No pictures, at least from me

I don't suppose it would be of the least bit of interest to you that I have spent the better part of two days at the spa.  Getting a steam treatment.  I outta have the BEST complexion going!  Even better, it didn't cost me a thing. 

Oh, yeah...

maybe I should mention that the

steam treatment was courtesy

of my very own steam iron?

Today the quote is from Bob Dylan.... "A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do"

A photo! Who knew?

Yes, I actually got something done today, believe it or not.  Our little grandson is going to have a new Christmas stocking. 

I thought this quote was rather interesting (it comes from an internal memo at the Western Union, dated 1876)..... "This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication.  The device is inherently of no value to us"    Somebody at Western Union certainly had it wrong!!

Still nada to show.....

I don't have anything to show you yet, but I do have something that I found that is utterly amazing for you to go and see.  A man, named Paul Smith, who was born with severe cerebral palsy, used an ordinary typewriter (yes, you read the correctly) to make the most beautiful pieces of art.  There's a video on you tube about him and his art as well.  I can't seem to get the direct link to work, but if you Google his name and/or typewriter art you will find him.  Such an inspirational man!!

Today the quote, which is very fitting I think, comes from William Ellery Channing.... "Difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage.  The human spirit is to grow strong by conflict"

nuttin....nada.....zip.....zilch....

You will have gathered by that post title that I have nothing that's fit to show you.  There are a number of projects that are in various stages of completion that you will see eventually, but as of right now they are looking more like a colossal mess.  I could show you pictures of a couple of piles of cut-out fabrics (yawn).....I could show you a few balls of yarn, with perhaps a knitting needle or two thrown in for good measure (snore)....I could show you a pile of sewing notions that will be turned into various projects (b-o-r-ing)....

OR...

I could show you this...

Yep, you're welcome.

And the quote today is from Anonymous... "You watch the fellow who drives ahead - and the fellow who drives behind. You watch to the right, you watch to the left - You drive with a calm clear mind.  But the fellow you really have to watch is the fellow behind the fellow in front - and ahead of the fellow behind"

Gimping along

Hah - I'll bet you have a whole other meaning for gimping floating about in your head and will be totally surprised when I show you this...

.....and this.......







 I was reminded of the gimp pieces I have in my stash.  The story behind me having this in the first place revolves around my mother, who was born in 1916.  She, unfortunately, was one of the people who contacted tuberculosis and at the age of approximately eighteen was sent away to stay at a sanitarium that was devoted to nursing care for those affected with the disease.  She spent four years there and during that time she did a lot of creative things, including making purses and belts using gimp.  The piece you see here was meant to be a belt, but when I found it in her stash it hadn't been completed.  I have since cut off pieces to use in my first white wrapping cloth and now I'm contemplating trying to unravel this (or at least some of it) to re-purpose the gimp for embroidery applications.  I'm sure my mothers' thrifty soul would be pleased!

One little side note about having had TB back in those times....my mother often said that the patients were made to sleep outside on open verandahs (there was mosquito netting in the summer) all year round.  She said she would wake up with a covering of snow on her blankets.  It's so hard to think of her having to go through that. 

Today the quote is an Irish blessing, from an unknown author.... "May the blessing of light be upon you, light without and light within.  May the blessed sunshine shine on you and warm your heart til it glows like a great peat fire, so that the stranger may come and warm himself at it, and also a friend"

A marvelous gift - and extreme disgust

First of all - I've been meaning to post a picture of the exciting gift that our #2 son and daughter-in-love gave me when they were visiting a few weeks ago. 

The two red skeins of yarn are 'Golden Crown Suri' - an absolutely gorgeous lace weight yarn made from alpaca.  So soft and luxurious!  The single ball in the front of the photo is Qiviuk which is made from the fine inner insulating layer of the Canadian Arctic Muskox.  It's also lace weight and there's enough yarn in that single ball to make a beautiful scarf.  They included the pattern in the gift (for the Qiviuk) and I've since ordered a cowl pattern from the company who makes the alpaca yarn.  And yes, I'm definitely intimidated to even start knitting with such expensive and luxurious yarn!!    If you want to learn more about these yarns I'm sure you can google 'Qiviuk' and/or Heavenly Alpaca. 

