Magic Moments

This Christmas, we are enjoying our little visitors as they discover Christmas for the first time.

It is exciting to see Christmas through the eyes of little children.  The sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas stay with us for a lifetime.

The little people here are enchanted with my Christmas Village. Especially at night, when we turn the lights on. They have each chosen their own "house" in the village. One is "C's" and one is "E's".  So cute.

In the other room...known as the work centre where the sweet smells of Christmas are produced, things are a little chaotic...oh well...

I hope your home is filled with the sweet smells of Christmas!

A Divine Appointment

 

A few years ago I came out of a Tim Horton's in Burlington and a street person asked me for money. I looked into his eyes and gave him some money, and asked if I could buy him some breakfast.

He declined.

Then he looked at me and smiled. He said, "I know you. You are Deborah Brown." I was quite surprised because I didn't recognize him. He said he remembered me and my husband from a certain church we were members of during the 80's.

He eventually told me who he was and I remembered him in his former days...a young professional, newly married, with a child on the way.

This man looked nothing like his former self.

As I conversed with him I realized mental illness had taken its toll and he now lived on the streets in Burington and the surrounding towns and cities.

He was estranged from his former wife, and his children. 

I told him where we lived and told him if he ever needed something, to please come. He told me he wasn't allowed to do that.

As I left, I felt odd.

Yet I also felt I had encountered a divine appointment.

I'll never forget that morning when I became reacquainted with and old acquaintance, and a new burden.

 

 

Where in the world am I???

What a busy fall!!!  My daughter and her twins moved in for a week this fall before they took off to Florida for their winter stay. Immediately after that, I was off to Houston with my friend to the International Quilt Market/Festival. It was my first time at market and was sort of a scouting adventure for a business I'm thinking about. Stay tuned!

While at market, I met Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts, Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims from The Quilt Show, saw Eleanor Burns' at her booth Quilt in a Day, got a peek at Marianne Fons and Liz Porter from Fons and Porter...let me see...that is probably enough of the name dropping for now.  

There were many classes to take, and I did my best as a first time festival attendee to take as many as I could. In Charlotte Angotti's "Let Me Surprise You" class we made an orange and black batik quilt.

I need to find a border fabric with pumpkins or something fallish. I know these are Halloween colours...but I am not really a fan of the goulish celebration...oh well, I know now that these surprise you classes at Festival are just that. I was surprised by the colour choices! But it was fun to sew all day and not have to worry about cutting or measuring. The kits in the class were laser cut by John Flynn. That quilt was probably the easiest quilt i have ever pieced because the pieces were exactly cut. It went together like a dream!

Other classes I took were from famed machine quilter Philippa Naylor from the UK; Paula Nadelstern's Keleidoscope method (Paula is from New York); a paper piecing feathered star class from Carol Doak; and last but not least, my favorite class and teacher - Pineapple Quilt block with Anita Grossman Solomon, whose books I highly recommend. She has a great blog too!

All in all, we had a blast. I recommend the journey to the quilting mecca for everyone!

Today, I'm on my way home from a visit to the Lily Pad in Florida. Talk soon.

 

 

Fabric Preparation

There is a great tutorial on preparation of fabric for quilting on this blog. If you have the time, this blog is worth a look around for other tutorials. Enjoy!

orange balloon, horses in the parking lot and other neat things..

This one is for you Madam Samm

Ever been in a balloon? Me neither, but it did look fun, especially after the hurricane blew through. (Read on!)

I saw these in the sky as I came out of the restaurant. So much fun! One actually landed in the field beside the road and dropped a guy and his bike off. He rode away down the country road, disappearing in the corn fields. Interesting mode of travel, the balloon...

Speaking of modes of travel...

I had trouble finding a parking spot. I eventually found one and had the exciting experience of shopping in an Amish hardware/grocery store. Wow. Lots of things there that were very useful. And the prices were good too.

 Of course, I had to visit my favorite bake shop and sample one or two of these. I brought a package home for husband as well. He loves these!

