Who Needs Directions?

I never would have thought putting four legs on a small table would be difficult. After all, there are four legs and four places to put the legs. I attached one leg, OK, attached another leg, didn't fit so well. Tried another leg, still had problems, started cursing seller for taking off the legs.

I took a good look at the table and what do my wandering eyes should appear? One tiny hole between the two nail holes here.

And two tiny holes between the nail holes here.

Mmmmmmm . . . I wonder if there are corresponding holes on the legs. Tada!!!! There are matching holes on the legs. The person who made this table is leagues ahead of IKEA.

Voila! Here is the roll top sewing table fully assembled.

And here is the sewing table when it's open. Those containers slide and come out to reveal more storage space below.

The owner of the table also included this basket . . .

Filled with these old notions.

So here's my question of the day - is there anyway to rid of the dusty, musty, smokey smell of the wood and the basket? I'm assuming there's not much I can do about the notions. All suggestions are welcomed.

Sweet P

Bag Swap Sneak Peak

Friday I went shopping to choose the fabric for my bag swap tote bag. I found this lovely fabric to pair with a stitchery. I know my swap partner will be happy with her tote bag. Now I need to make the bag.
Yesterday I picked my antique sewing table. It's gorgeous. I will post photos tomorrow. I also visited a quilt friend and we went to her LQS. I was very good at the store. I purchased three FQs, two for projects and one just because I like it; a Quilter's Home magazine; a Sew-by-Row book and a beaded pin kit to get jump started on my beading.

Today I finished my Valori Wells challenge project. I should be able to post photos of it later this week.

Again, I say thank you to all the wonderful words of encouragement I've received from many of you this past week. All of you have helped me get through a difficult week. Hopefully this coming week will be better.

Happy stitching!
Sweet P

Thank You

I want to say thank you for all the kind words and comments on my last post. Sometimes I want to take every woman who thinks she can do it all and not take care of herself in the process and shake her until she realizes SHE COMES FIRST! I don't know why our society doesn't teach young women how to nurture herself.

If anyone is interested I have read two books recently that spoke strongly to me and have helped me along the way. The first one, Zen and the Art of Housekeeping, is a great little book. Don't be put off by the title. The author talks about keeping home and enjoying it, along with several green tips to house cleaning.

The other book is Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood by Suzanne Braun Levine. Although I'm a few years short of 50, this book has provided me a path for the rest of my life. I think every woman nearing the age of 50 or is over 50 should read this book. And then go out and have a fantastic Second Adulthood.

OK, now I'll hop off my soapbox. I could go on and on . . . but I'll save some advice for another day.

The photo is my Walkin' The Line quilt hanging over our bed. At the moment it's being held up by push pins, but you get the idea. I love it over the bed. Now we just need to find the right color paint for the walls. I hate the current color. I'd like to pick one of the fabrics for the curtains. I'm thinking the border fabric would make great curtains. What do you think?

I need to get working on my swap tote bag. I have the design picked out. I have most of the fabric. I just need to get my butt into my studio to do it.

Until next time, Happy Stitching!
Sweet P

Meeting Follow-Up

Thanks for all the wonderful comments about my Walkin' The Line quilt. DH loves it and wants to make it into our headboard. I will be quilting it with batting only and then attaching it to a well-padded board and we will hang it just over our bed. It will become the focal point for our bedroom.

Thanks also for the all the kind words about my meeting yesterday. I haven't talked much about being on medical leave the last few months but your words of encouragement have prompted me to share some of my story.

Back in April I had a mental "meltdown" for lack of a better word. I don't call it a breakdown although some people may call it. I had been under an extreme amount of stress at work and working in the family business only compounded the stress. Over the winter months I started having what I now were anxiety attacks. I thought it was symptoms of peri-menopause. I went to see my gyn. She checked me out and agreed with me. We decided to keep a watch on my symptoms before we chose to take any type of hormonal treatment.

In early April I was feeling more tense, unable to sleep and unable to focus so I went to see my primary care doctor. He put me on Effexor. A few days after I started the medication I had a day where I was so tired I could hardly walk up and down the stairs in our home. I took three two-hour naps that day and thought I would be better the next morning. The next morning, which was a Monday, DH and I took our morning shower (yes, we shower together and I'm proud of it). As we were getting out of the shower I panicked and told him I couldn't bear the thought of going to the office and I was staying home. The same even happened Tuesday morning. I decided to ask my boss to take the week off and work from home. I was convinced I was just rundown and needed to be alone.

