Happy New Year!!!

Hi there!

I know it's kinda late,
but I thought I'd upload a pic that I had received via email.

I have seen this, every Christmas, for the past 3 or 4 years....
and it still makes me laugh....

And THIS "wish" came from my friend, Frummie, via email, once again...
I don't think she was the author, but it's still great....

*grin*

And I couldn't have said it any better!

Tks Frummie!

********************

My Wish for You in 2009

May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.

May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $100 bills.

May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!

May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.

May the problems you had forget your home address!

In simple words ............

May 2009 be the best year of your life!!!

********************

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!!!!!

Rosa

A UFO, pulled out from it's pizza box!

Hi there!

Well, I pulled out a UFO (Un-Finished Object)
from an empty pizza box, today.

(Yes, I try and keep clean and empty pizza boxes for blocks - works GREAT!)

I squared up each block and cut up it's sashing.

I had gotten this pattern off the net,
many, MANY moons ago.

Each block is supposed to represent
a month, in a calendar year.

I think this one was for the month of May -
it's got a flag pole to it.

Of course, I'll have to re-check them,
BEFORE I start piecing them, together.



This one was for December, of course!

And here's September's block....

And this one was probably for January...

Anyhow, most of the fabrics used were from old clothes
and very few of them, from cotton....

I didn't know any better, at the time...

*long sigh*

Anyhow, our quilting guild had a challenge for us, this fall...

To do 5 UFO's before the end of June.

This is my 1st one and I'm dreading it....

But it's gotta get done, right?

*grin*

Have a great sewing day!

Rosa

Another BOM (Block of the Month)

Hi there!

Well, Monday (the 29th), I had to go into work.

Yesterday, the 30th, I got up early and set out to do some errands.

One of my errands, was to go out to Rothesay - waaaay out East,
to pick up my BOM (Block of the Month).

Well, I got home around 11h30 am, had dinner (noon meal)
and then, continued to straighten out my sewing studio.

Finished that task and then decided to finish off
this month's BOM!

Pretty darn proud of this one.... the points match and all!!!

Fancy that, eh? LOL



Well, that's it for blogging, for today....

Headin' downstairs to my sewing studio,
to work on my "Monthly" quilt....

I'll post pics on here, about that project, later on...

Rosa

Hearts 25 and 26

Hi there!

Well, during my Christmas holidays,
I managed to sew up a few more hearts,
for our "Heart 2 Heart" swap.

I was trying to make them all different,
but at this point, I think I gave up the battle... LOL

I'm pretty sure that I've done this one, before.

Oh well.... *shrugs her shoulders*...
it'll just have to do....

*grin*



Now, don't you just HATE it when you think you have enough fabric
and you run out?!??

Anyhow, that's why I'm showing you
BOTH ones, here....

Not sure (yet) which one of the 2 will be swapped out
and which 1 I will keep....

And thats it, so far, with these hearts....

Rosa

Gifties for Christmas!!!

Hi there!

Monday, I received 2 more surprise
Christmas gifts!!!

A beautiful calendar, from Valerie....
As we live in Canada
Gilbert and I were BOTH
fascinated by the images!

I wanna go there, someday!!!!!!!
*stomping her feet*

LOL



Here's a picture of the back of this calendar

Thank you SO much, Valerie!!!
I've got it hung up in my home office
and will think of you, every day!
*VBG*

And yet, another surprise gifty!

I recently made this sign and it was hung up
in my sewing studio....

My friend Elly sent me this beautiful Angel....
and NO, it won't be hung up, just for Christmas.....

Oh... and I forgot to share this gifty,
that I received from my Mom....
she's a "non-quilter", but picked up the BESTEST book,
for me!!!!

LOVELY, LOVELY blocks in there....

Thanks everyone!

Rosa

Christmas Centerpiece

Hi there!

Last fall, my friend Barb had given me a whole BUNCH of
Christmas paneled fabric.

There are 2 pieced to this piece.
It "was" supposed to be a wreath...
But, since I didn't want to make a fabric wreath,
I thought,
"Hmmmm.... why can't I make TWO centerpieces with it, eh?

There was a white circle in the middle
where you're supposed to cut it out,
for your wreath.

Well, I just appliquéd a heart, in the center,
with lace around it. *grin*

Anyhow, since I love to hand quilt,
I thought these 2 centerpieces would
be real easy and quick to make up....

