I found this lovely little thread bear. He is made of Thread Play on felt and was quite a handsome guy. Perhaps one day I will try making one myself. If only I could add more time to my day (and additional energy too)..

Yesterday I got some quilting done after my school work was completed- I finally added the borders to the tesselation quilt that has been hanging around all fall.
I finished this blanket wrap for a friend's nephew. There are so many bright and cheery fabrics to use for children and this one certainly fits that description..I love how soft the purple/blue minkee is on the inside. I hope that he will enjoy the bright colors while sleeping in the baby wrap.

Over the past 10 days there has been a wonderful Henry Glass blog Hop that shared some wonderful projects, as well some family traditions, recipes and information from the various designers who participated in the hop. While the hop is over- you still can access the projects as well as enter to win some fabulous prizes on the Henry Glass blog site. Check it out on this link for the Henry glass blog hop. You will need to collect all the special words from each post.
Victoria at Bumblebeans is giving a chance for a Baby Go.. I have been looking at that cool cutting tool for awhile now and trying to win one - I have been lucky a number of times these past few years so I can understand that it might not be my turn.. Whoever wins it, will love playing with the die cut designs. Victoria has a wonderful blog - do check it out..

Bruce and I had the opportunity to go out to the Art Gallery of Alberta. In the current exhibition, there are some lovely French landscapes that were painted prior to the Impressionist painters.
We also stopped in at a local pottery show on Saturday. There was some lovely Renaissance/Medieval music being played and some pretty pots to view. While I did not buy any pottery for our home, Bruce bought me a very handsome purse with flowers (an early birthday present as it is my birthday on Tuesday).
The weekend has been very pleasant - Time with loved ones, and time together, as well as time to quilt... Now if I could only get my laundry put away...
Have a great week - my week's projects- school paperwork, a haircut?, beading and perhaps quilting...Maybe I will bring out the Christmas village... Hmmmmmm...

To my American friends and family- a Very Happy Thanksgiving...
Warmest regards,
Anna