Another tah dah moment!

And......we have another finish!!  I loved making this one and I know I will be searching for more crusty rusty vehicles so I can do more (not that I'm giving up my love of buildings anytime soon!).  There are definitely NOT enough hours in the days to create all of these I would like to do.  (Please excuse the quality of the photo - of course it's raining here and the lighting is dismal!)

FOR SALE   

SOLD!!!!

The color in the close-up is a bit more 'true' ...

Inspired by this photo and kindly used with the permission of Dale Stewart (thank you!!!!)......

Today's quote...." I feel like a failure.  I've been shopping for craft supplies for 20 years and I still don't have what I need"

and....another one bites the dust....

....another pair of socks that is!

#4 of 9, using my favourite sock 'recipe'...

Yarn is, once again, 'Pairfect' by Regia.  

I think there will be a finished landscape to

show you on Wednesday, so stay tuned!

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

Throwing this out to you for help...

If, in your travels over the summer, 

you come across a great old rusty 

tractor or vehicle and are able to stop (safely!)

and get me some good clear photos I

would certainly appreciate it!

Fodder for such things is scarce in this area.

Thanks!

(of course I'm always interested in old houses,

churches and barns too!)

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

Today's quote..."Life is amazing.  And then it's awful.  And then it's amazing again.  And in between the amazing and the awful, it's ordinary and mundane and routine.  Breathe in the amazing, hold on through the awful, and relax and exhale during the ordinary.  That's just  living a heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, awful, ordinary life.  And it's breathtakingly beautiful"

Soapboxes, progress, and pretties

First, I'll start with the soapbox....this morning we had our first telemarketer call at 6:50 am.  Followed by two more within half an hour.  What is WRONG with these people?  Do they not know that your heart stops when the phone rings that early in the morning?  Do they not know that there are (hah) laws that state they are legally not allowed to call before 9 am and after 9 pm?  If we didn't live in an apartment and there were noise bylaws in place I would buy a whistle (or even better an air horn).  Maybe deafening the suckers might give them pause for thought - although I seriously doubt it.  Fortunately we have call display and never answer calls that are from a number we don't recognize and you'd think they would get tired of calling when they get no response.  

Climbing off soapbox now.

And just to get my ohmmmm back...how about these....

Resident Chef bought me flowers!

No special reason either....lucky me.💖

And here's a progress picture...

Today's quote, from Francine Ohiar..."Some people just don't get that I'd rather talk to a wall than them"

A bit more progress

Hopefully you can see a bit of what I've added to the landscape over the past few days.  Still more to go!

Today's quote..."One small crack does not mean that you are broken.  It means that you were put to the test and you didn't fall apart"

December in July

I did accomplish a little more on the landscape over the weekend but not enough that you can really see much of a difference.  So....instead of showing you that....here's another of my 'evening projects' I just finished.  Something else for the Christmas box!

The pattern is the 'Basic Knitted Socks' by

Kate Atherly, and can be found on

Ravelry HERE.

Yarn is 'Pairfect' by Regia.

This is my 'go-to' sock pattern - easy and lots of

stretch so they fit quite well.  The only thing I change is to

begin with 12 rows of knit 1, purl 1 for additional

stretch at the top.  

And yet more progress

As you can see, there has been a bit more progress on the old car part of the landscape.  

Sometimes there are mysteries that happen here at Chez Magpie and yesterday PMS Albatross decided in her wisdom that she should start sewing one of the decorative stitches completely backwards.  No reason.  At first I thought it was because I had pressed the reverse button but then I remembered that the decorative stitches don't HAVE a reverse option.  So why, oh why, did this particular hissy fit occur?  Yet another in the litany of idiosyncrasies of PMS Albatross!!  

Today's quote..."Warning!  This woman is a quilter.  She actually enjoys chopping up perfectly good fabric into little teeny tiny pieces and then sewing them all right back together again for fun!"

A bit of progress

There has been a bit done on the newest landscape as you can see from this photo...

  

Today's quote..."In the rhythm of the needles there is music for the soul"

Another finished project

Over the weekend I finished working on another gift that will be added to the Christmas box.  I really enjoyed working with the bright colours and of course the Lego theme was a winner in my eyes.  The pattern is the crocheted 'Building Blocks Throw' from Red Heart and can be found HERE.  I would recommend, if you were to do this, that you use a #3 yarn, rather than the # 4 the pattern calls for.  It's a tad heavy and I think a bit lighter weight yarn would suit it better.  

Another anonymous quote (and one that I think we can all identify with at times!)..."A perfect metaphor for my life would be 'someone trying to stand in a hammock'

More mumblings

- Modem - check

- Phone - check

- TV Remote - check

- Photos - check

- Netflix - hmmm - working on it

After much flexing of this creaky old bod, I managed to get the new modem installed.  There was a lot of crawling about on the floor involved in order to accomplish the feat, but perhaps the biggest feat of all was getting UP off the floor!!!  Oh....and the battle with dust bunnies was epic.  

Am considering a new career in technology....

any takers?

There are no pictures today.  Several days of wrestling with technology have put me behind in my creating.  Yesterday I did add some stitching to the treeline in the landscape, but  a picture looks pretty much like it did before.  So, instead of that...how about this...

Today's quote...another from an anonymous source..."People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; forgive them anyway.  If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway.  If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway.  If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway.  What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;  build anyway.  If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; be happy anyway.  The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; do good anyway.  Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; give the world the best you've got anyway.  You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; it was never between you and them anyway"

An assortment of mumblings today!

