Hi ho, Hi ho

....it's off on a trip we go!

We heading off into the great blue sky and

flying out to visit our #2 son and d-i-l 

for a couple of weeks!

My hubby has never flown, so he's quite apprehensive about the whole experience and it's been over thirty years since I've been in a plane, so  I'm sure it's going to be rather nerve-wracking for both of us, but the fact that we will be seeing our kids when the plane lands AND we'll also get to see the Canadian Rocky mountains for the first time will certainly help with the pre-flight jitters. 

Right now we're suffering from the lists/piles syndrome and scurrying about trying to remember everything we need to take (and do!) before we leave.  All this packing and such is definitely foreign to our nature!

AND - on a whole other subject altogether I've been (in my spare moments) putzing about with doing a bunch of zentangling.  Irene (CQTeers group member) was first bitten by the bug and she has subsequently passed it onto Sue and from there to me.  I took a little longer than the other two to succumb fully to the fun.  At our last meeting Sue had a brilliant idea and had a book she was devoting to different zentangle patterns so I am using her idea and have started one of my own.  Who knew this could be so much fun??  The only problem is that I've 'tangled' so much that my arthritis is flaring up...oops.  

Here's a page from my new pattern book....

And now, my friends, I leave you to play amongst yourselves.  See you when I get back!

TUSAL for this month

I'm a couple of days late with this, but here is my pile of ORTS for the past month...

and my TUSAL jar to date for this year...

and, this is one of the pictures Jack has taken with his

'new' (to him) camera...

Try embiggening it to see the details!

Art show

Nothing has been happening on the stitching front here at Chez Magpie - too busy being social to have time to pick up the needle. 

SO.....

I have just visited a really great site online where you can see the wonderful pieces of fabric art created for the 'Threadworks 2013' show and were on display at the Wellington County Museum in Fergus.  The theme is 'water'. The many pieces of art are incredibly varied and  I would have loved to have seen these in person, but have to content myself with the online version. 

Go HERE to see the show.

Scroll down to where you see 'Photos' and click to

get to the show.

This show was found via Magpie's Collectibles...thanks Maggie!

Playing catch up

Today's post will be a bit of a hodge-podge because I'm somewhat behind on several things I had wanted to show you.

Firstly, I was quite excited to receive my print copy of the latest 'Crazy Quilt Gatherings' magazine in my mailbox on Friday.  The article I wrote on creating my hussif, along with the directions to make it, are in this one.  I'm published!! Yee - haw!!  For those of you who are interested in finding out more (and perhaps ordering a copy for yourself) just click on the cover picture in my sidebar and it will take you there.

Another long-awaited treasure arrived in my mailbox last week too - my copy of 'Elegant Cross Stitch Sentiments For Crazy Quilting' by Pam Kellogg (Kitty and Me Designs).  There are over 50 cross stitch patterns she has designed in the book.  All are suitable for many different applications, but you already KNOW I'll be using some of them in my crazy quilting!  Go HERE for further info.  Once you're there just click on the 'Books' on the top bar and it will take you there.  Be sure to return and visit Pam's blog too!

Last week was our monthly CQTeers meeting and our 'theme' was Zentangles.  Below is a picture of the art works (atc sized) that we exchanged...

The card on the upper left was made by moi last month during a class that Irene gave.  The middle card (top row) was made by Sue, as was the one in the lower row middle.  Irene created the zentangle on black on the upper right, as well as playing with fabric crayons on the one bottom left.  The three in the middle were my work.

Each month we try to have a 'program' whereby the hostess for that month teaches some sort of project or technique.  It was my turn this time and I had been wanting to try something I had discovered on the internet (but unfortunately I am unable to credit the source...if it happens to be you, please let me know so I can give proper credit!). Anyway, it's a watercolor painting (and yes, it's supposed to be birch trees!!)...

Needless to say, I don't foresee any sort of 

career in painting in my future (even after I'm dead and buried!!).

And finally, I have to show you my yard sale score.  I probably paid too much for this ($10) but I HAD to bring it home.  I think it's made of oak and is old, but I don't think it's an 'antique'.  It had legs on it, but I had Jack take them off because I think it looks far better without them.  It measures approx. 20" from top to bottom and I don't know if you can tell from the picture but the glass is curved....

Final part of the quilt show...

This one was a winner from a previous show...

it was spectacular!

 This one caught my eye...

as did this one....

 

and this one...

 

The workmanship in this one was so perfect...

 

Quite traditional...but very striking...

I believe this one was a winner from a previous show

as well (wish I had been smart enough to take notes!!)...

 

This one was another eye catcher - like the colours...

 

This one was a stack-n-whack, which is one pattern

I would love to try...

 

and here's a close-up of the stack-n-whack...

 

Dilemmas of the feeding sort - and quilt show part 2

Many of us are concerned and wondering what to do about the imminent loss of our Google RSS feeds...how are we going to keep up with our favourite blogs (including...ahem....this one!).  There have been a couple of really interesting articles posted lately on a couple of the blogs I read, and so I thought I'd point you in there direction so it can help you make a decision.  Many blogs, including this one, have a feature somewhere (mine is waaaayyyy down at the very bottom!) where you can subscribe to get posts through your email.  It's one more option you have.

Go HERE (Mary Corbett)

and HERE (Vicki Welsh)

And now...

on with the show!!

(remember, you can click to embiggen)

This one was just so sweet - and lots of incredible detail...

There usually aren't too many quilts that I would consider that men 

would like, but this fits the bill...

 

Another one of my favourites (also happens to be done by a good friend).

Unfortunately I couldn't get far enough back to get a really good picture.

 

There were a couple of quilts using these bird images..

This one caught my eye for the relative simplicity of the design,

completely in tune with the Oriental style.

 

There will be another episode tomorrow!

Black project revealed...

I know at least one of my readers has been waiting for the beg reveal of the mysterious black project I've been working on, so here you go....

It's a purse!!

Here's the outside of the front...

 

 the back....

 the inside....

 

The pattern is the 'Gadabout' from Studio Kat Designs.  It measures approx. 9 x 9 x 3 1/2 inches and has LOTS of pockets.  I have added an extra pocket (which shows in the pictures above on the back) simply because I goofed and made one too many pieces of crazy quilting that I didn't need.  Couldn't let it go to waste so decided to simply make another pocket so I could use it.

Now I want to make another one in,

what else?

DENIM!!