A week of nothing

It has been one of those weeks.  My son is sick with this cold that seems to be going around, my Hubby has been helping Combine of all things... and today he is bailing the straw at home, and then he will be heading to 2 other farms and bail some straw there.  The weather is great and it is finally turning into a great FALL!  I have been looking forward to fall for awhile as Winter is just around the corned and with Winter comes the snow and fun out doors.  This Winter is especially exciting as one of my close friends is expecting in January and February brings me to a trip to Jamaica with some friends from work...  I really can't wait to go somewhere hot and nice for a little winter vacation.

My package from Australia has brought me some peace and serenity that I did not think that would happen with a little package.  I have photocopied my book - the Stitchery part anyways - and I am in the middle tracing the pictures to make them a little dark - making it more easily to retrace on to muslin.  Now I really can't wait for my quilt shop to get in the muslin, so that I can start tracing and get my 'A Gardener's Journal' on the go.

Craft & Stitchs Today - Conclusion

This was a great deal and yes it is and was only $19.95....  and of course GST but who cares, it was bargain and me the shopaholic LOVED IT!!  I have never worked with wool as of yet, but my girlfriend that I went with purchased the same project so we are going to work on this together as I have other things that I want to make out of wool and she figured that this would be the perfect beginners project.  My girlfriend that I went with is from Yankee Valley Stitcher, and she lives just down the road from me.  For the fabric that I purchased WOW was that a steal of a deal...  the Fat Quarters were only $1.99 each.  For the bundle it was 1/2 prices, I can't remember the exact amount but all i can say is I SCORED!  And the Fonts & Porter box was 20% the price - it was all and all a great shopping day, I just wish I had more money to spend there.  But the only thing that was not a deal were the Lolli Pop pre-cut 5" squares - there were regular priced but that is OK...

If you are wondering what I am talking about please visit here.

Post Birdy II

Well I am so excited to show you the pictures of what I received all the way for Australia...

Here's a hint - Hatched and Patched.....

All nicely packaged in a Letter size

Do you know what it is yet?

My long awaited Book and Stitchery Project

Angels of Harmony

And of course FARM GIRL

Last but not least  DRUM ROLL PLEASE

A Gardener's Journal

After finding Stitch-A-Long I fell in Love and needed to have this book so that I could make this quilt myself.  So I really want to Thank the Ladies of Stitch-A-Long for blog about the making of this quilt.

I am addicted to stitchery projects right now that I can't stop....  I am going to printing all the stitchery stuff and making it darker so that I can trace it on to the Muslin and off to stitchery land I go....

About Nothing

After a great weekend and great weather, I cannot believe that it is already Sunday.  It is early in the morning and my family is still sleeping and here I am pondering on my day.  I have so much to do today that I really don't know where to start.  I am going over to my Sisters this morning to help her with her scrapbooking as she has just decided to go to the Digital Scrapbooking Route.  Which I am so excited about, I can't wait to start working on her digital photo's and such.  And of course I have our laundry to do which again is behind do to the fact that my son keeps changing is clothes 5 times a day...And of course, Desperate Housewives starts tonight along with our family favourite - Heartland.  I still have to clean the house and move my sewing from the kitchen table back to where it belongs -  in the sewing room...  It is not clean at all but it is slowly but surely getting there.

Well this is me signing off for a full day of house work.

The Post Birdy

Well today as I was working away in my office (at work) the Post Birdy made a trip, a package arrived all the way for Australia....  I don't think that I have every got a package that far away before...  Well I know what it is and I can't wait to open it and share with you all what I got from Australia...

THANK YOU - I am so excited for this...  I even purchased material this weekend to start working on this...

Craft & Stitchs Today part II

Well it was a great trip into the City with my friend.  I was thinking that I would not purchase anything as I just wanted to see what was there and get some ideas on some projects that I have on the go.
Well I did buy - what can I say you are talking to a shopaholic... 

What is in the BOX!

I had a great day at the Craft & Stitching Fair in the city and look at all my goodies


All my goodies



Fancy New way to Crochet

 

Wool Kit that I will be making with my Friend

 

Fabric for my 'A Gardener's Journal'

 That is all from me today.

Have a great Quilting, Scrapbooking & Stitching Weekend.

