Bakeshop Items

Good sunny Sunday to one and all and welcome.  Here in the Bay the sun is shining brightly, the air rather chilly, but not unbearably so that it will keep people away from our Welcome Rick Hansen, The Man In Motion to our Town.
Have you noticed how the Bake Shop item ideas are taking off in the Quilting World of today?  Seems many quilters are buying baked goods to make wonderful quilted items with.  Moda Fabrics (no, I have no affiliation with this company)  I believe began this latest trend of Bake Shop Items
This morning then, I am thinking about the various bake shop items named appropriately Jelly Rolls, Layer Cakes, Turnovers and Honey Buns - mmmmmmmmm don't these just make your mouth water.  
In the quilting world these bake shop items are made up of pre-cut fabric line coordinates and are becoming very fashionable, no more does a quilter have to stand and endlessly cut strip or strip sets of their fabrics to make a quilt top with, with the Jelly Roll

being 2.5" strips of beautifully coordinated fabrics of a specific line of fabric, which consist of  42, 40 or 24 strips measuring 2.5" X 44" strips of luscious prints and colored fabric for us to play with.
Then there are Layer Cakes, 

what is a layer cake you ask?  A Layer Cake  consists of 10" Squares usually measured off in packages of  42 of 10" X 10"  or 24 of 10" x 10" squares of coordinated fabrics.  
There are also Turnovers

 and these goodies consist of two coordinating 6"triangles from which you can pair up with the 5" x 5" Charm packs to make whatever your imagination can design.  
Lastly and all I know of at the moment are the Honey Buns,

these babies are similar to a Jelly Roll but different in that the honey bun is cut 1.5" and usually is sold in the same unit numbered rolls as the Jelly Roll.
How sweet is this, the ideas for using any of these Bake Shop products are endless and the new methods in bringing about a completed project are so fun and quick that it takes the piecing of quilted projects to a new level and from what I hear very attractive to the beginning quilter and making quilters of all levels love these new methods and choices to complete their creative ideas. 
Now other fabric line manufacturers are also getting into the bake shop line, and I probably have missed more luscious items to talk about today, but the four mentioned above are by far the most popular at this time and thousands of quilters are enjoying these products making quilting so much more fun.  
I wonder at how the ease these products make in our projects and know of many quilters with stashes so large that instead of buying these pre-cut fabrics are turning their stashes into pre-cuts to save them time in their not too distant futures until their stash is at their desired manageable stage.
Whether or not you have access to a Local Quilt Shop that carries these delicious goodies in a variety of fabric lines, or, you are inventive and decide to make your own goodies, the creative side of you will certainly enjoy the freedom these pre-cut fabrics add to your quilting experience.
BEFORE I leave for the day to get on with my activities, REMEMBER this coming week I am Giving away a little gift to the person whose comment is chosen at random.  Please join in on this Giveaway,

as I really intend to make Giveaways a part of my monthly blog posts.  Afterall, you may just enjoy the freebie just for telling me you read my blog posts regularly. 
I am planning a wonderful Giveaway for November, so help me close up October by sending in your comments and please do not forget to add your e-mail address so that if your the lucky winner I may contact you for your snail mail address. 
THANK you so very much for stopping by to visit with me today, remember, no matter where you live enjoy yourself because you DESERVE it. 

Happy Saturday Giveaway

Happy Saturday, I am late in posting today, but actually I have been rather busy with Community works today seeing as The Man In Motion, Rick Hansen is coming into town tomorrow and our Lions Club will be presenting a sizeable donation from our small but very active club.
I also have a patient whom I care for part-time when the regular caregivers are unable to take a shift, so I did a short shift this afternoon and it felt so very good to see her once again and spend the afternoon, and when I am there I always have a hand sewing project to work on when I have nothing left to do, so, today the Hexagons I am working on cane out to play with me.  My quilt top is steadily growing albeit slowly as I did not do as much as I thought I would do when I was in Holland.  Here you can see it is growing but like I said not as large as I had hoped only 35 flowers so far. 

Sew - how are your hexies growing, I would love to hear about your hexies or any other hand sewing take-along project your working on.
To this end, please send me a comment on what your working on and how it is progressing, and in return there is a giveaway attached to this request.
Please leave your comment but remember to include your e-mail address so that I may contact you for your snail mail address.  My little giveaway consists of a set of Seat Belt Covers made by yours truly, and a book titled 1003 Great Things About Friends, which I hope someone may want to own?

Isn't the fabric wonderful?  Lined with Dove Gray Corduroy

Don't be shy, join in you may end up being the lucky winner...

I really thank you for stopping by my Blog this evening and I sincerely hope you have a wonderful Saturday, remember like the famous quote from the Forest Gump movie, "Mamma always said "Life is like a box of chocolates, You never know what your gonna get"....... And we all know Mamma's are usually always right, so make time for yourself and enjoy one of lifes chocolates!

Scarecrows Waiting to cheer on Rick Hansen

Since posting last I told you not only am I working to get my personal life in order by decluttering, but that Rick Hansen and his "MAN IN MOTION" 25th Anniversary Relay Tour" will be arriving here in the Bay this coming Sunday, that  is just 3 days from now! Take a look at this Flicker Stream of pictures to see at all of the Scarecrows around Seeley's Bay to cheer on The Man himself, Rick Hansen.
For all of the road construction on our Main Street, the townspeople of The Bay have done well to make Rick Hansens' return arrival a cheerful celebration and his Relay Team and Our Difference Maker, Tanya Abrams.  

Seeley's Bay residents have been busily getting ready to welcome this man and his relay team since the get go and Rick Hansen was here 25 years ago and will be here once again this tour.  The time is but a little over an hour, but this man doesn't really stop, he keeps going! 

What this man has set for himself takes a lot of personal courage to face the long trek from Cape Spear in Newfoundland and make his way in his wheel chair all the way across Canada and back to his native British Columbia raising money for Spinal Cord injury.  Going 12,000 kilometers from one end of Canada to another and visiting over 600 communities.  

We here in Seeley's Bay are privileged to be a community he will stop at on this Relay Tour and celebrations are certainly in order.  We have our very own DIFFERENCE MAKER, Tanya Abrams.  

If you are so inclined, hit the links and follow this courageous man as he continues to wheel across Canada. I don't believe there is a community throughout this world which doesn't have people who have suffered Spinal Cord injuries, making this awareness relay tour a Focal issue for us all.
Thanks for stopping by today, I realize I haven't included any quilting items but tomorrow I hope to, today I owe two hours to decluttering, so off I go to do just that.
REMEMBER no matter where you are, today is special in that we are alive and well so make today a very special day for yourself and include as many as you wish to make it even more pleasant.

STUFF

HOW many of you have "STUFF"?  Defined as a noun in the dictionary with the following descriptive meanings:
personal belongings
Synonyms:being, effects, equipment, gear, goods,impedimenta, individual, junk*, kit, luggage,objects, paraphernalia, possessions,substance, tackle, things, trappings
As can be verified Stuff can certainly take in a huge area of personal belongings, or as can be seen TRAPPINGS.  I FINALLY GET IT!  I need to declutter my STUFF so that that I may accomplish a goal I set for myself before returning home from my not long enough vacation.  


HOW large is your stash of STUFF?  It will be very interesting to hear from many of you as to what you consider to be clutter and what you consider to be important to you at this stage of your lifetime?  I have two rooms in this house which I consider to be mine and a sewing loft I cannot use because of the STUFF I have accumulated and thought I wanted to keep!  I have a fabric stash to end all stashes and this too must be downsized if I want to reach my newest goal for whatever time I have left on this earth alive. 
To this end I have been cleaning out closets and have already accumulated three bags filled with clothing I do not wear or have not worn in more than two years....Next part of this declutter goal is to tackle the many drawers and cupboards of objects and things I haven't used in more than a year.  If it isn't or has not been used then why store it?  Cleaning after decluttering is necessary as cleanliness provides clarity, or so the Feng Shui enthusiasts proclaim and I have come to thinking they have a point!  Take a look at the Ugly House web photos,or this one, no this isn't my house but if I do not take stock and attend to this task it well could be and I am not sharing pictures of my rooms today because they are too messy!


