Acceuil/ Welcome

( "Acceuil" means welcome which is the theme for the 4th Advent week. )

Hope everyone is ready for the big day! Oh! I don't mean the shopping . the wrapping or decorating but ready to "welcome " the family and friends with warm hearts. Ready to "welcome" the new born Child. Ready to "welcome" the person/persons who are different than us.
That is my Christmas wish for you all as we enter into the Christmas week.

Yes I feel I am ready... to celebrate: And this year Jesus' birthday cake is a family favourite Gum Drop Cake
******The night before cut and flour the gum drops with 1/2 cup flour and allow to set overnight making sure they are well separated.

Ingredients;
1 cup butter
8oz cream cheese
1 ½ cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 cups gumdrops (Remove the Blacks and enjoy eating them. They are not baking Gums)
2 tsp lemon rind
1 cup crushed pineapple

Preheat the oven 325º-350º
Tube pan lined with greased paper
Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar,
Add eggs one at a time
Add vanilla
Combine flour,baking powder, and lemon rind and add to creamed mixture alternately with pineapple starting and ending with flour.
Add gum drops
Pour in prepared pan and bake for 1 ½ hours . If browning too quickly cover with foil )
Enjoy!
Sure to be a favorite for your family too!

Last Wednesday La Guilde had their Pot luck and Tea Towel Exchange
This one I received ..... Made by member Paulette Comeau.. Absolutely gorgeous...

It was a fun evening with beautiful people, and delicious food. For two hours "tea towels' entertained over 40 intelligent women, made us laugh and got us to know one another a bit more... Now that is the spirit of Christmas. !

I may not have time to blog again before Christmas so I wish you all the Merriest of Christmas filled with Joy, Peace and Happiness in abundance♥♥

More projects accomplished

More projects crossed off the list....

A "second" set of place mats for Liette's birthday .. And

This table topper

A while back we had a Secret Santa event in blogland and Esther had used this pattern for her gift to her Secret Santa. I was in Ahhh! at the beauty of her gift. Not forgetting about this project I connected with her and she directed me to the pattern. Voilà! Merci Esther.



Happy 3rd Advent week.....Theme is "JOY'
Something that can be found in the heart of most quilters♥♥♥

Fun Workshop

Friday, a few girls, members from the Guild, went to our favourite sewing machine dealer, "Knit and Stitch", for a fun sewing day. We always have a lot of fun sewing with

Diane and Heather  who are awesome teachers. The project we made

 reversed appliqué

 for a basket liner

It's our daughter, Liette's birthday on the 9th

I made her place mats

All chocolate covered

Yummy! I was drooling all the while I made these and even dipped into my Christmas chocolate stash ..

Hope everyone has a beautiful  2nd Advent week.

The theme this week is "Patience" . It is so easy to want things "yesterday" but we must be patient and enjoy every moment. 

Hugs 

How Time Flies

I can' believe how long it has been since I posted...

Of course things have not been standing still ..

The Guild had a Christmas Tea  for a fundraiser ....

The Hall is all decorated....

 The food is ready

 The tree is decorated

And Elaine and I are all ready to serve in our newly made aprons .....Designed by the "Pattern Basket".

The tea was a great success and a fun event which will become an annual one for "La Guilde Acadienne de Clare"

I have been busy preparing my Christmas projects and playing with my embroidery machine.   

Here is a pillow I made for my sister Simone. When we were young we spent a lot of time singing Christmas Carols and one song that was popular was O' Come All  Ye  Faithful .

 I finally finished Miss Émilie's quilt♥♥♥

Remember the Quilt Along... by Kelly and Carol..

Simple Things. 

The embroidered  blocks have  little messages from  "Grand-mère".

I also made a bag. We had a bag day workshop at the Guild yesterday

and I made this one for an example. I used the "Verna" Charm packs that were just waiting to be sewn....

As in previous years my kitchen is buzzing and you cannot miss the  aroma of Christmas goodies being prepared. Today I am going to help decorate Adrien and Monique's Christmas tree. Next year  will be a different atmosphere in that house with the sweet sound of a little one...

So, no. things are never at a standstill..... and I would not want it any other way. 

Happy first Advent Sunday!

