Friends Gather Here

Well by the looks of our yard I think it's official, winter has arrived, and that means SNOWMEN!

Snowmen and gingerbread men are my favourite things to add Christmas flavor in my kitchen. In the basket you will see them together with a little sign that says "Friends Gather Here".

For the next few weeks I thought I would give you all a peek into my kitchen one shot at a time...ok...so maybe 3-4 shots.

My Christmas Cactus's are anxious and started blooming all over. They are beautiful, it's too bad that such a lovely flower has no scent. Here you see the red one along with a couple of snowmen sitting on my freezer.

And a close-up of the flowers.....

And here you see the pink one on top of the fridge with a bunch of snowmen buddies keeping it company.

So that's my first venture into Christmas decorating, putting out a few snowmen. I've sewed up some new curtains for the kitchen and I'm cleaning and spit polishing all the silver and the crystal. All the Christmas dishes need a spiff up also. Thank goodness for a dishwasher. I figure I only use these once a year for Christmas dinner and the 'gold' around the rim should be good for a few years, seeing they only get washed, twice a year, before Christmas and after Christmas dinner. And if it doesn't?...Well the kids can deal with it 30 years from now. By then I won't care..*lol*...
So welcome to my kitchen. Stay tuned for more ....

Until then

~~Fran

Is it Winter Yet?

This is what greeted us this morning. But I know this will be gone in a couple of days, it's too mild out there. I am one of these rare people that live in the north and LOVE snow. On the other hand this part does not thrill me. This is just a warning that we had best get with the program and finish the outdoor chores, like bringing in the 2 proud grandparents.






The bear however has gone for his long winter sleep....he-he-he...





I took a short drive around the neighborhood with the camera, and wouldn't you know it the batteries gave out. Oh well, it's no big deal, just have to get to the camera store this week.

As anyone can tell, I'm not a great photographer. (Now if you want to see photography, go see Daisy Cottage and Jellybeanangel. ) Those gals know how to wield a camera! They have talent plus in that department. I realize there's more to it than just point and shoot.
1. You have to have good equipment and
2. you have to have an artists eye. Hey...I try!

This is what I managed to 'shoot' before the camera gave up the ghost.











As Porky Pig would say....."T-t-that's it folks... I'm off to the sewing room to see if I can get anything accomplished.

Have a great day.


~~Fran...:c)

tAKING fIVE

It was a beautiful sun shiny day and I decided to take advantage of it and I took five
We have a beautiful boardwalk down by Lake Huron . It was unseasonably warm and I kicked off my shoes and went down the beach to the shore. I wish I would have thought to bring the camera, but there's always a next time, the lake won't go away...*lol*...

But I love to pick up pebbles, and I usually come home with a pocket full of rocks. Today was no exception...here is today's loot. I look for color, shape, and differences like the little one that's half red and half white. (center of picture) to me they look like jewels of the lake. Some days I'm lucky and the gods of the lake delivers fossils to the shore. I have a load of these.



Everyone has to have a hobby and this is one of mine. The best thing about it is that's it's free, and it includes fresh air and a walk along the shore. All I have to do is look down.

I've been in my sewing room so long that I've forgotten what the rest of the house looks like...*lol*...

Well break is over so I'm going to back to the work room and start sewing again. I'm starting to feel like one of Santa's elves...

Until next time...

~~Fran...:c)

Going Thrifting

Saturday was my day off, so I did the thing I love more than sewing . I went shopping, and I hit a couple of thrift shops. Got some pretty good deals. Here are some pictures 3 lovely Toby mugs in 3 sizes for .25 cents each

a few pieces of jewelry , the broach in the center is enameled, the cost for all this was .75 cents.

A bag full of fabrics, all are at least 1 yd to 2 yds. Cost $1.00

What you see above is the contents of a bag of quilt pieces, and scraps. Ya gotta love it, all for $1.00

This is a 'bronzed' picture frame of leaves. I fell in love with it and spent the whole $1.25 for it.

And a lovely old tin for .50 cents I just love old tins like this.

And the best buy of the day was this denim reversible jacket for .50 cents.

One Saturday each month all clothing in this little shop called "Blessings" sell all of the clothing for .50 cents each. I came home with a car full of 'stuff'' and only spent $9.00.

Anybody want to come shopping with me?...*lol*...

