Yesterdays adventure :-)

Remember I told you I was taking part in a nine block exchange ,well yesterday was our first exchange, this was no ordinary exchange , oh no , we made it into a special party and it just so happened that Carol had celebrated her birthday the day before so we celebrated with her . We all met at Marlayne's cottage and the day could not have been more perfect , the sun was shining there was a nice breeze and it was actually a little chilly by the water when that sun decided to go behind the clouds but hey we didn't mind in the least . Marlayne was a wonderful hostess and I am sure she must have thought we had not eaten in a week , she had quite a spread of food for us , starting out with some yummy dips with crackers and then this , I mean I thought I was in Hawaii :-)

Isn't this exotic and oh it was just as yummy as it looks , divine really . We sat around her deck

 and chatted and some even shared some show and tell , want to see , sure you do .

 This beautiful red work was done by Julia and was a preprinted panel she bought in Alaska last year when a few of her friends had gone on a cruise , lucky gals . She cut the panel apart then did the red work and added the sashings and border , isn't it gorgeous . Here is a close up of one of the blocks.

Then Diane shared this lovely scrappy quilt with us , this is on my list for this year ,a great scrap buster for sure.

Linda also shared some scrappy blocks she has started , here is a close up of one of her blocks .

It is called River John Road and is definitely another great scrap buster and we all have those or maybe I am just speaking for myself ;-)
Joan had shared some mini quilts she has recently finished but I neglected to take photos of those but trust me they are lovely and she was actually sitting there working on another one.
 Before we headed inside for supper we did our exchange , these are the blocks I received plus two that I made were  added in there to make an even dozen.

I am loving this already and you know we had so much fun we moved the date up for our next exchange , better get sewing .
 Supper was just delicious , Marlayne went all out and prepared salads for us and barbecued chicken and Carol brought some of her famous homemade rolls .

The birthday girl is straight ahead in the dark jacket , hope you enjoyed your day Carol . Her sister Julia brought birthday cake for us to enjoy and Marlayne had also made triffle and had ice cream .  I mean by this time the only room was in my big toe but I managed to squeeze it all in.

And here is our wonderful hostess , giving us some snacks in the afternoon .

I know this is turning into a very long picture heavy post but I have to share just a couple of photos of the area around Marlaynes cottage , so peaceful .

and one more for good measure ...

Well maybe two just because I love rocks ;-)

I hope you enjoyed your little Nova Scotia adventure with me as much as I enjoyed sharing it with all of you , I really appreciate your visits and hope you have a super nice day. Thanks for stopping by.
 hugs Sheila

One Christmas Item and some mail

It is that time of the month as on the 25th of each month I try to post a photo of a Christmas project and  I am linking up to Narelle of Pins and Whiskers   . . Since August was a busy month for me with family visiting and also me being away visiting our son and his family there was very little time to sew , however that said I do have a partially finished project to share .The stitching is complete now I need to add borders ....

Just before I left for Saskatchewan I also started working on my Dots for the upcoming bloghop and here is a sneak peak of what I have done so far.

Oh I know , not much of a peak is it , well at least you can see I do have dots :-)
 I recently won a giveaway from Thearica of Pigtales and quilts blog   and yesterday I received this lovely block in the mail  .Her hand work is amazing , she did all of the applique and embroidery by hand and this block will make a really lovely pillow  .Thanks so much Thearica , I really appreciate your kindness.

I am back at my machine and have been sewing up a storm on some nine patch blocks. A few friends and I are going to exchange blocks over the next several months so I had to make ten blocks which I did manage to complete last evening . I actually love this block , so versatile and easy to make . Would you like to see my blocks , I did two different sets as each strip cut across the fabric provided five blocks .

This will of course be a very scrappy quilt , we are each making ten blocks for each exchange and obviously there are ten of us participating so we will receive a variety of blocks . We can use whatever fabric we choose as long as it is not Christmas or childrens prints and the dark prints are to be in the outside corners and middle not the other way around. They finish at 6" ,fun fun :-) Hope you Tuesday girls like these .
Hey  it's good to be back home again , I have been singing that tune for the past few days  ha ha!

