Silver Thimble Quilting Archive

Fraser Valley Quilters' Guild - Quiltafair

2009-05-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

Since my sewing machine is still in the shop, I was free to attend the Fraser Valley Quilters' Guild biennial quilt show, called Quiltafair, last Friday.

This was a cute flower arrangement on the registration desk. See the cute "button" flowers.

The guild had sponsored the traditional quilt challenge and an additional challenge that you don't see at every show--a pin cushion challenge. I had a hard time voting for my favorite pin cushion.

I have seen this quilt pattern several times before. However, this is the first time I have seen it made up as an "I Spy". What a great idea.

One of the features of this show was the Hungarian Canadian quilt display. "In 2006, Iren Szabo and Sue Dobray initiated a Hungarian/Canadian quilt exchange. All participants created a twelve inch quilt block - the Hungarian blocks were sent to Canada to be matched up with a Canadian participant who in turn sent their blocks to Hungary. All participants added 4 1/2" around their exchange block or brought the size up to 21" and that piece was returned to the original block creator to increase the size to an approximately 45" quilt top. All quilts (21 Hungarian and 21 Canadian) were finished by the original block creator and the completed Canadian quilts were sent back to Hungary to join the Hungarian quilts...this collection of 42 quilts was displayed in the capital city of Budapest in November 2006. This is the first time they have been hung as a group show in Canada" (taken from the FVQG's show brochure) The next 5 pictures are some of those fabulous quilts.

This next quilt featured incredibly small squares in the 25 patch blocks.

Because it is hard to imagine just how small those squares were, I took a picture of one of the blocks next to my hand so you can see the perspective.

This next hexagon quilt belongs to Val Smith. I met up with two other quilters from Agassiz at the show and I was introduced to Val. The four of us enjoyed a wonderful boxed lunch outside in the sun at lunchtime. Be sure to visit Val's web page to see some of her other fabulous work. http://web.me.com/myraottewell/Vals_Quilts/Welcome.html

Val used 5 different sizes of hexagons in this quilt.

The next two shots feature some great cat quilts.

This next quilt really interested me. All it said on the note that was hanging next to the quilt was, "I made this quilt from a napkin".

This next Canadiana quilt was for sale for $800. It features some fabulous cross stitch pieces and the most interesting maple leaf block in the center of the quilt.

This maple leaf block was a cross between a poppy and a maple leaf-very interesting.

This quilt featured a farm in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

I have always admired this quilt pattern. I believe the pattern is called, "All Lit Up" and is intended as a Christmas quilt. This quilter said the trees reminded her of the forests around Harrison and so she hangs this quilt all year round in her house, not just at Christmas.

I have seen this quilt pattern before many times. I still love it! The expressions on the faces of these birds are priceless.

This was a cute quilt. The workmanship was perfect! Despite the use of triangles, this quilt hung perfectly flat--no friendly borders here!

These next two quilts featured a unique curved and dimensional half square triangle block.

Sometimes a quilt just makes you smile, this was one of those.

This is a two colour BQ.

This quilt was cute.

The quilting design featured chocolates and really made the quilt.

This was a great show.

Moving Projects Forward Has Come to an Abrupt Hault

2009-05-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

Thursday night, I was making great progress on another UFO. I was busy adding the sashing strips to my dryer sheet diamond string blocks. I even got one full row of blocks sewn together and I was ready to put the last seam in the second row when it happened.

I had pinned my blocks together and I was busy pulling out the pins just before the presser foot reached them. I missed pulling out a pin, but my machine hit it dead on.

So now sadly, my DSM is in the hospital awaiting the technician's attention. The needle remained intact in the accident, but the pin was split in two and was jammed into the machine knocking my machine out of time.

So now, there is just a hole in my work table where Heidi would normally sit. I can tell you that I am really missing her. We have been together since 1999. My husband bought Heidi for me when I graduated from my professional accounting designation courses. It had been a long haul--10 years of study and work experience and my husband felt I deserved something very special.
This is not my Heidi, but a machine very similar to her. (I pulled this picture off the Internet.)

Prior to Heidi, I had a Kenmore that I named Zip. This machine had two speeds--super fast and stop. I had to sew with a slipper shoved into the presser foot to help slow Zip down. You always had to be ready to grab the fly wheel when Zip would get into one of his moods and take off at top speed. If Zip was happy and sewing at a comfortable speed, he would make a sound like an Austrailian diggorie-do. Zip still lives at my house, taking up space in the cupboard. My daughter has used Zip on occasion but I have not sewn on Zip since Heidi came to live with me.

The only other machine that I have is an antique Singer treadle machine that was given to me years ago by my grandmother. I posted about that Singer machine back in July 2006: http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2006/07/singer.html This machine does not have a 1/4" foot for piecing or a walking foot.

The Bernina dealer has said that Heidi will be out of commission for at least two weeks so I may have to bring either Zip or the Singer back into service

Moving Projects Forward

2009-05-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

I have had a couple of fabrics lately that have decided that they do not want to keep all their dye. One of the fabrics was a deep blue batik and the second was a red cotton. Both fabrics can be bad for bleeding, but really, after 6 washes? I tried vinegar and salt and had to luck. Finally, I found a source for Retayne locally. After one wash with Retayne, the fabrics stopped bleeding. I could not believe it. I did a test wash with Color Catchers after the Retayne treatment and the Color Catchers came out of the wash as white as they went it. I will be using this product a lot more often now that I know how well it works! Friday, I spent my time making a Mother's Day present for my Mom. This is the table runner that I made for her.

Today, we started the day with breakfast out at a local restaurant--my DH, DS, Mom, Dad, and myself. After presenting my Mom with her table runner, she took it home and put it on her coffee table and took this picture for me. I was worried that I had not made it long enough, but it looks like it works on her coffee table.

Saturday, I finished putting the last of the sashing bits on this quilt top and then added the inner and outer borders. The outer border fabric is suns on a black background. I loved this fabric. I had enough backing fabric and batting in my stash so by the end of the evening Saturday, I had this quilt loaded on the long arm and had started the quilting.

This afternoon, I was able to finish the quilting on this one.

I used a new to me batting on this one -- Soft and Bright by the Warm Company. This batting is 100% polyester. It is needled to hold the batting together without glue, resin, or hard coatings. This batting has a bit of loft to it which shows off the quilting perfectly. Because the fibers are needled, they stay in place and the batting doesn't shift or go thin in some places like other polyester battings do. My long arm did not object to this batting at all and unlike other polyester battings, this one did not slip or shift. Because this quilt top was heavy from the weight of all the seams in the string blocks, I really did not want to add more weight to the top by using a cotton batting. I also have intended this to be a utility quilt so I expect it to be used and washed frequently. I am hoping the polyester holds up to the frequent use I expect the quilt to receive.

This last picture shows the gold thread i used to highlight the Wave quilting design.

My plans are to bind this one in black. The binding will have to wait for another day though as I am short of black fabric in my stash. Running out of stash fabric is a good thing though--it means that I am using up what I have on hand!

Happy 23rd Birthday!

2009-05-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

May 3 was my DS's 23rd birthday. This was also the day that my husband's family had chosen to celebrate my MIL's 80th birthday. My son was a little disappointed that his special day had been overshadowed by the 80th birthday celebrations and he would not be able to pick the menu for his birthday dinner. To help ease the disappointment, I took him out for a birthday breakfast. Here he is in the restaurant about to enjoy french toast and sausage.
After breakfast, we stopped by my parents' for a quick visit. This is myself, my son, my mom, and my dad. A neighbour was walking by and offered to take the picture for us.

This is the cake that was at my MIL's birthday celebration later in the day. All the grandchildren that have birthdays in the vicinity of Grandma were listed on the cake.

This is my MIL and some of her grandchildren.

Matthew's special birthday dinner was rescheduled to later in the week--Thursday, May 7th. Matthew celebrated with a menu of pancakes, sausage, and a Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

In our household, you get to request whatever you want for supper that day--even if it is breakfast for supper! LOL

Happy Birthday, M!

Moving Unfinished Projects Forward

2009-05-02T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today I stopped at the LQS and picked up some of Mary Ellen's Best Press. I have been reading the reviews and I decided to give it a try.

Today I washed a load of green fabrics and I knew some of those fabrics would likely end up quite wrinkled. I was very impressed with this product in removing those wrinkles effortlessly. The bottle says, "Mary Ellen makes ironing (almost) fun!" and I would have to agree with that statement. I think I am going to have to buy stock in this company!
I also finished one of my UFOs to the flimsy stage today. This top was started on June 28, 2008 on a FABs Saturday Sew-In. This top finished at 52" x 59 1/2" and will be perfect for a baby girl/toddler. The pattern is an original design by Cher, one of the FABs. We have been affectionately calling this quilt pattern, CGF or Cher's Gym Floor. Bet you can't guess where Cher got the inspiration for this design! LOL

http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2008/06/fabs-saturday-sew-in.html

Happy 21st Birthday!

2009-04-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

Today was my daughter's 21st birthday.

We celebrated in traditional style for our household - a menu for dinner which includes all the choices of the birthday celebrant, right up to the kind of cake.

Tonight, my daughter chose, grilled chicken and bison burgers, green salad, macaroni salad, pickles, potato chips, lemonade, and Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

We had my husband's mother and my parents in attendance. At one point in our lives, all grandparents lived in other cities far away from us. We are fortunate now to have everyone living close enough that we can celebrate milestones such as this together.

Happy Birthday, D!

Work, Work, Work

2009-04-28T20:14:00.000-07:00

Although I have not been posting that frequently lately, I have been quilting. I have been quilting, but not for me......only for others. I have been so busy with quilting for others that my life has slipped out of balance. My hobby--quilting--has been lost. Even my quilt tester, Joey, is starting to wonder if there is ever going to be a requirement for his quilt testing services in the future--he is not allowed to test customer quilts only my quilts. As you can see by this picture, he is currently considering employment in other fields--bird watching being one.
These are some of the quilt tops that have occupied my free time of late. (All of these quilts belong to customers.)

