My Vancouver week in a few snapshots....

Met up with "Ned"'s new owners, Lorena and Baby Alexander.  Lorena shrieked when she opened Ned and started to cry! (hormones are still kicking her!)

This was at Buntzen Lake...they were filming a movie that day, and I'm guessing it was the Twilight series, New Moon, as the signage on the way in said N.M. Crew  and all the trailers, etc were all set up in the parking lot.  That and it's just the perfect spot for hazy, cloudy, misty vampirish stuff.  Buntzen Lake is where they filmed Lake Placid and Freddy Vs Jason.   It's a 10 minute drive from my sister's place in Port Moody.  It's gorgeous!  Ethan skipped his first rock on the water!  What a pro :-)

A cool shot of my boys at the Vancouver aquarium..

Drove through the rockies to get to Vancouver.   It was gorgeous. Photos just don't get the closeness of what the mountains really are.  They are truly magnificent. I love how you can see the glacier marks that have carved the striations in the rock.  Here are windshield photos:

Met up with friends and family each day,  Trent's grammy, my dad, my sister and brother and their families, my bcbabes (group of friends) whom made my heart strings tug way too much!

Spent a lot of time driving around and really really letting it sink in if it's where we want to live again. OMG the traffic is insane now! In 3 years, the congestion and skyrises and new developments shaving off the mountains are insane.   Coming back to Alberta, you could literally feel the stress of traffic and big city stuff go away.

It was an excellent visit.  A beautiful city, but I think I'm getting spoiled by my smaller city now! Even though we are the capital of Alberta, with all the big city ammenities, there's still so much more room here.  I just miss the forests, lakes, parks and outdoorsy stuff.  If only I could move them here, and bring my family and friends.  Life would be perfect wouldn't it?     

Hit some quilt stores, with much disappointment.  I resign myself to the fact that I'll be shopping at more online stores if my favourite local shop doesn't carry what I want for a decent price. wahh. 

I'm off to get some quilty inspiration and perhaps do a purchase or two for my next projects.   It's great to be back...

I love mail!!!

I have always loved getting mail.  In fact, I often wonder if I shop online just so that I can get mail.  Back in February I did a giveaway for some fabric, and I got a sweet surprise in the mail from one of the recipients.   It was so uncalled for, but I have to say...it really brightened my day and made me look so forward to the Spring (if it ever arrives!)

I love to garden, if I could intertwine it with quilting, my life would be set.  In fact, I just came home from the library, with "How to be a Hobby Farmer". Ya, Alberta is wearing off on me.

Look at the gorgeous goodies that arrived for me!!!  I am really touched at how thoughtful it is to share your garden with me...and I even received instructions too!  My coasters are mine...they will be my bedside tea coasters for when I'm leafing through my piles of quilting inspiration.  Thank you so much, grendelskin.  It was totally unnecessary, but so wonderful too :-)

A few things to share..

Been working on a few little things this week as I try and mend my body.  It's finally feeling alot more normal, and I've got my zing back!   Here's Ned #2,  that I made for my best friend Lorena.  She was coveting the ugly dolls when we were on our New York trip last May.  I told her in no way was "my" baby going to have an ugly doll as a stuffy.  He or she would be spoiled with perfect ones.  LOL.  So here is one I made for her...

Okay,  looking at this one, I need to squish the stuffing a bit, because HE looks a bit like a SHE! 

LOL. 

I also wanted to make one of these pillows for baby Alexander.  You know when you do a project and the effort it requires just doesn't feel satisfactory?  This was one of those long stitching projects, which wasn't very gratifying to me.  I'm glad it's done.  Embroidery certainly isn't on my list of pleasures.  You can click on the images to get more detail...

And here's the two together. The backing of the pillow is the same fabric as the stuffy, so they coordinate.   