Later that week DH and I realized there was more going on with me than just being rundown. He and my boss insisted I go on medical leave and not work at all until I was better - however long that would be. DH also made me set up a counseling appointment. I'm glad both of those events happened. After a few therapy appointments my therapist diagnosed me with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, mostly caused by my work environment. The last four months have been eye-opening to say the least. For the first time in my life I am living my life for ME and not just to please other people. I have always been a people pleaser and seldom took care of myself. Now I take of myself and I'm a happier person.

Just to make this post quilty, here's another quilt from the quilt festival. It's the only redwork quilt I saw there. There were little, if any, quilts that incorporate stitchery and quilting. I think we need to import some Australian quilters to New England!
Happy stitching!
Sweet P

Day 2 Quilt-a-thon Progress

My Quilt-a-thon was a success for me.

I finished the top of Walkin' The Line this morning. I love how it looks. DH and I have decided the quilt will be the focal point of our master bedroom. It may hang on the wall or be draped over the end of the bed. We will choose a brown from the quilt for the wall color. We had thought about painting the walls blue, but a friend told me they painted their bedroom walls blue and the room feels "cold" in the winter. I currently have blue paint test areas in the room and agree with her.

I also worked on the 9-patches I'm making from the galoshes fabric. I have the rows for 25 of them sewn. I still don't know what I'm going to do with them when they are done. I'm just sewing them for fun right now.

Tomorrow I have to attend a sales meeting. This is the first time in four months I have been involved in an office activity. I have been working at home the last few weeks which has worked out well. I am anxious about going to the meeting. I am glad DH will be there. I'm not sure I could handle it without him being there. It will be an interesting day to say the least.

Have a great week!
Sweet P

Day 1 Quilt-a-thon Progress

Considering I tweaked my lower back on Friday and could hardly make it to bed that night I had a productive day in the Coffee Time Quilt studio yesterday.

I was my studio by 7:30 am and working on my Valori Wells challenge. I have it all finished except for hand sewing the binding. Would you believe I don't have thread to match the fabric? Oh darn, it means I'll have to go shopping at Joann's. My iron got all gunky using my pressing cloth and I can't find my iron cleaner either. My list for Joann's is already growing!

My next project was my Walkin' The Line brown and teal quilt. I finished the inside of the top and added half of the first border. I'll finish it this morning.

I can't share a photo of my challenge project until later this week after the deadline on Tuesday. I'll post a photo of the quilt tonight.

I am way behind on leaving comments on blogs. My plan is to get caught up tonight when I can't sit and sew anymore.

I'll leave with a photo of my favorite quilt from the Lowell Quilt Festival. It's called Irrational Exuberance and was made by Ellen Aron of Littleton, MA. I love the color choices and the mix of blocks she used. The quilt just makes me smile!
I'll be back tonight with a Day 2 Quilt-A-Thon wrap-up.
Sweet P

Shopping Goodies From the Quilt Show

I had a fun time at the quilt show. I'm still working through the photos trying to decide which ones to show. I know, I know, I should show them all, but I took about 30 photos and that's quite a bit of photos. Most of the quilts were art quilts. I like art quilts, but I was disappointed there wasn't more traditional quilts. It was fun meeting a couple more on-line quilters. We walked and talked and shopped! What more could you want for an afternoon?

I will share my shopping goodies tonight. First up are my quilt goodies. I purchased a brown and turquise/blue quilt kit and pattern from Sweet Treat. The kit contains enough fabric for a complete top. The patterns they sell are so easy you can make one in a day. I'm running low on blenders and I found 10 blenders for $20. There's one stitchery pattern for the 12 Days of Christmas. The pattern is written for tea towels, but I'm thinking of making a banner with the stitcheries. At a hand-dyed booth they were selling scrap bags for $2.50. I couldn't resist. The colors will make a neat addition to my postage stamp collection.

