Poppyprint 500 - A Celebratory Giveaway!

I've had a lot to say since the day I started talking. My parents, teachers, friends and very patient husband would all nod their heads in agreement. I just can't help myself. I am incredibly bothered by awkward silences and as a result, tend to blather on with abandon at all times. I'm admitting to you all now that there are times in social settings where I actually have to concentrate really hard on NOT talking all the time. What can I say, I've been blessed with the gift (or annoying habit, more like) of the gab.

Sharing is also high up on my 'what I like to do' list. Blogging, therefore, is the perfect vehicle for me. I started my engines three years ago, and here I find myself at the Poppyprint 500. I'm waving the checkered flag for you all on a sweet giveaway to say thank you so very much for hanging out here.  I appreciate your comments and support so much!

I love this "Yo-Yo, It's Winterkist!" pillow cover I made with Monica's delicious fabric and some super soft chambray for Fat Quarterly's Holiday 2012 edition. It's so bright and cheerful and it would please me very much to share it with one of you.

Awww. How adorable is that Gnomie on the back? I still have some Gnomes and Gnomas left to make something fun for myself, so where will this little guy end up?

WAIT! If you don't win the pillow, you still have a chance to win an Echino passport wallet chosen from this stack of 34 that I've made for the VMQG table at Got Craft? coming up soon in Vancouver.

still have to install the snaps....

Leave a comment for your chance to win. I'll send the pillow cover anywhere and it should arrive in time to add a little punch to your holiday decor - you'll just have to provide the pillow form!  

If you are a follower of Poppyprint, please leave a second comment to double your chances - after all you're the ones who put up with my blathering on. And on. And on!

I'll choose two winners on Saturday Dec.1st at noon PST. Good luck friends! 

Thank you so very much,

Krista

ETA: Comments are now closed. Thank you for visiting Poppyprint!

Wee Bit of Weekend Work

I managed a bee block over the weekend. While my family watched our homeboys, the Vancouver Canucks, kick some serious Dallas a** last night (sorry Texas bloggy friends, but I ask you: is hockey really supposed to be played in Texas? Seriously!), I was busy next door in my sewing lair creating this for Amy :

Amy sent lots of fun fabric, plus the white and peach borders, and asked for a block made with only triangle shapes. Fun!

The sun shone brightly all weekend. I considered cleaning up all the dead stuff from last fall still standing/lying/dying all over the garden. I considered it again. Then decided to photograph the new stuff that isn't clued into the fact that it's only February 20.

Like the hellebore. An early spring keener, who loves her spot and grows defiantly where no other plant cares to grow: under the cedar tree.

Even the poppies are anxious. Fuzzy foliage is up 8 or 10" already!

I used to have hundreds of crocuses, but now only a hardy few remain. Truth be told (as has been done here a few times), I am a confirmed "plant it and hope it lives" gardener. My garden doesn't get a whole lot of Tender Loving Care from me - it is on its own. The lawn is another story. I love me a good push-mower session.

Is your garden still sleeping under a blanket of snow? I fear mine may be in for a nasty late-winter shock. We had a thunder and lightening hail storm on Friday night just to remind us that winter may still have a few plans for us yet!

Snowblossoms

Here are all of my snowblossom blocks. Seven of these are for other members of the Quilting Divas (mini) Sampler Bee. In this bee, we all make the same block for the other bee members, but each person set their own colours + one Kona solid background. I requested jewel tones plus any shade of Kona grey (I made myself the block that is second from the right on the bottom row).

I like this bee because it's all wrapped up in a month! These blocks were super fun to make once I got the size organized (they needed to end up 12 1/2"). There is a lot of fussy cutting in these blocks (check out the Eiffel Towers!) which is a terrible waste of fabric, but so much fun!

For a closer look at any of the blocks, click on the mosaic and you'll end up on my Flickr photostream where there is a close up of each individual one. You can find the foundation patterns here, thanks to Marcia Hohn of the Quilter's Cache!

Unlike everywhere else in North America, Vancouver is completely devoid of snow (except for up on the local mountains). In fact, the Snow Drops have bloomed in my front yard and my hellebore isn't far behind! You lucky Texans!

Winter Wonderland

This will be the last of my holiday holdover posts, but I just had to share these shots taken on a recent snowshoe hike with 3 girlfriends.

