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Monday, February 27, 2012

What a difference a Day Makes.

Woke up to this mess. Tom helped me shove my car out of a snow bank, caused by wind and snow.








After all the shovling this is what my car looked like.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

February 26, 2012.

Winter arrrived.

Holy Cow, winter came late this year. This photo of our parking lot was taken a few days ago.
It was like Spring, warm and very little snow, I was all set to put my winter boots away, but the Good Lord said, "I don't think so!".








Today the snow came.
Tonight: Periods of snow. Low 13F. Winds NE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 70%. Snow accumulating 3 to 5 inches.
Here is what it looked like this afternoon.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Bill's Peanuts Quilt.



I mention before Heather gave me eight Peanuts Gang Fat-quarters to make a quilt for Bill.
I chose the pattern Snapshot by Mountainpeek Creations.
I finally finished the quilt this month.


Now Bill Maki and Bill Nelson both have their favourite quilt.


 Northcott.

During a visit to our quilt shop, I found they put some of Northcott's fabrics on sale. Being me I bought far more than I could ever use. I ended up making four quilts and I still had some fabrics left over.




The recipient of this quilt is Mary, Bill's Psychologist. She monitors Bill's progress recovery from his stroke.

We both love her.



The First Two Weeks in February 2012.

Monday February 13th, I woke up to a warm sunny day. The roads were all bare, which is so unusal for us, at this time of the year. Reading the paper I noticed our snow must have landed in Europe by mistake. Bill has had a few health issues since Christmas, I decided to take him for a ride, it improves his disposition. I wanted to kill two birds with one stone, pick up my ordered fabrics and a parcel from the Utah Maki's, and sent two parcels to my kids at the same time. The American Custom's Officer checked the parcels, he asked me if I do this often. My reply was, "When I pick up my fabrics at Ryden's, I like to send something to my grandkids." He told me to go and have a good day. Nicole sent me the skull and roses fabic. The Mexican Folk Art, Day of the Dead, and Our Lady Guadalupe Cotton Fabrics, I ordered on line from Hearts Fabrics. All the other fabrics I use in my quilts come from our local quilt shops. Here's what I bought.

The First Two Weeks in February.














I took a one on one class from Heather to learn how to make a jelly roll apron. February 10th/11th I went to a local retreat and finish the three aprons I made for my six year old Great-grandson, Brady.
I took the photos of the aprons on my designer wall, they look like spiders.

The First Two Weeks in February 2012.

February 9th, I took part in the Thunder Bay Quilters annual bee held at the Prince Arthur Hotel. It was a fun full day with good food and great learning experience. There were hourly draws and at the end of our day a wonderful door prize. To my great surprise, I won the door prize.






Catch the buzz
From our local paper, The Chronicle Jouneral.
(Sandi Krasowski)
More than 60 quilters turned out Thursday for the Thunder Bay Quilters Guild annual bee. Participants formed teams to design, cut, sew and assemble comfort quilts to be given to local nursing homes, women’s shelters, St. Joseph’s Hospice, and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre cancer and neonatal units. The quilters donate materials, time and skills to create comfort quilts each year. Ellen Lang uses her sewing machine to make the quarter-inch seam in the quilt squares. The guild also provides quilts and teddy bears for the annual Christmas Cheer drive. To join the guild or to register for courses, visit thunderbayquilters.org.




The quilt our group made. 

Friday, February 3, 2012

Winter projects

A couple of years ago Sharon Zack and I were swap partners. She sent me three fat quarters.
I modified the pattern, p.s.0106 Charm Party Tote.

Here is the tote bag I made using Sharon fabrics on the oustside of the bag and the pockets in the lining.


















Two purses, one using Thimbleberries Charm package.
The second purse, I made fabric using scrap pieces from Nicole's skull fabrics and Calaveras Skulls, Skull Los Novios Mexican Wedding fabric.










I saw this pattern in "Quilt Magazine", Called "My Gardern Bag". Project designed by Sue Marsh, Fabric from Crystal's purchased a awhile back.






