Sunday, July 4, 2010
Amsterdam Rotterdam - We Made It!
We have nicely settled in to our house exchange in Amsterdam. The flight here was uneventful and we met Devon with no problems at the airport although Devon's luggage did not make it and was delivered yesterday. At the airport we were assailed by World Soccer paraphernalia and Pat got an orange soccer ball. We watched the match between Netherlands and Brazil on the TV - lots of happy Dutch people with the result. On Saturday we took the train to Rotterdam to see the Tour de France prologue. It rained a bit but we had a good viewing site. Silly Pat would not let me take a photo of his face - I must have tried 30 shots and it made me laugh so much how quick he was. Rotterdam had lots of interesting buildings and development - Ian took the last photo. We had a good meal at Engels cafe. Lots of young people dressed in white were on the train going to the Ajax for a big clubbing party -they looked so energetic and fresh - we conked out while they were just starting their evening!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
DQS 9 Doll Quilt Swap Edition 9
The fun has begun! There are 200 participants and each of us makes a small quilt for a secret partner. Imagine the logistics of getting all those quilters organized and matched up. The swap mamas are doing a fabulous job!
I’m thrilled with my secret partner! I know what I am going to make and got the inspiration from the favourites posted. I am very excited to begin and hope it will be well received. We send the quilts out at the end of August and in the meantime post about our progress in the flickr group.
This is the 2nd round that I’ve been able to participate in and it’s so much fun! The discussion groups are very active and hilarious
Here is the quilt I made for my partner last round. She was in the Netherlands
And this is the quilts I received from Mari:
There are some fabulous artists involved so it’s so fun to see all the wonderful creations.
I’m thrilled with my secret partner! I know what I am going to make and got the inspiration from the favourites posted. I am very excited to begin and hope it will be well received. We send the quilts out at the end of August and in the meantime post about our progress in the flickr group.
This is the 2nd round that I’ve been able to participate in and it’s so much fun! The discussion groups are very active and hilarious
Here is the quilt I made for my partner last round. She was in the Netherlands
And this is the quilts I received from Mari:
There are some fabulous artists involved so it’s so fun to see all the wonderful creations.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Back in the Saddle Again
It as been a very busy month since my last post - but all good. I have been participating in the Red and Aqua Swap and these are the string blocks I made. I need to find my photos of the red and aqua pickle blocks and the others- they must be on the other computer.
The May swap finished and I got some lovely fat quarters from my swap partner and embroidery scissors and chocolate and a charm pack that I really love. My partner was in Kingston, Ontario. I sent some chocolate and fancy shoelaces, a swatch recorder and fabric. I also made her a pickle block because she has a blog named Pickle Block. This block is paper pieced and tricky to make. It was also the first block to be made in the red and aqua swap.
I also participated in the Porkchop fabric square swap. Flossie got this exchange organized Seven sets of women exchanged packages of 25 fabrics cut into 6 inch squares. So you end up wit 200 different fabrics. Now to decide what to do with them.
Poppyprint (Krista) suggested I go to the Lions Gate Quilters Quild Show in North Vancouver and it was amazing. The leaf quilt detail is from a quilt Krista made entitled Autumn Dyes - I love it. There were many outstanding quilts. This Salmon by Pam Cove caught my eye too. I was to meet Krista for the first time but she was always one step ahead of where people thought she was. Hopefully this week we will connect at the first meeting of the Modern Quilters Guild being held at a new sewing lounge called Spool of Thread.
I had two friends travel to Vancouver and I was so pleased to catch up with them. Catherine traveled from Burlington, she and I were in Planning school together and then we worked for while in Burlington on each others maternity leaves and then together in the Planning Department. It was great to exchange info and hear about each others children. My friend from high school Liz travelled from Ottawa and we had a great day - non stop chatting and laughing. Now that our children are mostly grown we are finding time for ourselves and looking forward to new challenges in the future, in the next stage of our lives.
