THOUGHT FOR TODAY

"I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love and abundance.
Then, whenever doubts, anxiety, or fear try to call me, they keep getting a busy signal-
and soon they'll forget my number." Edith Armstrong

Good Morning!

I have been preparing a 3 Fabric wall hanging course and have the first one of two finished.

I had a group of panels featuring birds and decided to do the chickadees. I am really happy with the way it turned out.

This is a very easy process and I think it is
handy for those who don't feel they want to
try original wall hangings. These work up very quickly and are lots of fun to make.
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We are expecting bitter cold weather here
in Calgary. It is expected to go down to
-25deg. C with a windchill down into the
-30's. brrrr. I guess in this part of the
world it is to be expected. I just wish I was in Arizona! I loved the winter weather there.
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I am looking forward to Christmas as Hayley is nearly 5 and is really getting excited about Christmas. We are fortunate that our family will be together. Although I am not positive our oldest son will make it. It will be a quiet Christmas which is the type I enjoy the most.
Before we retired we used to have 'open house' on Boxing day (the day after Christmas)
and sometimes we would have 50 people drop in and out during the day. I miss it in a way, but am not able to put out that much effort and we are in a condo rather than a house so we have not had one for quite a few years.
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We are both still dealing with the end of our 'flu' or cold or whatever it was. We are both still coughing and have headaches. The Doctor said we will live grin - and that we just have to wait it out. I seem to always get a long lasting cough this time of the year.

I am really happy as I have made a new wonderful friend this year, WENDY from WELLSPRING as well as all the volunteers, and PATTI the executive director. What a great
group of friendly people they all are. I hope to be able to help Wellspring again this year with my wall hangings - so satisfying.
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One of the learningfa group members, Chris Dahl is going to teach us Blogger l01
in January. She is very knowledgeable and I am looking forward to learning how to do
some new things on my blog. She will show us how to set up a blog from beginning to end. As it is right now, my blog is simple and I don't do much fancy stuff here. There are a few things I have problems with so I am looking forward to
learning about blogging. Some things are not compatible with my mac but more and
more things are available to us Mac users.

I hope you are having fun preparing for Christmas - have you got all your quilting projects done? I hope so. Shirley

THOUGHTS

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words;they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your Character; it becomes your destiny.
Frank Outlaw

DEE from Learningfa

posted the instructions as to how to make a 'tiny url' if you want a
quick way to reach a site on line. Here it is, and thanks Dee.

I have made a little tutorial to help you
understand TINYURL
better.



*******************************************************

Highlight to copy the long web address from
the top of the
web page
Together choose CTRL & C keys (I like to
think of this as
copy)

You can open a new window and then go to
www.tinyurl.com

You will see a white box with the words:
 Enter a long URL
to make tiny:
In the white box you will then copy the long
 web address
from the web page.
I do this by using the CTRL & V keys (it is
 another form
of paste)
Now, using the box to the immediate right of
 the box you
have just entered the
long web address into, click on MAKE A TINY

A box appears asking if you want to use this
 source or not.
I chose ALLOW

Viola….do you see below it is written out for
 you……

That long url you sent has now become:
http://tinyurl.com/5wwrqt

Again I copy and paste into an outgoing email
…..your
friends will now be able to
just click and go to the web page…..it isn’t
 hard.

I love to use this method when I have a picture
 I want to
show them. Instead of
having to go into the photo albums to view a
 newly placed
picture, you can just
make a tiny and send it to the group. If the
 members click
on your tiny they
will go directly to the picture placed into
the album. No
more having to hunt or
search for it.

Thought for the day!

"Only when we give joyfully, without hesitation or thought of gain, can we truly know what love means." --Leo Buscaglia

Hayley,

my nearly five year old Grand Daughter, stayed overnight and we had such fun.
We made a ginger bread house, then a sleigh and reindeer with Santa driving the sleigh.
We ended up with icing all over our faces and I think we had more on us than we did on the gingerbread! Then we decided to decorate the table tree and put out the little fairies I had painted with her last year. She decorated the tree all by herself and she thought that was neat. We then packaged all the pine cones we painted last visit and put them in little bags with her name on them and also the name of the recipient. It was a very serious business and took lots of concentration. What a joy she is! We still have lots to do as we have to make a Christmas tree chain and a few more things.

Thought for the day

"All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action"
James Russell Lowell

Hi everyone!

