Rosa's World

Saturday, November 20, 2010

A Quilt Is....

A quilter is:

Someone who assiduously clips coupons and hunts for bargains at the Supermarket, but buys untold yards of fabric, regardless of price.

Someone who pays to have her ironing done, but thinks nothing of standing for hours pressing twenty yards of fabric for a quilt.

Someone who sees life through the eye of a needle, and that is a very special thing.

Someone who is bored silly hearing about other people's dumb hobbies, such as sky-diving, motor cycling or stamp collecting, but constantly fascinates everyone she comes in contact with by sharing her quilts and quilting experiences.

Someone who has not been able to balance her check book since March 1979,but can figure the yardage requirements for a Log Cabin Quilt and have just enough left over for a pin cushion.

Someone who enjoys sewing a quilt, but hides the mending until the garments are either outgrown or out of style.

Someone who cannot see cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, dust balls under the bed or a sink full of dirty dishes, but can thread a size 10 needle in the dark.

Author Unknown.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Gobble, Gobble!!!

Hi there!

My friend, Elaine, is having her

"2nd Annual Thanksgiving
(Quilting) Give-A-Way
"

(or you can click on the turkey to get to her page)



I've been the lucky winner on one of her Give-A-Ways before and TRUST ME, you really don't want to miss this blog contest!

HURRY ON OVER to her site!

All's you gotta do is post a comment - Elaine LOVES comments and then, tell everyone on YOUR blog about HER contest. Yah, I know, it cuts back on your chances of winning by telling everyone else but, like they say.....

If you don't try, you'll never win, eh?

*VBG*

Have a great weekend!

Rosa


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Let Me Introduce You To.....

Hi There!

I had picked up, this fall, a Christmas panel, at Mardens for $3.49.

In this picture, Gilbert is working his magic, from the top of the panel!



Here, he's added incredible snowflakes!

They look "frostier" in person...



Here's a closeup of Santa's hat.



And here's a closeup of a finished snowflake.



This is on Mrs. Claus' dress.

He made some cute trees...



And here's the finished panel!

Let me introduce you to Santa and the love of his life, Mrs. Claus!



Nope, haven't had a chance to bind it, yet. That might get done this weekend.

Guess what?

After 5 days of solid rain - last week and then, we went away and we had GORGEOUS sunshine... we're back to rain, again.

Day # 2, actually....

Rosa

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Better Late Than Never, eh?

Hi There!

Last Saturday, I FINALLY finished the binding on my "Thanksgiving Table Topper".

You see, our Canadian Thanksgiving was last month.... October 11th. actually.

It's now laid out on our kitchen table, anyhow.



I just LOVE the colors!!!!

A lot of these fabrics came from California and Florida - gifties from 2 good friends!



My "Thanks" for their "Giving"....

*grin*

Seriously....

Thanks... from the bottom of my heart!

Rosa

Sunday, November 14, 2010

2 Countries + 2 Provinces in 3 Days!

Hi There!

Gilbert and I left early Thursday morning for a 3 day trip - 2 sleepies - up the north of our province. We had booked 2 nights at the Best Western in Edmundston, New Brunswick.

I won't go into too many details other than to tell you that since Edmundston is near Madawaska, Maine, USA (towards the west) and near the Quebec border (further north), Gilbert and I were able to cross the border to the US on Thursday and the next morning, on Friday, we went to Rivière-du-Loup, in Quebec.

I'll share with you some quilty pictures. *s*

Here's what I picked up at Mardens, in Madawaska, Maine....

A cute Victorian(?) panel, for a child's quilt. I'm thinking it might be more appropriate for a little girl, rather than a little boy. What do you think?



And here's one of the matching fabrics...

TOO ADORABLE, in my opinion.
*VBG*



I also picked up some "Christmas" fabrics for a Christmas Spool Block Swap. Not sure if I'll actually use this fabric, but I thought I'd get it, anyhow. *s*



And some more LOVELY bright fabrics for my "Magic Tile" quilt, that I haven't started yet. I took a chance that I didn't have these fabrics yet.... remember I had gotten quite a bit of these when I went to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, last month?

Well, I was quite happy to see that these were all new bright fabrics!