I seem to have acquired the "SAVE IT" mentality over the last many years and when I think of the wasted space all of this STUFF is taking up I shudder.  My goodness, I have a complete dinner service for 8 of fine Royal Albert China packed away in boxes which has not seen the light of day in over 10 years?  How is this possible, what use is it in a box?
At times in the past I really believed I had relieved myself of many of my possessions, but when taking a look around I find those that were dispersed have somehow been replaced by other useless personal items.   How about you?  Do you find yourself in the same position?  
I am finally facing the fact that I live a very cluttered life and this keeps me standing still not moving ahead but getting further behind.  
I am very interested in what you see around you?  Does your space looked tiny and cramped because of your inability to get shut of items of no further use, or clothing you simply cannot wear or even forgotten you had?  
For myself, what I cannot use, what I cannot wear, what is packed away in a box needs to be gotten rid of, and this is what I have been using my time over the past days since my return. 


Slowly but surely I am taking back control of my life and my space.  


Thanks for stopping in to visit today, sorry that the only suitable chair in the room is cluttered with stuff and no place for you to sit, but do return tomorrow, I promise you the chair will be free for you to sit in...LOL


REMEMBER only you can make the best of the day today, so do yourself a huge favor and enjoy this day to its fullest.

AND It's Just Monday in the Bay!

Today being the beginning of a new week finds me running around like the proverbial headless chicken once again.  RICK HANSEN, and his Man In Motion tour will be coming to Seeley's Bay and for this monumental event all of the homes along his route will be showing off our Scarecrows. 
This scarecrows just took up residence across the street from my house, isn't he GREAT? 

My scarecrow is still in the planning stages and I simply have never made a scarecrow before, but, I am willing to give it a good try!  Here's hoping Ricks eyesight won't pick up that I am not too well versed in this art form!
This past Saturday evening our local Lions Club celebrated its 30th anniversary as a service club within the Lions International Clubs family.  To this end we were all busy arranging and decorating our community hall to make it warm and inviting to our invited guests and keynote speaker who very generously came to speak to us from Dog Guides Canada. 
Our Hall, the food and our celebratory Cake was a success by any standard. For a Club with nine full members and one new possible member, we have done ourselves proud and over the years have done well by our community.  Being a member of the International Lions Clubs means that "We Serve" and service to our community is what we in Seeley's Bay Lions Club are all about.  Our Anniversary Cake, baked and decorated especially for our club was made by a wonderful Local Baker and it was mmmmmmmmmmmm so delicious and was beautifully decorated to depict not only the Lions Emblem at its top but the annual theme this year which is "I BELIEVE" and "I PLANTED A TREE".  

To this end, our door prizes were beautiful small and very healthy spruce and white pine trees, these we used to adorn and decorate our tables for the evening.

Our sit down meal was prepared and served by our local Firefighters and  volunteer servers which was a wonderful change from the Buffet style dinners of the past.

Our Guest and Keynote Speaker, Director of Programming for Canada Dog Guides wowed all of us with information about the Lions Foundation Canada Dog Guides and made up aware of certain aspects this part of Lionism speaks to which we were unaware of.  Take a peek at these wonderful programs offered:

Dog Guide Programs:

Canine Vision Dog Guides - for people who are blind or visually impaired
Hearing Ear Dog Guides - for people who are deaf or hard of hearing
Special Skills Dog Guides - for people with a medical or physical disability
Seizure Response Dog Guides - for people who have epilepsy
Autism Assistance Dog Guides - for children with autism

Should you desire to know more about these programs, they can be read at Lions Foundation Canada Dog Guides.

WERE YOU aware this wonderful Lions Foundation Canada Dog Guides places these wonderful working service dogs with people in need of a well trained Service Dog for no charge to them at all.  YES, this is correct, no charge to the client needing the assistance of a service Guide Dog.  The program costs for the feeding and special training for the Guide DOG  are completely absorbed by the Foundation supported by generous donations and the many volunteers and the Lions Organization.
To this end the audience was made aware of a new Contest sponsored by FIDO (a cell phone provider here in Canada).  We get to vote once a day until November 17th for any or all of the dogs entered into the contest and the winning DOG (beloved pet) will be the poster Dog for FIDO's latest commercial campaign named the "FIDO CASTING CALL" .  For every one vote cast, FIDO will donate $1.00 towards Dog Guides Canada, to the tune of $200,000.00 Cndn.  Isn't it marvelous?  Dog Guides are unique and are the gentlest of creatures and bond well with their owners who need the services these specially trained dogs provide to the client in need of assistance, thereby this Dog Guide gives the gift not only of love and companionship, but the gift of Independence.  Being disabled isn't easy, but the love and spirit and assistance given adoringly from the Specially trained Dog Guide to its master or mistress spells a win win situation as well as the gift of being ones own self again, or, in the case of some, reborn back into a productive member of his or her society with their self-respect and dignity well in hand. 
I know I have waxed on about our Lions function and the Canada Guide Dogs but I am thrilled to introduce you to Lionism this way by sharing our 30th Anniversary.  
Thank you for visiting with me this dreary Monday here in the Bay.  If your up to it, join me tomorrow when I will find a new topic to wax on and on about, won't you?  REMEMBER, life if short, so make it sweet, YOU DESERVE to enjoy your day no matter where you are and if possible and your so inclined, lend a helping hand to someone somewhere somehow!
   