Sorry I was MIA on Monday!  We had an overnight visit from our #1 son and his family so I was playing Grandma to a very active (and talkative!) 5-year old.  Great fun, but we were tired when they went home!

While they were here #1 son got us set up with Netflix - or at least tried to.  It was working when he left but of course it wouldn't co-operate later.  I spent most of Tuesday wrestling with all sorts of techno-stuff that is a complete mystery to me, but I think (fingers crossed!!) I finally got it figured out.  In the middle of it all I had to stop and install a new tv remote too - another learning curve!!  AND....to top it all off, my modem decided that it had had enough with all this foolishness and decided that maybe it should decide to die a slow death.  Oh goody - more techno stuff to figure out how to do!!  I await delivery of the next challenge as we speak.

Oh....and just to add more fuel to the fire.....for reasons totally unknown to this writer, my downloaded photos that always show up as icons have suddenly chosen to convert themselves to a series of letters and numbers which makes choosing photos for blog posts a challenge I never wanted to deal with.  One more thing to try to figure out how to fix!  Maybe....just maybe.....the new modem will do the trick?  Not counting on it!!!

And...another little twist - our house phone has suddenly ceased to operate!  Hoping THAT has something to do with the modem as well....but why is the internet working?  Sigh.  I'm SO over this!!

I did manage to add a wee bit more to the current landscape.  So much, in fact, that I'm sure you'll have to look closely to see what I did....but here it is anyway.....

Today's quote is from Anatole France..."One must never lose time in vainly regretting the past or in complaining against the changes which cause us discomfort, for change is the essence of life"

As requested, and a beginning

I have made a start at my next landscape (you can scroll down to  my previous post to see what I'm hoping to accomplish).  At this point in the process I'm never sure that what I've done is even going to work, but we'll see.

And...a couple of people have requested additional photos of the felt food 'all together' and this is the best that I can do in order to fit it all in....

I also made a 'Thomas The Tank Engine' apron

and found a child-size set of 'tools'...

Today's quote is from Joshua Becker..."Stop the glorification of busy.  Busy, in and of itself, is not a badge of honor.  It's okay to not be busy"

Felt Finish!

My fun with felt has come to an end - the shoebox is full.  Today I'm making a little apron to go along with it and I can call that project done!

The plate is plastic and will be included in the box

More fun with felt

Just a friendly reminder - if you comment anonymously, 

I won't publish it.  Recently I've been getting

some rather 'interesting' spam.

AND...

Don't forget that I now respond to your comments

right here in the comment section so don't

forget to check back!

Over the weekend I played with more felt and came up with these additions to the shoebox of fun I'm making...

I promise, the box will soon be full and

I'll be past this phase and back to the

regular mumblings!

Today's quote..."When I clean my sewing room:  1% cleaning; 29% complaining, and 70% playing with stuff"

Fun With Felt (with a nod to Sheldon)

I'm still playing with felt here at Chez Magpie and today's 'offerings' are these....

The beginning of a salad

I'm also pondering how I will create a landscape quilt from this photo...

Image used with the kind permission of

Dale Stewart

Today's quote..."You can't force someone to respect you, but you can refuse to be disrespected"

Feelin' felty!

First of all, for those of you who were kind enough to ask, I did survive the dreaded 'speech' at the trunk show yesterday.  Luckily it wasn't a large audience (only about 20 ladies) so that helped.  I didn't have to get up on a stage OR hold a microphone (both things give me the heebie jeebies).  They seemed interested in what I had to show them and made very nice comments - and even laughed (I'm sure politely) at my pitiful jokes.  Now I can put it behind me and return to my happy place - my sewing room - where they know me here and don't judge.

And speaking of my sewing room, here are a few more felt-bits that I've created....

Took me two days to make the corn!!

A quote from George Jessel..."The human brain starts working the moment you are born and never stops until you stand up to speak in public"

A change of pace!

And now, for something different.....

How about a peanut butter & jelly sandwich?

Or maybe a burger?.....

I'm a grandma, what can I say?

If you are of the mind, please send some positive thoughts my way for tomorrow.  I'm destined to do a trunk show for a small quilt guild in the area and I am SO not a public speaker!!!  I know it's difficult for smaller guilds to get speakers and it's also a way to promote the fact that I hope to get commissions and sales for my landscapes.  That's not, however, making me feel the least bit braver!

Today's quote is from Dale Carnegie...."There are always three speeches for every one you actually gave.  The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave"

A finish!

I finished the grain elevator landscape a couple of days ago and here it is....

SOLD!

And to refresh your memory, this is the 

original photo I worked from...

Photo by Dale Stewart,

used with his kind permission

(thank you Dale!)

In the background

While I've been sharing our quilt guild show with you, the studio here at Chez Magpie hasn't been idle.  I've been working on my latest landscape, as you can see from this picture...

Or at least I hope you can see!  I've quilted the snow and the sky and added more details on the elevator.

Today's quote...."The five types of people you should surround yourself with:  the inspired, the passionate, the motivated, the grateful, and the open minded"  (and I would add those with a sense of humour!).

Final installment of the tour

 Here are the final pictures I took at the quilt show.....Enjoy!  and we will return to the regularly anticipated (or dreaded, depending on your viewpoint) mumblings next time.

Today's quote, from Hugh Sidey...."A sense of humor is needed armor.  Joy in one's heart and some laughter on one's lips is a sign that the person down deep has a pretty good grasp of life"