Christmas comes early for us!

Yes the Christmas blessings have come to us early this year! Our son Adrien and Daughter-in-law Monique are pregnant with their first child and our 5th grand-child, due in April

The excitement here cannot be measured!♥

I finished my Christmas apron

Made in the "Peace On Earth" by 3 Sisters; Design by The Pattern Basket
so now I am off to seek baby quilt patterns :)

Happy Halloween

Pumpkin House a Timbleberries pattern by Lynette Jennings

Everyone gets a treat... Miss Émilie..

Laurène and Ariane
And DIL Monique (Red eyes do it well)

and all is well...on this Halloween night!

Inspiring project....

I finished my project I had started at Karen's workshop and I am pleased with the way it turned out. This will be the piece I refer to, to see if I am improving in my free motion quilting.... Now on to implement this in a big piece YIKES .. It is so much easier when the teacher is there behind your shoulder..
The Guild meets at the Saulnierville parish hall, which is my parish. The walls are large and I thought it would be nice to dress them up with a piece of quilting. I wanted an inspirational piece to keep us grounded when we get frustrated with our quitling projects...LOL


This is the piece I designed for that....

I call it the "Quilters Cross" La Croix des Piqueuses ..... and I hope it will inspire our members to not give up on those projects which often attack our serenity.


Our Parish is named the Sacred -Heart ( Paroisse Sacré-Coeur de Saulnierville ) and I found this embroidery design which is a perfect fit♥
I had started the stippling before I went to my workshop and when I came back I wished I had waited so I could have used my new skills and added some free motion quilting. Oh well next one!

More family fun and Updates

More family fun at Keji Park last week-end..... Almost enough family members to fill the forest!

And the winner ...of my 300th post Suzette .. ( a member of the Guilde) a Karen Neary pattern... http://www3.ns.sympatico.ca/sewkaren/patterns.htm and speaking of Karen Neary I made her a pin cushion. I credit the Red cardinal for our meeting .. In 2009 I noticed a post on Karen's blog about a red cardinal . It was a picture of a red one taken in her yard and I ventured onto her blog reading about her up coming workshop "Diamonds Are Girls Best Friend". That was it! My sister , Simone, and I signed up and we have been going every year at the Fibre Festival to her workshop. She is a super... teacher and designer....

Simone makes beautiful greeting cards
and she made a variety pack for Karen which she loved.....

The smiles say it all Elaine and Alisa joined us at Karen's workshop..... Free Motion for the Absolute Terrified turned out to be soooo wonderful. The fear dissipated the moment Karen put her skills to the task!

Simone, Moi, Karen, Elaine. and Alisa

Confidence is generally described as a state of being certain....That is how we left the workshop. Confident we could master that technique....

Thank You Karen!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanskgiving to all my Canadian Friends....What a beautiful day it was to celebrate with family and friends... For that reason we decided to have an outdoor event and joined Yvelle's family at Keji Park, where they were campling, and had our turkey dinner (Deep fried Turkey...Yum!)(with all the trimmings) in the great outsdoors.The whole family was there So grateful for all the blessings... Children, grand-daughters, sons-in-law and daughter-in-law. And my best friend ..Gerald... Yes that is me sewing... my projects are the first thing I pack when I leave home...
and yes, I am grateful for the ability to sew and create .
The project is a candle mat. My second one. I decided a few of these would be great to have on hand for hostess gifts during the Christmas holidays . This is my first one and the October project for La Guilde Acadienne.

Now I get ready for Karen's workshop

Free Motion Quilting for the Absolute Terrified... the title fits me well..... but I am sooo looking forward to it...

And the winner is?

Thank you, everyone who connected with me on the blog comments or my e-mail. The mistake was very visible. The middle piece on the place mats is upside down. I appreciated the encouragement you all gave me by telling me you like them anyway! And the winner is Suzette Saulnier. She is the social director of the guild. Congratulations Suzette!♥♥♥
This was the workshop we had last Saturday... The technique is fabric weaving and I made a mug mat for my project. Some of the girls who did the project at the workshop...I plan to make a larger piece probably with more Christmas fabric. And I am still working on my Garden Party Blocks..I have to start thinking how I am going to put them all together...
Hugs....