On To The Next Thing...

Even though my birthday is not the end of the year, is usually feels like it is.  This has been a year that caused some upsets, but like all the other things in my life, I just put my head down and keep trudging along -- have to say that my Mom taught me that. When I was a child and had walked home from school in a winter storm and came in crying that I was so cold I could hardly move my mother said to me, just put your head down and keep on going 'cause if you don't you will freeze and die out there - keep moving cause it will keep you warm...  That little piece of wisdom has helped me though many tough times in my life.  Just keep on going...

This last day of the year is time to finish up and think about new things.  New Years Day is really just any other day, but in todays society it means a new start, a reason to correct mistakes or clear up old habits that may not be good for us.  A day to start new things and try new things...

This year, I have developed a bit of a whine, it has not been the best year ever for me and I have somehow developed a habit of blaming it on other things and other people - and sure some people have upset me BUT I am the one who has let them!  So my own little change is to try to get back to my own little independent self.  Only I steer my life, so I need to make it go in the direction I want it to...   Other lives do affect mine, but I have to find a way to minimize those effects and either change my direction or deal with the effects that another persons life has on mine...  Easy to say, now, just to try to do it!

I have been finishing up a small lap size quilt for my cousin.  This little quilt is RELATED to the christmas quilt I finished up in the fall because the blocks are made by a co operative group, so my cousins blocks have sat in her closet for as many years as mine did -- so I offered to put them together and complete a quilt for her -- she did buy the extra fabrics needed to sash and bind it and I pieced together leftover bits of batting from other projects so it has not cost me anything except the time -- which I must say I have more Free time than alot of other people who have larger families or full time jobs...

One of my favourite things is the Birthday Lunch (or party or simple gathering) that I usually share with my cousins. I do like simple things and just getting together to say hello how are you is a highlight of my life.  I don't like big get togethers, just a few friends enjoying each others company -- I used to wonder why, but now I know and it is a selfish reason - I like to be a big fish in a little pond and am never comfortable being a little fish in a big pond -- if you know what I mean...

Well, now, off to finish up my cousins Christmas Quilt -- definately it will be ready for her to show off next year at christmas in her house, and to think about what things I can do to put my life on its own track without relying on or blaming anyone for its direction.

HAPPY NEW YEAR (AND A SAFE ONE TOO)

Quiet for Christmas

In my house, Christmas is a very quiet time.  My sons are grown and even though we usually have Christmas dinner together, we no longer feel the need to exchange gifts or go places or do alot of 'seasonal' things.   It doesn't mean though that we don't enjoy watching what others enjoy about the season -- the decorated trees, the crowded malls, the gatherings and parties that my friends and relatives send to me in pictures.

 My nieces in Victoria have been sending me pictures of their children opening and playing with their gifts -- it is a joyful and memorable time of their life.  The photos from my cousins of their children and grandchildren gathered for a Christmas Eve tradition they call Fish Pond is always fun to see - young to old all taking part in recreating the nativity play and then "fishing" for gifts in a "pond".  I so much enjoy seeing photos of  a new baby boy, born a couple of weeks before, with a beautiful dark head of hair, he is born into a loving and sharing family. 

Letters and cards from distant family and friends arrive in my home and those will go into my memory albums of Christmas cards from the past 50 years or so!  Looking through and remembering the people and places where those cards came from is one of my favourite activities of this season.  Opening and reading words that both of my grandmother's sent to me through the years, just looking at their writing is a wonderful memory.  Cards, both birthday and christmas sent to me by my father brings back the memories of the wood doll house he made for me when I was about 5 years old, of the bottle of nail polish he gave me the winter I turned 13 and so, so many other memories of him. 

Now this year I added some letters and cards that were not written specifically to me, but to an Aunt of mine. When I traveled to Manitoba this past summer she gave me letters my Mother had written to her through many many years .  There were some very insightful words and thoughts that were in those letters from my Mom, many years ago.  My Mom passed away, just over a year ago and those letters will be one of my great treasures.  My very earliest card in my collection is from my Aunt Vera -- she was my godmother and was an important part of my growing up years, she sent me a birthday and christmas card when I turned 7 and now it is such a cherished piece of my past!  As a child, perhaps cards are not so important as the gift that comes with it, but somewhere, somewhen I started to save these things and today when many of these people have passed away, their thoughts written in those cards are now so very important to me...

I guess that is what Christmas is to me, for the most part, a time to remember those who have been and gone and those who for many different reasons I cannot visit with in person.  My brothers who live a distance from me and have close to them their own children and grandchildren, my sister who chooses not to correspond or communicate with me or my brothers for reasons that she only knows.  I miss them all and I think of them at Christmas.

Well back to sewing and finishing up a Christmas Quilt for a friend -- not meant for this Christmas, though, so it certainly is not late - she had quilt blocks saved from years ago, and when I saw them I said I would put them together and she would have a finished quilt for next year... I will be posting pictures of it soon as the top is almost together.

continued organization

Gee, there is SO MUCH to get organized!  Working, creating in a jangle of fabric is possible and I have been doing it, but as things get put in its proper place, the projects become easier to form in my head and the tools and supplies are easier to put together for a project.  On Tuesday, I received two middling size boxes of MORE fabric!  Alot of scraps and christmasy fabrics along with about 4 unfinished projects started by the lady who passed along this bonanza...  How much fun is it to look through then sort in colour or type a stack of new to me fabic - LOTS OF FUN!  I decided that with all that fabric I could call a few of my quilting buddies and offer them a pick through of the fabrics too...  Everyone of them took home a small stack of their favourites!  But before they came over, I added a box of quilting magazines to the give away pile -- and some of those went off to a new home too!  Better in hands that will make use of them than sitting in a box at the back of a closet...