While I was there, the hurricane came through, or the edge of it. Never seen rain like that before! Absolutely Biblical! End result...massive flooding in the area which delayed my journey back home.

Harrisburg was under water and the Susquahanna river overflowed its banks to the extent that the way home was blocked. I eventually got out...just meant another day of shopping. :-)

I'm back home now after a wonderful journey. Sometimes getting away is absolutely necessary...it just makes coming home all that more special.

I'm off to the quilt studio...to see what I need to finish, and what new trouble I can get myself into!

Talk soon,

Ahhhh...Finally Someone Turned the Heat Off

...which means it is time for me to pull out the knitting basket. Don't you just love fall? I sure do. I like summer...but I love fall. I can finally open the windows in the house, air out the quilts, go for long walks, sip coffee without breaking into a sweat...and I could go on and on but I won't bore you to death.

Seriously...I used to knit all the time..before I discovered quilting back in the 80's. I was visiting a new blog today and was so inspired by what I saw that I am bringing this out to finish. Do you like it? It will keep me snuggly warm this winter.

Do you like the basket? I bought it at an outdoor market in Nairobi. It was made by the local women and it is made out of some kind of tree that they chew and make pliable for weaving. I bought a few of them. That was a trip to remember! And that's another day's post. The sweater pattern and wool are from Philosophers Wool...a wonderful place to visit if you are into knitting, or just like to dabble in it. Definitely worth the trip. 

After my walk today, I 'm going to finish the pickles. I got started the other day and completed the pickling of the beans, carrots and cauliflower. I love doing this...haven't done it in years and it felt good to "put up" some of the garden's offerings.

Enjoy your holiday Monday. What will you do today?



A Walk Through the Garden

I took a walk through my local garden centre the other day to see what was up...

The last time I was there, spring colours abounded. This time, it was apparent things were gearing up for late summer, fall type gardening.

Fall colours!

Fall wreaths ready to hang

A bouquet of fall offerings

A telling sign...fall is on its way!

I took lots of pictures. I'm going to load some of them into a colour generator so I can see exactly what colours are in the photo...a very useful tool for choosing colours to go into a quilt. I love using nature for inspiration.

If you have a photo you love and would like to see all the colours in the composition, possibly for inspiration for a quilt colour pallet, log on to www.cssdrive.com. Jinny Beyer also has a lot of information on her site about colour and quilting. 

I'm a Winner!

What a wonderful surprise this morning to open up my inbox and find a note from Madame Samm telling me I was a winner. I don't think I've ever won anything before!

I won a beautiful sewing basket stuffed with all kinds of goodies. I'm sure I can make use of every little thing in that basket. One can never have too many accoutrement for stitching and quilting!

Daily prizes by awesome sponsors...for quilters and non quilters alike. 

I can't wait to get my surprise in the mail! Thanks Madam Samm! Go to the website and take a look around. Sew much fun!

Passions & Pursuits: Wantobe Quilters!!!

Reminder!  Check this out. Lots of goodies, great instructional tuts, great excitement! A winner every day during the week! And lots of new quilters too! If you are a wantobe quilter, this one's for you. Just follow the instructions that I posted here. Good luck!

     Link below:
Passions & Pursuits: Wantobe Quilters!!!

Sunday

Sunday today. Church this morning. A coming together of the Body of Christ. We celebrate Him together in the midst of our everyday, ordinary lives.

We sing. We listen. We pray. We read Scripture. We listen. We sing. We pray. We celebrate at the Lord's table and remember His broken body and shed blood.

A sacred morning.

Then we disburse. We go off into the world. Into the noise, into the rush, into the unsacred.

Sunday is always a day of contrasts. Going from the sacred space we created in a time of worship, then walking back into the everyday, ordinary life I lead.

Sundays interrupt the everyday, ordinary flow of life and remind us there is more. Sunday's blessing is that the Christ in me can be taken into Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday...