Happy New Year

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Patricia

Wall Hangings

I made wall hangings for each of my daughters and son in law's for Christmas.

The first picture shows the one I made for my eldest dd. She wanted one in earth tones. Well, I include shades of brown, green, yellow, orange, etc in earth tones but, she dislikes all of those colours, with the exception of brown. While looking for fabrics nothing seemed to speak to me, however, I did find this panel, so made a whole cloth quilted wall hanging. I like the way it looks and she did too.

My youngest dd wanted one that was blue, the picture below is the one I made for her.

Because they are both quite large they are going to be hung above the head of their beds.

The next one you have seen before, its was made some time ago for my son and dil. They are going to hang it in their dining room.

Thanks for visiting.

It's all over for another year-

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and Santa was good to you all.
We had a green Christmas, started in the a.m. with some freezing rain, then just rain but skies tried to clear later in the day. Highways were great for travel, which I was thankful for.
Christmas day I cooked dinner for eleven, I don't mind the cooking its the last minute things that have to be done just before serving that I hate doing, such a lot clutter in my small kitchen. We had a lovely meal with all the trimmings even flamed the Christmas pudding and we all received some nice gifts and everyone had a great time.
On Boxing day, eighteen family members came for a visit and gift exchange. I laid out a buffet table with finger foods, dips, veggies, chips, etc. etc etc. so everyone grazed all afternoon.
All of the days preparation, and its over within a matter of minutes. I am thankful that I am able financially and health wise, to do all of the necessary work for a meal for family, however, next year I have decided that I am going to make the food preparation and serving a lot easier on myself.
2010-- Christmas dinner -- Baked potatoes -- no last minute mashing, and pot to wash. BBQ steaks -- no gravy to make or roasting pan to wash. Salad -- no pots to pans to wash. A nice bottle of wine. Dessert -- gotta have a Christmas pudding, and trifle. Boxing day, -- pizza from the shop down the street, salad and wine, and shortbread cookies.
Today, I am going to do very little. As I sit at my computer the turkey bones are simmering away, ending up as soup for dinner tonight, add some leftover pie for dessert, easy meal for a Sunday.
My youngest daughter worked over the holidays, so was unable to take part in our festivities, so tomorrow, I have invited her and family for dinner, to help clear up the leftover ham and other dishes.
Patricia

School Concert

I have just returned from my Grade 2 granddaughter's Christmas concert ( Oops- -Winter concert). The children put their hearts and souls into all the songs and actions they did , great job kids.

Years ago I remember going to school Christmas concerts, such lovely songs of the season were sung. We could say Merry Christmas. Now, the concerts must not contain anything that refers to religion because it may offend some people. We have to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas as it might offend some one. I can think of two other words that are used so often in peoples conversations that offend people more.

I am going to continue to say Merry Christmas.

Thanks, I feel so much better now that I have go that off my chest.

Patricia

Snowflakes that fall on my nose and eyelashes

That's what happened during my walk this afternoon. The temp is hovering around 0 C and snowflakes falling, they are still quite wet so not laying yet. Needed to get some fresh air and renew my energy for some baking this p.m. Did some sausage rolls and a moist fruit cake which has no added sugar, ( all the sweetness is from the fruit) and no fat. It really is delish, and a Christmas treat for diabetic DH. Now that my finger tips are warm I am going to start my shortbread.

Hope everyone is having a great Tuesday.

Patricia

Decorations up

Saturday, we put up our Christmas tree and a few decorations. Last year we downsized our decorations, now just have some pieces we have collected over the years that mean something to us.

Below are pictures of the five Santa's I painted when I was in my ceramic painting phase a few years back. The two directly below are closeups of the two faces that I like the most.

The last couple of days here have been dull and damp. Little fog in the air this afternoon, otherwise quite pleasant for this time of the year.

Patricia

Milk Bag Project

Gill-That British Woman you were asking about details. There are numerous church groups making these bags you would have to find one in your area. The site I found was www.nbbc.ca, it is a church in Burlington, Ontario. If you go to the site, click on Milk Bag Project, on that page click on "info sheet FAQ and instructions" and it will take you to a pdf file which shows you how to make them.
Hope this answers your question.


