It's COLD, you say?!?!?

Hi There!

Some of you have probably been
wondering what I've been up to.

Well, I have a confession to make.

Even though I love a challenge
and have quite a bit of patience,
I can get bored, fairly quickly too.

Mid-January, I wanted to do
what I call Mindless Sewing.

So, I decided to make
some "Crumb" placemats!!!

I called up my Mom and asked
what color placemats would she like to have.

"Green", was her reply.
"A NICE green... not an olive or neon green!"

Well, I got to work and
made her and Dad, SIX placemats.



I LOVE to work with crumbs!!!

You get to recycle all your little bits and pieces
of fabrics PLUS you reminisce, too!

"Oh... gee I remember using THAT fabric!"

"Oh yah! That was for so and so's quilt!"

*VBG*

Well, we were SUPPOSED to go
visit them Friday.... weather didn't cooperate!

So, Saturday morning (yesterday),
Gilbert and I packed up my car
and off we went, to visit my parents.

They live about 1 hours' drive away
and you have to take a ferry,
unless you take the LONG way around,
which is really not do-able, IMHO.

While approaching the ferry,
Gilbert said,
"I wonder how safe this is."

I suddenly got that far-away
look in my eyes....

"Geeeee, I wonder if any of the passengers,
on the Titanic had that same thought..."

*grin*

It was safe but EXTREMELY cold,
when I stepped out of our car,
to snap these pictures.

Anyhow, a friend had sent me a bunch
of funny cartoons, quite a while back.

Once again, I thought I'd share
with you, this lighter moment!

LOL



Hope you all have a GREAT week!

Rosa

Trojan War!

Hi there!

Okay, the hottest topic on 3 or 4 of my favorite chat forums, has been "Trojan Viruses". Quite a few of my friends got a REAL nasty virus. Some were able to repair it themselves, while others had to take it into their Geek Store. Either way, these nasty viruses are time consuming and/or money chompers... neither picture is very good.

There are SOOOO many variables and it's fairly frustrating. I'd LOVE to be able to help people with their problems, but....

Do you have a PC or an Apple?
What kind of anti-virus do you run?
Do you have a firewall?
What did you click on when the problem occurred?
And more more tech questions that I can't think of, right now.

And here's the all important question and suggestion...

Do you do a monthly backup? There's probably TONS of backup programs out there but "Acronis True Image" is THE best, IMHO!!!!

With Acronis, you do your backup, once a month. Computer crashes. Re-plug in your external hard drive. Recover your info. Info is recovered in approx. 15 minutes. ALL your settings, ALL your passwords, ALL your softwares, etc, etc, etc.... Even your files or pictures that your saved on your desktop.. are ALL STILL THERE! Your favorites are still intact!!!!

Now, I'm being a bit of a motor mouth, right now... but let me tell you what happened to Gilbert and I 'bout 3 years ago.

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

Our internet provider wrote TWO warning (English) emails, advising us that we had a virus. Tried to translate their emails (to French) to Gilbert but (yes he's a man) he didn't take them too seriously.

Perhaps 2 weeks later, we lost our internet services. Gilbert spent like 1 hour re-plugging modem, server, router and whatever hi-tech thingy that I can't remember right now and doing the "re-boot" thingy, too. BTW, we had forgotten about those 2 previous letters from our internet provider.

We finally called up our internet provider and they told us that we had a virus, that un-beknown to us, was forwarding thousands and thousands of emails, from our home!!!! We argued with them. IMPOSSIBLE!!! We had the "bought" version of Norton!!!

Nothing doing! They were NOT going to re-connect us until we got rid of this so-called virus or trojan virus or whatever it was.

Gilbert did a COMPLETE "Norton" scan on ALL our computers - nothing. Nada. Zippo.

At this point, we KNEW we didn't have a virus (as per Norton's results) but we couldn't make our internet provider believe us!