Stay tuned for changes. Recent events have caused me to re-examine my role as a long arm machine quilter and have caused me to assess how much of my time in the future that I am prepared to devote to quilting for others at the expense of producing quilts for my own enjoyment.

I am currently developing guidelines to assist quilt top piecers with determining if their piecing will best be complimented by my quilting style. I realize that just like there are many different styles of painters, potters, and other artists; there are also many different styles of long arm quilters.

I specialize in the use of Circle Lord templates. I do not use pantographs or quilt freehand. The use of the Circle Lord products allows me to produce very precise designs providing consistent results equivalent to what the computerized machines are able to produce - but at a fraction of the price.

The following guidelines are necessary for the preparation of quilt tops for long arm quilting. Following these guidelines will ensure that the piecer and the long arm quilter avoid disappointment and are both happy with the finished quilted results.

Backing:

- Must be 4" longer and wider than the quilt top on all sides.

- Must be pressed.

- Pieced backs should have 1/2" seams which are pressed open, selvages should be removed, and the backing overall should be squared up.

- Even backings which are not pieced need to be square on all sides which includes straight edges on all sides.

Top:

- All seams need to be pressed flat.

- No wavy borders or borders with extra fullness. Quilt tops pieced with wavy borders will result in a wrinkled quilt after quilting.

Batting:

- The same size as the backing which is 4" longer and wider than the quilt top on all sides.

Thank you to all piecers who have entrusted your quilt tops to me in the past. I have appreciated the opportunity to work on your quilts. I have enjoyed the stories of the quilt's origin whether it be the testing of a new pattern, piecing a special quilt for a relative or friend, acknowledgement of a milestone such as a new baby, wedding, significant birthday, or graduation. I have particularly enjoyed working on the quilt tops that have been left to the recipient as part of an estate which in turn have been entrusted to me to complete. Some of us will continue to work together in the future producing fabulous quilts and some of us will realize that there is a better fit out there somewhere between piecer and quilter.

To all of you, I say thank you!

Spectacular!

2009-04-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

I never tire of beauty like this......

These locally grown tulips get more spectacular every year.

Guild Meeting - April 15

2009-04-27T20:17:00.000-07:00

These are pictures from our last Quilt Guild meeting that was held on April 15.

These are pictures of quilts made by our members and donated to our We Care Program for charities.

A total of 18 quilts was handed in at this meeting.

You will recognize some of these quilts from our March workshop: http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2009/03/annual-guild-we-care-workshop.html

Move It Forward

2009-04-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

I spent Good Friday on line with Linda - Moving it Forward.

We have decided that once a month we will take at least one day and move some projects that have stalled or aged as UFOs far too long forward to the next stage. That may mean getting a top to the flimsy stage, moving a top from a flimsy to a quilt, or completing some binding. What Move it Forward is not is a day to start something new. It is all about making progress on something we have already started previously.

Before I could work on anything, I needed to clear my work surface from the project that I was working on the night before. In between passes of the long arm on customer quilts, I piece string blocks onto used Color Catchers (that is the white rectangle you see in the upper left hand corner of the picture). I had 11 blocks partially finished - they needed a strip or two and they would be finished. So before working on anything else, I finished off those 11 blocks. On the previous weekend, I took some of the blocks I have made previously and pieced them together into this colourful scrap top. This top needs the sashing finished off on the right hand side and bottom, then it will be ready for borders.

The next project I had to finish was a customer quilt that had already been loaded onto the long arm the night before. There was only about 1/2 hour of quilting left.

This is the finished customer quilt. It is a Nine Patch Pizzazz quilted with the Wave.

The next project was my Bento Box. It had stalled at the borders. I typically stall at this point so this was a great project for Move It Forward day! Also, I had the expertise of my good friend Linda to assist in deciding on which colour to use in the inner border..........green....

....or red?

After discussing options back and forth, the red was chosen. And this is the finished flimsy. This one is for me so I am really excited about getting this top to this stage. I now need to go on the hunt for just the right backing.

The next project up needed binding. This is the fabric that was picked for binding.

I made 1/2" wide binding for this quilt. An extra wide binding serves dual purpose as an additional border and binding. Strips of binding for a 1/2" wide binding are cut 3 1/4" wide.

Binding was machine sewn to the quilt after supper. This top is now waiting for a quiet evening or two of hand sewing in front of the TV.

The day was busy and my quilt inspector/supervisor played out.

After the flash picture, he did open an eye to let me know that he did not want to be bugged further!

I know that both Linda and I made great progress today so we will be looking forward to the next Move It Forward Day to move yet more projects to the next stage.

Wacky Fab Challenge #2 - Reveal

2009-04-11T07:04:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night was the reveal for our Wacky Fab Challenge #2. The last package had arrived at its destination during the day on Wednesday. When I got home from work, there was a message for me letting me know that the planned reveal would be at 6 pm. I had just enough time to grab a bite to eat for supper. I guess I was taking a little too long because precisely at 6 pm the phone rang. The call display said Alabama. I knew I had to quickly grab my camera and get to my computer--or else I would have some explaining to do!

One by one we opened our packages and then quickly took pictures of the contents of the packages to share with the rest of the group.

This is Joey assisting with the opening of my package. The tape slowed me down and some of the other FABs wanted to know if I needed assistance in opening. LOL It is all part of the suspense.
This is what was inside my package.....summery placemats from Linda.

There were four placemats in total - one for each member of my family.

Thank you Linda! The applique is fabulous!

Do you remember me teasing with just a sliver of the project I was working on?

http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2009/01/fab-challenge.html

This is a picture of the challenge fabric:

This is a picture of the project that I made from the challenge fabric for Pat.

This picture was taken when the top was still a flimsy, before it was quilted and left my house for Pat's house. The pattern is 4 Patch Stacked Posies from HD Designs. I know that Pat had been admiring the 4 Patch Posie quilts that Linda and I had been working on. Pat wanted to make her own 4 Patch Posie but she is a very disciplined quilter and has a quilting to-do list with at least another 10 quilts on it to make before she was prepared to start one of these. Now Pat has her 4 Patch Posie quilt and she can stay on track with her other 10 projects!

We had to use a large percentage of the 1 yard piece of challenge fabric we received while staying within the theme of summer. A Summer in Winter challenge. Summer to me is all about heat. Heat in colour is red, orange, and yellow. As soon as I received the challenge fabric in the mail I knew instantly what fabric I was going to use with it--this large floral depicting the colours I associate with heat--red, orange, and yellow.

This is the same quilt, now quilted at at Pat's house.

This was a great challenge. Thanks to Cher and Pat for organizing.

I believe Linda and Pam are responsible for the next challenge--details TBD in the future.

Is Spring Finally Here?

2009-04-07T20:50:00.000-07:00

This is the weather that we woke up to on the morning of April 1st. Yes, that is snow! Although it was April Fool's Day, this was no joke! They mentioned on the TV news that we have had 5 months in a row where we have had snow. This is very unusual weather for this part of the country. We are tired of snow! By Saturday (April 4) the weather had improved significantly. I couldn't resist taking a few pictures in the afternoon.

This is the view that my DD has when she is at work.

The red strip in the foreground in this picture is a cranberry field. There are no cranberries at this time of year.

A pasture just a little farther down the same road. This is the view I have when driving home from work each day.

Look on the ground at the base of these trees.

This is where I found the most beautiful and delicate little blue flowers.

And at the base of another tree.....

Crocuses--a sure sign of spring.

There are no signs of spring in my yard so I headed to the greenhouse to fix that.

We have had nice warm weather with no sign of snow since Friday. Let's hope that Spring decides to stay and the cold weather and snow is gone till winter!

Sewing and Crafts Show

2009-04-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

Last Friday (April 3), I headed down the Valley from where I live to attend the Sewing and Crafts Show.

The show was smaller in size this year than previous years. However, despite the smaller size, I still managed to convince some fabric to follow me home. I also purchased a new book that has me excited about starting a new quilt or two--Bargello Quilts With a Twist by Maggie Ball.

I met several of my quilting "buddies" at the show and enjoyed a visit over a cup of coffee with DL and EH. While sitting in the coffee shop visiting, we spied a couple of ladies sporting the greatest jackets. I was able to convince the ladies to pose for me, showing their backsides and the artwork on their jackets. It turns out that the lady on the left in the grey hair made both jackets--one for herself and one for her good quilting friend (pictured on the right). The lady on the right told me she has the greatest friend--and I would have to agree!
Chickens and quilts just has to be the best combination. Thank you to the anonymous "Quilt Chicks"!

International Quilting Weekend

2009-03-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 21, 2009 was National Quilting Day in the US. I noticed another Canadian blogger who referred to Saturday as INTERNATIONAL Quilting Day and I feel a little like her and think this should be more than an event limited just to the US. Given all the good that quilters do worldwide for their communities, we should be recognizing quilting world wide and the day should be changed to International Quilting Day!

I told my mother that it was International Quilting Day and she asked me what I was going to do. I told her that I was going to quilt of course! And quilt I did. I joined http://catsnqlts2.blogspot.com/ in a Move It Forward Challenge. We challenged one another to pick a UFO and move it forward from pieces of fabric sitting in a box on the shelf to at least the flimsy stage.

Friday night I had put the finishing stitches in a quilt that Linda and I had worked together on previously - on Super Bowl Sunday in 2008. As I quilted Linda's quilt I thought about the fun we had making our quilt tops together--Linda in the southern US and me in Canada, connected only through our computers and the Internet. What fun we had planning our quilts and working together through some of the challenges of the pattern. We ended up with a flimsy each. I quilted my Bargellobowl quilt last weekend and this weekend, I finished up Linda's Bargellobowl quilt. Linda's quilt is large--approx. 90 inches square. This quilt was so large that my daughter's arm span was not large enough for her to act as the official quilt hanger. So for the picture, we put the quilt on the floor. As you can see, Joey is walking the border, doing his customary quilt inspection.

