Quilting and other Things

The general consensus was that it should be longer. But it was made to be a seasonal wallhanging for the top of my stairs. If it was longer, it would be too long. Mom Testing out new quilt Dad approving the new quilt Winter Sunset Karen's walk after a snow storm The pigeons look very cold Front of my unit -- just a bit of drifting A garbage can is under here -- do you see a teddy bear face in this mound of snow. Karen showing off the snow bank in the parking lot Walking on a cold afternoon The creek near home Still a bit of open water Christmas Day Dinner

In Dec 1998 McCalls Quilting magazine published this pattern. I think I made the top the following year. It got sandwiched a while ago and finally quilted this week. To quilt the geese in the border, I taped this gadget (from my walking foot) to the back of the machine and used it as a guide to trace the geese. It worked well.

We had some snow the other night but not much. This is what the bush outside the living room window looked like last night. It started snowing about 7:30 am this morning and snowed all day. By 4:30 this afternoon, we had to give the storm door a little push to open it We kept the door open long enough to get a couple of pictures After dinner, Dad and Karen cleared the walkway My shovel was waiting outside for someone to come get it The bush now looks like this Lots more snow is due on Sunday.

The last few years we've had our Christmas turkey dinner the week before Christmas. We'd planned to have it yesterday and go shopping today but a snow storm (with 15-20 cm of snow) was forecast for today so we went shopping yesterday and had our turkey today. After breakfast, Mom and Karen worked on the dressing. Mom and Dad bought this gadget the other day for the turkey After Karen finished stuffing the bird We twisted this in the opening to hold it closed over the stuffing Popped him in the oven and basted frequently Once the turkey was done, we worked on the veggies -- potatoes, turnips, brussel sprouts, creamed onions and the gravy. Dad twisted the new gadget out of the bird (it came out easily) And carved the bird a different way -- took of one whole side and cut it separately. Seemed to work well Then it was time to sit down and enjoy

About 2004 one of the $10 quilts was a fall wallhanging. Karen's has been sitting on a shelf here for 3 years waiting to be quilted. Dad cut a hole in my sewing table and made a shelf for the machine so that the bed of the sewing machine is level with the machine. Karen's quilt got quilted as a test run. Sure works well. She has since put sewn down the binding and put on the embellishments. Just needs a label and a hanging sleeve. I have a few sleeves to make so we'll get one setup for this quilt as well.

watercolour daisy Originally uploaded by imhalca This is the daisy painting I've been working on at the Wednesday night class.

It was a beautiful fall day yesterday so I went for a walk around the boulevard at lunch time. When I got back, I sat at one of the picnic tables and chatted with two colleagues who were having lunch outside. I heard the leaves moving and looked to see what it was. After a few minutes, this little guy appeared: He kept popping out from under the hedge He grabbed the leaf stalk and disappeared into the shrub. I wonder if he's working on his nest.

I have three possibilities for the borders for the $10 quilt. The first option combines the fabric I was looking at before on the inside with a wood grain on the outside. The second option is to just use the wood grain fabric The last option is to use this bright strip -- I'd cut it vertically and mitre the corners so the strips go around the quilt. I don't think I like the piano key effect of cutting horizontal pieces to go around. First I need to make the final fence row though so a bit of time to think

So the blocks for October are all made. I unstitched a few seams and re-arranged a bit. This is pretty close to the final arrangement. I should have the centre part stitched for next week. In November, we'll make the last border at the bottom and put tops together for the reveal at the end of the month. I came back downstairs after dinner and stitched the remaining seams. I'm looking for the border fabrics. This is the completed centre pinned on one possibility.

Mom and I took Birdie out to the waterfront today. The carousel and small train were still running so we went for a ride... After lunch, Birdie played in the leaf pile. Mom is fixing the other photos up in Birdie's scrapbook and getting it ready to send off to Scott & Brandy.

It was a beautiful warm fall day yesterday so we had our Thanksgiving dinner out on the new deck. Dad carved in the kitchen then we took our plates outside and sat on the new deck and enjoyed dinner Dessert was one of the apple pies the youth group at church had made -- very yummy.