Inspiration

Over Christmas my grandmother passed away. Grandma was the quilter and crocheter of blankets. She made slippers and stuffed animals and barbie furniture from plastic canvas. She was a real inspiration for quilting and her blankets were usually a very traditional pattern using scraps.

A funny story. We had her 95th reunion in the summer, and during a quiet moment in her apartment in the seniors home, I showed her a picture of my rag quilt on my phone. She kind of looked at it, then looked at me with a look of confusion and she muttered something about the quilt... and I realized she just didn't get such a 'messy' quilt... why would you show all the edges?

 rag quilt post

Grandma raised all her kids after my grandfather died young. I can't imagine how difficult that must have been and I really admired her life. She kept busy with her church and with her crafts and her family. I can remember when I found out her friends called her "Bernie" - but that's a boys name! And when she'd pull her teeth out and put them in the glass on her nightstand, we were all fascinated.

For a few years she would send matching crochet 'pockets' with drawstrings. No one knew what they were for, so we'd put nice smelling soaps in them and put them in our drawers.... years later we found out they were slippers!

grandma blankets and other projects

Rest in peace Grandma. I only hope I can one day quilt like you did.

Catch Up Part 2 - Ontario-o-i-o

In September I took a trip east to visit some friends I hadn't seen in years. I flew into Ottawa, and being my first time there, I found it pretty interesting to be in our nations capital! I had a tour around the city, visited a museum and hung out.

Parliament buildings.

 My friend Jo enjoying a drink, as did I.

After that I headed on the train (first class!) to Kingston where another friend lived. I'm familiar with Kingston so it was more like visiting a place that was old friend. She;s my lovely friend I've mentioned before "J" who knits, makes jewellery and stained glass amongst other talents!

 First class meal!

 Comfy seats!

We went out the haunted walk (Kingston is a very old place)

I met her dog Sir Thomas of the Bountiful Hair.

 And we had breakfast at one of our favorite eastern chains, Cora's

Then I took the train back to Ottawa, and flew home, much relieved to see my Cowboy and the doggies.

Adding Insult to Injuries

If you can imagine this....

A giant turkey given to us by the company The Cowboy works for... everything is looking good, it's roasting upside down in the pan and I decide to make some guacamole. And promptly stick the brand new, extremely sharp curved knife through the avocado into my hand.
Ouch.
So a friend 1# comes over and we rush over to the emergency where I get a few stitches. I still managed to get turkey dinner on the table and oddly enough, it was the best turkey I've ever made, including gravy!

Then in December, I'm shoveling a path so the delivery man can bring my Christmas present from The Cowboy (that I ordered for myself, heh) and manage to put my back out for the first time. It wasn't so bad the first day, but I must have twisted something later that night because suddenly I.could.not.move.
I have never had back pain before and it was horrible. Unfortunately The Cowboy had worked extremely late that night and was incapable of driving me to the emergency room, so friend #2 who works the night shift kindly brought me in at two pm.

 The dogs have an escape plan.. push enough snow against the fence and they can step right over!

 The path that destroyed my back

 My poor, poor car!

But hey, the dogs don't care either way, a bit of snow and -35 weather doesn't seem to phase them!
What was my Christmas present you ask??

A floor quilting frame so I can finish my large quilt. I've managed to get the top done, I've ironed the backing and purchased the batting and a large box of curved safety pins. Guess the next thing to do is put the sandwich together and start quilting!

Trip to the Coast

We took a quick trip to the coast to switch two vehicles and decided to try the route through Alberta and Jasper. Gorgeous!!

Catch Up!

Well I seem to have ignored my poor little blog for a few months (ok maybe more then a few!)
A variety of things have happened since my last post. Let us play catch up!!

In August we went to a wedding weekend at a campground. This was a lot of fun and we helped decorate and basically helped out where needed. We arrived in our camper and truck and minus a collar. We had to shuffle Tucker's collar onto Casey and luckily I had brought Casey's harness which we put on Tucker. He we less then impressed as it's not shaped right for him. Well I guess he'll think twice about pulling Casey's collar off again! I've since purchased a new collar for Casey with a locking latch.
The wedding was lovely of course, topped off by the MOST AMAZING NORTHERN LIGHTS. EVER. Seriously, pinks and greens and blues, and it went on for hours. Awesome food, met some new friends, and there was only one accident the whole weekend (darn wasps!)

 Casey and Tucker in their finest threads!

 

 The bride and her father

 The groom and his groomsmen.