- - - - - - - -

Many of us in Canada have been pretty much glued to the news reports today after a horrendous terrorist attack at our nation's capital, following closely on another attack earlier in the week that happened in Quebec.  We don't like to think that these sorts of things can happen here, in a largely peaceful nation.  Obviously they can.  The people who do these sorts of atrocities deserve nothing but our extreme disgust.  Our prayers go out to the families of the soldiers who have died, as well as to those who have been injured.  

Today I am giving you a quote from Napolean Hill.... "Until you have learned to be tolerant with those who do not always agree with you; until you have cultivated the habit of saying some kind word of those whom you do not admire; until you have formed the habit of looking for the good instead of the bad there is in others, you will be neither successful or happy"

Completed purse!

Over the weekend I finished the purse!  Yay!  Had to take pictures in a hurry because the person who commissioned it dropped in unexpectedly and I wanted her to take it with her when she left.

Today's quote is from an unknown source... "The ornament of a house is the friends that frequent it"

Final section!

This afternoon I finished the final section on the crazy quilted purse (and have even managed to get some of it sewn together).  Here is the last section...

Today I have chosen a quote from Joe Cordare.... "To the question of your life you are the answer, and to the problems of your life you are the solution"

Sights and a site

For today, I thought you might like to see the view I am seeing this afternoon from my studio window.  There has been a little break in the clouds and dullness and the sun broke through long enough for me to grab a couple of pictures.

This tree is almost directly across from my window.  There is a paved path that runs from the roadway and beneath these trees and from there along the river to the downtown core of our town.





In the picture below you can get a better sense of the river and walkway.

I have also completed the third section for the crazy quilted purse.  Three down, one more to go!!












Today the quote is from an unknown source.... "You know why it's hard to be happy?  It's because we refuse to let go of the things that make us sad"

Pictures, albeit mediocre!

Yes, today I have a couple of pictures for you.  Yesterday we had to be up at dark-thirty in the morning to take s-i-l to her medical appointment and there was a beautiful sunrise.  This picture absolutely doesn't do it justice...

My evening knitting has produced what my crazy quilted teddy is sporting - it's a baby-sized balaclava (the first of two I plan to make). 

The pattern is the 'Cozy Bay Hood' by Patons and is a free one.  I found it on the AllFreeKnitting site.  1 ball of Patons Astra yarn is enough for the small sized hat.




Today the quote is from Bruce Lee...."Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own"

No pictures, but some satisfaction....

I'm sorry to say there are no pictures to be seen on this blog today.  I apologize profusely for being remiss in that regard, but perhaps I can be forgiven if I tell you that it was because we were taking my s-i-l to a medical appointment and that I haven't been home since dark-thirty this morning. 

The astute among you might (or, more likely, might not!) have noticed the sudden disappearance of the BlogLovin button in my sidebar.  Those of you who read my rant about them last week might even have been expecting it.  Yes, the bloom is off the romance, the divorce papers were filed and it's over, don't let the door hit you on the way out.

To recap....for weeks now bloglovin has been driving me nuts.  It wouldn't let me mark blogs as having been read and I was ending up have to check each blog each and every time I signed in to see if there had been anything new posted since I last visited.  Then it went through a period where it wouldn't let me sign out of the site and continually demanded that I update my profile.  To what?  Why?  Well, then it decided that signing out at all, update or not, was not doable.  Oh, and maybe later in the day all would be back to normal, leading one to think that the fart it was holding crosswise had been released.  Nope...it wasn't to last, and the next time I visited it would be back to being grumpy.  Repeated emails (and postings on their site) were ignored.

 I asked for suggestions for a new feeder in one of my posts last week and received several suggestions (thank you!).  Deepa suggested one called 'Inoreader' and I checked it out, along with all of the other ones that were mentioned.  Inoreader had really good reviews and, seemingly, has a good customer support system in place.  It is very much like the old Blogger feed used to be and, so far, I like it.  Thank you Deepa for telling me about it.

Hopefully this blog will return to the regularly scheduled mumblings tomorrow, but in the meantime I will leave you with another quote from Anne Lamott...  "I do not understand the mystery of grace, only that it meets us where we are and does not leave us where it found us"

Giving thanks, embroidering, and crocheting

First of all, I want to extend best wishes for a very happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends.  It's a good time to pause and take a few moments to reflect on the blessings each and every one of us has in our lives and to hopefully enjoy some time with family and friends. 

I've been working away in my studio and have completed another section of the current purse I'm making, as you can see in this picture...

