Projects.. projects..projectss

It has been quite a while since I have had a sewing project. I have had the luxury of a "craft" room for 20 years.. A place to call my own... I have storage shelves, cupboards, peg board with hooks, a TV and tall table for standing at. I have used my room for many things... but most recently I use it for scrapbooking, make church crafts and gift wrapping. I love love love sewing. But not really clothing.. I love sewing little gifts and stuff... but I haven't sewn in a while.

This past weekend, my sister and her hubby arrived from Fredericton with all her fun sewing stuff and we began a weekend of creating. Some things I can't show you, because its wedding secrets..but these are the colors and the fabric...hee heeWith white fabric we made 5 little dresses for some little people in the wedding party. Well, actually, not all of the dress. Just the bodices. We had planned on making the whole dress, but we were less than confident on the proper sizes, even with all the great measurements that people sent us... sooo, our solution was to make the bodices and then I am going to pop them into the mail to get them tried on....

My sister has this amazing sewing machine that does fancy embroidering and she made two very cute projects for Chantal little ones... (they are oat bags for warming their toes each night when the snuggle under the covers)

The machine does great sewing, but it take a lot of foolin around to get the pictures all designed, then transferred to the computer and then to the machine... once its there.. you need to sit and do all the color changes... but it it amazing to watch... I hope to work on some projects with my friends.. Debbie and Pat Casey... Debbie.. start thinking of little things you want to make and Pat.. I already know you will be looking at baby stuff.. for Dylan..!!!
I made a little design today for a overnight bag I am going to make for a young girl who is due for her new baby next week. I bought a few "orange" items to put in the bag which will be black. She can bring it to the hospital with her.

Wedding nibbles...

Michelle and Scott have sent out invitations to their little flowergirls, junior bridesmaids, etc. My sister and I are making the dresses for the girls... so she is coming this weekend to get started on them.

These are simple dresses with sashes... perfect for a summer wedding. Gail will be here for 4 days and she is bringing her fancy smancy sewing machine for me to play with while she is away in the south... Carolina I think... for 6 weeks... So, Ann if you see my sister, say hi, to her.. ok!

A little mouse told me

Ever since our first snow fall this winter, I have noticed the strangest little trail on our side walk. Truly, every day... after we get a dusting of snow, there is evidence of a new trail, but in the exact same spot.. Last night during our snowstorm, Terry was out shovelling and the little trail appeared just minutes after he went by. If you look carefully at hte picture above, just pass Terry's foot prints you can see a little trail across the side walk. Below is a closer look. It is there after every snow fall, and its always in the same spot.

It starts and ends in the snowbanks with a little hole... tiny hole.. Terry figures its a mouse trail. They must have an undersnow path to go to the bird feeder, under the tree. I have seen little mice in the birdfeeder, I even have a picture.. somewhere... sooo cute.. really.

Just a note... since we have had so much cool activity in the birdfeeder, I have been looking on my computer for some of hte really neat birdfeeder pictures, but I can seem to find any. I am not sure if I just didn't take any, or I didn't save them... or they are there and I can't find them. But this has prompted both Terry and I to take more pics of the feeder guests. Terry snapped a pic of a big Blue Jay just taking flight... very cool!

I am so Proud.

His speech was more than I expected. It was filled with hope, common sense, pride and compassion. I am so proud of the USA for electing this man to be their leader. I feel that not only is this history in the making for electing a man of color to presidential office, but I feel that OBAMA is the light at the end of a very dark and violent tunnel. I feel the hope and relief from our USA neighbours. Congratulations

Turning 50, again... third time is a charm.

Well, its been a month since my birthday celebrations, and I have failed to write about my third and final birthday surprise. With all the Christmas activities, then January blahs, I just didn't get to it until today.. but, before I do, please let me recap.

A few days before my 50th birthday, I was surprised by my sister in law, Kelly, from Ottawa.. with a cake and her gift of a weekend visit. She left on Monday, but not before she came to visit me at school to see the BIG surprise that I faced there.. and when I arrived home I was again surprised .. .with a last minute .. "oh before I leave" gift from Kelly of 50 bras decorating my yard!!! The next day, being my actual birthday, I wasn't planning on any more surprises, since it had all be done the day BEFORE my birthday.... But that day was full of many surprises.. including flowers, gifts and a visit to my house by my decorating friend, MY SANDRA, from Moncton and a brand new convection oven, which you can read all about here....

So, after the events of the whole day... I was exhausted... done... no more.... I knew I had a curling pot luck that night and really didn't want to go, but it was our chance to exchange gifts with our team mates, as well as the annual tradition of a fun, cutthroat gift exchange with the whole group of lady curlers. Although, months ago, I was worried that this potluck was landing on my birthday, in the days coming up to it, I was relieved to know that Wendy had forgotten it was birthday, and she wasn't even curling this year. Debbie couldn't be there until later in the night due to an Christmas concert, and most of the ladies there didn't really even know me. So, I was looking forward to a fun evening where "I" was not the center of attention.

