Happy New Year!

Have you heard the New Year's Day superstition that what you do on New Year's Day will be what you do all year long? 

We spent New Year's Eve with our daughter and her fiance.  I don't like family out on the roads New Year's Eve with all the parties and drinking and driving that goes on, so we had them spend the night.  Because my daughter missed our traditional "Wife Saver Breakfast" on Christmas morning, because she had to work, that is what we had for breakfast on New Year's Day morning.  After breakfast, my daughter had to head off to work, but it was nice having her here for New Year's Eve and then breakfast the next morning. 

After breakfast, it was time to focus on how to spend the rest of the day.  Linda and I discussed this issue on New Year's Eve and decided that we definitely would not be doing laundry or housework!  We knew we wanted to focus on quilting, but which aspect of quilting did we want to focus on?  In the end, we decided to touch on as many different quilting aspects as we could manage to fit into the day.  





I started my day by doing a few passes on the current quilt that is loaded on the long arm.  This quilt is, "Fire Escape", finished to the flimsy state on September 11, 2011.  I just love this colour combination--red and aqua!  http://www.silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post.html

 







The next project I worked on was something that could be considered a reward--something quick to finish that would bring instant satisfaction of accomplishment.  I purchased a table runner kit on a blog hop in June 2006 that has been sitting safely in its plastic sleeve since that time.  I decided today would be the day to work on that project.  This was an old project, not really a UFO since it hadn't been out of the plastic, that needed to be finished.   This one is now finished to the flimsy stage.  This runner finishes at approximately 50" x 20".  I love how this one turned out!

This runner is the same pattern as the runner that I finished up for my Mom for Christmas this past year.  http://silverthimblequiltingarchive.blogspot.com/2006/06/quilt-shop-hop-2006.html

In September 2009, I purchased the fabrics to make Terry Atkinson's, "Got Stripes?" quilt.  This quilt is comprised of two blocks--a block made from striped fabrics and a star block.  I made the striped blocks right away and then set the fabric and pattern on the shelf.

When I took this one off the shelf to work on it, it took a bit to remember what fabrics I had decided to use where on the stars.  Only some of the fabrics for the star blocks had actually been cut.  Further confusing the situation was a navy blue batik fabric that I had also purchased at the time I bought these fabrics.  At the time, I thought I might make the star points navy blue.  I remember not being able to decide between the brown and the navy blue.  I ended up buying both fabrics and decided today to go with the brown.

I am loving how this one is turning out.  I finished 5 of the 50 required stars for this queen sized quilt tonight before having to call it quits.  http://www.silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2009/11/current-projects.html

I think this was a very successful New Year's Day! 

- I stared the day with a wonderful meal together with my family.

- I managed to keep activities for the day related to quilting. 

- I worked on using my existing stash.

- I resisted buying new fabric--even though there was a 50% off sale today at a local fabric store.

- I never did any housework or laundry.

2012 is shaping up to be a great year!

Family Barbecue

Today was a statutory holiday here in Canada.

We were able to get together for a great family barbecue in our backyard and enjoy the great sunny weather.  The only ones that couldn't make it today were my daughter and her boyfriend - both had to work.

We took advantage of the opportunity of everyone being together today to take a family photo.  Pictured above - front row - left to right:  our son's fiance, my mother, my sister-in-law - back row -   left to right:  my husband, my son, me, my dad, and my brother.

Tomorrow it is back to work.  :(

First Sockeye of the Season

Sockeye season is open here in BC! We have not had a sports fisherman Sockeye opening for 4 years so this is a momentous occasion!

We love barbecued salmon, so to celebrate the opening, we had some fresh Sockeye on the grill.

My husband is the official chef when it comes to cooking fish.
Yummy! We tried a new recipe this time that used peaches in the grilling process.

There were a lot of smiles around this table!

Alberta Holiday - Part II

We left the reunion location in Alberta on August 2nd--the Monday of the August long weekend. We headed home via Kelowna.

While in Kelowna, we had opportunity to check out the local quilt shops. First up was Findlay's. http://www.findlaysvacsew.com/ This shop is primarily a sewing machine dealer. They have a few nice shop samples and some yard goods, but the selection is limited.
Our second stop was Linda's. http://www.lindasquiltshoppe.com/

As soon as we parked, my husband noticed the sign.....

.......and made some comment like, "It looks like you only get 15 minutes here!" As he laughed, I had him turn around and look at the parking stall that we had parked in....

................"Correction! I get 1 hour here!" Now who had the last laugh? LOL

Seriously, an hour would never have been enough time to do this shop justice. The staff here were fantastic. I was treated to a tour of the shop, including the classroom.

As it turns out, one of the ladies I had travelled on the bus trip to the Sisters' quilt show with 5 years ago is a regular teacher here. I was thrilled to see Laurie's quilts. We'll have to see if I can get back to Kelowna sometime in the future for one of Laurie's weekend classes.

I loved this picnic display by the front door. They used food fabrics as the food on the table--too cute.

This African panel was one of the purchases I made at Linda's. I have been collecting African themed fabrics for a while to make a quilt for my daughter.

This ruler was also a purchase made at Linda's. They had a sample in the shop made using this ruler. You fuse two fabrics together and then fold and use the ruler to make the cuts. Once the fabric is cut, you fold the pieces and you end up with a Seminole pieced look.

