Friday, February 25, 2011
My Mess
My Favourite Quilt and that DD
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| Canvas Work that I finished a while back, but will go to the framers maybe tomorrow. |
I promised pictures and so here are a couple. The top one was a mystery class I took a few years back. It is probably one of the few that I actually finished. There always seems to be something more interesting in the next project. LoL. The following picture is of a quilt I made using all the scraps from a log cabin quilt I made using the heart layout. I was very pleased I got a two-fer. All of a sudden that DD decided he had to be in the picture, usually he is quite camera shy.
It has been almost two months since my hubby passed away and to boot his birthday would be coming up, so I hit the wall this week and it took an incident at work to finally get me out of the fog. For that I am thankful. So, to end the week, I did/will be doing some "firsts" - went to see his sister in his hometown, tomorrow I will be going with friends for breakfast and next week I will be looking for a new vehicle on my own. Progress is being made and so far, so good. I had a really good time with C. today. We had some awesome salads, awesomer dessert and even better conversation. Tomorrow, She Who Must Be Obeyed aka the daughter will be joining us for breakfast. I am happy she will be able to join us as her and our friend Henry have a lot in common. Later tomorrow we get to finally get a peek at my oldest son and wife's new house. They were given the keys to have a little lookie see. I think there may be a small crowd there. They bought this house a year ago and were supposed to take possession in March, which got moved to April which now is May. We have a huge shortage of trades people in Canada and everytime there is a disaster, the trades people have to do the fix-up for that which puts the new housing behind. Flood season is coming up and for most of Canada there will be some type of flooding, so who knows what the eventual move date will be.
I have been doing a bit of study on missions this week and I think my perspective is changing a bit. I always believed that not everyone goes somewhere on missions and I always believed that each person has a mission field, whether it be family, extended family, work, neighbourhood whatever. But, what I don't think I realized is that if you aren't called to go somewhere, then you are called to give to those going. This is of course in addition to prayers for them. I tended to pick and chose and be not very disciplined in this area, but now the light bulb went on - Thank you Father, and so from now on I will be more generous.
Hope you all have a great sunny, warm, spring-like weekend.
Blessing - Jean
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
I Must Be In Kansas!
As our English ancestors would say - it's blowing a hoolie out there. When I was walking that DD earlier, I could finally - in spite of the wind and cold - sense the warmth in the sun and boy did it ever feel good. I can hardly wait for the snow to melt and get some green goin'. Unfortunately for those of us in certain parts of Canada - we may be waiting till May. Oh, well, I can dream can't I.
Today I continued to work on my hand quilting and on my knitting project. Tomorrow is going to be show and tell day - if I remember to get batteries for my camera. I am excited about finishing some projects and this morning as I continued to go through my scrap bins, I wondered how long is too long to keep scraps. I have some that are definitely very early 90s, if not before. There aren't many so, should I chuck them or try to do something with them. I don't usually chuck things very easily - no I'm not a hoarder - but if I can get another quilt or whatever out of it, then I figure I get more bang for the buck. I can't believe how much dark teal green, dark maroon, and dark burgundy was around back then. I for one am glad that color combination has changed or maybe it's the prints that have changed, but I certainly like what is out there better now.
I purchased the 2009 Bali Wedding Star set of foundation papers and directions. It is one of Judy Niemeyer's designs. The Quilter's Cottage had it in and since I also purchased all the Bali Pops and yardage there, they asked if I should try to have it completed for their quilt show in June. Now, I have never entered anything in any show, but you never know with this one. My mindset has changed from thinking that quilt shows are for those who are perfect at the skill, to one of hey I made it, I'm proud of what I accomplished, It's not perfect, and maybe it will encourage someone to either learn how to sew/quilt, or encourage others to put something in a show even if they feel it isn't up to those high standards we set in our own minds.
Tomorrow is hump day - even though it is a short work week here, I look forward to it as it is the day I plan for the second half of the week and what I would like to do. It kind of gets me excited for the weekend. The last few years my hubby did not feel up to going out too much. We took that opportunity to enjoy each other and develop a different relationship than at any other time of our life. It was good, but now it is a challenge to make myself go out and do things. I got too comfortable in my own home. It's like I was having such a great time enjoying our time together that I forgot what awaits in the world outside our house. So, on Wednesdays, I look through the paper and go online to see what's happening in our area and plan what I think I might like to do. So far I've made a trip out of town to my favourite quilt shop, gone over to the town where my daughter lives and did some shopping (do I ever like the Co-op in Beausejour), and gone to visit my grandkids in yet another town. So who knows what I'll find for this weekend. I think I feel another road trip coming on though!