Patricia

Nothing to show today, however, I have been busy working on wall hangings for my two daughter's and sons in law Christmas gifts. One is almost completed and the top of the second one is done, just need to sandwich with batting and backing and machine quilt, shouldn't take long once I get at it. After the holidays I will show a pic of both.

This past Wednesday, my quilty friend, Debbie and I got together and almost completed the top of our comfort quilt. We are really pleased with the progress we have made and it is looking really nice. When it is completed I promise to post a pic. Members of our guild were paired up and each couple is making a comfort quilt for cancer patients at our local hospital. The plan is to have them all submitted at our January meeting, so that they can be given to the hospital soon after.

Patricia

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Earlier today the snow started to fall, huge big fluffy wet flakes, just like the snow is suppose to be. The best part was they would melt as soon as they hit the ground. It has become colder, the flakes have dried somewhat, and now my lawn is not green any more. Later this week we have in the forecast our first major snow storm. Here hoping they are wrong, time will tell.
Have a great day.


Patricia

Milk Bags

On Friday, Gill from That British Woman, wrote a post explaining how Ontario residents can purchase 4 litres of milk in plastic bags.
Did you know that church groups and other organizations are using the outer printed bags to make sleeping mats for people in Third World countries.
The bags are first washed and dried, then cut into strips, these strips are then tied into long lengths and crocheted into a sleeping mat.
It takes 250 bags make a mat suitable in size for a child, 300 to 500 bags for an adult mat. A local group also purchases towels from charity shops and sews them to one side making it softer to lie on. These mats keep people away from the soil born parasites that are prevalent in these countries.
The mats are used as packing material for medical supplies also bring shipped to these countries.
They improve the life and health of these people, and it also eliminates all these bags going to our landfill, BUT---------
Are we making these countries our landfill sites.
Don't get me wrong I think it is wonderful that people are spending hours and hours of their time makes these mats but when of no use anymore, what happens to these mats. these countries do not have the facilities to collect and process this plastic.
Your comments.

Christmas Puddings

Just taken my two Christmas puddings (I know they should have been made a long time ago), out of the steamer. They smell yummy.
Each year my youngest daughter and her family celebrate Christmas with her in-law-family on the 23rd, and DH and I are always invited. The dinner is not your normal Christmas fare , because each year the meal is the food from a different country. Her two daughters research the food for the dinner, (we decide if we can make it) and also the holiday customs of the country. So far, they have had French, Mexican, (making the fried ice cream was a hoot), Chinese, and Italian. This year is traditional, my contribution is one of the puddings. Going to flame them with brandy to bring to the table. At the meal we decide what country will be the featured food for next year. The second pudding is for Christmas day at my house.
My oversea parcels are in the mail, most of my shopping is completed, now going to start on my baking, tomorrow, because I don't want to be rushing around at the last minute.
Have a great weekend.
Patricia

Landscape wall hanging

We have had a beautiful November but as it draws to a close so does our double digit temperatures and beautiful blue skies. The last couple of days have been cloudy and damp, same today, but colder and I saw a few flakes of snow earlier this morning.

Last night was our guild meeting, lots of beautiful quilts for show and tell. I was able to finish my landscape wall hanging, my contribution to show and tell. I am really pleased with the way it turned out. If I did birch trees again, I would do something different with the leaves, they don't look just right to me. The workshop provided lots of different techniques and ideas for the variety of fabrics and fibers to use, which, if anyone was interested in doing landscapes, was very interesting. The information will help me when I start another wall hanging I am doing for the International Ploughing Match competition next year.

The wall hangings that I am making for my two daughters for Christmas are next on my list of "to finish". Both of the tops are completed, and quilting almost done on one, the second top is finished but have yet to sandwich the batting and backing and start the quilting.

Have a great Friday.

Patricia

Landscape Workshop

I had a great day on Saturday at the workshop. Learnt so many new things. The time went by so fast, and we were not able to complete the entire project in class, have to finish it off at home sometime this week.
The teacher does some beautiful work, using so many different types of fibers, even clothes dryer lint.
I will work on my landscape and when done promise to show a picture.
Patricia

Landscape Workshop

Tomorrow I am going to an all day Landscape Workshop, really looking forward to it. Hope some of the new techniques that I learn will be able to be applied to a wall hanging that I am designing and planning on making in the New Year.