I have been working away on a wall hanging and have nearly finished the quilting. I got side tracked with a couple of other projects and so I am glad to get working on this one.
This one is for my dear friend Debbie,and I hope she likes it.
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I don't have a lot of Christmas preparations to worry about. We put up a small table tree and my grand daughter helps us decorate it. The family has decided to donate to our favorite charity this year rather than buy presents. Pat (dh) and have decided to donate funds to the 'Mustard Seed' which is a homeless shelter. With our bitter winters it is a big problem here to make sure that people have a safe, warm place to go to. It is a wonderful organization and we felt that as we have so much, it would be a great way to celebrate the meaning of Christmas.

As a result I don't have a lot of presents to buy or a turkey to cook as we will be at our son's for Christmas. Time is flying by , it is hard to believe Christmas is nearly here! I always look forward to the Christmas season, especially if I don't have to do a lot of shopping for presents in the crowds. I used to enjoy it but as I get older I get less enjoyment from
fighting the crowds!.
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I am having so much fun each week, helping our sweet 4 year old granddaughter to make decorations and gifts for the family. We decorated large pine cones with glitter and paint last week, and we are going to get them ready for 'all the people she loves'. I bought little Christmas bags and she will write her name on the tag I made as well as the person's name that will receive the gift. She is so excited. We decorated 6 of them last week and she is so proud of them. I have 3 more so we will do them up for her preschool teachers.
I also will help her make a gingerbread house for the 3rd year, as well as Santa and the sleigh with the reindeer (all gingerbread). So that will be lots of fun. Just as much fun for Nana as for Hayley. We have also started making a paper chain like I did when I was a child, for her Christmas tree. I had forgotten how much I love doing Christmas
decorations with children.
Shirley

Thought for the day

Feeling gratitude, and not expressing it, is like wrapping a present and not giving it.
Author unknown

Boston Terrier rescue group.

(I
My friend Debbie is an active member of this rescue group. She has two wonderful
bostons and I have been quite taken with them. Please visit their website and vote for their rescue group , the group with the most votes gets a prize of $l0,000.00 ,so it is a great opportunity to help this shelter. Please cut and paste the address below, and enter to vote, there is no cost but worth the time for such a wonderful group.

I have put the link in the side bar- and below.

http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/74354/?refer=21529.12.1228250584.6993

The winner is

SHARON MC KAY Sharon chose the landscape. One of the girls in my group suggested the name Serenity so that is what I called it. I think it expresses the feeling I was trying to
attain for the landscape.

Sharon made this beautiful sampler quilt which qualified her for the draw. Thanks to all the girls who entered! Congratulations, Sharon.

Thought for the day

Success is how high you bounce when you hit the bottom.-Author unknown.

Learningfa draw

Here are the two wall hangings for the draw on
Learningfa. The first one is a Crazy patch wall
hanging I made last summer. The chickadee is thread painted and the peacock is painted with beading. I had lots of fun doing this series of 'Fantasy' wall hangings. This one is
'Green Fantasy"
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The second wall hanging is a landscape I just finished. I used one of my hand dyed fabrics with appliques, and lots of thread painting. The winner will choose which of the two she wants. We had two large projects this past year; The Southwestern wall hanging and the sampler quilt. Any of the students who finished the tops in either class was eligible to be in the draw.

We will be drawing the name today and I will announce it on the list and here as well.
I have enjoyed doing both of these and I hope the winner will enjoy their choice, too.
Click on the photos to see the close ups.

I have posted pictures of the work in progress previously but these are the finished pieces.

Thought for the day

To dream to drift,
We have hard work to do
And loads to lift,
Shun not the struggle,
It is God’s gift.

LEARN TO QUILT FROM SCRATCH

I have just talked to my dear friend Deb - and she has agreed to teach a class
for people who have never quilted before or who need more information as to how to get started. This class will be announced later on my learningfa group.

I know there are people out there who would love to get started quilting but have no idea what is needed or where to start. Deb will teach this in the New Year on the learningfa group. She is very very experienced and has taught beginning quilting in local quilt stores.

I will be announcing on my blog when we set it up-- Thanks to Deb for agreeing to do this for us.

check out her blog - click on friends - Debbie on my side bar.

It is so wonderful that so many friends and students are helping me with the classes on the learningfa (fiber arts) group - by donating their time and knowledge. Deb has been
my most dear friend ever since we met each other. Shirley

AMERICAN THANKSGIVING!

I hope all my American friends have a wonderful THANKSGIVING Day, with friends and family. I hope your turkey is delicious and that you enjoy every minute of it. We all have
much to be thankful for.
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I also want to mention the terrible attack in India. I hope that any hostages are released and that things settle down. It is such a scary world!