Sorry to say it's not a very good photo because it's dull and dreary here today which doesn't make for great pictures.

The piece on the right has been my 'evening-tv-viewing-time' project for the past week.  It's crocheted using fine cotton and is destined to be a Christmas gift, along with a nice candle.

For those who might be interested, I found the pattern on Ravelry..."Rose Doily #804". 


Today's quote is from an unknown writer.... "A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words"

More crazy quilting

Today I do have a picture for you to see!  This is one section of the purse I'm working on that was completed this afternoon...

One down, three more to go!

The quote today is from Susan Harris.... "Anyone can be happy when times are good; the richer experience is to be happy when times are not"

another announcement

Today's quote is from Elie Wiesel.... " When we die and go to heaven, our Maker is not going to say, why didn't you discover the cure for such and such?  The only thing we're going to be asked at that precious moment is why didn't you become you?"

More embroidery on black

Now, on to the pictures for this post.  I'm currently working on another crazy quilted purse which has been commissioned for Christmas.  Thought you might like to see some of the seam treatments I've done so far....many of them are designs created by Pam Kellogg of Kitty and Me Designs, some were using the stencils that Sharron Boggon sells and some came out of my head (ouch!).

Today the quote is from an anonymous source.... "Let the beauty of what you love be what you do"

A few days of activity

Sorry, folks, about being somewhat missing around my blog but we actually have had several things on the go.  Thought I'd just do a post of pictures with minimal explanation....

A 30 lb. pumpkin = 10 pies and a large pot of THIS soup!

A trip up north to collect our winter's supply of fresh cranberries from the marsh = a stop in Bala to see the water going over the dam.

Same trip = some beautiful leaves.

And beautiful trees.

And a beaver dam.

And finally, a finished baby blankie - knitted, with a crocheted border.

Today's quote is from Joseph Addison.... "Three grand essentials in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for"

I am slowly going crazy - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 1, switch

Crazy slowly am I going!!

Bloglovin' is doing its best to drive me round the proverbial bend (which some would say doesn't take much).  I have been having 'issues' with my feeder for over a week now and it's getting frustrating beyond the extreme.  I posted a query about it on their site and my question, although it obviously went through, completely disappeared.  Tonight I posted yet again and guess where it showed up?  On facebook.  Ummmm.....last I checked in my Funk & Wagnall's  bloglovin and facebook weren't spelled the same.  I haven't changed my settings and have NO clue why they aren't wanting to play nicely.

- I can't mark any of the blogs as being read (once I've done so) - that's beyond annoying because I end up going back and rereading things I have already seen - several times over by now.

- I can't sign out of the site - it keeps telling me to update my profile.  I'd be more than happy to do so, but there's nowhere to update anything, even if I wanted to.

- I can't add any new blogs to the feeder 

SO....

Does anybody know of another feeder

that works well??

The marriage is over.

The romance is gone.

Today's quote (very fittingly) is from Sam Goldwyn....  "This makes me so sore it gets my dandruff up"

Around the World Blog Hop

Today I'm joining in with the other bloggers who are hopping around the world visiting blogs and getting to know one another. This Blog Hop is similar to a chain winding its way through the internet.  Follow the links backwards to see who came before me and then forwards to the people that I tag for next week. 

The premise behind the hop is that you receive an invitation from someone that asks you to post your answers to four questions and you, in turn, ask three bloggers to do the same on the Monday of the following week.  Visitors can then visit the blogger that invited you, as well as the three that you send them to.  From there you can branch out and follow links,both backwards and forwards,to blogs throughout the world.  It's a great way to 'meet' new people and find blogs that are interesting to you, as well as to increase readership to your own blog.  Kind of like a chain letter but with none of the threats of the dire consequences that might befall you if you don't send the tea towel, recipe or whatever else they might be wanting.  Nobody likes those!

I received an invitation from Lyn of Linie Cat at Large to play along.  Lyn's blog is funny and informative and covers many different aspects of her life.  She's creative and writes about her work as well as posting really interesting things about the places she visits and often about the history of the area.  I will unashamably snitch a picture from her blog to show you one of her art pieces...

Now, on to the questions....

1.  What am I working on?

Many of you know that I am primarily a crazy quilter.  It's something I am passionate about and spend pretty much all my waking hours doing.  I usually have several different projects on the go at any given time.  I never get bored that way!   Currently I have three things on my work table.  The first is the second white cloth that I'm creating with guidance from Karen Ruane's online classes.  This is not done in the crazy quilt style, but I can't resist adding some elements of it.