One of the unfinished project cried to be complete, so I spent about 3 hours finishing this little quilt.  The top was already done and even the batting was packed with it, so I put on a backing and cross hatch quilted the centre "trip around the world" area on my machine, and free motion quilted a string of hearts all around the border, picked out another fabric from the boxes and put on the binding.  It is just a crib size quilt so did not take much to finish up.  Now, today, I think I will take it over to the lady who passed along those boxes of fabrics to me...

Today, back to reorganizing and cleaning project -- I better be quick because another interruption of gifted fabrics could render the project at hand impossible if I find another quilt that is in need of finishing -- as if I don't have enough WiP's of my own!

Sorting, Organizing, Gifting, Making Room

I know practically everyone is making and buying things for christmas, sewing and crochet, baking and shopping for those who think something home made is a not particularly interesting gift -- who would want a quilt when they can have a new ipod or something similar???  I am a non conformist.  The gifts I give are pretty much ALL home made if someone doesn't want those kind of things, I would appreciate them saying that I shouldn't bother to make something for them cause they would rather have a store bought thing -- and since I don't do store bought, except toys for a few kids - I feel quite guilt free in not spending time or money on someone who doesn't want what I make...  Harsh, well, I don't think so, but then some might.

Anyway, since all my present making is complete and I don't do Malls at this time of year, so is all my shopping...

So.  As you have perhaps read from the previous few posts one of my local fabric chain stores are closing down (we hope it is just to change locations).  I think I have bought my fair share of 50%, 60% and 80% off fabrics in the last couple of weeks!  Now, since I do have a sewing room but only one closet as my fabric storage area and I try not to overflow it -- I am in need of making space as most of what I bought is still in bags on the floor.  Unacceptable, cause it makes it difficult to get from sewing machine to ironing board to cutting table.  I am going to dedicate this week to a clean-up, clean-out, organizing, and scrap cutting (into uniform squares)-- 2 1/2, 3 1/2, and 5" squares and 2 1/2 inch wide strips.  I already have shoe boxes that are designated for those very sizes, so all those odd size scraps can but cut and put away and the scrap box emptied and begun again.

Every sewer, well many of them do get their rooms in an untidy mess on occassion so this is my year end project -- shouldn't take more than a week, I hope...

And the other reason for concentrating on the job this week is because one of my most unfavourite events occured yesterday -- it snowed...  the weather guy says the snow should be gone by tomorrow but I don't count on it.  My cousin loves the snow, especially at christmas--but other than looking pretty when it is freshly fallen, I see nothing nice about snow -- for me, it is dangerous (mobility issues) and the cold and dry doesn't agree with me at all...

Other than that, it is really quite a wonderful day...

Promises

Aw, well, I didn't get back to you on Monday -- but I was ever so busy!

I had christmas presents to wrap and box up to ship to the nieces and their daughters... I don't generally do very much for Christmas, but that is one thing I enjoy -- finding things for little girls is a new adventure to me. Dresses and purses and dolly type things. Pink and purple and bright bright blue!


Then my long suffering spouse finally caught me in a soft moment and I agreed it was time to replace our 22 year old RCA stereo TV. We bought it in the spring of 1987 for $999.99 with our tax refund for that year... It was the biggest and best TV we had ever had. After a bit of shopping, not too much, actually, my husband chose a 32" Sony HD and who knows what else, for only $479. I say only because compared to the old RCA the new Sony has bells and whistles not even thought of 22 years ago! Only down side, is we have to wait for the cable company to come and bring and hook up the digital box so we can benefit from all the extra channels available.

But really all that did not take up the whole day, not nearly...

Up here in the Pacific Northwest we are generally in our RAINY season, but yesterday it turned cold, brrrrrrr, cold...
The rain means cloud, doesn't it? In fact, in my little townhouse even a sunny day has not particularly been very sunny for our neighbour has had three very large trees in their yard that just happened to block any chance of sun even on the sunniest of sunny days. Well, in August just past we went away on a bit of a holiday, and when we came back, the first thing we noticed was NO TREES! Until I saw those three trees removed I did not realize how much of the daylight we had been lacking...

NOW......

Archie, our three year old siamese craves the kitchen window sill every morning when the sun peeks out. Today, even with the cold - it is almost 8 degrees below zero CELSIUS.... He is basking in the sun and enjoying the smells and freshness. Can you imagine a more luxurious and happy existance?

NOW.

Where my kitchen used to be gloomy and always feeling cold, I am inspired to make a double batch of oatmeal and raisen drop cookies.
There might be quilting done later today, but for now I am going spend an hour or two or maybe even three creating cookies in my wonderful sunny happy kitchen.

A woman's perogative...

Yep, as they used to say -- I think, it implied that women were a bit air headed or flighty -- that it was a woman's perogative to change her mind...  Today, though in most cases a changeable mind is a good thing.

So the new quilt is not going to be based on that churn dash block -- regardless how much I like it, it just did not want to set up nicely in that scrappy type of quilt -- I guess the block is more suited to about 4 strong fabric contrasts with a sashing and wide borders, not a scrappy block with no sashing in between.  I have not put a picture up today because the new organization of fabrics in rectangles, squares and triangles is not as yet "set in stone" so by the end of the weekend I should have made that decision and perhaps have a good part of the quilt top put together...