Craft & Stitchs Today

I am off to the the Big City for a craft show.  I am so excited about going to see what is new and out there.  I hope that they have a  GO! machine there for me to see and maybe even play with.... Fingers are crossed on this.

I am just going to start getting ready for my big day in the city and then my sister is coming over so that I can get her digital scrapbooking organized and ready for our weekend crop - next weekend...

Another GO! Give Away

I was looking a blog of a friend and she has found yet another GO! give away.  If you want to try and win one for yourself please visit Jane's Fabric & Quilt.

GOOD LUCK!

Triple Irish Chain part II

Finally the top is complete!!!  I can't believe that it is completed after 3 months of working on it.  Well now off to the quilters.  Anyone know of a quilter that I can use - around the Airdrie/Calgary area.

Top Done

I really can't believe that it actually looks like the picture in the book!!!  I am so impressed with myself.  But you know with me nothing is perfect because I am not perfect, even though I do try.  There are some squares that have a little pucker in them but I guess say la ve... (as a friend always says).

Enter for a FREE GO! MACHINE

If you are interested in trying to win a Go! Machine, the newest thing to hit the market for us quilters please go to Millies website.  To see and read all about the Go! Machine click here.

If you click here, you can view all the Cutters.

Triple Irish Chain

Like I have nothing better to do then to QUILT!  Who invented this craft anyways?  As I really think that there should be a AA Meeting for Quilters.... I would be there every week just to pick up new ideas a trick of the trade...

I am so glad that Fall is here and Winter will be coming so that I can cuddle up with my quilts.  Mind you my hubby sure does not like the idea of me sewing from dawn to dusk every weekend but then you have to when you have full time job, just to get the projects done.

So back in June when I started on the Gone to Texas quilt, I was looking through the book and found this quilt that I thought would be a nice keepsake baby quilt for a friend of the family that is having a baby any day now.

So I read the instructions, got the material, came home and started cutting my strips as per the instructions then i started piecing them together and to my demise, the squares started to fall apart.  I could not figure out what I was doing wrong...

This Month when I went to the club they going to be a quilt kind of what I was doing but different of course and the Lady that made the quilt said that she sewed each square together one at a time.  Wow that gave me a great idea.  Off to home I went deciding that I am not going to give up on this quilt I am going to push my way through...

I started all over again, but this time I cut each square to the size and sewed them all individually.  And guess what - there were no issues.

Triple Irish Chain - 17 Blocks to make

I had to make 17 of these squares... Well and as you can imagine, me sitting at my kitchen table sewing and cutting and my son sleeping on the couch (naps), out with Papa or Daddy or just outside, and Storm at my feet.  I was going crazy making these squares.  Then on Sunday I ran out of the White (Cream) and had to make a quick stop on Monday (during lunch) to the local shop - Traditional Pastimes - and got myself some more white - way more then I needed but everyone needs light in their collection.

I finished all my blocks and started piecing them into the rows that make the quilt what it is - Beautiful...  Well then my needle broke, replaced then it broke again - ok I am done no more needles...

Yesterday, I ran into town to get grocery's and of course sewing needles...  More going to town for sewing needles then anything as I really want to get this quilt completed and quilted and sent for the baby.

Last night while Roy was with Papa and Hubby was moving cows etc, off to sewing I was a going.  Determined to get this quilt completed....

Triple Irish Chain - Together

I am quite pleased at the end project.  So now off to measuring and adding the 3 rows of border to finish this quilt right.

Border 1

So I got one border on - the most difficult - all together and still holding, but will double check before I go to quilt it - well get it customed quilted.  By the time that I called it a night the second border was on.  No picture as I went to bed...

So I can't wait to get home tonight and finish adding the last border and getting this off to the quilters so that I can have it all finished.

Is it Fall or Winter

I guess here in Alberta we are totally skipping Fall and going straight into winter...  This morning I awoke to snow - mind you it was not that much but it was still snow.  I want FALL!  I need to get my yard all tidied for the winter.  But they are saying that it is suppose be in warm this weekend, I guess I will have to have some faith in them and hope for the best as my hoses are still out for the last tree watering and I still need to weed whip some things.  So much to do...

Snow on the bails

my truck this morning

Raggedy & Friends Block 3

I just got my 3 block of my Raggedy and Friends.  Wow I can't wait to get this going...  It looks amazing.  I am going to get this done after I finish with my Pooh stitcher, which is going GREAT.