Finally, in desperation, I called up our local Geek Store and the guy laughed when I told him that what had happened. He said that McAfee and Norton were basically jokes. And since we had no internet, he downloaded a disk with "AVG" anti-virus on it.

Took his disk home, popped it in our computer and BAM! AVG found the offender! We were stunned - I mean, who has/had a better reputation than Norton, eh? Especially since we had actually PAID for this program!!!!

Well, AVG used to be free. We have since moved onto AVAST, as our anti-virus program.

AVAST is free... it's good.... One of my bosses has a friend who works at Norad - one of the computer geeks there, I guess. THEY use AVAST!

This nasty virus, that all my friends are chatting about, has come from Facebook and mostly Webshots. I've clicked on many webshot links, since this trojan thingy appeared and NO, I haven't had any problems! *knock on wood*

Anyhow, hope my 25 cents worth of ramblings helped you ... if you have a Trojan knockin' at yer door.... :-(

Rosa

Schnibble top - FINITO!!!

Hi There!

Well, as I previously mentioned,
I worked on my Schnibble top today.

The pattern said I needed
to trim the blocks to 7-1/2" square.

Did 3 of them, sewed them up
and took a picture to compare with the others.



After I sized them ALL up,
look at the "nest" that was left over!

Here's all 9 blocks sewn up...

Here's the first border,
with a tiny cornerstone...

And then, finally, I'd like to present to you....

"MADELINE" !!!!!

I added another cornerstone
on the final border.
It wasn't in the pattern
but I thought it might look nice.

Now.... I need to finish quilting
my Christmas Dear Jane
and do the binding on that one.

That will be my NEXT
sewing machine project.

We're hoping to go to my parents tomorrow,
though.....

weather permitting, of course!

Rosa

Ballast (AKA Junk-In-The-Trunk)

Hi There!

Well, I had today off, right?

Gilbert and I had planned
to go visit my parents, again.

I say "again" because 3 or 4 weeks ago,
we had planned to go visit them
and the roads were like sheer bottle glass,
according to my Mom.
(Note: They live about 1 hours drive,
from here, and in the country.)

Anyhow, Gilbert and I got up
this morning and what did the
guy on the radio say?!??!

Schools were canceled and
another winter storm would
affect our area!

GOOD GRIEF!!!

Is this trip to my parents jinxed, or what?!??

Snow Day = Sew Day!!!!
Soooooo....
I headed downstairs and
worked on my "Schnibble"...
will blog about that, later on this evening.

Around 11h30, I came back upstairs
and invited Gilbert to go run a few errands
and grab a bite to eat.

Here's a few pics, of our outing...

This is "Galarneau",
which probably means
"Sunshine", in English.

We had just gassed up the car
and Gilbert was waiting for me,
while I went inside to pay.



We grabbed a couple submarines,
at Subway... sorry, no pics.

We then went to Shoppers.
They have a small postal outlet
and I wanted to mail an
over-sized brown envelope
to Diane, in Quebec.

Who was working at the postal counter,
in Shoppers?!??!?

My cousin's daughter, Stephanie!!!!

With her permission, I took her picture.
*VBG*

Cute, isn't she?!?!?
She just started working there,
this past Monday!

On our way back home,
I snapped a couple pics,
to share with you.

Some of the roads were snow packed.

And some weren't too, too bad.
Beige house on the left?
That's our house.

This is across from our house.

Oh?

About the title, right?

It was sooooooo windy today,
that several times I had to hold
the car or store doors securely,
otherwise the wind would have
ripped it out of my hands.

And, on a positive note...

Thank GOODNESS I have LOTS
of "Ballast".... otherwise known as
Junk-In-The-Trunk....

I would have been blown away,
just like the "Flying Nun"!!!

LOL

Remember her?

Anyhow, heading back downstairs,
to work on my "Madeline" Schnibble!

Rosa

Purple Smurple!!!

Hi There!

Last Sunday, I went and picked up
some groceries and, according to the
list that Gilbert had given me,
we needed some cabbage.

You see, every weekend,
we write down the week's menu -
it helps with groceries and our budget.

Anyhow, Wednesday's supper (tonight),
we were supposed to have boiled
potatoes, turnip, carrots and cabbage.

While I was at the grocery store,
I made a couple "executive" decisions...

I figured it would be more
interesting to have parsnips,
instead of carrots and when it
came to the cabbage,
that's when things turned "purplish"...
LOL

They only had purple cabbage,
instead of the green kind
and I figured that purple cabbage
would do the same thing.



LOL

Of course, the broccoli was cooked separately,
otherwise it would have certainly
become "Purple Smurple", too!

Anyhow, supper was delish,
although quite comical!

Hope you get a chance to
get a chuckle or two, today!

Rosa

Red Corn Schnibblettes !!

Hi there!

Okay, I TOLD you BEFORE...
I'm not the fastest quilter,
on the block -
In fact, this evening there were 2
blocks that I re-did.
I didn't care for their colors..



Well, I think I can finally start to see
"Madeline" -
that's the name of my Schnibble pattern.

Cute, eh?

Oh.. and BTW,
today is ....

"E & J Day" Eve !!!!!

Rosa

Nickels and Dimes...

Hi there!

Guess what I got today, in my mailbox?!!?

Remember that blog contest
that I won, from "Prairie Moon Quilts"?!?

Yepper!!!

It came today!!!!
*jumping up and down, from excitement*



A charm package of 1930's fabrics!!!!

All 25 of them!!!!

And... GET THIS!!!

This cute pattern!!!

Prairie Moon Quilts sell this pattern!

With just ONE pattern,
you have the choice to make
THREE different size "quilts"!!!

1 Charm pkg = 1 table mat (20" X 21")
2 Charm pkgs = 1 tablerunner (21" X 40")
4 Charm pkgs = 1 baby quilt

This pattern's called
"Nickels and Dimes"
and I think she said that
it was her most popular pattern.

Well, Shelly... I read your
VERY WELL EXPLAINED instructions,
at dinner time while I scarfed down my meal,
and this quilt will be a snitch to put together!!!!

Thank you SOOOO much!

Can't wait to play with this one!

Rosa

What a Difference a Year Makes!!!

Hi There!

Well, about this time, one year ago,
my sister and her hubby had a
baby girl, named,
"Julie Anna Rose"



Today, we went to our other sister (& hubby)'s
home, to celebrate Julie's 1st year birthday!

Here, I tried to get the same pose,
but a WHOLE YEAR makes a difference!

A one year old toddler sure can squirm!

LOL

My other niece, Princess Sophia,
received a token birthday gift, also.

She got some little girl jewelery
and first set of fake nails!!!

She was quite proud of herself,
with those long nails!
*VBG*

Then, my sister said to her,
"Sophia, show Ma Tante your toe nails!"

Apparently, my sister had given her
a pedicure, yesterday evening!
(girly-girly time together)
*grin*

Left to right,
my 2 nieces....
Miss Em and Julie,
and their mother (my sister).

What a Difference a Year Makes, eh?

Rosa

National Pie Day!!!!

Hi there!

Someone announced on the Dear Jane
web site that today was....
"National Pie Day".

Gilbert and I did our usual
Saturday morning errands
and decided to pick up
a store bought apple pie!



Okay, so it's not made here,
but it was still fairly good!

*VBG*

Have yourself a
GREAT NATIONAL PIE DAY!!!

Rosa

Down Memory Lane....

Hi there!

I've been feverishly trying to find the time to upgrade, fix up and put UP TO DATE my personal web page, with ALL my quilty projects... that are completed.

Soooo, to make a long story short, I had all my quilt pictures and web pages scattered here and there... willy nilly. I went and moved ALL my finished quilt pictures and their web pages in a file called "Done". At this point, all my quilty projects are on my new web page except for this past year.... I've just started on 2009, but here's the page, anyhow.

