Sunday, June 29, 2008

at the cottage!!

Charlie at the cottage!
he is trying out his new lifejacket.
and while he can swim without it, it is nice to take him in the canoe with it on.



Danielle, Thom and I drove with Charlie to Randy and Yvonne's cottage. Also up for the weekend were Poppa and Gramma, Maureen and John, Auntie Pat, and my mom who is now living back in Ontario! Hurrah! we had a few hours of sun, but mostly rain. However, a little rain cannot stop the Van Impe's from having a lot of fun!


Beth and Pat came up for a few hours this afternoon before we all headed back to Ottawa in time for Dani to catch the bus.















here we are swimming! what a cute little doggie!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

quilty quilters!

Recently, we had a small baby shower for our friend Marie.
which finally
brought back the quilting bug for me...
it's been over a year since i made my last quilt

boo.
but here she is...


it would seem that nobody ever wants to find out what gender of baby
they are having, thus the reason for gender neutral colours.
it can be difficult, there are only so many fabrics in YELLOW and GREEN!!

i was pleased to discover that this pattern only took me an afternoon to cut and piece together... sewing on the ric rac was an entirely different story... done by hand with many frustrated moments, it took up most of my time.
















the back of the quilt is a
bubbly little bit of flannelette.
most of my baby quilts are backed
with flannelette as it is unbelievably soft.






and my very favourite thing was this....


a diaper cake!

and while it was much easier and much faster to make than the quilt,
i am almost more proud of it!
a beautiful addition to any shower.


with regards to the quilting, i have been again thinking about selling my quilts, but unless i have a specific person to make them for, i seem to lack all motivation.
this summer my work hours have been put down to part-time, which would (should) give me a perfect opportunity to work on both quilts and cards....
but where is the motivation (or perhaps inspiration)?

how do i take a little hobby and make it more than that?

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

april showers...

...brought a new addition to the Anderson household.
we brought home a miniature dachshund. his name is Charlie and we are pleased as punch with him. even Olivia loves that little dog.

he tends to be a little chewy and still occasionally *ahem* toilets in the house. the apartment living seems to have confused the little guy.

Charlie is very spirited and jumps all over the place. He is learning to fetch. Charlie's best friend is Casey. She is a australian shepherd crossed with an akita. and while she is at least 5 months younger than Charlie, she has already greatly surpassed him in size and height.

Charlie is very social and will cuddle with anyone. Charlie is slightly envious of his older sister. if anyone picks up Olivia, he jumps and jumps until we put her down, then he bites her cheeks until she flips him over in a body slam. it is quite the comedy!

here is simon, our good friends' baby, loving charlie!

never did i ever think i was a dog person, i was even afraid of most dogs. but after this little guy, i now love to meet all dogs. (although i do still worry that big dogs will think that Charlie is a walking hot dog and eat him all up!!)

he's our little charlie, and we do love him!!