Once the pictures were taken, I packaged up the quilt and headed off to the post office. Linda's quilt is now on its way back to her. It still seems surreal that the quilt that had only existed as pictures on the Internet up until now was actually in my hands, thousands of miles away from where it was pieced. Linda's quilt is full of memories--there are fabrics in there from the FAB stashes, her Mom's stash, and it now has my quilting stitches holding the sandwich together. So I started the Move It Forward Challenge by helping a fellow FAB move her flimsy one step closer to being a finished quilt.

The next project I tackled was taming the overflowing unruly box of string pieced rectangles that I have been working on over time. When I am looking for a mindless project to do where I don't have to match anything or concentrate much, I work on string piecing scraps to used Color Catcher sheets. Once I have a stack, I trim them up to 4" x 9" .

These are the stacks of blocks that I trimmed up on Saturday. Each stack is at least 3" high. Linda asked me what I had planned for these blocks. I was just going to sash and cornerstone them into a simple top. Linda asked if I had thought of making a Railroad Crossing quilt.

After searching the Internet for ideas and swapping pictures of quilts back and forth, I came across a quilt with pink and tan alternating squares that I fell in love with. It wasn't long and Linda sent me this EQ drawing of a quilt similar to the one that I fell in love with. With this drawing it is easy for me to figure out how many squares of what fabric I need and just how many of the string pieced bits that I need. It is obvious to me now that I have enough string pieced bits to make about three of these quilts!

This is very typical of what happens when Linda and I get together and start discussing quilts and quilting. We start with one idea and the next thing you know the pattern ideas are flying back and forth over the Internet and we both have a few more quilts added to our Quilting To Do list! It is great to have someone to bounce your ideas off of.

The UFOs that I decided to move forward were my Easter table toppers. This first topper is for me. It was previously just a flimsy and Saturday I managed to get it quilted. Sunday I machine stitched the binding to the front of the quilt. That pink strip around the perimeter of the topper is the binding ready to be hand stitched to the back of the quilt.

This second topper is for my Mother. The fabrics are those that my mom bought while we were on our recent trip to Arizona. I managed to piece and quilt this topper on Saturday. This topper is also ready for the hand stitching of the binding to the back of the quilt.

This is a picture of the cute fabric that is on the back of both toppers.

The members of my local Monday night quilt group have decided that they would like to make some quilts together. We have picked Bonnie's Scrappy Trips pattern. I have decided to make my quilt out of fabric in my stash. I have a huge collection of floral fat quarters that I am cutting 2 1/2" strips from for this project and 4 1/2" strips from for a future project - Terry Atkinson's
Daisy Chain. While putting together this first block on Sunday night, I remarked to Linda that maybe I should make the center squares on my blocks out of green fabrics in order to tame some of the chaos caused by all the florals that I am using. I was asking Linda what she thought of my idea.

Before I knew it, Linda had drawn up this diagram in EQ to give me some idea of what my idea might look like.

So, what started as National Quilting Day ended up as International Quilting Weekend! It is great to celebrate time to quilt together with friends - no matter where they live!

Guild Night

2009-03-22T19:13:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, March 18 was our monthly guild meeting. Our guest speakers were some of our members who presented their pieces that they have created together as a group as they have worked together through some art quilting books.

Later, a couple of the members disclosed during show and tell that sometimes they incorporate some unusual elements into their quilted pieces--in this case it was Guinness beer cans. They have discovered that after being heated with a torch a Guinness can turns into a bronze/gold coloured medallion shape. Interesting for sure!

The highlight of the evening was after show and tell when all the We Care quilts that had been handed in that night were held up for display. We had 32 quilts turned in at this meeting and once we had them all held up, they circled the hall.

You will recognize some of the quilts from the workshop we had earlier this month.

Bargellobowl

2009-03-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I took the last of the machine quilting stitches in my Scrappy Bargello quilt. This quit was started during Superbowl Sunday on Feb, 3, 2008 as part of Bargellobowl.

http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2008/02/bargellowbowl-08.html

Bargellobowl was an group of quilters organized through the Internet who would rather quilt than watch the Superbowl. The pattern is Scrappy Bargello and is from Bonnie Hunter's website. My version of this quilt is made from scraps of Christmas fabrics. This quilt was quilted with the Circle Lord Baptist Fan template.

It is rare lately for me to take the time to quilt one of my own flimsies. I have a stack of customer quilts to work on, but I thought I would warm up the machine on one of my own quilts first. Today, will be spent working on quilts for others.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-03-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday.

My brother was here for a short visit with his family before they headed out for a family vacation so we took advantage of the photo opportunity.

Here is Mom with her daughter (me) and her son. We took another shot adding Dad to the mix.

Annual Guild We Care Workshop

2009-03-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday (March 7), our quilt guild hosted their annual We Care Workshop. Every year our guild rents a hall and members bring their sewing machines, irons, and other supplies for a day of fun sewing together with the objective of making as many charity quilts for our We Care Program as possible.

This year's quilt was inspired by Julie Higgins' Square Deal quilt pattern which appeared in the October / November 2008 issue of Quick Quilts magazine. The We Care Committee modified the size and number of the blocks to suit our needs.
You can see the sample quilt in the background of this picture.

As always, the committee had kits all prepared for the workshop participants. All the pieces we needed to start sewing our quilt tops were pre-cut and labeled for us in zip lock bags. The efficiency and organization of our committee members enables us to be more productive, finishing our quilt tops before the end of the day.

I took pictures of the members working on their quilts.

This was one of the first finished flimsies of the day. I missed getting pictures of the rest of the quilt tops.

I finished putting the last stitches in the binding on my quilt early this morning. This is my DD playing the role of quilt hanger so I can snap this picture of my finished quilt. I will be able to turn my quilt in at the next guild meeting on Wednesday night.

Vacation - Part 10

2009-03-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

The morning of Day 6 we headed out for a guided city tour of Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe. One of the stops along our guided tour was at Echo Canyon Park on Cambelback Mountain. I don't have any distance shots of this mountain, but Camelback Mountain was named because it looks the the 2 humps and head of a bactrian camel.

This is our step-aboard guide for the city tour. He is standing next to the skeleton of a Saguaro (pronounced sah-wah-ro) cactus. The main stems of the Saguaro are supported by these woody ribs. The Saguaro has a huge capacity to store water which allows it to flower every year in May and June, regardless of rainfall. The Saguaro has a very shallow root system.

The Saguaro is protected in the state of Arizona so you can not just go out into the desert, find one, dig it up and plant it in your yard. Saguaros can only be purchased from someone who has a permit to sell and transport them. When transplanting a Saguaro, the original orientation of the plant to the sun must be respected in its new location. The side of the cactus that was facing east in its original location must also be the side of the cactus that faces east in its new location.

The Saguaro provides habitat for many animals. The Gila woodpecker creates many of the nest holes that you see in the mature cacti. East year the woodpecker creates a new hole and either insects or lizards take over the old hole.

Although slow growing--about an inch a year--the Saguaro cactus can reach heights of 15 to 50 feet. The larger plants with more than 5 arms are estimated to be at least 200 years old. At 50 to 65 years of age and 6 meters in height, the Saguaro develops its first arm.

The Saguaro can be the dominant feature of the landscape. However, it almost always is accompanied by a high concentration of desert trees. These trees are supported by a high rainfall twice a year in the spring and autumn. These trees act as "nurse plants" to the young Saguaro seedlings by protecting them from being eaten by animals and also by providing shade and humus rich moisture retentive soil in which the seedlings can develop.

This is another of the many cacti species that we saw in the park.

The red rocks of Camelback Mountain give the landscape a moon-like appearance.

After the remainder of the city tour of Tempe and Phoenix, we stopped at Old Towne Scottsdale.

We enjoyed walking up and down the streets and browsing in many of the shops and galleries.

Many of the boulevards and street corners are landscaped with the most interesting varieties of cacti.

This is a cactus called, Organ Pipe.

An interesting bloom on a cactus next to a bistro.

Our evening meal was at Organ Stop Pizza.

Basically, this is a pizza parlour inside of an organ. Organ Stop Pizza is the home of the world's largest Wurlitzer pipe organ. As the performance starts, the pedestal that the organ player is sitting on rotates and rises up from the well. This was a fabulous show as the organist played requests and finished with both the Canadian and American national anthems.

As Canadians, we felt both welcomed and appreciated. The Organ Stop Pizza is an experience not to be missed if you are ever in the Mesa area. http://www.organstoppizza.com/

Cheese and Crackers & Table Toppers

2009-03-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

If you have been a regular reader of this blog for some time, you will think that I stopped quilting in 2009. There have been many posts about snow and travel. Although there has been plenty of both of those things going on, I have also been doing a bit of quilting. I am going to interrupt the vacation photos with a quilting post.

First, I finished off the FAB Summer Challenge and mailed it off to Pat on January 14, just before we left on vacation. I can't show pictures of the Challenge until after the reveal. Cher has been temporarily slowed down due to a cast on her hand/arm so we have postponed the reveal until she is out of the cast and has a chance to catch up. 2009 has been declared the "Year of the FAB" and in the spirit of the Musketeers it is, "All for one and one for all" when it comes to the FABs. No FAB shall be left behind so we will reveal sometime in the future. I have received my package from Linda and it is safely stored out of sight and out of temptation's way until the reveal date and time.

Couldn't resist taking this picture. Here is the master of all he surveys. This is Joey who insisted in being involved in the taking of pictures today. I did manage to crop him out of most of the pictures, but if you look close, he isn't far away.

