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!

Flavours of Fall

When we were away we were able to sample some produce that had been put through a dehydrator and we promptly went out and bought one for ourselves.  Since then DH has been happily playing with it and these jars are some of the results....

Each of these jars holds approximately twenty plum tomatoes, believe it or not!  They are SO sweet and full of tomato flavour and it's hard not to keep snacking on them til they're all gone.  They'll be a tasty addition to salads over the winter (if they last that long!). 

Today's quote is from an unknown source.... "Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least"

A new project

As if I need to start anything else (!), yesterday I pieced together a new hussif.  When I was going through my stash a little while ago I realized I had several things that had the theme of roses and set them aside to ponder what I might make to use them.  I could, of course, have simply made a crazy quilted block but that didn't serve a useful purpose.  The main colour theme (white) didn't lend itself to making a purse because that simply wouldn't be practical (at least for slobby me!!).  My mind kept turning to a hussif with a matching purse that would serve to carry extra sewing goodies that wouldn't fit into the hussif itself.  Perhaps the purse could be large enough to also carry an in-process project too.  Hmmmm..... ponder, ponder. 

Well, all that pondering has led to me starting another hussif.  This one will be different from the others I've done.  I plan to make the inside more detailed with lots and lots of roses embroidered everywhere. 

This is the left side of my hussif (it's a three-fold 'book').  

And this is the right side.

I had several rose-themed hankies in my stash so I was able to use them in this project.  I have a collection of rose brooches and such that I plan to include, as well as embroider lots of roses.





For those of you who are new to my blog, perhaps you might like to see my other two hussifs, so click on 'Crazy Quilting' in my sidebar and it will take you to my projects.  A scroll through will yield pics of the hussifs. 

Today, the quote is from Winnie the Pooh.... "What day is it?" asked Pooh.  "It's today." squeaked Piglet.  "My favourite day." said Pooh.

I actually did do some stitching today, but haven't taken photos as yet, so I will share a picture of the delicious supper our #2 son made for us when he was home.  And, before you ask, yes he made those buns - from scratch!



EDITED TO ADD:  For those of you who asked, there was tomato sauce, zucchini, cheese, and the eggs were poached in the liquid.  There might have been other ingredients too, but I wasn't privvy to the cooking process!!  Served over quinoa. 


Thought I'd also tell you about a very interesting article I found on Studio Kat's blog.  She discusses doing more of what you love, which will lead to a happier life.  I thought it was worth sharing with you, so go HERE to read it. 

Today the quote is from Tama Kieves.... "You can't cling to the old nest and soar to the flowering branches at the same time"

Absence explained, and tarnished silver

Sorry about being AWOL from my blog for a few days but we've been enjoyed a nice visit with our #2 son and daughter-in-love who live in BC.  They decided to fly home for a wedding and we got to have them with us for three whole days!  Needless to say the computer was the furthest thing from my mind!




Here they are, having fun, with the tree they planted at
their wedding.












Thought you might like to see my current 'collection' of tarnished silver pieces.  The piece on the left has a lovely lid so it's perfect to hold my sewing pins.  The rest are holding assorted pencils, scissors and such.  Would love to stumble across a large coffee pot that could be turned into a lamp.  I'm sure I'll find one someday!


Today the quote is from Martin Luther King.... "If a man hasn't discovered something that he would die for, he isn't fit to live"

I'm b-a-c-k!!!

Well, actually I've been back since Wednesday night, but had a ton of catching up to do so haven't had much time to be on the computer.We had a lovely time - very laid back.  So nice to not have to rush anywhere or do anything on any sort of schedule.  The weather was perfect which was a nice bonus as well. 

We had Irish coffee on our balcony outside our room.

We saw this view from the balcony.

 

We hiked on a trail.

 

We sat on this incredible beach.

 

We ate breakfasts that looked like this.

 

And, when we came home we made these.

 

The quote for today is from Anne Morrow Lindbergh.... "If you let yourself be absorbed completely, if you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly in those moments"

Tomorrow

Thirty five years ago tomorrow this man married me...

and I have never ceased to be grateful

for that fact.

Together we have two wonderful sons,

two amazing daughters-in-love,

and a brand new grandbaby.

Life is good.

Today the quote is from Oliver Wendell Holmes.... "Love is the master key which opens the gates of happiness"

The next three days will be spent on a honeymoon with my sweetheart.  Be good while I'm gone!

