A Spring Break and a visit

It is spring time here in Alberta and we still have snow on the ground. The last few days of March have finally brought some melting to the big piles of white snow that fell over the last few months. This beautiful array of alstromeria has decorated our table for the last couple of weeks.
 I love the rainbow colors after all that white outside.
I have had the past 10 days off- a lovely break from the busy days at school. However, it is not that I have not been busy- au contraire- we had a very hectic beginning, with the arrival of our son and his fiancee from the east coast( about 4000 miles from where we live). We met them at my parent's home which is about 100 miles south of us.

This is a photo that was taken by either my mother or his girl- I like it very much- I miss his beautiful smile and this one fills my heart with joy when I look at the two of us together. Here is the four of us in my parent's kitchen- My folks renovated it a few years ago and it was one full space when the kids were home. My mother ( chef extraordinaire) cooked up a full turkey dinner( actually two turkeys) to feed the 20 of us that got together. The house was bulging with activity - there was one toddler, one five year old, two babies not to mention all the adults in the house. It was great to see so many of my family and to have time together, however compressed that it was.  One of the other highlights of their whirlwind visit was a lovely evening with some family that lives her in Edmonton. They also tried to fit in some time with some friends of our son. My husband went with the boys (Kev's best friend) to see the Star Wars exhibit at our local science center. It was a grand show that had lots of artifacts and props from the movies. The Star War exhibit finished up this weekend so he was lucky to get a chance to see it.
I love seeing my folks with our son and his fiancee. He loves my parents very much and I know that the feeling is mutual.The boy and his girl had come to start their wedding plans for next summer. The wedding will be held in Banff- a spectacular place to visit with the gorgeous mountain views. It is only the beginning of some exciting days ahead. Lest you think that I did not get any quilting things done well that would not be true... Kev and Rose were here  in the beginning part of the week. After they went, I found lots to keep me busy. I finished a couple of novels- one by Lisa Jackson (Wicked Lies) and the other by Kristin Hannah ( Winter Garden).
I got the mystery quilt ( the quilt has already been revealed on Quilt with us Connecting Threads forum) parts cut out and sewed the first part together. I still need to cut the strips into sections so that I can make the four patch blocks. I have barely got this quilt started but I think it will work out pretty well.

I pieced the next part of my blocks together for the Rock Candy purple quilt. My next job is square up the 120 sections so that I can piece the 30 blocks together. It is a pretty quilt but I am not sure that I am going to make it into a large quilt. I also tried to fit in a little beading as I have offered to make a bracelet or two for a fundraiser auction that is being held in mid April. Time goes all to fast so I need to get them finished for the auction.

Yesterday I had a new assistant( Dusty the dog) as I began to cut out 10 baby wraps. I tend to make them in bunches as babies seem to be coming in bunches. A friend at work commissioned me to make a couple and I know of three babies that are to born in the summer that will need a wrap.    Dusty all but disappeared in the pile of minkee... LOL
She does look somewhat pathetic doesn't she? All she wanted to do was sleep in her bed on the floor and the minkee fabric kept getting in the way..

So here is the pile of wraps waiting for me to quilt them together.. The scraps on the right will be turned into bias binding before I put the rest of the fabrics in the scrap box for other projects. Somehow the scrap pile keeps growing..

 I was a lucky lady recently ( actually I am lucky lady all the time) but this good fortune had to do with winning this lovely bracelet and earring set. Isn't it pretty? Do go and check out Elaine's lovely blog- she has recently returned from a trip to Florida- lots of great photos of a fun journey. .http://elaineakers.blogspot.ca/2013/02/time-to-beadbracelets-and-earrings.html
I also won some bunny buttons from Button Mad from an earlier blog hop giveaway.. They are really sweet buttons and will look great on children's clothing or some other fun project.
I return to school on Tuesday so I have one more day to get some more work done on projects. I will have some last bits of paperwork to finish. This school year has flown by - I can't believe we are soon in the last quarter of the school year. There is lots of learning to do but I can see lots of growth in my little ones at school.
 Happy Easter and Happy Spring....

Thanks for dropping by for a visit... Until next time be well..
 I am looking forward to sunshine and green grass..
My other assistant will be watching for it..
Warmest regards,
Anna

Possibilities and The Lost Blogger....