This was the first bed size flimsy finish for 2009. Some of the FABs have wanted to make this pattern for a while and they patiently waited for me to return from vacation before starting this quilt. This quilt top was started three weekends ago. Thanks to the encouragement and cheering of the rest of the FABs, this top was finished last night. The quilt pattern is called, Cheese and Crackers and is from Atkinson Designs. Terry Atkinson's directions for this pattern were perfect. I was nervous that I might have to ease in the outer pieced border to the inner solid border. Nope, no easing was necessary, everything fit perfectly. The pressing directions make things go together so easily. If you do exactly as Terry tells you in her pattern, you will not be disappointed in the finished quilt.

This is a picture of the pattern jacket. Terry Atkinson's picture is much better than mine. I tried to take a picture of the quilt top on my bed. Either the bedroom is too small or the quilt is too big. Either way, I can't get the whole quilt in the picture. This quilt top is queen size finishing at approx. 93" x 103".

Next I moved the quilt top to the living room floor. The bright spots are the sun shining in through the windows. I closed the blinds and the sun was still bright enough to play with the light on the quilt.

One of the FABs has taken to calling this quilt Cheese Spread. Another is calling her version Blueberry Spread as she is working in a blue and white pallet.

So I kept taking more pictures, changing the angle a bit each time to see if it made a difference. It doesn't seem to make a difference, the quilt is beautiful, but the pictures are crap. In the words of a famous quilter, IIWII. LOL

My daughter refers to this quilt as the bug-eyed bunny quilt. When you look at the bunnies on the fabric they do have rather odd eyes.

I must have found those bunnies charming because I bought more than one colour-way of that fabric. LOL

I also finished my Valentine table topper. Some of these fabrics were gifted from Pam and some were purchased on my recent vacation. This table topper was not finished in time for Valentine's Day this year; but it is finished in time for Valentine's Day next year!

This is the reverse side.

I just love those ladybugs!.

I am on a roll with table toppers. This is an Easter table topper that is finished to the flimsy stage. This one will be for my table.

These are fabrics for the second one I will make. This one will be for my mother's table.

I Wish I Was Still In Arizona

2009-02-25T18:16:00.000-08:00

I have been busy lately going through my vacation photos of my recent trip to Arizona and California. I still have more to share with you, but it takes time to sort through them and then post to Blogger.

The pictures in today's post look like pictures I would have taken in December. Nope, these pictures were taken this afternoon! Here we are back in the middle of the cold, wintry, snowy weather.

I am going to go back to looking through those vacation photos and dreaming of the warm sunny skies that I recently experienced in Arizona.

Vacation - Part 9

2009-02-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

The first 8 pictures in this post are pictures of the grounds around our hotel in Mesa. We stayed in Mesa for 7 nights at the Best Western Dobson Ranch Inn. http://www.dobsonranchinn.com/

I couldn't resist going for a walk through the neighbourhood near our hotel. I love the simplicity of the landscaping in some of the yards I saw. If I lived here, I would definitely have one of these Saguaro cacti in my yard!

Citrus trees in back yards were very common.

The history of Mesa dates back at least two thousand years to the arrival of the Hohokam people. The Hohokam, built the original canal system that still exists in the Mesa area today. The canals were the largest and most sophisticated in the prehistoric New World. By A.D.1100 water could be delivered to an area over 110,000 acres, transforming the Sonoran Desert into an agricultural oasis. By A.D.1450, the Hohokam had constructed hundreds of miles of canals.

The expanses of green lawns and numerous golf courses in Arizona's cities require tremendous amounts of water to maintain them. Much of the water that now flows through the many canals that criss-cross the Phoenix metropolitan area today, goes towards urban uses. Canals also carry water to municipal treatment plants for distribution as drinking water. This is a photo of one of the many sections of the present day canals that delivers water to all parts of Mesa and surrounding areas.

Vacation - Part 8

2009-02-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

The first 8 pictures show here are the scenery we saw as we headed out of Sedona towards Mesa.

The next stop was Montezuma Castle National Monument. http://www.nps.gov/moca/

It is not a castle and the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II was never here; the castle was abandoned at least a century before he was born. The 20 room, 5-storey structure was built into a recess in a white limestone cliff 100 ft above the floodplain. Montezuma Castle was part of a large extended community of Sinagua Indians who farmed in the area from 1100 AD to 1400 AD. When the Castle was first discovered by early explorers, the ruins were thought to be Aztec in origin, hence the name bestowed upon them.

There is a large grove of trees with white bark along the river bank below the ruins of Montezuma Castle. These trees are Arizona Sycamore.

After walking through the park around Montezuma Castle, we sat and relaxed in the shade. This is my Mom and Dad.

And a picture of my Dad and myself under the Sycamore tree.

As we neared Mesa, the Saguaro cactus started to appear. The Saguaro is everywhere, appearing like weeds on the side of the road.

When we stopped for our afternoon coffee break, I noticed this large Prickly Pear cactus.

The fruit of the Prickly Pear Cactus appears as these red "bulb" like growths on the the flat pads of the cactus. This fruit can be sued to made candies and jelly. The fruit is full of tiny seeds which can be chewed and eaten whole or spit out. The fruit can also be made into ice cream. The fruit is peeled and then mashed. The red seeds are left and not strained out. The mashed fruit and seed mixture is then added to milk to make ice cream - no sugar needs to be added. Later in our trip we had the pleasure of trying some Prickly Pear ice cream.

Our final destination on day 5 was Mesa. Mesa would be home for the next 7 nights.

Vacation - Part 7

2009-02-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

After travelling through the Oak Creek Canyon, we emerged at Sedona. Sedona is a city of just over 10,000 people located approximately 120 miles from Phoenix.

Sedona is in the center of Arizona's Red Rock Country and the gorgeous red sandstone mountains/formations are evident no matter where you are in Sedona.

There are lots of sculptures on the main street in Sedona. I loved these colourful pigs.

This horse was lifelike.

The girl in the dress is not real--she is part of the sculpture.

Some of the artwork was wood and not metal. This is my Dad standing next to this wooden carving. (The carving was made from wood, not my Dad! LOL)

When my Mom and I saw the pink Jeeps, we had to take pictures for my daughter who is a Jeep fan.

The Pink Jeeps belong to a tour company. I am sure that the pink Jeeps travelling on the red rocks is quite the sight!

Vacation - Part 6

2009-02-22T07:07:00.000-08:00

These first three photos are of our overnight accommodations in Flagstaff: The Hampton Inn.

We started out on the morning of day 5 from Flagstaff and headed south to State Rt. 89A to Oak Creek Canyon.

Route 89A descends a series of switch backs through a scenic smaller cousin to the Grand Canyon. After traversing the hairpin turns of the north end of the canyon we traveled along the bottom of the canyon for 13 km before arriving at Sedona.

Oak Creek Canyon is dense scenic forests.

This photo was taken at Indian Gardens, 4 miles north of Sedona.

At Indian Gardens the scenery in Oak Creek Canyon starts to change from dense forest to the red rock that has made Sedona famous.

These are my parents in front of one of the sculptures in front of a trading post in Indian Gardens.

One of the shops at this location was Garland's Indian Jewelery. The jewelery was magnificent. We could not take photos of the inside of the shop so I have no pictures to show you. However, I encourage you to take a look at their website and browse the many magnificent pieces of jewelery that they have to offer: http://www.garlandsjewelry.com/

Vacation - Part 5

2009-02-22T06:20:00.000-08:00

This is my Dad, myself, and my Mother standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon.

After touring the Grand Canyon, we headed to Tusayan for lunch. Tusayan is 5 miles south of Grand Canyon National Park and is the location of the National Geographic Visitor Center.

After lunch we headed to the National Geographic Visitor Center Theatre to watch the Grand Canyon IMAX movie. The movie took us back 4,000 years to when the Anasazi inhabited the canyon. We travelled forward through history to 1869 when Major John Wesley Powell explored the Canyon and Colorado River. The movie also gives you views from the perspective of an eagle high above the canyon to those of adventurers who have traversed the rapids of the Colorado River.

After the movie we headed on to our overnight stop in Flagstaff.

Vacation - Part 4

2009-02-11T05:27:00.000-08:00

It was easy to see that we were in for another great day when we woke up on the morning of day 4 in Page, Arizona. Just look at that sunrise!

These next four pictures show the countryside that lies between Page and Flagstaff, Arizona.

Our morning coffee break was at The Cameron Trading Post in Cameron, Arizona.

This was a large shop and many souvenirs were purchased here.

As we headed out of Cameron, the terrain began to change again and it was clear that we were getting closer to the Grand Canyon. http://www.nps.gov/grca/

And then we arrived at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

This is the Watchtower at Desert View on the Grand Canyon's south rim.

The Watchtower was built in 1932. Primarily an observation station and convenient rest stop for Grand Canyon visitors, it was also intended to bring about a better understanding of the American Indian and his life in past and present.

The Watchtower is a re-creation of the strange prehistoric towers found scattered over large areas of the Southwest. The ancient towers were used for the storage of food and for protection in times of war. By way of an inside ladder, the tribe could climb up to the several landings and, by removing the ladder, foil attempts to storm the citadel. Attackers were forced to replace the ladder and to climb single-file through the small floor openings--while the defenders waited, tomahawk in hand. This is a view outside one of the windows on the top floor of the Watchtower.

This is a picture of my parents standing on the edge of the south rim of the Grand Canyon. My parents started this same tour last year. Because of health issues, my parents' trip was cut short last year and they had to return home. This was one of the reasons for taking the tour this year. Last year, there was so much snow on the road leading up to the Grand Canyon that no one was able to see the Grand Canyon. My Dad was disappointed that he missed seeing the Grand Canyon last year. Seeing the Grand Canyon this year was at the top of both my Dad's and my list. We were all so thrilled to be standing in this spot admiring the magnificent view!