Home Again

Hello everyone, I am finally posting again, sadly from Canada.  I took sick two and a half weeks before my vacation ended and really had no inclination to post other than make every effort to rest.  I even brought home a nasty souvenir, a head cold!   
I confess, my trip simply was not long enough, and I am so missing everyone across the huge pond. 
However, I took well over 1,000 photo's on day trips that I took with Els and will share these as I begin posting full time again.  I lost a whole set of pictures taken with Anneke, Paul and family, and one such set was of her daughters' sonogram where I actually joined in on the experience of seeing this new person who will be arriving late December or very early January.  What a fantastic experience this was.  Usually it is just mummy and daddy that enjoy this pleasurable experience.  This little girl waiting to come into the world already has been named, but unfortunately I may not divulge her name just yet as it is to be a surprise for her grandparents.  Lucky me, I know it already.  If every you are invited to attend such a wondrous event, attend, I found it to be absolutely thrilling.   Thanks Ingrid for the invitation. 
I left Anneke and Pauls' not feeling well, didn't know what I had, and went to Els for my last days in Holland.  Day trips were the thing, no large cities, just tiny villages and lots of country that remains as yet unchanged.  When first I arrived back into my Native country I discovered super highways not unlike those we use here in North America and it made me sad.  I realize countries must accommodate growth such as improving its infrastructure and transportation corridors, but my memory of the "way it used to be was still fresh even though it had been 16 long years since I had last been in Holland.  Once you slip off these super highways into the towns and villages of Holland you will continue to experience the look and feel of yesteryear.
Before leaving Holland, I simply had to go back and visit the well stocked  PATCH & QUILT Shop so off to Winterswjk Els and I traveled the day before my scheduled flight back to Canada.   REMEMBER I posted about this shop in an earlier post and it is only open on Wednesdays because it is managed by strictly volunteers.  I could easily have stayed forever hidden amongst all of those well stocked shelves.  A very enjoyable morning it was and I really did not want to leave.  Sitting among the women who were there that morning each enjoying each others company and discussing the many projects each one was working on that particular meeting.  

It begins with opening the door 

and walking into the store, there you will find fresh brewed coffee and very warm smiles, next you find a spot and sit among those who are already seated and enjoy the coffee and a discussion of those who are unwell, or other activities which each person is engaged in, 

Connecting with Quilting buddies

Discussions of projects

 and then, out come all of those wonderful projects in the unfinished stages. Not unlike our guilds here where show and tell is fun, discussions of techniques, fabrics, possible new projects, or even events take place.
Before leaving the shop and waving cheerio to my new quilt friends I took pictures to share with you of the many quilts about the shop.

The Cutting area at the front of the shop

Checking out a pattern

Showing progress on a puzzel quilt

One of the many quilts which adorn the shop

Ahhhhhh my favorite color scheme

Hand made Cathedral Windows Wall Quilt

I adored this Scrappy Pinks

I loved the colors in this Quilt, a Project from 2009

Scrappy Squares

Thank you for stopping by to see me today and remember no matter in which part of this wonderful world you live in, make your day a wonderful day because you DESERVE IT.

One last thing, my cousin lost her beloved husband who was only 56 last week, a man so well respected and never ill a day in his short life, so make your days count for you, live them as full as you possibly can and laugh, laugh, laugh yourselves silly as LAUGHTER is so good for your health.