The May swap finished and I got some lovely fat quarters from my swap partner and embroidery scissors and chocolate and a charm pack that I really love. My partner was in Kingston, Ontario. I sent some chocolate and fancy shoelaces, a swatch recorder and fabric. I also made her a pickle block because she has a blog named Pickle Block. This block is paper pieced and tricky to make. It was also the first block to be made in the red and aqua swap.
I also participated in the Porkchop fabric square swap. Flossie got this exchange organized Seven sets of women exchanged packages of 25 fabrics cut into 6 inch squares. So you end up wit 200 different fabrics. Now to decide what to do with them.
Poppyprint (Krista) suggested I go to the Lions Gate Quilters Quild Show in North Vancouver and it was amazing. The leaf quilt detail is from a quilt Krista made entitled Autumn Dyes - I love it. There were many outstanding quilts. This Salmon by Pam Cove caught my eye too. I was to meet Krista for the first time but she was always one step ahead of where people thought she was. Hopefully this week we will connect at the first meeting of the Modern Quilters Guild being held at a new sewing lounge called Spool of Thread.
I had two friends travel to Vancouver and I was so pleased to catch up with them. Catherine traveled from Burlington, she and I were in Planning school together and then we worked for while in Burlington on each others maternity leaves and then together in the Planning Department. It was great to exchange info and hear about each others children. My friend from high school Liz travelled from Ottawa and we had a great day - non stop chatting and laughing. Now that our children are mostly grown we are finding time for ourselves and looking forward to new challenges in the future, in the next stage of our lives.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The "Before"
Our new house has a small room on the main floor off the living room and behind the dining room that I can use for my sewing and office. I debated if I should use one of the rooms in the basement or the spare room on the second floor or the nook at the end of the kitchen. This room won out because I can still be close to what is going on in the house, its warm and I can spread out into the dining or living area if need be but all the "stuff" can be put away out of sight - the most important criterion for Ian.
Here is the before picture.
Lots of stuff to put away, but I have done it and am happy with the layout.
The room is a sunny yellow and I have had bad reactions to yellow rooms - I think they are very pretty to look at but I don't feel right in them. However in this case almost all the walls are covered with "stuff" so the yellow just peeks out. We will see how it goes.
Will post about the "after" another day.
Here is the before picture.
Lots of stuff to put away, but I have done it and am happy with the layout. The room is a sunny yellow and I have had bad reactions to yellow rooms - I think they are very pretty to look at but I don't feel right in them. However in this case almost all the walls are covered with "stuff" so the yellow just peeks out. We will see how it goes.
Will post about the "after" another day.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Its TOOO Exciting
Watching the Olympic Gold Medal Men's Hockey Game with 2 boys age 9 and 8 - most enthusiastic fans!! They have Canada shirts and Canada flags and have been jumping all over the living room. Now as we go into overtime they are nervously chewing the flag sticks and huddled anxious for what is going to happen in the next 20 minutes .... Lets get ready to cheer on Team Canada!!
and Canada won - boyys running through house screaming in joy
Monday, February 22, 2010
Pass It On
I was surprised to see that Marguerite had nominated my blog for an award.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOEN8i3aV7adhsnodMNicofAggfR4r3wRPzFUH92LjUDopfjfOaseCjB_EddevTD11uY1-IKhgs58QekxAYjlLMdL7m5KYd6XvN0YZ-VvH-O-tesM3Qorfvdj16Xyr4oSrOk_U-7Tm71Y/s1600/beautiful_blogger.jpg
I am happy to accept this award, and follow the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award. Thank you, Marguerite
2. Paste the award on your blog (see above)
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself (see below)
5. Nominate 7 or 8 blogs (see below)
6. Post links to those 7 blogs (see below)
Seven Interesting Things About Me
1. I had very fine straight hair until after the birth of my 4th child and then my hair turned wavy. When Patrick was born he had a lot of dark straight hair, he lost that hair and was pretty much bald except for fine straight light brown hair and then he grew a crop of curly blonde hair - all within 4 months of his birth. He looks completely different in his baby pictures at birth, one, two, three and for months of age. At that point my hair started to go wavy too. For years hairdressers permed or curled my hair and now they offer to straighten it.
