Weekend Excitement

 

It was an exciting long weekend at a family gathering and "Pig Roast" in Houston BC. Houston is a very small town about 1.5 hr flight from home and a 1 hour drive when we landed. We set up the tables and seating using hay bales. All five tables each had whatever flowers we could find around the farm and we used canning jars to display them. It all looked very country.

 

This is the pig roaster, they started the pig at 9am and dinner was ready about 10 hrs later.

More excited news....while I was away I won Cheryl's and Darlene's Christmas Through the Year giveaway AND double surprise I won Kathy's Bowl's with Borders Giveaway.  Woohoo...I was thrilled.

And even more excitement. The last day we were in Houston I was at the grocery store (the only one in town). I went over to the magazine section and reached for a quilting magazine and a lady standing there, made a comment that she looked at all of them last week. We started talking and Pamela is the long arm quilter in the area and she has a studio in her house. I was very surprised to find out this small town had a active guild of 17 people and Pamela stocks supplies and fabrics in her home. I wish I knew sooner but being the last day of our visit I couldn't make it to see her studio. I hope to visit her next time.
  

The pig is just about ready to be carved. This 90 pound pig did not last long with over 30 hungry people around.

So that was a pretty exciting weekend for sure.

Dots and Family

No sewing while company has been in the house. My sister is recovering well from her heart operation. She will be going home tomorrow to rest up and build her strength. It's been 3 long weeks of worry for the whole family and we are all relieved she is doing so well considering her open heart surgery was last Wed. The hospital puts them on a excellent schedule to get them up and circulation going again. She'll do great if she follows doctors orders.

I bought this bowl at this antique shop, I was so thrilled to find a red polka dot bowl and it matches my red and white little quilt. When the house is quiet again (hopefully tomorrow) I'll be sewing a few little quilts....wish me luck.

Happy Quilting.

Summer is Here!

This is the first opportunity to post a few projects I've been working on lately. We've been very busy the last few days with a family emergency on my side and out of town family visiting on my husbands side and that doesn't include dealing with painters. They should be finished soon but now we have to repair the damaged (NEW) roof over the porch, the painters are paying for that. I'm so tired today......what day is it ????......I thought yesterday was Sat.....I'm so confused with so much going on and I don't see it slowing down any time soon.

This summer table topper is quilted with daisy's, bound and washed......I love the cheerfulness of this quilt. We've also had the first sunny days of summer this weekend, I hope the sun will last for a while. It's a nice change from sweaters.

These cat blocks have been so much fun, I think this one will be quilted and bound without any more borders.

I had so much fun making more cats for the fall, the inner pieced border was some scraps leftover from another quilt.

I hope you are enjoying a more relaxing time. Happy Quilting!

Snowed In

I'm still traumatized after being stranded in the snow. We went to a small town in Northern BC "bad idea in the middle of winter", what we do to see family over the holidays. The airplane was a small prop plane "another bad idea". we had a very nice time visiting, playing board games and watching the snow coming down all around. I didn't think about how that would effect getting home, "the snow kept falling". The little prop airplane could get up there but couldn't land, "due to poor visibility" you guessed it, they didn't pick us up....so now the airplane is going back to Vancouver without us. The only thing we could do is drive back to stay the night again "1 hour of driving in full-on snow storm"....you get the picture. My In-Laws were scheduled to leave after us but got home before we did. I'm so happy to be home, no more trips in the winter for me. I needed some serious relaxing time after that trip.

I hope everyone had a wonderful time over the holidays and spent New Years doing whatever makes you happy, we stayed home, I made dinner for the family and went to bed early.

I started cutting and piecing a quilt on New Years Day, I'll be back tomorrow to show you my first flimsy of the year.

Until next time....happy quilting.

Acorns and Oak

This little stitchery pattern is from Country Stitches called Acorns and Oak. I did the stitching last year and then set it aside. Since I was in the mood for autumn I brought this one out to finish on the weekend. I added the border with a few half square triangles...randomly placed. These patterns don't come with instructions on finishing other than make a pillow or wall hanging, so I did my own thing. The finished size is 12"x12". The plant in the picture I found at Safeway on the weekend. The name on the tag was "Pincushion", how could I resist...teehee The plant has little tiny orange berries, and is native to Central America and New Zealand. It should keep it's berries for several months. Anyone else recognize this plant?

Do you ever wonder how our grown up children survive? My youngest daughter came home for a visit on Friday. She was working the summer on the Sunshine Coast of BC as a camp counselor for kids. It's a short ferry ride to the Sunshine Coast. When camp was over she decided this area was just the life style she loved, artsy and laid-back, so decided to get a job in the local town and stay there. So we had a short visit on Friday and since she didn't want to drive her car over (too expensive for her) she came by bus. Her sister was nice enough to offer her a ride back to the ferry (considering she didn't leave enough time for the bus ride anyway). The next morning I got THE call "Mom I forgot my car keys and cell phone at home, can you send them by courier?". You'd think these 2 very important items would be what you'd grab first when walking out the door. I don't know how they manage on their own.....kids.....I can only hope shes not always this forgetful and not to mention the lack of planning for the trip back.