Vancouverites are lucky to have 3 'local' mountains that are developed for recreation: Seymour, Grouse and Cypress. If you were following the 2010 Olympics, then you would have seen Cypress for the snowboarding, moguls and freestyle skiing events. There are many more undeveloped peaks, but these three offer alpine skiing, snowshoeing and two of them have commercial tubing operations and cross country ski trails.

Over the holidays I headed up to a favourite trail on Mt. Seymour to take in this glorious view.

This is looking north west, across the north shore to the other mountains, Grouse and Cypress.

This is our city. I heart Vancouver. The green 'island' in the middle is Stanley Park, linked to the north shore by the Lions Gate Bridge. I hope the crews on all of those tankers got someone to cook them a turkey dinner!

This is the wonderland component.

My smiley mug. What can I say...I'm not much of a hat girl.

I have yet to ski, but hopefully I'll get up onto the runs soon - the weatherman is expecting snow this week (which means anything could happen)! Fingers crossed for the white stuff!

That Fluffy White Stuff

I'm not talkin' bout Polyfil.

This is the real thing. That cold, wintry blanket that falls from the sky in delicate crystal form making everything look calm, clean and ready for the new season. Unless of course you have to drive somewhere, in which case it's a slippery, white-knuckle-inducing mess.

Yesterday, I did have some errands to run, namely groceries for retreat tomorrow, but before that I enjoyed a lovely, quiet walk to school with D and the dog (in his little jacket, of course), collecting snowflakes on our woolly hats and kicking a path down the sidewalk with our boots. Flynn sniffed the entire way, accumulating hilarious piles of snow on top of his little nose.

I love our yard in winter. I could take photos of stuff piled with snow all day.

It wasn't a huge dump, but enough to get everyone in the spirit of winter. And for me to get the shovel out. I'm fairly hopeless in the garden, but I do have a favourite summer and winter job. Both are very satisfying, finite and do-able in about 1/2 hour. In summer, I mow the lawn with our push mower and in winter I shovel. Anything that can be shoveled. I love clearing snow. Which, I'm pretty sure, is why T was born 3 weeks early almost 14 years ago. I couldn't resist a rare Christmas snowfall in Vancouver and got out there at 36 weeks to shovel the steps, the walk, the sidewalk, the street. I was very happy. And then I had a baby.

Of course all this snow brings me to favourite winter activity #2, which is skiing. The local mountains are open and Whistler/Blackcomb is reporting amazing conditions. I likely won't get onto the slopes for a couple of weeks yet, but it's fun to see the kids waiting at the bus stop after school, snowboards in hand, goggles on head, en route to epic carving.

What is your favourite thing to do in winter?

Brrrrrr!

Okay, even I think it's cold! As I often remind my kids, I trudged through -30 degrees Celcius and many inches of snow to school when I was a teenager in Ottawa. Even though we 'plugged the car in' overnight, there were many mornings that station wagon wouldn't start.

Today the sun is shining, the snow glistening and it is a remarkable -12C out there. Brrrrrrr! B drove our son to band practice at 7:30 a.m. and had to crawl out of the passenger door of the car when he got home because the driver's side was frozen shut. Normally I wouldn't think to mention this, but in my 24 years of living in Vancouver, I do believe this is the coldest it's ever been. Ever. And it's only November 23rd!

After school yesterday I took both kids to the mall for new boots. We're all set for a big snow, so I say bring it on. They may just end up wearing them in the house. Our 100 year old cedar cottage is not well-suited to freezing temperatures. I'm a little worried about pipes, to be honest, and there is an arctic breeze through the living room. I'll spend some time today shrink-wrapping our original windows. This is my November job each year, which I quite enjoy. Frankly, a day spent shrink-wrapping every fall is SO worth saving a zillion dollars on new wood windows!

Until the house gets used to this deep freeze, I'll probably be sporting my new handwarmers, purchased at a local craft fair last weekend.

Aren't they pretty? Love the couched yarn and button embellishment. A very clever woman named Iva (no website) repurposes these out of Merino and Cashmere sweaters (she must have to hunt daily to find them - I never have any luck when I go thrifting for wool anymore). I love that Merino is so thin, yet so toasty.

Hope you're keeping warm!