France captured my heart...

A year ago we were busy planning our trip to France with Alison and Ben.  I was actually a bit worried that I may not even like it that much and would regret spending all that money since we would be there for most of July!  Well, we all fell in love almost immediately!

Lately I've been literally craving to be back.  I can clearly hear it calling my name!  I dream about France at work when I should be working on some mundane task, when I walk to get the mail, when I'm driving home...

I catch myself remembering the little towns we drove thru with all of the shutters closed to the heat of the mid-day sun...

I just loved the colours of Provence...

...and the flowers so pretty...sunflowers everywhere...

and lavender, of course...

I know I will return...it's calling me back!

                                                     Vive la France!

Bragging Rights

I have 2 amazing daughters-in-law who I love to death but just have to add a bit of bragging here about some talent that has recently emerged! It was Jakob's birthday last Sunday, the big "2", and he has been in love with trains from the beginning.  His mommy, Roxi, took a cake decorating course this last year with her mom and has been creating cakes ever since...

I don't think Jakob fully understood what all the fuss was about.

Mommy and daddy-to-be in about 3 months  :)  So very blessed...

Sew Unexpected!

I have been using my dependable Pfaff sewing machine for the last 24 or so years.  Nothing fancy but it did the basics and a bit more, a little frustrating at times when I would try and hem jeans and sew thru 4 or 5 layers of denim, or when I wanted to machine-quilt the handful of quilts I've made for the kids and it was almost impossible to maneouvre all that bulk.  So on Monday we went down to the local sewing machine store to look at the amazing Janome sale we heard about on the radio.  There were a number of types that were quite reasonable, ie around $500.  But most of them weren't meant for quilting.  Needless to say, when I set my eyes on the Janome Memory Craft 6600, all budget went out the window, when Gord said, "I think you should get it"  After much more consideration (about 3 minutes!), she was mine!

Once home and unwrapped, Oh My Goodness!  What do I do with all of these...

plus I feel like such a traitor to my little faithful Pfaff...but I'm sure once I figure this all out, I'll get over it!
On another note, as promised, the two handworks I finished when Gord was away...

Little Treasures

Gord just returned from 4 days in Winnipeg, visiting his two brothers and his 95 year old dad.  He helped his dad clean out a closet and sort through some stuff.  It can be quite surprising (and beneficial to me!) what you come across going thru a closet of someone that age who doesn't organize and purge regularly, even though he lives in a very small condo.

I did a bit of research of the 2 patterns and both seem to be from around 1943.  Though Gord's mom wasn't a seamstress, he thinks her sister may have helped her sew the dresses.  She would have been about 19 at the time.
He also brought back this very old piece of what I believe is linen.
And this bar of Sunlight soap has definitely seen better days but I love the look of it!

He found the cookie cutters at his friend Gary's antique & collectibles store.  I was hoping they would be old and not shiny so now I must figure out a way to age them quickly.
Soon to follow, more projects I completed while Gord was away!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's not just anybody who can say they have their own personal leprechaun!

Rita Mae

Is she gorgeous or what? Completed, beginning to end, in 2 days!  Who AM I?  I never used to be this focused!
I've decided to re-do each room in the house, one at a time.  Inspired by Janet, I hope to scale down some of the 'junk' that I have collected, getting rid of things I wouldn't buy today, if I saw them in the store.  Today I've been working on my sewing room.  Got Gord to go to the lumber store to buy 2 more shelves for the closet for more efficient storage and instead of thinking it thru, I got him to buy shelves that were 12" deep just like the top one, but once he'd installed them I realized what a stupid idea not to get shelves as deep as possible.  So back to the lumber store to buy 20" deep shelves which makes much more sense.  He patiently spent a good part of his Sunday afternoon today taking the 12" ones down and then installing the deeper ones.  What an amazing husband I am blessed to have!

Santa Number ??

Can you ever have too many Santas?  I doubt it.
This guy just joined the other 35 or so distributed throughout our home.
When Gord has his grade 3 class over at the end of the school year to watch Princess Bride and make ice cream sundaes, he gets them to count all the Santas they can find.  It keeps them busy for quite a while  ;)
This is a pattern by Off The Beam, Twig Tree Santa.

Oh Holy Night...

This wool project was very quick and easy to do.  I love those kind!  When I saw the adorable sheep on the pattern, I had to make it mine.  This is another wonderful pattern by Lakeview Primitives, 2 fun sisters we first met in Houston at Quilt Market.  Love those Boston accents!

Behind the smile

 Do you ever look back at pictures of yourself as a very small child and try to remember what you were like, if you were actually as happy as your smile would suggest, or were you just covering up inside pain or insecurities?