Jenny's Pink Quilt

My first 'follower', Jenny of the terrific blog Jenny and the Princess Peonies requested that I use pink for her prize quilt. I just happened to have a little orphan block that was just waiting for inspiration. I had so much fun stitching this up this afternoon. I'm in love with those pink polka dots I found in my stash, and I can't wait to find another project to use them in. I've been mulling over the idea of doing something in a really fresh white, icicle blue and cherry pink colour combination. Yum.

Enjoy your quiltlet Jenny, and thanks for joining!

For information on the contest check out this post Follow This Blog.

I hate throwing things out. I mean hate it! My poor husband has to live with his slightly less than organized pack rat. In that way our home could not be more different than the one he grew up in. I joke that his mother will throw out your dinner while you're still eating it. In fact I have a gorgeous silver plated water jug and tray that I rescued from the recycling bin at her house on two separate occasions!

One of my big accomplishments of the holidays was sorting and giving away three huge boxes of kids' books. One went to Freecycle, one went to younger cousins and one is earmarked for the libraries at the children's schools. Notice I said 'gave away' not 'threw out'.

I used to save all my scraps to donate to the Art departments at their schools. Unfortunately I think a lot of other Moms had the same idea and a plea went out for no more fabric! I then started shoving snippets into a pillow case with the intention of donating it to an animal shelter for a doggy bed.

Well today I came across this idea for making a Fabric Collage and I remembered yet again why I hold on to everything. I mean come on, check out this new fabric I made! Once I've quilted the heck out of it and cut it up into hearts and other motifs it's going to be perfect for Valentines.

As I was pressing my tiny snippets onto the fusible web I felt like an archaeologist of my own quilting history. Memories of the quilt I made for Ariel before she was born came flooding back as did the image of the gorgeous two year old she has grown into. Which reminds me, I really have to bug her Mum Yael for a picture.

I write this post with new resolve to be proud of how little garbage my studio produces and to continue finding creative ways to "Use It Up".

First Crafty New Year's Resolution

Time to the tackle the next project on my to do list. I'm going to finish matting and framing a number of prints from the family archives. I need to make some decisions about how many pictures to display, and I need to make sure that everyone is represented. The real challenge is going to be finding a suitable wall (or walls) for displaying them.

This project counts as a real UFO. When we helped my parents move from their apartment into a long term care facility I was the one who collected many of the old family photographs. Back in 2004, around the time my mother died, I started going through the pictures and collecting frames and mattes. I first got the idea of what to do with them when I saw what a great job my old friend Kathy Allen had done with all her old family photos. She custom cut all the mattes herself and has them going up a winding staircase in her beautifully restored home. When I first started tackling this project I considered cutting the mattes myself like Kathy did but in the end I got some great deals at Dollar Stores and decided to mold my project to the frames I could easily buy.

Now that 2009 is approaching it is time to attack the next step of this project. I've more or less corralled the pictures, frames and mattes in one place and now I have to frame and hang all the pictures. I tried, without any luck, to find a great photo of a beautifully displayed collection of family photographs to illustrate this post.

Please send me a link if you find any great ideas for how I should hang them when I'm done. And if you've done this yourself I'd love to see a picture of your finished result.

First Night

First night
Originally uploaded by mitzi129

This picture of my daughter Emily, my niece Rachael, and my SIL Kris was taken through the window by the brilliant Mary McIntyre.

I wish the blessing of light and love for you and yours, for all of us, throughout Hannukah and the whole year. Chag Sameach!!

Thank Heavens For "Dear Time"

"Dear Time" or "Drop Everything and Read" is a wonderful concept that both of my children have learned this year in Grade 2. I insisted on Dear Time before Screen Time (the great name that my dear friend Adrian has given to t.v., computer and video game distractions) this morning. They each grabbed books that they received for Hannukah last night and headed under the piano with a cushion to read and relax. Emily was reading Happy Go Lucky and Zach read The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark. It may have only been for half an hour but it was heaven.