The Magic of Delft

I was given a gift last week!  A present I have wanted for the past 16 years!  A trip to my favorite city in Holland, DELFT. This is the birthplace of my most favorite of the Master painters of the 17th century!  A wonderful site to visit if interested is Essential Vermeer and the city of Delft. 
It was my misfortune or possibly fortune to have my camera decide not to be of use anymore.  As it happens there along the city Square is a wonderful camera store/shop called Talens Foto.  At first we all assumed it was the SD Card and so I bought a new one, stepped outside to check it out and it still was not registering any photo images, so back inside I went and the wonderful man there named Rein helped me once again.  This time on going back into the shop with dismay written all over my face he quickly took over my camera to see if he could determine the problem, but alas, my camera was broken and couldn't be repaired at least not there and not quickly!  Rein credited me the money for the SD Card I had just then purchased and decided he would help out this Canadian woman, he turned around and opened a drawer and told me I could buy another camera, yes it was used, but had been traded in when the owner of the camera upgraded, so this camera would work and it was an upgraded model of Canon that I already and the price "just for this Canadian" was special, I didn't really give it a thought I bought it and danced away from the shop happy as could be knowing I could continue shooting whatever images I felt like rather than relying on Paul and the pictures he chose to take that afternoon.  Thank you Rein of Talens Foto for settling this problem for me.
Anneke and Paul walked on ahead of me most of the time because I continued to walk as if in a dream.  I found the city, while modernized and grown since my last visit, still had so much romance and I was completely taken in by its romance.  I need to return there another time and stay several days so that I might wander at will and take it all in.  See this little car parked at the edge of canal?  I watched as the woman in the picture below this one park that car - the car had two elders in the back seat and one even more senior in the front along with the driver.  She parked that car so neatly near the edge my heart was completely in my throat watching, I could not have done what she had just accomplished and on the edge of the canal too, no way and I took my hat off to her in ultimate driver to driver respect!

 Then after she neatly parked the car and her passengers got out she spied a quartet of policemen on those Segways and asked if her car was allowed to remain parked there for whatever number of hours. (The answer - Yes for as long a you need)!  Mt friend Mar asked me to bring her a pair of wooden shoes, do you think these will do for heer?  WOW three of my sized footwear would fit into these.  I won't be travelling home with any wooden shoes this time!

The picture below is the City Hall or Stathuize.  Up close and personal the colours are muh better, and since I am using this new to me camerea, it is the best picture I could get.

This is but one of the older homes along one of the many canal ways that bore lots of old family crests, from centuries ago and each crest has its own story and meaning. As I walked in my dreamy state I shot only pictures that jumped out at me to be taken and that means when I finally get home I will have to devote alot of time and energy in cataloguing them.  It was in Delft that I longed to spend days but unfortunately for me there were only a few available hours.  I finally found the house where Vermeer was born but not time was allotted for a tour inside, maybe next trip!

Look at this picture above the colors and the tall spires of the New Church Steeples behind it clammered for my cameras attention and so another photograph of shapes has been added for my memory book.

This terraced cafe and the atmosphere of people sitting, people walking along the street, bicycles and cars all use the same street which is so narrow I held my breath each and every time I encountered people, cars and bikes making for the corner on the right side of this photograph.  How these drivers have learned to maneuver around the tiniest of streets in The Netherlands makes me envious, I know I would never have the nerve to drive here I would surely end up in the Canal or into one of the shops along the street to be certain.!!!

Needless to say I took too many photographs of both the New Church (where all of those royals of Holland are buried) and of the Old Church where Johannes Vermeer and other less notables were buried, but, not so interesting as the pictures I have chosen to share with you.  Holland is so very adept at utilizing each and every cubic inch of space it has and makes good practical use of what it has reclaimed from the sea.  Because the land of my birth is small and compact and it has always captured my heart and my imagination.

I have taken sick since returning to Els and really am not up to going to any of the places I had hoped to see and of course that means no trips into the city of Amsterdam either, but I have made myself a promise that I will return again next year and fulfill some of the activities I was not able to get to this trip, if God spares me!

There are many stories I can still tell, but those will wait until I am home again and feeling myself again, hopefully I will discover what it is that is making me so ill and get some relief for it and then I may begin again to inundate you with more pictures and stories to accompany them.

Thanks for sticking with me and no matter where you are in this world you are so special, your worth every breath you take so take a deep cleansing one for me and enjoy this beautiful day.

Hopefully I will show up feeling a tad better.