 Before I go I would like you to consider voting for a beautiful quilt my friend Annette of In Stitches and Seams has entered in the McCall's Design Challenge, tomorrow is the last day for voting so I know she will really appreciate a few more clicks on that vote button  .Here is a picture of her lovely quilt , if you head on over to her blog you will see on the left hand side a button you can click that will take you to the site to vote . Thanks ,I have seen this in person while visiting Saskatoon and it is even more beautiful in person .

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are enjoying your day.
Hugs Sheila 
 

I'm Back plus some mail

Whew , this month has just flown by , seems like forever since I have been here but it was a lovely break . Before I tell you about my trip I will tell you that yesterday I received a lovely package in the mail from Carrie , a little giveaway package with delightful charm squares , a Christmas fabric fat quarter and some cute little buttons too , Thanks so much Carrie , it was such a treat to open .

Don't you just love the little charms that look like knits , so cute !! A lovely way to start my day . If you are not familiar with Carrie's blog A Passion for Applique you really should treat yourself , Carrie does lovely work .

 I had a terrific time in the west , it was so nice to see my grandchildren after over a year and a half of not seeing them , they sure have grown :-)  The photo above it Saskatchewan from the air , just before landing , incredibly flat huh , see that road , straight as an arrow not one turn or hill to be seen ,so unlike Nova Scotia .

This photo is of Roger and the children as we take a little stroll along the river , Isaac insisted he wanted to bike and since Sophia had fallen asleep before we got there she wanted to be carried on her Dad's shoulders. It was a lovely day and a perfect day for a walk.

Here they are again at a water park and their Mom is joining in on the fun , they had so much fun here and didn't want to leave.

 This is Sophia , and in her words "I look like a lady " and indeed she is a sweet little lady .

Isaac chowing down on some waffles and of course the cars are never too far away , he loves his cars.
 I had so much fun with the grandchildren but I also was so pleased to have the opportunity to meet a few blogging friends , when I knew for sure I was going I contacted Annette and Monika so we could connect while I was there . It all worked our wonderfully as Annette was in town for an appointment that week so Monika made plans for us to meet at Periwinkles a lovely quilt shop in Saskatoon ,thanks to Michelle the shop owner for being so gracious and even providing cookies and coffee for our taste buds . Monika invited a few other quilters to join in so I was pleased to meet Flo ,and Brenda too. Brenda and I have exchanged postcards a time or two .

From the left is Annette , Michelle , me , Flo, Monika and Brenda T(no blog yet). It was so nice to meet each of you and sit and chat for a spell then we went across the road to enjoy some lovely icecream together , I chose saskatoon berry which Monika was sweet enough to pay for  :-) It was very delicious !!
Annette and I have been emailing back and forth for quite a while and she  made me this great tote which has already had some use , a perfect size to take to quilting on Tuesdays , I am sure the girls will be glad to see me with a new bag ;-)  I love the bright cheery colors too and it has pockets inside which will be extra useful for carrying my needles and thimble . Thanks Annette .

After our little get together Annette and her husband offered to drive me back to my son's home and thankfully they are better at directions than I am , being a small town girl the big city is a bit overwhelming to me . It was great to get those few extra minutes with Annette too .

 Well I guess I have kept you long enough , I have absolutely no sewing to report , my machine is going to think I forgot all about it but not a chance of that happening , hope to remedy that real soon once I get back to normal here .
Thanks for stopping by and hope you are enjoying your day .
Hugs Sheila

A little vacation and some wonderful mail

Lat week I received this wonderful book from sweet Sue , she very kindly sent on this book to me that she had two of , it is a gorgeous book with many great projects to make and a lot of them use wool so I am super happy. Thanks so much Sue you are so sweet :-) I have sure enjoyed browsing and drooling over the beautiful projects inside .

As you can see the title is Flower Bed Threads by Need'l Love and here is a sneak peak of what is inside.

There are some projects I want to start soon, so many to choose from ,which one will be first ?
 I am off to the lovely prairies for a little visit starting tomorrow , thankfully our niece has agreed to stay here and babysit our dog ,I hate putting him in a kennel and also there will be someone here to take care of the house and pick up mail etc. I am looking forward to seeing my grandson Isaac and my granddaughter Sophia and of course our son Roger and his wife Lisa . It has been so long the children will not likely remember us but we will have fun getting to know each other again .
 I also want to apologize if I have not answered comments or emails as my computer is not in the best working order and will be also sent off on vacation , a working one for him as we want it completely overhauled and working like new . I had to save all my photos and documents as they will be gone , a new learning experience for me but I did it ,yeah!Let's hope I can get this posted before it decides to freeze on me again. John told me we have over 1400 problems , now that is a lot don't you think. This computer is just 2 years or less so rather strange it is behaving this badly. No viruses though so that is a good thing.

 Before I go I thought I would share a couple of photos of the beach we took the girls to when they were visiting , it is by far the most popular beach in this area and it was a perfect night to spending walking in the sand and searching for shells or special rocks , I love rocks , did I tell you that :-)

First we have to get there ;-)

A view from the walkway , as you can see not many there at that time but if we had gone in the afternoon there would have been many more.

Caitlin testing the waters.

Alyssa jumping for joy for being at the Merb .

Both girls taking a little break in the lifeguard seat.

A view up the beach which is almost deserted . A wonderful evening and I sure enjoyed having the girls around to enjoy the beach with . Thanks for taking the time to stop by and enjoy your day . It may be a few days before I get a chance to stop by as I will be super busy with my grandies but don't give up on me I will be checking in eventually. Hugs Sheila



 

Tuesday Treasures

It has been such a busy summer , terrific weather with warm to hot temperatures , sometimes a tad too hot and definitely more than a tad too humid , did I mention that humidity and I are not friends , no we definitely do not like each other even a little bit. However all that set aside this summer could not have been better with visits from my DIL and my two oldest granddaughters and most recently a visit from two of my younger granddaughters and then in just a few days I will be off to visit my youngest granddaughter and youngest grandson . Since it has been a year and a half since I last seen them I am very excited about this visit .

 So what is my treasure for today , well my greatest treasure is my family and next to that is where I live so here is a photo taken from a hot air balloon which my dear crazy husband decided to go for a ride in the other evening . When he took the launch they had no idea where the wind would take them , nor where they would land but lo and behold they landed in the field right next to our house .

 Would you like to see a few more photos he took from the air , well if not it is time to leave now  :-) This next photo is of the launch , just as they left the ground.

.

 This one is of the East River as the bucket actually touched the water, the pilot did this on purpose  .Isn't that a fantastic photo though , I just love it! The next photo shows the river snaking its way through the East River Valley , so neat to see it from this perspective .

 My friend Arlene's farm from the air , just like a patchwork quilt huh   .

 Bill  said  he had a terrific time , said he would do it again in a heart beat but my feet will be firmly planted on the ground , thank you very much . I guess the landing was a little rough , but other than that it was smooth sailing .
 Hope you enjoyed the aerial photos of where I live , in the first photo you can see my house on the right hand side closest to the field , as you can see I have a pretty terrific view out my window.

I am linking up with Melody, so  be sure to visit  our wonderful hostess for Tuesdays Treasures at The House on the Side of the Hill   .to see who else has shared their treasures today .  There are two other treasures that arrived in my emailbox yesterday , I won two giveaways , one from Carrie  , as a surprise giveaway to her followers, I was so surprised and pleased with her generosity  and if you have never visited Carrie be sure to head on over here ,she does the most amazing work , you will be so inspired . Then I also received an email from Jenny of Elefantz telling me I am the winner of a six month subscription to her e-magazine in her most recent giveaway , I am thrilled about this as well, as Jenny is a talented designer and I will look forward to receiving this extra special gift each month for the next 6 months .
 Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your day.
 
 Hugs Sheila