And, since I'm doing a Block of the Month, from our local quilt shop, I picked up some matching-to-me fabrics to go with these blocks.



On our way back, we stopped at "The Christmas Crab Quiltery" in Woodstock, New Brunswick. We had a hard time finding the place as it's not quite in an obvious spot - out of town, a bit... but it sure packed a wallop, with fabrics and LOTS of quilted eye candy!!!!
*VBG*

One of the blogs that I have on my web site, "Red Quilts"... the lady works at this shop!

Anyhow, with the owner's permission, I took a few pictures.

Here's a picture of a spool quilt. The same kind of blocks, basically, as what I am now swapping.
(I'll probably be blogging about this swap, in due time.)



OH DEAR GOD!
I fell in love with this quilt. The shop owner didn't have the book (yet)... they'll soon be having classes on this, I believe. Since the shop is like 2 hours from here, she gave me the book title:
"Plentiful Possibilities"


(you can click on my pictures to see them bigger)

And I bought THIS incredible book, while at The Christmas Crab Quiltery...



Here's one of the embroidered (and appliquéd) blocks, in this book.



And that's all the pictures for now.

Early Sunday morning, here.

"What's on my agenda?" you ask.

Sunday = Laundry Day, for me.
Sew LAST month's BOM (from local quilt shop)
Sew label on Thanksgiving quilt - YEP, finished the binding on it yesterday evening.
Continue sewing the border on my "Green Crumb Quilt"
and whatever else I can find, in my sewing room...

I might be going out this afternoon, with Karen, to see a Rug Hooking exposition.

Have a great day!

Rosa


Sunday, November 7, 2010

Me and a Bunch of Hookers Got Together....

Hi There!

Yesterday morning, my friend Karen picked me up to go to the "Hurricane Hook-In", in St. Andrews, New Brunswick.

Boy did I have FUN!!!

I told Karen that I could probably do this 5 days a week, full-time, if I could! I just need to figure out a way to win the lottery, find a place big enough to do this, find a few women who are as crazy as I, find some other women who are willing to cook our meals.....

insert *EXTRA LONG SIGH* here

But it all comes back to winning the lottery....

LOL

Anyhow, I took a few pictures to share.

This lady had a GORGEOUS hand-dyed piece of fabric - her background - that her sister dyed for her.... and she was "needle punching", I believe it's called.

It was beautiful!!!



And this other lady told me that she drew these leaves herself... Such incredible vibrant colors!!!! And she was planning on using "Briggs and Little" yarn, called "Fog", for the background.

Lovely, isn't it?!??!



Kim, from Fredericton, was sitting in front of me. She was hooking a wall hanging for her brother... I just LOVE the "fish scales" around her main image!
*VBG*



And here's my friend Karen, explaining something or other. This past month, Karen was brave and decided to dye some of her wool with (non-sugared) Kool-Aid!

The mat that she has in front of her is made up of her OWN hand-dyed wool!
Neat, eh?

I just LOVE those bright colors!!!



And do you remember the project that I was working on?

Well, I certainly managed to make some headway with this one!



Then, I took a picture of some of the finished rug projects, that were hung up on their exposition wall.... S'always fun to look, admire (ooohs and aaaahs) and to see different techniques.



Like any quilt show or retreat, there are vendors. Since we only have 1 gal in our area that sells wool, books and even (fabric) batiks, she and her hubby were there.

She had a series of these books and I picked up this one.

Not only do I like snowmen, but this book shows SOOOOOO many different options, with just one pattern!!! And there are PLENTY of patterns in this book!!!



You can make quilt items with the same pattern, or woolen items - you know, just like penny rugs? You blanket stitch around it, if you wish.

And then, they give you examples on how you can add any of these patterns on your plain sweatshirt, for example.

I think there are even pincushions, in this book, as well as a couple framed "pictures".



And then, of course, you can hook MOST of these patterns, if not ALL of them!

I would definitely recommend THIS book if you love snowmen.... but there are a bunch of other ones, in this series as well!

One was called "Falloween", which I thought was an incredible blending of names as well as a great book. (I'll probably be picking that one up at another hook-in! LOL)

Well, it's now Sunday morning and we had to change our time again... What a pain in the butt - but I won't go there... Nope! I refuse to start my Stinkin' Thinkin' this morning. I'm hoping to head downstairs and do some sewing today!

