Tuesdays Treasures

I know it is late and I almost did not post but you know I need to think of things I appreciate everyday ,especially right now when I am dealing with the trials of my parents moving , it is far more stressful than I ever imagined it would be. Anyway I do have lots of things I treasure and we have a new addition to our property and a new family has set up residence which makes me so happy so this is my treasure for today.

 If you click on the photo you may be able to see the little swallow peaking out from the middle hole .It was fun to watch their antics as they tried to decide which apartment they wanted to set up house in , they deposited building materials in each space but always seemed to come back to this one on the bottom , I was surprised when my BIL told me that their would only be one family set up here , they are apparently very territorial and would not allow another family that close by and this couple had to fight for ownership , there were lots of others flying around the first while when Bill set this up. Why they build them with so many holes I have no idea . The partner of this swallow is usually on the top of the house perched on the ball but he flew away as I tried to capture them both. Now I hope to see the little ones when they get ready to fly off . I'm linking up today to The House on the side of the Hill  with sweet Melody
 No sewing to report , I was away for a few days to my parents and right now I am much to tired to think of sewing. Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by.
 hugs Sheila

One Christmas Item a Month

It is the 25th already ,can you believe it , this month has just flown by . I  did get one Christmas item made early in the month which is a good thing as the later part was too busy for sewing . This is a really fun pillow to make and I think I will make more of these before the big day .

The pattern is called Comfort and Joy by This and That company . You may not be able to see but the background fabric is music notes , too bad it wasn't Joy to the World ;-0 I am so pleased to add this to my box , it is getting full , a great feeling. Thanks to Narelle of Pins and Whiskers for hosting this monthly event , why not join us , Christmas is not that far off . Okay , I am wrong just checked and this was last month , ok well it is now in my box , sorry Narelle I guess I did not get a Christmas item made , maybe I can count the candle mat I just completed :-)
 Thought I better update this post  , you might think I have lost it totally lol .  I am posting a picture of my crazy quilt that I am sandwiching today to machine quilt , my hope is the finish this in time for the quilt show ,I think I can do it , cheer me on won't you . The show is June 9th , yeah that is rather close but I still think if I get at it I can finish it . I am going to go set up the machine now but then it will be time to get supper going so no stitching on it this afternoon .

 The sun is shining today and there is a nice gentle breeze blowing , a perfect day to be outside in the fresh air so I think that is what I will do now. Enjoy your day and thanks for stopping by .
 hugs Sheila

Postcards and more

I know it has been a while since I posted but I have a little situation in my family , my parents are moving and I have had to go to their home in Cape Breton and try to help with that transition , wish I could say they are all moved but they are not . It has made both my parents sick and has been and still is a very stressful situation for all of us. So if I go missing again you will know where I am :-)
 Today is the first time I have been sewing in well over a week , a record for me I think , anyway I am happy to report that I have not one but four finishes . I am taking part in a postcard swap in a yahoo group I am a member of and this morning I made three postcards that will be mailed off asap. The theme was vintage aprons , I simply could not resist when I seen this as an option . I love aprons and I love reproduction fabrics and I had fun designing these cards.

  I also finished off another candle mat , this was one of my samples for the class I had taught at our quilt guild and is the same fabrics as I probably showed before .This is a fun project that was designed by Annette of In Stitches and Seams , Annette is a talented designer and recently designed a quilt for the Mc Call's Star Challenge contest and is now in the next round , good luck Annette I know you will do well.

 I also managed to get the pieces cut and ironed on the background for this months house block with Shabby Fabrics but no sewing done yet .

Does that look like a basket of pansies , I hope so as it was the best I could do , those pieces sure are tiny :-)
Now I just have to share this work of art by Mother Nature , I love things like this and had to ask Bill to stop the car so I could hop on out and take a picture or two or three . Amazing I think but then I am kind of weird sometimes ;-)

 I can't let you get away that easy , I have to show you one more.

The fungus is amazing but also take a close look at that tree , don't you just love the knots and irregular bark .
 I am linking up today to the Needle and Thread Network , thanks for stopping by today and enjoy the rest of the day doing something you love.
hugs Sheila

Happy Mothers Day

To each and every Mother I would like to wish you a very Happy Mothers' Day , I hope you will be surrounded by the love of your children and have a very special day . Being a mother is not always an easy job but the reward is beyond measure and being a grandmother is equally as rewarding . I am so very fortunate to have three wonderful, successful sons who have given us seven beautiful grandchildren ,they light up my life. This Mothers Day I will spend my with mother and I hope my presence will make her realize that I love her and thank her for all she has done for myself and my sisters and brother over the years , I know it was not always an easy road for my parents but they did the very best they could and we all did well in life and hopefully have made them proud.
Happy Mothers Day !! and thanks for stopping by .
 hugs Sheila

The postman arrived :-) and a Mom's pride

What better way to start your Friday than with a visit from the postman carrying a squishy , such was the case for me today . Some time ago I signed up for an apron swap on the Down to Earth blog and my partner was Sue of Fairytales and Goblins blog , today the apron she made for me arrived along with a postcard of her area and a recipe for a date cake that I will have to try out . Thanks so much Sue I appreciate the sweet apron in a lovely bright red .

