Engadene Lodge for Afternoon Tea

Thanks to our good friends we enjoyed afternoon tea today at Mount Engadene Lodge.  A short drive away, the warm and inviting Lodge is set in normally majestic mountain scenery on the Spray Lake Road above Canmore.  It was a bit overcast and rainy today though.  This is not my favourite road surface, as it is not a paved road and as you climb steeply up the winding road it is very rough and rugged and shakes every bone in your body. I have driven it once and that was enough, although the scenery is usually spectacular, today the clouds were masking the top of the mountains and a few flakes of snow were falling as we approached Engadene.  As ever our expert driver negotiated the washboard ruts and potholes and we arrived just in time for a scrumptious afternoon tea.  Leaving the car in the car park and walking to the lodge this female Moose was spotted down in the meadow below.

I am not quite sure what she was eating down in the mire, but she looked as though she was happy enough.

We were welcomed by the very friendly lodge hosts and we sat looking over the meadow hoping we might see more of the moose family.  What a delicious spread of goodies, we were allowed to help ourselves to cheeses, crackers and olives, dips, nachos and fruits, followed by a superb selection of pies, cakes and loaves all washed down with a refreshing cup of tea or two.

 

 

This little fellow was spotted sitting in the tree opposite our table, obviously he was enjoying his afternoon snack as much as we were.

 

 

 

Back at home we have just had a late, light supper.  A very enjoyable day with very good friends!! Thanks for a lovely day.

The sewing machine and all my fabrics, mat, rulers and notions are packed away for now as we head back to the UK very soon.  I didn't want to start another project so I will just content myself with a bit of knitting, reading and planning what I will be doing next.

Hope you all had a great weekend too.

My Unwanted Scraps - Gone to a better place

You will all be pleased to know my scraps here in Canada have gone to a good cause. Unfortunately I did say I was binning some fabrics in one of my previous posts, fabrics that I was really fed up looking at and had used so many times. I got so many comments about me binning fabric. As some of you will know I, like many quilters, am a very thrifty quilter I waste nothing!! That throw away line got me into so much trouble. I really need to be more careful how I say things, I have a reputation for saying things and regretting them later. So after making a few enquiries this is what happened to them.

The local hospital here had put out a request for craft supplies for their extended care facility. This would allow residents to be able to take part in and enjoy crafting to make new soft furnishings for their facility. Yesterday we took along a big bag of batting scraps which I hope will be ideal for table runners, cushions and stuffing for soft toys, together with a bag of the scraps which have overstayed their welcome in my box and have become a source of angst. I hope you will all feel better now you know they are being up cycled.

My sewing has been progressing now that the weather is a bit cooler here and the new bundles of fabrics are beginning to turn into tops. I have been strip piecing and have made some half square triangles, two very easy and quick methods of piecing. I will leave the more complicated patterns till I get back home.








I will not be revealing these just yet, I am taking them home to Scotland to sandwich up and quilt. Please keep following along and you will soon see the finished quilts which will eventually be put up for sale to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care.

I hope you are all planning your projects for the coming months, it is so nice to close the curtains on the darker nights and sit in front of the sewing machine or the fire with a new project. Being still in summer holiday mode I have not yet thought about the next holiday season - I am not mentioning that word just yet although there are lots of seasonal fabrics appearing in the shops.

Have a good day folks, I hope you find time for a stitch or two today.

More Fabrics

I have a few baby quilts to make over the next few months and when I visited the quilt shop in Cochrane earlier this this week this is what I bought.  Bright and cheery and in my eyes suitable for either boy or girl.  As many of you know I have great difficulty with girly colours so I guess I always seem to veer to the boys colours.  Never fear I promise I will look for some more girly colours too!  I intend doing something with HSTs (half square triangles for those not quilty minded)

We went for a short drive this afternoon down by the river, a few folks were out enjoying the trails, a photographer capturing Yamnuska and a couple of fishermen drifting in their boat downstream - no wildlife!  As we sat enjoying our afternoon coffee we could see the storm clouds building up to the west.  By 4.00pm we called it a day and returned home just as the rain came on.  

I decided to make a huge pot of warming soup for dinner - sweet potato with cumin and ginger. Hearty and warming, it was delicious. Lamb chops, green beans, mushrooms and garlic potatoes followed, all rounded off with a lovely glass of wine.  I did sneak some sticky toffee pudding and icecream to complete the meal.  

