The WTF gift!!!

Its not everyday you receive a gift that makes you wonder wtf?? (For those of you who don't know what wtf means.... ask an 8 year old! Hee hee - just kidding...it means What the F@#*!) I was the recipient of such a gift yesterday! It was given to me from Flo. A staff member here at The Quilt Patch.
Apparently the look on my face when I opened such gift was priceless...all I remember thinking is...WTF!? And then laughing! She gave me.....are you ready for this.....

A MERMAN!!! He even comes with his very own stand to ummm...swing from! Oh my we've had fun with him! I wanted to put him down in my office but the girls wouldn't hear of it!! They want him to remain in the upstairs office for all to admire! They've decided he needs a name - something sexy.....the name Jake was proposed....so if any of you want to toss a sexy name out....Fred was squashed down already.....
So yesterday we tossed around different scenarios for ummm, Jake. We thought that Jake would be a fun addition on our cruise in February! I think Jake would look fabulous with a string around his neck dangling like a necklace while we teach the class on the cruise. We tossed around having Jake making his rounds to everyone on the cruise! If Jake arrives in your possession you must wear him until you can slip him to someone else without them knowing that Jake is now theirs to wear until they also can slip him to the next person!

However today at The Quilt Patch it's quite chilly - and with Jake being darn close to naked......

We thought Jake could use a scarf, and a festive setting! Again this morning Jake brought smiles, giggles and laughter to The Quilt Patch! There are plans in the works to make Jake a cape, and maybe some other articles of clothing!
Once again....December at The Quilt Patch is filled with laughs, good times and giggles!
So thank you Flo for such a fun, giggle inducing, wtf questioning gift!

Quilt Patch Christmas Party 2012!!

I know, I know, you sign up for this blog, you faithfully check the blog, you WANT to see what I will blog about....and then I ditch the blog for well over a month! Yep. I am a crappy blogger. HOWEVER.....I have some great pics and an amazing evening to share with you today! Last night was our annual Quilt Patch staff Christmas party! Every year Jeanne I start planning months in advance for a fabulous evening! Every second year we do a party where the husbands or significant others are invited, and this happened to be the ladies only year!

It does get harder and harder each year to come up with something fabulous to equally match the amazing time our staff had the previous year! Sometimes they talk about these parties for years! In previous years there have been scavenger hunts, limos, shopping races, cheesecake trophies, always amazing food, lotsa laughs and a great time! So this year we started with an amazing meal at a well kept secret here in Moose Jaw, Cordova Bistro. It's a cute Italian restaurant with amazing food and excellent service!

As the ladies were dining we presented them with the next phase of their evening (we NEVER tell our staff what our plans are for the evening in advance of the party!! NEVER! It's always a huge surprise!)

Luckily, the walk from the restaurant to the theatre was very short, cause look at these girls holding each other up.....

Ok that was a joke, it was very very icy, and you can't tell, but they are all wearing very cute, but not practical SK winter boots!

Now for those of you who don't know, Rory Allen is kind of a big deal here in Saskatchewan. He's an amazing Elvis impersonator, and a fun entertainer. I personally had never been to one of his shows, but i have to say, at first I kinda thought....oh geez....maybe this is a bit lame for our xmas party....but HOLY CRAP was i wrong!! It was a fantastic show and I would highly recommend if you ever have the chance to go and see him! He's a great singer and puts on a great show!

Soon he was out and wandering among the seats!! He was singing to Rebecca and Jo which was hilarious!!

And yes, that guy standing behind him, is his bodyguard. Not kidding! At first I thought it was a joke, but then he explained to the audience that he had to implement that after a show where women where acting like he really was Elvis and coming on stage and clawing at him and generally acting quite bizarre in my opinion! Obviously those ladies don't get out much!

We had a quick glass of wine, bathroom break and visits during intermission. Finally managed to get all of the girls in one spot for a photo!!

Front row from left to right:
Charlene - who keeps our books and does all that governmenty stuff for us!
Jeri - Our youngest staff member at 19 who could quilt circles around any of us!!
Jo - This one keeps the store running!!!
Flo - She teaches every class we hold!! You should see the groupies she has!!
Back row from left to right:
Yvonne - Jo's right hand!
Edna - Jeanne's Mom and pattern folder extroirdinare! Does way too much for us for nothing but wine!
Colleen - You may not see her here a lot - but she does all the planning for our Crescent Park Show!!
Rebecca - our UK import! The newest member of our staff!! Has fit in with us amazingly!!
Janice - our weekend girl! Soon to be starting a new phase in her life and we'll be saying good by!