Enjoy the middle of the week and don't forget to take time to stitch!
Blessings - Jean
Today I continued to work on my hand quilting and on my knitting project. Tomorrow is going to be show and tell day - if I remember to get batteries for my camera. I am excited about finishing some projects and this morning as I continued to go through my scrap bins, I wondered how long is too long to keep scraps. I have some that are definitely very early 90s, if not before. There aren't many so, should I chuck them or try to do something with them. I don't usually chuck things very easily - no I'm not a hoarder - but if I can get another quilt or whatever out of it, then I figure I get more bang for the buck. I can't believe how much dark teal green, dark maroon, and dark burgundy was around back then. I for one am glad that color combination has changed or maybe it's the prints that have changed, but I certainly like what is out there better now.
I purchased the 2009 Bali Wedding Star set of foundation papers and directions. It is one of Judy Niemeyer's designs. The Quilter's Cottage had it in and since I also purchased all the Bali Pops and yardage there, they asked if I should try to have it completed for their quilt show in June. Now, I have never entered anything in any show, but you never know with this one. My mindset has changed from thinking that quilt shows are for those who are perfect at the skill, to one of hey I made it, I'm proud of what I accomplished, It's not perfect, and maybe it will encourage someone to either learn how to sew/quilt, or encourage others to put something in a show even if they feel it isn't up to those high standards we set in our own minds.
Tomorrow is hump day - even though it is a short work week here, I look forward to it as it is the day I plan for the second half of the week and what I would like to do. It kind of gets me excited for the weekend. The last few years my hubby did not feel up to going out too much. We took that opportunity to enjoy each other and develop a different relationship than at any other time of our life. It was good, but now it is a challenge to make myself go out and do things. I got too comfortable in my own home. It's like I was having such a great time enjoying our time together that I forgot what awaits in the world outside our house. So, on Wednesdays, I look through the paper and go online to see what's happening in our area and plan what I think I might like to do. So far I've made a trip out of town to my favourite quilt shop, gone over to the town where my daughter lives and did some shopping (do I ever like the Co-op in Beausejour), and gone to visit my grandkids in yet another town. So who knows what I'll find for this weekend. I think I feel another road trip coming on though!
Enjoy the middle of the week and don't forget to take time to stitch!
Blessings - Jean
Monday, February 21, 2011
I Know I Can... I Know I Can....
get through this greiving process. Today is one of those days where something reminds you of your loss. Today it was Toby Keith's song "I'm not crying for you". It sure set me to crying, which I know I needed. It started with the song and then went on to feeling very overwhelmed. I believe part of the grieving process is being overwhelmed. Ovewhelmed by what we ought to do, what we feel like we should be doing, and feeling like we should be further along this journey than we are and all those darn grief books don't seem to touch too much on being overwhelmed. Well, fellow widow(er)s, it is part of grief and it usually comes because we expect to be further along our journey than we are. No one else expects us to do things we aren't capable of doing right now, so why are we so hard on ourselves. It's because most of us want to please others, or be there for our families who are also grieving. We think we have to be strong for others. We think that others expect us to be "over" it by now. Grieving is a long journey of loss, of memories, of leaving behind, of moving forward and of re-inventing ourselves and we need to allow ourselves time to go through it in a safe, healthy way. And so... I know I can, because God will see me through and re-invent me into what he wants me to be for the next stage of my life. It doesn't mean there will be no more bad days, it just means that I will allow myself time to go through this journey and not feel guilty or bad for not feeling like doing things. I am more peaceful and feeling gentle this evening and am thankful for what I learned today.
On the stitching front, I started to "finish" (operative word here) an afghan I started about a year ago. One which is done in patches, with each block being knit in a different stitch. So far I have two squares done - one of them being done today. The other thing I did was set up the "bones" and continued to hand quilt one of my UFOs. I also took one bin and finished sorting, ironing and generally just enjoying the process of getting ready to get some of my scraps into quilts. I really like Sue's UFO challenge as so far no one has given me the what for, for only finishing two things and not showing pictures of anything else. You never know when the pictures might show up - I'll just surprise you all.