My my, it has been awhile hasn't it!! I haven't meant to disappear from blogland but somehow the month of February disappeared - I know that it is a short month but, for a short month, it was one very full month. This pair of roses with specialty tea, candles and my favorite magazines arrived at our house for Valentine's Day. I love the beautiful contrasting shades of deep pink and pale pink. They graced our table for over two weeks..

My sister and her daughter came to the city to do a special errand- find a wedding dress for my niece, so we got the opportunity to have dinner together. Dinner at Red Lobster was delicious,
 and it was so nice to spend Family Day with some of my family.

Later that same week I reached a milestone of my own- I have worked 35 years as teacher for my schoolboard. The board hosted a lovely evening of beautiful hors d'ouveres and music along with the opportunity to connect with other friends that had also reached some special milestones in their careers. My friend L. has worked for the district for 25 years. The program is full of special things about each of the celebrated years ( 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 years). I feel fortunate to work with so many fantastic people who bring much to the children of our fair city.
Time for creating this month has been pretty limited- I have had lots of paperwork at school with some additional writing that happens only every 5 years.
Have I been quilting or creating this month- well not so much- this new quilt is just barely begun. The pattern is called Rock Candy and, while it is not difficult, it does have lots of cutting and the blocks will only be 8 inch blocks when they are finished. This pile of triangles need to be sewn, then trimmed and then sewn again. I had originally thought I might make a larger bed quilt but I am not sure now.. I haven't even managed to complete one block and I think if I want to make a larger one I would have to make about 72 of them. That is a lot of piecing that would need to happen... HMMM

In case you were wondering if I have had lost my desire to quilt well.. I signed up for a mystery quilt along that is happening right now on Connecting Threads Quilt with Us forum. Do you know this group?
Connecting Threads is a nice company out of Vancouver, Washington that offers very reasonably priced fabric, thread,notions and books. I have bought a number of books, fabrics, thread and batting from them. Their shipping rate is excellent to Canada, or at least it was the last time that I ordered from them in January. The shipping from other shops can be a large deterrent these days when ordering from a US company. Sometimes, when I get to the check out and add the postage, the cost is about 50 dollars more- enough to make me stop and decide not to place the order.

Speaking of possibilities- here are  a couple of possibilites for the mystery quilt. I went upstairs a couple of weekends ago to make some choices from the stash. Here is one that I came up with ...
  and here is another one, that I am thinking of using for the mystery quilt. Perhaps if I wait another week,I will know which way to go- LOL -not much of a mystery, but at least I will know if I like my color choices.
I also have some scarf knitting going on too. I haven't used this boa yarn before and its a bit of challenge to get started, but is so pretty when it does get knit together. It is also very soft...
This past weekend we went to the opening lecture at the Art Gallery ( Canadian Art from Hart House in Toronto) We followed the lecture with a lovely dinner with some other extended family. One of Bruce's uncles was in town for the Friar Brier, that coincides with the Tim Horton's Men's Curling Brier. It was a wonderful evening catching up with nieces and SIL, BIL but especially with our energetic uncle who came to curl at a bonspiel ( he is in his mid 80's) and our sweet grand niece, A., who soon will be two. Four generations always makes for a memorable evening.
On Sunday we had the good fortune to take in a game of the Brier (a big Thank you to our dear friends who generously shared their tickets with us )- The brier determines a national men's champion. The winners were a young team from Northern Ontario . We went to the Bronze medal game and it went an extra end.( The game usually goes 10 ends unless the score is tied and then they play an extra end). We had followed the round robin games all week long on the television, but it is quite a different experience when one sees it live.
We do have fresh flowers that are brightening our table- gorgeous Alstromeria - the pale pink with the bits of wine make a great contrast to the red purply blooms of the other.. If you are still here reading I encourage you to check out the quilt gallery winter blog hop.http://quiltinggallery.com/quilting-fun/blog-hop-participants-03-2013.asp Lots of wonderful blogs to check out and some great giveaways happening too.