There was a booth from We Got The Buttons. This was the first time I've seen a booth at quilt show that didn't sell fabric, thread or sewing equipment. But she had button, buttons and even more buttons. And jewelry. And watches. Every item in the booth was gorgeous. I am in love with dichroic glass. I've purchased several pieces in the last few months. When I saw this watch I knew I had to have one to go with my other new jewelry. It looks great on me if I do say so myself. She makes the watches a little long and then fits them to the customer. The customer gets a gold chain for the extra link(s). For me it was one link. You might think the watch is heavy because it's glass. It's not. It's so light that I forgot I had it on. It is the lightest watch I've ever worn.

Judy at Patchwork Times is having a quilt-a-thon this weekend. I'm joining in for once. DH is going out of town this weekend for a bachelor party and I'm home alone. I need to work on my Valori Wells challenge, my bag swap, plus I want to make the brown and turquoise quilt. I'm hoping to get in some hand stitching time too. Sounds energetic for me. I should be able to tackle everything. My plan is to cut the kits for my projects tomorrow night then sew on Saturday and Sunday. It's going to be in the 70s this weekend so it won't too hot in my sewing room. Hooray!

Come on and join the fun! You know you want to do it! Just do it!

Happy Stitching!
Sweet P

The Sound Of Music

Nothing quilty to post this morning. But all this talk of musicals finally reminded me that I have the sound tracks for Sound of Music and South Pacific on my I-Tunes. So, this morning I'm listening to Do-Re-Mi while processing some statistics.

By the way, is there anything wrong with painting your toes for the first time by yourself at 11 pm? Last night I was watching TV waiting for DH to come home and had this urge to paint my toes. I've had pedicures, but never painted my toes on my own. So I did it. The color is called No, I'm Not A Waitress. Not bad for 11 at night, huh?

Tomorrow I'm going to the Lowell Quilt Festival with some new quilt friends. I'll be back on Friday with some inspiration and shopping goodies!
Sweet P

My Favorite Things

The master bathroom is done! Read about it here.

The Sound of Music is floating around blogland today! Paula, The Quilter is singing So Long, Farewell and Nancy at Patchwork Penguin is singing My Favorite Things. The Sound of Music is the first film I remember seeing in the theater as a little girl. I remember Maria walking down the aisle with the nuns singing Maria. What little girl wouldn't dream of having a wedding like she did?

I love musicals and music. Taking Nancy's cue I thought I'd list my 10 favorite musicals and/or songs.

1. My all-time favorite music is Jesus Christ Superstar. When I was teenager my girlfriends and I used to perform the opera to the records taking turns with the various roles. The album was the first music I put into my ITunes and on my Ipod. These days Comcast has the 1973 movie with Ted Neeley On Demand. I listen to it almost every day. I admit though I've never seen any other work by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. I couldn't pick a favorite song of the opera. I love them all.
2. Of course, the Sound of Music is a favorite. My favorite song from the movie is Do-Re-Mi. It was one of the first songs I learned when taking piano lessons.
   
3. South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein will make me dream about being on a tropical island. I auditioned for the role of Bloody Mary in high school, but ended up playing in the orchestra instead. My favorite song from the movie is Bloody Mary. Those men dancing around the beach get me every time.
   
4. The King and I is another Rodgers and Hammerstein musical I love. I played in the orchestra for our high school production of this as well. Shall We Dance is my favorite song from the movie. I always adored the hoop skirts the women wore and loved to watch them twirl in them.
5. That's all the musicals I like. Now on to my favorite songs. I will stop everything to hear The Piano Man by Billy Joel. I still wish I could play the piano as well as he does. Have your ever heard his classical music CD? It's awesome.
   
6. Another favorite Billy Joel is Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. Oh what the heck - Billy Joel is at the top of my favorite musician list.
   
7. Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond will get me humming. If course, it doesn't help that at Fenway Park the song is played during the 7th inning stretch. I'm excited because Neil Diamond is performing at Fenway Park on August 23 and we have tickets to go! Be still my heart! We saw Neil Diamond just after 9/11 and it was a great show.
   
8. Can You Feel The Love Tonight from Lion King by Elton John is a great song. I never saw the movie, but I love the music. I've seen Billy Joel and Elton John together in concert twice. They had great shows.
   
9. I never thought I would take my two sons to a rock concert, but we took them to see The Who a few years ago. We had the best time. My favorite Who song is Baba O'Riley, sometimes referred to as Who Are You. It is the opening credit song for the CSI shows.
   
10. And last, but not least, The Lion Sleeps Tonight by The Tokens. This song just makes my body groove every time I hear it.

