Friday, December 30, 2011

If Only??


I finished Maddy and now, onto the snow surrounding her. I was reading Deanne's post this morning about ideas and it reminded me of an idea I had last night while hooking some of the snow background.

I thought that once I am finished Maddy's mat, I would design another one for each of the other dogs I have had; Babe and Bonnie, the Dobermans, Heidi and Pepper, the Schnauzers, and finally, Pee Wee along with Maddy for the Jack Russells.

Once finished, I could join the six mats into one large mat. Now, that seems to be a great idea!

If only??

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Payback Time!


Well, maybe it's over. Now, that we have Christmas and Boxing Day sales out of the way, it's onto the "lifestyle resolutions" treadmill.

Now that we have stuffed overselves with food and drink, maxed out the Visa cards, it's on to the television ads berating us for our overindulgence and pity for the starving children around the world. It's payback time!

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas to All


Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends. Thanks so much for visiting and also for sharing your own lives with me.

Blessings to everyone!

Friday, December 23, 2011

Happy Tipp's Eve!


In Newfoundland, the day before Christmas Eve is known by Tibb's Eve, Tipp's Eve or Tipsy Eve. No one is really certain of it's exact origin but I do know that it is only in Newfoundland that this term is used.

It is thought that Tipsy Eve originated by the old custom of the men in the outports going from house to house on the 23rd of December to taste each other's home brew. Thus, becoming 'tipsy' by the end of the 23rd.

Happy Tibb's Eve to all but please walk from house to house and leave the car at home!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Dog Gone It!


This is Alice's progress to date on our animal themed rug hooking project. I think her choice of her brother's Labrador Retriever, Abby, was a bold choice as there is a high degree of difficulty. After all, black is black but how to show the shine of Abby's coat and the play of light.




The progress on my project has not progressed as far but plodding along, when I can.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Seems All Too Soon!




The older I get, winter seems to come all too soon and buries my garden with her cold, white arms.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

And the Wind did blow!


We had a unbelievable wind storm from Thursday evening into Friday and lost the power for 27 hours. The temperature soared to over plus 14 and then, dropped like a proverbial rock.

Now, we have had wind storms before but this one had us all nervous and afraid that the roof would blow off any minute. At one point, we watched a light fixture in the kitchen ceiling rock and sway like we were on a boat. Oh the North Atlantic, the winds are cruel and merciless.

Our portable garage which used to house the boat was shredded and collapsed like it was just cardboard. Besides that ,a piece of siding and part of a fence blown over, our little house by the Bay of Islands stood her ground and bravely survived another attempt to blow us off this rock!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Maddy's Off and Running!



Here is the beginning of the portrait of Maddy. I have no idea how this is going to turn out, but here goes! I am following a coloured photo I took of Maddy last winter on the deck looking cute as a button.

The weather has been up and down, some days snow and cold, the next, rain and melting snow. Well, I guess that's winter in the North Atlantic.

Hard to believe that Christmas is less than one month away. The stores are starting to be so crowded and almost impossible. Imagine, in one month, it will be all over, except the bills!

I am not a "bah humbug person" but I hate how commercial Christmas has become. I guess it is up to we, the people, to make it less commercial and more about enjoying time with friends and family.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Finished and Started!


Autumn Trio is now complete and it is quite nice, if I do say so myself.



And what comes after one hooked rug project? Of course, more rug hooking projects. This is the one that I am working on with my Day Job group and we picked pets. Here is Maddy and this should be a real demonstration of how many values of brown I can get into one mat!

The weather has been quite mild up to yesterday and for now, we have had a touch of snow which I am sure is only a sampling of things to come.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Sad Ending!


This picture makes me very sad. Two glorious ferries beached side by side waiting their turn to be made into scrap in Alang, India. The Caribou and the Smallwood were only 25 years old and in the life of a monster ferry, that isn't even middle age.


These two Ladies of the North Atlantic which were built in Quebec, were replaced by two new super ferries, the Blue Putee and the Highlander, and were sold to the highest bidder who decided they are worth more in scrap that in transportation ability.

