Where did November go?

There is always some element of adventure when one goes away but the fun of returning home exceeds that of leaving for sure. Our capital, Ottawa is very beautiful at this time and I am grateful and happy to report it was an uneventful trip.
I did miss my ♥♥husband ♥♥and my sewing machine but I did manage to get some appliqué pieces ready for my stash. Never leave home without it! (I always travel with a bag of appliqué pieces to baste.)


I am saddened to report I did not get all the pieces I had submitted to do for the month of November....ooooh (This is not very good leadership, sorry Kelly) My calender for this month was unbelievable ( diffinately not an excuse but a true fact) and I did not take the whole week of going away into consideration when I submitted all my November projects.

I did manage to get the short version of the Birchwood Lane house done. This is a wall hanging but I want the lap size so that will be a December submission




I also made my BOM and will be doing my December one as well


This is done in Kansas Winter..

One project I had not submitted was the quilt "Love Blooms" which I wanted to donate to our church...I put other projects aside and did finish that one which is now being quilted so I will submit this project for December to bind.

As soon as I had the name of my partner for the
I put all my other projects on hold.

I will not share any eye candy of this as I want it to be a surprise for my partner.

So in December I will finish my November UFO's

Secret Santa

Now everyone should have received their Secret Santa and hopefully are getting that....

ready...

I am enjoying visiting on my partner's blog and discovering a lot about her and of course especially interested in our common interest ...quilting..

I will be away for the rest of the week, however I will be reading my messages everyday but I may not be able to connect with you until I return Firday. Feel free to leave a comment and if you have any questions that has to do with the ......

you may want to connect with Kelly



Happy sewing and
for our American Friends ...Happy Thanksgiving!
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” –
John F. Kennedy

Bring on the HST's

The Charming Girls are doing a quilt along with Kelly called "Half Pint". Here is mine.. not quilted yet!Notice how the 1½ inch half square triangles embellish the quilt? Well it was one of those steps in a project that you wonder if you are going to finish it, toss it or just ignore it. (I am very glad I persevered) Since then whenever I saw a pattern with HST small or large I would put it back on the shelf. Not anymore! My order is in and the Ta-da save the day .....I am not one who delights in gagets but this, I must admit is on "my never do without list", and I was able to finish my project with minimum fuss. The border has HST and even if they are much bigger(4 inch) I used the TA-Da and they are perfect! This is a project I just finished and donating it to our church for a fundraiser. . It is called "Love Blooms" designed by Heather Mulder Peterson and is in her book Anka's Tresures. I used the line "Legacy" in the Collection Cause for the Cure by Howard Marcus. Agnes wants donate her time and talent to hand quilt it, in honor of her son who was just diagnosed and is terminally ill with cancer .

Parade of Quilts by the Charming Girls

In October Kris hosted the Mini Fall Quilt Swap and now her and Kelly have a parade of the finished projects on their blogs. So take in the tour . All of them absolutely gorgeous!♥♥♥

Secret Santa

Who is my Secret Santa?
Well Charming Girls check your e-mails ( if you did not receive it please let me know as there was a snag in a few e-mails I sent and I am worried someone may not have received their Secret Santa) as the draws have been made and the numbers matched ! Now remember to visit your Secret Santa's blog to help you make the decision of what to give your lucky partner.

You can make or even buy a gift as long as it has quilting for its theme, after all we are a quilt club, therefore no diamonds or flat screen TV's please.

As soon as you have your gift ready for delivery, e-mail me the picture and I will post them on my blog for everyone to enjoy on December 22nd.

This is so wonderful for us to get to know one another and enjoy the most wonderful time of the year ♥♥♥Have fun girls!

Secret Santa awaits you

Secret Santa is on its way....

...as a matter of fact he is due to arrive on Sunday, November 22nd for 12 of the Charming Girls. If you want to participate and haven't sent me your name yet I would love to hear from you and put your name in the draw. Because this is a December club event your names will go into the December draw for one of two $25.00 gift certificate from....