Tell me 10 of your favorite things!
Sweet P

Coffee Time Quilt Studio Has Art

After being in our new condo for five months we finally have some art on a wall. Of course, it's in the Coffee Time Quilt Studio. A few weeks ago when I was at Ikea I found a wooden frame set. It is advertised as a way to hang fabric. On my sewing day I pulled out this piece of coffee fabric and started attaching it to the frame. The nails Ikea included were crappy so I started using my staple gun. I ran out of staples and finally remembered this past week to get some more. This afternoon I finished the project and hung the art.

Here's a close-up view of the fabric. Isn't it perfect for Coffee Time? I can't remember who gave me this fabric or where I got it. I want to say Paula, The Quilter gave it to me last fall.

I got some mail goodies in the last two days. A friend and I swapped fabric. I sent her some FQs. Since I am starting to make postage stamp quilts she sent me her scraps that were too small for her, but the perfect size for postage stamps.
While cruising E-bay recently I found a listing for 120 strips of Aunt Martha repro fabrics. They range in size from 1 1/2 inch to 3 1/2 inches wide. I won them for less than $20 including shipping. Some of them will go into postage stamps quilt, some may end up as binding, some will be put away.
We got one coat of paint done in the kitchen last night. We will finish it tomorrow. I guess that means I have sewing time tonight. Hooray!
Sweet P

August First Is Here

Here it is the first of August. Summer is slowly drifting by. Here is the photo off my deck this morning. Not much different than the July photo. Perhaps in September I'll start to see the leaves turning. No, probably not. Maybe by October 1st.
Not much going on in the sewing room this week. I finished my siggie squares and sent them off. I have cut all the 3 1/2 inch strips from the Galoshes fabric into squares and now I can continue working on the 9-patches.

Last night I updated my Late Summer Challenges and Projects list. I have one deadline in the middle of the month - making something from Valori Wells Olive Rose fabric. I won a set of 8 FQs from the fabric line earlier this summer. Nancy is hosting the challenge. I have my project picked out now I just need to get started on it. The only other deadline I have is Linda's bag swap. I have my partner and I have an idea for the bag. Now I just need to get started.

I won't be much sewing over the weekend. We are painting our kitchen this weekend. It's going from a pale yellow to Kittery Point Green. It's the same green I painted my pantry.

Today I went into town to run some errands. I went into one of the antique/gift shops in town. I found a basket of FQs for $1 each. I couldn't resist - I'm so weak - I purchased six of them. The green and red on the left are the the same print. The green and blue on the bottom have polka dots. The red and white on top is a 30s repro. The last green one is simply pretty.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend. I'll be around, I hope!
Sweet P

I Need Some Design Help

Saturday night DH and I watch the unedited version of American Gangster. It was a good movie. While watching the movie I kept stitching and stitching on my postage stamp 4-patches. I finished this set of seven (one of each fabric) and I have another set half sewn. That was the extent of my quilting activities for the weekend.
Yesterday we painted our bathroom and now I need some design help. Please go to my home blog and help me out.

Thanks!
Sweet P

Saturday Morning Doings

I finally took the time to sit at my sewing machine and sew something (or two or three). According to my sewing log the last time I used the machine was on June 27! I think that's a record for me. First up this morning was my siggie blocks. I finished 48 of them. I need to make 60. I'll make the rest tomorrow and then I'll sign them.
I also sewed two 9-patches from the galoshes fabric I bought last week. I like how they are looking. The quilts should turn out to be fun quilts when I'm done with them.
Now the Red Sox/Yankees game is on and I'm going to work on my postage stamp charms. It's a hot, hot day here in NH so I'm staying indoors.

Happy Stitching!
Sweet P

Hand Piecing Is Fun!

I've started hand piecing my Postage Stamp checked squares. Aren't these tiny 4-patches adorable? They are 2 1/2 inches square. It takes me about 10 minutes to sew one 4-patch. I have enough patches cut for 126 4-patches. If each 4-patch takes 10 minutes to sew, then it should take me 21 hours to sew all of them. Is that the right math? It doesn't seem like it. I'm probably better off not knowing how long it will take to sew this quilt. I might stop.

It's raining here today. At least it waited until after I ran my errands to start. There's quite a bit of thunder today too. We don't get a lot of thunder here and I miss it. I grew up in Minnesota and no nature sound is sweeter sounding to me than a good thunderstorm. OK, maybe the wind blowing during a blizzard is cool.