I spent many a crossing on these ferries, always feeling safe despite the rolling, brutal North Atlantic or the thickness of the ice crushing against their sides in the middle of the night.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

My Newfoundland Connection!

Catholic Church in North River on the Avalon Penisula where Mrs. Carroll is buried.


I have been coming to Newfoundland for almost 20 years before becoming a resident. I am known to islanders as a "Come from Away" and while, it isn't meant to be rude, it just means I am from somewhere else.

One time,I asked someone, how long do you have to live here before that term is inapplicable. I was told until you have someone buried in Newfoundland.

For years, I have heard my dear Mother talk about a relative who lived in Newfoundland until she was 115 years old. But didn't know much about her, just a last name, Mrs. Carroll. On CBC yesterday, while listening to the CBC celebration, they played a tape of a Mrs. Carroll being interviewed by Joey Smallwood on her 113th birthday.

After a short search in I found this information;

The Oldest Resident
Born on October 21, 1828, Mrs. Ellen Carroll lived til December 8, 1943 when she died where she had been born in North River at the tender age of 115 years, 7 weeks.

In addition to her being Newfoundland's oldest resident, Mrs. Carroll is also known for her radio broadcast debut on the night of October 19, 1940 in celebration of her 113th birthday. Mr. J.R. Smallwood choreographed the broadcast and the following dignitaries were in attendance: Honourable Sir John C. Puddester, Vice-Chairman of the Commission of Government and Commissioner for Public Health and Welfare. Greeting were sent by the Queen and King, and His Excellency Governor and Lady Walwyn, as well telegrams were sent from the Bishop of Newfoundland, the President of the United Church, the Mayor of St. John's and Captain Bob Bartlett.

Mrs. Carroll in her lifetime had witnessed many changes in her community, province and country. For example, there had been rule by Governor, Representative Government, Amalgamated Government, Responsible Government, and Commission Government and when she was in her fifties the Dominion of Canada was formed. The first railway was built when Mrs. Carroll was in her early sixties.


I am not sure how or where the connection is, but now, I can honestly, say I am not longer a Come From Away!

Monday, October 31, 2011

New Project!


I had to develop a new project for our rug hooking group at the Day Job. As Alice is working on a mat with an animal design, I decided to follow suit.

Somewhere in my travels, I discovered the Be Funky site which is great for added artistic flare to your photos. I took this picture of Maddy last winter and just loved the comical look on her face. I played with the Be Funky editing and came up with the black and white "inkified" picture. I will be attempting to draw this on red dot and then, transfer onto burlap for a small 11 x 17 mat.

You can find the Be Funky site on the right hand of my blog under Interesting Places.




Sunday, October 30, 2011

Autumn Trio Finished


After considerable redrawing and reversing hooking, the third and final pumpkin went back to its original design. I could not get by the grinning face and it didn't compliment the other two pumpkins. I am happy with the final outcome and will now, carry on with the whipped corded border finish.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Thanks Mom!


I had a lovely weekend in Montreal with my dear mother. It was just the two of us and it flew by much too quickly. Well, this morning, I guess it had to happen some time, wet snow greeted me on the way to the Day Job. Let's hope the winter passes smoothly for all of us.

I had a visitor to my blog and when I checked out Yolanda's site, she had posted The Knot's Prayer. I had to share it with you as it is excellent and I will be sure to read it once it awhile for reinforcement!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Unexpected Trip!




This is the view of the highway leading from Corner Brook to Deer Lake. There is irony in the name Deer Lake as we have no deer in the province. I guess Captain Cook should have called it Moose Lake, but at that time, we had no moose either.

Anyway, I will be headed up that highway later today as I am being sent by the Day Job people to another location for a meeting and of course, this means Montreal. Well, what better time to arrange a quick, weekend visit with my dear mother who lives only a few minutes from Trudeau International or as we call it, Dorval. In fact, if you have ever landed in Montreal, you flew right over Mom's house, or at least, pretty close to it.






I thought I would add a spectacular picture of the barrens outside of Stephenville with their beautiful fall colours.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Autumn's Splendor!