This is my Dad in front of one of the many Pinyon-Junipers that are plentiful in the area surrounding the canyon.

And of course these pictures are what we all came for......the magnificent view! Pictures and words will never come close to capturing how we felt when we saw this.

The brochure I picked up at one of my stops says that, the "Grand Canyon--one of Earth's most powerful inspiring landscapes--overwhelms our senses." Truer words were never written.

The Grand Canyon is 277 river miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and a mile deep.

Vacation - Part 3

2009-02-10T17:23:00.000-08:00

On day 3, we headed out from Salt Lake City through Filmore and Cedar City, Utah to Zion National Park. http://www.zion.national-park.com/

I took many, many pictures in the park.

The scenery started to change the closer we got to the park.

Pictures definitely do not do the scenery in this park justice!

Once through the park we stopped at the trading post at Mount Carmel Junction.

This is a picture of my mother....reluctantly posing in front of the trading post. :)

This was the gorgeous view that greeted us as we drove towards Page, Arizona where we spent the night.

Vacation - Part 2

2009-02-10T17:15:00.000-08:00

Our holiday started January 15 with a flight to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. When we arrived in Saskatoon in the afternoon the temperature was -22 degrees Celsius (-7.6 degrees F) with the windchill.We spent our first night at the Saskatoon Inn. This is the view from our room on the fourth floor. These structures are actually the skylights on a lower roof than our room. I didn't venture outside to take more pictures because of the cold. I only took pictures that I could take from the hotel window. As you can see, the snow blew up against the skylights. This is exactly the sort of weather that we are wanting to leave behind as we head south in search of sun and warmth!

This is the inside of the Saskatoon Inn. This atmosphere is tropical in decor and is a stark contrast to the cold winter day outside.

We boarded the motor coach and travelled the first day through the southwest corner of Saskatchewan crossing the Canadian/US border at Climax, SK and Turner, Montana. We spent the first night in the US in Helena, Montana. When we arrived in Helena just after 8:00 pm the temperature was 36 degrees F outside. Although the weather was cold when we left Saskatchewan on the morning of January 16, the sky remained clear and the sun shone as we travelled. You can see by this picture of the sunrise in Helena that we were in for another gorgeous sunny day on day 2 of our travels.

After crossing the Continental Divide at Elk Park Pass we emerged at Butte, Montana.

As we passed through Butte, we could look back over our shoulders to the top of the mountain where we could see Our Lady of the Rockies. Our Lady of the Rockies is a likeness of Mary, Mother of Jesus that stands 90 feet tall and sits atop the Continental Divide 8510 ft. above sea level overlooking Butte, Montana. Our Lady of the Rockies is the United State's largest Madonna and the second largest statue--second only to the Statue of Liberty: http://www.ourladyoftherockies.com/

You can see by this picture that we have not yet left the snow. However, the sun continued to shine as we travelled along the highway headed towards Idaho.

We crossed the Monida Pass -- named after the states it separates: Montana and Idaho. This is a very high mountain pass on the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains at 6,870 ft. The Monida Pass can be a very formidable place in bad weather, experiencing high winds and blowing snow. This is a picture of the fence created to assist the traffic by slowing the wind gusts a bit. The day we travelled the Monida Pass the weather was perfect.

Our lunch stop was Idaho Falls, Idaho.

This is a picture of the angel Moroni statue atop the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple. This temple is visible across the Snake River in the Idaho Falls Park.

After lunch we drove through the Idaho Falls Park downtown to get a closer look at the rapids that form the Idaho Falls. The falls were still frozen in some spots, but the weather had warmed enough to allow some of the water to flow freely.

We stopped for afternoon coffee in Ogden, Utah before arriving at our evening destination of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Vacation - Part 1

2009-02-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

I have been MIA from the blogging world for most of January and the first week of February.

I have been on vacation! I was doing what many Canadians have been doing for years--escaping the cold winter and visiting the sun.

These thimbles represent some of the places I visited on this holiday. Montana, Idaho and Utah.

Arizona, Route 66, The Living Desert (California), and Palm Desert.

This was the coach that took me to all these places. This coach belongs to Terry of Ryjo Tours who not only chauffeurs the coach, but owns the coach and the tour company as well. If you are interested in the Royal treatment while travelling almost anywhere in North America that a motor coach can travel, check out Ryjo's website at: http://www.localcanada.com/Index.asp?storeid=536

This was a holiday that I shared with my parents. I took hundreds and hundreds of pictures so sit back, relax, and enjoy a coffee as I share some of those memories with you.

Yet Another Snow Storm!

2009-01-05T23:15:00.000-08:00

We have been living within the grip of winter for over 3 weeks now. Usually when it snows here, it lasts for a couple of days, melts, and we return to the rain we are used to. That has not been the case this winter. We have had snow storm after snowstorm with no break in between. This morning, we awoke to the greatest snow accumulation we have experienced this winter. These pictures were taken of our yard last night during the snow storm. By the way, the good looking young man in these pictures is my son. :)

FAB Challenge

2009-01-03T11:00:00.000-08:00

I have been quilting lately. However, I have been working on a secret project and I can't share much in the way of pictures.

The project I have been working on is a challenge - amongst the FABs. We have all been given a piece of the challenge fabric, this bright yellow/orange fabric. We have been challenged to produce a quilt using this fabric with the theme of "summer". Once our projects are complete, we will be exchanging our projects with another FAB in our group. Since the project is a secret, I can't show you much. However, I can show you one of the "go with" fabrics that I used in this project. Here is just a sliver of that fabric.

Once my project has been received by Pat and we have our "reveal", I will show a photo of the completed project.

Third Blogging Anniversary and 408 Posts

2009-01-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

Today marks 3 years since I first started blogging.

In the past 3 years, I have accumulated 408 posts.

Here's to many more years of blogging, quilting, and connecting with friends all over the world thanks to the Internet!

Reflecting Back on 2008 and Goals for 2009

2008-12-31T17:32:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that we are at the last day of the year already. It seems like only yesterday that I was writing a similar post reflecting back on 2007. Here we are a full year later.

By my tally, I finished 21 projects this year. Out of these 21 projects, 16 were either gifted to others or donated to charities. I also finished a further 10 projects to the flimsy stage. I also finished 21 projects in 2007 so 21 must be my number.

One of the projects I finished this year was from my "Top 12 Projects I Wanted to Finish for 2007" list. Only 4 projects remain unfinished from that original 2007 list: Patience Corners, Bluework BOM Snowmen blocks, the Simple Cross quilt, and the Snowman Courthouse Steps quilt.

Because it is important to me to document my projects, I like to list my finishes for the year so here are my lists.

Projects Finished in 2008:

1. Mexico Strings - donated to Pam's Mexico Project

2. Green Double Four Patch - gifted to AA for her 65th birthday

3. Tulip Spiral Table Topper in purple

4. Small St. Patrick's Day Spiral Table Topper - gifted to my Mom

5. Tulip Spiral Table Topper in green - gifted to my Mom

6. 2008 We Care Quilt - donated to PieceMakers' We Care Project

7. Sunflower Convergence - gifted to my Mom

8. Quilt as You Sew Courthouse Steps - gifted to Uncle Aaron on his 80th birthday

9. Hibiscus Convergence

10. Dryer Sheet Strings

11. Merkitty 9 Patch Pizzazz for Mexico - donated to Pam's Mexico Project

12. Lilac Table Topper #1 - gifted to AA

13. Lilac Table Topper #2 - gifted to my Mom

14. FAB Challenge Table Topper - gifted to Cher

15. Charm Party Tote - gifted to AA for Christmas

16. All About Halloween

17. Quilts From the Heart Quilt Show Challenge

18. Crib size Flannel Scrappy Nine Patch - donated to Community Services fund raiser

19. Christmas Stack'N Whack - (from my 2007 Top 12 Projects I Want To Finish list) gifted to my Mom for Christmas

20. My DH's Fish Quilt - gifted to DH

21. St. Patrick's Day table runner - gifted to Pam

Flimsies Finished in 2008:

1. Christmas Bargello

2. Crayon Box

3. Fall Warm Wishes

4. Poppy 4 - Patch Stacked Posies

5. Tiger Lily BQ2

6. Criss-Cross Apple-Sauce Table Topper

7. Pansy D9P

8. Pansy (made from the Chicken and Egg pattern)

9. Christmas D9P

10. Which Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?

My Goals for 2009:

My goals for 2008 are very similar to what my goals for 2007 were. If you read back to my list for 2007 you will see much of it repeated here. My goals for 2007 reflect very much where my quilting continues to be in 2008 and so the goals hold for 2009.

1. To continue to work towards eliminating my UFOs, even if they are just moving to the flimsy stage.

I don't do New Year's Resolutions in the traditional sense of the word, but I do like to set goals for myself. Last year I wanted to focus on reducing my UFOs. I don't seem to be on target for meeting this goal as only 2 of the projects that I finished this year were UFOs at the beginning of the year. Although, I did not make much progress in finishing UFOs this year, I did manage to finish all projects started in 2008 to at least the flimsy stage with one exception--1 project started in 2008 remains in the pieces stage. This may seem like I have fallen short of my goal of reducing my number of UFOs, but in reality since I have not further added to my UFO list in great numbers, I have succeeded in changing my behaviour. Two years ago, it was hard for me to finish anything, now i am finishing projects that I start. This is progress. I will continue to work at finishing those projects on my UFO list. One year, I will be able to get rid of that list because I will have no more UFOs!

In 2007, I started three projects during the year that remained as UFOs at the end of the year. Of those three projects, 2 have been finished to the flimsy stage in 2008 and the last project will never be completed. I am not happy with that project at all and so I have made the decision that it will end now and will not languish for years of the UFO list.

2. To shop from my stash first.

I do not measure my stash in and out as some of the quilters on this list do. Measuring how much stash comes into my studio and deducting now much stash goes out of my studio by way of finished quilts is too much like inventory tracking for me. I track inventory in my day job and I am not going to start tracking inventory in my hobby!