Now.  Another dilemna.  Fabricland, which is pretty much the only large fabric store (chain) in the province, maybe even in the western part of Canada, is closing out their local store, though they are planning to reopen when they find a suitable retail space, and because of that, they are having clearence of pretty much everything in the store....  70% off is pretty excellent pricing when it comes to getting those quilting tools -- today I bought myself a new 24 x 36 cutting mat for just over $32.00  usually priced around 150.00 -- along with that I picked up fabrics about 15 meters worth.  Thats not all, a couple of rulers--12 1/2 x 12 1/2 and a 4 1/2 x 4 1/2...  Is there more I need to stock up on?  You bet there is!  But some things are sold out already -- not a spool of white or beige or black or grey thread of any type to be found in the store!   Also I am thinking buying alot of fabric is not really a good choice unless I am buying the fabric as quilt backing because as trends change and even my own colour preferences change too much of this past seasons fabrics  may bog me down and at some future point I may resent having some of these fabrics in my stash along with the guilt that I should use what I have before going out and buying more...  So I am not looking at feature fabrics for future quilts but fabric that "reads as solids" or are relatively neutral so that they will be good for the backing on future quilts...  It is rather difficult though even to choose those types of fabrics cause even though I tend to make twin or lap size quilts , will I need a 5 meter piece or 7 or maybe even 10 meters to use on the back...  Well, I may take a wander back to the store on Monday just to check out what might still be on the shelves and do I want any of it???   I will certainly be thinking for the next little while.

Churn Dash for Christmas

When my sons were children, each year for my birthday, which is Christmas Eve all I ever asked for was time to sew on that day. Mostly their father would take the boys to the local community centre and they would spend time out on the ice playing Dad and Sons hockey, or if that wasn't possible the would often go to a park nearby and trudge along the snowy trails.   I sewed to my heart's content and usually made a christmas quilt or at least started it for the next christmas.

Now I don't have to save my sewing time for odd moments when the kids were at school or asleep and when their father did not need me to help wrap presents or to bake christmas cookies and other christmasy type things.  Today, and most every day now, time is all my own - the boys are grown and have their own places, and the light of my life has his own things to keep him occupied -- so I can start on my Christmas Quilt before Christmas Eve.

I am beginning to have quite a few quilts associated with Christmas - a few queen sized that took more than one Christmas season to complete.  This year, I happened upon some Moda Charm Packs as you can see in the photos below.

I did purchase 4 charm square packs a couple of months back, but it was not til yesterday, that I pulled them out of their bag.  Yep, even though the charm squares are called Peace On Earth, they are not too, too Christmasy.   First being quite partial to triangle, I took two of the packs and make them into a stack of half square triangles.  Then I had to think on it for a few days, or was it weeks?  Anyway, some time in the last 24 hours I decided the charm packs would become, Churn Dash (Hole in the Barn Door) Blocks.

Not sewn yet into blocks, but the plan in my head says that they will be alternate light or dark blocks, so today, I will spend a bit of time, putting the blocks together and thinking on whether or not the top will be needing a border or no...

Oh, I also want to point you to the Sew, Mama Sew blog/website.   They have a listing for Giveaway Days.  Check out Sew, Mama Sew and follow through some of the blogs that are offering giveaways.  My friend Marianne Penner  is participating and has a wonderful giveaway on her blog too.  So perhaps you can go visit and maybe find yourself the happy recipient of a gift!

A Big Hit

I made these to fill in some time while tv watching - wristwarmers that I thought really were to use up some extra yarn -- second hand store yarn at that!  I wore them to a craft fair this past weekend,  big old barn type of place that I knew would be cool and I wanted that little touch of warmth while helping to man a booth for 4 hour stints.  Well they worked beautifully, but there were none for sale - the booth was quilt related items, not crochet.  I ended up talking almost more about these wristwarmers than of the items for sale -- I even demonstrated a couple of times how to do the particular stitch and gave people some estimates of the number of stitches.   Now, I am working on two pair as gifts -- seems if strangers thought they were pretty great, well relatives (for christmas gifts) might also like them.

The crochet stitch I used was a half double crochet and about 45 chain stitches to start.  After doing the base row of chain stitches, I did two chain stitch to act as the first hdc of the first row, then a hdc in every chain.  Row 2 is chain two that acts as the first hdc, then 1 hdc in every back loop of each hdc of the row.  Row 3 is again those two chain and 1 hdc in every front loop of each hdc.  This is created a simulated ribbing as in knitting.  Now depending on your hand you repeat rows 2 and 3 for about 5 inches (this is for a medium womans hand -- 4 1/2 " for small hand and about 5 1/2 to 5 3/4" for a large hand)-- this should snuggly fit around your hand, then don't cut your yarn but crochet the two sides down for about 6 stitches -- then slip stitch on one side about six stitches - this creates the thumb opening.  Continue to join the long seams together to the end.  Now you have a very nice wrist warmer (or fingerless gloves if you want to call them that).  You can add stitches to the thumb hole to give a bit more coverage to the thumb - 10 to 12 single crochet around the thumb hole for 3 or 4 rows.  Finally you can add a row or two of single crochet to the top and bottom of the tube to give it a more finished edge.  Great for driving, or typing in an office where the boss is too cheap to turn up the heat!   If you need more detail or instruction, there are other variations of this idea all over the internet -- even one on the Lionbrand site (clik on the link on my side bar) or just google "free patterns for crochet (or knitted) wristwarmers".