The names of those participating so far are on the side board and I would encourage you to visit these members' blog (just click on their names) so as to prepare you with ideas for the Secret Santa gift you would send them should you draw their name.

I think this is the exciting part as we get to know one another through our quilting interests!

Tag for CGQC

It has come to Kelly's and my attention that the

is growing so fast we are unable to connect with the Charming girls as we would like to. The purpose of the club was to get to know quilters and share ideas about quilting and common interests. Unfortunately because of the number of members it has been impossible to make that commitment . For that reason the membership is closed to new participants. Between Kelly and I we will be contacting you Charming Girls to see if you are still interested in participating so it will give us a true number of the membership and hopefully we can all get to know one another better and have more quality time.

Tagged:

Now for the tag: Thanksgiving for our American friends is on its way and I wish them the best of the holiday!

So

Kelly has tagged the Charming Girls and in keeping with the meaning of the holiday she has chosen

G R A T I T U DE...

which happens to be one of my favourite of all topics .

If I was to write about everything I am grateful for I would be writing a book..

Gratitude and Acceptance work hand in hand for me and they are very positive forces in my life.

I begin each day by asking for 'help' to feel grateful for my day no matter how it will go and I trust that everything in my life today is a gift!

Of course the first gift I am grateful for is my health so I can enjoy my other gifts...

my family; all unique and SO precious

.......my new friend....Kelly whom I have met and come to know in this last year. She is like another sister. She is someone I can express my gratitude to for all the wonderful gifts I have been given.....and she understands.....♥♥♥ Thanks Kelly for being YOU!

Because when I met Kelly I connected with all you Charming girls and for that I am very grateful! You share your talents which inspires me to do the best I can, with my quilting projects.

Material things I am grateful for: my quilting fabric and quilting books, my sewing machines and my sewing corner...

Other crafts I have been involved in... another book!

I have kept up with the trend of the day when it comes to crafts but I always come back to sewing . So when I found quilting that was it.

I will share with you those projects I still have on hand.

My ceramic Christmas Tree.. I usually put it out quite early because it attracts the grand babies so much.

In 1985 I owned and operated my own retail craft store in which the specialty was imported alpaca yarn. I would custom knit sweaters and in between my orders I loved to do Needlepoint and this is one I did back then and it still hangs in my porch.

Tole painting was a reality for a few years and many pieces were done . .

Here are some pieces:

Many projects with flowers painted lots and lots of angels

My favorite projects were and still are my Christmas ones Stockings...

Wreaths and the list goes on..

I even taught classes which at one point there were so many students my daughter had to come and help me. "Jay" would make a comment often that he dared not leave his glasses hanging around for fear they would have something painted on them. In other words the paint was flying and so were the projects..

The last I am going to post is the Paper tole: This is making three dimensional pictures using 5 or 6 prints...

My favourite flower... pansies

So this is a glimpse of the things I have been involved in.. I am only quilting and and knitting now but the painting books are still close at hand because that is one craft I enjoyed a lot.!♥♥♥
One of the gratitude that always comes to mind is the fact that I don't ever remember feeling bored!

So lets see those beautiful projects which depic your many talents!

....and be grateful for them all!

Mini Quilt Swap

I can stop singing
***I'm the hap pi est Girl in the whole USA*** and I have to add ***In the whole
Ca na da
A parcel from Kelly..
Just walked in the door from having a peventative test at the hospital and saw the box....No time to remove the IV bandage ..
or my hopital ID bracelet
My Mini Quilt is here and Kelly had my name..

It is absolutely gorgeous! and the quilting is superb.... But that's not all.....

The card....then more goodies
A moda bag for when I go to my quilt retreats and workshops! Absolutely lovely...
and there is more

A schnibble pattern.. my very first one at that.... with a tuffet already made....... WOW! and....
A sneak peek of the fabric yet to come in the spring....Butterfly Garden by Kansas Trouble and Martinique by 3 Sisters ... just drooling all over these....
and....