When I shop from my stash for a new project and I am missing a particular colour to enhance the project, I make a trip to the quilt shop. I am also not saving fabric for "some day". I actually made some quilt tops from fabrics that I just love and hated to cut into. 2008 was the year that I decided that I could go ahead and use those fabrics to make a quilt because the quilt shops could sell me more wonderful fabrics to replace those that I used! What a concept! 2009 could be the year that I cut into that stash of chicken fabrics that have been aging in their bin waiting for just the right pattern to speak to me. Heavens, there are so many chicken fabrics in that bin, I need to look for several quilt patterns to speak to me!

3. To share my quilting with others by way of giving gifts of quilts to friends and family and by making donations of quilts to charities.

Of course, I only gift my quilts to homes where they will be loved and appreciated. I will not allow my quilts to be taken for granted.

4. To continue to incorporate travelling and quilting together.

I enjoyed meeting some of my on-line quilting friends in person in 2008. In 2009, I am looking forward to meeting more of my on-line quilting friends and I am looking forward to a FAB quilting weekend - in person! Some of the FAB members have been quilting together through the Internet for some time now. 2009 will be the year that the FABs quilt physically in the same location for a FABulous retreat!

5. To keep quilting fun!

Black & White Bento Box Progress

2008-12-28T11:39:00.000-08:00

My son held up this top for me so I could take the picture. He wanted to know if the quilt was for Joey as he could see cats in the quilt. No, this one is not for Joey!

So the center portion of this Black & White Bento Box is now complete. I am now stuck on what borders to add. I had wanted to put two borders on--the first, a red with black dots and the second, a black with white print that was used in the center of the quilt. My favorite print in the quilt is a Loralie Design print with cats:

This print is called Sophistikitties. The only problem with using this as the outer border is that my local quilt shop does not carry this print. I could use a plain black but I am reluctant to do that as plain black fabric picks up and shows every thread and every piece of lint. I intend that this quilt will be used as a lap quilt so I would like something that doesn't show everything that comes in contact with it quite so much. I find that the black and white prints camouflage the lint a little better than solid black. I have also considered using a bright green as an inner border rather than red.

The possibilities for borders go on and on. This is why I end up stalled on the borders. If I can't find a suitable black with white print for the border locally, I may end up taking the yardage requirements with me when I head out on my vacation later in January and see what I find on my trip.

For now, this top will sit as a UFO awaiting border decisions and fabric.

Black and White

2008-12-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

Since the weather is not cooperating with plans to drive anywhere, I am staying put inside. Since I am housebound, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and I spent the day quilting.

I have been busy today working on this black and white Bento Box quilt.

I have joined the on-line Black and White Quilting Project http://bwquiltchallenge.blogspot.com/ . I have always wanted to work with black and white so I have used the opportunity presented by the challenge to work on one of my black and white ideas--the Bento Box.

The plan is to make this quilt lap size. I have a second idea I would like to try in black and white. Once this quilt is a finished flimsy, I will be able to use the left over black and white fabrics and start a second black and white project--a Disappearing Nine Patch (D9P).

I quite often use a website called, Webshots--http://www.webshots.com/, as a source of inspiration for future quilt projects. I have seen both a black and white Bento Box and a black and white Disappearing Nine Patch there. All you have to do is go to the Webshots site and type in the name of a quilt pattern, add the word quilt and search. You are often overwhelmed by the number of pictures of that particular quilt pattern that will come up.

It Continues to Snow

2008-12-27T15:55:00.000-08:00

Just when we thought it couldn't snow any more, we woke up to another 10" of fresh snow this morning!

There have been reports recently on the news of roofs and awnings collapsing under the weight of the heavy snow so DH thought he should remove the snow off the roof of his shop. Here is my DH on the ladder in our backyard. Apparently just before I came out to take pictures, my husband had fallen off the ladder. It is a good thing that snow is soft!

And because the snow is so pretty, I spent a few minutes today snapping some shots outside.

Look who was watching me safe and warm inside.

This snow accumulated on my son's car from 11 pm the previous night.

Mom's Christmas Quilt

2008-12-27T08:29:00.000-08:00

This is the quilt that I gave my Mom this year for Christmas. As promised, this is a better picture of the quilt--now in its new home, in the spare room of my parents' house. Ignore the topper on the table in the corner. That topper is on its way out and will be replaced with an all white one.

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T19:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

This is a picture of my husband with the fish quilt that I made him. Although this quilt was finished in time for Christmas this year, this was not a Christmas gift (not this year anyway--LOL). Several years ago, I gave my husband a completed block for this quilt as part of his Christmas present that year with a promise to finish the quilt after Christmas. I guess I should have specified which Christmas because here we are several years later and the quilt is now finished. No more cold knees for my husband, Pam !

This is the Christmas quilt that I finished for my mother for this Christmas. The flimsy was finished in September 2006 (http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2006/09/stackn-whack-christmas-completed-to.html) and this top sat in the "to be quilted pile" since then. As Linda pointed out, "It isn't doing anyone much good sitting in a bin somewhere", so out it came and I finished it in time for this Christmas. My mom has promised to provide a better picture of the quilt once it is in place on her bed.

The following three pictures are of some of the Christmas vignettes from around our house.

Notice the totally green poinsettia? This is a plant that my husband brought home from work. He tried to tell me this was a new variety of poinsettia. Turns out that this plant didn't receive the appropriate amount of light and dark to trigger some of the leaves to turn red. At first I thought it looks a little odd, but the longer it lives in my dining room, the more it grows on me. I think it fits with the red and green theme going on in the dining room at this time of year.

This is my nativity set--all white porcelain. I was thinking I didn't have room to properly display it. After rearranging some things in the kitchen, I found a great place to display it on the corner of the kitchen counter.

This is this year's tree. As you can see, we weren't shorted in the present department. There were plenty of things under that tree for all of us!

This is my son and his girlfriend.

This is Joey checking out the presents before all the unwrapping activity started. I think he smelled the catnip mouse that was under the tree for him.

These are the stockings--overflowing with stuffers before they were opened.

This is my son, his girlfriend and my daughter sitting on the couch at the beginning of the present opening phase of the morning.

This is my daughter and husband playing Santa as they distribute the presents to everyone.

This is my Dad.

This picture was taken a little further into the unwrapping frenzy. Paper, paper everywhere.

We saved the presentation of the quilt for my mom for last so we could all watch her open it.

We have experienced a higher than normal amount of snowfall in the past week. It started snowing again on Tuesday night and it never stopped until we got up Thursday morning. The next three pictures were taken Wednesday (Christmas Eve Day). These pictures are of my son shoveling the driveway.

The last seven pictures were taken around our yard and show the recent snow accumulations. This is the first white Christmas coast to coast in Canada since 1971!

Guild Christmas Potluck

2008-12-14T07:57:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday night was our quilt guild's annual Christmas potluck.

The first three pictures are taken in the hall of all the ladies who attended this year.

I missed taking a picture of all the food. What a spread! Even though you tell yourself that you are only going to "taste" each dish, you still end up with a plate full of food. Quilting potlucks have the best food!

After dinner, we had a Christmas stocking show and tell. Any members who had made stockings brought them to share with the rest of us.

One of our members has been leading us in a mystery quilt. The project has been totally created by her and is proving to be a lot of fun. Those who having been playing along for the last three months brought their creations to share with the rest of us.

Even though everyone is working from the same directions with the same pattern, just changing the fabrics changes the look of the quilt.

We are also having a block of the month lotto. Each month we are given instructions to make a block. You bring your finished blocks to the next month's meeting. At that meeting, a name is drawn from all the blocks contributed and the winner wins all the blocks. Each block you enter gives you an entry--the more blocks you make, the more chances you have to win. This month's block is a string block foundation pieced onto used dryer sheets.

The last item on our agenda before the "meeting" part of the night is show and share (show and tell). This is the most popular part of our monthly meetings.

One of the guild members came up to me during the meeting and told me she has just discovered my blog. Hello, Ursula!

Birthday Fun

2008-12-14T07:23:00.000-08:00

This post is a bit of a mixed bag. I neglected to post pictures from my birthday on November 24, so here are a couple. I was treated well on my birthday. I enjoyed a dinner cooked by my mother just before my birthday and dinner out on my birthday. I also was chauffeured to and from work by my DH on my birthday.

I also had two birthday cakes--one made by my Mom and the second made by my daughter. This heart-shaped cake was the one made by my daughter.

And no, I am not going to reveal my age. I will give you a hint though--I am old enough to know better and young enough to do it again!

I received a laptop for my birthday. This is how many evenings are now spent--the three of us computing on our laptops. This pictures shows my DD and my DH. I also will sit with my laptop but I am not in the picture because I took the picture. And no before you ask, we are not talking to each other on our laptops. LOL

This is Joey. Kids never really grow up. Although my son is way past his teens, he took some of our quilts and made a fort for the cat!

Good to see my quilts are useful!The outside of Joey's fort.

Raising Funds for Community Services

2008-12-02T20:44:00.000-08:00

My husband asked me if I had a finished quilt that I would donate to the silent auction that they are having at his place of work. Proceeds from the sale of the items at the silent auction will go to our local Community Services. We live in a very small town and Community Services doubles as the Food Bank amongst other helping and supporting services for members of our community.

I was planning to make a Christmas quilt, but it seems that lately I have more plans than time to carry them out. Time to move to Plan B. I dug through the trunk that holds some of my finished quilts and found this one. This quilt pre-dates the purchase of my long arm and so it was quilted on my DSM.

This quilt is 40.5" x 62" and is made from flannel scraps.