I used the Pattern, My Garden Bag, but I altered it. I found the gathering at top to thick to sew, and the opening too small, but I did like the appearence much better. Fabric from the Quilters Stash, again purchased a few years ago.






Two Placemats I made for the Shelter House.










Two Mug Rugs I made for Mary. They are scenes from the State of Minnesota.









A pillow case I made for Bill Nelson from a left over block from Bill Maki's Peanuts Quilt.







A Rug Mug. I made one for Bill and one Dr. Colquhoun.
Dr. Colguhoun retired on January 20, 2012 after 60 years. He was our doctor for over 50 years.
Bill will miss him.

Winter of 2011 - 2012

Time seems to move more quickly as I get older, It’s 2012 and January is gone. Here was the forecast for this winter.
For the winter of 2011–12, the Canadian Farmers’ Almanac is forecasting unusually cold and stormy weather. For some parts of the country that means a frigid climate; while for others, it’s lots of rain and snow.
This will be a winter of “clime and punishment.” We are forecasting the upcoming winter will be cold to very cold, from Alberta east across Saskatchewan and Manitoba into western Ontario
Contrary to the predictions, this winter the weather has been really pleasant with proper temperature and lots of sunshine. A far cry from what it was like when I was a child growing up in this area. December and January were very cold months. I wore boots with snaps, cotton stocking with elastic bands to hold them up above my knees, mitts and a long wool coat. Someone would give my mom their coat and she would cut it up and make a coat for me. My hat had a peak with a tie under my chin. When I got to school my hands were so cold, someone told me to put them under hot water so they would warm up quickly. I did that once, it was so painful, I never did that again. When Allan was born in 1955, there was so much snow you couldn’t see out the windows. Today most of the snow has melted and there is water everywhere. It feels like spring. When I was young I always asked my mom, “why did you come here when all your relatives went to the States?” As I got older, I realized this is a great place to live. Thunder Bay is nestled in some of the finest natural scenery. We have no smog, no traffic jams, good people, lots of sports programs, a new hospital, Lakehead University and one of North America’s best Paleo-DNA Laboraties. We are 50 miles from the US Border, what more could anyone want.

December 23, 2011, I took Bill to the emergency at the hospital in a weaken condition. There were no serious issues, I took him home where he spent almost of two weeks in bed. Bill can take care of all his personal needs and for me looking after Bill is not a big problem, just time consuming.

So here I am, lately I haven’t made many quilts but I did keep on sewing, no wasted time here.

Brayden’s quilt.

From a young age Brayden enjoyed drawing. Occasionally he sends us some of his work and he gets better with time. I told him I would make a quilt with his drawings, so he send me his version of the Undead Army.
I planned to use the Rail Fence quilt block with red, cream and blue fabrics. but it didn’t work. A few years ago while I was visiting Chris and his family, I stopped at a Quilt Shop and purchased some fabulous US Patriotic fabric in red, cream and blue with a cream background. It was 805 Freedom’s Flight by Maywood Studio EESCO. It depicted scenes from the Civil War, WW11, Women in the Services during WW11 plus 911. I fussy cut the fabrics and used them for the centre of the doodle dandy quilt block.
I used the cream fabric for the background of Brayden’s quilt.

I took Bill to the Grand Portage, Mn. to mail the quilt out. Usually I track the packages I send to Chris and Nicole, but this time I forgot. Normally it takes only two days to get to Utah. A week and a half later the Utah Maki’s still hadn’t received their parcel. I called Mary in Grand Portage to find out if there was a way to trace the package. We decided to wait another week. It finally showed up two weeks later. Wherever that quilt went, I hope it had a nice trip. It taught me an important lesson, never mail a parcel containing a quilt, without insurance.

Brayden was very happy with his quilt.
























Laura’s gifts.

Laura was my last year’s Swap Partner.

We live many miles away from each other, but we have become close friends.

She constantly sends me wonderful surprise packages.

Here are two I received in 2011.

I was delighted to receive an apron and a Candy Cane to put on my door at Christmas time.
















I appreciate everything she sends me.










I made this black and grey apron, hoping it would turn out as well as Laura’s.