I would suggest, if you're interested, to "save" that page in your favorites and to go visit there, every now and then. Updates to this page will be done every weekend (keeping my fingers crossed)... until I'm all caught up.

I have SUCH a crappy memory PLUS loads of pictures, here and there of my quilts... and YES, I try to keep things organized but at times, it's almost like a losing battle... LOL

So, for this blog, I have no pictures to share with you... 'cept my personal web page:

Rosa's FINISHED Quilts and Quilty projects

Hope you enjoy my web page!

Rosa

Those Were the Days, My Friend...

Hi there!

Well, it's FINALLY Friday evening!!!!

Did I think it would NEVER get here???

You Betcha!!!!!

LOL

Going through some old pictures -
actually this one dates back to 2003.



My family had decided to get together,
for a photo shoot.
My sister, Tina, had hired a
photographer friend, for the day.

Thought I'd share -
'specially since I'm trying
to Blog everyday...

We're a wee bit bigger, since then,
but certainly MUCH wiser!

LOL

Rosa

Schnibblettes - The Beginning...

Hi There!

Remember that INCREDIBLE
Schnibble pattern, that Elaine sent me?

It was called "Madeline"
and she had included SEVEN
fat quarters?

Well, this past weekend,
I washed the fabrics and
yesterday evening,
I started making my stars.

See the center star?
I wasn't pleased with the colour placements.



Here's a closeup of my first star.
This one's pretty good, IMHO.

Here's the second one.
As they say,
"Do as I say and don't do what I do."

The middle part of the star points
shouldn't have been done in red...
s'far as I can tell, anyhow.

Well, after studying this one a bit more,
I decided to change all 4 corners.
It's a bit more acceptable,
in my books. *grin*

Here's what it looks like, so far...
on my design wall.

4 cute little stars!

Oh and HEY!!!

Today's Friday Eve!!!!

Rosa

I'm All Cracked Up!

Hi There!

Remember the lovely book
that my friend Elaine sent to me?

"The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt"?

Well, I hadn't realized that there
was a CD in the back of this
SOFT covered book!!!!

Okay, before I continue, let me advise you that
I was born a blonde!

LOL

The Proof?

Here's a pic of me, with my parents.



Okay... back to my book...

Well, after bringing this book
into work with me,
to show my co-workers....
flipping through it,
many, MANY times,
Gilbert picked it up and
casually mentioned,
"Did you know there was a CD here?"

NO, I didn't realize!!!!

Anyhow, my story gets worst,
before it gets better.

Yesterday evening,
I decided that I would install my CD.
When I opened up the book,
I realized that the CD was split in the middle....
almost straight across, but not quite.

I asked Gilbert if he could re-align it
and maybe (keeping fingers crossed)
that it would work anyhow.

(silly me!!!!)

I put it in my computer CD slot and could hear the drive working,
when ALL OF A SUDDEN, I HEARD A LOUD
"POP"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I near jumped out of my skin!!!



The CD was all in pieces!!!!

Gilbert had to take my puter apart,
to dig out the small pieces!

Well, I called up their 1-800 number
this evening and the nice gal there,
PROMISED to send me another CD!!!

Imagine that, eh?!??!

And THANK GOODNESS, too!
'Cause I looked at the pictures
of the blocks in that book
and they measure 3-1/2 inches!!!!

Imagine making a quilt with
blocks THAT size, eh?!??!

*VBG*

Thank you Mrs. CD/Book lady!!!!

Appreciate the GREAT service!!!!

Rosa

1 Hour Snow-Day!!!!

Hi There!

Yep - it's snowin' and blowin'
pretty hard, out there....

We closed our office 1 hour earlier!!!

The white-knuckle drive home
was a bit slower, but I managed
to park my car in our driveway,
without any major incidents.
*grin*

Got a bunch of cute and funny
cartoons, this week....
but this one really stood out, IMHO.