Next week our son is coming for a visit- we are so looking forward to seeing him and his girl. It has been a year since his last visit.We appreciate our many conversations on Skype but there is nothing like seeing them in the flesh.. After they return home- I still will have some spring break holidays so maybe these possibility quilts will turn into some real quilting. I expect I might need some creative therapy after they return home.. I promise to return to the blog sooner this time.
Thanks for dropping by.. I always appreciate your comments, but most of all, the friendship that I have enjoyed from all of you out in Blogland.
We had some melting happening here in Alberta- perhaps Spring is just around the corner.
Warmest regards,
Anna 

The long days of Winter

January is one of those months that sometimes, seems to go on forever. Once January is finished, I feel like the rest of the year speeds on by.. This January has been particularly long and I have had my share of being physically under the weather. I am now on the mend.  Hopefully,we are soon going to be past the mid point of the long winter season, for which I am glad.  The snow continues to fall and the temperature dropped down into the frigid area of the thermometer earlier this week. Today it has warmed up some, which will make getting out and about this weekend more pleasant. One way my wonderful spouse brings spring into the house, is with flowers. These lilies were a gorgeous color and opened beautifully.

And what about these lovely purple tulips!!! Tulips are such happy flowers don't you think? They come in so many spectacular colors and this shade of purple is one of my favorites..

 This was a shared project as I did not piece this lovely quilt. It was made by a dear friend who decided that she no longer liked it when it was finished. Have you ever done that-got tired of a UFO project? What have you done with those UFOS? Do you keep them or pass them on to someone else?

Mars certainly approves of this quilt- It is a traditional block- I believe that it is a drunkard's path pattern and has lots of curved piecing it. Do you like to make traditional block designs- Dresden plate, Drunkard's path, Star blocks, Log cabin , Irish chain and other such designs? This past week there has been a fun blog hop called Dare to be Dresden. Sew we quilt  is a link that will take you to Madame Samm's blog hop. There were some wonderful Dresden plate patterned quilts and projects to view- some of them offered giveaways, and all of them shared some terrific blocks and variations of the Dresden plate pattern. You will be able to see some traditional creations as well as  modern intrepretations of the block. Check it out - I am sure you will enjoy the many beautiful projects.  By the way, the Dresden Plate was the first quilt block I ever made.

I love the floral fabric in this quilt. It is definitely a pink quilt with a mint green strip used as an accent in it. I used a polished cotton on the back. It quilted up quite nicely and I am sure it will be well used by its new owner. I still need to bind it and will probably use the mint green fabric for the binding. 

While I have not quilted very much this month, I have knit up a few more of the frilly scarves. They are so fun to make and it is quite interesting to see how the different yarns make up. I really like the nubbly yarn on the right and the soft twist and curly one on the left.

NHL hockey has returned - Wahoooo! For those of you who live in other parts of the world, Hockey is Canada's national sport. Our son played minor hockey growing up- attending games and practises both indoors and outside, was part of the fabric of our lives for about a dozen years. The snowglobe graces our table during the winter season. 

Each morning I start my day with a cup of tea- I love many different kinds, though my new favorite is ginger peach, when I am not drinking chai. This snowman cup is a real day brightener and makes me smile.

Winter and snowmen seem to be everywhere in my world just now. I am looking forward to February with some hearts and flowers to enjoy. Valentine's day is one of my school kids favorite times of year. They love making letters and cards for their friends.  And of course , they love the chocolate treats and candy hearts to read...

 As far as quilting goes, I have some new projects on the horizon and an old one that I want to complete. It is a cube quilt and has been in a bag for well over 5 years- I have made many rows of beautiful batik flag like shapes  but need to piece all those flags together to make cubes. I have had some difficulty getting my head around this project so I am hoping this time I will finally figure out how the pattern works. I am also intending to attend a workshop around the middle of February so do come back and see how I am doing with my quilting goals.

Until next time, stay warm ( or cool if you live in the land down under) ...

Warmest regards,

Anna

 

Three quilts and three machines... Happy New Year too..

At the beginning of January these lovely tulips graced our table. There is something special about tulips- maybe its that in the dead of winter I long for spring. This winter seems like it has been around for a long time. We have had a fair amount of snow and cold. I miss the grass and the flowers so tulips always make me feel better- that spring may return soon- even if it is only indoors.