Got the binding to do on my "Thanksgiving Table Topper" - Yep, I'm a bit late but that's the way my life is, at times!

Gonna finish LAST month's Block Of the Month, from our local quilt shop - Yep, I'm late on that one too!

Gonna try and do a DJ block or two - Yep, I haven't done one of those in over a month, I believe... I was suppose to try and do 5 or 6 of them PER WEEK! LOL

And the list goes on and on and on...
(ooops, just remembered that it's Sunday and I usually have laundry, on Sunday's!!!)

Hope you have a GREAT Sunday!!!!

Here's a cute picture that I had posted the LAST time we had a time change... Even with the pain-in-the-butt time change, I still find this incredibly funny!


(Click on picture to see it better)

Rosa

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

"How's My Day, So Far?", you ask.

Hi There!

So you want to know how my day's been, so far, eh?

Well, got up at 6h45 a.m., got dressed and went to work. I work in a fairly big building and once in the office, I share my 8 hours of work, with a co-worker.

Around 11h30 a.m., I come home to eat.

Since we have a couple cats, I always try to watch where I'm stepping, in our back yard... "Gifties" from cats are no fun to step in.

Then, after lunch, I go back out to the car, carefully watching where I put my feet.

Got back to work, safely.... no problem.

The rest of the afternoon was rather uneventful.

I finish work at 4h00 p.m. and I called up Gilbert to remind him that I was heading off to Curves.

During our conversation, I looked down
and TO MY HORROR, saw THIS!!!!



LONG GROAN!!!!!

NOBODY - even myself - NOTICED that I had 2 different shoes on?!?!?!?

Well, of course I still went to Curves and had to share with them my "story". Believe it or not, there was another gal there that she did the same thing... only she had 2 different colored shoes on!

LOL

Hope you're having a better day than me!

I'm heading downstairs for supper and then, out the door....

It's our monthly Quilt Guild meeting!

Later 'gators!

Rosa

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

What's New, Part Two

Hi There!

Just thought I'd share with you
what we had hanging outside,
during the month of October.



Gilbert and I made a series
of these cute (IMHO) hanging signs.



This morning, we removed
our pumpkin and replaced it
with THIS sign.



One of our clients came
and picked up her quilt,
this afternoon.

She complimented us
on our poppy sign.
*s*



Well, as some of you know,
I took the day off today.

I got my hair cut...



And Gilbert got HIS hair cut, too.
But, at the Barber shop,
not at the Hair Dressers.
*grin*



Since I've FINALLY finished
my Thanksgiving Table Topper,
Gilbert started to quilt it.

(He's trying to get ideas on how it was quilted, in the book)



And even though it's not completed quilted
and, of course, I'll need to do the binding
and add a label to it,
I had promised my friend, Frummie,
that I would show her what it looked it.



A lot of the fabrics in this quilt are gifties
from her and Elaine.

A proper "Thanksgiving" Quilt....
wouldn't you say?!?!?
*grin*

Rosa

Monday, November 1, 2010

Cinderella (AKA The "Princess")

Hi There!

As some of you might remember,
I've affectionately nicknamed
one of my nieces as
"The Princess",
or "Princess Sophia".

Yesterday evening,
my sister and her hubby,
went door to door,
trick-or-treating with....

"Cinderella" !!!!



Here you see Princess Sophia,
OH ... SORRY...
I meant ....

"Cinderella",
stepping out of her pumpkin!

*VBG*

Where do witches go shopping?

At the Boooo-tique!

LOL

Hope you had a hauntingly
wonderful Halloween!

Rosa


Sunday, October 31, 2010

What's New, Eh?

Hi there!

Well, since I haven't been blogging
as often as I usually do,
I thought I'd share with you
"What's New, Eh?"
in my world.

Two weeks ago, I helped out with a
"Sunday Tea", with our quilting guild.

First time for me and HEY!
I had fun!
*grin*

I volunteered to make 10 "pins"
and as we had a fall theme going on
I went to visit our local Dollar Store!



I also volunteered to make
some "Mug Rugs".
I made 8 for the tea and
gave one away to one of our
loyal longarm clients.

