Jelly Roll Race

Sometimes it’s a colour that catches the attention.  Sometimes it’s a fabric print.  Other times it is a technique that just begs to be tried.  Once in awhile it is a convergence of them all.  Such a convergence happened when I happened upon the fabric palette used in this project.  I always wanted to sew a jelly roll race quilt.  Jelly rolls are pre-cut strips of fabric 2 1/2″ wide and WOF (width of fabric 42-44″)  There is usually 40 strips in a roll.  A race is joining all the pieces together end to end.  Next fold the the long strip in half, right sides together and sew along one edge.  Cut at the fold, press open.  Fold in half, right sides together and repeat.  This is the finished project. 

I had been keeping my eye open for the perfect fabric.  Almost perfect, the polka dots don’t quite fit, but I love the rest.  I’ve decided to name it “Raindrops on Glass.”

This quilt is for my husband’s sister in-law who recently underwent surgery for ovarian cancer.  I really like the way the border and the back co-ordinated with the top.  I quilted it with a varigated thread that has all similar colours in wavy contoured lines.

 

1 Corinthians 9:24  Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.

 

 

The Four Day Getaway

A week’s holiday did not materialize as planned.  We only had three and a half days.  We had been planning a golf and wine tour of the BC interior for some time.  Similar to a weekend two years ago, when we went to Whitehorse for dinner and a movie, this time it was Armstrong for lunch and a golf game.  It was a lovely time, though much too short.  The golf game was fun, in spite of rain on the last two holes and dinner with a classmate from seminary was great.  On the return trip we stopped in Prince George and picked up a Boler trailer that my sister had purchased. 

Here it is pictured at a stop we made at Bijou Falls.

The drive home was lovely.  Just outside of McKenzie we witnessed the most vivid rainbow either of us had ever seen.  It was spectacular!

We were so impressed that we had to stop for a while and take pictures.  Even these do not do the scene justice.

Beyond Bijou Falls we had some amazing views of the last of the Rockie Mountains as we crossed the Pine Pass and then headed east to Chetwynd.

WIP Wednesday – Weekend

Holidays!  It’s an event packed weekend.  My parents are celebrating their 55th wedding anniversary.  My brother is turning 47 on the same day.  And Sunday my first grandbaby-daughter is being baptised into the family of God.

Today my two sisters, my parents and I traveled to visit my brother who lives 2 hours away from the Farm.  The day was filled with laughter, strange movie references “These are not the ‘droids you are looking for!”, stories that might have sounded like a kidnapping to someone evesdropping, “You are not listening to me.  I have the pizza.”, and twenty questions on the trip home that started conversations about food, bucket lists, places we’d been and a few tales out of school about school.  Nana, sisters M and N played Wii Dance Off 4 with nephews GR and Y. Even dad had a pretty good day.  Naturally we had to stop at Morden’s Chocolates for Russian Mints, Mixed Nut Brittle, bags of ‘seconds’ and Almond Crunch Clusters (I should have bought some of the latter…).

Pictured above is the quilt I am racing to finish by Sunday for my grand-daughter.  I am half done the binding as I type.  Cute, isn’t it?  Just like my A.A.E.P!

When it Rains, it Pours

It’s not raining at the moment, it’s snowing.  Grrrrr.  It is not pouring in a meteorological sense but a time management one.

It has been a crazy buzy week!  Three services in three days; a funeral on Friday, Holy Communion at the Presbytery Meeting on Saturday, and Sunday worship today.  The overwhelming workload of Lent/Easter is now behind me and hopefully things can get back to some sort of normalcy.  And holidays are scheduled for the end of the month!  Yahoo.

In the midst of it all, an unexpected honour came my way.  Esther, from ipatch, Made with bits of love! nominated me for the Liebster Award.  I actually had to consider, postpone it for a couple days, tickled by the honour, but realizing I really had no spare moment to attend to it properly.  The thought, “Big deal, you’re to busy to accept an internet award?!” is probably crossing your mind’s electrical impulses at this point.  A bit of explanation, the Liebster award comes with some strings attached, basically it is something of a blogger chain letter without a top of the pyramid, except that it can increase visits to your blog.  It also has a personal revelations component through answering questions asked by the nominator and provide some random facts about myself so that you, dear reader, might know me better.  Then, I’m to nominate 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers, and similarly, ask them to answer my questions upon their acceptance.  I’ve had my liturgical nap, The Amazing Race is on, time to do some multi-tasking!

Esther’s questions

1. What music do you put on when driving?     I rarely listen to music when I drive, usually I listen to CBC radio

2. What colour clothes do you always buy?     I rarely buy clothes.  My sister has a clothing allowance and every six months she purges her closet and hands them up to me.  (I’m tickled over Esther’s proper spelling of ‘colour’) 😉

3.  What sound just “makes your day”?     When my darling say, “Good morning !”

4.  What trip would you like to make whenever you had the chance?     I long to go back to Scotland, baring that I’d settle for the east coast of Canada.

5.  Which artist inspires you?     I am in awe of the work of Quinton Hoover. I would love to try an art quilt in a similar technique.

Here are my nominees, in no particular order.  Well it is in an almost particular order, alphabetical!

JoTokla – an beautiful quilt block journey, some funny picts, and interesting historical posts

A Photographer’s Garden – amazing pictures, one can almost smell the fragrances

basildonkitchens – delicious, in a variety of ways

Blocks: 365 – a year’s journey in beautifully constructed quilt blocks

bloomingreverend – thought provoking theological insights along with great advice on another of my favourite things to do – Gardening

down to earth digs – another of my favourite gardening eplaces (I wish it were spring

lalinsocal – funny and creative

Novascotialocal’s Blog – remember how I answered the 4th question?