Ominous skies and white

Last night we had a rather large thunderstorm roll through, complete with high winds, heavy rain and hail.  We sat in our living room and watched the most ominous-looking black cloud (almost looked like a blanket) move across the sky (one of the most scary skies I've ever witnessed).  I ran out with the camera and tried to get a decent shot.  This was taken at about 7:30 last night, when it should have been broad daylight....

Within a few minutes of taking this picture, the sky was completely black.  Definitely scary!!

To go to the opposite extreme of the colour spectrum, here's the latest section I just completed for my second white cloth.  I think there should be only one more left to do and then I can start to put it together.






Today the quote is from anonymous.... "We are each of us angels with only one wing and we can only fly by embracing one another"

Tears - of joy and pride!

I have a story to share today (being typed as tears drip down my face).  Our sons grew up with a special friend who became one of the boys that we loved as well.  Steven was in and out of our house all the time (as I know our boys were in and out of his).  He could be counted on to know the weather report inside and out, and he was the conscience of our boys.  Steven was, and is, incapable of telling a lie and if our boys happened to do something that was not quite up to our standards, we would be sure to hear about it.  With that hanging over their heads, I'm sure our boys thought twice about doing many of the things that would have gotten them into deep trouble!  Don't get me wrong - Steven was not a tattle tale - it was simply that his conscience would not allow him to participate in any wrong doing.

To illustrate that point....our oldest son was somewhat of a dare-devil and would do things that he shouldn't and one evening he thought it would be 'fun' to try something that he'd seen at school.  The premise was that you shook a can of pop and then inserted a straight pin into the side of it.  Removing the pin would then (theoretically) result in shooting the pop with great force into your mouth.  Well, as things are prone to doing, the pin shot out of the can with great force and then promptly disappeared.  The boys turned the family room upside down hunting for the pin and Steven finally came to the conclusion that perhaps, just perhaps, said pin had gone down RJ's throat with the force of the pop.  Despite huge protests from RJ, Steven did the right thing and got Mom and Dad.  Suffice to say, a scary trip to the ER ensued and yes indeed, pin was lodged in RJ's stomach lining.  Had it gotten loose it could have resulted in a perforated bowel or heaven only knows what. 

Despite all these goings on, Steven has remained a friend to all of us and, although he has moved away and we don't see him often he is still 'our' kid.

I think, by now, (if you have read this far), you will have figured out that Steven is a special needs person.  The 'pride' portion of this post comes from an article that is in the paper about Stephen being chosen as the Canadian Special Olympics male athlete of the year.  He has won many gold medals competing for Canada in the Special Olympics with his main sport being speed skating.  He also competes in the summer sports and does equally as well. 

If you would like to read more about him and about his competitions with Special Olympics, go HERE.    As you can see, we are SO proud of him!!

Today the quote is from Christopher Reeve... "I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles"

As promised....

As I promised you yesterday, here are some closeups of the crazy quilted block I did for Pam Kellogg's calendar 

This is the lower left area.  It's the first time I have tried to bead a 'cabachon' (in this case, an oval shisha mirror).  It took me hours to do, but I like the effect I got.  

The lower right.  The wee house in the woods is cross stitched using waste canvas.  You can see the little crocheted snowflake that is beneath a sparkly button on the mid-left.  Web stitches with beads added for extra sparkle. A seam treatment using silver sequins for additional sparkle.  There's a seam covered in tatting, and also some pearls added.  All meant to give the effect of snow.  

On the upper left - the trees are a button and there's more beads added to stitching motifs reminiscent (I hope anyway!) of snow flurries.
Seam treatments done with the use of waste canvas.  

On the upper right - more seams done using waste canvas and more snow 'flurries'.  I tried, with a limited degree of success, to make the pine branch  dimensional.  I think, if I were to do that again, I would use much thicker threads.  In real life the 'snow' is quite sparkly - it's done with a nylon ribbon sold for Christmas decorating.  More beads for sparkle here and there, and some snowflakes that were originally sold for scrapbooking purposes.

If you click on any of the pictures, they should embiggen so you can see more of the details.

Today's quote is from Thich Nhat Hanh.... "People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle, but I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth.  Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize:  a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black curious eyes of a child, our own two eyes.  All is a miracle"

Another quote

And, for the quote of the day, Helen Keller said.... "No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit"

The Great Secret Project of 2014? Revealed!!