The quilt holder in this picture is my DH. He was careful to hold the quilt over his face. He said it was better that you see just his feet! LOL

The backing on the quilt depicts pictures of antique toys. I wanted a picture of this....
...but I made the mistake of saying, "show me the back" to my DH. Being the funny guy that he is, he did this:

I took advantage of the opportunity and quickly snapped a picture. I don't think he thought I would be that quick on the shutter.

Disappearing Nine Patch Quilts

2008-12-01T21:29:00.000-08:00

D9P or disappearing nine patch quilts are everywhere on the Internet lately. I now understand why. This pattern is so fast, simple, and effective. I am sure if you make one, you will find yourself making a second, and a third, and.....

This is my first D9P--made from pansy fabric that I purchased in the spring when my Mom, my Aunt, and I headed to Oregon on our road trip. I wasn't sure how big this was going to end up when I started. In fact I kept making blocks until I ran out of the 1 yard cut of the purple fabric that I bought. This is the second D9P that I made--this one is made from some smaller pieces of Christmas fabrics in my stash. This is a much smaller piece, perfect for a table topper. I didn't have enough of one print for all four borders so I did two borders out of one of the prints and two borders out of the second print. Both of my quilts are still flimsies and have been added to the "to be quilted" pile.

Tonight was my Monday night quilting group. We meet every Monday night at Leslie's house. This is the D9P that Leslie made after seeing my purple/pansy D9P two weeks ago. Leslie's quilt has already been sandwiched for quilting. Leslie loves Thimbleberries fabrics and has made her D9P from Thimbleberries fat quarters.

Leslie liked this pattern so much, she started a second quilt right away.

This is a picture of the blocks for Leslie's second D9P. This second quilt will be made from Thimbleberries fat quarters as well. Leslie says this one is going to be twice the size of the last one.

This is what the squares look like once they have been rearranged. I just love the dark blue centers on this one.

Wendy has also made a D9P. The night that Wendy brought her quilt for show and tell, I didn't have my camera.

It is wonderful how quilters can inspire one another. Before you know it we have all taken off like wildfire!

Christmas Open House at the Greenhouse

2008-11-23T18:49:00.000-08:00

Today my daughter and I visited one of the local greenhouses during their Christmas Open House. Seeing the sea of poinsettias makes me feel like Christmas is near.

This is the poinsettia that followed us home and now lives in our dining room.

Criss-Cross Apple-Sauce

2008-11-16T07:30:00.000-08:00

This little quilt was finished to the flimsy stage last weekend. The pattern is Criss-Cross Apple-Sauce from Blue Meadow Designs. http://bluemeadowdesigns.blogspot.com/

This is a table topper (32" square) that was part of Myra's Mystery Mondays for the last month. I added one extra border to the design as I thought the piece needed more pansies.

Myra has promised that the next Mystery Monday project will be made from a charm square pack. I have a few charm packs that I have picked up at quilt shows in the past and so I will be looking forward to see what Myra has in store for us.

PieceMakers Quilt Show - Part 5

2008-10-31T22:04:00.000-07:00

This is the last group of photos from our guild's recent quilt show. Many members are waiting to see their quilts on line so I have posted many more pictures than I normally do after a quilt show. I hope you enjoyed the show! This is our We Care donation quilt display. Guild members make quilts for the We Care Program throughout the year and then these quilts are donated to community service agencies, hospitals, and care homes for distribution to members of the community in need of comfort.

PieceMakers Quilt Show - Part 4

2008-10-31T21:20:00.000-07:00

PieceMakers Quilt Show - Part 3

2008-10-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

PieceMakers Quilt Show - Part 2

2008-10-31T21:07:00.000-07:00

We had the Canadian Japanese Block Exchange Groups' quilts as a guest exhibit at our recent guild quilt show.

Two groups of quilters separated by the Pacific Ocean - 12 in Japan and 12 in Canada - each made 12 identical blocks. Each block represented something distinct about that quilter's country. Then each quilter designed their own quilt using the blocks provided. These are the finished quilts.

PieceMakers Quilt Show - Part 1

2008-10-26T09:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our guild's bi-annual quilt show. The theme for our show and our show challenge was Quilts From the Heart.

We had a total of 12 guild members who participated in the challenge. (To see a closeup shot of the challenge fabric and the rules of the challenge, please see my January 28th post.

The winner of the challenge is the colourful scrappy heart quilt in the lower left hand corner of this shot.

This is my challenge piece.

All of the guild members who volunteered to work on various aspects of the quilt show were entered into a draw. The lucky winner won this huge basket of quilting "stuff". .....I was the lucky winner!

This basket was heavy! The basket was jammed with fabric, magazines, patterns, hard cover books, quilt templates, basting spray and thread.

A big thank you to Sharon L. who put this wonderful basket of goodies together!

Halloween Quilt Finished

2008-10-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

My "All About Me" quilt is finished!

Last week (on Tuesday night) I was encouraged to enter this quilt into our guild's quilt show to be held this weekend (Saturday, October 25). The only problem with this was that this quilt was only a flimsy at this point.

There is nothing like the pressure of entering a quilt in a quilt show to make sure it gets finished! I spent last weekend quilting and evenings this week hand-sewing the binding. I finished today. I was just in time as we hang the quilts for our quilt show tomorrow!

Since there were no quilt hangers available today, I put the quilt on our bed for its picture. Of course, Joey took the opportunity to inspect the quilt. It must have met his paw of approval as he was not in a hurry to get off the quilt.

Harrison Mills Quilt Show - October 19

2008-10-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was the Harrison Mills Quilt Show. Harrison Mills is a tiny community. Local quilters are encouraged each year to bring their quilts for display in the community hall over the weekend. Admission fees to the quilt show along with raffle ticket proceeds go to support an annual bursary for a local grade 12 student wishing to pursue post secondary education. This show was great value for $2.00.

This is Ursula's house quilt. Ursula does our program presentation each month at our Guild meetings.

This is another of Ursula's quilts.

This quilt also belongs to Ursula.

The hall is small, but these ladies know how to get all of the 100+ quilts displayed.

The blue and yellow quilt on the left belongs to Leslie. Leslie hosts our Monday night quilt group at her house.

The green Warm Wishes quilt on the right is one of mine.

Recognize these quilts? These were two of the five quilts that I displayed at the show this year.

This is another of Leslie's quilts.

Fish Quilt and Happy Thanksgiving

2008-10-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians! I have a bit of time while I wait for the turkey to cook and before I have to turn the vegetables on so I can update you on the progress of my current project.

This morning I was busy working on my husband's fish quilt. I am determined to move this one off my UFO list.

I finished the inside portion of the quilt and I am now ready to add the borders.

The fabrics on the left are the border fabrics. The black fish fabric is the outer border and the narrow beige strip will be the narrow inner border. (You can only see a bit of it peeking through in this picture.)

Tomorrow is the Thanksgiving stat holiday here so I will not be going in to work. I hope to be quilting tomorrow--putting the borders on this quilt!

DH's Fish Quilt

2008-10-05T18:43:00.000-07:00

Today was the day to drag out a very, very old UFO and move it forward. I am embarrassed to say how old it is. On my UFO chart, I don't even have the year marked down so that tells me that it was in existence when I started that list years ago. I actually have already given my husband one of the blocks for Christmas many years ago thinking that I would finish it right after Christmas. Needless to say, that did not happen.

The pattern is in Susan Teegarden Dissmore's book, Clever Quilts. This is the diagram from the book showing the quilt pattern, which is called, "Q is for Quilting".
After today's work, this is how far along I am.
It took a while to get back into the piecing of this one. I had modified the size of the block and I had not made note of that change. I also had not kept a swatch of each fabric and labelled where it was on the pattern. If both of these things had been noted, I would have spent less time trying to figure out where I left off on this one years ago.

Hopefully, I can see this one through this time.

Jeff and Yi-wen's Wedding - September 21, 2008

2008-09-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

Our nephew, Jeff was married to Yi-wen here in Canada on September 21, 2008. Jeff and Yi-wen will be returning to Taiwan to live.

This is a picture of Jeff, Yi-Wen, my DH's sister, Gwen, and her husband, Rick. It has been some time since we have had my husband's family all together in one place. Everyone was in attendance at this wedding with one exception--our oldest nephew. We left a spot for him in the back row so that the photographer can "Photo Shop" in his picture later. The wonders of technology! This picture represents my husband's immediate family--his mother, 4 sisters, 1 brother, and all their spouses and children. Quite a crowd!
The grandchildren wanted their own picture with Grandma so here it is. Grandma with all her biological grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren and spouses.

This is the happy couple during the dinner.
This is the groom getting some advice from his uncle, my DH.
This is my daughter and her boyfriend.
This is my son and his girlfriend.

CGA Conference - Kelowna - September 17 to 19

2008-09-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

This year the CGA (Certified General Accountant) Conference was held in Kelowna from September 17 to 19. A co-worker and I drove up to Kelowna together to attend the conference. http://www.cga-bc.org/

On one of the morning's before the conference started we had some extra time so we walked around the grounds of the Conference Centre. This sculpture is called, Rhapsody and was made by R. Dow Reid.

You can see the new bridge in the background of this picture.
On Friday evening, the conference participants were treated to a wine tasting and dinner at Summerhill Pyramid Winery. http://www.summerhill.bc.ca/

The table centers were gorgeous.

This is a picture of my co-worker, Phyllis and I.

We were treated to the fanciest of appetisers to enjoy with our wines.
The sunset over the lake that night was spectacular!
Saturday morning on our way out of Kelowna, we stopped on the West Side at Mission Hill Winery. http://www.missionhillwinery.com/default.asp

The grounds of the estate and view were beautiful!

I purchased a bottle of wine to take home with me as my souvenir of the trip.

Fall Fair Weekend - September 13, 2008

2008-09-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

Our small town has an annual Fall Fair the second Saturday of September every year. This year the weather cooperated and we had a great turnout. The fair starts Friday afternoon and goes right through Saturday night.