If you are new visitor to my blog you may not know how much I love snow. To prove how much I love snow, here's a photo of me taken last December 16th outside our downtown apartment. The snow drift I'm standing in front of was our parking space. I am standing on about 18 inches of snow and the drift was close to the top of my head. That means the snow drift is close to 7 feet tall!
Stay in stitches!
Sweet P

Finally Some Quilting Content

This past Saturday Mavie and Darlene came down for our bi-monthly sewing day. Here's Darlene working with her 30s blocks. The legs on the floor belong to her DD, Lydia.
Mavie worked on Claudia's BOM.
After lunch we went to my LQS to look at the awesome scraps they sell and the special sale they were having on yardage. For every one yard of fabric you bought, you could get the second yard for 99 cents. According to my records I haven't bought any "fun" fabric since the beginning of May. "Fun" fabric is fabric I buy just because I like it. I did have to buy fabric in the beginning of June for a siggie swap I'm doing, but that doesn't count as "fun" fabric. This is the "fun" fabric I found. The galoshes are adorable! I already have the fabric cut into 3.5 inch strips for making 9-patches and 5 inch strips for a nickel quilt design.My LQS has great packaged scraps. The packages can be anything from a single remnant to six or seven coordinating pieces. For $3,50 I found a package of mini checked fabrics I thought would be adorable for a mini postage stamp quilt. The shop also a bin of scraps you can dig through and fill a small lunch bag for $3.50. The bin is a huge favorite of Mavie and Darlene's. We dumped the bin on the floor, sat on the floor and dug through the scraps. I found strips of white muslin leftover from the owner's long arm lessons that would work with the checked fabrics. I also found 1.5 inch strips of a blue fabric with small colorful swirls on it. There was one piece that would be long enough for a binding strip.

Here's the fabric cut into 1.5 inch squares. You can tell how tiny the checks are. I got enough squares cut out of the checked fabric to make 126 4-patches. I also thought it would be cool to sprinkle in a few 4-patches made with the blue fabric. I have no idea how I will design the quilt once the 4-patches are done or how big it will be. All I know is I will have fun making the quilt. I will hand-piece the quilt as I can't imagine sewing all those tine seams on my machine. After all, isn't 1.5 inches just a couple needlefuls of fabric? I didn't make a big dent in the blue and white fabric, so for less than $7.00 I'll be able to make a mini quilt! I'm so excited!
Here's my project box for the quilt. Now I just need to get started.
And last, but not least, what's a hot Saturday afternoon with friends without some yummy banana splits? These were so good! I'm glad Mavie left some of the fixin's with me. DH and I can have banana splits tonight after dinner!
Bye for now! My quilting mojo is back and I'm so happy!
Sweet P

Mail Goodies

Happy Friday! I think I'm almost back to normal on my routine around the house. DH is home and back to work at the office. I'm nearly caught up on weekly chores and I have a few minutes to post before I have to do some office work and then get ready for the weekend. Tonight is at home date night with DH and tomorrow my sewing friends are coming over to play!

I promised photos of my mail goodies this week and here they are. First up is my pincushion from Linda's swap. Thank you Vickie for an awesome pincushion. Ms. Pinny (that's what she told me her name is) is the most gorgeous pincushion I've ever seen. She has already taken up residence in my sewing room. Along with the pincushion was a small notebook, a pencil, a towel and a cross stitch kit.
Another friend sent me a RAQ - four coffee cup coasters and this adorable pair of socks. I'm a sock collector and love novelty socks. Now I can't wait for cooler weather so I have a reason to wear these socks.
Also in the mail this week I received Tracey's note cards. My photos wouldn't do her photos justice so click on the link and you can see them there. I chose one of every card. They are so gorgeous I don't think I can even bear to send them out.

Yesterday I got my bargain purchase of the week. Barnes & Noble often has great books on sale. On Sunday afternoon I browsed through their website and bought: Cooking for 1 or 2; The Complete Household Handbook from Goodhousekeeping; Kitchens - Design Is In the Detail and The American Quilt A History of Cloth and Comfort 1750 – 1950. Face value of the books is $120 and I paid $30 for them. Not a bad deal.