Weather

Today is another foggy and rainy day.  I am really feeling for the farms who are trying to get the crop in.  I am so praying for an Indian Summer...  But really I am not thinking that is going to happen as I think snow is going to start to fall soon.

I really love being this close to the mountains, you never know what the weather will bring you.  But you know one good thing is I don't have a headache today!!

Well I am off to stitching my Pooh Characters for the Baby Quilt that I am creating.

My dogs

Did I mention that I have a dog - well 2 dogs... One is older and she is a Border Collie (Cat) who is the hired hand around here that helps my hubby with getting the cows in etc.  Then there is my Dog well Roy's dog that we purchased in December as I thought this would be a good companion for him and such.  He is a Mini Schnauzer and wow does he keep all of us on our toes, thank goodness we have Cat around her to help us make sure Storm stays in line.

Cat & Storm

Storm

Roy & Storm

Well Storm is very high strong, and he keeps us busy, yesterday while we were out at work he decided that Roy's backpack was a good idea to chew apart...  Well of course Dale beat us home and got rid of the evidence before Roy could see and be upset about this.  I love my dog but why does he have to chew things that he knows that he is not allowed to... Is it because we left him and took Cat as well - Dale was out chasing cows at Cochrane and needed Cat with him.

NEW JO FABRIC

Last week I was in town looking for DMC floss for my Raggedy and Friends and I stopped at a local quilt shop to see if they had any muslin for the stitchery.  They were sold out as well...  I don't think that anyone sells this or they just can't keep this in stock as every where I go they are sold out.  But I did find some buttons for the eyes for Andy and Annie but then I was taking with a lady and she did say if you are making a baby quilt do you really want to have buttons on it... Well no I thought as that can be a chocking hazard and I would not want to have that on my conscience.  And they just got the new Jo fabric in - Spice Chest - I got a fat quarter in all the fabric as well as 2m in the back which I will have to go and get some more as I finally have decided what I am going to use it for and I don't want to be short when I get done.

Spice Chest

Backing Fabric - Spice Chest

Now is this not the best ever...  I really can't wait to get this on the back of the quilt, but I guess first I have to make the quilt.  I am just so excited about this fabric that I really can't wait.  But my husband is getting a little upset, about all the time that I am spending quilting and I have yet to show anything other then bits and pieces nothing done.  But by Novermber or December I will have my Gone to Texas done and hopefully have it quilted in time for Christmas.

Sweet Dreams of this FABRIC

Oh headache....2

My headache is finally going away!!  I have started working on the Baby Quilt for a close family friend who is due any day.... Yes, I am behind, but it should be just about completed by the weekend just in time to get it quilted and in the mail.  I am now looking at creating my own quilt for a special new one coming in March... No it is not me.  I will keep you posted when I start taking some pictures of my current projects.

But I really need to get on to my Scrapbooking - Well I will be at an all day scrap on the 2nd of October so I hope to get caught up...

Well goodnight all and have a great weekend.

Raggedy & Friends

Finally I found a place that sells DMC Floss so that I could finish the block for August.  It took me less then a day to do and I love it.... My son keeps asking if his is done yet.  I think that he thinks that he will be getting this quilt once all completed.

Block 1 - July's Block

Block 2 - August

This is a Block of the Month (BOM) that Kaaren from Painted Quilt has put on her blog as a freebie.  I am so excited about this as it is truly a beginners quilt with a little bit of everything.  I just can't wait to see what Septembers Block will look like.

I even got the Red buttons for their eyes but I have not added this to my blocks yet as I am waiting for the blocks to be completed...  Stay tuned as only 7 more days until Septembers Block is released....

Oh Headache go away....

I have been fighting a migraine all week and yesterday it finally hit... I woke up today and I still have it.  I really want it to go away but it is not for some reason... I looked outside and this is what I saw...

FOG

More Fog - Cannot even see my brother-in-laws place

After the rain that we have had and such the farmers are sure having a time getting the crop combined.  Now today we have fog with a dampness in the air so no combining today...  The weather people are saying that there is snow coming this weekend.... Hopefully it will hold off until they get the crops in.