I will show a picture of my landscape when it is completed.

Have a great day.


Patricia

Awards

I follow Reit's Photoblog, she has some beautiful pics of her homeland. Earlier this week she received two awards, and had to tell seven things that" blog land" did not know about her. I began thinking what I would say, and found that it was more difficult that one might think. I did, however, come up with the following, in the form of an antique car ad.

1. 1941 model with 68,000 original miles.
2. Exterior needs cosmetic paint job.
3. Original interior except for two parts that do not effect the warranty.
4. Engine runs good.
5. Brakes need shoes much too often.
6. Has a tendency to use fuel, needs topping up three times a day.
7. Rear end has a tendency to sag a bit.

Have a good Wednesday.


Patricia

IPM Challenge Block

After a couple of cloudy days during the weekend, we have another beautiful day again today, sunny but rather nippy as we had a frosty morning.



I have finished my challenge block for the International Ploughing Match. I wasn't liking the way it turned out but, it looks OK. I have not done any reverse applique before, and should not have tried to do it on this block.



The challenge was to use four of the five pieces of fabric in the package, with no additional fabric and make a 12 1/2 inch block. Here is mine, it not a very good photo, all the colours are a bit washed out from the flash. The butterflies are done by regular applique the flowers and leaves, reverse applique.



Hope you are having a great day,

Thanks for looking.



Patricia

November heat wave

Woke today to a foggy morning, then a promise of a beautiful sunny day. The forecast high temperature for today is suppose to be 17 C., our normal high for this time of the year is 9C. Tomorrow more of the same, Tuesday, a bit cooler with possible showers, then Wednesday back to seasonal values. Outdoor chores for this afternoon will include finishing the last minute jobs in the garden to prepare it for winter, and cleaning the inside of my car.

Visiting my Mother tomorrow, so laundry is on the go at the present time. My Father died November 11, 1991, so will also go to his grave tidy up the Summer plants and put on a winter wreath for him.

I am almost finished the International Ploughing Match challenge block that I am doing. I am not very pleased with the way it is turning out, (maybe I'm too hard on myself), but will submit it anyway.

Thanks for visiting, have a wonderful Sunday.
Patricia

Busy week

This is the last day of a busy week of coming and going all the time. Needless to say very little sewing of any kind has been done.
Tuesday, dinner and theatre performance with "girls" I used to work with.
Wednesday, all day shopping with #1 daughter and granddaughter, who was looking for a wedding dress. She had a good idea of what she was looking for, so only had to try on five before finding the "one" for her special day next October.
Thursday, took my youngest granddaughter to gymnastics and back home again, then to guild meeting.
Friday, dinner with friends that we haven't seen for a couple of months, had a lovely meal, and a nice visit.
Today, Saturday, to a quilt show, which is displaying quilts made by members of our guild.
Not much on our TV that I usually watch tonight, so may get in the sewing room for a couple of hours after dinner.
The weather has been wet, and windy for the past couple of days, bringing the leaves down fast and furious. Need to get outside and pick them up, tomorrow is forecasting a better day, so that could be the outside work for Sunday p.m.
Have a great day.
Patricia

Quilt Show

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, just perfect to travel through the countryside looking at all of the Autumn colours of the trees as a friend and I journeyed to an International quilt exhibit comprised of quilts made by Irish quilters.

There were 150 works of art of all shapes, sizes, colours, and themes. Some of the quilt makers were on hand to discuss their lifestyle, and of course their quilt/quilts that they were showing.

We arrived at the show the same time as a large bus full of people, so the room was very busy, which made it difficult to take photos. I did manage to get partial shots of some.

This one is grey and burgundy with the border of leaves and flowers.

This swan was lovely, each feather was a piece of
fabric.

This was one piece of fabric, with the mans face all done with machine stitching in various colours.