We had a Holdiay here today, so was nice to have a four day weekend. Enjoyed some time with my daughter-in-law. We went shopping for items to stage their present house and then use in the new house. It was fun and found some wonderful items for the next Grandmom, granddaughter tea. Every few months my granddaughter and I have a tea. I send an invitation to her in the mail (sometimes this includes other guests) and I tell her how to dress i.e. we will be wearing hats and gloves this time, or wear your dancing shoes. She is four and gets a hoot out of our teas. She use to like it when granddad would come and bug us for some goodies, so when we have our next one, we will set out an extra place for granddad. Hope he is enjoying his tea and goodies in heaven!
Blessings - Jean
On the stitching front, I started to "finish" (operative word here) an afghan I started about a year ago. One which is done in patches, with each block being knit in a different stitch. So far I have two squares done - one of them being done today. The other thing I did was set up the "bones" and continued to hand quilt one of my UFOs. I also took one bin and finished sorting, ironing and generally just enjoying the process of getting ready to get some of my scraps into quilts. I really like Sue's UFO challenge as so far no one has given me the what for, for only finishing two things and not showing pictures of anything else. You never know when the pictures might show up - I'll just surprise you all.
We had a Holdiay here today, so was nice to have a four day weekend. Enjoyed some time with my daughter-in-law. We went shopping for items to stage their present house and then use in the new house. It was fun and found some wonderful items for the next Grandmom, granddaughter tea. Every few months my granddaughter and I have a tea. I send an invitation to her in the mail (sometimes this includes other guests) and I tell her how to dress i.e. we will be wearing hats and gloves this time, or wear your dancing shoes. She is four and gets a hoot out of our teas. She use to like it when granddad would come and bug us for some goodies, so when we have our next one, we will set out an extra place for granddad. Hope he is enjoying his tea and goodies in heaven!
Blessings - Jean
Sunday, February 20, 2011
That Darn Dog....
....is depressed and stressed so his Colitis is acting up. After him throwing up and pooping numerous times it was off to the Vet, back with new meds and out $250. Poor boy is missing the man of the house as is little guy a.k.a GS2. Little guy came tearing in after church running all over the place calling "tools - tools", when he wanted to go downstairs, we realized he was looking for granddad. So how do you tell an almost two year old that Granddad isn't here anymore? We have yet to figure that out. We want to do it in a way, so that hopefully he will still have a few memories when he is older. When he and his older sister went up to look for the "bones" (the parts to my quilt frame), they saw Granddad's picture and gave him a big kiss though and it was very sweet to see them do that.
I have not done any thing needle related this weekend, but with tomorrow being a Stat Holiday here and the temperature going to be in the -20C range, I plan on drinking lots of tea and sewing all day....or as long as that DD will let me. I did though, finish off some more of my spring cleaning and so have finished, my bedroom, two bathrooms, my workroom, and the kitchen. I did the living and dining rooms a few weeks back when the new sofa arrived. Now I only have the most dreaded place of all to clean ---- the basement. I despise basements! I grew up with out one and find them dark, dingy and even to a 50 something woman a little scary. Not sure why I find them scary, probably because they are usually dark, and filled with junk. Really it is not in too bad a shape as far as cleaning, as the rec room was just cleaned to accomodate the funeral visitors who stayed with me, so it will only be what we affectionately call "the back 40" that needs to be straightened up. We need to return some baby things we borrowed and vacuum up in the rafters. So all in all until window cleaning season I'm done and can concentrate on more enjoyable things such as sewing, stitiching and maybe getting ready for the garden...which I may or may not put in this year, but always find it fun to dream about the seeds, and all the bounty I will get. I do become somewhat of a hoarder with all the fresh veggies and fruit and usually won't let anyone into the canned goods until we can't get another meal out of what is left in the garden. I do though on occasion, notice a few holes in my neatly sorted hoard and can only assume that some mouse, or child thought they needed it more than me.
Now, I do need to go and give that DD Roscoe his third round of meds for the day. If I get anything worth taking a picture done tomorrow, I am going to try to post my first inserted picture.