Gone to Texas

Well I have decided to push through the trench of TRIANGLES and get myself all caught up before the Girls Gang meets on Wednesday.  So while working on my Raggedy & Friends BOM the instructions show you a different way to do TRIANGLES....  This is the same way my girlfriend showed me how she is doing triagles for a quilt that she is working on.  I think she refered to it as Flying Geese and this works with out changing any of the calcuations that in the book.... GREAT sew excited.

Flying Geese

How you do this take your 2 squares that you want to make into triangles.  Put the right sides together and on the lighter of the material make a line from corner to corner.  Once you have done this sew the 1/4 seam on both sides of the line and then cut - Perfect Triangles...

With that all figured out I am all caught up - well to August I just have to cut that material and piece together.  wow I feel that I have accomplished a lot yesterday.  I am very excited about Wednesday Club meeting and show off my completed blocks - Still not perfect triangles but they are what I can do....

What a weekend!

My weekend started with me being really sick and unable to go to work :( wondering how much work I missed...  They yesterday, I had a migraine... the weather must be changing here... I think winter is a comin'.  Today was house work and quilting as my group (Girls Gang) meets on Wednesday and I am behind as I started the group in June and it actually started in February...  I am all caught up on my Gone to Texas - WOW - it took a lot out of me...  I finally got the triangles down but wow what work.  I am really not caught up - I am just 1 month behind but I really can't do much about that...  At least I am not 7 months behind anymore.  I missed going to the August Girls Gang as I was in Toronto for meeting, so I still have to pick that up and start working on it...  I am really not like it but maybe it will be different once it is all put together.  I just remembered I was in there when I was on holidays and picked it up... So I guess tomorrow I start cutting the pieces needed and then sew it on Tuesday after work.  Well now that the laundry is done, folded and put away, my sewing is done for the night, and my head still hurts from my migraine from yesterday, I guess it is time to get my little one off to be as we both have to get up tomorrow for the start of the new week.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Roy's first day of preschool.  It was a very exciting morning in our house.  I made sure that he had new jeans and a clean shirt - just what he likes to wear.  Then we went a measure his height and then of course came the pictures.  He had a great day and was entertaining to all.... Well this is how our day started;

Being the Monkey that he is...

Then I received this email for the teacher:

Just curious, do you guys live on a farm?
Your son is absolutely adorable, he sang & dances a song "Cowboy me" for us today - priceless.

Lori

Getting this email sure put a smile on my face that lasted the rest of the day.  Well I thought that I would share with you a little piece of my life.

Time of year for Pickling

On Saturday of the Long Weekend me and my girlfriends got together and did some pickling, as mentioned in my welcome note, this is one of my hobbies that I LOVE to do.  It was a long day but we got it all done and now we can't wait to eat the end result...

Cucs

Carrots - home grown

Beans - home grown

Dill - home grown

Garlic

Me with the brine

Kate's Grandma packing a jar

Cindy, Kate & Kate's Grandma

Jelly - Red Pepper and Garlic

Jars Completed

The rest

It was a great day, and all the home grown product was from Kate and her garden.  It was great to help her get her produce out of the garden and us some jars.  But next year I will be planting my own garden as the back deck has now been put on and with Kate going to have a new little one, I don't think she will have much time to tend to a garden.  But we will definatly make sure she has some jars when we do, do the pickling.
My brain is running, faster and faster and I just can't figure out what I all want to plant in my garden.  As next year will be my first year having a garden since I was a little girl and I can't wait to see if I really have a green thumb or not.

Welcome Old & New to my new blog

I hope that you were able to find me again...I have made some changes to this blog and yet, I am still not happy with the name.  As there are some really cool names out there but I guess this one will have to do.  It really does sum me up in a nut shell though - Hobbies With a Little Bite of Life - I love my hobbies if it were not for them I think that I would just go NUTS, a little bite - well I love to eat, and when I get to, I really love to cook, but I just don't have the time...And of course life, there will be some entries of my life on the ranch, my son whom is 3.5 and will be starting preschool tomorrow - wow where did the time go and a few mentions of my husband of 5 years who works the ranch while I go to the city to work - the place where the money actually comes from as most of you know farm/ranching does not pay what it used to.