Not wanting the evening to end, we made the quick walk back to the shop for a round of gift openings!
Jeanne and I bought some great gifts and each lady was able to choose a gift from under the tree, or was able to steal an already opened gift!

And lest you think...why would these ladies plan something for a Tuesday evening then make those poor girls come in the next day?? We gave each of those ladies the day off today.
Wanna know who is working today??

Yep. Us. Oh alright, and young Rebecca! Maybe we'll all take turns napping in the back room this afternoon!!

 So from all of us at The Quilt Patch to you and yours, have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Winter decor!

The day after Halloween and here we are changing things around in the store, hanging Winter and holiday quilts, creating a more Christmasy feel! Things are moving way too quickly these days!!

There was a customer in the store as Jeanne was hanging these quilts and a little surprised to see her prancing around on those shelves! But let me just let you in on a little secret.....Jeanne is never going to win any safety awards! And I've been watching her do it (and frankly - this is nothing!) for 10 years now, and I can assure you, she's only fallen once! Her climbing around on rickety shelves, tables and ladders doesn't even faze me anymore!

So the store is starting to look all Christmasy and it's only November 1st! But really - we waited!! Not like the big players, Wal Mart, etc. They pull out the Halloween candy as soon as Easter is over - and you just wait - by this morning there will be little chocolate santas where the mini chocolate bars were yesterday!! And so it goes!
It's kinda like me trying to buy a swimsuit off season!! I want it for our cruise in February, but should have bought it back last March when they put them out in the stores!!! Heck, they're sold out or have moved on to winter jackets by the time the temperature in Saskatchewan makes wearing a swimsuit acceptable!

Soon the snow will be flying and the Christmas wrap still in our garbage cans, the euphoria of the holiday season winding down, and that my friends, is when the bikinis will go on the store shelves!

What I wished I looked like on the beach in a swimsuit!

What i really look like on the beach in a swimsuit!

Following that trend, you will see our new book arrive in May titled Tis the Autumn Season - Fall Quilt and Decorating Projects. That's right - Autumn! Lol! But this way you will have time to whip up all those delicious projects before the Falls season is upon us!

SNEAK PEEK of one of the quilts in our new book!!

Until next time - I will be the one eating the left over Halloween chocolate bars while cruising the web looking for the swimsuit that will make me look like a rock star on the beach! All the while praying for cellulite to come into vogue!
S xo

Missing In Action!!

Just in case you thought that maybe I had skipped the country, dropped dead or plain old forgot about blogging, the answer is, nope, none of the above! Just busy. Crazy busy!!
Jeanne and I just came off of a hectic whirlwind tour!
We did manage to cook turkey's for our families for Thanksgiving!

But after that, it was flat out!! We flew to Toronto on Oct 10th for the Creativ Festival. We flew schlepping SEVEN suitcases! That's right, SEVEN!! 3 that had nothing but kits and quilts, 2 that had our clothes and more kits and quilts. And 2 that had even more kits and patterns and we carried on as carry on! Sheesh!! That was a treat!

Once we landed in Toronto,

and we struggled and lugged and managed to find a cab large enough to take us and all of our luggage to our hotel, the driver dropped our luggage on the sidewalk and drove away. Ok Fine. We're big girls. So Jeanne says, you stay with the luggage, I'll go get a dolly from the hotel.

And yes, there really are 7....you can't see the other 2 in this pic!

So I'm standing with the luggage, yes all 7 suitcases filled to capacity (that's 50 pounds in case you were wondering!) and I watch Jeanne walk down the sidewalk and right on past the hotel!! At this point, I don't have a lot of choices. I can't leave the luggage. I can't take it with me. I can't yell at her down the very full streets of downtown Toronto. And I know she won't answer her damn cell phone!!
So I just waited. I knew she'd eventually have to come back. And she did!
We piled our luggage on the dolly and managed to get it up to our room, only to find that we had booked the smallest hotel room in the whole world!!! Yes folks for the fabulous price of $122/night in downtown Toronto you are entitled to 200 square feet! Our booth at the show was bigger than that!!

Oh well! We were only sleeping there! And besides.....it was that, or $400/night. And besides....we were across the street from the Royal York Hotel. It was a bit of a struggle while all the suitcases were still in that room - but after 5 of them went to the show it was all good!

After setting up and working the Creative Festival show, Thursday to Sunday, we had a teaching engagement with the Halton Hills Quilters Guild. We did a trunk show the Monday evening and facilitated a class on Tuesday!

So right after the class, Elaine drove us.....and our SEVEN suitcases to the airport. At this point, I was tired and coming down with a cold, and wouldn't ya know it.....our flight is delayed!! Fortunately not terribly long! Flew home, drove back to Moose Jaw, unpacked, repacked, slept, and got in the cargo van the next morning and drove to Calgary for that Creative show!