If I don't fall asleep I may just do some stitching tonight using some of these fabrics for my next quilt.  Have a great week folks, I hope all my friends at quilting class have made a start to their BOM (block of the month) or at least had a look at it.  It will soon be time for the next one!  Happy stitching.

The Icefield Parkway.......

......well the first part of it.

This is the main route though the Rockies if you are travelling to Jasper.  The highway is lined with mountains all topped with glaciers on this route and on a day like today it is a wonderful sight with lots of photo opportunities.  We have travelled this road many times over the years and each time the mountains look so different.  Today the sky was clear with light wispy clouds, the sprinkling of snow on the mountains made them stand out, even more so than usual.  I think all the rain this summer has washed out all the dust from the crevices and with the sun low in the sky made them look sharp and rugged.

Bow Lake

                                                             

Our stop for lunch was by Bow Lake, fed by the bow glacier, the water was a magnificent jade colour, but although the sun was shining the cold breeze coming off the glacier made it a bit too chilly to sit by the lakeside for too long - just long enough to eat our lunch.  Usually on this trip we are lucky enough to see some of the local wildlife, sometimes if we are lucky a bear, more likely bighorn sheep, occasionally a bald eagle, but today they were all elusive.  We did spot a little chipmunk on the road who was playing 'chicken' fortunately he froze in the middle of the road and we went right over the top of him, whew! No harm done this time lucky for him.  A red tailed hawk was spotted soaring high. 

Waterfowl Lake

 

Moose Meadows

                                                       

Even at Waterfowl Lake this afternoon and Moose meadows as the sun was beginning to set no creatures were spotted.  Our day was rounded off with a lovely dinner at Baker Creek. Another beautiful relaxing day spent in the Rockies.

As you will appreciate there was no quilting done today, however a few more hexis were added to the growing bag.

It's Dreich Today!

For those of you who don't know the word, dreich is an old scots word for dull, cold, overcast and wet weather.  It certainly is that here today, even the mountains are hiding, wrapped up in clouds, I do believe I can see a sprinkling of snow covering the tops.

We even had to put the heating on for a while just to heat the house.  I have been doing what I do best on cold days, apart from quilting I do enjoy baking.  Usually at home the oven goes on and the aroma of freshly baked scones wafts from the kitchen, the family favourites. However when in Canada do as the Canadians do, make marshmallow crispie squares.  I have just been told off though for cutting the squares too small!!  I think I should really be making some soup. As I look out the window today it appears summer has gone and autumn has arrived.  We do have a couple of blue jays visiting the seed feeder, and our resident squirrel is running back and forth along the top of the fence, carrying goodies in his mouth obviously stocking his larder for the winter.  The trees are turning and the aspen and the larches are stunning.  

I am off to do some more sewing this afternoon, using up pieces of fabrics as usual, trying to empty my boxes so I can go off and search for more fabrics, perhaps to try out a modern quilt.  I have a finish too - thankfully!  These fabrics seem to have grown legs as they say. They were bought as a kit and I have now produced I think 5 quilts from it (you will see them all in the gallery).  This is the end of the line for them now.  Any scrap pieces I have left are going in the bin I am so fed up looking at them.  This quilt is called Sunny Days, it is bright and cheery and hopefully it will go off to some little girl in the community here.

Sunny Days - or perhaps it should have been called Dolly Mixtures

A Perfect Day - Another Picnic

Cathedral Mountain - from Monarch Campground

Cathedral Mountian - another picnic spot we enjoy. Lots of butterflies warming their wings in the sun, all too flighty to get a good photo. Usually we have a visit from the little ground squirrels when we are here, but they were hiding today. A great day out in the sunshine, revisiting places with happy memories. We have a photo of the boys standing on the bridge taken the first time we were here.  Wow!  how time flies.  I must try and find it when we get back home. We stopped at a few places on our trip today and finally had dinner in our favourite Chinese restaurant, eating too much as always but oh it was good!

Rundle Mountain - Just as the sun is setting

This must be one of the most photographed mountains in the park, and as a family we must have lots of shots but I just couldn't resist one more, it was a stunning evening.

What about the quilting then?  I need a pincushion - I have lots at home but I have never really got around to making one here.  The first photo gave me inspiration - or thought association more likely.  The class wants a tutorial later in the year too, so a good opportunity to try out 'cathedral windows'.  

I will probably try and find a nice little button for the centre but I don't think it's too bad for a first attempt.  What do you think?