It was my turn to drive and I called Patsy to tell her I would pick her up. When I got there at her door, she wasn't ready... "give me 5 minutes" she says.. Well, we were late already and I hate being late.. so while she was upstairs, primping and pruning, I dragged all her stuff to the car.. food, gifts.. etc. FINALLY she runs out to the car and it was 7. It took 5 minutes to get to the club and when we got out of the car.. Patsy darts ahead while I drag all my stuff out of the car. Which, I thought was so weird, and now I understand... but I didn't at the time...

when I arrived into the curling club....LATE... I brought my dish of food right to the table and as I walked there.. the entire group of ladies sang to me... "happy birthday"... I enjoyed the singing, as I had all day... and graciously smiled and gave them a royal wave. I placed the food down, and spotted my team. I went over to them, and started to unpack my entire bag full of gifts and treats... Cricket mentioned that I had a lot of fun pictures.. and I thought she meant on my blog and I chuckled with her and went on unpacking.

Then... Wendy produces an entire ROYAL costume... with crown, cape and scepter... then she spins me around and shows me the display on the window....

Here is the one girl I didn't suspect.... Robin Bradshaw. My long time friend ... my bridesmaid from 27 years ago.. and the window was full of pictures from our days together as single girls... as well as a whole poster of pictures of me.. in many aspects of my life... thanks to Debbie. A huge banner was made... and a wonderful cake with me when I was 20... oh geesh.... How could I have thought I would get away with a 50th birthday without this whole crew planning something. Wendy lied, of course, about not knowing it was my birthday... Debbie truly wasn't there.. which was a shame.. because I know how much work went into the poster and cake.. and she truly did have a concert to attend. She arrived around 9... and we shared a few laughs at all the things that now made sense.! Patsy was late on purpose, so I would be the last one to arrive... Hazel provided the costume from her high school drama closet...


At the end of it all, I am left with the warmest sense of friendship and belonging. I totally know how much work all of these birthday events took. I know how busy everyone is at that time of the year, just a week or so before Christmas. Little things like dragging a huge chair to work in the back of a car, taking time to at night to climb ladders and decorate my office, rushing to work after tearing apart your house to find a costume, buy cakes and 50 candles, planning writing exercises in class in order to make a book for me, writing jokes, teaching kids songs for me, making time in a busy school day to drag your entire class to the office to sing and visit, blowing up balloons... flying from Ottawa, working half the night on a fancy Pea Cake, driving from Moncton and back!, putting together a poster of pictures that were not that easy to find, flowers, treats, ordering cakes, picking them up, making phone calls, rifling through costume closets, having banners made, digging up pictures from the past, putting together my royal curling orb, decorating, cooking, even buying cards... it all takes time, and its such a busy time of the year... I am truly honored and humbled by the lovely attention, be it silly or heartfelt... it all was sooo touching! I love all my family and friends... You all complete me!

Oh, January is such a difficult month

Really, if we were cavemen, we would be hibernating right now, I am sure of it. The desire to snuggle in bed with the covers right up to my nose has got to be a reflex from my caveman roots. The desire to stow a bag of chips under the covers, and a handful of red licorice, and the remote must come from some other root source, but it is equally strong.

When I read on facebook how people had "a great day skiing" or "an awesome 10 km run" I know they are LYING... they have to be.. .who has the energy for that. All my energy is reserved for being awake!!!! So today I put on facebook that I had lobster bisque for lunch with Chantal... actually I said it was made by Chantal... I was lying!!! hee hee.. but she did make tacos and shared them with me... yummmm . So thoughtful, and very yummy.. I think tomorrow, I will say that I had a great day climbing Mt. North after which we had a meal of BBQ Ontario Squirrel.

Just thought I would post a sunny bright picture of happy yellow flowers that I got from my kids on my Birthday. This is a lead in too..........I owe some attention to my dear friends who were the final players in my birthday trilogy... so tomorrow, I will post the final chapter to my 50th birthday celebration!

woooowwww, he's big...

Our birdfeeder has been the source of much entertainment over the last 4 years... We have watched many a fat bird, chipmunk and squirrel chow down at it. We have had a little field mouse visit for a whole day, every 10 minutes, and a raccoon that came nightly for most of several summers.

It drives Pika and Mollie crazy, since it sits less than 2 feet from our livingroom window to give my dad good clear viewing from his favorite seat in the livingroom. Because dad's eye sight had failed over his last years, he could make out if it was a bird or a squirrel at the feeder,but that was about it. On occasion our little squirrel friends would sit up on top of the house so dad would get a clear look.

Imagine what Terry and I were thinking today when this big brute arrived to feast. We laughed at what Dad would have said. This guy is one of those squirrels that some how stowed away in a moving truck from Ontario. We have never seen these guys on the east coast until the last couple of years and never in our yard until this summer. He is 4 times the size of our regular visitors and Dad would have been able to count the whiskers on his face.. If you scroll up you can see he fills the entire tray from top to bottom of the feeder.