Remember how I was working on something that was a secret?  That I couldn't post any pictures of?  Surely you remember how curious you were to know what it was that I was doing?

Well.....

Ta Dah!!

Believe it or not, my work is gracing 

the January page of this gorgeous calendar

that my friend Pam Kellogg has put

together!

To say I'm excited is most likely the understatement of the year!  My work is alongside some of the people I most admire in the field and I feel so very honoured to have been asked to take part in this project.  

This is what I created for the January page of the calendar.  I think you can click on it if you would like to embiggen to see the details.

Today's quote is from John Mason.... "You were born an original. Don't die a copy"

On a quest

Today DH and I took what we fondly refer to as a 'sanity day' and headed off to do some thrifting.  I was hoping to find some old tarnished silver pieces that I could use in my studio to store things like pencils and such.  I lucked out and found one piece that I loved...

As you can see, it's already been pressed into service!

I saw a few other pieces but they were too small to be of any use.  The search will continue.

Today the quote is from Mark Twain  "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did.  So throw off the bowlines.  Sail away from the safe harbor.  Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream.  Discover." 

Embroidery that's out of this world!!

I had heard (and read a little bit) about the costumes that have been created for the television show 'Game of Thrones' and, although I don't watch the show, I was intrigued enough to find out more and oh boy, did I!!!!    I have to share the link with you so that you can go and be amazed and the absolutely incredible detail that went into items that were probably only seen fleetingly in the show. 


The quote for today is from Og Mandino.... "I will love the light for it shows me the way.  I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars"

Road trip!

Today we went on a little road trip with our friends and I thought you might enjoy seeing just a few of the sights we found along the way...

We visited several different places where the water was absolutely stunning.  The sound and the fury of water is something that has to be seen to be believed.

This is only a sampling of the scenery!

We stopped at a wonderful place where there were tons of wood carvings.

I could have brought several of them home quite happily!

All of these things, plus the bestest Thai food for

lunch!  

A wonderful day!!

Today the quote is very fitting and comes from Patch Adams.... "Nature tops the list of potent tranquilizers and stress reducers.  The mere sound of moving water has been shown to lower blood pressure"

Another section, and collaboration

Here's another section for my second white cloth...

Several parts of this were taken from vintage dresser scarves and small tablecloths. 

The 'thing' on the middle left is a padded form that I then wove with crochet cotton and then surrounded with bullion knots.




As always, you can click to embiggen!

For the 'collaboration' portion of this post, here's a picture of a Prayer Shawl that I completed for a friend.  She loves to knit the squares in various patterns, but doesn't care for the putting together aspect of the project.  I put them together and crochet an edging.  We have done a number of these and I finally decided I should show you one.




Today the quote is from Sharon McAuliffe.... "Better to bloom late in life than to not bloom at all....to dry up as a bud and never release what has been hidden"

Gifted treasures

A friend of mine is moving away and has been downsizing her stash of creativity fodder and today she gifted me with these special treasures...

My friend is in her 80's and she said that the tatting book, shuttle and the lovely little motifs (there were several) were done by her mother.  Although I can't tat, I felt very blessed to become the caretaker for such treasures.  The book was copyrighted in 1944.

Here's a close-up so you can hopefully see the details a little better (click to embiggen!).  The bracelets are more recently made I think, but I'm not sure about the collar.  I think it's crocheted using metallic thread, but it could be a form of weaving.  Unsure of the possible age of that either.

One of the tatted motifs will be making an appearance somewhere on my current white cloth.

Today's quote is from Henry Thoreau.... "The question is not what you look at, but what you see"

Poking, proding, bloodletting....and knitting!

Yes, I've been knitting.  #1 son (the one with the big feet that can't buy slippers in a store) put in a special request for a new pair of the felted slippers that only his loving mother can make, so...

Now I have a special request to make another pair for our daughter-in-love.  She'd like hers in opposite colours and it crossed my mind that she would like them different so they wouldn't get mixed up.  Hah - her feet are little bitty so there's not a chance!!

While I was at it, I used up some of my leftover felting yarn and made this little bag...

Both are made using Paton's Classic Wool yarn and the pattern for the slippers is the Felted Clogs from Fiber Trends.  The purse is the Dumpling Bag pattern by Sharon Dreifuss which can be found on Ravelry.