Here's the back of the Mug Rug.



And here's the front....



Well, Gilbert's working on yet ANOTHER gadget for "Bertha" and him.

This time, he's cutting up a (hollow) door - don't ask me what the specific name for these doors, but it's the kind that you use inside a home.

He measured his space and the length that he wanted. Actually, he probably measured this, 50 thousand times! LOL
(Measure twice, cut once, right?)



He had to re-glue the sides.



Once this was done, he painted the one side of the door. Two coats, actually.

And we might end up making some quilt blocks on that side.

"What in tarnation is he making???", you ask.

Well, he's making a made-t0-measure
ironing board,
to use on Bertha's table.

I'll keep blogging on each step,
and you'll see what I mean.



Here's Gilbert, this morning....

Watching a You-Tube video
and drinking his Tim Horton's coffee.


Finally, I finished my "CowBoy Blessing"...
it's bound and has it's label.



This is a pattern that I had won
with "Prairie Moon Quilts".
Tks!



I've finished my "Thanksgiving Table Topper"
but it's on Bertha, right now and
Gilbert should be quilting it, tomorrow.

I've also FINALLY put together the
rows, on point, of my Crumb Quilt
but I need to add a few borders,
around it.

I didn't bother taking any pictures.

I will share pictures with you,
once these last two projects are finished.

Have a great week!

Rosa

Happy Halloween!!!

Hi There!

My youngest sister lives
'bout 1-1/2 hours drive, from here...
THANK GOD!!!
(you'll understand why I wrote this, in a bit)
*grin*

Now, my sister's an EXCELLENT cook!
But, IMHO, she specializes in desserts...
Cheese Cakes, regular cakes, pies,
fancy cookies, creamy (fancy) squares -
you name it and I'm positive she's made it!

At our family functions,
I've stopped fretting and worrying
about bringing some kind of dessert...
in the back of my mind, now, I say,
"Oh, she's bound to bring SOME incredible
dessert - I won't bother."
(Thanks Sis!!!)

Recently, she's taken several cake decorating classes.

Thursday evening, she sends me THIS picture,
via email.



She made cupcakes for her daughter's class.

Incredible, eh?
*VBG*

If we lived close to each other,
I'm afraid I'd have to be "pushed" around in a wheelchair,
instead of just waddling around!

LOL

Love ya, Sis!!!!

Rosa

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Still Breathing and Barely Moving

Hi There!

Okay, I went to Curves Saturday morning.

I didn't think that those woosey kind of exercises could make me break out in a sweat.

WRONG!

Sunday, Curves is closed (... YES, Thank You Lord!)

Monday, after work, I went back to Curves.

Crawled into my car.
Crawled out of my car, once home.
Crawled upstairs to take a shower.
Felt like crap.
My friend, "Rocky" assured me it would get better.

Tuesday, after work, I went back to Curves.
Dragged my sorry butt into my car.
Dragged the same butt out of the car, once home.
Felt crappier - EXHAUSTED, actually...
Once again, my friend "Rocky" reassured me that it was only temporary.



Went back to Curves this evening.

Well, my body protested afterwards and YES, I crawled (AKA dragged my sorry butt) in and out of the car but for the first time, after my hot shower, I almost felt "okay".

So, I think I'll survive....

I'm still breathing and after my shower....
yes, barely moving, too!

Besides, I've now got 4 visits at Curves.
396 more and I'll get my FREE t-shirt!!!

YEAH!!!

Bring on the "carrot"!

LOL

Rosa

Monday, October 25, 2010

Warm Hugs From Scotland!!!

Hi There!

I received TWO warm hugs from Scotland, today!!!!

"How does a person receive a Warm Hug?", you ask.

Well, when this person has just recently dyed some sheep's wool and sends you 2 bags of nice, fluffy, warm wool.... well, that's 2 "Warm Hugs", in my books!

*VBG*



She dyed her wool with Kool-Aid!

And she somehow managed to "felt" 2 pieces, too!



Ooooooooh.....

I truly wish that you could feel how warm and soft her "Warm Hugs" are!!!!



Thanks Rosemary!!!!



I will surely add them in one of my hooking projects, ASAP....

I only wish that I could send her some "Warm Hugs" too!

Rosa