Two gifts for NEXT year's Christmas!

*grin*




When it's finished, it will be round,
of course.

And you can put a candle in the center,
or a nice Christmas bowl.... whatever!

Rosa

Christmas Holidays - so far...

Hi There!

Thought I'd share a bit, on what's happened (so far), during my Christmas holidays...

24th of December - WEDNESDAY - Christmas Eve:

I finished work at dinner time (that's noon, for us) and headed home... quickly packed up the car to go to my brother-in-law and sister's house. Once everyone arrived, around 2 p.m., we had some (Acadian) meat pie, that my Mom made. YUMMY!!!

Then, around 5 p.m., my Dad and Adam (my oldest son) started getting the lobster ready.

Here's a picture of the cooler, with some lobster in it.

A picture of Adam, getting ready to put it in the big pot of boiling water.

My Dad and Adam, snipping off those little "rubbers".

Finally get to sit down and eat!!!
Here's a picture of some of my family, feasting away...

As Gilbert is a vegetarian, I had picked up some U-Bake garlic fingers, with donair sauce.
Isn't he cute, in his red sweater?!??! *VBG*

Here's a picture of me, getting ready to eat one of my lobster's little legs.
Gilbert took the picture with his cell phone.

After this wonderful meal, we cleaned up the kitchen, a bit and sat down in the living room, to open up our Christmas gifts. Half way through opening our gifts, the electricity went down, in the house. Well, we lit some candles and had a couple flashlights stragetically placed and we were all set to continue opening up gifts! *grin*

25th of December - THURSDAY - Christmas!!!

Well, I did something that I hadn't done in a LONG time - cook a turkey! *grin*

Since Gilbert is a vegetarian, I rarely cook a meal with poultry or meat, at our home... But this year, I decided to invite Adam over and do the turkey / potatoes / veggie thing.

Left to right: James (my youngest), Adam (my oldest) and Gilbert... having a pre-drink, at the kitchen table.

Same group, except Gilbert's taking the picture and I'm there. *s*

I guess cooking a turkey meal is like riding a bicycle.... the meal turned out pretty good, if I do say so, myself! *grin*

You might have noticed that my kitchen isn't too fancy. Well, we're "supposed" to do major renovations in 2009. Not lookin' forward to it.... but AM lookin' forward to it, once it's finished! LOL

26th of December - FRIDAY - Boxing Day:
Gilbert had to work today. And even though it's called "Boxing Day", all our stores are closed, in our province.

Anyhow, I stayed home and basically sewed, all day. Gosh, the day went by quickly! *VBG*

I managed to finish my BOM. We take it in on the LAST Saturday of the month (tomorrow) and they give us a new one, for the following month.



27th of December - SATURDAY:
Well, you know when your day starts off bad? I can't begin to tell you.....

Anyhow, we got up early, to take James into work and head out to the EAST side of my city, to bring in my BOM and pick up the new one. Well, they were closed. Anyhow, I guess I'll just have to go there on Tuesday and pick up my new BOM.

After a few other disappointments, we decided to head back home. Gilbert played with his computer stuff and I re-organized my sewing room and sewed a bit.

By 8h30 p.m., we were BOTH in bed, exhausted!

28th of December - SUNDAY:
Well, we got up early and I headed downstairs in my studio, to sew for a bit and Gilbert played with his computer stuff, once again....

Am doing laundry as I finish typing up my blog.... tomorrow, I go into work for 1 day - 3 days off, and then, back to work on Friday.

Tuesday, I'll probably be on the road a lot, as I have quite a bit of shopping to do.

Later 'gators!

Rosa

Jo's Surprise Christmas gifty!

Hi there!

Last Sunday morning - the 21st of December,
I looked out of our little office window
and here's what I saw....

brrrrrrrrrr..... s'cold out there!



In this pic, you can see the sun
trying to peek through!

Anyhow, that Sunday evening, as we were having supper,
a Canadian Postal worker rings our door bell.

BTW, Canada Post doesn't (usually) deliver on
Saturday or Sundays.

I don't know how Jo managed that "miracle",
but truly a "miracle" it was!!!

LOL

Let me give you a little background on my friend Jo.

In 2006, I had signed up for the "Secret Pal" swap.

Jo had gotten MY name.

Throughout the year, her generosity overwhelmed me!