This is definitely a work in progress!  The photo above

is the whole cloth, in the process of being put together.

And below is a closeup of one of the sections

of the cloth.

Another of my passions is to read books about organization.  Yes, I read them....but application of what I read is an entirely different matter!  After seeing some examples of hussifs online I decided that I needed one to keep my sewing tools readily at hand and easily portable.  After pondering awhile and deciding just what I wanted my hussif to hold, I created a pattern and this is what I came up with...

 To the left you can see it folded, and below you can see it opened out. 

Each hussif is folded in thirds so there's lots of room inside for holding the things we like to stitch with.

If I thought one hussif was good, so two must be even better...right?  

The front in the photo to the right....

And below, the inside.

So how come I just pieced a THIRD one???  What woman in her right mind needs THREE hussifs? 

This one actually started with a stash-diving expedition looking for something else and discovering that I had a number of rose-themed pieces that I had been hoarding for far too long.  The plan (and I DO have one) is to make another hussif and change the pattern to also include a purse that will not only hold the hussif inside, but also some larger tools and an in-process project.

I also enjoy knitting and crocheting and the time I spend in front of the tv in the evenings is never wasted.  I'm currently working on a knitted baby blanket as you can see....

2.  How does my work differ from others of its genre?

This is a question I seriously can't answer.  Crazy quilters are a breed all unto their own and what differs between us is the access we have to supplies and embellishments.  In my area there are no stores where I can go to purchase the things I like to use and I have to rely on thrift store expeditions and yard sales.  Putting 'the word' out to my friends and family has yielded a lot of my stash, as well as inheriting bits from my grandmothers and my mother.  My work combines common embroidery stitches which I like to augment with the use of waste canvas to add cross stitched patterns.  Having a stash of things like beads, buttons and broken jewelry helps too.

One of the purses I have made.

 

3.  Why do I write/create what I do?

Having a peek around at some of the other blogs on the tour shows that we all feel pretty much the same.  I need to create - I'm not happy unless I spend at least part of each day with needle and thread in hand.  It's a compulsion and  I'm driven to do what I do and simply can't imagine not being able to stitch.  It's a passion, deep within, that refuses to go away.  I like the recycling aspect of crazy quilting  and the connection with generations past who made their quilts using whatever they had at hand.  Crazy quilting is much the same because I use scraps of fabrics, many of them thrifted, and oddments of things that might otherwise be headed to the landfill.  I like being able to keep memories of favourite pieces of clothing alive by using bits of them in my work and using things like a lonely earring that has lost its mate.  Giving new life to things that would normally be discarded gives me great pleasure. 

 I also love to work with recycled denim.

This is one of my crazy-quilt inspired jackets.

4.  How does my writing/creating process work?

My work tends to just evolve with no forethought on my part.  I often pull some coordinating fabrics from my stash if I have a colour scheme in mind and work from those.  The embroidery and embellishments I use are decided upon as I go along.  Sometimes a piece of work will be inspired by something I find in my stash of embellishments (like the rose-themed piece shown above).  Sometimes I will decide on a theme and what I use will be selected with that in mind.  Once I piece the background the fun begins and I just play with ideas and elements until I come up with something that works.

Another of my purses, with recycled denim this time.

Thanks to Lyn for inviting me to play and thanks to you all for reading this far!

I will leave you with a quote from Joseph Newton.... "We cannot tell what may happen to us in the strange medley of life.  But we can decide what happens in us--how we take it, what we do with it--and that is what really counts in the end"

bloglovin issues?

Just a quick question before I do my Around the World Blog Hop post....is anyone else having issues with your Bloglovin feed?  For some reason I can't mark any of the posts as read nor can I sign out of the site.  It keeps cycling me back wanting me to update my profile (which I've done).  Am I the only one?

on the road again

It seems like the past week or so we've done nothing but run the roads for various reasons, which translates into precious little getting done in the way of things I'm able to show you.  

So....because I don't have anything to mumble about either, I will give you a few little smiles to brighten your day...

Hopefully one of those will tickle your funny bone, and I will leave you with a quote from William Arthur Ward.... "God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say 'thank you'?"

Stay tuned for my Around the World Blog Hop post on Monday!