2. I have a large nose which I never noticed until my friend's boyfriend made a comment in first year university - I am pretty oblivious as to what I look like. Sometimes I will see my reflection and wonder who that person is.
3. I had a pet skunk called Stripe - even though he had 2 stripes and a dalmation named Pepper who had a blue eye and a brown eye and who smiled at people. I guess I liked black and white pets.
4. Most of my baby teeth had to be pulled out by the dentist because they did not fall out on their own.
5. Some people think I am tooo serious and other people think I am tooo funny, everyone thinks I am very brave when I really am not, some people think I spend too much time on work, some people think I spend too much time on my family. Some people think I am conservative, others think I am liberal. I just march to my own beat.
6. My mind never stops, I am always thinking of something - I was very surprised to learn that people can have nothing going on in their heads. I can get so focused that I lose track of time.
7. My bike got clipped by a car when I was about 11 and I was thrown off and bumped my head and lost conciousness for a moment. As a result of the bump I lost my sense of smell. Sometimes I can smell strawberries, coffee and burning toast and not much else.
Blog list
Gee I like everyone's blog on my list so i just picked randomly:
#
Saucy Sprinkles
#
DOMESTIC LIGHT and MAGIC
#
Little Acorn
#
Acorn Collective
#
Posie Gets Cozy
#
quilting down the stairs
#
Ric-Rac
#
rose hip
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOEN8i3aV7adhsnodMNicofAggfR4r3wRPzFUH92LjUDopfjfOaseCjB_EddevTD11uY1-IKhgs58QekxAYjlLMdL7m5KYd6XvN0YZ-VvH-O-tesM3Qorfvdj16Xyr4oSrOk_U-7Tm71Y/s1600/beautiful_blogger.jpg
I am happy to accept this award, and follow the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award. Thank you, Marguerite
2. Paste the award on your blog (see above)
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself (see below)
5. Nominate 7 or 8 blogs (see below)
6. Post links to those 7 blogs (see below)
Seven Interesting Things About Me
1. I had very fine straight hair until after the birth of my 4th child and then my hair turned wavy. When Patrick was born he had a lot of dark straight hair, he lost that hair and was pretty much bald except for fine straight light brown hair and then he grew a crop of curly blonde hair - all within 4 months of his birth. He looks completely different in his baby pictures at birth, one, two, three and for months of age. At that point my hair started to go wavy too. For years hairdressers permed or curled my hair and now they offer to straighten it.
2. I have a large nose which I never noticed until my friend's boyfriend made a comment in first year university - I am pretty oblivious as to what I look like. Sometimes I will see my reflection and wonder who that person is.
3. I had a pet skunk called Stripe - even though he had 2 stripes and a dalmation named Pepper who had a blue eye and a brown eye and who smiled at people. I guess I liked black and white pets.
4. Most of my baby teeth had to be pulled out by the dentist because they did not fall out on their own.
5. Some people think I am tooo serious and other people think I am tooo funny, everyone thinks I am very brave when I really am not, some people think I spend too much time on work, some people think I spend too much time on my family. Some people think I am conservative, others think I am liberal. I just march to my own beat.
6. My mind never stops, I am always thinking of something - I was very surprised to learn that people can have nothing going on in their heads. I can get so focused that I lose track of time.
7. My bike got clipped by a car when I was about 11 and I was thrown off and bumped my head and lost conciousness for a moment. As a result of the bump I lost my sense of smell. Sometimes I can smell strawberries, coffee and burning toast and not much else.
Blog list
Gee I like everyone's blog on my list so i just picked randomly:
#
Saucy Sprinkles
#
DOMESTIC LIGHT and MAGIC
#
Little Acorn
#
Acorn Collective
#
Posie Gets Cozy
#
quilting down the stairs
#
Ric-Rac
#
rose hip
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