Lazy Me

My goodness, I have been lazy in the blogging department haven't I?

I have been busy catching up on matters I should have already been caught up on, time just never seems to be enough and one does eventually sleep.

Over the past month I have done not much in the making of bags department, not much in the piecing of quilts either. Been busy clearing up the mess in the Crafters Cottage or The Hut as we tend to call it all of the time.

Our goal is to have had this cottage properly organized.

When we first arrived here from NewBrunswick we had too many totes and cardboard boxes filled with "stuff" and these couldn't be left inside of our small but functional house. These then were stored in all of the cottage rooms, and I might add, these filled it up. Everywhere nook and cranny in that place was filled to it's capacity with little or almost no room to even walk around it. We have been haphazzardly working in there but mother being 86 needs all of her mornings to get up and become mobile, which of course if most understandable. Appointments and visitors also have taken a toll on available time, so not alot has been accomplished.

Now we are in a hurry to complete the junking and the clearing because we have to have this finished before the middle of August and that certainly doesn't leave us much more time to waste or use for other events.

Today I choose to be in the Hut and to get as many hours in there as I possibly can to empty boxes, make decisions as to what we keep and what we give away (I am hoping to have alot of give-aways') but, asking mother to make these decisions on the spot will not be easy as it hasn't been in the past. I believe we have moved the past fifty years of stuff with us, and with my collection of fabrics and her collection of silk flowers we have become quite a joke, leastways I believe it funny.

Off I go, with apologies to those who have been sweet enough to follow this unskilled blogger to THE HUT - wish me luck in that I get more accomplished that I have in the past many days.

I promise to check in later and give you the scoop. I must take a picture of this mess to show you what it is I am describing to you, then, finally if and when we do manage to get organized, you'll see that as well.

Possibly while I am learning the art of organization, I might just well learn to become a better blogger too.

June Already, Can you Believe it?

I have been busy and here are the culprits who have helped me fall behind and ignore my blogging and my quilted totes. These two women are merciless! They have me gardening, taking them for luncheons, ferrying them back and forth to the shops. Terrible and I enjoyed every moment!!!

Finally though I have escaped back into the sewing room where I have been rather busy catching up on the tote bags I need finished before I leave for my quilters' gathering. This year we are going to Zinck's Inn of Berlin, Ohio. Whooppee!!!! Days of maddness loom ahead of me - wild laughter and giggles late into the night with days filled to the brim of eating, shopping for fabrics, sitting in front of the sewing machines, more eating and much more laughter.... I cannot wait. Excitement is beginning to build! Can you fell my excitement?

The spider coming along with me will be my friend Liz, she and her hubby run a Retirement Residence http://seeleysbayretirementhome.com/ and while she has a wonderful time there with all of the residents, she consented to drive along with me and keep me company. We will leave Seeley's Bay and travel west on the 401 Highway for approximately 6.5 hours and stop and stay with Judy and Ted who live in the Windsor, Ontario area. Then the three "kateers" will load up he van and off we will go following the yellow brick road with all of its road works and detours to Berlin, Ohio, where we will meet up with all of the other quilters in my group for a week packed with fun and fellowship.

My quilters internet group is celebrating its' 11th year together this June 7th. Can you believe it? Every year before the gathering takes place, usually in the month of June in a city where one or more of our group lives, which could be anywhere in North America, the hostess chooses a spot and we all gather there for several days and enjoy each others' face to face company. This year our annual quilters' pin was dedicated to the memory of our beloved Katy who was taken from us by breast cancer, one year ago today.

In honor of Katy's memory we will all be lighting our candles at 8:00 p.m. in our different time zones making sure the candle burns all over the world in her memory. Here is a picture of the annual quilting pin we all decided on this year.

This lady was and will remain an inspiration to us all. She was such a brave warrior, she battled and battled, won several rounds but unfortunately lost her valiant fight last year, to breast cancer. Her generous and loving spirit, her wit, her charm, her humanity are so missed, but never forgotten.

Off I go to finish up some projects before I can pack my suitcase, I leave this coming Monday, the 15th and am so far behind.

Until next post, have a wonderful week and please come back soon.

IT'S SATURDAY AGAIN!!!

Here it is again, where has the time flown to? I have spent a busy week both inside and outside of the house. The gardens are finally in wonderful shape, new cedars have been planted, dead bushes have been removed, bushes have been pruned, bulbs have been split and replanted, most of the grass has been moved and all of the weeds that could be found have been plucked up and thrown away.

We've endured several thunder storms and heavy rainfall so inbetween the gardens outside I have spent time with Nessie, my sewing machine and put together more quilted totes.

I sincerely hope your not bored with what has become a passtime for me and hopefully these will all sell and I shall have more money to buy more fabrics to play with. I am showing off these bags which I hope you will find pleasing.

I would publicly like to thank BARBARA for the donations she so generously provided to me this week also, and Barbara if your reading, contact me again, I have lost your e-mail and cannot find you in the phone book. I have been given two almost brand new sewing machines. These will be living in the Craft Cottage Project which is being put together at the Retirement Residence property in our town. Mind you it will still take us time and more money to bring the cottage up to standards whereby people can come and enjoy crafting, or learning to sew or quilt, knit or crochet. There are no real places in my town for people who enjoy crafting to congregate, so my friend and I have been provided with the cottage which is large enough inside for us to house all of the machinery, fabrics, crafting materials, notions, and so very much more. We are anxious to begin, and thanks to our friend Barbara we have received a great start to our collections.

I digress, here they are, Daisies Of The Field, All That Jazz and Up Up and Away totes. I still have a few more to photograph and put up here but you can see I have been putting very good use to the time I was provided with this week.

Since we Canadians are celebrating our Victoria Day long weekend, I wish all Canadians a wonderful weekend and ultimately good weather for the rest of it.

As for our good neighbours in The United States, we wish you a great Memorial Day weekend next weekend and lots of great weather to go along with it.


Daisies Of The Field Interior

Daisies Of The Field Exterior which has 2 nicely divided pockets.

Interior of All That Jazz tote sports one huge pocket for sheet music or magazines, even pattern pages, and two pockets for keys, wallets, or whatever it is you may need to carry about.

All That Jazz also has one exterior pocket sufficient in size to carry magazines, pattern pages, or sheet music. It is a fun and practical tote to be certain.

I enjoyed playing with this fabric and decided to name this tote, Up Up and Away. I outlined many of the Hot Air Balloons and made different pockets for the exterior of the tote.

The totes interior has two pockets but is plenty deep and wide to carry such a variety of good stuff...

This is the back of the exterior of the tote. Don't you just love these fabrics? Their so colourful.

The fabric designers are so creative in their artistic endeavors and the manufacturers who buy these designs and make the fabrics that fabricholics like me just have to have are wonderful. Sometimes it becomes quite the self-dare to actually cut up such beautiful pieces of fabric.

Do come back and visit soon, I know I will have more totes on here to share with you.