A little snap shot of the City where I work

HOBBIES -

Well I am really not sure where to begin with this.  I have a lot that I love and a lot that I like and a few that I just don't do anymore.  First off I started my hobby life when I was just a wee little girl, you know to try and keep myself busy or I would quickly find myself in a heap of trouble.  So one time when my Grandma & Grandpa came to town to visit I asked her to teach me how to Crochet - she did and I produced a lot of blankies for those dolls that I really did not like to play with - as I liked playing with the boy toys - can you say tomboy???  After that came my Embroidering, well that last about 6 months as it did not keep me busy enough and the project just seemed to take forever - never completing one...After that I wanted my mom to teach me something so that was Knitting.  I did not do too many projects as that was TOO time consuming, but I did manager to make myself a sweater - which I even wore to school a few times. Then along came the world of Cross Stitch - again that did not last that long but I did make a picture for my sister and gave it to her and everything - have not really picked it up since.  Meanwhile, I am still crocheting projects on top of learning new things.  At this time my girlfriend made me this really cute Quilt for Christmas with a pillow.  I just had to know how she made it, so off to the local craft store I went with her and we got some fabric and then back to her place for the lesson.  I produced a lot of those quilts and then again it stopped...

LIFE -

Around the same time that I was being taught how to Quilt I meet my husband, so naturally my hobby life got put on hold but only for a little while.  We met in 1994 and have been together ever since, we eventually got married in 2005 and then a long came our son in 2007.  With all of that, in the beginning I would help my Husband on the ranch - feeding the cattle and horses etc., in the winter I would be the gate swinger - BRRRRR - and then in the spring I would stay up and check cows with him.  That was then, now I swing the gates in the winter - only if I am home from work (weekends & snow storms), I check the heifers in the morning on my way to work and call him if anything is calving and instead of helping him feed - I do the paper work for the Purebred Black Angus Cattle that we have - Registering them includes CCIA, Naming te Heifers we keep and ensuring everything is in order.  Adding a child to the mix has just made my home work just a little more then I can handle some days.  My 3 year old can be quite a handful most days and always wanting to ride his horse - but I don't know how to saddle a horse so I get out of that, but not the laundry, cooking and cleaning -The day to day Life factor-

More HOBBIES -

When I started dating my husband, I also started being a consultant for a new company called "Creative Memories" which is a scrapbooking company that I LOVE and have such great products.  But back then you had to have a lot of the products on hand as the shipping took forever to get to me so that adventure did not last - a year I think.  But when I had my son, I did start to sell this product again - I have been scrapbooking for well over 15 years and Love it.  Creative Memories has the best product out there, I am convinced as before I knew of this company I did go else where and nothing compared so I sucked it up and paid the price and guess what - I still have the first tools that I ever bought from them and they are still working as if they were brand new.  They have come out with Digital Scrapbooking and I LOVE that, I eventhink a little more as it is so easy especially for a busy person like me.

Now back to TODAY -
After the arrival of my son and having a year mat leave, I went back to being a Creative Memories Consultant and then my girlfriend opened up a quilt shop... Well what can I say I fell in love and hard.  The shop was open in August my mat leave was done in February and I really wanted to learn about Quilt Making and hopefully make some Heirlooms myself.  So from August (when the doors open) to Christmas Eve I made Quilts and took quilt classes I was a busy busy mommy, and all completed while my son was sleeping - oh the days that he slept - I started with my son's quilt I did not take a class for this one, just purchased a beginners quilting book - which I still go back to when I have a question - after that I took a class 9 patch - this would be my VERY first quilt that I made from beginning to end that included the quilting of it too.  Which became my Mom's Christmas present well all the quilts (tops) that I made became Christmas Presents with the exception of one - as I did not complete it and it is still exactly where I put it....So I made 5 quilts in 5 months, I sent them out to actually be quilted but I did the tops and binding of them all with the exception of my husbands - the store did the binding for me as it was a surprise.  Just little insight, these are regular size quilts - My son's is made for a child, my moms is a lap, my husbands is a queen, but used on the couch, my sister is a little bigger then a lap and mine is a lap.  So I have not scrapbook in a while and I am missing it so, but that will have to be a weekend getaway to do.  I am still quilting and have join a quilting group that meets the 3rd Wednesday of every month.  Oh did I tell you I pickle as well...  Last weekend my and some girlfriends go together and pickled Cucs, Carrot and Beans and then made some Jelly too.

I hope you enjoy reading about my hobbies with a little bite of life.  I look forward to entertaining you and keeping you smiling but of course there might be some sad moments as well.