Another Chinook arch today!

I have never seen as many Chinook Arches in one short period of time, as we have had this past month! Today we had a perfect arch, and this was the 3rd one since last Wednesday.
Usually, if we are lucky, we get one every 6 - 8 weeks. They always mean warm weather which is really nice in this part of the world.
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I am finished quilting the wall hanging I will be giving as a prize for the girls in the learningfa group who completed one of the two projects which were in the draw. Each person who finished the sampler quilt and/or the Southwest Wall hanging will be eligible.

I just have to put the backing, sleeve, binding and label on it. It needs to be ready for the end of November. Once I have it done I want to finish my winter scene which is ready for the borders. It should be finished soon. I think I will take it easy after that until after Christmas. (Unless I get bored, grin).

I had hoped to spend some time on the learningfa site today and sort out the photos and clean up the files, but yahoo must be closed down as I can't get in either through Firefox
or Explorer. Hopefully they will get back to normal tomorrow.
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Thanks to all the people who have taken the time to put comments on my different posts
I do appreciate hearing from you. It is so nice to see the number of hits building up so quickly. I really am enjoying having this blog! I hope to learn more about doing different things with it when we have the blogger 101 class with Chris D on learningfa. There are lots of other things I can do with it from the sounds of things.

I hope our American friends are all prepared for their Thanksgiving feast. Shirley

Learningfa Classes- Grey Cup

I wanted to post a picture of the jean's quilt that one of our Members, Janet, made for
a Christmas present. She is going to make a bag to go with it. I love the colors she chose and won't it be great for football games and picnics? These quilts are made with flannelette and blue jean fabric and don't require
any batting. Judith from Cdnquiltswappers taught the class for us (as well as lots of other classes), and the girls really enjoyed it. We also have a wonderful class coming up shortly called square dance, it is a beautiful quilt and Cheryl P. has kindly agreed to teach it to us.

Our group is unique, as friends, and members donate their time and knowledge to give classes to the members. There is no charge and what a great, enthusiastic group we have.
I feel as if each and every one is a friend. We have members from all over the world. It is just great. Shirley

I have just started the beginning thread painting class for our new members. This is the 3rd time we have started the thread painting class from scratch. There seems to be a great deal of interest in thread painting and so I hope we help people learn to use it in their landscapes and on their traditional quilts.

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CALGARY WON THE GREY CUP!!!!!!!! YEAH! I imagine all the Canadians watched it.
I remember some great Grey Cup parties over the years. Needless to say everyone here
is tickled pink! This is the BIG final for our Canadian Football Season and the western Champions meet the eastern Champions - Congratulations to all the players, it was a good game against Montreal.

Shirley

Good morning

I have been busy this week finishing a commission wall hanging and completing the top of
the prize I am giving for the Learningfa group draw. The first is much like two others I have done recently for Wellspring, but the lady who ordered it really wanted one like it so I broke down and made it for her - I try to avoid doing two the same - so there are a few changes in it.
The second is the top I finished last night to be drawn as a prize for learningfa.
Each of the girls who finished the sampler quilt and or the Southwest Landscape is
eligible for the draw. I just have to quilt it and put a backing and sleeve on then the binding and it is finished! I just hope the winner likes it. I had a beautiful piece of my
hand dyed fabric which suited the scene I had in mind. T here is lots of thread painting on it.
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We have had a pretty cold week but it is nicer today. I am happy to say that the
first two sections of Beginning Thread painting have been sent out to those who signed
up for the class- I hope they enjoyed it. They are learning to thread paint a rose bud and a humming bird for the first session. I will post pictures of their work when I receive some pictures.

Thread painting

Here are a couple of pictures of my thread painting. One is the next project in my thread painting class - I painted the leaves and then thread painted over some parts of the leaves. The other is a peacock which I really enjoyed working on. Click on both to see the close ups. I beaded part of the peacock -- it is 13" x 13".

I am working on a landscape to be used as a prize on my learningfa group. I hope whoever wins it will like it. I am having lots of fun doing it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Winter is here, I am sorry to say. Brrrrr !! Actually we are fortunate that it took this long as I have known it to turn very cold in October, so I guess it is to be expected.