Photographic evidence that they really are fraternal twins, as if I need it. After getting them settled with their books I went back to the kitchen to clean up. I was struck by the sight of their almost (but not quite) identical breakfasts. They both had bagels, and even though neither one wants to finish a whole bagel I have to offer two of them because Emily likes poppy seed and Zachary will only eat plain. They both like hazelnut spreads but I have to have both Nutella and Brunette available because Emily likes hers with chocolate, Zachary likes his without. The same thing goes for their milk - one with chocolate, one without. You can probably guess by now who the chocoholic in the family is! But what really struck me as I looked at their plates, a detail that may not be visible in the photograph, is that they both left one bite of their half bagel in the lower right hand quadrant of their plate. Twins!

As for me, my breakfast was sheer Ambrosia. Another heavenly reference! My darling sister Judy makes my mother's (or is it from The Joy of Cooking?) liver pate recipe every year to share with her guests at her epic latke flipping party. I am always the lucky recipient of a special ramekin of my mother's that she fills with a portion just for me to take home! Unfortunately I have to return the ramekin when I've finished my pate, but I always know that I will get it back for a few days the next year. As I ate my exquisite breakfast I asked the kids to think about how they were going to remind each other of their family's love for each other when they grew up. I suggested that maybe they would each always have the other one's favorite hazelnut spread on hand, and maybe the right kind of bagel.

Once you've lost your temper where do you find it again?

We have chosen to stay home to celebrate the holidays this year instead of heading South as we usually do. The weather is co-operating perfectly. It's cold and clear with lots and lots of snow. The children are old enough to look after themselves for much of the day. They drift from game to game, play on the wii for a while, listen to their iPods. They ask if they can play on the computer or watch t.v. or have some more wii time. The only thing that mars this happy portrait of domestic bliss is their mother's temper. "Eat more, eat at the table, eat something healthy, play something that doesn't require batteries or to be plugged in." All these requests seem perfectly reasonable to me and yet they often fall upon deaf ears.

The snow is starting again and tomorrow will be a ski day. I hope that by breaking the monotony of too many pajama days in a row we'll all start getting along better. Of course we'll just have different battles to fight once we're on the ski hill. There will be the complaints of I'm too cold, I'm too scared.

Why is there always so much resistance before the fun starts?

Oh ya, I remember, a body at rest tends to stay at rest. And a body with a nice warm house will resist being subjected to snow and cold and gravity. And worst of all, a body in possession of any type of computer game will long to play with it to the exclusion of all else. Just ask we about my addiction to Webkinz, Freecell and Bridge. But not while I'm playing because I won't hear you.

Getting a Head Start on the Eight Days of Hannukah

The snow continues and so do pajama days. Yesterday we enjoyed a few runs on the toboggan hill and later today we'll go skiing at Uplands, the cute little hill where we all learnt to ski. It's a great place to start the season before we tackle the bigger hills of Collingwood.

Later this morning the boys will be headed to the basement to watch soccer on the big screen t.v.

And right now the kids are enjoying an early present. Yes, believe it or not, we gave in and gave Emily a Nano. She spends hours with Daddy choosing just the music and videos she wants to upload. I love it when she switches from headphones to earbuds so that Zachary can listen with her.

Speaking of music, I love listening to all the Christmas music on the radio. I sing along. Yesterday I asked the kids to challenge me by asking me to sing the third or fourth verse of any carol of their choosing. I spent years as a professional Victorian Caroler at parties and shopping malls and prided myself on never needing to look at my book. Zachary wants to know why there aren't as many Hannukah songs as there are Christmas songs. I tell him he'll have to be a composer when he grows up and write some songs. Come to think of it, there's no reason he shouldn't start writing songs now. In the meantime I'll leave you with this gem from Adam Sandler.

Happy Hannukah!!