I'm having a Need This? Challenge on Coffee Time at Home. Why not pop over and check it out? You might be inspired to join us for some de-cluttering.
Sweet P

Vacation Goodies

I said I would be back with photos of my vacation purchases and here I am. Before we went on vacation I told DH I wasn't interested in fabric shopping or visiting quilt shops. For one thing there were no quilt shops in downtown Vancouver (and if I missed one, I'm sorry) or in Whistler. There was a quilt shop near downtown Vancouver but I didn't feel like taking a half hour bus ride to get there. For another I have plenty of projects and fabrics for now. My goal was to find artwork by local artists to bring home with me. And that is what I did.

In the jewelry category I found The Crystal Gallery in Lonsdale Quay that was having a 50% off sale. I found these two pendants made of dichroic glass. It's hard to see in the photo, but the design on the green one is a little like patchwork.
As an anniversary gift we found these silver earrings in Whistler. There is a tiny diamond in each of them. They are made by Hot Diamonds in the U.K. They may not have been in Canada, but I like them because the diamonds are guaranteed to be Conflict Free.
Our first shopping day was spent on Granville Island. A few weeks ago I was sharing with friends how crappy it was when the one day of the week I had to run errands it was raining. We started sharing photos of the umbrellas we wanted to buy. Well, on Granville Island we found The Umbrella Shop. Of course, I had to go in. I found this adorable umbrella.
Here's a close up. It's still a little tough to see, but there are pink and teal dresses on the umbrella. I'll definitely look chic when I head into the rain on errand day now.
Also on Granville Island we found Hollyfields, a home and garden shop. In there I found this gorgeous vase. Yes, it's a dress and yes, it's a vase. It was made by an artist at Benaya Art Ceramics, a group of Canadian ceramic artists. They have several different dress vases. And if you look here you can see some great quilt tiles that I want to buy. I didn't see these in the store or I would have bought them instead.
I did buy a little something for quilting. I found Beadworks on Granville Island. I bought these two little bottles of beads.
I've got some mail goodies to show tomorrow. But it's late and DH should be home from Florida soon. Time to be a wife! Woohoo!
Sweet P

Vacation - More Photos

Now, where did I leave off previously? Oh yeah, I was taking a day off while DH was playing poker.

Our last day in Vancouver we went to the Vancouver Aquarium. Walking through the park on the way we saw a black squirrel! I have never seen a black squirrel before. This is the best photo I got of him.
We happened to catch the trainers working with the dolphins. DH caught this good photo of one of the dolphins jumping. We didn't get any photos of the baby beluga whale, but if you click on the whale cam you can see a live feed of the whales.
On Saturday we took the Whistler Mountaineer to Whistler. The first part of the trip follows Howe Sound, the southernmost fjord in North America. It was a gray morning and the photo shows it.
As the train started to climb we went over two trestle bridges. This is a view of the front of the train starting to go over one of those bridges.
This is a river we traveled over before getting to Whistler. The train followed this train for most of the last hour of the trip.
Whistler is as different from Vancouver and day is to night. Vancouver is a big city and you can tell you're in a big city. Lots of people, lots of cars and trucks, lots of noise, you get the idea. Whistler Resort has three main sections: Creekside (where the train stops), Whistler Village and Upper Village. Once you get to the Villages you don't need a car. You can get to any one of 200 shops, restaurants, hotels or condos by walking. I became engrossed watching the mountain bikers ride down the modified ski trails. I liked it so much I'm considering taking up mountain biking, or at least some type of biking. DH and I also talked about hiking. One way or the other we will go back to Whistler in the summer and be ready to bike and/or hike.

The sun rose at 5 am and set at 9:30 pm, that's an hour longer than here in NH. Here's a photo of Blackcomb Mountain close to sunset. You can see the shade from some overhead clouds.
I could show you tons and tons of photos of mountains, but I won't bore you with them.

We did not rent a car on this vacation. We were trying to be "green". I wish I would have bought a pedometer with me. I'm sure we walked at least one mile each day. Some days, even more than that. We also used public transportation where we could. It's fun to use the local buses and trains. It helps us to see how the locals travel.

We had a wonderful time on our vacation. The only down side was that the Vancouver TSA took away my thread snips - a one and a half inch blade. Fine with the US, but not Vancouver. Oh well, they were a cheap pair.

I wrote a vacation food review entry on my At Home blog, check it out if you like to read about food and see a couple of kitchen goodies I bought.