Until next time

~~Fran...:c)

Chelsea's Quilt

Do any of you recall my teaching, my granddaughter from Nevada, how to quilt this summer? She made a HUGE bag/purse and was thrilled with it. She went home determined to make her dad a lap quilt for Christmas. A red, white and black lap quilt. He's heavy into Nascar. She sent me this picture this morning.....

and this one this afternoon. I'm so proud of her I could" just bust my buttons" as they say. Here's what she says after I wrote back and told her she was doing great, and does she think this will be passed down to her daughters if she ever has them, she replied........

Hi Nana! Thank you, that was this morning, now look how far I got! It looks so cool, and I am so glad you showed me how neat and fun quilting can be! Tell me what you think of the center! I will definitely pass this on to my daughters! love you! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo!

The black and white check doesn't like the camera lens very much and tends to blurr, but it is black and white checker flag/like checks. The print is just for the fun Nascar colors of the cars. I can't wait to see those pictures coming in. She's promised to keep me posted. Ya gotta love it!!!

Until next time

~~Fran...:c)

Pictorial Continued

As promised. I was afraid if I tried to get anymore pictures on that last post I'd get booted off again, so we continue in its a wonderful life.:c) Here are the pictures of the Redwork lady and of a few things I'm working on for the Christmas Tea.

So folks, allthough I don't blog as often as some , just know that at then end of a long day I sometime just want to sit at the computer and read your blogs and see what my friends have been up to. I visit, I lurk, I sometime post and I always enjoy reading all of your blogs.

Until next time...

~~Fran...:c)

Catching up

I'm going to try once more to catch up. I've just spent the better part of an hour on this blog, downloading pictures and what have you only to be booted off twice. If this doesn't make it through, I quit. I'm really talking to myself here of course, because if it doesn't make it through, you won't know will you?...he-he-he-he-...I think I'm loosing it!

For the past 2 weeks I will list the things I've been up to and then give you a pictorial of it all.

Halloween....made 2 cute loot bags for granddaughters, carved pumpkins with them and their mom and their Papa. After all if your going to make memories those are the best kind. Daddy and big brother couldn't be with us as they were away at school.

Last Sunday it was announced in the pulpit that we are having a Christmas Tea on the 6Th of December, and could the ladies of the quilt bee please put together a few things for it. (Would have been nice if this announcement had been given back in July). So.....we collectively , and I are up to our arm pits in making, table runners and place mats, aprons, oven mitts and potholders, 'hot' pads for pots, filled with cinnamon and all spice, so that when your put you hot pot on it, the nice smells permeate the room. There will be tea cozies to make, and 'bag' holders, and hand towels for the kitchen, (the ones you cut in half and either crochet or make a top to tie to either the cabinet door or the oven door), dishcloths to knit and pin cushions to make....etc...etc...etc.. I'm sure a few more items will come up at the last minute.

Christmas gifts, I committed myself to making a pillow quilt for each of my family members for a gift for Christmas. When I say committed, I mean committed. $300.00 committed, as all the fabric has been chosen and bought. I have 2 made. The pattern says that these pillow quilts can be made in about 3 hrs. AH!.....I would like to meet the whizz who can throw one of these together in 3 hrs. Not me. I failed pillow quilt 101. It takes me at least a day or a day in a half, depending on how much detail I want. But they are truly beautiful and my family will love them. A very kind lady blogger from the great state of Texas sent me the pattern and 2 beautiful pieces of fabric. Thank you Jan. Two down 17 to go. My family is banned from this blog , by the way...lol

Red work...this past week a very dear old friend came and asked for my help in putting together her red work quilt top she embroidered. She's 82, and a real darling, how could I refuse. We finished putting the top together on Friday night.

Doggie coats...my beloved son e-mailed me and asked if it would be possible for me to construct 2 winter dog coats for his two German Shepherds who are outside all winter. It can get pretty cold even with a good insulated kennel. Remember, he has no idea that is mother is up to her ...in the swamp with alligators, and that those alligators are snapping at that same ...What do I say? Uh...not this week son, maybe by the end of the month. Pray it doesn't get to cold up here by then.

Church...Ive been asked to be part of a very special committee and I feel it is important, and to which I am very much committed so setting my ducks in a row, this must be front and foremost. No ifs ands or buts.

