Whooo Whoooo

Over the weekend I spent some time playing at making this little fellow.  I found the pattern/tutorial on the internet and simply couldn't NOT make one for our little grandson.  It's a combination pillow/stuffie, measures about fourteen inches tall, and is made from fleece.  Just right for a little boy to curl up with.

The pattern is called 'Sleepy Time Stuffed Owl'

by Liz Johnson 

Today your quote is from Robert Louis Stevenson.... "Make up your mind to be happy.  Learn to find pleasure in simple things" 

 

tentatively pushing the button.....deep breath......

WOO HOO!!!!

WHOOP

WHOOP!!!






If you didn't read my post yesterday you won't have a clue what all the wooing and whooping is all about.  Suffice to say I am absolutely jumping up and down that I figured out how to make my camera and my computer talk nicely to one another....all by myself.  Yes....by my own self.....alone.  After two days of saying not-so-nice things to myself and a great deal of muttering and blue air, I hit upon the bright idea of doing a 'system restore' which my Computers For Dummies book said was something not to be afraid of.  So....I pushed all the appropriate buttons (with a great deal of trepidation, I might add!!) and watched as the computer chugged away doing mysterious and terrifying things known only unto itself.

THEN, I, with even more trepidation, opened up my pictures file and plugged in my camera.  AND IT WORKED!!!    Eureka!!  Party Time!!  

Computer Guru-ism, here I come!!   

Oh, and for those of you who might be curious to know what the pictures ARE.....remember The Quilt-zzzz from earlier this year?  Remember that there were blocks left over?   Well, this is the resulting quilt from the leftovers, with the addition of the black print fabric.  Almost big enough for a double bed - probably would be fine as a bed topper.  For now, it will reside over the pullout couch in my sewing room.

Today the quote is from Bo Bennett...."Frustration, although quite painful at times, is a very positive and essential part of success"

hair tearing, angst, and (horrors) even swearing....

Frustration runs rampant at Chez Magpie at the moment.  For some reason, known only unto the computer gremlins, my camera no longer wants to discuss the facts of life with my computer.  The pictures will download into some obscure spot that I've never encountered before and then flatly refuse to save themselves anywhere.  No amount of wrangling on my part will allow me to do anything with them. 

Oh yeah, the air has been blue.

Green.

Multi-coloured.

Red.

And most any other colour you can think of.

To make matters worse, it now appears that ALL my pictures AND my documents have managed to save themselves into at least five different places on my computer.  

Computer gremlins?

I'm serving notice.

Get thyselves GONE

or there's going to be h-e-double-hockey-sticks to pay!!

So there.

(Do you suppose they're scared?).  Anyway....out of all this angst came one good thing.  I think.  I discovered that the little camera thingie we use when Skype-ing with our son and daughter-in-love has the capability of taking still photos.  Who knew?  I certainly didn't!  Imagine my astonishment when it took a selfie of me - totally unbeknownst to me!!   Needless to say, I won't be showing you THAT one, but I did get another one that I WILL share. 

Here I am, silly grin and all.

 

Silly grin?  Or hysteria?

Take your pick!

Today, beyond giving you a list of the swear words I managed to utter today, I give you this, instead of a quote....

Last one!

Here's the final Christmas present I'm creating this year!

This is postcard-sized and I think you can 

click to embiggen the picture.

Today the quote is a Native American proverb.... "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children"

Another instalment of mumblings

I'm working on a little crazy quilted project which I hope to be able to show you tomorrow,\
\
Today the quote is from Corita Kent.... "Doing and making are acts of hope, and as that hope grows, we stop feeling overwhelmed by the troubles of the world"

A tutorial - who knew?

It's been a very long time since I did any sort of tutorial on my blog and as I created this little project this morning I thought perhaps I might share it with you.  It worked up very quickly so it's certainly do-able for some little Christmas presents (which is what this one is for).

Isn't this little strawberry needle case the cutest?

So, here's the tutorial (please let me know if you make any, because I'd love to see them!).

CHEZ MAGPIE's STRAWBERRY PINCUSHION

You will need the following supplies:  red and green felt; a piece of Freezer Paper (optional); yellow and red pearl cotton or embroidery floss; 1 green bead; scrap of Heat N Bond (optional).