Blessings - Jean
I have not done any thing needle related this weekend, but with tomorrow being a Stat Holiday here and the temperature going to be in the -20C range, I plan on drinking lots of tea and sewing all day....or as long as that DD will let me. I did though, finish off some more of my spring cleaning and so have finished, my bedroom, two bathrooms, my workroom, and the kitchen. I did the living and dining rooms a few weeks back when the new sofa arrived. Now I only have the most dreaded place of all to clean ---- the basement. I despise basements! I grew up with out one and find them dark, dingy and even to a 50 something woman a little scary. Not sure why I find them scary, probably because they are usually dark, and filled with junk. Really it is not in too bad a shape as far as cleaning, as the rec room was just cleaned to accomodate the funeral visitors who stayed with me, so it will only be what we affectionately call "the back 40" that needs to be straightened up. We need to return some baby things we borrowed and vacuum up in the rafters. So all in all until window cleaning season I'm done and can concentrate on more enjoyable things such as sewing, stitiching and maybe getting ready for the garden...which I may or may not put in this year, but always find it fun to dream about the seeds, and all the bounty I will get. I do become somewhat of a hoarder with all the fresh veggies and fruit and usually won't let anyone into the canned goods until we can't get another meal out of what is left in the garden. I do though on occasion, notice a few holes in my neatly sorted hoard and can only assume that some mouse, or child thought they needed it more than me.
Now, I do need to go and give that DD Roscoe his third round of meds for the day. If I get anything worth taking a picture done tomorrow, I am going to try to post my first inserted picture.
Blessings - Jean
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
It's Back!
Thank you Colorado for the low you are sending our way. We will be endowed with yet more snow, more wind and more cold. I DO NOT LIKE THIS, so please don't send anymore our way. Thank You!
Didn't get a blasted thing done today. Spent the day discussing future wealth or lack thereof, running around getting yet more forms signed - gee can't the powers that be just let it go already! Dear Husband is gone, there is nothing them or I can do about it, so lets get things settled already. I knew that government wheels move slow, but this is ridiculous. Sorry for the rant - I'll try not to do it again.
We are having a long weekend up here, so after 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, I will be leisurely stitching away for four lovely days. Hey maybe this storm coming isn't so bad after all - gives me time to play and we all like to play don't we. Hope to learn a bit more about blogging this weekend i.e. learning how to centre the picture at the top, and inserting pictures. At this point it looks like I'll be brushing up on my HTML a bit. Good luck with that!
Hope you all have a great evening and day tomorrow.
Blessings - Jean
Didn't get a blasted thing done today. Spent the day discussing future wealth or lack thereof, running around getting yet more forms signed - gee can't the powers that be just let it go already! Dear Husband is gone, there is nothing them or I can do about it, so lets get things settled already. I knew that government wheels move slow, but this is ridiculous. Sorry for the rant - I'll try not to do it again.
We are having a long weekend up here, so after 2:00 p.m. tomorrow, I will be leisurely stitching away for four lovely days. Hey maybe this storm coming isn't so bad after all - gives me time to play and we all like to play don't we. Hope to learn a bit more about blogging this weekend i.e. learning how to centre the picture at the top, and inserting pictures. At this point it looks like I'll be brushing up on my HTML a bit. Good luck with that!
Hope you all have a great evening and day tomorrow.
Blessings - Jean
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Some Days are Diamonds
What a beautiful day! We are hitting plus 4C about 38F and so took the Darn Dog (herein after known as THAT DD) for a well deserved long walk. Roscoe is getting older - eleven, but for a Bichon that's not too old. He like me, has arthritis and he suffers from colitis, so today was a Diamond Day and we had fun.... sort of. Roscoe never likes walking in water. If you are older and you ever saw those Peppi-La-Pew cartoons where he walks on his tonails, well Roscoe walks just like that in the water. Of course he just has to give me that woe is me look - what a dog! He is good company these days as I adjust to being a widow.
Strange how that word hits you within days of your mates death. I think it was the first thing that hit me, next was "How will I make it on my own," then I just fell apart for awhile. Now I am back to what my oldest son called the New Normal. I thank God every day for the "New" Truths he is giving me. You know the ones... the words we've known for a long time, but only become reality when we hit a tough spot. I can hardly believe what I've missed in his word. Thank God he is patient and understanding and gives us time to "get it".