The poking and proding and bloodletting portion of this post refers to the yearly visit to the doctor that I had to do today.  Always a joyful proposition, but I have to say our doctor makes the whole process actually a good experience.  She's definitely a gem!

Today's quote, from William James.... "To change one's life:  Start immediately.  Do it flamboyantly.  No exceptions"

progress on white

I spent much of the weekend updating my labels in my sidebar so if there's anything there that you might be interested in exploring further there might be some new content to see.  It was a mind-numbing process for sure but long overdue. 




This shows another completed section of my second white cloth.  I love the peacock which is a very vintage embroidery piece.  It needed a bit of repair so I could use it (for some reason his feet and beak had gone awol!).

And this piece is the beginning of a new section. 




Today the quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson.... 'Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm"

problems with comments?

Is anyone else having difficulties with leaving comments on blogs?  I have noticed two things that are driving me nuts.  The first being that I type a lovely comment, click to publish it and am sent to sign in with my google account (that part is all normal), and then when I go back to finish the publishing process my comment has disappeared and I have to re-type it.  It only happens on a few blogs and there's no rhyme nor reason as to which ones and when it will happen. 

The other issue is that the word verification seems to be messed up - when I look for the 'word' I am presented with a picture instead of the usual gobbeldy-gook that we are supposed to type in to prove we are not a robot.  I end up having to click on the little icon to the right that looks like a circle with an arrow in order to get a useable verification code. 

Am I going nuts (well, more so than usual!);  is it my computer; or are any of you noticing the same problems? 

Wildlife and sewing

Over a year ago I made a denim throw for the back of our couch and hadn't gotten around to recovering the pillows.  Finally made it my goal for the weekend and here they are...

You can just see a corner of the throw in the background.

Last night we had a flock of 37 Canada Geese right below our balcony window...it wasn't long ago these were just little balls of fluff!

The quote for today, from Gwen Owen.... "You can't lose weight without exercise.  But I've got a philosophy about exercise.  I don't think you should punish your legs for something your mouth did.  Drag your lips around the block once or twice" 

Just a little bit

Yes, just a little bit of stitching today....

I'm starting into a bigger section than what the last couple have been so they will take me longer to complete.  This one measures about 8 x 17".

Do you know what this is?....

It's called a puff ball, which is a type of wild mushroom.

They can grow to be about two feet around but 

the majority of them seem to be about this size or a 

little bigger.

Jack peels them, slices them about 1/2 to 3/4" thick and soaks them in milk for a few hours.  He then drains them, and fries them in butter with a little garlic.  Sometimes he adds onion that he has pre-fried.  See.......

Yummy!!

Today's quote is from Elbert Hubbard.... " A friend is someone who knows all about you and loves you just the same"

and......another one!!

Another section for my second white cloth is finished.  The piece on the upper left was embroidered by my maternal grandmother who died in the early 60's, and I think the tatting on the outside was done by my mother.  I don't remember my grandmother ever tatting, but it was something my mother did when she was young. 

Today the quote is from John Muir.... "Climb the mountains and get their good tidings:  Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine into flowers, the winds will blow their freshness into you, and the storms, their energy and care will drop off like autumn leaves"

and...another one bites the dust (needle?)

Despite how it looks, the lines ARE straight!!

Benjamin Franklin once said.... " Wealth is not his, that has it, but his who enjoys it"

Knitting (for a change of pace)

I actually have made something that will be put aside for giving at Christmas (yes, I know...that's not a word we want to think about this time of year!)....

Yarn is 'Boutique Chic' from Red Heart

and the pattern is on the ball band.

Today the quote is from Mae West....  "I never worry about diets.  The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond"

White....again!!

Over the weekend I began another section for my second white cloth and here it is...

This area began with a vintage hankie pocket/holder.  I added some 'extras' to it, for additional interest, plus embroidered the names and wedding date for the intended recipients.  

Here you can see the pocket flap lifted up.






Today the quote is from John Maynard Keynes...  "The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from the old ones"

More progress on white

Over the weekend I completed another section for the latest white cloth.

If you want to see more of this cloth, or the work I did on

the first cloth, click on either 'White' or 'White 2' in my

sidebar!

Today's quote is from Robert Louis Stevenson.... "That man is a success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much"