Cathedral Windows Pincushion

Picnic by the Lake

Barrier Lake

A glorious day, and not a cloud in the azure blue sky, an ideal day for a picnic.  This spot is just beautiful. When we arrived there was a pair of loons peacefully drifting across the lake.  I had hoped they would come closer so that I could get a photo, but as some of us know they can be quite elusive.  You can follow their wake for ages then suddenly they will just disappear diving under the water, then don't surface for ages.  When they do appear again it is usually on the other side of the lake.  I followed the pair for ages with the binoculars, they were beautiful in their lovely black and white plumage.  The only other wildlife we saw today were some crickets basking in the sun and enjoying the heat of the rocks, just like us!

Mr Cricket - or maybe its Mrs

Sorry to those of you who don't like beasties, this little cricket was just so colourful in the sunshine.  

As you can imagine there is not a lot of quilting being done in this heat, but I am stitching in the evenings when it cools down.

Another Delivery of Quilts

I am so pleased to tell you today that a few more of my quilts have gone off to help keep someone cosy throughout the winter months ahead.  Those of you who have been following since the outset will remember I said that I give most of my quilts to those who need them and for charity fundraising.  Just around that time there was severe flooding in southern Alberta, Canada.  In particular a place very close to my heart.   Canmore is a beautiful town in the Rockies with stunning scenery and more importantly a warm, friendly community.   The mountains and friends draw us back year after year.  We have just returned for a visit to total devastation in the valley.  Although we have been following the events with great interest from afar no picture can truly portray the severity of the destruction.  A storm which passed so quickly leaves in its wake long months of recovery, uncertainty and waiting, for decisions to allow rebuilding work to be started.  Our dear friends have lost their home and are waiting patiently for the powers that be to agree to the rebuilding of their beautiful home.  Many families have had to find alternative homes some having to stay in temporary accommodation in motor homes and trailers.  Possessions and valuables have been swept away with a lifetime of treasures lost. Many are beginning to feel the chill as the colder weather approaches.  

What good are my quilts doing stacked in a cupboard? They are needed for folks less fortunate than me.  I am delighted to be able to help - it may not be much but I hope these quilts will keep a few families a bit cosier this winter. Of course a quilt is a hug, and everyone in this community needs a very, very big hug, if only to say we are thinking of you all at this very difficult time.    

Here are some of the quilts which I have passed on and I hope will help towards piecing someone's life and home back together.

Blue Skies and Sunshine

The blue and yellow bundle of fabrics given to me recently has been transformed.  I have only used some of the fabrics so I would imagine you will be seeing this cheery fabric again in another pattern at a much later date, I have a few ideas.  This one is called Blue Skies and Sunshine, and I think an appropriate name for this little floral lap quilt which will be one of the first to be put up for sale to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care, the main purpose of this blog.  In an odd coincidence the colourway is also the colour of the charity's daffodil logo which I am sure we all know so well.  The online shop is in the planning but I would like to have a few more projects completed to offer a choice to any would be customers.

Blue Skies and Sunshine

The quilt is as always pieced together with cotton fabrics and machine pieced with egyptian cotton thread this one measures approx 42 x 42 inches and has warm and natural batting and is backed with a cosy fleece.  All my quilts are fully machine washable in a cool wash.

A Little Hiccup

What do you do when you can't sew?  Well I suppose that's actually a silly question.  I can sew, but I can't press my seams.  Yesterday while ironing my shirts my iron started making silly spitting noises. Hmm need to get this done, carry on and keep calm.  I did think the temperature wasn't quite right but got through the bundle.

Move on a few hours, sitting at my machine putting together a few more blocks, turned to the pressing board and iron which should have been at optimum temperature. Strange!  Not hot enough.  It is (or should I say was) one of these which cuts off after leaving it on for too long but it hadn't been left for that long without being used.  Picked it up and I had a little puddle on my mat and table and drips on the floor, together with a lot of hissing and spitting.  Switched it off. Water and electricity not a good combination.  Dried everything up, left it a while.  Tried again - same result.  Conclusion no more sewing and a trip out later today to buy a new iron.

Why do these things always happen when you are on a roll and steaming on (oops sorry!) to try and get something finished.  Ho hum. 

Had to do some knitting instead!  Another pair of walking socks for the photographer in the family.  Oh and I have to say that the photos on this blog are taken by me - not the professional - his photos are so much better than these!

Easy to take with you wherever you go - I love these  little pins.