 

While school returned this week- I did not after the first day- felled by illness that has kept me away from the classroom for a few days. I am feeling much better and will be ready to go again on Monday but it has been a rather strange week. Since my energy was minimal, I took some time to read blogs and one of my Aussie blogging friends posted about the beautiful forest in her neck of the woods. Here is a photo of my husband standing inside a tree in the Cathedral forest on Vancouver Island. My husband is tall( just over 6 feet and he disappears in the base of  these massive trees. It is protected and is a park of sorts that is about a two hour drive north of Victoria.

When I wrote last time, I shared the quilts that I delivered during the festive season. Here is my brother and his beautiful wife receiving their belated anniversary quilt.

And a view of it spread out on a bed - if it appears lumpy it is because Mars was hiding underneath as she sometimes likes to do..

This lovely lady and her husband were the recipients of the pansy sidelines quilt. We are checking out all the luscious pansy fabrics together.

I thought some might be interested in seeing this gorgeous pansy backing. It turns added so much to this quilt. It is such a stunning piece of fabric. Thanks again to my friend Linda(no blog)who generously shared this piece of fabric.

Mars was not too impressed when we interrupted her sleep to take photos of this quilt. Here is a frontal view of the quilt..

My friend, Sherry brought a piece of quilted clothing to show me- it is gorgeous and is made by another friend of my parents. Mrs. P. used an old sweater as a foundation to handquilt all these pieces to the front and back bodices of this sweater. Her stitching is beautiful- very neat and even - I have never hand pieced any thing so I marvel at Mrs. P's wonderful intricate work.

I mentioned last time that I received a lovely package of bags in the mail from Sue. I finally got a photo of the these terrific fabric bags- Aren't they pretty? I am sure that they will be filled with treasures next Christmas. Thank You,Sue If you click on her name you can check out her blog- it is a fun place to visit..
When we came back from my folks I finished the third quilt in the holiday. It graces our loveseat in our living room. It is hard to get a good photo of the colors as the quilt is quite red. I quilted around the individual poinsettia flowers in the border.

My husband found this lovely scarf at the Alberta Craft Council. It is silk and has a grain elevator on it- I love it. I am a prairie girl through and through and these elevators remind me of my childhood when the prairies I call home were speckled with them. They are all but disappeared these days. Bruce knows how much I love handmade things and this one is particularly gorgeous.

If you have visited before, you will know that I am a big rock fan. This beautiful piece was given to me as an anniversary gift from my husband. It is a piece of lapis luzuli and is a gorgeous deep bluey purple color. I love the antique like shape of the pendant with the lovely scroll work - sorry about the fuzzy photo of it..

The last thing I did in my sewing area last weekend was tidy up the many boxes of fabric scattered hither and yon around the small space. On Christmas Eve I worked on my three different sewing machines. Here is my babylock quilting machine( I can see I need to fix my bulletin board behind my table-LOL) It is a good quilting machine and I have quilted a king sized quilt with it without any difficulty at all. I put the pedal to the metal and can really motor with it. I hope to get back upstairs quilting one day soon so that I can get some more quilts finished.

Here is the other extreme - my little featherweight (vintage Singer 1947)I recently took it to the shop because it had a short in the wiring and gave off a good spark. I have it back at home and it is now working like a charm. Mars certainly likes to come and check it out no matter what machine I am using..

I have used this little gem the longest. It is nice little Elna 6003 that I was given around 2000 and still does the job. On Christmas Eve it was my finishing machine. I was able to blind hem the binding of the two quilts at the top. Three machines and three completed quilts over the holiday. I completed two of them in one day. Not bad for one long day's work - though I don't think I will try that again any time soon..

Are you still with me- if so- you can see how the beautifully the tulips opened and then drooped. They were glorious bits of spring for a few days..

And for a change of pace - some orchids- very interesting color - almost tan in color but quite pretty too..

As we begin a new year I wish you and yours time to create and find Joy in the daily bits of life. Live ,laugh and love joyfully in 2013. Until next time- be well if you can, Warmest regards, Anna

More than a month of news... flowers, people and quilts..

It has been awhile since I last posted- longer than I intended to leave my blog- Somehow these last weeks have flown by...At times, I could not sit down to write- my heart was aching for the tragic events that happened in Newtown Connecticut.I have spent many years working with young children. I still can not describe the sadness and grief that took hold of me in mid December as the story of those children and teachers came over the media. We hugged our students and said our prayers and wrote words of condolence to somehow come to terms with the senseless loss of those beautiful little ones and dedicated teachers. Sometimes there are no words... I have been finishing projects and was very busy at school as well as fighting a cold and cough that often arrives just before Christmas break. These beautiful orchids were sent to Bruce and I from my school staff in remembrance of Bruce's mother. They were a stunning arrangement that graced our table for days. We appreciated the thoughtful cards sent by others that were of comfort after her passing.