By this time we were hungry for some lunch. I asked my husband what he felt like having for lunch. He replied that he could really go for Wendy's. Well, wouldn't you know it, in the same parking lot as the Wendy's was another quilt shop. http://www.cottagequiltingonline.com/
This was a nice shop, but it didn't have near the selection and samples as Linda's.

Then we headed out of Kelowna down the Okanagan Lake. We stopped at Agriculture Canada's Research Station in Summerland. http://www4.agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1180620561099 They have a gorgeous display garden there. The view of the lake would have been incredible had it not been for the thick smoke from the forest fires in BC that blanketed the lake and obscured the view. None the less, we enjoyed walking around the gardens before getting back in the truck and heading home.

This was a great holiday!

Alberta Holiday - Part I

We had a bit of a holiday at the end of July / beginning of August. My husband's family was having their family reunion in Alberta over the long weekend in August. We headed out from home on July 29. We started out early in the morning (5 am) to ensure we beat any long weekend traffic. We found that we had the road to ourselves until about 11 in the morning. By the time we hit Salmon Arm we were in need of a gas station. My husband spied a Chevron across the highway. When we turned to go around the block so that we could easily enter the lot, we passed by a quilt shop! Given that we were already stopped, my husband agreed that I could have a few minutes to look around in this shop.
http://www.sewingbasket.ca/


This is my husband patiently reading the paper in our truck in front of the quilt shop.

This butterfly quilt pattern was my only purchase despite the tempting kits and fabrics in this shop. This was a great shop and worth the stop if you are ever passing through Salmon Arm. Just suggest to your driver that he needs to fill up at the Chevron and you can quickly dart across the lot to the quilt shop just around the corner! LOL

We spent our fist night in Golden. Look at who joined us--three Model A's from Wichita, Kansas. These cars were not hauled to BC from Kansas on the back of flat deck trucks; they were driven there by their owners. I had a chance to chat with the couples who were traveling in these vintage cars. They said they were headed to Whistler. They had seen Whistler on TV during the Winter Olympics and decided to make the trip. They had plans to spend a week on the BC coast and then head home to Kansas. They said it was hot travelling--no a/c.

At some point in the night, this model A truck showed up. I couldn't resist taking a picture of our modern truck next to this antique truck.

Then we headed out over the Rockies.....through the Parks......

.......... to the canola fields of Alberta.

During breakfast on Saturday morning at the reunion, one of my husband's cousins approached me because she had heard I was a quilter. It turns out that she is a quilter too--from Saskatchewan.

The evening before, I had found a quilt shop in Olds when we were out looking for a place to have dinner. Unfortunately, it was just 15 minutes before closing on Friday night when we drove by. I convinced my husband to stop so that I could check the shop out and determine if it was worth coming back the next day. Even though I only had just a few minutes to check the shop out, I was able to determine that I needed to come back the following day for a proper look around. When I mentioned this to my new quilting buddy, Linda, an alliance was formed and we made plans to head to town later that afternoon when the men were out touring the tractor collection at a neighbouring farm. Erica managed to convince another cousin, Gloria to come along with us. Gloria isn't a quilter yet, but I am sure she will be soon after shopping with Erica and I!

The shop we stopped at was The Quilting Bee. http://thequiltingbee.danemcoweb.com/ This is a picture of myself, Erica, and Gloria. Erica is holding the cute cherry pie pincushion that she fell in love with.

This shop had these wonderful Hawaiian inspired quilts - one was butterflies and the other was Hibiscus. These quilts were available in kits with all the cutting done for you! The appliques are attached using fusible web with a raw edge technique.

These are some photos of the inside of the shop. You can see why I needed to come back to this shop for a much better look!

You can see Anita in the background of this picture working the till. Anita was so friendly and helpful. She told us of another shop just outside of town that we had to go visit next.

Gloria and Erica with bags in hand after the "damage" was done! .

I purchased supplies to make this cute little wool table topper at The Quilting Bee.

I also picked up some red and white fabrics to go with the red work pieces I have been working on. The floral Narcissus fabric was in the back of the shop in the sale area and I couldn't resist. Then because we still had time before supper was going to be served that night, the three of us headed off to our second stop....The Stitchery which is located just two miles out of town.

This is a very nice shop and well worth the stop. The shop is owned by designers, Joanie and Kelsey Morrow. This very talented mother and daughter team have a great selection of ready made quilted items for sale as well as country styled fabric on the bolt and their own patterns. We were given a tour of the back room and shown the unique creations of this talented team of designers. I fell in love with three of their patterns.

These were my Stitchery purchases--three patterns and a quilt kit. The Penny Paws quilt is the kit complete with all the wool felt, buttons, and threads required to complete the table topper. What a perfect quilt for a cat loving, black cat owner! I have plans to customize one of the cats on this little topper with green button eyes so he looks like my Joey.

Sunday afternoon, our host families at the reunion arranged for rides in the surrounding countryside in this wagon pulled by a perfectly matched team of Percherons.

Seeing these horses brought back fond memories of being on my aunt and uncle's farm in Saskatchewan when I was growing up. My aunt and uncle were Percheron breeders and I was fortunate enough to spend time during more than one summer showing these wonderful animals at local fairs in Saskatchewan.

Brief Visit From my Brother

This is a picture of my brother taken at my parents' house. This was one of my brother's brief visits where if you miss dropping by my parents' house during the two or three hours he stops by, you will miss him. We see far too little of him. And yes, he usually is as happy as he looks in this picture! "Mr. Easy Going"!