The Arts and Crafts Bungalow – because I would like to live in one

thegoodsmeller – because I need someone to live vicariously through

thrumyrunninglens – running and pictures, great combination since it offers someone I exercise vicariously through

My Questions for the Nominees

1.  How many jobs have you had and which did you like the most?

2.  What was your favourite school subject?

3.  What is number 1 on your bucket list?

4.  What do you wish you had more time for?

5.  Do you collect anything and if you do what?

Some Random Facts About Me

I love my husband with all my heart.

In case you didn’t figure it out, I’m Canadian.  I used to play Magic the Gathering: with my sons and their friends for entire weekends.  I owned a horse when I was in highschool and would ride with a girlfriend from a neighbouring farm every night after dinner when the weather was fine.  I have been a registered member of Where’s Willy, a Canadian currency tracking site since 2006.  I own hundreds of books and I have read most of them, some more than once (I’m not quite reconciled to my e-reader).  My first pet was a Cocker Spaniel.  Quilting is a new obsession, I had no intentions of it being the main topic of this blog, my first was cross-stitching – started about 30 years ago.  My favourite Canadian author is Thomas King, Green Grass, Running Water is hilarious.

WIP Strip

It’s Wednesday, here’s what is on the table today.* This pattern has a number of names, my preference is “Fruits of the Spirit.”  It is a great way to use up all those strips from previous projects.  Once the rows are completed they are joined to lengthwise strips of fabric, in this case I plan to use a solid navy blue.  The border will be the same navy fabric.

The snowball quilt is sandwiched and ready for quilting.  I wanted to get this project pieced before I changed the foot on my sewing machine (I’m lazy that way).  This simple strip quilt has been waiting for over a year, I wanted to get it done in time for the quilters’ group next donation to a local women and children shelter.

I made a list of WIPs, there are twelve.  No more cutting until some are completed!

*See the practical and brand new cutting board?  Thanks darling!

Strips finished and ready for joining to solid navy strips.

Alaska Highway – Part 1 – Mountains

1st Pass into the Rockies

In case you were unaware, I am Canadian, proud to be so.  I am a Canadian who loves to travel.  Living in Canada, therefore, is a blessing.  It’s a big country, with lots to see, and even more places to go.  One of the things on my bucket list* is to visit every Canadian Province and Territory.  This past May long weekend I managed to cross another off that list.  Hubby and I packed a suitcase or two, coaxed the dog into the truck, and headed north on the Alaska Highway, destination — Whitehorse, the Yukon. The morning was lovely, occasional sun breaking through white cloud, and increasingly hazy as we got further north.  Until one gets past Fort Nelson the geography is pretty much high prairie, cleared of aspen, although still many groves of them in areas that the large farm machinery cannot access.

Approaching Muncho Lake

Almost at Muncho Lake

We stayed at Muncho Lake Friday night.  It is about half way and VERY expensive as it is one of the few places on the way that has gas ($2.89/lt), food, and washrooms.  Everything for the resort is trucked in from Edmonton, including the fuel for the generators, no hydro wires along this stretch of highway.  The colour of the lake is incredible (pictures to follow in another blog).

As we got further north the next day, there was more and more snow on the ground.  The above pictures were at our third major stop near Stone Mountain.  It was stunningly breath-taking.  The mountains are magnificent in their silence and grandeur.  I’ve visited them on numerous occasions, the scale and immensity never fails to impress.  Somehow the imposing size seems to fade so quickly once they are past.  And, of course, a picture never accurately represents them either.  Showing another person a 4 x 6 picture and say, “This is a mountain” is paramount to using the word “Holy One” to encompass all that God is, and was, and shall be.
Psalm 76:4   Glorious are you, more majestic than the everlasting mountains.

*Yet to visit – the Northwest Territorities, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador

Stones and Rocks

Ecclesiastes 3:5   …a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together…

The patterns, shapes, weight, colour and use of stones hold as lifelong fascination.  I want to see the standing stones of Stonehenge.  My favourite stone is the amethyst (~purple~), closely followed by ammolite.  At one time I planned to own every gem stone in existence — ummm, not so much now — remember I have to save enough money to get to the Salisbury Plain as some point of my life.

Library at the Canadian Parliment Buildings

I marvel at stone hewn to construct amazing buildings, such as, say, the Salisbury Cathedral, although the building shown at the left is pretty inspiring.  So was the seminary that I attended, I’ll leave those photos for a later post.

In May we traveled to the Yukon.  We saw rocks and stones at every corner, piled high on top of themselves, mountain height, solid and unstable at the same time.  It is the smaller examples that demand my attention more so.

Lichen on rocks

So this photo is not primarily about rocks, I was drawn to the patterns of the lichen growning on them, or the mosses and lichen growing between them.

Lichens and rocks

This boulder was so fascinating.  There were no other rocks around that were similar, of the same composition or colour.  Where did it come from and why would the glaciers leave it specifically in this place?

Odd rock in what would seem to be the middle of nowhere.

Below is a closer look.

     What caused it to erode in this manner?   I love these unexpected, unusual surprises that reveal themselves when you take the time to stop travelling 100 kms an hour and walk around for an hour or so.

Who else knows about this place, who has found this curious thing, little in comparison to the mountains that surround and dwarf it.

At another stop I attempted to capture the image of stones beneath the water of a mesmerisingly aqua-blue Muncho Lake.  I later realized the camera settings were all wrong, but the camera was new to me, what can I say.  Here is the best effort.  Better luck next time.

Ice and Stones

Mountain near Toad River

 

 

 

 

 

And here, because the structure of the stones, is the single obligatory mountain image.  So soaringly beautiful.

Quiet Photography – Bet Giyorgis Rock Church

Quiet Photography – Bet Giyorgis Rock Church.