I must say, it was a surpise at how interested people were in them  -- the new thing? maybe?

And this is the first one of the second set that I am working on, here you can see, a bit better the way the thumb and top edge is worked.  Let me know if you try out these and how they work for you.

Start Over

I am going to give this a more consistent try. In fact I am planning to set time aside just to write for this blog, so expect a "story" on Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. I do plan to post more on crafty things but also I seem to have developed a bit of a talent for finding interesting and useful things at other websites on the internet so you will find yourself directed to some of those things. There are so many people who not only have a wonderful talent for making things but they are so very creative when it comes to making whole new and innovative things. So many things to do and such a short time to do it in, but I do hope that I can point you in a useful direction.

Hopefully on the odd occasion, I will present a few of my own ideas or variations of someone else's ideas. I try not to steal ideas purposly but sometimes the basics can become something that seems new but maybe is not... So, I surely won't be claiming that the things that I post are completely original - nothing really is, is it? We learn a trick or a technique somewhere and then we build a bit onto it, then another builds on that idea, so originality is becoming pretty scarce in truth, I think. Learning and creating variations of what we learn is a facinating pastime, and perhaps I can help myself and maybe you too along that path...

So if you will come back to me and read my blog, I will endeavour to be consistant and have something for you to read and learn on a regular schedule from now on... How 'bout that for a promise? It almost reads like a JOB! Well, lets get into the habit and soon enough, I'm sure it won't really be a job...

The idea is to enjoy what you do, and I like to tell stories, I like to quilt and crochet and try out just about anything else that strikes my fancy.

There are projects ahead and ideas and projects still bubbling in my head, so in the next week or so I am going to go over a few things that I am just getting started on, and some ideas that are simmering in my "witch's cauldron" of a brain...

Tomorrow comes along pretty quick, so check back and I'll have something interesting to start off with...

Drive

We went for a ride over to Victoria on Vancouver Island early this week. I love the way the mixture of trees create such a variety of colour, the yellows of the maples and the deep greens of the cedars and spruce. This is the beginning of our Rainy Season and the higher you go, the whiter that 'rain' becomes -- the picture below is going up Number One Hwy to Duncan just past Goldstream Park climbing up the Malahat. Treacherous in winter but very pretty now.

Making Dinner Napkins - a picture tutorial

Cut yourself a "tool" to make a straight folded edge -- a piece of cardboard from a cereal box that is 1 inch wide and preferably longer than the fat quarter napkin - 20" inches or more if using the Canadian metric fat quarter (20" x 22") so cut to a 20" square.

Lay the cardboard tool along one side of the napkin and fold over the unfinished edge. The edge should just cover the tool -- now press the fabric so that it neatly comes over the tool, just covering it -- you have now created the first fold of your hem, it will be exactly 1", do this on all four sides of the cloth.

The corners should fold over as shown in the picture below, make sure the corners are squared up as perfectly as possible, if your fold over tends to overlap outside the edge of the hem at the corner, then your napkin is not cut square -- or your fabric is not woven square -- washing the fabric before cutting is a good idea because it helps the fabric to square itself up on the grainlines -- if you sew the napkin and it is not squared up on the grainlines, it will never fold squarely or look quite right if when it is folded on your table and the corners do not match up nicely -- but then thats just me, if you don't mind it a bit off square at it works for you, then, well, that's just fine.Now once you have all sides pressed, open each corner and snip off the little triangle, from each folded line, just as shown in the photo below.Now, fold over the corner with the snipped off bit, and line up the folds making sure that the "fold " exactly crosses the corner where the two pressed lines come together. You can use the iron or just finger press each edge down so that it will form a mitered corner. Now do all four corners this way, steam press to make good sharp folds.

Now fold under about 1/2 inch so that the raw edge of the fabric does not show. Press all around the napkin again, if well pressed, you may not need pins to hold the hem in place, but if you are unsure, use a couple of pins so that you do not loose the "hem".

Each corner should finish as shown above (a little blurry) then sew with a matching thread and a even straight stitch all around the napkin. If my explaination is not as clear as it could be, there are a number of other websites that are available to read through and quite probably explain something that I have miss out. After doing more than 40 of these napkins, I tend to not really think of each step along the way.

Check out About.com and search for cloth napkins, or just google, home made cloth napkins and you will find a variety of ideas and methods for sewing this simple but very useful project. Each napkin from cutting to finished sewing, takes me about 20 minutes -- so you are spending more time than money on this project. If you buy finished good quality napkins in a retail store, they will cost about $15, if you get good quality cotton at sale prices you can make 4 napkins (1 meter or 1 yard plus 4 inches) for about $2.50 and an hour and a half of your time.

Work?

Way back in February, a friend showed me a technique for creating dinner napkins. She was in the process of moving from a wonderfully huge house, including at studio space where she held quilt and sewing classes. She and her hubby had decided to move into a smaller condo in the downtown area of the big city and she was clearing her stash, sort of...
I am a "quick study" so it only took a few moments to catch onto her method and now, I have so far sewed about 42 napkins, with at least that many to go.

So using her many fat quarters, she was making EVERYDAY dinner napkins. They take a bit of time, the hem is fiddly if you want it too look just right, but they are so worth it! I discovered an assortment of last years christmas fabrics at a fabric outlet store and bought 18 meters! 3 meters of each colour that I liked. Now I am in the process of making dinner napkins for my friends to use at Christmas time. I actually don't give Christmas gifts. These in fact would be a waste if given at the tradition time -- so about a week or so before I will be delivering these to my friends and family. Not all of the napkins are Christmasy, though. I thought while I am on this "kick" I may as well go into my own stash and do some 'clear-out' so I am making a few everyday dinner napkins ---- for ME!