It was thirsty work looking at all that eye candy, so we had a coffee and carrot cake to satisfy our sweet tooth. The pieces of cake were huge to say the least, at least a three inch cube with cream cheese frosting, yummy. My friend, does not bake often as she is a widow and lives alone, and she loves cream cheese frosting, so asked for the corner piece, frosting on two sides and the top, and got it. No, she doesn't need to count calories.

My friend is not a quilter, or even a sewer or crafty person, but she enjoyed all of the quilts and marvelled at what can be done with fabric and thread.

It was a great day,

Thanks for stopping by.

Patricia

It's here

Yes, we woke up this morning with snow on our deck, and our thermometer is hovering around the zero mark Celsius.
The weather forecast on TV last night indicated that we could expect a warming trend next week, so the temperatures could be back up to their normal range of 14 degrees C during the day.
Gotta go, errands to do this a.m. and then this afternoon meeting with my guild partner to decide what fabric we will use for our comfort quilt.

Patricia

Brrrr

Its official, I can't wear my shorts and flip flops anymore. We had a white frost this morning, finishing off most of the annuals. I hate pulling them out of the garden when they are still showing some wonderful colour. No excuse but to do it now.
Today we took the canvas roof of our gazebo and also put the sun umbrella away for the winter. Emptied the water butt, and took the temperature controlled vent opener off the roof of the greenhouse. I don't think I can count on warm weather coming any time soon, so will have to put our garden furniture away too.
There is still some tiding up to be done in the flower beds and some bulbs to plant, which I hope to get finished later this week.
I decorated our front deck with some flowers, leaves and pumpkins for Thanksgiving, next week the pumpkins will have a face on them for Halloween, and I will put out our ghost for the trick or treater's.
Sounds as if we are almost ready for old man winter, which I understand could be arriving tomorrow with some (I can hardly say it) wet S s s snow mixed with rain. It is way too early for the "S" word. Where are those gloves and scarves, the winter coat and boots.?

Keep warm
Patricia

Happy Thanksgiving

I had our family Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. Our family keeps on growing and growing. How can two people end up with a family of 17 when we only had three children? Well. I'll tell you.
My DH and myself = two
All three children and spouses = six.
Each couple have two children = six
Three grandchildren have boyfriends and girlfriend = three.
Two + six+six+three = seventeen.

I was amazed how much food that many can consume. My two daughters, daughter in law and a grand daughter contributed to the table and helped prepare. We had a great time.
The menu: Turkey, roast beef, gravy for each, potatoes, turnip casserole, peas, corn, stuffing, two salads, rolls, horse radish, and cranberry sauce. Pumpkin pie, strawberry rhubarb pie, apple crisp and ice cream. Wine, juice, milk, tea and coffee.
Everyone had a full tummy.

Note made to myself to increase the shopping list for Christmas.

There is just enough leftovers for hubby and I for dinner, so no cooking for me today.
I plan on doing a couple of hours sewing this afternoon.

Have a great day.
Patricia

Tuscany Village

Last night I completed the binding and hanging sleeve for the wall hanging that I have been working on. It had a lot of hand piecing and embroidery so I was able to sit on my deck during the summer and work on this project.

I had a lot of fun looking for the fabric for the houses, even though it took quite awhile, another excuse to go to fabric shops.

The next picture is a close up of the church and some of the houses.

The next photo is one of the flowers that are in the corners.

They don't show the quilting very well, but I tried to follow the bricks and textures so as to make they look more realistic.

I can now cross one C-mas gift off the list and start on another.

Hope you enjoy looking, thanks for visiting.

Patricia

Patricia bought more fabric again

Yes I did. The afternoon started out doing some errands, when they were all done I just had to stop at a fabric store to take advantage of a discount coupon in my purse.
Was able to find some backing fabric for the Tuscany wall hanging which is almost finished. Also, some fabric for my eldest daughter's wall hanging C-mas gift.

DH came with me for the ride, don't think he is feeling well at the present time. No energy and is very tired, sleeping way too much during the day. I think he had a little nap while I was in the fabric store, the sun made the car real cosy perfect for 40 winks.

Patricia

Nothing to show today

But I have been looking at every one's blog.