For those of you who are not regular attendees of these large shows inside of these large convention centres.....there's one thing you may not know, that we know all too well.....there are birds inside these buildings!!! That's right. BIRDS! Flying birds. Swooping birds. Usually they stay away while there are so many people, but during set up and take down - they seem to come out again in full force. In Toronto it was pigeons. In Calgary it was sparrows and this one lone magpie that flew in the building throughout the show!! Poor, poor Jeanne. I thought I was going to have to scrape her off the floor if those dang birds swooped any more!!

Don't let it be said that we are all work and no play! Cause frankly that would be a bald face lie!!!
We stayed with our very good friend Janet Samuels, former owner of Freckles Quilt Shop in Calgary, and even managed to squeeze in a nice dinner out!

Jeanne and Janet

Jeanne and Jo

One last thing...................... You know you're from Saskatchewan when..................

Pay it Forward

I often feel like I don't have anything 'profound' to say in this blog. Today I do. So sit back, grab a cup of coffee, cause I'm gonna be a bit longwinded!

This past weekend was the annual Creative Stitches show in Sherwood Park, AB. Both Jeanne and I and our office manager, Jo were there setting up and working the booth for the weekend.

We were staying at the hotel attached to the complex where the show was being held, and they offered a free breakfast, as many hotels do these days. The first day, Thursday Jo and I went down and had breakfast. It was the usual fare you'd find at one of these free hotel breakfast deals....bread for toast,  some bagels and muffins. There was yogurt and cereal and oranges and apples, as well as eggs and bacon. Not gourmet by any means, but all we really needed! The perfect start to the day ahead of us unloading the van, and setting up the show.

The second morning, we were up early, three of us needing to get through the bathroom of the hotel room, getting all ready for the first day of the show! So  by 8am we were down to the free breakfast room, and it was packed with people!! And....there was absolutely no food left!! None! It was kinda weird! I don't think the hotel was prepared for the amount of people they had staying there! People were walking in, and walking back out, not very happy! We decided we could grab a muffin or something later at the Second Cup coffee place that was right outside the area our booth was in.
Well, soon enough the show started, and it got so busy that we weren't able to leave the booth for that muffin. So early afternoon there was a slight break and I headed out to the Second Cup to grab muffins for us. OMG!!! The line up was really really long....and there was NO FOOD left!!! Apparently this facility also was not prepared for the a whole bunch of hungry women!! There was a place that sold fries and burgers, but the line up was even longer and I couldn't leave the booth that long!! (At this point imagine me wasting away to nothing....) I walked back to the booth, kinda cranky I might add!
I was breaking it to Jo that we wouldn't be eating today (usually we do go to a grocery store before a show and get some food to keep in the booth - but for some reason we just didn't this time!) and at this point I hadn't eaten breakfast, nor lunch. Now any of you that know me, know that I LIKE to eat! And if any of you know me really well .....you know I wouldn't be pleasant to be around on really empty belly!!
Now I also have to point out that although there were three of us in the booth, Jeanne was teaching classes on and off most of the day, which really only left two of us in  avery busy booth, so we couldn't leave the complex.
Now, I must have been my quiet typical self (hee hehe!) as a customer overheard me telling Jo our dilemma. She (Darcy Neufeld Mockford) asked if she could go pick something up for us! I thought that was just so sweet, but I could not ask her to do that for us! Here she was a young Mom away from her FIVE children for the day - her SIXTH child (a baby) with her, and her SEVENTH in her belly, enjoying her day off from family obligations at the show.
She absolutely insisted that she wanted to do this for us!! When we realized she absolutely wanted to do this, we finally relented and asked her if she would be so kind as to grab us sandwiches from Tim Hortons up the street.

She left with our orders rambling around in her head! (Mother of nearly 7, it's like she has super powers!) And came back with our sandwiches, coffees and even a box of muffins!!!

I dived into that sandwich like a starving person! (well I was, ok!?) I don't think I had even been so grateful for an egg salad sandwich ever!! It hit the spot. And it wasn't a greasy burger or fries which I was also very grateful for.
Now Darcy was such an angel for doing this for us - and to top it all off - she wouldn't even let us pay for our lunches!!! She insisted it was her treat and asked one thing of us in return. That we "pay it forward".

So not only is this blog about sharing Darcy's kindness to us when we really needed it, but also a lesson to everyone out there about human spirit. And Darcy's reminder that we all need to 'Pay it Forward' once in a while to make this world a better place!!

THANK YOU DARCY!!!
You are an inspiring young woman!
xoxo