Tomorrow I'll share photos of what I bought on vacation and then I'll be back to my normal quilt talk.
Sweet P

Thanks For The Award

Lilly was gracious and award me this blogger award. Thanks so much Lilly!

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link to the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.

I'd like to nominate:

1. Kay at Rick's Farm Wife. I've known Kay for a few years. She is grammy to a set of adorable twin girlies. Her stories and photos of life on a farm in Nebraska always make me smile
2. Aileen at Aileen's Fiber Fetish is another good friend. She does great work and has a pet bunny.
3. Yvonne at Threads of my Life is going to be first-time grandma pretty soon! She also has a daughter who is a park ranger in Alaska.
4. Linda at Living, Quilting and Stuff is a creative quilter who also occasionally designs wedding dresses.
   
5. Linda at All Stitched Up. I love her projects and the inspiration I get from her blog. PS: She's hosting a new swap if anyone is interested.
6. Kathy at Kathy's Quilts. She is my inspiration forsigning up for the Bead Journal Project.
7. Paula at The Quilter. She makes adorable small quilts. She also sent me a drawing of myself for me to stitch. (I haven't forgotten about it though, Paula).

There are a lot greater bloggers in blogland. It was hard to choose my favorites as I read so many of them. I hope these ladies enjoy their reward.

I'm still trying to recover from vacation and jet lag. I'm hoping to be back to normal tomorrow so I can share some more vacation photos and stories.

Vacation Catch Up

We arrived home this morning at 1:15 am. I finally fell asleep at 2:30 and slept until almost noon. I've spent my afternon catching up on the blog entries I marked while on vacation. Everyone was so creative while I was walking around Vancouver and Whistler. I did not get any stitching done nor did I visit any quilt shops, but I did spend money on other goodies. I'll share those this weekend.

I thought I'd share some of the swaps and giveaways going on that I found while I catching up on blog news and notes:

• Lyn at Blue Bird Quilts is having a Christmas in July Giveaway for three sewing packages. Sounds like fun to me. Check it out and sign up.
• Helen at Hugs from Helen is hosting a Stitchers' Angel Swap. I think this will be a fun way to wrap up my summer months. PS - Can someone tell me how to get the complete logo to show up in my sidebar?
  
• Cotton Spice is having a Summer Workshop to finish up summer too. Be sure to check it out.
• I signed up for the 2008 Bead Journal Project. Since I've recently decided to start beading I thought doing this project would be a great way to chronicle my progress with beads.

Here's a tease of the views we had at Whistler - I'm standing at the Inukshuk at the top of Whistler Mountain (elevation about 7,000 feet).

I'll be back this weekend for more vacation notes and photos. Have a great weekend!

Vacation Check-In

Hello from Vancouver, BC! We have been here since Sunday and today is my day to relax. We've been walking and walking and walking for four days! Whew! I'm tired! DH is at the casino playing in a poker tournament at a casino and I'm resting in the hotel room.

I have lots and lots of photos, but I won't show all of them right now. Just some highlights for now. First up is my First of the Month photo off my deck. I did sneak a photo in before we left on vacation.
On Monday we visited Granville Island. What a cool place. One of our goals on vacation is to not shop at stores we can shop at when we are home. Granville Island fit the bill. I found a bead store and bought some beads. DH went out on a limb and bought a new hat that is not a baseball cap. This is the view we had while eating lunch. Isn't it gorgeous?
Tuesday was Canada Day. Happy Canada Day! We took the train to New Westminster on the recommendation of a local DH met at the bar. The casino wasn't open, so we walked along the Quay and admired the landscape and river views. Another lunch on the water and this was part of the view.
Yesterday we traded the water views for treetop and canyon views and went to Capilano Suspension Bridge. This is the bridge across the canyon. It is 230 feet above the canyon below. Yes, we did walk across it and had fun!
We also walked the Treetops Adventure. Here's me and The Boys standing "in the trees." Yes, I do travel with The Boys.
Tomorrow we are going to the aquarium and on Saturday we are off to Whistler.

Thanks for all the compliments on my Siggy Quilt. It was fun to make. I am having some stitching withdrawals. I brought five stitchery projects with me, but haven't had the time or the energy to work on them. Hopefully later today I'll feel a more energetic and will be able to stitch a little bit.