Quilt Guild...Today was the first Monday of the month. This is the day our guild meets. Every month since it's beginning. We have a membership of 45. We were all asked if today we could donate some of our time and bring some extra few yards of fabric to make pillow cases for the Women's Shelter for Christmas. Ten showed up, 4 went home early. Was I angry? No, but I was disappointed in those ladies. A few may have had prior commitments, or maybe they were sick or had migraine, but give me a break, all 35 of them? I was asked if I would be vice president of this guild, but I don't think I will accept. As I said, I have to get my ducks in a row, and they are family, church, doggies and guild, and guild stands last right now.

Now I promised some photos and here they are.... you can figure out the pillow quilts, one is for a granddaughter and one is for a grandson.....

Now before this thing hiccups again I'm going to sign off and continue the pictorial in another post

~~Fran...:c)

Taking a Break

Got it, I think!

Well it's taken me most of the evening but I think I've got you all back where you belong. I will know in a day or two if I've forgotten someone. Keep on commentating please, and that way I will know you're still with me.

Must take a course in blogging 101 because this darn thing is very confusing at times.

~~Fran...:c)

Grrrrrr......Big Mistake!

I just made another BIG boo-boo! I wanted to remove a name (blog) from my list of blogs that I read faithfully and ended up removing all of them. I'm a walking disaster when it comes to this blogging stuff. When or how long will it take for me to finally get this right?

Grrrr.......I'm so mad! I will have to spend hours now to get them all back on , and I sure hope I don't forget any.

If any of you know a way I can reverse this please tell me, or if I've ever responded to your blog, please let me know and tell me the name of your blog so I can place you back where you belong in "The Blogs I Follow" part of the page. Some of you come to mind right away, and you know who you are, and you will be back on tomorrow.

Tonight I feel like I've done enough damage and will call it quits.

~~Fran...:c(

Cloth Weaving

I spent the whole day yesterday at a workshop learning how to weave cloth. It was amazing!

The teacher had these mini looms for us to work on and all kinds of wool and fibers. She even had us add beads and charms to our project.

This is what we made. A mini 'vest' which opens up into a miniature sewing kit.

We spent the morning weaving our "cloth" . ... It was so interesting, we were about 20 in the workshop and we all had access to the same materials, yet there was not one identical "cloth" in the whole class. Once we had filled our loom tightly, we ironed on a piece of heavy interfacing. After it cooled we pinned on our pattern and cut out one front of the vest.

Believe it or not it took us 3 hours to do this. And she expects us all to make ourselves a vest by Christmas. AH! Maybe by next Christmas.

We spent the afternoon putting together our little vests. I kind of overdid it with the beads and charms,... LOL...but I'm not a fan of 'less is more' group of thinkers. I'm a ..."I paid $35.00 for this class, bring it on"..., kind of girl. :c))

:c)

Today I started adding the bits and pieces of the sewing kit and I do believe that a special little girl in Nevada who is just learning to quilt, will be the recipient of this little gem. Her birthday is at the end of November so it's perfect....Made to order so to speak.

:c)

It was fun, and I did learn a new skill, so it was worth the money I spent. :c))

:c)

~~Fran...:c)

Thank you & kudos

I want to thank everyone that have responded to my posts in the past week. Your help in finding my pattern was awesome. Kudos to all of you.

A special thank you to Jan, who just sent me an e-mail and informed me that my comments were not being posted and I didn't know this. I started exploring the blog site and found 49 comments waiting to be approved. I pressed a few "buttons"... and got them all posted where they belong, but I'm not sure if I managed to reverse this process. I'm so computer illiterate it's not even funny. I almost broke my arm patting myself on the back when I finally was able to make my own blog. Wow!! Even my husband who is the 'expert' was stunned that I managed to do this.

So...., hope I've fixed the problem and I will be monitoring this blog faithfully in the next few days, and more often in the future. As for right now I am going back to view my blog page and catch up on all those comments that were left and un-read. I promise I will try and be a good girl, LOL and check this thing EVERYDAY!!!

~~Fran...:c)

In Search Of...

These were taken by me at a quilt show this afternoon with the owners permission. However....I fell in love with this quilt called "Garden Twist". I even bought the fabric from the vendor, and when I asked her for the pattern she informed me that she "doesn't share her patterns". If I didn't like the fabric so much I would have insisted on my money back.