Please Note: The napkins are made using metric measurements (again sort of) In Canada, our fabrics are sold in meters and centimeters, though most of our fabrics are American produced. A meter of fabric is just about 40 inches - technically just a bit under that, but most every shop counts the fabric meter at 40 inches. Therefore a fat quarter here measures about 22" x 20". When I cut my fabric to make these napkins, they are based on that meter length, so from on meter I can get 4 napkins that measure 20 inches x 20 inches before the hem is done (18"x 18") finished. In order for this size napkin to be made using the "yardage system" you need 4 more inches on the length of a yard, or if you want to make 12 napkins the same you need an extra foot on three yards. I think it is more economical to purchase that extra 1/3 of a yard and wind up with napkins just that little bit larger, than to cut off the 3 inches of waste from the yard length and almost 5 inches from the width. So if you buy American fat quarters (18" x 20") you have no choice but to use an 18" square and finish at 16", but if you buy American yardage, get the extra 4 inches to call it a meter and you can wind up with a full 20" square...

Well, This World

A picture just for the sake of a picture... This is a portion of the former school grounds at Lavenham, Manitoba where my dad went to school in the 1920's.

There has not been much sewing going on so I don't have any in progress pictures. I have been trying my damnedest to get to making something using the sewing machine, but it seems there is nothing that is particularly inspiring (well, except for a quilt called the firewood quilt on another blog) But the effort preventing the start of that project is, is that I have two already layered quilts that need quilting, and I am trying to keep my "in progress" projects to a minimum. The other in progress project is my christmas list -- in the past few years I have kept christmas giving to a minimum partly because of finances and partly because of a growing disillusionment with the consumerism of gift giving -- the wal-marts of the world with their slogans at christmas encouraging you to buy just a little bit more, or you deserve more... Or even save on this so that you can spend more on that... Anyway, I still don't plan to do much in the way of shopping come Christmas, but I am already working on hand crafted gifts -- if I bought what I am making it would cost near to $60 for each person who I am doing these gifts for, but this way, it costs much less in actual money but much more -- about 4 to 5 hours of my time.



I bought wonderful little dresses last year for my four great-nieces, but this year I am going to make (I hope) dresses for them. I did get the fabric and the patterns, but like I say, I still have to get some other inprogress projects completed first... Whew!



Now not only is there sewing "on my plate" as the clique goes, but things working inside my head too. I had a dream last night that I signed up for some classes! Then in the dream, I WALKED to the school - forgot to bring some paperwork with me so WALKED home then WALKED back to the school to finish my registration for the classes! Now if you know me, I have not been very stable on my feet for most of this year due to health issues --- I wonder if this dream is not just about being inclined to take on something new, but that I will be ABLE to take on this something! I do believe my natural inclination to optimism has begun to take over the past few months of almost depression...

The Lone Prairie

This is REALLY flat land! When I was growing up in Manitoba, in school we were taught that the Canadian Prairies were called the bread basket of the world. As we drove through both the middle agricultural production areas of the provinces and the southern agri areas we saw the golden wheat at its maturity and the equipment used by the farmers to harvest not only wheat but many other crops. In some areas, where the ground itself was not so great for crops, there were many thousands of cattle, both for meat production and for milk. We saw, bison ranches in southern alberta and lamas or alpacas in southern Manitoba. Food on the hoof, was everywhere around us.

The prairie was not just prairie, but great expanses of water -- lakes and rivers, creeks and ponds -- how could any of these crops be grown without WATER? The fun part of water is the beaches, Grand Beach about 75 kms north of Winnipeg has been an attraction for many years. Manitoba's summer equivalent for those within an hours' drive to the hot winter resorts of Mexico and other summer climates. The white sand dunes are something special to me; I have photos of my parents at Grand Beach in the 1940's, and pictures of my sons building castles in the sand, and now a few shots of the beach today.

And a couple of BIG THINGS we saw along the way. The World's Largest Tomahawk in Cut Knife, Saskatchewan, where my grandfather's sister Rose lived. Because we were there on a weekday at the end of the summer season, there were no people about, Cut Knife is a very small village but their display was a wonderment and an unexpected treat. Surrounding the tomahawk, but set back a bit was some orginal buildings from the town area - a general store, an early settler's log cabin, a church and a school. Cut Knife is tucked away down a back road and is not a destination one would specifically head for, but if it is on your way or not too far out of your way, stop in for a bit of a picnic an to wander amongst the old buildings and history of the town...

Another, unexpected surprise, was the World's Largest Elk. This worlds largest was not on our list but there it was, in the town, or more like, the village of Onanole, Manitoba. Just as we came out of Riding Mountain National Parks (a mountain in Manitoba is quite a different concept from a Mountain in British Columbia) this Elk with a big blue sky backdrop came into view as we came down on #10 highway. The oddest things make your heart sing -- this was one of them!

What I learned on this Trip: I love the prairies, but now I love my home in the Fraser Valley even MORE!

Driving about the Canadian Prairies -part one

The best way for me to describe the past three weeks is to post pictures and a few words, the pictures say pretty much everything about the driving part -- not so much about the hotel parts...
Many small towns and some larger towns too, build and create sculptures around the town of things that represent their community, Burrowing Owls in Leader Saskatchewan was a favourite of ours.
My cousin's husband, who lives near Marquette Manitoba is carrying on a hobby started many years ago by his DAD. He collects bottles, every kind of bottle one can image, he houses his collection if a real log cabin that he bought from another farmer in the area. In a space of about 12 ft x 12 ft every inch has bottles, some on shelves some on display stands, some in boxes...