Last week our quilting guild had a sewing day, the first time we had got together since our dinner meeting in June. It was great to see what everyone is working on. Was able to get quite a bit done on the Tuscany wall hanging. The top is almost finished then I can start the quilting. Pictures coming soon.
I have three rough designs completed for the entries that I am submitting to the International Ploughing Match which is being held in our area October 2010. A competition for all of the entries will be held in May 2010, so should start on these soon.
I have put aside the English Cottage quilt for awhile, but should get back to it soon also, it is taking sooo much longer than I had hoped, but life keeps on getting in the way.
My honeysuckle is out in full bloom again and is being visited by some hummingbirds, they are starting to prepare for the long trip south which they will be doing in the near future. The yellow finches have been busy getting the seeds off the flowers that already have bloomed.

Have a wonderful Tuesday. Patricia

Reunion Cake

In 1998 six families (including my youngest daughter, son in law and myself) travelled to China to pick up their daughters. Since then all the families have a yearly reunion for the girls from Guixi . This weekend is my daughters turn to host the 2009 get together. Included in the festivities we have a dinner ending with a cake that all six girls pose with and then cut and serve.


My daughter, "Mum, I would like to have a different cake this year!!".


Me, "What are you thinking for the design?


Daughter, "I really don't know, just something different"


Me, "OK, let me see what I can come up with. Can I use the picture on your wall?" It is a picture of the Great Wall of China.


Now I have no idea how to decorate a cake, so to the library I go. Read, read and read some more. I buy fondant, food colouring, icing tips and bags, etc etc etc.

I have no cake pan big enough , so order an uniced cake from bake shop. Then I start, mix butter cream icing, roll fondant, cut fondant into "wall" shape, paint , add chocolae "rocks," add grass, etc. etc. etc.

I finished the cake tonight at 9:30p.m.

What do you think.?




Thanks for looking. Patricia

Le Tour de France

For the past three weeks I have been watching the Tour de France bicycle race on TV. After a start in Monaco, the riders went through the beautiful countryside of France, also through a section of Spain and Switzerland and when it is observed through the eyes of the camera located in the helicopter it was breath taking. I loved the old castles and houses, and the lovely manicured gardens and then Paris today to end the race. I can understand why Reit loves to vacation there.
Patricia.

Rain, Rain

Yesterday I was singing ' Rain rain go away, Come back again another day, Patricia wants to go out and play." The TV news last night reported that July 2009 will most likely go down in the record books as being the coldest. We have had so many cool days, and even cooler nights, hardly any sunshine, resulting in crops not maturing as they should. It is so depressing, we usually have our air conditioning on at this time of the year, not so, at least we are saving some money by not using the hydro.
Today, we have some blue stuff above, what is that? I was beginning to think that the sky was grey, and there is a ball of fire there too, it must be the end of the world.
Hopefully when August gets here we will have a change in the weather, keep your fingers crossed.
Have a great Friday. Patricia

Inching My Way

Those of you that know me from the other blog know that I am working on a project which is converting a counted cross stitch pattern into a quilt. The picture below is the pattern, each cross stitch will be a one inch (finished) square. A total of 5, 580 squares.




The picture below is what I have completed so far, daily living and Summer, (Summer? what Summer? but that is another post), have got in the way of doing a lot more on this quilt. Today we have a rainy day so I decided to do some more of this project. The most time consuming part of this quilt is cutting all of the fabric into 1 1/2 inch squares. I usually have a session of cutting and then a sewing session at a later date, it makes me think that I am accomplishing a few more blocks a lot faster.
I am planning to hand quilt it, (now I know that I am crazy), do you have any suggestions, one of my quild members suggested outlining the cottage, trees flowers etc. what do you think?

Thanks for looking Patricia

My Garden

I have enjoyed looking at other blogger's flowers, and gardens, so I have posted some pictures of my garden. Some of the flowers are Pink and yellow Potentilla, Shasta Daisy, Phlox, Veronica, Echinacea, Batchlor Buttons, Yellow and Copper Day Lilies, Pink Astilbe, and my Euonymus duck Topairy.
Lobelia, Sweet Potatoe vine, and Geranimums are in the pot at my front door.

Enjoy, thanks for looking, Patricia

My first wallhangings

These wall hangings were the first ones I made.

