Christmas Quilt-a-long

I got a bit done on step two of the mystery quilt.  All  these half square triangles were made… and some of the blocks pieced….



Then I spilt my tea on a pile of half square triangles… I ‘m going to have to cut them again, not because they stained, but because they shrunk…



Rats!  There are only about ten of them and I’m sure I have enough extra fabric….
And I got two blocks completed so I can see what they look like…



Pretty! What did you do for Christmas Quilt-a-long?


Janet

A quilt finish! And a reminder about tomorrow’s Christmas Quilt-a-long

I have been waiting all week for some bright weather so that I can get photos of the fairy quilt, but it’s been grey and snowing all week.  Today is a bit bright so I’ve got some photos to show.

The finished quilt is 42 “ by 41 1/2 “.  The fairy print in yellow and the panels just have “Becky Kelly for Timeless Treasures” on the selvedge.  The backing is “Midnight Garden” Galaxy Collection by E. E. Schenck Company.  The binding is “Fusions” from Robert Kaufman.  

Quilting is stitch-in-the-ditch around all the panels, a zigzag around the panel borders and lots of stars.  If I was doing it again I would make the stars in the sashing between the blocks more random, like I did with the outside sashing stars. 

This quilt is for DD#1’s neighbour’s baby.  Her mother is quite young and her father was killed in a motorcycle accident before she was born, so she needs extra fairy dust in her life.

A reminder that tomorrow (Saturday), or today depending where you are , is March Christmas Quilt-a-long day.

This month hosted by the lovely Joanna.

I’ll be working on part two of my Christmas mystery quilt.  See you there!

Janet

Tuesday Treasure

I’m linking to Melody's blog today for Tuesday Treasures.

My brother and his family live in Redmond, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, where he works for Microsoft.  He used to live in Dallas, Texas.  I never visited him in Dallas – didn’t even make it there for his wedding, but I have gone a few times to Seattle.  It is pretty easy to get to from here – a short plane ride to Vancouver and then a few hours in a car, or on a bus or train, or a lovely fast ferry from Victoria if heading from there.

Seattle is a really interesting city, very pretty and lots of neat history and art.  There is the Rock and Roll history museum, next to the science fiction museum.  There is the Space Needle and the market.  There is the super  fascinating underground tour of the old city.

One time when we were visiting there was an exhibition of Tiffany's work at the art museum.  It was absolutely stupendous; he was a master of mosaic, glass, jewellery, fabric, furniture and room design.  I bought this replica of one of his pieces in the gift shop.  It was made in China – a mass production.  But then one of the reasons that Monsieur Tiffany was successful was because he was a forerunner in the mass production of art pieces in factory-like workshops….

I just had to show you the big picture…

Janet

This week, February 28th to March 5th, I….

Had a giveaway…. whew – they are a lot of work….

Got a new cupboard in my sewing room.  It’s all painted now but I’m still putting things away….
Went to a friend’s 70th birthday party today….

Got some lovely mail…. more Cathy’s Campfire blocks…

From Vanessa…



And from Jen….

 

A beautiful heart wool pincushion that I won in a giveaway from Susan.  It is FABULOUS… and she sent a scissor fob as well….



And a lovely birthday package from Leona…. I think I signed up for a birthday club on her blog…. a fat quarter, 50 weight Aurifil thread ( I haven’t tried this weight before) and a cute clipboard…. and a lovely card…



Didn’t do as much sewing as I had hoped to…. but I did finish the fairy quilt tonight, binding, label and all!  I haven’t had a chance to take pictures so I’ll have to do a reveal tomorrow….

Edited to add... I mentioned to someone last week that the March 1st controversy over Google Friend Connect disappearing was as serious as the Millennium hoopla.  Well it seems that March 1st and the Millennium were about the same.... Nothing happened.... Has anyone else noticed any changes?


Janet

Photo of the day February 29th

And for the extra Leap Year day…. “something I am listening to”….

This is what I listen to everyday…. CBC radio.  When I am home alone I often don’t listen to anything, because I love quiet.  But when DH is home, the radio is on; either this one on CBC or his Sirius radio on the BB King blues channel. 

Those cute little monsters were created by DGD and DGS….  

Janet

Photo of the Day February 28th

The word for today is “money”.  This is the old version of Canadian funny money.  The newer stuff is even more colourful….

Can you name all those Canadian Prime Ministers?  (I can, because I read the names written in tiny letter by their photos.)

Janet

Photo of the Day February 27th

Gotta get caught up on the last of my photo of the day pictures….

The phrase for February 27th was “something I ate”.

I often have a fried egg sandwich for breakfast.  Not the most healthy I guess but not that bad either.  I cook the egg in a non stick pan and don’t put any salt on it.  But I do butter my toast.  Green tea to accompany…

Janet

Leap Day giveaway

This morning my sewing room looked like this…

The reason for this is that DH made me a new cupboard…. and it looked like this….

After I posted here about my sewing room, I decided that I had to do something about the mounds of stuff everywhere.  After all DH is a master carpenter….

By this afternoon the room looked like this…

And the cupboard like this…

It may still look messy to you, and it isn’t totally cleared, but at least I found the giveaway fabric…. and I also found the quilting gloves that have been missing for the last two years!  I really don’t have too much fabric, do I?

So I wrote all the names out…making sure I put in a second slip for the nine people who entered who had also commented on my February Photo of the Day posts…

And I cut them into little bits with my nifty paper cutter, and folded them all in four…. and then I drew two names….

It is interesting taking a picture of your hand with your other hand…

And the winners are….

Joyce LM and Christa, in that order.   Congratulations!  I have sent out e-mails and am eagerly awaiting your addresses.

Thank you to everyone for participating in my giveaway.  And a big hug to all my followers.  I have made some wonderful friends and for that I am thrilled. 

DH and I were out a short while ago looking at the northern lights, which are dancing green in the sky tonight.  We saw three of the visible planets….

Janet

Leap Day is here and so is the Giveaway!

The giveaway is closed...


It’s Leap Day – a very special day – and it’s time for my giveaway!  I’ll be linking up with Elizabeth from Such a Sew and Sew and if I can figure it out I’ll even attach her linky list to my post….
I have such a difficult time figuring out what to give away.  I’ve never been very skilled at buying presents either
In the end I am having two prize packages, because I promised to do a follower giveaway, way back when, and now I have over two hundred followers!  Not that I care about numbers but I have made some lovely friends in blogland
The rules for my giveaway are:
1. You must be a follower.  This is a giveaway for my followers.  And besides I might not have any followers after February 29th…. I have no idea what will happen when Google Friend Connect ceases to exist.
2. I’ll ship anywhere in the world.
3. Please only leave one comment.  Please tell me if you have ever thought of changing your name and what name you would give yourself if you were naming yourself now.
4. If you have previously posted on one of my February photo of the month posts I’ll give you a second entry for indulging my attempts at interesting photography. 
5. I’m setting this up to post at 12:05 a.m. on the 29th (Pacific Standard time).  I’ll have to stay up to see if it works.  The giveaway will close at 12:05 a.m. on March 1st.  I’ll post the winners sometime on March 2nd. 
6. The first name I pull (forget Random Number Generator – it was an exercise is frustration for me last time) will get first choice. 
7. All the usual stuff about having a way to contact you….
Here’s what I’m giving away:

# 1 – two fat quarters of this scrumptious fabric – Happiness by Kathy Davis for Free Spirit.

# 2 – two fat quarters of this gorgeous fabric -  Junebug by Alice Kennedy for Timeless Treasures and an unnamed batik.  (If this batik could name itself now it would call itself Rose Blush.)
No linky – I can’t figure it out.  Go here to see the other giveaways.
Janet

This week, February 20th to 26th, I….

Spent a day at work meeting Katy Hutchison and listening to her presentation…. This is a woman of spunk and courage…

Kept up with the photo of the day challenge and with my personal challenge of twenty minutes a day of exercise - walking, snowshoeing and skiing…

Received my six inch blocks for October from Lyndell.  She sent me three fat quarters of fabric as well….

Promptly made another block out of the new fabric…

Received the first of my Spring Flower postcards….

And made three to send out to my swap partners…. This is a Prairie Crocus….

Had to get some my February swaps done…. Next up was this block for Sherri in the New Bee swap…

And finished up the second hexie flower for my February swap partner….

And…. sewed together 200 two inch blocks to fulfill my February commitment in the Postage Stamp Quilt challenge….

And because I was on a roll I made the March six inch blocks for Jen…. She asked for postage stamp blocks made with one inchers – 36 little squares in each of these six inch blocks…

That’s enough for this week! 

Janet

Photo of the day February 26th

The word for today is “night”.  No birds come round at night.

 

Janet

Photo of the day February 25th

The word for today is “green”.  There is lots of green where I live – even in the winter.  It is amazing how many shades of green there are in a stand of Spruce trees.

Janet

Photo of the day February 24th

The phrase for today is “inside my bathroom cabinet”.  My bathroom cabinet doesn’t hold anything interesting – just the regular bandages, Tylenol, floss and ointments.  The outside of the cabinet is much nicer to look at.  This was constructed by my former brother-in-law.

 

Janet

Photo of the day February 23rd

The word for today is “shoes”.  These were my favourite shoes.  I still have them but I don’t wear them anymore.  I have new ones now, but I don’t like them as much. 

This is what we have to look forward to in another couple of months.  Lots of mud.

Janet

Joining the Leap Day Giveaway

When I had my last giveaway sometime before Christmas I said I was going to have another one soon.  Soon is a relative thing. 

I have decided to join Ms Sew and Sew in her Leap Day Giveaway linky party.  I’m posting the rules but please go to her site to get the code for the button and read all about Leap Day.  You also need to go to her blog to link up on “the day”.

• Choose something to give away on Leap Day. Keep it simple. You can make something, give away a bit of your stash, offer a service, buy your favourite gadget to give away or offer something completely non-crafty. Your blog, you choose.
• To participate in the blog hop, your giveaway must start and end on Leap Day {February 29, 2012}. You can open it at 10:00 am and close it at 10:00 pm, or go midnight to midnight, or anything in between. Your blog, your rules.
• Post your giveaway and then link up here. Please include the Leap Day Giveaway button {code found below} somewhere in your post. The linky will open at noon MST on February 28^th and close at 10:00 am MST on March 1^st, to allow for people in different time zones to participate.
• If you want to include the linky on your giveaway post so that others can link up from your blog the code is available below. If you choose to add the linky to your post, you MUST include the above rules so that it is fair play for all.

I hope I’ll see you there!

Janet

Photo of the day February 22nd

The word (phrase) for today is “where I work”.  Here is my cluttered office.

Gee if you enlarged this photo you might be able to read confidential government file names on my computer screen!  (This is a joke – the file names won’t reveal any secret info )

Janet

Photo of the day February 21st

For today the phrase is “a fave photo of you”.  I am not very photogenic – and there is the little factor that I’m usually the one wielding the camera.  This means there aren’t a lot of photos of me I love.  But this one, taken by my semi-professional photographer friend, at my other friends’ wedding this fall, is pretty good.

Janet

Photo of the day February 20th

The word for today is ‘handwriting’.  Here is handwriting from DD # 2 and DD # 3 on the birthday cards they sent me.

Would you know that they are sisters?  I mean apart from the fact that one calls me Momma and one calls me Mama?  

Janet

Oh and can anyone help me?  I want to turn off comment moderation but I can’t find it in the new blogger set up.

Photo of the day February 19th

The word (phrase) for today is ‘something I hate to do’ – but in my typical hurried fashion I only read the first half.  So here is a photo of something I hate.

Garbage on the road.  I’ve been known to collect bags and bags of it in the summer months.  And sometimes in the winter.

Janet