This is Sara the Camel, one of those town sculptures. Sara, represents the Sandilands area of Manitoba and she stands proudly in the town of Souris, Manitoba.

The quintessential prairie, about 20 kilometers west of Winnipeg, Manitoba, just off Rosser Road.

Some where on or near Hwy 2 in Southern Saskatchewan

Elk Island National Park off Hwy 16 in Alberta.

A couple of question about hotels...

First I have a rather strange question for those who may be so inclined to answer... Why is it that hotels seem to think that a bed needs to be so high that you need a step stool to climb up to it (well, I need a step stool - I am a fraction over 5 ft tall) Most hotel beds are as high as my hips or more...

Second question, why is it that hotels feel the need to have baby size toilets? Remember now, I am rather short as it is and I find the toilets low, what must a man who is 6 ft tall think or or even manage to get up off of those baby level toilets??

More pictures tomorrow, but no more weird questions...

Away for awhile

I shoulda said before -- I am on a bit of a holiday -- well, sort of my dream holiday. I am in search of big things! Maybe you have seen or heard of them -- towns in Canada tend to build a 'symbol' for the town, usually something odd... A giant hockey stick in Duncan BC, a giant perogy in Glenmore, AB, a giant goose, and others that I can't think of right now. I am off to discover them -- except the giant hockey stick, because I did see it years ago when I lived on Vancouver Island, so I don't need to do that again, but going east from Abbotsford, there are alot more of them!

And quilt shops, I must make a list of them -- along the towns on the Yellowhead Highway as that is the east bound route I plan -- and thrift shops, with no particular items in mind, I will hopefully not find too many treasures as the car is only a bitty one...

So, when I return, sometime in September I will get back to regular posts and perhaps have some pictures of giant things to show you...

Those Pesky Zippers

So, Here's the problem... The zippers on pouches, lined or unlined just don't sit straight -- at least for me. The pink one (the first picture) the end or is it the beginning of the zipper sort of scrunches into the seam -- this is an unlined bag and the inside seams of the zipper flip up sorta, and look very unfinished when open. I think perhaps, that top stitching along the zipper might help with that, though I have not taken that step as yet, so cannot be quite sure....

Now this second picture is lined bag and the zipper is hidden between the layers, it looks somewhat better, but I am still not really satisfied with this method because as you can see, the beginning of the zipper, still sort of flops open and has a bulge on the lining fabric. Maybe it is just me being fussy, but really, is there a trick to putting zippers into this type of small bag??? HELP if you can!

What I have learned: On this particular subject I am still struggling...

A Drive in the Country

To be able to get in the car in the middle of the "working" week and go for a drive is an amazing luxury. For only the cost of the gas and the time, one has a wonderful summer memory!

The Fraser Valley, just about 70 kms east of Vancouver, BC is a wonderment of farmland, both animals and plants. On a little side road in what is called Glen Valley we stopped the car to "talk" to these horses -- the cows were not at all interested in any sort of conversation -- they were busy munching bits of whatever it is that cows munch on. The Pinto there was quite happy to stop his foraging and listen to every word we said -- he did not talk back or even ask for a 'present' -- he just stood and made every effort to appear interested. One hates to leave anyone who listens so attentively! Too many times I have had the experience of someone wandering away while I am in mid-sentence! How humiliating!

Since there was no big rush to do or be anywhere, I spent some time to explore the settings on my relatively new camera and took this lovely picture of some roadside flowers. Not a spectacular set up of a photo, but crisp and clean and clear. I am quite happy with the result. These flowers -- some sort of daisy? were blooming all along the roadway - near a farm. Not sure if they were planted there with a purpose or perhaps they had escaped a garden and self propagated in order to make passer-bys happy just to see them.

Now, today, I am going back to a struggle in my sewing room. I am trying to get a zipper on the top of a small bag -- but I am not happy with the zipper sort of bulges at beginning and end. Is there a secret to installing a zipper on a bag so that the 'seams' don't bulge and look not quite finished properly? I have looked through some tutorials on-line but they all are the same -- do we have to settle for that raggedy finish? Help! if you can give me an answer!

What I have learned today: I'll let you know later if I ever figure out the zipper thing....

Insurance

This past week, I have been reading about and making some comments on Myrna Giesbrect's Blog ( http://blog.myrnagiesbrecht.com/ ) about insurance coverage on one's possessions, from the sewing room stash, to life and health insurance. Myrna and I have widely different view points on insurance, and at this point I do suspect that the main difference is somewhat in the way we were raised and the views that our parents gave to us...

Sometimes I feel so very old fashioned, more like my parents generation than even my own generation. The idea of possessions having any importance in my life beyond helping to support my life in its basic requirements is and has always been a guilty feeling...

If there are four people in my family, what is the purpose of having 12 place setting set of dishes, or even less understandable to me, why would a family of four need 2 or 3 or even four sets of dishes? As my sons grew up and out, over the years between the two of them they probably had 6 bikes of varying sizes -- every one, well except one, were bought second hand -- in all their growing up years they never "lost" or had stolen a bike -- why? cause no other kid really wanted second-hand junk! But, if they did not get second hand junk they would have had NO Junk at all.

Now this is where the idea of insurance enters in the picture. Insurance is a very nice idea, that is if it is affordable to you. To me and my family it was not. I and my hubby both come from parents who pretty much discouraged education. The hue and cry in my house was, as soon as it is legal for you to work, GET A JOB! I like many others started working part time when I was 13 years old. I started as a babysitter at 25 cents and hour: when I was 15, i got a job at a independant shop that was situated on the banks of the Red River near Lockport, Manitoba. The shop's main business was selling bait to fishermen. The shop also sold tackle for that same thing, fishing and snack goodies -- It was open 24 hours a day from the Victoria Day weekend until Thanksgiving weekend (about May 24 to Oct 10) I worked every week from 7pm on Friday afternoon until 7pm on Sunday -- I slept in the store -- rather dozed and jumped up at 2am to answer the door and sell some scruffy guy a bag of potato chips, a coke and a box of live crayfish or a can of worms or a container of frozen salted minnows... I got paid $25 every two weeks! Anyway, suffice to say, that because of WORK, I did not get to college and business courses until I was 35 years old. That is a whole nother subject -- education -- but I wanted to touch on it because it has a huge bearing on insurance simply because family income is tremendously affected with lack of income and lack of income means that all life is affected by what is needed NOW. The future is not much considered other than to save up for a few weeks just to buy a new pair of shoes! The loss of a bus pass is/was disaster! A small garden in summer was absolutely necessary! It was not a garden to make you feel good about eating locally to help with the enviromental crisis...

So, I was raised to view insurance as an unnecessary expense. Why pay for something that may never happen? Why spend money that was more needed to use on food or sneakers for school or even to give my family a treat to a movie now and then. No insurance other than that required by law (auto insurance) was never considered to be something that we could 'invest' in.

Now, I do understand that basically that is what insurance is, an investment. But it was an investment that was not affordable. And, luckily I never had to wish I had insurance. Well, except for auto insurance but that was a losing investment -- having spent say an average of 800 dollars every year for 40 years, that investment covered the cost of a side swipe on my car -- 3000 dollars to repair 10 times over -- the auto insurance company is making a huge profit on my driving record!

I do not want to think about what the actual or even the replacement value of my possessions are -- today I do have house and auto insurance but not life insurance -- no company will give me insurance because of my health history and chronic conditions anyway...

When it comes right down to it, possessions are the least important things in my life. Many years ago, my son at age three, chipped an ceramic ornament at his fraternal grandmother's house. She railed and ranted and yelled and cried -- AT A THREE YEAR OLD -- it frightened him ever after being at her home -- even when he became an adult he never went to see his grandmother unless it was with his own parents... Since that day -- I made up in my mind that NOTHING, NOT A Thing, NOT anything at all, could ever have more importance that the people around me -- why do I need insurance on JUST A NOTHER THING...

When I want or need something, I will purchase it, but as soon as it is mine, I consider it valueless except for the need that it fills. To me, it really doesn't have any monetary value. When I am finished with an item, it goes to the second hand store or is recycled or repurposed. It is rare that I re-sell anything, but on occasion it happens.

What I learned today: I am getting so picky and fussy about things, even the angle that my chair sits in relation to where the TV is, or where my yarn box is, or even where the side table drawer pulls out! Age is becoming the age of critisism...

Gratuitous Cat Photo and what I made today...

May as well start off with a picture of my cats -- we recently bought a couple of new recliners and it seems now we bought them for the cats. Fossie on the left is our old lady, approaching 12 in October and Archie on the right is an inbred (his mother is his sister) (not my doing!) siamese who is just turned 3 years old on July 1. The only time they lay together is to share the new recliner -- Archie sleeps on top of me all night and Fossie prowls about the house chasing the ghosts...

Now to a more serious subject -- ORGANIZATION. We have too much stuff, we keep getting more stuff -- I really try, believe me, I really try hard not to bring useless stuff into the house, but in todays world, even having the basics means you have too much stuff...
I made an organizer basket for all the bathroom stuff, that seems to always be falling off the shelf by the sink (the room is one of those half bath type set ups where it is just a toilet and sink -- but it is the room that most gets used for washing up and doing the teethes things, so it has alot of those small odd bits in that room. The organizer is a plastic tub that deli potato salad came it, about the same size as a 907 gr margarine tub except a bit deeper, so things stand up just a bit better...

Yesterday, on a blog, sorry can't remember where, I saw a small bag (oh, it might even have been on etsy) with pencils in it, I wanted the same general shape but again on the subject of organizing, I wanted one place to put all my crochet hooks and then hang them on a hook by my recliner (where a cat or two may be resting). So not quite being able to find that blog, I did a bit of guess work and a bit of measuring to make sure it was long enough for the crochet hooks, and "voila" I now have a place for all my hooks -- unless I carry one or two to a different place and loose them in some of the other STUFF in this house...

What I Learned today: there is actually a punctuation mark that combines the "?" and the "!" -- except I forgot what it is called...

Famous Fashion Designer -- only in my head...

Many years ago, many more that the book cover below might suggest, I made doll clothes for everyone under the age of 15 in my neighbourhood. Seems I was the only kid within miles who could sew -- sort of... I thought I was pretty good at making clothes for dolls, I made my own patterns and had a booklet that I kept of favourites -- my friend Sharon down the road loved barbie dolls in wedding dresses and I probably made 10 of them for her! Another little girl, her name was Adele, a grown up name I thought, liked her baby doll dressed in fluffy dresses and pinafores, like Alice in Wonderland, a bit like the doll on the cover of the book, below. I don't know what happened to my own homemade book of patterns and when I "grew up" like about 16 years old, I stopped making clothes for the girls in the area. It began to seem like alot of work for 25 cents, even when the "customer" provided the fabrics (often one of their dad's old shirts!)

I discovered this book, Dolls' Clothes Pattern Book at one of the local second hand stores for $3.00 and snapped it up. Not that I want to start making all sorts of doll clothes, or even that I am particularly interested in creating doll clothes as a hobby, BUT, I have four neices, Kaydee, Lucy, Greta and Scarlette, aged 7 to 3. You know the kind of little girls in that perfect age where dolls are a big part of their lives. So being the great aunt that I am, I have started to make a collection of clothes for their dolls -- starting with the many barbies...

The first thing of course was to go get a barbie so I could fit the clothes to the doll, the books provided patterns seem to be too big for this doll, it does say it is for an 11" fashion doll, but the back pattern pieces, especially for the above jacket are at least 1/2 inch too wide, and maybe more like 3/4". I will need to refashion most of the patterns I think -- the designs are very '80's -- big shoulders!

No one has all their clothes in one type of fabric or pattern, so this morning while thinking about resizing and redoing some of the patterns in the book, I thought I would crochet a basic body vest using a pattern from the book as a guideline. It actually came out quite well -- took less than an hour to crochet and is done in one piece with only the shoulder seams needing to be sewn. Since the pattern piece in the book allowed for 1/4"seam on the back, I did not include the seam allowance at the back or as a turn under allowance on bottom, front opening or at the sleeve openings. So far, the crochet vest is my 'top of the line"...

What I learned today: Even if something works well, sometimes it makes life and creativeness more interesting to explore "options"...

computer glitches and a funny thing happened while walking in the mall...

I woulda posted a few things in the past week or so, but the new computer -- with Windows Vista, encountered a glitch -- so it was with the techie guy -- now supposedly it is cured and I am back online writing about odd things...


So today, hubby and myself went to the food court at the mall for a bite to eat -- yes we eat at junk food joints -- not too often, but often enough so that when we go, the lady at Thaiway remembers me! so obviously we go too often -- which may actually be only once each month, but maybe she has a good memory!

So after having our bite to eat we took a walk around the Mall, not to shop but to get me a bit of exercise. We noticed a new kiosk in the centre courtyard area that had sunglasses for $15 any pair and since hubby had recently managed to break his and was using mine, I stopped and picked out a pair for him -- he liked them. Then I asked the girl if she had the night low glare type shades and she did, so I got hubby a pair of those too. With tax, $35 bucks.... Then I told my hubby to pay for them and he said "I thought you were buying them for me?" and I answered, "No cause he was the one with the paycheck, not me. And besides if his wife saw the new sunglasses she might wonder how he got them." Then the poor clerk stepped right into the trap!
She said "Oh, you two look like a long married couple!" And I answered "Ha, I am just the girlfriend" ahahahaha,
I sure am funny some days!

What I learned today: I sure do like talking to people I don't know -- you can say anything about anybody at anytime and they will believe you!

When Kids become Smarter than...

So today, I sent my son an email telling him I hadn't got the parcel he said he was sending me...

He said he hadn't sent it yet.

He forgot to ask my address.

Shows how often he sends stuff, eh?

Well, then I sent him my address, but I asked him how he would find me if he didn't know my address if he drove here.

His prompt reply was. You go to Safeway every week but I bet you don't know what their address is...

I may have to change this blog title to Neil being Snippy...

But then my reply back, was that at least I was still (and always be) smarter than his father, even though it looks like my kid was now smarter, or snippier than me...

Too Much Stuff and Sewing in it ANYWAY!

How desperate one becomes when it seems to be impossible to sew! I took or maybe the word is THREW some of the stuff from my fallen down shelves into a pile, made space to roll on my chair between the sewing maching and the ironing board and did some SEWING..
.

First what some many call mindless sewing -- though it is something I saw on another blog at least a year ago, and a member of my quilt guild brought an example she tried out. Sewing together dozens of pieces of the strips of selvege that gets cut off the fabric yardage. I sewed my strips onto some non fusible light interfacing that I had in one of those shoeboxes of stuff that fell down with the shelves -- that was handy, it was a box that was right at the top of the pile!

It takes a long time to sew those strips together, so once I figured I understood the concept and could see how my fabric selvedges looked, lined up all together in one piece, I stopped. The piece of fabric that I created from those bits, was enough to make a journal cover... I have a thing for those blank books in the dollar stores, this one turned out quite nice, I thought so anyway. Now, another thing to give or keep, depending on need at the time...

Now having not quite managed to wear out my sewing urge, I decided that perhaps I could use a new cosmetic bag -- I don't even wear make-up (never did like the feel of foundation and powder) but my "cosmetic bag" will hold some asprins and toothpaste and brush and other little necesessities when we go on our little 2 or 3 day adventures around BC or perhaps slightly further adventures into the rolling hills of Alberta.

My little cosmetic bag is about 8" deep by 7" wide, I want to find some sort of 'pull' to attach to the zipper, yet.

What I learned today: Try never to deny your urges, they just get stronger...

My cousin sent me a link to Fly Lady (you heard of her, right?) because she thinks it will help me to organize my sewing room.... Hmm, not sure how having a clean sink will help me with the caved in closet shelves, but thank-you anyway. Maybe I will be nice to my husband, and show him how nice a sink looks when it shines -- will he take the hint and shine the sink? Bets?