And now for a better picture of the apron , I had to use the office chair as my model :-) Isn't it great !!

Talking about chairs I just have to share what I took out of the wheels of the chair I use for sewing . I was vacuuming yesterday and noticed some thread sticking out from under the wheel so pulled on it but it resisted my tug so I turned the chair over and this is what I took from around the wheels , amazing they even moved at all.

As I have mentioned I have been  sewing along with Joanne of Thread Head with her little mini and this morning I sewed on the borders and then added the applique using her method and it had been a while since I have done machine applique this way so wasn't sure how that was going to go but it actually worked well . I think my fabrics could have been better chosen but I still love it and really enjoyed making each and every part . Thanks so much Joanne , now to get it machine quilted , Joanne has given us some wonderful ideas of ways to accomplish that so I will give that a try as well , probably not today though.

 I know this may sound like I am bragging and I guess I am but I want to share a little fact with you , our oldest son Robert is with the RCMP(Royal Canadian Mounted Police) and is presently part of the musical ride ,I shared some of this last summer when they were in Nova Scotia, this year they have the honor of performing for the Queen for her Jubilee .

Here is my handsome son , always with a smile on his face :-0 Seeing Rob riding a horse brings tears to my eyes , silly maybe but it does and to be riding in front of the Queen , well I will need a shipment of tissue ;-)
Here he is touring Windsor Castle a couple of days ago .

 Pretty awesome experience for him and it sure makes us proud , my only regret is not being there to watch the events . He was interviewed by CBC and from what he said that will be broadcast Sunday at sometime so I will have to be watching . We love you Rob and are extremely proud of all you have accomplished .
 Thanks for stopping by today and have the best day ever .
 hugs Sheila

WIP Wednesday

It has been a busy day so just now getting around to posting my WIP for this week . I think at times I bite off more than I can chew so I am in catch up mode at the moment .
 First off I have been working on these adorable house blocks by Shabby Fabrics  ,there was no way to resist such cuteness and it is also an excuse to use some of those scraps that seem to multiply so rapidly :-)

I still have some of the applique to do but am almost there and have the block for May printed off but not yet started .
I took the time to complete the border on the Pam Buda patchwork pockets project and love it , so last night I sandwiched it but did not have time to get it quilted yet , have no idea how I will quilt it really , any suggestions?

 Now I have this mini to complete as well as my baskets from a few weeks back ,that should be enough to keep me occupied right , wrong , oh yeah I seen that Joanne of Threadhead was having a little mini sew along this week and I had to join in on that one too , what's a girl to do ;-) These are such tiny blocks but Joanne has been generous enough to share some wonderful tutorials on making easy flying geese and hour glass blocks as well as hst's so it has made the little blocks so much easier to handle and so cute when they are done. I am just using scraps for this one as well.

 Today's blocks are ready to go but not yet sewn so I will show an update later .Thanks Joanne for a fun sew along .
 Since I have been out most of the day it is time to get a few things taken care of here in the house so I will close for now but before I go I am linking up to the Needle and Thread network today , be sure to stop by and visit as there is some wonderful work to see from all types of crafts people across Canada  . Thanks for stopping by and  have a wonderful day .
 hugs Sheila

Monday Morning coming down

What possessed me to give it that title is beyond me but here goes . It is a wet and dreary day here on the east coast not my kind of day to say the least but will make the best of it .
 I will show you a photo of our weeping ornamental cherry tree that is now in full bloom , just looking at that makes a person smile. OOPS , just realized I didn't have the pictures in the computer yet .Ok here we go.

 Gorgeous huh ! The nice part about spring is all the lovely new growth and seeing flowers of any kind is a good thing after the long days of winter :-)
 On Saturday I went to visit my dear friend Dianne and delivered the crazy patch blocks that are part of an international Round Robin we have been taking part it . I won't show you all the blocks because Dianne may want to do that later but I will share the block I made for her . This was my first time doing a crazy patch RR and I have to tell you I found it quite challenging to think of what to add to the blocks but at the same time I truly enjoyed seeing all the blocks that came my way each month , wow there is some gorgeous work involved ,some way  beyond my abilities . My blocks are not yet back to me , Janet(no blog) probably has them now and she still has plenty of time before the next deadline . I had finished Dianne's so thought it would be nice to pass them on .Ok I am rambling again , here is the block .

  Actually it is not the best picture but it will give you an idea of what I did . I am not the best at embroidery but I love trying to expand my library of stitches . It will be nice to see what Dianne does with her blocks , they are gorgeous.
 Remember how I told you I am easily distracted well the other day I came across some hst's that I had left over from a project I had made for my sister many moons ago , there were not that many but I just had to come up with a plan RIGHT then , you know how it is ,or do you ? Anyway I started to sew them together in the most pleasing way possible , and they were not all perfect but we managed to get them together and then I thought some applique would be a fun addition .Flowers were cut and ironed on , you have to love heat n' bond lite , hmm , what next , hey I want to learn some thread painting so this was a possible solution to the center of the flowers as I had no desire to deal with a small circle of fabric to applique  . On with some decorative threads and just went for it , I love doing this and will try now to expand my applications of this to other projects . It is far from perfect but the process was such fun .I even did some FMQ in the shape of flowers and leaves which turned out quite well if I do say so myself .