Once I meet Alexander next week (!!!!) I'll get a feel to what kind of quilt he deserves. :-)

On that note, I'm off for Spring Break. We're driving to Vancouver through the Rockies, and will be "home" visiting family and friends.  Looking forward to it, but hoping for not too much pull of the heart strings.  

still sick

it's been bad.   knocked off my feet since monday.  high fever for 5 days. super huge and painful swollen glands.  thought it was the mumps or mono.   finally have some penicillin to wipe out what's going on, but it's still slow to go.  my poor baby embroidery pillow isn't getting done, my binding not done, my ugly doll for my friend's baby not even drafted yet.

i leave for vancouver for spring break in 4 days.  and i'm still not better yet. 

*insert pity music now please*

will post soon.

and the kicker -  winter storm warning today. 10-20 cm snow expected. today.  gah.

Tips from the inexperienced quilter

So the sickies have left the family and finally travelled to my body.  I was all confident and cocky that I hadn't gotten sick!  Welcome home little guys! ;-)

I'm the type that it takes a few days for something to sink in.  So on Friday I had the achey body, Saturday not so bad, Sunday I thought "that's it??" and this morning, it's back - head in a vice, really swollen glands, chest hurts.  Woe is me!  I need to quilt more.  That's what I did this weekend, and all those symptoms magically  went away!

So here's a sneak peak.  I finished machine quilting.  I thought at first it would be a disaster.  And it turned out just fine.  Actually, I'm really pleased.   

Things I learned:

1. get a pair of gardening gloves with the sticky dots on them.   I bought mine at the dollar store.  You can buy the same ones at the quilt shop for 10x the price if you'd like.  

2. get a pair of gardening gloves that fit a little snugly if you can.  I sewed my glove to my quilt.See the hole in the finger? hee hee! Actually, mine were huge, and after awhile of getting used to them, I figured things out, and had no more oopsies.

 3. After about 2 hours of quilting, I was in a lot of pain.  My wrist, forearm and shoulder were giving me warnings and so I took a break.   I looked on the net for some ergonomic tips and found this one, which made the rest of my quilting a breeze!  Turn your machine perpendicular to your body and quilt that way.  It made pushing and pulling the fabric back and forth so much easier and I wasn't twisting my wrist at odd angles anymore!

 

4.  Prefill about 8 bobbins of thread prior to beginning your work.  It really helped.  I usually don't do this, and it made things go so much smoother.

5.  when changing your bobbin,  take the moment to rethread your top thread entirely from the spool down to the needle.  Somehow, the tension may get compromised with the change of the bobbin, and ripping out stitching is no fun.  Especially with a cat that likes to eat thread.

Today, I'm hand sewing the binding!

Meet Ned

Ned is inspired by the Ugly Dolls I see at the specialty toy stores.

He cost $7.00 to make, and I have enough fabric left over to make about 10 more.  So, really, he cost about 50 cents.

My kids are fighting over Ned.  He's not even had his stitches put in yet, or his final touches of stuffing adjustment.

He's so weird and ugly.  And Ethan loves him.

Stash.

Since I started quilting about a year ago, I've been accumulating fabric.  My tastes have changed so much.   What do you do with the fabric that you don't like anymore?   I can't get rid of it, yet it doesn't inspire me enough to make anything with it.  

I look through my stash, and there's really only a few pieces that shout out to me as ones that I love and want to keep.   I hate accumulating lots of stuff.  Do you keep it in thinking that if tastes have changed in a year, they will change once again?

curious.

I'm learning that I'm the type of person that needs to buy for the project I"m about to embark on, not buy and then save it for future use.  

Progress..

Well, the quilt top is done.  I was sailing along on it thinking, ah no problem on this one, piece of cake.  Until I started ironing it...and I found one mistake.  Two thin strips of the same colour butted next to each other.  How I didn't see it prior to piecing it, I don't know.  Me thinks the little leprechauns were around....  after debating, I had to rip it apart and fix it up.  

I need to purchase backing fabric for this tomorrow, but in the meantime I did pieced binding with the left over fabric.  Shameless photo with my littlest guy, but the lighting was so perfect and so was he.  Look at his lashes!  Why can't I have those?

