What's New?

My migration from Nova Scotia to TX was successful and relatively uneventful, but it has taken some time for my mojo to return.
While en route, I joined my little sister and brother-in-law in the search for a rare bird spotted in Maine. We had success! #328 on my life list.

Meet the Townsend's Solitaire,

a member of the thrush family, and

the only solitaire native to America north of Mexico.

As you can see from this map,

he was a long, long way from home!!

I think this snowy, cold environment

was a little more than he bargained for!

I concur,

but it's not much warmer down here in TX at the moment!

What else is new?

There's a new blog hop coming to town,

and I'm very proud to be a part of it.

I hope you'll join us.
To view the full schedule,
visit Pat at
Life in the Scrapatch

and you will see that
I'll be keeping company with some
pretty fantastic quilter/bloggers
to support women worldwide
who are battling breast cancer.

A big thank you to Madam Samm
at  Sew We Quilt,
and to Pat for being our wonderful cheerleader.

Welcome to 2015!

Canadian Quilters Connect

Sew Sisters Quilt Shop

is sponsoring this fun way to 

"celebrate Canadian quilting bloggers"

and perhaps become acquainted with a few new-to-you blogs.

Today's Canadian Maritimes host is none other than

the lovely Linda from Scrapmaster.

Linda has her hands in so many pies, I can't believe 

she has found the time to do this, too!

Thanks, Linda!

If you are visiting from Linda's blog today,

hello and welcome.

My name is Karen and I'm a quilt-a-holic. 

I make Cape Breton my home for 6 months of the year.

Right about now, I'm supposed to be packing up my 

sewing mess stash for the winter,

to head for south Texas.

Cape Breton is a wonderful refuge,

with a little bit to offer everyone.  

I go hiking,

camping,

and paddling around in my kayak.

If I'm not out of doors,

I'm quilting and sewing.

Free Motion Quilting is my newest challenge.

It's hard, but it's a lot of fun.

I've been quilting for over 30 years and needed something new!

A few of the projects I am still working on 

and haven't packed away are:

My version of Stephanie Dunphy's Hailee Bag,

a mix using an old corduroy shirt and suiting wool.

It was pretty ugly

until I put the Purple Coneflower on the front.

And here is my take on one of Stephanie's newest bag patterns, 

Prairie Tote,

still in the audition stages on the 'design floor'. 

It was on my list to make yesterday,

but I just haven't gotten to it.  Yet.

Perhaps today!

This will definitely reflect living in the maritimes.

(I tried to embellish the picture with a few of my shoreline treasures.)

I pulled out my Christmas fabric, finally,

and like every year, I'm wishing I had pulled it out earlier.

It's not like there wasn't a lot of inspiration

to focus on Christmas projects

from the quilting bloggers.

I can't show you what I've been making with it just yet.

It's a secret!

As are the rest of my most current little projects.

I'm in a real mess here.  I leave in 8 days.

Every time I organize one pile of my stash

and take it upstairs to store away,

I come down with 3 more to spread out and play with.

At this rate, I'll never be ready to go!!

Thanks so much for stopping by.

If you haven't been to Linda's blog,

please pay her a visit

and meet a few other quilters 

from the Atlantic Provinces.

~karen

When Friends Meet

An old Scottish proverb states:

"When friends meet, hearts warm."

How true that is here in the quilter's blog world.

I'd like to extend my thanks and appreciation

for all your kind and encouraging comments

on my previous post.

My daughter left a comment that I am pasting here

to let you all know how much she appreciated you, too,

and to give you a little more info.

KPage said...

Thank you all for the kind words. When I was contacted by Be The Match this summer, I had no doubt that I would donate if I was indeed the best match! And, I would do it again if given the opportunity.  24 hours after the process ended, I was feeling 100% again. Only a few bruises from the IVs remain.

After the transplant, the recipient will take on attributes from my body, such as my blood type and my immune system. I was told that recipients of PBSC donations have a 90% chance at recovery. He will have recovery milestones to hit, with the biggest being 100 Days. At 100 Days, they will know whether or not his body has fully accepted my cells and is successfully producing his own and is on his way to recovery.

Please help me and the Be The Match organization create awareness about this amazing and life-saving procedure! Join the registry by ordering a kit online. Share my story through mom's blog with your friends and family and encourage them to join the registry. More information is available at www.bethematch.org.

Speaking of my daughter,

today is her birthday!

I whipped up this sweet and simple birthday cake wall hanging

from the Fat Quarter Shop's Jolly Jabber

just in time to get in into the mail

on it's long journey to TX.

Thankfully, it arrived with time to spare.

That's not always the case

with international mail.

I had to brave gale force winds to walk it up to the post office, 

and it was well worth the effort

when it arrived at her door!

She was delighted.

You know who else is celebrating a birthday today?

Linda, over at Scrapmaster.