This absolutely gorgeous book by Lori Smith.. The appliqués oh! ma! ma! It's not chocolate but the next best thing♣♣

Is it Christmas?

Oh! Kelly, thank you...thank you... M e r c i .. BUT the friendship that is felt outside the box is priceless so Kelly your friendship is what I admire the most. ( Oh but don't anyone try to get my box) I will be using my quilt as table topper ; the colors are perfect.

I will cherish this forever... because it comes from a friend ..

These are the sentiments I feel about quilt swapping ... it is about receiving something that will always remind me of a friend.

Christmas Gift Diamond

These were my week-end projects . You can find the pattern of these little lovelies on Karen 's blog. They are fun to make and I was excited about not having forgotten how to make the "Y" seam. They can be many different things.. potholder, a trivet or in my case I put a little ring in the back to hang it up.

Secret Santa

In October the CGQC had a mini quilt swap, hosted by Charming girl, Kris and as I visit everyone's site who took part in it, it is obvious this project produced a lot of excitement. Many have expressed the desire to do it again. The quilts are A L L soooooo gorgeous by the way!

Christmas is a very special time of the year and there is nothing more warming than to be with family and friends. It would be wonderful if we could all get together and as Kelly often says "If I were Oprah".... we would do just that. I would get everyone to come to Nova Scotia♥♥♥! But that is not going to happen no matter how good a girl I have been and how many times I wish for it :(
So the next best thing? I thought it would be fun for the Charming Girls to have Secret Santa and better still be a Secret Santa . Here is how the Secret Santa exchange will take place..... For those of you Charming Girls who want to participate you will e-mial me your blog and snail address, (I promise I will not sell it to anyone)and I will partner you with a Secret Santa. You can make any project you wish:ornament, Table Topper, placemats, coasters, mini quilt, bag or if you wish, you may buy a gift; but it would have to be related to quilting. The idea of the gift you choose should be determined by visiting that person's blog to see if you can determine their interest. If any of you who don't have a blog wish to take part you will e-mail me something about you and your interest and I will pass it on to your Secret Santa.
I know I am jumping into December ahead of time but I am posting this now because we all know what a busy season it can be and we do want our gifts to reach our recipient before Christmas and not after. If you make the decision to participate please honor your pledge but if something happens you are not able to, please please let me know you will not be able to participate so no one is left without. Submit your names to me by Novemebr 20th so your Secret Santa can go visit your blog and decide what to pack in his Santa's sack for his Charming Girl♥♥♥HO HO HO.......

Remembrance/ Veterans Day

Taking time to remember the soldiers who fought and still fight as sacrifice for us. In order to honor the 11/11/11 I will have a new post after 11:00 this am.

Half Pint

All done! Thank you Charming Girls for your support and sharing your disgruntlement that came with the tiny HST's. It was so nice to know I was not alone!(LOL) But having said that and loving my finished project, I have to say......
the pattern was well explained and understandable for any level of quilters.. In my book it is a seller!
You can find the pattern on Kelly's blog "Charming Chatter"
Thank You Kelly♥♥♥


Now my "Half Pint" is off to the quilter for Agnes to do her magic!

November project in Progress

From this....
.....to this

Can you see why my heart breaks when I open a "Jelly Roll?

But then when it becomes a project the agony is soon forgotten♥♥♥

The pattern is"The Birchwood Lane House" from the book ... "Strip-Favorites by Suzanne McNeill ....and I choose last year's line of fabric, Birchwood lane by "Holly Taylor". I love the colors in this fabric. It doesn't do it justice in the picture as it shows as red but it is a beautiful burgundy..

This is work in progress. This piece is the quilt centre which can be used as a lap quilt but I am going all the way with it ... The next step is log cabin blocks all around.

I have to say it is a fun project to make and not very challenging, which was a perfect piece to work on this week-end after a very busy week.