Plain Spoken colour thoughts

When I initially received my colour palette for my Plain Spoken quilt, I was enraptured by the beauty of them together.  When I cut out the pieces and started piecing them randomly (as was instructed) I started thinking uh oh.  This looks gross.

Here's what I mean.  These are only 6 of the 16 colours in the quilt.

And now, after having the 120 something blocks laid out on the floor in the midst of leap frog chain piecing, I'm enraptured again.

When combined with a multitude of other colours and placed randomly together, they look stunning again. 

So, look at the homely combinations above, and stay tuned for the finale later on...

Have you ever pieced colour combinations together that you thought would not work, and in the end they did?   I bet that happens with pattern and texture as well. 

Blue Palace by Johnny Karwan colour/print palette

Oh thank heavens!! I found blue and white!!  It's not quite the navy I was hoping for, but it's a new whole collection of blue and white prints.... a delft blue.. So pretty!   Now I have to figure out what to make with it before I order it all up!

I have been yearning for it for awhile, and finally, it's come alive!! I'm all giddy!

Fat Quarter Shop is where I spotted the two lines.  Now I have to do further research and see which one is crisper.  The blue palace looks like the blue has some white in it.  I like the crisper look of the bluework/redwork line.   We shall see. 

So, to all of you readers,  who lurk and don't... where do you buy your fabrics online? 

Here in Canada, at my quilting shops, fabric is at least 14.95/m .  Seriously. We won't even talk about charm packs or jelly rolls.   I gasp out loud when I see the $24.95 price tag on a charm pack.   Seriously.   Trying to find the modern designer quilt fabrics is also so difficult.  the selection here is murky.

I really don't know why there is such an inflated price as opposed to the US.  It really irks me. I want to support my local shops,  and do, but when I see what the prices are online it just makes more sense to buy online.  

So readers.  Where do you buy your quilt fabric online?

Kona Cotton Solids. Yummy.

My Kona Cotton Solids arrived yesterday from Pink Chalk Fabrics .  I highly recommend this store...beautifully packaged, reasonable shipping to Canada, and it was quick for international shipping!    Look at how gorgeous these fabrics are.  I can really imagine that I may be ordering more...  I'm going to start the cutting of my Plain Spoken quilt today, and hopefully get something accomplished.  My eldest of the wee two is home sick, so we won't be venturing outdoors today.  That, and the fact that it's -31 right now. without. wind. chill.  brr!  I so can't wait to move back to my beautiful west coast!! Soon!

Anyways...here is some beautiful eye candy. 

Trying to decorate. What's wrong with white? ;-)

Well, I'm trying to spruce things up around here, and in the process of an hour of fiddling with html (yes, I really have become adventurous), I'm leaving this blog white until I can figure things out.

I found a great tutorial for decorating your blog  with all sorts of backgrounds, new fonts, etc.

I really love black and white with splashes of colour.  This is the theme I like, but do you think I can make it happen right now?

  

Perhaps there is something to be said about the simplicity of white.

Scrappy Square Quilt

I am also addicted to viewing other people's crafting projects.  Therefore I don't get my own done.  Here is one that I really love.  What makes me giggle every time I read this post is the quote below:

Scrappy Square Quilt

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The major upside of it's (the quilt's) general visual offensiveness is that when visitors to our house catch sight of it and exclaim "Dear god, what is that monstrosity?!" my lip can quibble for a moment and then I can run from the room and throw my sobbing self dramatically down on a chaise longue like a 40's starlet while the husband explains to an uncomfortably silent room that I slaved over "that monstrosity" for months.

Not. Addicted.

really.  I have to stop.  I've gone on a project and crafting spree and I haven't started any of them!!  They're all trapped in my head...or in my little moleskine notebook that carries my list of crafty things to do.

After I bought my Last Minute Patchwork book, I also purchased my Kona Cotton Solids set for my plain spoken kit.  You all know about that one. 

Then, I bought The Modern Quilt Workshop  and Quiltmakers Color Workshop.  It's coming this week.  NONE of the quilt shops here in my Alberta city carry either of these books, so I ordered it online.  

THEN, I took a quick peek at my favourite quilt shop here and picked up a pattern book that was backordered for me when I was making the baby rail fence.  It's  The Best of Weekend Quilts .  I almost didn't get it but then there were a few patterns in there that I thought would be perfect easy ones to do...and since I need guidance on measurements for making blocks, etc, I figured another pattern book would be fine.  Also, they had in their clearance section, big freezer bag packs of scrap fabrics (coordinating) for $5.00 a bag.   One had a whole bag of the same fabrics I used for the baby rail quilt  (combined with what I have left over from the project = another quilt! )  Another bag had coordinating fabrics, among them some amy butler and similar!  Another was a bag of scrap cotton chenille in a rose colour that would coordinate perfectly with the Amy Butler bag of scraps! 

These were wee scraps - they look like leftover cuts from sample quilts!  There were pieces as big as 1/2 meter!  Great find!

So.  Aside from trying to find some navy/white cotton prints, I am banned from buying more until I make at least 2 quilts. 

Enough spending.  More quilting.

Quilt Planning

Okay, so I've order a bunch of Kona Cotton Solids from Pink Chalk Fabrics .  I want to make a Plain Spoken Quilt from The Modern Quilt Workshop  .  

A million other quilts in my head.... (maybe that should be my new blog name!) lined up, but in addition, I'd like to make a quilt for my inlaws.  They're home is decorated in whites, navy/indigos and cranberry.  I was thinking of going ballistic with the kona cottons in a variety of dark blues, a few lighter blues, whites and berry shades, and making it into another Plain Spoken quilt.   Any thoughts?  A different pattern?  I just dont' want it looking american flag-ish.  

Wow, have you ever seen an improvement in my links?  LOL!

I'm so over the top with ideas right now.  I feel like my wheels are spinning and I'm going nowhere!  It's the ADD of Quilting!!

New Books and Ideas

I just purchased this book on the weekend, and am in love.   

Oh my gosh, if I wasn't on craft crack before.  Now I am.  I want to do almost every single project in it.  Be prepared.

In my quilting and sewing adventures, I've also developed a yearning to make cute kids clothes.  Except I have boys.  Has anyone figured out how unfair the clothing and pattern market is on boys?   I mean, you have boxer shorts, pajama pants, pull on pants, and buttoned sleeve shirts. 

For girls, it's incredible.  It's eye candy everywhere! 

And the fabrics too...it's a total female market out there!  If I had any sense of how to design or develop this concept, I'd go for it.   The boys market is way underdeveloped.

Daisy Quilt

Taken in -20c weather with glorious sunshine.  This quilt has all straight edges and lays nice and straight/flat as well, but with the breeze, it wasn't cooperating in the pictures!

I got this idea when I was blog cruising - I saw a quilt with a strip of squares down a white quilt, and the woman quilted it in long lines as I have.  I wish I could give her credit for her idea, but I have no clue which blog it was that I saw it on! (anyone?)  I saw this daisy fabric in the new spring line of the store, and had to have it.  It's been so cold and cooped up here, and the first sign of spring just made me want to make one similar!

Edited to add : - Oh my gosh, I just washed and dried it and it's all crinkly and soft and perfect!! Way more perfect than before!!  

Well, as much as my vision in my head was brilliant, now that my quilt is done I find it ho hum.  Maybe it was dh's comment when it was done - the blank look in his eyes when I asked him what he thought and his response was "it's a simple one, right?" I can laugh about it.  Sometimes, men have no clue.  LOL

I'm still learning alot about piecing and planning, but I think this went pretty well.  I did this without mathematical formulas...just winged it.  I really enjoyed the new type of machine quilting - long straight lines (actually it was very boring to quilt, but I love the effect).  I have these adjustable bars on my walking foot that helps to keep the lines straight.  I was worried part way through that I would experience puckering, etc, but it went very well, except for a few tiny ones. 