Are you playing along with the Bingo games , I have come to the conclusion I am not born to play bingo , I think I have like two buttons so far , pathetic huh . Oh well I will check todays list and maybe I will fair a little better .
 I worked on the borders for the Pam Buda  Patchwork Pockets sew along , have all the pieces made but not sewn together yet , that is a lot of small pieces to deal with but oh I am in love with this little quilt and you know I managed to get this made with using just one FQ of the black and although it was real close I did it .yeah. The light tan color was left over from my Oriental Beauty and I came within an inch of not having enough of that , seriously I didn't think it was going to be possible but the fabric gods were with me ;-)

 Anyone for carrot  pineapple cake , no icing on it yet as it is cooling but it smells wonderful , carrot cake is my all time favorite dessert.  The larger of these cakes will be delivered in the morning to the hospital as a Celebration Cake to a patient who has just completed Chemo treatments . Our little church group has been making cakes for a number of years for this very worthwhile cause so I hope my cake will be enjoyed by the lady who receives it .

This is a very large recipe and the cake has to fit in a specific cake container so I used two pans and that way I will also get to celebrate !
 Time to think about lunch , all this talk about cake and the aroma of it is making me hungry , go ahead take a piece from the smaller cake . Thanks for stopping by and have yourself a wonderful day .
 hugs Sheila

The smallest quilt yet !

 It's Friday all ready , where did this week go . I haven't done much sewing but do have a couple of quick things to share . First off I am taking part in Melody's Penny Rug BOM and she told us that for May we will need two small quilts for a clothesline , well luck would have it that I was searching through some scraps for another project and came across a strip of small squares I had sewn for a swap a couple of years ago so proceeded to sew these into a square of a size I felt would work for this project. I am not sure how Melody wants us to attach these quilts but I have decided to let them hang freely from the penny rug so made this into a very small quilt , measures about 4x5"and I even did some binding , just ask was that a challenge  ;-) I need one more quilt and have that idea in brain just waiting for a few minutes to make it.

 Don't look too closely at the quilting I just eyeballed it ,didn't want to take the time to mark it , shame on me huh .
 I also got my two house blocks made for May , this months color is blue so I searched through my scraps to see what I had to suit and these are what I came up with .

 My favorite is the lower one made in oriental fabrics , it was a small piece I had from who knows what other project and it has a lot of blue so I felt it qualified . Thanks to Terry of Terry's Treasures for hosting this BOM

I don't know about you but I am easily side tracked , when I was searching for a piece of fabric I came across a bag that someone had given me of some scraps (they know I love scraps) and in this bag was a few squares that had already been sewn together so I had to think of something that I could make with those .Since I didn't have a lot to work with I figured either  a mug rug or a pot holder would be the best I could come up with so a pot holder it is . I added this leaf I had cut for another project and quite like how it looks .

So that's it for me today , oh before I go I would like to give my friend Annette a little plug , she has the most gorgeous quilt in the Mc Call's  Quilt design star contest ,it is called Jewels of the Night and is incredible .

You can go here to vote for her or one of the other wonderful quilts , there are two categories , Annette's is in the professional category . Thanks .
 Have a great day :-)
 hugs Sheila

Tuesdays Treasures

It is Tuesday again so time to link up with Melody of the House on the Side of the Hill who is our lovely host for this weekly event , it is always a good thing to spend time being thankful for what we have , sometimes we can get sidelined when things are not going just as we would wish but if we take the time to just sit and be grateful for all we have in life it will make things so much easier to deal with.
 I have been blogging now for over two years , hard to believe I have that much to say , so my treasure today is all my blogging friends , you have no idea how you have impacted my life in various ways. There are bloggers who always make me smile , they just have a way of brightening a dull day , there are those who are so inspiring , those who give encouragement when we need it most , those who share their ideas and are there to help you out , I could go on and on but my point is I am thankful for each and everyone  . I have a very long list of blogs that I follow and continue to add to that list when I come across someone who interests me , I may not have the time to visit everyone all the time but I love knowing that you are there when I can visit . I am also thankful to all who take the time to visit here and leave comments , I truly  enjoy reading them . I believe that people come into our lives for a reason ,  while we have them they give us joy and bring that something special into our days or perhaps they will leave us with a valuable lesson so today I want to say I truly appreciate everyone who has crossed my path in life and I hope that in some small way I have given something back.
 I don't want to post with out a picture , just would seem strange so I will share what Mother Nature has done to my dear Rhododendrons , there is not much hope of seeing any blooms this year , we have had heavy frost a few times this week , spring kind of fooled us a few times with warm temperatures and now we are back to reality .

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day. Oh and be sure to hop on over to visit with Melody and see what others are treasuring today.
 hugs Sheila