Gift wrap tote

Gift wrap tote
Originally uploaded by Maureen1.

Made from scraps of fabric I have had for some time to gift wrap my daughter's birthday present. She is a horse mad person, so the equine border print I bought from a sale basket came in useful.

Helicopter game

Just a quick bit of relief from my holiday photos , here is a cute little
helicopter game that will frustrate and delight you.

Kamloops

Towards the end of the first day on the Rocky Mountaineer we went through Chase which is where an online friend used to live. I had no idea she lived in such a beautiful part of the world. The next town was Kamloops where we stayed overnight. This is the view from my hotel window. I woke early and sat outside with the first cup of coffee of the day enjoying the peace and beauty of the scene before me. Dawn was beautiful that day.

Vancouver

After a 2 day train trip on the Rocky Mountaineer from Calgary to Vancouver and an overnight stay in a fairly small motel room, it was great to stretch out in the huge apartment I had in Vancouver. I had enlisted the aid of the bell boy in Calgary hotel to find me accommodation and he excelled in this. One of the first things I did was to phone Arlee who I hoped to meet. I tried to contact her all night and again the next morning with no luck. So I decided to explore the waterfront and the art gallery that morning and try again when I got back to the hotel about lunchtime. When I got back to the hotel there was a note to phone Arlee. We arranged to meet outside the Museum, so I walked over Burchard Bridge enjoying the amazing views to the Museum area - when I got there I found three Museums!!! As you can see we did meet up, I also met Arlee's lovely Grey Man who took this photo of us. What a glorious day it was. After a refreshing cup of tea we took off for a fabric shop. What treasures were to be found there. I knew I had to be restrained as my bags were bulging and I was seriously worried about whether I could get my carry-on bag in the luggage racks. But I bought some trims, some gorgeous black glittery fabric, some knitting yarn for couching and some fabric scraps all for a mere $10 or so. It was like being in heaven that shop. Back to pack and get ready for an early start on the homeward bound trip. Could have done with more time in Vancouver, so much to see, so little time.

Rocky Mountaineer

Whilst I was in Calgary I met with a friend's husband. He took me to Heritage Park, a place where they have moved various old buildings to form into a little township. It is a really interesting park, I found it fascinating there. I sent some mail to Australia, and it was hand franked and put into the postbox by the postmistress in a real old fashioned post office. We had a traditional breakfast of pancakes, maple syrup and sausages before starting our sightseeing. It was a lovely sunny day.

The next morning I started out on my train trip across the Rockies to Vancouver. I took quite a few photos, but this is the only one that shows anything of what the scenery is like. We had a wonderful trip, saw lots of animals, my biggest thrills being to see a black bear and coyote, luckily from the safety of the train! Alas no photos as we were past them in a flash and I would never have got the camera lined up in time.

New Toy

I got a new mobile phone today, I have been so busy trying to set it up that I have not had time for much else since I unpacked my new toy. It would help if I could understand the instruction book, but that seems to be written in a sort of just beyond understanding type of English.

St. Lawrence Seaway

Possibly no visit to the Great Lakes area is complete without seeing the St. Lawrence seaway. Eight locks make up this transition from lake to seaway and we were lucky enough to see a 'laker' going through a lock. You can see from this photo that it only just fits into the lock, an amazingly skilful job for the pilot. On the way home we were stopped at the Port Colborne crossing to see a 'saltie' sail across the 'road' in front of us. Well, it makes a change from seeing trains at level crossings

Itchy fingers

Whilst in St. Jacobs I bought a table runner kit which came in a nice little tin box decorated with a beaver and maple leaf. I really felt like sewing today and did not know what to start on, so decided to get this kit out and make one or two of the blocks, I actually finished all five. Now have to join them up, border them and quilt. I don't really like the border that came with the kit and luckily the maple leaf fabric I bought in a Mennonite house will just be enough and the right colour to substitute. What luck!

Mennonite Country

Before I totally leave Mennonite country, I have to mention the horse and buggies that are seen both along country and main roads. The horses never even flick an ear as trucks thunder past. This was taken in a sleepy country village.

Niagara

After the quilt shows and auction at Waterloo/St. Jacobs/Kitchener, I said goodbye to my Canadian online quilting friends. Eleven of us had stayed in 3 apartments at the University of Waterloo. What a blast that was! I hope we were on a floor to ourselves as we were just a little noisy.

So off to Niagara where I was to meet up with my friend and stay with her and her husband for a few days before flying to Calgary. Here is my photo of the Canadian side of the Falls - The Horseshoe Falls. A couple of days later I was on that boat under the Falls - what an amazing experience.

And if any of you have experience of possums in the roof thundering around in the night, you will know exactly how popular these cute little beasties are in Canada:.

Mennonite Charity Quilt Auction

One of the features of the Waterloo Quilt Festival is the Mennonite Charity Quilt Auction. This year they had 283 quilts to auction over two days. It is a highly professional event, once a quilt is sold it is quickly replaced by the next one to be auctioned, whilst the sold quilt is packaged and numbered ready for payment and collection. It was fascinating to watch. Of course, greedy me could hardly wait to go and get my slice of home made strawberry pie with cream, all made by Mennonite women and totally delicious. I must try to replicate this recipe for sure.
My notes say that the quilt pictured here sold for about $1000 Canadian. In my book that is a real bargain.

Georgian Bay

These pictures were taken from my quilting friend's house. Whilst in Gray County we visited her quilt guild in Meaford and had an inspiring talk and show and tell by a visiting tutor. We also went to see the Guild Annual Show in the Library building. There were some very nice quilts to be seen. Was nice to visit a small, friendly guild whilst we were in the area. Amazing how craftswomen the world over find common ground so quickly.

What colour blue am I?

Found this on Margaret's blog and had to see what colour blue I am. The answer is so appropriate I am posting it here:

You Are Royal Blue

People find you difficult to understand. In fact, you often find it hard to understand yourself. You think so much that sometimes you get lost in your own thoughts!

What Color Blue Are You?

Back home

After a month away I am back home in sunny, but cold Perth. I can't believe I have had such a wonderful holiday in Canada, what a beautiful country with such friendly people.

The first photo is of my friend Cathie in the Textile Museum, Toronto. We had great fun playing in the Pattern section of this museum. They had these great cloaks all patterned in different ways that you could arrange and re-arrange in front of a mirror to see how movement altered pattern. You can see me taking the photo in the mirror.

Whilst in Toronto we stayed at the University Women's Club, which is in a large old house, probably around turn of the century, 1900s. It is beautifully decorated and furnished in period style. Here is a photo of me living it up in the loungeroom. This was taken the morning we left to take a bus to meet with our friend Beate.