Winter Wonderland

Here is the third batik fusible applique wallhanging I designed over the summer. I just LOVE the snowman batik fabric in the corners of the outer border - I actually bought that one in Florida a few years ago!! Now I have LOTS of work ahead of me getting all of these new patterns onto PAPER!

The agenda covers are done!

I figured out how to do the agenda covers pillowcase-turned so that I wouldn't need binding on them - they turned out GREAT!! I ended up making 14 - I'll need to go buy more agendas.

Summer Fun

Here is the second of my new wallhangings - another batik fusible applique quilt. I LOVE batiks and have a big stash of them in my studio and I have FINALLY worked up the nerve to cut into them - I just love the finished result. I'll let you know when the pattern is done!

Coffee Time

Over the summer I designed four new wallhangings and did lots of hand stitching. This fall I have been working on quilting these tops and I just finished putting the binding on #1 - Coffee Time. I bought the coffee cup batik fabric at Taylor Sewing Centre in the spring and I just HAD to do something with it! So I found more brown and turquoise batiks and VOILA! Now I just need to get to work writing the pattern!

Next on the to-do list....

Now that the paper, cutters, adhesive and photos have been put away, I have cleaned off my cutting table and I'm ready to sew. Now I am working on quilted agenda covers! I made a quilted cover for my day-timer/agenda a few years ago (using Laurel Burch fabric) and EVERYWHERE I go people comment on it. So I decided to get a few of the purse size agendas and try to make covers for them for the studio tour. I don't want to put binding on them at the end (takes WAY too much time), so I'm trying to figure out how to assemble them without binding. I'm going to use some of my batik scraps left over from other projects. I think they'll look really cute when they're finished.

The gift tags are DONE!

I ended up making a total of 480 gifts tags! I sorted them into two groups - Christmas and Everyday and then made up packages of ten. I ended up with 24 Christmas packages and 24 Everyday packages. They are really cute and I'm very pleased with how they turned out. My Creative Memories tag maker and my Making Memories Slice cutter REALLY came in handy!! Check out www.whyslice.com to see the Slice in action. My family gave it to me for Christmas last year and it is so neat - I just love it!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all of my friends in Canada, and to my friend Christa in Colorado!!
We spent Thanksgiving day morning stacking firewood! Then, as a reward, I took the boys and the dogs to the Mac Johnston conservation area to meet our friends, the Hazlitts, for a walk. Since Beth has two boys the same age as my boys, we have lots of fun when we get together. Her oldest daughter Chanice came along too, as well as their dog, Winnie. With four boys and three dogs along for our "walk", we didn't take long to complete the trail - we decided that it was more of a RUN through the trail. But it was fun and the trees were in full colour so it was a really beautiful way to spend the afternoon.

Our "Stay-cation" - part 4

At the end of the week, while Mike was working, the boys and I decided that we wanted to go to Ottawa for the day. My Mom and Dad decided to come along, so after we shopped and had lunch we headed to the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec. What a GREAT museum!!

The view of the Parliament buildings across the Ottawa River.

Mom and I in front of the fountain.

A beaded and embroidered coat from the Native Canadians exhibit.

The great hall of Totem Poles - Aidan is standing against the wall, near the bottom - that's how BIG it is!!!

Our "Stay-cation" - Part 3 - Going Home

Even though we had a blast at the new cottage, we had to head home in the middle of the week so that Mike could go back to work. One the last day we always take a picture of the kids - it is so neat to see how much the grow each year. Alexia is so easy to take pictures of - she just smiles and sits quietly. The boys on the other had ALWAYS have to goof around, so I end up taking at least 10 pictures to get one good one - thanks heavens for DIGITAL cameras!!

Our "Stay-cation" - Part 2

Aidan had his appendix removed the week before we headed to the cottage, so we were worried that he might not be able to participate in all of the planned activities but by Tuesday morning he was ready to head out in the tube with Alexia and Carson. They were bounced around quite a bit, but they were all laughing and smiling the whole time.

Carson really wanted to catch a fish, but despite trying repeatedly from both the boat and the dock, didn't even catch one.

We had a camp fire a couple nights to roast marshmallows and make smores - both Aidan and Misty liked this activity.

Blake's Sea-doo was a very popular mode of transportation - Aidan just loved going out on it to get the morning paper! Here is Carson driving (safely tied to the dock).

Our "Stay-cation" - part 1

Ontario was really promoting "Stay-cations" this summer - encouraging people to explore the vacation possibilities around their own homes instead of travelling outside of Ontario. For our vacation in August we visited our friends brand new cottage north of Peterborough - what a beautiful vacation home. Their old cottage was torn down almost two years ago and then all that fall and last summer they worked away at rebuilding it. They did an AMAZING job!!