If anything, my cat likes it.   And I do too.   It will be my quilt for my corner chair when I watch my cheesy shows. And Shatzi can sit on it with me. ;-)

I've also learned that during these past few quilts, I love do hand sew the binding.  I thought I'd hate it.  But I love how relaxing it is, and that I can watch/listen to a show while I'm sewing. 

My cup!

Isn't it crazy how we can like little things so much?  Here's the little cup I found at the "boutique" as I call it.  It will be making a home next to my sewing machine, and will hold my snips, seam ripper and pencil/pen for now.   Now that I look at it, I don't think it's vintage, but more retro age.  It's transferware, from a company in Bavaria called Shirnding.    I wouldn't want a whole dinnerware set of it, but the appeal is that it was just the one lonely piece on the shelf all by itself.  The mystery is what it's name is (pattern) and I'm still on the hunt for it.

Dogs and sunshine

It's -20c again this week, so of course the dog hates to go outside.  It's a pee and dash situation when she needs to get out there.  But she LOVES the sun.  I hate having my window blinds or curtains closed at any time of the day..they're always open wide.  And with it comes the glorious sunbeams shining into our house.   It feels good.   And someone else thinks they do too.  I caught her this morning laying on the stairs because she found a sneak of sun.   This afternoon, she caught some beams shining through the back windows.   Note how in this first pick she only can fit her nose in the ray...she's THAT close to the fireplace.

She got smarter a few minutes later and was able to turn her body and warm her back... *LOL*

And the following three are just priceless...look at her wrinkled forehead!

Getting comfy...

Heaven!!! ....

 

Loving Vintage

Each week I try to make a stop in at my two local 2nd hand shops (not consignment, but the true pick-your-way-to find the treasures shop) to pick up some toys of the moment, puzzles, etc for the kids.    I've been spending more and more time at the housewares items, in particular the pottery and china.   Today I spotted the coolest creamer in vintage pattern red, black on a white background, from Bavaria.  It was only 3bucks, but I put it back. What would I do with that thing anyways.  More dust!  So, now it's been calling me ever since.  It's little, and doesn't match a thing I have, but for some reason, it's sticking in my head!  

They also had an old vintage ironing board.  It was really rickety - but had a solid wood top, and the wooden creaky legs. I LOVED it, but it was $20! I thought, for that thing?   If I lived in my new place (when we finally get to move back  to Vancouver) I would make a spot for it.  Here, I have no creativity for some reason.

My quilt is almost done.  I'm doing straight line quilting at about 2 cm apart down the lengths of the quilt.  It's taking forever.  But looking cool.  My tension got weird in two lengths of it, so I spent as much time ripping apart the stitching.  My favourite part?  When you pull the other side of the thread and it's that one looooonnnnnggg zip.  

If I pick up that little creamer, I'll post a pic.    

Sneak Peaks

We took the kids to Drumheller, Alberta to the Royal Tyrell Dinosaur Museum this weekend. My little paleontologists loved it there.  It's an incredible drive....flat flat flat and then all of a sudden the earth opens up and you drive down a steep hill into the badlands, or the hoodoos as they call it.  Very cool.   For some reason, my camera was on blurr mode for most of the shots.  I have no idea why.  :(

Sneak peaks...

Thoughts on the blues - oh my gosh, do I really have THAT much fabric?

Thoughts on the daisies - oh my gosh, I really need to plan this better and learn my math calculations better. 

Congratulations to the winners!

I have contacted each via email, if I don't hear back, I'll re-draw :-)

The winners are:

Earthy stash - grendelskin 

Thomas stash - Meg Larsen

Shimmer squares- Amy-Park Girl

I wrote down all of the names and picked the names out of a mug.   The thomas ones were a little wonky, as I went to re-fill my coffee and discovered that my 3 year old had dumped the Thomas name strips into the Earthy names cup.   luckily, the Thomas entries had asterisks!

congratulations to you all.  I had a really difficult time with this, and drawing names out of a hat was easiest.    