This beautiful scenery is looking west towards the Blow-Me-Down mountains overlooking Corner Brook.

Autumn's beautiful splendor only diminished by thoughts of what comes after this season. It was a nice long weekend with a few pre-winter chores like chimney cleaning, bottling up beets and putting away the garden for the winter.

This week, my little rug hooking group will be starting up again and I will be finishing the Autumn Trio. I will be designing a small project to bring in and of course, revisit the Cheticamp frame which has the large project on it.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

New Toy!


A few months ago, my dear mother gave me my birthday present and told me to buy something special. I don't think she understood my indecision as I wanted to get something I wouldn't even think of getting myself.

It took some time but I decided on a Bolivar cutter, the Cadillac of wool cutters. Of course, it will take some time as each one is made to order. Until then, I will be content using my rotor cutter and scissors but I will be dreaming of my Bolivar.

I want to express my sincere condolences to Mr. Bolivar and family on the passing of Joan Bolivar this past May 2011. Her legacy will live on in her inspiration on this beautiful wool cutter.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Look at What Passed My House!


The Queen Elizabeth was in Corner Brook on Friday and over 1000 passengers were visiting our beautiful city. I waved goodbye to them from my deck overlooking the Bay of Islands while I could hear "Rule Britannia" on the ship's loudspeakers.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Home again, home again!


A view from the Blue Puttee arriving in Port aux Basques.


The Port aux Basques harbour view.


Where did the three weeks go anyway? Oh yes, travelling to and from the island, lovely visits with family in Montreal and Toronto, shopping excursions, a visit to Deanne's studio, great meals and even better conversations!

I did absolutely no rug hooking during my vacation but I did look in to see what my dear fellow bloggers were up to and enjoyed everyone's posts!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Mat Progress


As usual, I was saying this weekend as P and I put away the hot tub, didn't we just put this out? Time flies by alittle faster as each year goes by.

It was a nice long weekend, with visits to family members, barbeques and abit of hooking on Cathy's mat. I used Kim's idea of a little dash of contrast on the birds as if there is moonlight. I decided to make the third and final pumpkin, a Halloween pumpkin with a face. It looks odd right now, as I stopped hooking it to take the picture. We shall see how it works as it goes along.

One day of work at the Day Job tomorrow and then, off for the rest of September. Hooray!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Silent


This beautiful picture was taken by Sharon from Newfoundland. She is an talented photographer and I often see her photos on facebook.

I can feel the silent strength of this great raptor as it looks up from his meal. If you look closely, there are feathers on the ground under the eagle's perch. Previous meals, I guess. The cruel truth of nature.

And so, it is Labour Day weekend, and the summer although not officially over, always feels over.

Have a wonderful weekend filled with things that make you contented.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Autumn Progress


I am making some progress on the Autumn Trio. I am doing the background in a hunter green wool with flecks of yellow and orange. But I had to make the birds, sparrows, as if I used black for ravens, they would blend into the dark background.

As Deanne says quite often, you just have to go along with your mat and sometimes, it works out and sometimes, you learn from the whole experience.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Icebergs!


These spectacular pictures were taken in the Northern Pennisula where the icebergs have been plentiful. The last picture is of the Peterman ice island and you can see all the seals which are riding along with the ice island.

I have been continuing on with the Autumn Trio and enjoying the final days of summer. My dear mother arrived yesterday for a visit and hopefully, we will be taking in the sights in the next few weeks.





Sunday, August 21, 2011

New Project!




Sometime ago, I won a blog giveaway from Cathy at Orange Sink. At that time, I had other projects I wanted to finish and didn't get started until today.

Here is Autumn Trio by Cathy G. in its early stages. I will be using mixed fibres such as wool yarns and wool strips. With the summer almost at an end (afterall the Ex has started in Toronto and we all know that signals the end of summer), I think it is time.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Harry Potter's Lid





I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted. Nothing special going on but certainly, now the summer is seemingly almost over.