Now the search is on...can anyone help me? Where can I get, or buy this pattern? I've spent the better part of 3 hrs on the web looking for it to no avail so ladies there is just one thing to do in a case like this and that's to ask for ..... H E L P

I've been away for awhile so since I'm back there hasn't been a whole lot of trafic on this blog, but I'm hoping that even if only one of you see's this you will pass the word out that I'm in search of this pattern.

Thanks everyone....

~~Fran...:c)

Genealogy Quilt

I've been working on this quilt for a long time. It was just a 'get rid of the scraps' kind of quilt.

I had been visiting Quiltville with Bonnie Hunter. I went down her list of patterns and chose "Simply Stripy". Dog-dead easy. You will never find an easier pattern if you tried, and I figured this would get rid of a lot of scraps, and at the same time be fast to make.

Well as is said 'the best laid plans of mice and men'.... I made the top in an afternoon and then having no "design wall" I threw it on the floor and HATED it!
I put it away for awhile and would periodically throw it on the floor again to see if it was redeemable. One night or I should say morning at around 3a.m., (insomnia) there it was on the floor with the cat laying on it when inspiration struck.
I started counting all the solid colored pieces, then I counted all of the people in our immediate family ( had to do this several times, kept forgetting one or two) and I came up with this .......

Genealogy Quilt

You can't see the names, but they were all embroidered "Tonya" style with white and red cotton. On the small solid pieces that I couldn't put a name on I put hearts. I tried several borders but since I didn't have any fabric left over from the body of the quilt, I simply sewed 2 two inch borders.

One is black print with flowers, and the other is a yellow whimsical fabric that I picked up. It said "A Passion 4 Patchwork" . It was so cute with small spools of thread between the phrase. It was perfect for this particular quilt.

On the back of the quilt I used a black fabric marker and made up the genealogy chart.

What started out to be an ugly quilt, an "I don't want to work on this anymore quilt", an unwanted quilt in other words, has turned out to be probably a family heirloom, and all the fancy beautiful quilts I've made will come and go, and that will be the end of them, but I see this one being passed down and added to.

I have 11 grandchildren and they are all asking for one also. I smiled and said perhaps as a wedding gift. Only next time I will add a lot more solid fabric, so there will be lots of places to put my great grandchildren names on (*LOL*) This one was given to my son, who came to me last year with his quilt I made him when he was about 12, and asked if I could make a new back for it. Since it was over 30 years old I suggested that maybe it was time I made him a new quilt . He hugged that quilt and with a gleam in his eye he said "Mine!" We all laughed at 'Linus' and mom put a new back on his old quilt. When it was time to give this quilt away there was no one else in the family that came to mind other than Richard. Although it didn't start out as a quilt for him , the gods had other ideas.

Until next time

~~Fran...:c)

Autumn Splendor for Thanksgiving

Hi All,

It's been a while since I posted but I'm back and ready to go. We've just come home from a long weekend with our sons and spent Thanksgiving with them. Turkey and dressing, sweet potatoes and pumkin pie, oh my... I can hardly move. I should have jogged at least halfway back home. It will take me from now until Christmas to burn up all the calories from this weekend. But, what a wonderful meal and what fun to be with our sons, their wives and our grandchildren.

This is one of our boys home in the heart of the Ottawa Valley. The colours were spectacular and I honestly didn't know which way to point the camera. As you can see the house is nestled in among the maples. These are the same maples which provide us with the honest to goodness of maple syrup, come spring. Below was a view of the field across from his house.
It so happened to be my birthday on Monday and my son and his wife gave me a brand new camera. Being totally mechanically and computer illiterate, I'm having a hard time figuring it all out. This thing even takes videos. Looks like I'm going to have to take photography 101. (*LOL*) Not to be outdone my other son who owns his own computer business is building mom her own personal computer. Specs are to be "VERY" simple with lots of memory, and no bells and whistles. :c))

We passed many beautiful places and so may scenic sites but couldn't stop at every one and shooting going 55 miles an hour is not recomemded photography if you want nice clear pictures. I tried to take some out the window and got these kaleidoscopic blurs. Pretty but not pretty enough for publication.This was taken in a little village that was so picturesque, you could almost say it was enchanting . I got a novel idea for turkeys that someone put together from hay bales.

What a pretty little church!

I could go on and on but I just haven't the space. here for all the pictures I took. I'm now going to make supper and then spend the evening catching up on all my favourite blogs.

Talk to you all soon.

Until then.....

~~Fran...:c)