These are some pictures of the parade through our main street on Saturday morning.

Every parade starts with the RCMP. I remember when the constable leading the parade used to borrow a local horse and ride the route, now they drive a vehicle. Here we have the local Legion members.

It is tradition for the Corn King (last year it was a Corn Queen for the first time) be driven in a horse drawn carriage. It is great that some traditions remain alive.
A small float.
Here we have the next Grad class. Another tradition is that the next class that will be graduating rides on a float in the parade.

Restored old vehicles are always a hit.

These kids were cute with their ponies.

This is the rest of the Grad class.
This little boy was so cute with his mini "chopper" and henna tattoos.
The teenage boys loved this truck.
The fair includes a tractor pull. Each year the tractors that will be competing in the tractor pull are invited to drive the parade route. Because my Dad was not at this year's fair, I have taken these pictures for him. Yes, there were a lot of tractors!

You know you are getting to the end of the parade when you see the fire trucks coming.
The next two pictures were taken from our deck looking across our back yard. This gives you an idea just how close the fair is to us. We literally live fair for the week prior to the opening as all the big trucks and rides arrive and set up.
The people standing inside that chain link fence are in the beer garden. This would have to be the downside of the fair. This year that beer garden opened up at supper time Friday night and stayed open until 11:00 pm and then opened up again Saturday morning and ran until 11:00 pm Saturday night.

To the right of our shed there is an easement or opening in the fence to the fairgrounds. Where do you suppose all those people who have been drinking for hours go when they leave? You guessed it--through that opening in the fence and past our yard, sometimes through our yard to their parked vehicles. Of course they leave all their garbage, beer cans, etc. along the way. This year I was grateful to hear that the RCMP set up several road blocks on the edge of town to intercept those who insisted on drinking and driving.

Summer Holiday: Flying Home

2008-09-27T14:20:00.000-07:00

Sadly, I reached the end of my holiday on September 7 and it was time to fly home. My parents were heading further east with a bus tour to see the Mealtimes and I flew back to BC.

It was quite cloudy when we were flying over Saskatchewan and Alberta and I couldn't see much. However, once we crossed the Rockies, the clouds parted and the view was terrific! This is part of the Rocky Mountain Range.
This is the Okanagan: Okanagan Lake on the left, Wood Lake on the top right and Kalamaka Lake on the lower right.
These mountains are part of the Cascade Mountain Range.
We are getting closer to home. This is Harrison Lake.

And another shot of Harrison Lake.

And finally, home at last!

Summer Holiday: Quilt Shop Purchases

2008-09-27T13:10:00.000-07:00

Of course when you visit new quilt shops while on vacation, it is impossible to leave the shops empty handed. There are always some wonderful treasures that follow you home!

This was a free pattern that I got from Quilters Haven. The pattern is for a nine patch quilt. I don't necessarily need the patternto make the quilt, but I thought what was included on the pattern was cute. "Relax! This simple little baby quilt, unlike a baby, will not take you nine months to complete. But, it is the perfect pattern to make up quickly for the baby quilt you should have started nine months ago when your friend told you she was pregnant."
I underestimated how long it would take to finish the handwork I took along on my trip. I found myself halfway through my holiday and without handwork. I headed down to the local quilt shop in Weyburn and picked up the supplies and pattern to make this cute wall hanging. This pattern is called, "Quiltmakers" and is from, The Freckles Collection. http://www.frecklescollection.com/old/

These are the fabrics that I couldn't resist. First, the perfect souvenir of my trip, a collection of Thimbleberris fat quarters from the "Greetings from Canada" line. http://www.trendtexfabrics.com/?p=sec_2

The second piece of fabric was a fat quarter depicting jelly beans and licorice allsorts. I also picked up three thirties reproductions fabrics to add to my growing collection.

The fabric at the bottom of the picture was a chicken and wheat print from the "Cockle-Doodle-Doo!" collection by Bonnie Sullivan. I wanted fabric that depicted wheat to commemorate my visit to Saskatchewan, The Wheat Province. When I found fabric that had both wheat and chickens, I knew it had to come home with me.

I picked up this pattern from a Saskatchewan artist that features grain elevators.
This table topper pattern was designed by the folks at the Quilt Patch.
The Folded Snowflake pattern is from another Saskatchewan quilter, D J Richards. http://www.djrichardsdesign.ca/ I also picked up this book by Billie Lauder. This book was the inspiration for my recent challenge project. Sorry, no pictures yet. The reveal will be at our guild's quilt show at the end of October and so I am sworn to secrecy until then.

Summer Holiday: Moose Jaw

2008-09-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

This is Mac The Moose. He stands guard on the outskirts of Moose Jaw in the parking lot to the Tourism Information Centre. When we got to Moose Jaw, our first stop was at the Tourist Information Centre. As visitors to Moose Jaw we were given a parking pass that entitled us to park worry free anywhere in town for the day--no parking tickets would be issued if we displayed our parking pass.
We headed out from the Information center armed with details of what was available to see in town for the day.
The first stop was the Tunnels of Moose Jaw. This is a picture of the sign across the street from the entrance to the Tunnels of Moose Jaw. This is intended to be a replica of the car owned by Al Capone.

Moose Jaw's downtown was plagued by a number of fires in the 1800's. In 1892, a bylaw was passed by city council which made it mandatory for buildings in the downtown core to be constructed of brick and that these buildings be heated with boilers. Because boiler men needed to have their fireman's papers, there was a shortage of qualified people. Businesses would band together to hire one man to look after several boilers. This required their buildings to be interconnected. So that is what the tunnels first started out as--interconnecting spaces beneath the buildings.

The existence of the tunnels below the city of Moose Jaw were denied by the founding fathers of Moose Jaw for 75 years. Then one day, a heavy truck collapsed the pavement on Main Street and disappeared into a large hole. The underground maze of tunnels and the stories of a Chinese ghetto and Al Capone's gangsters were out.

The tours feature guides in character and the tourists taking the tour take part in the role play to maximize the experience as you step back in time.

The first tour we took was called, Passage To Fortune . When the CPR was stretching steel to the Pacific, dollar-a-day Chinese labourers were welcome. In the late 1800's, when construction of the transcontinental Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) ended, a few determined Chinese moved to Moose Jaw hoping to find job opportunities. Ottawa imposed a head tax which rose to $500 per Chinese immigrant by 1903. Unable to pay the head tax, the Chinese went underground, using the tunnels under buildings in downtown Moose Jaw and they did work for the above ground cafes and laundries. They raised children in the rat-infested darkness. During the tour, you assume the role of the Chinese immigrant to Canada.

The second tour we took was called, The Chicago Connection . This tour reveals how Moose Jaw earned the nickname, "Little Chicago". In the 1920's, American gangsters would ride the "Soo Line" - the CPR - north to Moose Jaw to beat the "heat" of Prohibition. Saskatchewan ended Prohibition in 1924, nine years before the Americans did. Al Capone's boys found the tunnels the perfect base to supply illegal liquor to the United States via the Soo Line. On this tour, big Al’s people are in Moose Jaw to buy some illegal booze - from you, the bootlegger.

Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the inside of the tunnels as picture taking was forbidden.

This is another old car atop a building depicting one of the many murals of Moose Jaw that adorne the exterior of the buildings in the downtown core.

This is the outside of the Yvette Moore Gallery. Yvette Moore is a Saskatchewan artist born in Radville, Saskatchewan. Yvette's art captures the stories of the Prairies and she is a favorite artist of both my mother and I. What a treat to see all of Yvette's art in one place. http://www.yvettemoore.com/index.shtml
Of course no trip would be complete without visiting the local quilt shops. The first stop was The Quilt Patch, which was featured in the Quilt Sampler magazine in 2006. http://www.thequiltpatch.ca/
I was given permission to take a couple of shots of the inside of the shop. This place was packed with inspiration!
I couldn't resist this cute quilt: Eat Cake!
A couple of blocks away was Quilters Haven, another jam packed quilt shop. http://www.quiltershaveninc.ca/?

Summer Holiday: Corner Gas

2008-09-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

On September 4, we decided on another day trip--this time we headed to Moose Jaw. Along the way, we pass through the small town of Roleau.

Roleau, AKA Dog River, is where they film the TV comedy series, Corner Gas.
http://www.cornergas.com/home/

The series' production team built a full-size mock gas station and coffee shop at the western entrance of the town for filming, causing confusion among visitors thinking Corner Gas and The Ruby were real establishments. The town's grain elevator was also repainted with the name "Dog River".

These are pictures of the set. When we stopped to take pictures, one of the production staff told us they were filming downtown on this particular day. We were told that we were welcome to drive over and take a look if we wanted.

This is the "Dog River" elevator that is seen in many of the shots in the series.

This is the view from the gas station and "The Ruby".
Downtown you can find the grocery store.....

....and the police station.

This is my parents sitting in front of the Police Station and my aunt to the right of the building.
We were lucky enough to catch some of the cast coming out of the "Town Hall" as we drove down the street.
Eric Peterson who plays, Oscar Leroy in the series spotted us and came on over to talk. "Oscar" spied my dad in the backseat and commented that it looked like we had our own "Oscar". LOL (You can see Brent Butt (in the black jacket holding a rolled up script) who plays Brent Herbert Leroy and Janet Wright (in the red jacket) who plays Emma Leroy in this picture with their backs turned to us.)
This is "Oscar" having a conversation with my Mom and Aunt who were in the front seat.

The highlight of the day was when Oscar introduced himself to us and reached in and shook my Dad's hand. Eric Peterson is a native of Saskatchewan, born in Indian Head, Saskatchewan. After a small conversation with "Oscar", we headed on to Moose Jaw. "Oscar" was always my Dad and I's favorite actor on the show. Because of this small act of kindness, he remains our favorite actor on this show!

They are filiming the last season of Corner Gas this fall. We will be sad to see the end of this show.