Some of the comments were really funny!   The ReneSimard comment made me spit out my tea!  I haven't heard that name since I was really young! LOL!

Maple syrup was the common thread - believe it or not, I don't have any in my pantry...don't even have a liking for it. 

And no one mentioned that the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Canada - in my hometown of Vancouver!     (I'm not there at the moment, but will be there before those games start!)

Anyways, what fun!  I hope to do this again!

Oh what fun this day was!!

Oh my gosh, today has been so much fun, blog hopping and disocovering SO MANY CRAFTERS out there in the world!   

I can't wait to draw names and announce the winners!  Still time left!  

I purchased more fabric today.  It's so cute.  All white. Going to use it as backing fabric.  One has large 3 inch embroidery lady bugs scattered every 10 inches or so.  The other, ivory gerbera daisies!  The gerbera daisy one has a plan already - with gerbera fabric I need to go back and get!   What do you think?  Again, my photography is terrible.  The first two show the detail of the embroidery, the last one shows the nice white.  It's 150cm wide, 100%cotton.

Let it begin for the early time zones!

So, in an effort to allow for our Aussie friends to participate, I'll post my stash giveaways now. There are three different giveaways...you can post for all of them or you preference.  

In your comment, please let me know your preference, as well as tell me something that you know about or think about Canada! That's where I am!  Those are the only rules - state your preference, and state something about Canada! :-)

**edited to add - if you don't have a blog, please leave me your email addy so I can contact you! I will be reviewing and drawing names on the morning of Feb 5!

1st giveway = assortment of earthy fabrics.   Lots of fabric here, probably a good 2 metres at least in total! All 100% cotton.  

Thomas the Tank Engine Christmas/Winter themed fabric - about 1.5metres in total! This is VIP fabric, not quilters quality, but for a kids theme, it's perfect!

Moda Shimmer Squares - these are taken from two charm packs.  I kept the pastel light whites, etc, and here are mostly the darker, medium tones.  Shimmer of gold and pearl.  about 25 squares.

Enjoy!  Good luck!  Have fun!!

-A

Remember to check out the other participants over at Ginger Monkey's blog

Great International Stash Busting Giveaway

to any of you crafters out there.... check out the Great International Stash Busting Giveaway

Stay tuned here for my little stash giveaway.  In fact, it may be a big stash giveaway!  I need some excuses to go and buy more fabric...seems my tastes in fabrics have evolved!

Rail Fence

Rail Fence baby quilt with borders.   I love the striped binding I chose!  The soft green minky polka dots on the back...you can't stop touching it!  I didn't do a lot of quilting to it, just some stitch in the ditch grid pattern, and around the border.   

Isn't it precious?   My apologies for the poor quality photos this time around.   

I'm going to try and wash it before sending it off to Baby Samuel in Montreal....wish me luck. It could be disastrous!

Remember to click on each photo to see it bigger!

Two on the Go!

I'm in the middle of two new quilts.  I started a stacked coins quilt using a bunch of my blue stash, and then I decided last minute that I was going to whip up a baby quilt for my new nephew, Samuel.   It's an easy one, kind of a rail fence with a couple of borders in blues, whites, greens and browns.   Stay tuned.  It's lovely!  Details to come.

Doc appointment yesterday to update a month of meds and new diet/exercise regime.  Doc was very please how my numbers came down, but I still have a ways to go.   Doubled my meds, and outlined the next step if this doesn't do the trick.   He also received my insulin numbers back from the lab after our first consult and revealed that I was at a 4, when the average is usually around 15.   (Scale of 1-20 I think).  I don't know what it is, but he said my pancreas releases very very little insulin, which is why I'm so high.  So we'll see what this month reveals.   I'm very proud of myself for stepping up to the reality and doing something about it.   I've introduced a couple of more carbs during the day, as frankly, I can't live on eggs, cheese strings and fat free turkey slices all day. :-)   

  I'm still doing a lower carb approach, but I need to eat more balanced, and since I've started eating a few more servings of food, I'm actually warming up!  Gosh I was so cold it was unbearable!