Pop on over and tell her hello!!

In preparation for my southerly migration,

I've finished up another quilted giftie.

Although I originally intended to make it a bed quilt,

I thought of  Lesley, The Cuddle Quilter, when I made the label.

A 'cuddle quilt' is all it turned out to be.

Any bigger, and it would have sat unfinished 

in the laundry basket

in the bottom of my closet for another 4 years!

Finishing this was my goal in May.

Well, it took all summer,

but it happened.

I couldn't resist joining Jacquelynne Steeve's

Sew Sweet Simplicity Block of the Month.

Because of my travel schedule,

BOMs are difficult for me this time of year,

so I chose to make my blocks scrappy.

I am going to make two of each block

so I can have a larger quilt in the end.

With most of my stash being packed away,

 I still have to sew, right?

I kept out a bag of batik scraps that a neighbor dropped off

and made the most beautiful journal cover.

Well, I think it's beautiful, anyway.

I find it difficult to sew things for men,

but I think this is manly enough 

and my brother-in-law will love it.

The pattern was designed by Karen Ackva

at EasyPatchWork

and is for sale in her Craftsy shop.

I hadn't done foundation piecing in years

and it was so much fun, I might make a mug rug to match

for his desk at the office.

Then I need to find a matching mug......

.....maybe a few of his favorite snacks.....

this could go on and on!

How about a matching pen?

Truth is, he'll only get the journal.

I'm not that good.

No little birdie pictures today.

There are lots of cute little chickadees,

and a junco or two, at the feeders,

but they are being camera shy.

I won't give up, though!!

Have a wonderful day,

xo,

karen

My Daughter-My Hero

With a much sought after blood type,

my daughter was a regular blood donor from HS, on.

Unbeknownst to me,

as a college sophomore,

she registered as a Bone Marrow Donor

during a blood donation at a local blood bank.

Fast forward 17 years and one random phone call later.

Today, my daughter is donating her beefed up stem cells

in a last ditch attempt

to save the life of an anonymous recipient,

not much older than her,

battling a rapidly progressive form of leukemia.

This is the third attempt.

While prepping for the donation two times previously,

the recipient became too sick to go through with it.

As soon as he went into remission this time,

they wasted no time.

Let's hope the third time's a charm!

It hasn't been a pleasant experience.

She has been quite sick all week,

after receiving injections every day to stimulate her stem cells.

But, bless her heart, 

she knows that one week out of her life

could very possibly mean 

the difference between life and death for another.

She'll kill me if I post the picture of her
all hooked up,
so...

She who hugs and kisses whales,

also saves lives.

Heck, I'm going to go for it...

...if her beau can post this picture on FB,

then her mom can put it on her blog.

She's trying to smile, but I can see she's not

too sure about what's she's gotten herself into!

Both arms are hooked up to the machine,

but one is covered.  It's probably chilly in there.

I'm so proud.

For more information about becoming a donor,

please visit Be The Match

today.

It's Official

October is a very busy time of year for me.
This is when I try to do too many things at once
because not only is the nice weather waning,

One last hike on a barren beach.

These errant Semi-palmated Plovers our only companions.

but it's time for me to finish up everything started,

My 'airfare quilt'.  Every year I make and sell one
to pay for my airfare to Texas.

Baby Fynn's Daycare Quilt, 24"x24"

button down the hatches outside for winter,
which includes

helping The Ranger finish splitting

and laying in his winter wood supply,

and tromping through the meadow

to clean out all of the Tree Swallow houses 

without squashing the cranberries.

I have to prepare my hand work for travel, too.
This year I decided to do a simple applique project.
I found 9 scrappy nine patches
left-over from a past leader/ender quilt
and decided to make the Honey Bee Block at long last,

Tutorial

so I'm prepping them for my 'to go' bag.
Of course, I had to finish at least one!

It goes without saying
that I have to sneak time in to practice my FMQ!

And sometime in between all this,

I have to pack up all of my sewing 'mess' 

for the winter.

I'm going to miss my Janome!!

Last, but not least,
September was my birth month.

Patron Saint of Hexies

I am now officially

a hexie-genarian.
I'm still not to sure how I feel about that,

but the Patron Saint of Hexies

is clearly

watching over me!

My last 'to go project' is getting it's finishing touches.

Have a funderful weekend!!
~karen

Reach for the Stars

My grandniece,

Anora,
just turned two.
Now, she needs a big girl quilt!

Alphabet is compliments from Victoriana Quilt Designs.

My mother passed away in 1982

at the young age of 51.

My daughter was the only grandchild 

she ever had the pleasure to meet.

Like all grandmothers, 

she delighted in having a little one underfoot.

When my sweet girl was about the same age as Anora, 

Mom used to play

"Reach for the Stars" with her.

They'd raise their arms up as high as they would go,

then laugh and laugh and laugh.

This one's for you, Mom.