Dinosaur Quilt

Well, it's probably the easiest scrap quilt, no pattern quilt that I could make, yet it took me forever.   I had purchased the dinosaur fabric on my New York trip, from The City Quilter.  Only bought 1/2 yard of each.  I was so overwhelmed with all the gorgeous stuff, that I really didn't have a plan for a quilt.  So I thought 1/2 yard would suffice.   I probably needed more for a more substantial pattern, but I just concocted this on my own. 

I took lots of time off from quilting.  Had some weeks of no production at all. Procrastinating, summer things to do. But it's done.   It's not perfect, but the boys adore it.     I used the ultra soft minky fabric on the back which is so cuddly and warm.  There is minky fuzz everywhere in my sewing space right now, which I'll have to tackle with the vacuum soon.  I used minky for the binding as well, which wasn't as difficult as I thought.    This was also a great project to practice my meandering stitch on, as if it's not perfect the kids don't care, right?

Also, this was my first project using spray adhesive to baste the layers together.  OMG I will never go back!  I had no puckers at all, and no problems with shifting.  It was awesome. 

still trying to tackle tension problems with the bobbin thread tension at times.   Sometimes, just stopping, snipping, and restarting helped.  I think a bit of it may be just my speed and the rate at which I move my fabric.  Still working on that.  

I'm debating washing the quilt right away...I love the look of the puckery character, but I'm just enjoying and feeling proud of the work I did right now.

Still two more quilts to machine quilt, but I have an itch to start a new project. We'll see.

The beauty of Alberta..

Everyone says Alberta is ugly and flat...yes it is in some parts, but there are many parts that I find absolutely breathtaking. 

I love the canola fields in the early summer.  This is just northeast of us near the town of Mundare.    All that's missing is the huge ominous black thunder clouds...

Myrtle Beach Bound!!!

Well, mil is feeling much better, not 100%, but is on the road to recovery, and she really wants us to come down and stay with them for our holidays.  Woohoo!! We're very excited and relieved too.  The kids LOVE to see them, and the holiday down there is so perfect for us.   We just really have to pay for our airfares and of course we pitch in for food and gas...but we have the house, the community pool, the golf cart paths to bike on and of course, the beach, the shopping (OMG IT"S BEEN SINCE MAY THAT I"VE GONE SHOPPING!!)  and the fun touristy stuff. There's a new HardRockCafe theme park  and our favourite Broadway at the Beach.   We stay in Pawleys Island, which is south of Myrtle Beach, a sleepy town with huge old trees with moss hanging down. The beaches there are quiet, lonely and white soft sand. The kids love to play there.

I can't wait to see the old southern homes, the beautiful scenery...and of course, my inlaws.   I'm so lucky to have them as my inlaws.  I know some people really dread visits with theirs, but me...I feel so grateful to have a mom and dad like them.  The only gripe I have is that they would come and visit us more often, but they usually reverse the idea and help us out with airfares, so we can have a holiday down there with them instead.  Makes sense, who wants to visit up here anyways? ;-)  

So in August, I get to warm up and complain about the humidity of South Carolina.   Not a bad complaint. 

Remember, you can click on the photo to enlarge it and see more detail...

The things I love.... a refreshing post

Oh my gosh...look who is interested in photography!  Ha!




I love to garden...my garden has been so LATE this year!  My lilies have just started flowering and it's almost mid July!  Anyways, here's how the garden is coming along...not all has bloomed yet, but we're getting there.    This year, I threw a few lettuce seeds and tomato plants in one of the side gardens by the house.  I'll take pics of there later.  The lettuce is HUGE, and if anything, it's a very cool looking green plot :-)  I have no idea of the names of some of these....

Jane - please note the bee on my purple flowers.  They LOVE the two purple bushes (one is lavender, the other I'm not sure)  

Update

Dh returned back from his weekend to Halifax and his biggie interview.   Halifax was gorgeous apparantly, lots of gorgeous places to live, tons of lakes and countryside.  Peggy's Cove was breathtaking.    He was really pumped about it all, until his interview.  

 He didn't get a really good feeling about the company.   It seemed like they were grilling him on things that really didn't mean much.   dh asked some very important questions which the various executives couldn't answer to well.  They still didn't have a real plan in place or org structure for the job he was interviewing for.  He got the sense that the company was disorganized and didn't have a business plan for their decision making.    The attitude there is, do it, and then figure it out later.   dh wasn't impressed by that.   Also, he got the sense that development opportunities were not fostered or encouraged.  The owner and CEO, seemed to be the rich bratty son who inherited the position because he was family, not based on credentials.   He just got an uneasy feeling - leaving a big company who has trained him, encouraged growth and development in him and then leave that for a disorganized fly by the seat of your pants company?  

When interviewing dh, they were always grilling him on how he got to such a high position, from xx position to xxxx position (the technical aspect) and comparing the big corporation vs them attitudes.   The interview went well, but dh didn't get a good feeling about the company and that it would be a place with lots of labour issues in his opinions.  There's alot more details of course, which I will not bore you with, but he just didn't get a good feeling about the people there. 

He said he's very disappointed, as we have been on such a high and low pendulum for the last few months, but at least he knows that it's not a company for him.   He loved Halifax, and was very prepared to accept an offer, but after the interview, will likely decline.  In fact, he said he's calling the recruiter today to let him know he is not interested in the position.

I mean who knows...they may not have been keen on Trent either, but he's going to put the "not interested" word in first. 

*sigh*  disappointing,  but relieving too.   A great experience for dh ....  a roller coaster for me.

Now he has a 2nd interview with his current company for a position in Calgary. Not sure how I feel about that, but we are encouraged and are feeling more positive with staying with the current company after the learning experience from the Halifax company.  

Onwards and upwards.   Where will the next few months lead us?  I expect we will be here again for the next while.   Perhaps Vancouver is still waiting for us, perhaps something neato in Oregon or Washington,  and the higher beings are just putting things into place for us.   

Thanks for bearing with me as I type away my feelings and experiences.  If you think reading this blog is exhausting, think of how I'm feeling. 

The one thing I absolutely hate, is the amount of time wasted in researching, looking on the mls, gov't websites, etc.... when I SHOULD be researching and participating in the things I love.  

It finally ended...

After four long years....I can't believe I have to say this.   Ethan has finally said that Thomas the Tank engine is no longer his favourite thing on earth.   His interests/obsessions now are dinosaurs.  It's been a few months now, but the icing on the cake was when it was time to pick out colours for his and Cam's bedrooms.   He chose a greenish/brown colour because it's a dinosaur colour.    Cameron wanted blue, so we did his room blue and made it slightly Thomas with the removable wall stickers, etc.    I think Ethan was satisfied with that as he's still has a big heart for Thomas, but I think he's thinking it's too young for him.  

So...we have a Thomas room now, simple, but nice.   Next is a "dinosaur" room, where we'll paint his walls and find some wall stickers/posters of dinosaurs for his room :-)

I love that my boys are simple and don't care for a lot of complicated things.   Happy to find a dinosaur sticker and slap it on the wall, you know?  

I still love Thomas and always will.