And not only in "gifts" either! I had just started my "Dear Jane"
quilt and Jo PATIENTLY helped me with any and
ALL bits of advice!

And every time that I had "stupid" questions, rolling around in my head,
she would patiently answer them... *s*

And we became good friends!

HEY! We've talked on the phone, even!

Anyhow, I wish I had taken the time to
take pics of ALL the goodies that she sent me...
in fact, here's a picture of the bright, red enveloppe
that arrived Sunday evening.

There's the new (green) tin, that was included in my parcel.

See the yellow and blue tin, behind the green one?
Jo had made this and sent it to me!
I keep my "rubber finger thimbles" in that tin.

Everywhere I look in my home, I see Jo and her generosity... *grin*

This year, Jo sent me TWELVE fat quarters
of small Christmas prints!

I didn't participate in this year's
Dear Jane Holiday block swap
'cause I didn't have enough
"small print" Christmas fabric....
and didn't dare admit it, to anyone.

:-(

NEXT YEAR... watch out!
I'll probably be the first to sign up!
*VBG*

And since Jo knows that I'm collecting 30's fabrics,
she included TWO packages of 10" squares
of 30's fabrics!!!

This will come in handy, since I've decided to make
a hodge-podge quilt of
Dear Jane, Civil War Journal Quilt and Dear Hannah blocks!

A close-up of a cute little tin,
with the letter "R" on it.
Neat, eh?
*grin*

And another piece of fabric
that has orange and green, in it.

I think this chunk of fabric will look great
with my Halloween prints! *s*

She also included a big bag of
cinnamon pecans, made in her city!!!

Didn't take a picture....
and Gilbert and I try not to eat them
all at once, but DAMN those nuts are GOOD!!!
LOL

And, last but not least, she had picked these up
this fall but didn't get a chance to mail them, sooner.

They're for Gilbert.... she never forgets him...

*s*

These are wine bottle labels, for Halloween!

Neat, eh?

We don't get THESE in my city.... no sirree!!!

Thanks a bunch, Jo!!!!

You've made my Christmas!!!!

Rosa

More Christmas gifties!!!

Hi there!

About 2 weeks ago, Gilbert and I received a surprise gifty
from his daughter, in Montreal!

Let me give you some background info, first.

Quebec city, celebrated their 400th anniversary, this year
and of course, they had LOTS of events
and activities planned!

Anyhow, Celine Dion was invited to sing
on the "Plaines d'Abraham".

Unknown to us... and NO, we weren't able to make it there....
they had made a DVD.

Gilbert's daughter works for Celine
and she sent us a DVD of the "show"....

Celine and other well-known (French) entertainers
are on this DVD.

*grin*

We've watched 1/2 of it and plan on watching the rest,
during the holidays.

Thanks Isabelle!!!!



Last week, I received a surprise gifty
from my friend Terry - a "perpetual calendar"!!!!

After I emailed her, to thank her, she wrote back
and mentioned in her email that she MADE this!!!!

I didn't realize that on the label, her name was there!!!!

I was dumbfounded!!! And YES, it is in my quilting studio...
If you go to my web cam, you can see it there,
on top of my computer.

*grin*

On the same day, I received yet ANOTHER parcel,
from another good friend - Cyn....

At this point, with all this generosity
in my mail box, my eyes filled up with tears....

I hadn't sent ANYTHING to these wonderful gals
and these 2 net pals sent me wonderful gifts!!!

*s*

When I brought these gifties into work,
my 2 co-workers were astounded!

Thank you!!!!

Rosa

Christmas gifty - for my Mom

(NOTE - BLOG UPDATED 25 DECEMBER 2008:
When I wrote this blog, this was a gifty for my Mom....
I wrote it, at the time, pretending it was for me....
Mom has since opened up her gifty and LOVES it! *grin*)


Hi there!

Boys! Once I start blogging, I can't stop!

LOL

Actually, I have LOADS of pictures to share with you,
but this will be the last blog of the evening.

Gotta hit the hay.

Anyhow, about 2 weeks ago, Gilbert and I spotted these mouse pads
at our local Dollar Store.

They have a little slit on the side,
where you're supposed to slide in your favorite picture, right?

Well, I figured, "Hey! Why not sew up my favorite quilt block, instead?!?"

Anyhow, decided to try my hand at
paper piecing a rose.



When I get tired of the rose, I can always sew up another one, eh?

Or even add my favorite pic!

That's it! I'm off to bed!

Rosa has left the building...

LOL

Hearts 23 and 24

Okay, I think I finally finished this "Ribbon Heart", 2 weekends ago,
but forgot to upload it, to my Blog.

As usual, my blocks look better in person -
my photographic abilities are NOT my "forte"...



Now, this heart, I made 3 of the same kind -
long story which I won't go into but anyhow....

I know I'm trying to make ALL my hearts different
for the H2H (Heart 2 Heart) swap.... but these things happen, sometimes.
*shrug*

And HEY! it was the first time that I've done
a blanket stitch, on my sewing machine!

Pretty darn proud of them, too!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

Rosa

More Hearts!

Hi there!

Last week, I received 2 lovely hearts from Brigitte and Monika!

We're 6 gals - 2 from the USA, 2 from Canada and 2 from Germany,
that are doing a "private" Heart 2 Heart swap.



Not sure which one that Monika made nor Brigitte,
but these blocks are GORGEOUS!!!

Brigitte and Monika ALSO included other gifties.....

I believe the Agenda (left booklet) is from Monika.
Gilbert and I were quite fascinated by the different
languages for the days and months.
*grin*

You might say that it doesn't take much to fascinate us,
but since Gilbert is French and I am bilingual,
it WAS fascinating as these days and months
were in neither of our languages.

And, Brigitte made the cover
for the photo album.

She told me that she uses it to put snippets of fabric
in it... for when she goes fabric shopping.
Neat idea, eh?

I'm thinking of doing the same thing,
with her ... or rather, "my" photo album.

*VBG*

Thanks a bunch, ladies!

Hopefully, I'll be able to make and mail my "hearts"
to you two, soon.

Rosa

Christmas (fun) Links

Hi There!

I had a day off today...
Got up early and was at Wally World by 8 a.m.

!

Anyhow, finished ALL my Christmas shopping, today and
was home by 11 a.m.

I think I did pretty good, too! *grin*

Anyhow, as Christmas time approaches, here are a few Christmas links, that I've been saving:

This one is Santa and a few reindeers (cartoons), singing:
I'm dreaming of a White Christmas

This one here, you upload your picture of you and/or family members and you see yourself, as an Elf, dancing. It's pretty funny, actually.
Elf Yourself

And here's something that I received from my friend, Steffini:


*************************

Puppy Christmas

On the first day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
The Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the second day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the third day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the fourth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the fifth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the sixth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the seventh day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Seven scraps of wrapping paper
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the eighth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Eight tiny reindeer fragments
Seven scraps of wrapping paper
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the ninth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
My wreath in nine pieces
Eight tiny reindeer fragments
Seven scraps of wrapping paper
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the tenth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Ten Christmas cards I shoulda mailed
My wreath in nine pieces
Eight tiny reindeer fragments
Seven scraps of wrapping paper
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the eleventh day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
Eleven unwrapped presents
Ten Christmas cards I shoulda mailed
My wreath in nine pieces
Eight tiny reindeer fragments
Seven scraps of wrapping paper
Six yards of soggy ribbon
Five chewed-up stockings
Four broken window candles
Three punctured ornaments
Two leaking bubble lights
And the Santa topper from the Christmas tree.

On the twelfth day of Christmas my puppy gave to me
A dozen puppy kisses and I forgot all about the other eleven days.

*************************

And this picture from my friend in Scotland! *VBG*

Anyhow, that's about it, for now. I have a few more gifts to make and mail out, but I seriously doubt that the recipients will be getting them in time, for Christmas. Oh well, we'll just have to call them "After Christmas Gifts".... *grin*

Rosa

Mozilla Firefox

Hi there!

Last year, Gilbert switched from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox.
I didn't bother 'cause sometimes I don't care for "new" stuff. *s*

Anyhow, 6 months later, I was getting error pop-ups
and whatever crazy thing you can imagine, with IE.

So, Gilbert says, "Why don't you try Mozilla Firefox?
There's TONS of add-ons, too, that are fun."

So, I bit the bullet and switched over.
Some of you mentioned that you tried Mozilla Firefox and had problems with them.
If you write to me personally and describe WHAT EXACTLY happens,
maybe I can ask my personal Computer Tech (AKA Gilbert)
and can help you out. *s*

Every now and then, I have difficulty opening up a web page, with Mozilla Firefox.
Gilbert reminds me to try and open it up with IE...
I just copy the web link, go to my "programs",
open up IE and paste the addy, there....
And for some stupid reason, it works in IE!!!

But it's not enough of a bother to go back to Internet Explorer....

I LOVE Mozilla Firefox!

Anyhow, some of you also mentioned that you
didn't know where all these fantastic "add-ons" were....

Here's how you find them. A word of advice, though....

Carefully chose one, to start with. Play around with it.
If you don't care for it... DELETE IT!

I asked Gilbert if someone was crazy enough to add ALL the add-ons,
would their computer get slower.... He chuckled and said, YES.

If you decide to download Mozilla Firefox -
did I mention that it was FREE?!??....
or you already have it installed, here's where you find your "add ons":

At the top, click on TOOLS
Then, click on ADD-ONS
At the bottom, it says,
SEE ALL RECOMMENDED ADD-ONS.... click on that.

You can have fun browsing through these add-ons but as I mentioned,
I would download them wisely. *s*

Here's 3 that I wouldn't do without - you can do a "search" for these titles, BTW:

StumbleUpon

You get to select all your favorite subjects.
You can have it added to your tool bar, at the top.
You can have them send you a web site, per day...
or when you're bored, just click on the "Stumbleupon" icon
and browse web sites with YOUR pre-chosen websites.

Neat, eh? *grin*

Foxmarks BookMark Synchronizer

I have 2 computers that I use in my home. With this lovely "add-on",
ALL my favorites that I've bookmarked are
automatically synchronized on BOTH computers.

VERY handy add-on, IMHO.

And the last one that I absolutely recommend is what USED to be called, PicLens.
Apparently, it's now called

Cooliris

This add-on is sooooo cool, it's hard to describe.
So, I've taken a desktop snapshot of what it kinda looks like:



You almost feel like you're in a fancy smancy art galery,
when you're viewing images, on the web.

You can scroll across, from right to left.
You can zoom in on the image.
Or, you can click on the picture and to to the web page!

BTW, here's another trick that some of you might not know.

When you "Google" something, did you realize that you can
select "images"?

For example, if you're looking for "heart" patterns
and you've googled "quilt heart patterns" and then you're staring
at a bunch of web links.... you can also click on "images"
and you'll see RIGHT AWAY, what the "heart" pattern
looks like. *s*

Anyhow, that's it for now. Hope this blog helps you out!

Rosa

The Wine Results Are In....

Hi there!

Well, the wine results are in and unfortunately, it ain't good news.

:-(

Gilbert and I enjoy a glass (or two) of red wine,
with our supper meal.

In the past year or so, I've been getting weird results
when I drink red wine - or ANY alcoholic beverage
for that matter....

Red face.....



Hot flashes!!!! Good grief - did I REALLY need that?!?!?

Well.... *pointing at my head*....

I figured I'd hold off and only have a glass,
when the cold weather hit us!

Pretty smart, eh? *grin*

Well, that only worked for a few times, unfortunately....

Now, I'm getting heartburn!!!!

*groan*

I think I'll just be drinking good, old water..... from now on.

Pass me the ice cube tray, please?
And don't forget to have a drinky-poo for me, okay?

Rosa

P.S. Gilbert is the guy who fixed up the pics for me.... nice, wasn't he? *grin*

Christmas place mat (X 6)

Hi there!

Another "funny" showed up in my email, this weekend....

Thought I'd share with you....

LOL



Well, I finished our Christmas place mats WAY ahead of time -
thank goodness!

Now I can concentrate on "other" stuff.

These are 12 inch blocks, with a strip of 2 inch green fabric,
on each side of the blocks,
giving me an (approx.) place mat size of 12" X 16".



I did 2 of each, giving me a total of 6 place mats.
That should be PLENTY for my little family.

*grin*

I know that the fabric looks "beige-ish",
but it's actually a lovely mottled "goldish/carmelish" color.

Yesterday, after I finished the binding on these place mats,
I hung them up on our clothes line, to air them out.

And when I brought them back in,
they were a bit damp... so they stayed on my railing for a bit.

Decided to take a picture of them -
they looked so "Christmassy"!!!

Well, that's about it, for now, folks....

Hope you're all having fun, getting ready for Christmas!

*VBG*

Only 10 more days!

Rosa