HAPPY NEW YEAR

MERRY CHRISTMAS

A CHRISTMAS GATHERING

Last night was our yearly Christmas gathering of our little sewing group. What a fun time we had. I know what you're going to say Robin....yes I am at it again :)

Mary was our host and she made a delicious dinner for us. On the menu was pasta with a choice of meat or vegetarian sauce, Caesar salad, garlic bread, sausage, and for desert, Mary made home made pumpkin pie, lemon tarts and peanut brittle. She had some wonderful appetizers also.Thanks Mary. A great time and a delicious dinner. As you can see from the pictures below, we all had a wonderful time.

Mary's table was beautifully set

We enjoyed pasta, Caesar salad, garlic bread, sausage, and for desert Mary made homemade pumpkin pie, lemon tarts, and some peanut brittle. It was a real FEAST and very delicious!

Linda and Michelle

Brenda and Mary

Brenda, Shirley and Michelle

hmmmm..... I wonder what is in that container??

I think I see a lot of wine bottles in there???

Brenda wearing her party hat :)

Shirley is having a great time!

Linda and Mary

Mary and Brenda

Ok girls, I think we should slow down on the wine!
Shirley knitted us all neck/head warmers in our favorite colors. Mary and Linda are modeling theirs. I got a beautiful red one, as red is my favorite color.

PRIMITIVE HORSES

I went to visit my friend's shop yesterday, and she is now making these gorgeous hand made Primitive Horses. They are just awesome and the pictures do not do them justice. Thought you might like to see some pictures. You can also check out her website at www.pinesamplerfurniture.com

CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON

Today was our Christmas luncheon for our Quilters' Guild. A great meeting, a great trunk show and speaker and a great vendor. What more could one want...............oh yes, there was a fantastic Christmas luncheon after our meeting with chicken, rice, two kinds of salad, rolls with butter, and tea or coffee and a great angel food cake desert with berries and whipped cream.

Mary and Michelle

Myself, Linda and Shirley. I guess I didn't know someone was taking my picture........DUH! I was looking at someone across the other side of the room. Actually, I think I am just wondering....WHEN ARE WE GOING TO EAT! :)

A NIGHT OUT

On Thursday night our friend Brenda had our little sewing group over to her house for dinner. She had just completed her new sewing/pattern designing studio so we got the grand tour of that. It is absolutely gorgeous! There was also a built in Pantry installed for Brenda's canning. Boy, I thought I did a lot of canning, but Brenda has me beat. We had a delicious dinner and then we all settled into her new sewing area and spent the evening sewing and chatting up a storm. We had a wonderful time as usual! We missed our friend Linda, she couldn't be with us that night.

Brenda and I standing beside her full Pantry

Another picture of Brenda's Pantry

Sitting down for Brenda's delicious dinner. Everything was home made, even the juice!

We are all sewing up a storm after dinner in Brenda's new studio.

NEW WOOD SHED

I would like to wish Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends. Our Thanksgiving was October 10th, but I wish we were having it now too :)

We just put a new woodshed on the back of my summer kitchen and we have been working hard getting it full of wood for the winter. We are almost finished. Below is a picture from October, of the first load of wood ready to be put in. The shed in the first picture still needs the trim put on and below on the last picture, it is completely finished. Next year I will stain it to match the summer kitchen that I stained this fall. This is going to be a great place for keeping our wood dry for the winter. We have been working steady putting loads in and we almost have it filled.

A load of fire wood ready to be put in

This is about half full

The finished wood shed

GIRL'S DAY OUT

Today, my friends Mary and Michelle and I started out early this morning and went to a Primitive home Open House. Lots of goodies to be found there. The home was all decked out for Christmas and the people were coming in droves. We made a few purchases then got in the car and headed for Bayfield for lunch and some more shopping. We had a delicious lunch at the Black Dog pub. Mary had the fish and chips, and Michelle and I had the chicken wrap with Jamaican bean and vegetable soup. After lunch we had nice walk through the town and checked out some of the shops. On the way home, we stopped at the Pine Sampler shop in Hensall. It was filled to the brim with wonderful primitive furniture and accessories and the air was filled with the scent of the most wonderful candles, the window boxes outside were beautifully decorated with spruce, cedar, and pine boughs. They had such a nice selection of wool for rug hooking too. We left there and stopped in Exeter and had coffee and desert at Coffee Cultures, then a quick visit to the Quilt shop next door, and then home. We even drove through a little snow squall on the way. We missed Brenda, Shirley, and Linda today. They couldn't join us due to other commitments, but we were thinking of them.

Michelle, myself and Mary

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

FAMILY VISIT AND CRANBERRY HARVEST

Last week DH and I took a 3000 mile flight to British Columbia to see my family..... my two sisters and their husbands, my Dad, and our niece and nephew. While we were there, DH was able to see our Brother in Law's Cranberry Harvest that was in full swing. He really enjoyed seeing it, as he enjoys all aspects of farming. There is no cranberries grown in our area, so this was very interesting for him to see. We stayed at the home of my sister Karen and her husband Allen. We had some great meals while we were there, and Karen makes the best spaghetti I have ever tasted! There were lots of other delicious meals too. We had a great time seeing everyone again. DH got some wonderful shots from 38,000 feet and some pictures of the Cranberry Harvest.

Coming in for a landing at Abbotsford, BC

Above the clouds

Harvesting the Cranberries

Flooding the Cranberries

Flying over the Rocky Mountains

Another great picture of the snow capped Rocky Mountains

Flying over Lake Michigan on the way home

Going over the Prairies

My sister Audrey with her dog "Lucas" and my Dad

HALLOWEEN STITCHERY

I was fortunate  enough a few weeks back to win a Halloween Stitchery made by Linda of Parker's Paradise. I picked it up at the Post Office this week and I absolutely LOVE it! Linda, you do fine work. Thank you so much. I will treasure this for years to come.

On another note, it is getting pretty chilly here in Ontario. I am sitting here typing this, enjoying the heat of my wood stove. We are supposed to get a heavy frost tonight so I made sure that I brought all of my potted herbs inside. Yesterday DH and I stacked 4 face cords of firewood in our wood shed and hope to do more this weekend.

Halloween Stitchery I won from Linda's Give Away

GIRLFRIEND GATHERING

On Tuesday night it was my turn to host a dinner for my quilting friends Linda, Brenda, Mary and Shirley, and our friend Michelle should have been there, but unfortunately she was coming down with a cold, and couldn't join us. I made caesar salad, vegetarian lasagna, and garlic bread with cheese. We also enjoyed some wine with dinner and for desert, I had a choice of home made pumpkin or apple pie with tea or coffee. After dinner we did some sewing and catching up on the goings on in our lives. We have been getting together like this for about five years now and I so look forward to our gatherings. I managed to take a couple of pictures of the event.

Janet

A Gathering of Quilting Friends..Linda, Brenda, Mary, and Shirley

Linda......she is always smiling :)

GETTING TO KNOW ME FROM A TO Z

I saw this on a few Blogs and I enjoyed reading them,  so I thought I would join in :)

A~   Age:  55
B~  Bed:  Double, 4 poster pine bed. 
C~  Chore you hate:  Washing windows, cleaning the bathtub.
D~  Dog: We have three dogs, one Jack Russell named "Shorty" and two Australian Shepherds named "Sydney" and "Louis".
E~ Essential start to my day:   Black Coffee. I am up at 4 am and I have 2 cups of strong black coffee before I start my day.
F~  Favorite color:  Red. 
G~  Gold or silver:  Gold, but I don't wear much jewelery. 
H~  Height:   around 5 foot 7 
I~ Instruments I play:   None. 
J~ Job Title:   Equine Judge, Webmaster, Graphic Designer, Critter Keeper, Gardener, Dog walker, home keeper, quilter. 
K~  Kids:  All of my kids have four legs. 
L~  Live in:  Ontario, Canada. 
M~ Make of car:  Jeep. 
N~ Nicknames: Doodley, Mummy.
O~  Overnight hospital stay: None.

P~  Pet Peeve(s): (1)People who don't answer an email,  I would appreciate even just a "Thanks",  so I know that they received it. (2)The way people get on and off airplanes. I wish I could do a tutorial on the efficient way to plane and de-plane. (3)People that are users, and I have known some :( and they are now HISTORY from my life! The friends I have now are TRUE  friends.
Q~ Quote from a movie: You know they often say a man with a car like that, is trying the compensate for smaller genitals sissy, but not in your case, cause I see that you're a strapping man aren't ya.~ Mrs. Doubtfire
R~ Right or left handed:  Right. 
S~ Siblings:  Two Sisters both younger than I. 
T ~ T.V. Shows: CSI, Criminal Minds, Road to Avonlea, Coronation Street.
U~ Underwear:  Cotton. 
V~ Vegetable you hate: I love vegetables, I just don't like Black Olives.
W~ What makes you late? I am always early. I hate it when people are late. If I can make the effort, they should too.
X~  X-rays: Yes. Various reasons. 
Y- Yummy food that I make: Home baked bread,  spaghetti, pot pies.
Z~ Zoo Animals: I like all critters.

A couple of extra things about me. 
~I enjoy the simple things in life.....I would much rather be sitting beside my wood stove watching the snow coming down, than be lying on a beach in Hawaii or on a Caribbean cruise. If I ever won a cruise, I would either give it to a family member or have a give away on my Blog :)
~If I don't like you, you will definitely know it, for I am not an actress. If I was an actress, I would be in the movies!

SUMMER KITCHEN

Well last weekend the weather was so nice that I finally got my summer kitchen stained. I used Early American but it came out really dark which is fine by me. I let the board and batten weather for a year and half, so it really sucked up the stain. I wanted to get this project done before the snow started to fly. I also stained the front porch. I have been asked to post a picture, so here it is. I even put in a little garden at the side. I put in 2 sedums and 3 hostas.

2011 Convocation

Last night DH and I attended my College Convocation. We had a great time. Here is a picture he took of me with my Honours Diploma. The picture is a little dark due to the lack of lighting in the room.