Hope you all have a
GREAT "E & J Day"!!!!
(that's my new name for Wednesdays)

I'm off to work on
my very FIRST "Schnibble"!!!

Rosa

Avatar.... Yet Again....

OMG...

Like, I can't TELL you
how much I LOVED
AVATAR, right?

I was actually sad
when I left the theatre
that afternoon ...
it's like I really, REALLY
wanted to live in their world!

Crazy, eh?

Anyhow, this week,
I came across the funniest -
or is it satirical(?) notes
that someone wrote up on Avatar!

Thought I'd share!

WARNING - SPOILER!!!!



Rosa
P.S. The movie's like 200 times better than
what Matt wrote!!!! *grin*

Born in 1955

Hi There!

Just wanted to share
some info with you....

If you were born in '55,
then that means you're
55 years old, this year!

I'd say this is your
LUCKY YEAR, even....
if'n you believed in that
kind of stuff, eh?
*grin*



Well, "someone" that lives here
was born in '55
and NO, it wasn't me!

He loves these kinds of cakes -
you know, where the grocery store
cuts up 4 different cakes?

We left early this morning
and he got a hair cut,
then we went uptown to
pick up some more coin stuff,
and from there, we went to
a place call "ReStore".

I bought him a HUGE
data stand, which he wants
to convert into a computer stand.

Watch his blog -
he's promised to blog about it.
*grin*

Bonne Fête, Cheri!!!!!
XXX

Rosa

Thanksgiving Gifties !!!!

HEY!!!!

GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!!?

Mr. Post Man FINALLY delivered
Elaine's "Thanksgiving (Quilting)
Give-A-Way"!!!!

Received it last Monday....

Yup!!!!
Another super, dooper gifty
from Elaine!!!!
*VBG*

A lot of her boxes were wrapped up
in Fall coloured fabrics
and GORGEOUS ribbons!!!



And I just wish you all could see
the gorgeous autumn coloured
tissue paper, that she also used!!!

And she included a
3-Cup Anniversary Coffee Press,
from StarBucks!!!

AND.....
a small gift package,
with StarBucks' newest
instant coffee packets!!!!

Haven't figured out if Elaine
prepared this cute little packet
or StarBucks... but it sure was
CUTE!!!!!
Brown sugars and Splendid,
stir sticks and even
StarBucks napkins!!!!
*VBG*

And then, this cutest little doll -
Reminds me of an Angel....
Called "Grateful".
And in case you can't read the card,
it says,
"I'm so grateful for your friendship."

Elaine, you precious thing...

I'M the one that's GRATEFUL!!!!
*VBG*

A total of FIVE big pieces
of autumn coloured fabrics!!!!

Gorgeous, scrumptious colours!!!

Now, this wasn't really part of Elaine's contest....
She had promised me this book,
earlier on,
but the book was included in my package.

Haven't really had a chance to pop the CD in
my computer... but it's on my "TO DO"
list, for this evening.

ELENA - Thanks for the gifties!!!!!

Elaine's in "Road to California",
right now and she has yet
ANOTHER incredible contest
going on!!!!

"Road to California Give-A-Way"

You should ALL go there
and post a comment.

You never know -
YOU might be the NEXT winner, eh?
*grin*

Have a great weekend!!!

Rosa

Friday Eve!!!

Hi There!

Coming home, after work,
the radio announcer said that
he hated the word "Thursday"
and that anything that had the word
"Eve" in it, was GREAT!

Christmas Eve?
New Years Eve?

Sooooo, he said that he was calling
today.....

"Friday Eve"!!!!

I was REALLY worried that
I'd put this little project aside
and forget about it,
like someone that will remain "nameless"
told me that she hadn't made HERS, yet!

LOL



Okay, so it might not be EXPERT embroidery,
but at least it's done, right?

*grin*

I just LOVE this little kit!
It makes me feel close
to my French ancestors....
*s*

Rosa