Late gift

My quilting buddy Judy and I don't get together too often. During the year, we do attend a quilt show or two but the last one we were to meet up at never took place. Judy lives an hour and a half away and this quilt show was almost half way from her place and my home. Unfortunately, her daughter had the flu that day and fainted and they decided to go to the clinic. As a result, I didn't go to the quilt show on my own. We were to exchange birthday and Christmas gifts. Judy's b-day is in Sept. and mine is in Oct. Well, I just received Judy's gift this weekend. My husband was in her town and picked it up. He had delivered mine to Judy's home the last time he was in her town, which was the day we were to meet up.

Gorgeous fabric, isn't it? Almost too nice to cut up. The pattern was part of the gift too. It's a Canadian pattern company, Quilters Clutter, and one I had not heard of before. They have some really cute patterns.

The paper pieced elk is part of our paper pieced North American animal exchange (mammals only, no birds.) It's been going on now for several years. We are in no hurry with our challenges and exchanges. We realize that life gets in the way and also that we have other things we like to concentrate on. One day we'll find that we have exhausted all the foundation pieced North American animal patterns out there and then start to make the quilt.

I'm looking forward to opening up her Christmas gift - but that won't be until the big day.

Now, I still have a three things to finish sewing so I should go and utilize my time wisely.

I have finished my Christmas shopping so at least that's out of the way. I do want to bake some cookies for Santa, though.

A couple of handmade gifts

While I didn't make many gifts last year, I did manage a couple that have already been used.

My eldest daughter, Laila, bakes a lot and in our family, we have always covered our rising dough with a linen tea towel. Well, at the end of 2010, on May Britt's blog, she mentioned embroidered baking cloths. It seems that it is mainly a Norwegian thing. There, they have a separate cloth just for the purpose of covering your baking. I had purchased some linen from a church bazaar and made this. It's a variation on a design by Lisa Young. This photo was taken on Christmas day 2011 just hours after my daughter opened the gift.

 My middle daughter, Maili, wanted another beret. White this time, she said. It just so happened that I had a skein of bulky white yarn and so, I made this. It took the whole skein and Maili really likes it. She said that it's warm. Since we seem to have our first snowfall of the season today, she is wearing it.

For me

When I was at the Rouge Valley quilt show, the only thing I purchased was a small quilt kit. It was sold by Picton Fabric World, a quilt store in Picton, Ontario. It is the same vendor I had purchased the Hallowe'en mini quilt kit at an earlier quilt show.

  Isn't it cute? I couldn't decide on whether I wanted this one or one that had Santa and a snowman but this one can be hung on the wall longer since it is winter-themed not just Christmas.

Here's one done up. I asked if I could take a photo so that I could figure out which fabrics go where. The vendor also told me that in the kit is extra fabric to make binding since the instructions call for a pillow case finishing and she thought binding was nicer. I agree.

These are books I ordered for myself as a birthday gift - the knitting books are courtesy of my daughter. Thank you. I had borrowed them from the library and they were so good that I decided I would like my own copies for my own library. The quilt book is 'just because.'

Have a great, creative week. I will be busy getting ready for a very special little guest and his mom who are coming for a visit.

Tea time and friends

Here's my April entry for Allie's Christmas Through the Year.

A red, white and blue tea cozy. It's for my friend (she doesn't read this blog.)

See, it fits my tea pot so I know it will fit hers too.

And I had to show you this cute little card that I got from my friend Simone. She said that she chose the card hoping that I can soon hold my grandchild. Thank  you again Simone.

World travel and being blessed

My son and his wife are off to tour China today. On Thursday, my youngest daughter comes home from London, England for 10 days. Then my brother, who lives in British Columbia and who turns 60 today, arrived on Sunday and is visiting with his daughters - two of whom gave birth not long ago.

I am truly blessed and have received some wonderful things in the mail lately.

My friend over at Magpie's Mumblings is de-cluttering in preparation to moving and all I had to do is be the first one to say I wanted this and also to make a donation to an animal shelter. It is an embroidered cushion cover but I plan on framing it because...

I have this one and to me, it feels like I now have a positive and a negative which I will hang side by side when I frame the black one. This one was embroidered by my mother's uncle's second wife (his first wife was my mom's aunt.) I loved this as soon as I saw it and my mom framed it one year and gave it to me either at Christmas or my birthday. It has been hanging on one wall or another ever since.

I won this book Inspired by Tradition by Kay Mackenzie (with a CD that gives you the blocks in various sizes so you don't have to make a trip to a photocopier) from Chatterbox Quilts Chit Chat while I was making the rounds of the blog book tour. It's full of wonderful applique patterns and explanations on various applique techniques.

 And these cute little penguin buttons were a giveaway win from Button Mad all the way from South Africa.

This gorgeous bag with a needlebook came from Norway. They are so well made by Laila at Stofftausa and I was so surprised when I opened the package. I signed up for her Pay It Foward last year and now it's my turn to make something for those who signed up. Thank you Laila. I have started on a couple of things but since baby stuff is taking over my time right now, it will be a little while before I get back to finishing.

And lastly, this is what I was presented with last night. I have wanted to go see this musical even before it arrived in Toronto. With a little hint to the family on a suggestion for an early Mother's Day gift and voila, they listened. It's tonight and it's early - 7:00 p.m. so I have to get stuff done before I go.

I am very blessed. I hope you all have a great day and a great week.

Baby gifts and other goodies

So, now I can reveal some of the baby things that have been made.

This is the rag quilt that I made. It is big but will be useful for several years. One side is blue and the other pink. The parents of the as yet unborn little one chose the fabrics from my stash of flannels when they were here at Christmas.

The half-circle cushion cover that my daughter Laila requested. Unstuffed, of course, since it would have taken up way too much room in the box - the other side of the cushion is a solid purple flannel. And then there was  the crocheted little pram blanket that my mother made for Laila when she was a baby - my mother's first grandchild.

These absolutely gorgeous sweater sets came from Midge over at Soggibottom. Since I don't knit well, and since we don't know if it's a boy or a girl, Midge covered both bases. And she even made a bear blankie.

For those of you who don't know, Midge makes bears. I absolutely love these outfits and the bear. They have now been delivered. Many, many thanks Midge.

 And lastly, I won three Eclectic charm packs from Riel. She was having a Blog-O-Versary Giveaway. Thank you so much Riel - now all I have to do is find a suitable pattern to use these gorgeous fabrics.

Surprises

First off, this is what came in the mail.

I had won these holiday cards when I followed along on Syko's blog tour (sorry, I forgot which blog it was since I went to all of them. I even forgot that I won them.) Unfortunately, I didn't win a copy of Kajsa's new book Scandinavian Stitches but I have put it on my wish list. BTW, Kajsa is a Finnish/Swedish designer and as you can see she has a distinctive style. Finland has two official languages - like Canada.

This too came from Finland. It's from my Finnish blogging friend Ulla as a thank you. A Finnish magazine with many "do it yourself" projects, some gorgeous Marimekko fabric with houses on it (I do love architecture and I love Marimekko designs), a card (typical Finnish Christmas cards are more like postcards, just like the ones in the first photo), and a wrapped present which will not be opened until perhaps Christmas Eve. Finns celebrate Christmas Eve and presents are opened then. When the children were growing up, I allowed them to open one gift Christmas Eve in honour of their heritage and I have kept up that little tradition.

And here's my twig tree with my gifts under it.

More surprises - but for someone else. This is what I'm working on at the present moment. They are gifts and so I cannot show you much more than these little sneak peaks.

Now, back to sewing....

Gifts

For ME from dear friends.

I forgot to show you what my quilting buddy Judy got me. We exchange birthday and Christmas gifts. Her birthday is in September and mine is in October. Judy lives an hour and a half away and there have been times when we haven't been able to get together so we exchange both Christmas and birthday gifts at the same time.

This is a wall hanging kit. It's so cute. We both have cats. At one time Judy had five but now she just has one - along with a gecko/gekko (it's spelled both ways.) I can't remember what all I got for Judy but one of the things was a paper-pieced kit that made two mini leaf quilts.

Thursday night was the last meeting of the Champagne quilters since Ann will be leaving for Florida to spend Christmas with her son, daughter-in-law and only grandchild this coming week. So, we had our little Christmas party and exchanged gifts.

 This is what I got. The chocolates and BodyWorks trio came from Marg (as did the napkin that they want me to use as inspiration.) The four fat quarters and box of shortbread came from Ann. Ann always makes shortbread at Christmas and we always get some. I usually have to hide them or else there aren't any left when Christmas comes - and it isn't me who eats them. Aren't those fat quarters cute? Marg got a set of green ones since it is her favourite colour. She said she has to think of something to make now.

And here's a close-up of the fabrics. Kiddy prints - so I can make something for the little one that's due in April... I gotta find a great pattern to showcase these. Got any suggestions?

My gifts

Earlier this week I received some mail from the little girl in London, England.

Guess what her favourite animal is? Then, the next day...

 

I received a little package from England in a puffy envelope. I was so glad it was all in one piece.

My very own Welsh sheep from Cardiff Castle in Wales (St. Fagans Pottery) and...

some magic beans. Apparently, they rise to the surface and you can read the words after planting.

Some new books were acquired too. The Follett one I bought and the other two were from my son Eric, the teacher. I watched the movie "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" with my daughter and I really liked it - even if it did have subtitles. He saved me from buying a copy - which I thought of doing for Christmas and then lending it to the females of the family. Must get the other two now. I also had a wonderful meal out with the family that lives close - and of course, that wonderful news.

Busy sewing still.

Photography talent

My eldest daughter Laila took up photography in high school. She has the cameras, the lenses and the other equipment. Over the years I have been the recipient of her talents. At one time she lived in Thompson, Manitoba which is a nine hour drive north of Winnipeg. There were lots of places to hike and fish and skidoo. This first photo is of a petroglyph that she found high up when she was out hiking. She knows I love native art and so one day this arrived in the mail just the way you see it - fully matted and framed.

The bad photography on my part shows the reflection off the glass of the other wall of pictures (the female art wall.)

I love architecture - especially windows and doors. This window is from a church in New Finland Woods, Saskatchewan. Outside the church is a monument that has my grandfather's name inscribed as one of the founders. In 2004 my daughter and I took a road trip (she did all the driving) to the Calgary Stampede after meeting up in Winnipeg. This area was on the way and we just detoured a bit so I could show her some of her heritage. 

Another favourite of mine is old delapidated farms. We saw a few but didn't stop to photograph them all. This one I do believe was on the road to the church.

This is a clock that Laila made me when she was in junior high. The girls got to take shop class while the boys took home economics. This clock hangs in my studio/sewing room on a narrow wall that seems just the right place for it.

Mail came

Only one piece came in today's regular mail and guess what? It was for me. A Christmas card all the way from Satu in Finland. It seems she has been busy making a few hand made Christmas cards and I was one of the lucky (actually, special) recipients.

A truly beautiful work of art and it will become one after the holidays. My daughter Maili told me that I should frame it and I told her I had already thought of it. Satu wrote that she imagined the trees in Canada when she sewed the card. There are pockets of Finns in various parts of Canada and especially here in Ontario, they are up north where there is mining and logging. When I was growing up I had heard that the Finns settled up north because the landscape reminded them so much of their homeland (trees and lakes). Lyn Cook wrote a children's book called "Bells on Finland Street" which takes place in Sudbury. A wonderful book. Thunder Bay is another northern city that has a lot of Finns. There is a famous restaurant called "Hoito" (which means care or caring.) The building is a heritage site and here's a little background info:

"Located at 314 Bay Street in Thunder Bay, Ontario, it is home to the world famous "Hoito Restaurant" as well as a dance hall, the offices of a national Finnish language newspaper, and The Finnish Museum on the upper floors. The building has been designated a Heritage Building due to its architectural and historic significance."

I have had the pleasure of eating there about three times so far. The portions are substantial and the price very reasonable.

This is my icicle doll from another swap that I was involved in. She came in the afternoon and delivered by a Canada Post truck. She is special. I love the colours of her. Black and grey/silver. She has pigtails in burgundy. Thank you Therese, she is now on my special tree - in the kitchen. I love her face and hope to get into making clay faces in the near future.

And here's Maili modelling one of her creations. It's a Christmas present. She made four aprons - two waist length and two full aprons. This one is a total Maili design. They are all for her boyfriend's family and I shipped them off to California today. I do hope they get them in time for Christmas. She spent a lot of time on the aprons. I was just the go-to person when there were questions. All the fabrics came from my stash so she helped me lower the volume.

That's it for today. I did no sewing at all today. The time went by with trying to mail packages to England and California (one place is no longer a post office I found out), dentist appointment (just a thorough cleaning), then mailing the packages at a real post office outlet (they are now privatized), and then going to the Christmas party at my mom's nursing home. After that, I wrapped gifts to pack in yet another package so that it could get shipped to BC tomorrow where my eldest daughter and her husband live.

I'm off to bed.