I had earlier in the year decided I would do the UFO Challenge that Sue from Blackberry Creek Home Arts is sponsoring. The rules are really lax - gotta love that and now that my life is starting to settle down, and I feel like being creative again I am on a roll. I have completed two items (shown on the side bar) and am now working through my scraps.
I had started about a year ago thinking I would diminish my stash somewhat by using up what I had. To get myself organized, I took out all of my material, sorted it and then decided which ones would go to together. I then bundled them up and they are now ready for whatever project I choose to start. Of course like every other quilter, sticher, knitter etc. out there I did not get very far into the year before I started buying, but that is as always another story. Back to the scraps, I have plastic containers that stack on top if one another and slowly I am cutting all the scraps in the bins into various sizes and when they are all done, they will be sewn into quilts. On the other side of the coin (stitching) I have so many little bits, I have decided to make a bunch of book marks and donate them to either one of my teacher neices or to an inner city school. Up here February is Love to Read month, so I figure maybe I can get 30 to 35 done by next February. I hope to get a list up soon,of what I want to finish this year. THAT DD is calling for dinner dear! So I better go. Enjoy the day!
Jean
Strange how that word hits you within days of your mates death. I think it was the first thing that hit me, next was "How will I make it on my own," then I just fell apart for awhile. Now I am back to what my oldest son called the New Normal. I thank God every day for the "New" Truths he is giving me. You know the ones... the words we've known for a long time, but only become reality when we hit a tough spot. I can hardly believe what I've missed in his word. Thank God he is patient and understanding and gives us time to "get it".
I had earlier in the year decided I would do the UFO Challenge that Sue from Blackberry Creek Home Arts is sponsoring. The rules are really lax - gotta love that and now that my life is starting to settle down, and I feel like being creative again I am on a roll. I have completed two items (shown on the side bar) and am now working through my scraps.
I had started about a year ago thinking I would diminish my stash somewhat by using up what I had. To get myself organized, I took out all of my material, sorted it and then decided which ones would go to together. I then bundled them up and they are now ready for whatever project I choose to start. Of course like every other quilter, sticher, knitter etc. out there I did not get very far into the year before I started buying, but that is as always another story. Back to the scraps, I have plastic containers that stack on top if one another and slowly I am cutting all the scraps in the bins into various sizes and when they are all done, they will be sewn into quilts. On the other side of the coin (stitching) I have so many little bits, I have decided to make a bunch of book marks and donate them to either one of my teacher neices or to an inner city school. Up here February is Love to Read month, so I figure maybe I can get 30 to 35 done by next February. I hope to get a list up soon,of what I want to finish this year. THAT DD is calling for dinner dear! So I better go. Enjoy the day!
Jean
Monday, February 14, 2011
A Day for Red
Today being Valentine's day is usually a day for red- roses, clothes, candies wrapped up in cute little red tinfoil, but today let's remember all those ladies in our families that suffer from heart disease. Let's help them get active and not just sitting at their sewing machines!
My husband recently passed away at what to me is a young age. It was semi expected in that we knew that at some point he would either have a massive stroke or a massive heart attack. Most of his heart problems, he was born with. However, it was just an ordinary operation he went in for and God ordained that it was G's time to go home. This morning while I was thinking about Valentine's day and how we would very often celebrate very simply by me cooking his favourite meal, setting the coffee table up with a nice table topper, candles, one flower and then we would sit on the floor with our backs against the sofa, eating, talking, joking and truly enjoying each other, it dawned on me that today I would use this day to remind each person I met to never take their significant other for granted. Do something special or say something special every day and as Mary did in the Bible, keep these things in your heart always so they can become a treasure later.
Enjoy this beautiful day for love in a unique way.
Jean
My husband recently passed away at what to me is a young age. It was semi expected in that we knew that at some point he would either have a massive stroke or a massive heart attack. Most of his heart problems, he was born with. However, it was just an ordinary operation he went in for and God ordained that it was G's time to go home. This morning while I was thinking about Valentine's day and how we would very often celebrate very simply by me cooking his favourite meal, setting the coffee table up with a nice table topper, candles, one flower and then we would sit on the floor with our backs against the sofa, eating, talking, joking and truly enjoying each other, it dawned on me that today I would use this day to remind each person I met to never take their significant other for granted. Do something special or say something special every day and as Mary did in the Bible, keep these things in your heart always so they can become a treasure later.
Enjoy this beautiful day for love in a unique way.
Jean
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