I finished up Harry Potter and as you can see, it worked out although, it took some thinking of how to get it to hold on to the lid. I basted a 1/4 elastic into the binding and then, pulled it tight to shape it. I don't know if anyone else has ever hooked a toilet lid cover, but there you have it!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Aunt Bertie's Daisy Garden







Someone, I had the brilliant idea of bringing my Cheticamp frame from the rec room, to the deck for the summer. Once I received Cara's permission to do an adaption of her piece, Aunt Bertie's Daisy Garden, I went to work on the large project. It will be approximately 26 x 44 and I added a border and some dragonflies and lady bugs.

It hasn't worked out as the Cheticamp frame is also a monster and took up most of the deck, so it got folded up and eventually, will be moved back down to the rec room. However, I thought while it was off the frame, I would take a quick picture for today's post. It will be sometime before Aunt Bertie's garden will be complete but I hope I do Cara's art work, justice!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Living the Dream!


How many of my friends say that one day, they will sell up their big city home and move to a smaller town and take some time to smell the roses? Most times, this never happens, they never live the dream.

More than 10 years ago, Fate called my name and said, it's time to change things, and so I did and now, I feel like I am living the dream, not dreaming about living.

Friday, August 5, 2011

My Summer, so Far!


This picture shows dolphins playing in the Bay of Islands. Every year, the dolphins come into the bay, probably chasing their food source. Even wild dolphins have a natural ability to play and frequently, jump out of the water and put on a little show for us.

My summer, so far, has been going along in a positive, but steady march. This year, we hired a student to help out with some projects, so my weekends have been freed up and not filled up, with painting, staining and other assorted duties that must be done.

We(the royal,we, of course) are developing a small boarding kennel business and it is to be called Kozy Kennels. I will post some pictures as the project goes forward.

On the rug hooking front, I have been working now and then, on the Harry Potter crapper cover as one of those UFOs that need finishing. The larger projects will wait until the fall.

I still am not able to post comments on some of my fellow bloggers sites as I am having the same problems that Kim did in the past. Anyway, I try to post but it is like being in a revolving door with no exit.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Wicked!


This wicked sunset was taken one night this week overlooking the beautiful Bay of Islands. If you look closely, you will see a small boat probably heading home after a day of recreational cod fishing.

Wicked is one of those NL terms which doesn't mean what it does to the rest of Canada. Wicked is something great, wonderful, beautiful, unbelievable. Used like this; I had a wicked time last night at the concert, or that's a wicked tee shirt you have on.

Wicked is the equivalent of the word "sick" that the young people from away, use all the time.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Got to Love it!


Imagine looking out your window every morning and seeing this big, old iceberg out in your front yard? This picture is in Goose Cove which is only a couple of hours drive from my house in NL.

I still marvel at the beautiful sights all around me in this place. The summer has been on the cool side but we aren't complaining. I overheard a visitor to our province ask someone what kind of air conditioning did she have? The answer was simple; "why, we just open more windows when it's hot".

Got to love it!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Goosed?


I didn't have a chance to take out my camera this morning but this picture is exactly what I saw just as I left my driveway on the way to the Day Job. It was abit foggy this morning and my neighbour's gaggle of geese were in the middle of the road, taking their time, crossing back home.

Needlessly to say, where else would this happen but on the island of NL. We are so close to the earth here, so much wildlife around us and a small population of two legged beasts-we humans.

People in NL still hunt and fish, go berry picking and raise their own animals and yes, keep the craft of rug hooking alive. With 80% of the world's population living in cities, we are losing our ability to fend for ourselves but not, here in NL.

Monday, July 18, 2011

New Project!


There are two incredible artists, Cara and Pam who live on the East Coast of NL. I have been following their wonderful blog for sometime and I really love their whimisical approach to art with a NL theme.

I just received permission from Cara to adapt "Aunt Bertie's Daisy Garden into a monster size rug hooking project. I am working on the pattern and going to use an interesting border with dragon flies, lady bugs and butterflies around it.

If you get a chance, have a look at the Grumpy Goat Blog and the fabulous art work as well as a good laugh at Cara's postings!

http://thegrumpygoatgallery.blogspot.com