I really need to get over the psychology that there is something that I can do to solve this problem.  Like I can fix it on my own.   Like it's my fault.   It's not, as the doc says...my pancreas is not working.   But for some reason, I have this guilt that I can't solve it on my own.     And I hate hate hate, living like a number.   I hate that my day is a good day because I got my numbers down lower than before.  I don't want the numbers to define me, yk? 

anyways... enough about the D of my life.  

My quilting frenzy continues.....and while I quilt today, I will watch the inauguration of the new President.  Even though I'm Canadian, I am so proud of this moment in history.  I'm so excited and so inspired.  I know it will be a teary day.   

It's done...needs a name!

So, by far, this is my favourite quilt, along with my d9p.   I love the colours, so bright, crisp and clean.  I love using white.  I'll be using white way more in my quilts in the future.   I'm very proud of my stippling in this quilt, I think I've finally figured some of it out - the tension, the speed the direction and how to manage the bulk. (note - this is a baby quilt size, so not as much bulk as the bigger ones) 

I love the minky fabric I used on the back.  It was fabulous to work with.  I used spray adhesive to give it a bit more grab when I was pin basting, and it held really well.  I love the texture of the stippling on the minky on the back, and the pile gives a little extra forgiveness if there were any problems.  I love this quilt.

Did I mention I love it?  So, you know why there's a few photos then.   These were taken on my snow covered back porch with gusting winds.  It was a reasonable day at -17c rather than the  -30 we've experience for a good part these past few weeks.   The colours are just so much truer

in natural light, you know?

Please click on the images to see a larger, clearer, detailed view.

 

Again, thanks to this blog

for teaching me, inspiring me and motivating me in my quilting progress.  

   

Happy New Year part 2

If you read my post from January 2007 - all of our moving back to BC goals continue.   It will continue till we get back there.   We've had so many ups and downs and "close calls" in 2007, and it continues as we speak.  Waiting for some shuffling to finish up in the org and see if it means dh can shuffle over to bc.   

Need to be back with my family, my friends, my mountains, ocean and trees.   Need my Bellingham fix, my diversity of cultures, my parks and my rain.    Need to meet my friends' little people and reconnect with them.  Need to be where I belong.

As for quilting goals - I was giving myself a hard time about not completing as many as some blogs I read.   When in fact, I'm quite proud that I've completed 5 quilts (2 which need to be quilted). 

 My log cabin is 97% done...I just have to finish the slip stitching the binding, but my eyes are kind of wonky this week, so I'm just giving them a rest at the moment.   (I was reading wayyyy too much over christmas!)  It is SOOO gorgeous.  The soft minky fabric on the back is stunning.  I cannot stop touching it.  It feels like soft rabbit angora.  I love the colours, the white, the soft, the contrasts.  Going to be hard to give it up.  It's girlie and gorgeous.   

Will finish it and take photos outside - when it's not -32 out  like it has been this week.  UGH.

Next quilt will be with blues.

Happy New Year!

I'm so glad 2009 is here!

I finally went and got my bloodwork done to confirm that I am a diabetic.   December 23rd was my diagnosis. Long story of why I put it off so long.. dealing with memories of my mother and wondering if my life was doomed to hers,  fear really.   Just not personally ready to accept and deal with the emotions of this life long disease.   But the week prior to the 23rd I had a real slump of a week where I was so emotional and down in the dumps about Christmas, my mom, etc. Then, I snapped out of it and it was like the light turned on and I was ready.    So here I am.

