learning my own name

Well, today I have to admit my learning curve is a bit more than I could handle without making mistakes.  I posted my blog address to my online quilt guild "Cdnquiltswappers" only to find out I don't even know my own name.  LOL.  Sometimes I don't know much at all.  I have been busy enjoying this nice fall weather and hoping it would stay til Dec 15, then come back again by March 15.  I believe in equality in most things, including the weather.  Each season should run three months.  If I were mother nature, I would have it organized that way.  LOL.  I will eventually get the hang of blogging.  In the meantime, there are no frills here.  Just a running account of how my brains rambles.  I sat today listing the jobs needing to be completed before snow flies and it filled the page.  None of it will get done if I sit here all day.  So I'm off to the yard to shorten that work list by half at least right after I change the blog address listed at Cdnquiltswappers.  Catch ya tomorrow

Day of Reckoning for me

Well,  Today, I have been running chores for the neighbour.  It is another beautiful fall day and a trip to the mall was in order.  My neighbour is elderly and no longer drives.  Because we live in the country, it is imperitive we have a means of transportation. Hence, I am the designated driver these days.  It was a quick trip to the store, but a slow return.  LOL.  There is always the cuppa tea at his home before I get to return home to my very patient dog.  She was glad to see me after being alone for four hours.  You gotta love these little dogs.  They are so intelligent and make you feel so welcome when you walk into the room.  Today was no exception.  She was just so glad to see me, I began to feel some guilt for leaving her alone all afternoon.  I'll have to make sure I don't leave again for at least a few days. 
     I have spent more than a few hours on the computer today, trying to arrange swaps  and plans for my online quilting guild.  The most obvious realization is that I need to organize myself to make the most productive use of time.  Do you have that problem too?  I wear many hats and want to be an equal opportunity person.  It is clear I will need to adjust the time I spend between my many passions.  So much of the time, weather will be part of this decision making.  Once again today is over and I still didn't get out in the yard to winterize.  I must give this a priority tomorrow.  Bulbs need to be planted and gardens cleaned up while I mulch some of the more tender perrenials.  I also need to spread some soil conditioner in the flower beds and weed the garden so the spring fever can take wings without obsticles to slow me down next year. 
     Having said that, I am looking forward to getting another quilt top on the long arm and resuming my first passion.  I have to say, the long arm has been the best investment I could have ever made.  My fingers are succumbing to arthritis these days, so having the long arm has made it possible for me to keep up with my quilting goals in spite of the arthritic condition. Let's hear it for Long Arm Machines.  Til tomorrow..........

More Fall Colours

If you look carefully, you may see the deer hiding in the poplars. They like to come out at dusk and dawn.  Between the deer, fox, birds and rabbits, I am always entertained at the kitchen table looking out the window.
My goal I set just about ten months ago, was to make a quilt for every member of my family.  This means 97+ quilts will be given out to siblings, nieces, nephews and great nieces/nephews.  There are even a few Great-Greats in the mix.  Over the past ten months I have succeeded in completeing and distributed 37 of these quilts.  I haven't worked on the sewing machines for over a month now, because the yard needed to get ready for winter.  I think I will be able to resume the quilting in about two weeks.  I do have all the quilt tops made already.  I have been having family members come out for a visit and to pick out the quilt top of their choice from the available tops.  Today was one of these days.  My niece and her family came out to pick out the tops she would like to have.  Since the beginning of September, I have had four other families come to pick out their choices.  So I now have about twenty+ tops tagged with names to be quilted.  They will get worked on first.  It has been interesting to hear their comments on the various styles and colours of the quilt tops I offer up to choose from.  These quilts are all bed size from single thru queen size.  I don't do king size as my setup is not user friendly to anything larger than queen size. 
After they went home, I sat and played with some scraps of poly cotton, making up a few blocks which will find their way into some charity quilts once these family quilts are all done.  I thought it would be good to donate a few serviceable quilts to the local charities.  Most quilters I know do a lot of charity quilts and I know they are always well received.  Its interesting to hear comments from others about the cost of this hobby of mine, but since I don't drink, smoke, or spend money in ways other than cost of living, I chalk this up to my form of addiction.  LOL.  As my daughter says, it is my form of poison.  LOL.  I am a passionate person and usually give 110% of myself into anything I do, so this does not feel extravagant to me.  The smiles and thanks I get are a rich payment indeed.  I especially love the little children who drag their quilts everywhere with them and who fondly wrap their dollies and teddies up with as much love as they can find in the quilt.  I will post photos of some of these quilts in the weeks to come. I will see what tomorrow brings as we are promised another week of beautiful fall weather which still ranges in the double digits.  Oh another thing I got done this weekend was to bag up the halloween candies into handout bags.  I'm all ready for that big night in two weeks time.  I wonder how many kids will knock on my door this year.  Last year I only had three.  My lowest number in forty years. But I prepare for thirty and have enough on hand to quickly make up more if needed.  That's my thoughts and comments for today. 

Last of the Fall Colours

Looking out the back winlow, I can see Fall is on the way out.  It won't be long before winter will have us in its grip and the sewing machines will be humming.  To me there are but two seasons.  Gardening season and Quilting season.  Both of which keep me too busy to do the housework. This week, I will have finished up the last of the gardening, planting fall bulbs, cutting back the old growth of the plants and getting the yard ready to sleep.under the deep cover of snow.  The birds at the bird feeder also indicate they are ready to take flight on their southern journey and those that stay to entertain me for the winter outside my kitchen window will be looking for cover in the grapevines when the cold temps do come. 

By now you can tell I am in a country paradise, living the life of a spoiled retiree.  I have my stash of fabric, thread, working sewing machines and a head full of ideas that will hopefully convert to completed quilts during the white season. To add a bit of colour, there will be the occasional gardening magazine which I can browse in dreams of the summer gardens to come. In the reverse order, during green season, I have the occasional quilting magazine to flip through and dream of the cooler white season during the height of the heat waves of summer weather.  

This is the first day of my blogging. I wonder how much of a learning curve this will take.  I don't want to take too much time away from my sewing, you know.  Stay tuned to see what I am thinking of tomorrow.