I have been fighting bronchitis this past week and am finally feeling better. I have to venture out to get some variegated thread, some 505 spray for this wall hanging, and something for the border of the wall hanging I am working on. If the roads are too
slippery I will just wait until tomorrow. Gone are the days when I would drive in all
kinds of weather. Eight winters in Arizona cured me of that and now I hate to winter drive. Luckily my husband doesn't mind and as we are retired we can pick when we want to go out.
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The kids got us a mattress cover that can be regulated to different settings of heat and can be used on one side or both. Why didn't I get one of these before???? It is absolutely wonderful. I am always cold and I turn on my side about l5 minutes before I
go to bed and it is toasty and warm! I don't leave it on all night but it sure is great. I would recommend it for anyone who gets cold and has trouble thawing out like me.

Well, I think it is time for me to read my paper. I seem to have so much time now that the US elections are over! I got to the point where I couldn't turn it off and even though I
am a Canadian, I found it drew me in. Our election came and went and wasn't nearly as exciting as the US.

Shirley

3 fabric wall hangings

here are some more 3 fabric wall hangings using different panels and pieces of fabric for the centers. The Christmas scene was done by
Julie in our firlst class. The other two are mine - the elephants was from a piece of animal fabric I had in my stash and the Barn was a panel I picked up. You can see the different result with the different types of fabrics. I rather like doing
thread painted centers and working from there see the humming bird in the previous post , but in the class you learn different types of centers for your creation. S

Hummer & flowers

Here is a picture of one of my 3 fabric wall hangings. I used one of my own centers showing a pretty hummer, and two other fabrics. I used one of my hand dyed fabrics for the center block and another for the border - I as mentioned in my last post , I will be teaching this again soon.

Learningfa confirmed classes

Here are some examples of the ongoing thread painting classes - A rosebud, pointsettia and a house.



We have our schedule for after Christmas pretty well firmed up.

2008 classes
Beginning thread painting - Nov. 20th sign up by Monday (repeat of series)
Square Dance - with Cheryl, Dec. 6 and 7th
Blogger l0l with Chris - not confirmed
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2009 Classes
3 fabric wall hanging - Jan. 4 & 5 - Shirley
Beginning Thread painting part 2 --
Make a little book with Carol -Early Feb
Chenille pillow cover - Shirley - mid Feb

Prairie points - Judith (repeat)
simple landscape - Shirley
advanced landscape - Shirley
Easy Stars - Miriam from Ireland (repeat)
Quilt a picture of your house - Chris. May

All our classes are free and they are wonderful. click on the side bar (learningfa) and
go to the site and join our group.
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I have been down with a bad cold which turned into bronchitis so haven't been doing much lately. I am starting to feel like it is finally getting better.

I would love it if you would comment on any of my posts - what do you think of the classes for next year -- We have over 300 members on my learning fa group and I am really looking forward to next year. Remember you must sign up for the threadpainting before Monday night - so if you are interested join the group and sign up in the data base right away!

JEAN QUILTS, by learningfa members

We just finished a jeans quilt, taught by Judith from the Cdnquiltswappers, and I was in awe of the beautiful quilts that were made by our students. Here are some of them.

Judith and the other teachers donate their time to teach these classes and I thank them, and I am sure the girls in the group do too. We have some great classes coming up in 2009. We have over 300 members and the group is growing. The classes are easy to follow and we do have a wonderful group of ladies. It is overwhelming to see what the girls have accomplished over the last year and a half.

Aren't these wonderful! Shirley

Carol Miller, Founder of 'The Quilt'

and I, standing in front of two of my wall hangings. Carol is a breast cancer survivor and Founder of 'The Quilt' which has raised millions of dollars in support of Cancer over the years. I have been donating my wall hangings for 4 or 5 years with a great feeling of satisfaction. This year I was
the 'Featured Quilter' at the Calgary auction. I managed to sell all the wall hangings in
the display of my works,with proceeds going to Wellspring. We did very well. Carol has a couple of my wall hangings in her personal collection which she purchased through the auctions.

This year Wellspring (which is the recipient of the funds from the Calgary's auction) organized the
auction and it was wonderful. Two wonderful groups working together. "The quilt"
was organized by Sandra Krystolowich and her great group of volunteers
since the inception of the auction at Calgary. I have been honored to help in every way I could . As Wendy, from Wellspring mentioned - "Boy are they ever organized, and do they ever know what they are doing!" Sandra also oversees the setting up, volunteers and taking down of the Calgary quilts at our local LaZboy. LaZboy has been one of the original sponsors of 'The Quilt' and allows us to show the quilts at their stores all across Canada.
It is wonderful fun to meet Calgary area quilters when we 'sit for the quilts' and great to
meet each other every year at the auction. Shirley