My youngest daughter and her husband have adopted two daughters from China, the first in 1998 and the second in 2003. I was fortunate to accompany my daughter on both occasions.

The group of families (six in total) that travelled together in 1998, have had a reunion every year since then, (incidentally we will have our 11th reunion the first weekend in August). Each family takes turns hosting the reunions. In 2004, I presented all six families(I have only shown five here), with a wall hanging.

I fussy cut and machine appliqued all of the features on the wall hanging. On the left side of the pic I used fabric that represented China, mountains for where the Great Wall is, bamboo and Panda bears, Its difficult to see but I was able to find some oriental fabric with small children on it, which represents the babies when they were adopted. There is also a red silk heart in the bamboo, which represents the birth Mother, it is hidden as we don't know where she is.

The water is the Pacific Ocean which they crossed to come to Canada, the bridge represents the Adoption Agency in Canada, and also the tie that binds the girls to the land of their birth.

The right side represents Canada, the mountains of British Columbia, the wild animals that live in Canada, and also a grown up young girl which represents how they were in 2004. The maple tree in all its Autumn splendor, is loosing its leaves, as they fall they change into the hearts which represents the love that the girls now have from their new family.

Each wall hanging is much the same only I used different poses of the bears and various animals.
I also wrote a letter explaining the picture when I presented them to the parents they were all moved by the words and wall hangings that they had tears streaming down their faces.

Thanks for looking, Patricia

Coral Reef

This is the Second wall hanging that I designed and made. Once again I fussy cut all of the fish sea weed and coral. I machine appliqued all of the rocks, fish, etc and also machine embroidered additional sea weed. I sold this at a craft sale.
Hope you like it, thanks for looking. Patricia

Another Wallhanging

This is another original design that I completed in 2007, and I named it "Sunflowers".

I purchased the fabric in Wallmart because I liked the yellow colour on the dark blue background. I put the fabric on my design wall and looked at it for a long time trying to decide what to do with it.

I finally cut it into 3 inch squares, re-arranged the yellow portions and sewed it together again.

The centres of the sunflowers are small brown beads, the petals were machined stitched and hand embroidered. The light mauve flowers are made from circles of chiffon, the outsides I burnt with a candle flame so they would not fray. To my surprise, while doing this, the fabric curled, so they circles looked more and more like a flower petal.

The quilting was done by hand.

Thanks for looking, have a great Wednesday. Patricia

Work I have done in the Past

As I am new to Blogger, I thought I would post some of the work I have done in the past. Those of you that have viewed my work before, I hope you enjoy looking at it again.

This wall hanging is named, "Serengeti Sunset" completed in 2007. It is a original design using a piece of fabric that just shouted at me "Sunset". I suffed extra batting in the ears and head of the grey elephant when it was being appliqued, so as to make it look more 3-D, however, it does not show up in the photo. The black trees I drew free hand, the small elephants, however, were taken from a childs colouring book. I appliqued everything by machine, and it is machine quilted by following the horizontal lines of the colours in the fabric.

Thanks for looking. Patricia

Tuscan Village

I have appliqued all of the buildings on my wall hanging Tuscan Village. Now I have to do some embroidery to accent the windows and doors, plus some put some flowers on the wall and up one side of a building. See the picture of the completed hanging in the book on the previous post. Thanks for looking. Patricia

Still finding my way around Blog

I am still finding my way around this blog, in time I will get it sorted out.
Thanks Hazel for info re: email address.
Took DH out for Father's Day brunch yesterday, visited my Mother and put an arrangement of flowers on my Fathers grave.
It was nice to have some sunny warm weather for a change.
Patricia

Hello

I have just jumped ship, so to speak. I am still on the old blog as Pieceworker, however, I am starting this blog with a new name Piece by piece.

For those who were on the other blog you will remember my English Cottage Garden, no, it's not finished yet, I am still working on it. Hopefully I will have it completed in the near future and will be able to post some pics of it.

I will be asking for you help as to how you think it should be quilted

I have also started Tuscany wall hanging, shown. All of the houses are made and in the process of being appliqued to the base fabric. I love the way it is coming together. Patricia