NOTE: Print the pattern on a full-size 8 1/2 x 11" piece of paper.

Trace the patterns onto either paper or Freezer Paper.  You can either iron the Freezer Paper onto the felt prior to cutting out the pieces OR simply pin your paper pattern onto the felt.  I like to use the Freezer Paper because it holds in place really well, making your cuts on the felt more accurate.  It peels off really easily and can be re-used a couple of times if you're making more than one needlebook.

Cut two of the larger strawberry shapes, one of the smaller shape and one of the leaf from felt.  Using yellow pearl cotton (or 6 strands of embr. floss) stitch 'seeds' randomly over one of the larger strawberry shapes.  

Either pin the two larger shapes together OR use some small scraps of HeatNBond to adhere them together.  Using red pearl cotton (or floss) stitch the pieces together around the outside using buttonhole stitch.  

Place outer and inner strawberry shapes together and, using the sewing machine, stitch along the fold line.  Stitch two or three tacking stitches about 1/4" away from the seam (helps to hold the needlebook nicely closed).

Adhere the leaf to the front, using a green bead to hold in place.

Today the quote is from Dale Carnegie.... "When we hate our enemies, we are giving them power over us:  power over our sleep, our appetites, our blood pressure, our health, and our happiness.  Our enemies would dance with joy if only they knew how they were worrying us, lacerating us, and getting even with us.  Our hate is not hurting them at all, but our hate is turning our days and nights into a hellish turmoil"

And now, for a little Christmas

I've spent the past few days working on some Christmas things (and about time too!).  Remember that white blob I showed you last week?  Well I turned a number of them into this...

Seven not-so-edible pincushions!

The little strawberries are filled with emery.

AND...

an ornament
(x 18)

These were positively addictive to make!

* * * * * * * 

I have searched for the right words to express my sorrow over the horrible events that happened in Paris over the weekend.  One can only feel such sorrow for the people of France, and particularly those in Paris.  I found a quote that I think is appropriate for the people of Paris ...  "You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have".     All we can do is pray.  

Now what you you suppose.....

....I might be doing with this?.....

Stay tuned....

Today your quote is from Dorothy Dix.... "I  have learned to live each day as it comes, and not to borrow trouble by dreading tomorrow.  It is the dark menace of the future that makes cowards of us"

 

More mumblings

Yes, I know, some people have been known to say that I'm full of hot air, so I suppose that's why all you seem to be getting from me these days are mumblings.  There's been precious little on the creative front happening at Chez Magpie over the past couple of weeks (at least not of the sort that I'm able to show you at the moment).

And, just for fun.....

Today the quote is a Swedish Proverb...."Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; love more, and all good things will be yours" 

 

Announcing......

Today I am excited to announce two things!

First of all, Kathy Shaw (Shawkl) has just announced that her new book is now available  "Crazy Quilting - Volume I - Beyond The Basics" is a wonderful book (I know - because I was honoured to be Kathy's proofreader!!).  It is the first of what will be a series of books, based on the free online crazy quilting classes she has been offering for the past couple of years.  There is lots of new content in this book, so if you have taken her classes already you will definitely find the book to be a good addition to your library.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The second announcement concerns those wonderful stencils created by Sharon Boggon that I mentioned a few days ago.  They are now available!!  You can purchase yours by going HERE.   I use the first series of stencils quite often in my work and I was quick to order this set to add to my embroidery tools.

Today the quote is from Laurence Sterne...."Every time a man smiles, and much more when he laughs, it adds something to his fragment of life" 

 

Warning - rant to follow - read at own risk

Yes, I am going to rant.  However, I am giving you fair warning so you can go elsewhere and read something far more interesting I'm sure.  

Still here?  Well, don't say you weren't warned!!

My first mistake was getting out of bed on Saturday.  I realized, as the day progressed, that I shouldn't have.

Mid-afternoon the phone rang and call display said it was (supposedly) our Visa credit card company.  Hmmm....said I....probably a scam....so I didn't answer it.  No....they left a message to call them.  Oh oh.  