Bruce brought home these gorgeous red roses with some babies breath for my birthday. It was a quiet birthday but as always, it was marked with a dinner out and something special. This year we went to see a concert - a band called Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. They had some guests with them that included Murray McLauchlan, Matt Anderson, Janiva Magness and Amy Helm( Levon Helm's daughter). It was a great concert - my favorite was Matt Anderson- His voice reminds of the lead singer of the Committments band. He has a great album called Coal Miner's Blues..

A recent photo in Christmas red that my mom took...

And some poinsettia plants that grace our table each Christmas season. We decorated our wedding reception with poinsettia plants as we were married on Boxing Day(December 26) I also received a beautiful plant arrangement that has a poinsettia plant in the middle of it.

My students wrote letters to Santa in late November and one day just before Christmas break, Santa arrived at school with some special presents for each of my students. It is a wonderful afternoon that reminds one of the specialness of the holiday season. There is nothing like the magical experience of Santa Claus as seen through young children's eyes.

Dusty the dog likes to be close by us all the time. Recentl, she got a little too close to one of the roller chairs and ended up with a sore paw. We took her off to the vet to make sure that her foot was alright- which is was but her ears were not so we got some ear medication for her.

Mars didn't want to be left out- she is a senior cat who was having her own health problems. Off we went with her to the vet and came home with some antibiotics for her too.

Here they are sleeping peacefully together- it is a rare occurrance these days. They both a bit of a diva, so it is hard to convince them that they both are equal pets. My money is on Mars- she really does own the house(even if Dusty disagrees with the concept). LOL

Our son Kevin celebrated his 25th birthday in December. This photo was taken awhile back- we often Skype him and I love this photo of him laughing at something that he was sharing with his dad. Happy Birthday Son- We are so proud of you and love you very much.

We spent the first part of this holiday season with my parents. It was lovely to have a few days with them. I hadn't been to see my folks since September so that is quite a long time between visits. It is nice that they have a computer so we can Skype with them too.

Bruce and I celebrated our 32nd wedding anniversary on December 26th. We had a lovely time in the mountains in the summer where this photo was taken. If you get a chance to visit the Canadian Rockies do- it really is a beautiful spot and very majestic. On this day, the temperature was cool and gray. The sun on the rocks is particularly spectacular!

Last year my brother and his wife celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. I thought it was about time for another quilt for them. It took me longer than I would have liked but I was pleased with the finished product. I spent Christmas Eve day quilting and binding the cream and blue quilt as well as the pink pansy quilt below. I don't recommend marathon quilting. A dozen hours later I finished the two quilts. However, I was thrilled to have completed these two quilts.

I will show you the back of this quilt and the labels next time...  The  back is a wonderful pansy fabric that a friend had in her stash. It really makes this quilt. It was a gift for a friend who celebrated a special birthday. Her favorite flowers are pansies and she was thrilled with it. A big Thank You to my friend Linda for being so generous with her stash. It worked perfectly for this quilt.  As you can see, Mars approved of the quilt too.

Today I spent the afternoon quilting- I have now quilted this poinsettia quilt. I hope to trim it and bind it in the next couple of days. It has been a productive holiday and I am not finished yet. I have another quilt that I want to get quilted and I need to make a couple of block of the month blocks. I also need to get some baby quilts made up and there is always some school work to do. I am glad to have these days off to get caught up to myself...LOL I would love to sort some fabric upstairs so that the fabric was better organized. There are too many piles of unsorted fabrics and it makes finding fabric a challenge- a fun one but never the less still a challenge.

I got a package of wonderful fabric bags from Sue that I won in her blog hop giveaway. We use fabric bags for our Christmas stockings at my folks so I know that my mom will love them. Thank you Sue- it was a special prize. Today is the last day of 2012. I hope that 2013 is filled with many good things for you and your loved ones. I would like to wish everyone a year of good health, happiness and prosperity in 2013. Warmest regards, Anna,