My numbers are atrocious, and I have read and learned that it's not my fault.   It's genetics and biological/chemical.   I could not eat for a week, and still have high blood sugar readings.  My doc put me on some meds.  I have cut out my carbs severely.  (oh my god I am embarassed at how many carbs and how awful I have been eating this past year...oh. my. god.) So I'm paying for it now, with literal detox of carbs.  Skim milk in my coffee? Gone. bread? gone. fruit? gone. juice? gone.  pasta, potatoes white anything? gone. candy? marshamllow snacks? cookies? baking? gone.

I could write forever about how I've drastically cut things off since the 23rd of December.   But one thing I'm learning...I cannot cut carbs out completely. It's just not doable for my life.   I need to have lots of balance in my life for me to stick with it.  But for now. I'm doing the drastic to help bring my numbers down.   I test AT LEAST 10 times per day.  at least.  My fingers are bruised from the pokes.  Need to talk to doc about that.

I started exercising January 1st, walks on the treadmill and will continue that.  I'm going to order some exercise dvd's too.  All of the literature says that a good diet and daily exercise will help bring the numbers down.

What have I noticed in the 10 days that I have done this?    

Energy.   whoa.  I'm not joking! Holy cow!

I don't get up to pee in the middle of the night.

I sleep deep without interruptions (aside from an annoying 3 year old who still sometimes sneaks into bed without us even noticing)

I cannot even finish a glass of water. My thirst is gone.  I thought it was because of the dry climate here.  I used to down 3-4 glasses in a row easily...several times a day.  I can't even finish one now.  I have to force myself.  

Sex drive is back?  What the?  Not sure if it's related...but I've had some feeling for awhile now that hasn't been there for some time. 

Sugar cravings are gone.  

So. There you have it.   My Christmas present to myself.  Being honest with myself and facing the music.   As awful as it feels to know that this is for life, it also feels good to have lifted the heavy weight on my shoulders.

End of January I meet with doc to re-evaluate my numbers.   I'm very sure that I will not be down to the acceptable ranges then, but I'm sure we'll get there with tweaking the meds.

It's getting there....log cabin quilt

It takes me a long time to get things going...all I can say is that I have two kids, a dog, cat, and a husband who zap my energy and as much as I love quilting, sometimes the couch or a good book take priority....

It's gone from this...

To this...    All the blocks are complete, and now I have to sew them together into one quilt...it's a baby size.  Each block is 8" .  I'll probably finish it with a white border and a funky binding, and possibly...if I can find it...a soft chenille backing.  

I have no idea who this is for.  If someone has a baby girl, perhaps it will go to her.  Or perhaps I will donate it to someone in the children's stollery who really needs some bright girly cheer...

Will post finished pics as it gets done.

I'm sure I'll get more accomplished this week..  it's been -30c (windchill of -40) the last couple of days, and will be in the next few days.  

I have news!!!!

The baby fever has somewhat subsided!!! Hooray!!  Now, it's just a little twinge that is only apparant when I see soft pink minky fluffy fabric!

Need to quilt. Badly.   I have lots of time.  LOTS of it.  I cannot even make an excuse that i was cleaning or baking for Christmas.   I'm not in a Christmas mood, nor a cleaning mood.  I've been in this funk.  I go through it every couple of months where I'm just not into things.  

Dh's work has been a whirlwind once again and  making me slowly decline into a weird creepy lady.    November 28 was supposed to be the final date for announcements, then a week later..which the majority of announcements are made, and now here we sit, waiting for our announcement to come.   Goodd thing is he has a job.  

Christmas is coming.  I'm not in the mood.   It just causes clutter and stuff in my house which makes me batty.   I need clear, clutter free and bare to function well.  My dad is going on a month long cruise as of the 20th,  we're staying put in Edmonton, and dh's family is all going to Montreal to be together with a new and upcoming baby.

Feeling rather blah about it all.   Missing my mom lately as I hear all the Christmas music.  I'm not depressed about things, just disinterested.

I need to finish my quilt and then go and splurge on some fancy fabric from my favourite store.  That will always put me in a good mood.   Maybe I'll go buy some pink soft minky fabric.