I called, and got a person who just got off the stupid train.  Obviously a one-way train at that.  In order to supposedly confirm that I was who I said I was, she needed to ask me a number of questions.  All of those questions would have been easily answered (correctly) by any person who was up to no good.  I asked her why she wasn't requiring my so-called 'security code' and she didn't know what that was.  Say wha....????  At that point, I hung up, fairly convinced it WAS a scam.

Called the # on the back of the credit card and got another person (she'd been on the back of the train with the other one) who confirmed that Person #1 was, indeed, legit.  Okay.  Now what.  Apparently, totally unbeknownst to us we have managed to change our address to a place in British Columbia and THEN to a place in Quebec (funny - I don't remember moving).  THEN she decided to argue with me that our previous address could simply NOT be the one we actually DID previously live at and insisted that it had to be in British Columbia.  Dumb. As. A. Post.    (Did I mention that my blood pressure is normally so low that it alarms most medical people?  I think, by this point, said blood pressure was off the charts in the OTHER direction!!).  

Finally got her sorted out (I think) and the next step was to wait until today and phone the two credit reporting agencies here in Canada and ask them to 'red flag' our account (so that they have to contact us should there be any unusual activity).  Made sense.  Right?

Well, I was on the phone this morning first thing to Credit Reporting place #1.  It's one of those automated things - push 1 for this, push 2 for that, push 3 for.....(well, you get the picture).  Unfortunately, with all this pushing of buttons and waiting through all the options, their system insisted on kicking me out which required me starting over at the beginning.  Several times.  (see above note regarding blood pressure)

....oh.....and did I mention that we had the carpet cleaners booked to arrive at 9 am?.....

Finally managed to wrangle a real-live person.  And guess what?  She got off the SAME train!!!!  It was simply impossible that we didn't live in Montreal.  She finally decided that she would 'change our address' in the system, but as for doing anything so smart as to red flag our account, why no.  She couldn't possibly do that.  I would have to fax in the proper form.  What form?  And where do I get it?  Oh, sez she (quite vaguely).....I think it's on the website.  ARGH!!!  

Found form, filled in form, faxed in form.  Now how much to you want to bet they'll get said form and take one look at our address and say 'but you live in Montreal' and don't do anything?  

Carpet cleaner came and went and I mustered my courage and called the second credit agency.  After two minutes of canned music I got a real-live person.  She listened to my tale of woe.  She understood.  She did the proper things with her computer.  It took less than fifteen minutes.  I wanted to kiss her feet.   

...oh, and did I mention that the building superintendent arrived at the door in the midst of all this to tell us that there'd been a mix-up with our automatic debit for our rent?  And that we owed them money?.......

At that point, we left.  We locked the door and got out of town.  

Never let it be said that life doesn't get complicated at Chez Richardson!!

And....instead of a quote today....

'nuff said.

Are you up for more mumbling?

I hope you are, because otherwise I got nuttin' that I'm able to show you.

Unless you want to see a ball of yarn that might, or might not, be turned into a pair of socks. 

Unless you want to see my messy studio.

Unless you want to see that you can't sit on the couch in my studio.

Unless you want to see my pile of UFO's.

No?

Maybe you want to see my new sewing chair?

No?

Well then, I guess I'll just send you elsewhere to

see what other people (far more interesting than I)

are doing....

Today the quote is from Maurice Setter.... "Too many people miss the silver lining because they're expecting gold" 

 

Tah Dah! (and other stuff)

Remember all the excitement the other day over my finishing getting my old family diaries ready for publication?  Well, I thought perhaps you might like to see a page of what I was working from...

For a man with a very limited education, his handwriting was very legible.  Sometimes his spelling was a trifle 'creative', but that certainly would be expected.  The book is now off to the publisher and should be printed within the next two or three weeks.

And ....for lack of anything of the stitching sort to share today, how about a picture of a knitting project I just finished?  

Although it's hard to tell in this picture the yarn is metallic copper

and those buttons have rhinestone edges.  Bling doesn't seem to

photograph well.

AND WONDER OF WONDERS!!!!

It's a Christmas present!

Today your quote is from A. W. Tozer.... "Keep your feet on the ground, but let your heart soar as high as it will"