A GREAT GIVEAWAY OVER AT BELLA'S

It's been a busy few weeks since New Years. As always in winter there is a lot to do in an old house to keep the cold and frozen pipes at bay. It has been a scurry of lugging wood in, ashes out; and waking a few times each night to keep the woodstove filled up and pumping heat. We've had lots of snow, but we're now a month past winter solstice and the days are gradually lengthening - can spring be far behind?

I've been busily designing blocks for an appliqued wedding quilt celebrating a life together for a young Nova Scotian couple who were married last August. As it develops and after they are the first to see the photos, I will be sharing them on this blog.

Last evening I was browsing around some new blogs about home decor - wanting to send URL's to an American friend who is renovating a 1930's Arts and Crafts style home, and I came across Bella's blog. Bella is hosting a giveaway which will be drawn next Wednesday. She is giving away a copy of the January 2011 issue of Jeanne d'Arc magazine. A cover shot  and a typical inside spread are shown below.   Go to http://bellashabby.blogspot.com/2011/01/jeanne-d-arc-living-magazine-give-away.html  to sign up by commenting - you  can earn an extra ballot by becoming a follower of Bella's blog and another still if you blog about it on your own blog, as I am doing here.

This magazine is a high quality publication more like a book than a magazine and it retails for over $17 - I know, because I came close to buying it online the other night and became distracted by a momentary power failure that caused me to have to re-boot. Anyway - now I'm going to wait and see if I'm the lucky one who wins it instead!!!!

I'll be back after the weekend to talk a bit about quilting. One bit of news I have is that I have just made a rather large sale of vintage quilt kits so am working on re-stocking inventory. I already have a back order for one kit in particular, so the economy seems to be looking up.

Have a great weekend, I'm going to spend mine thinking about planting a few things in the spring!
Warm hugs!!   Janet

ON THE VERGE OF ANOTHER YEAR

 Wintry Greetings from my tiny community of Hall's Harbour, which is located about 12 miles due north of Kentville, Nova Scotia on the Fundy Coast. If you follow highway 359 out from Kentville as far north as it goes, this is the scene on entering the Harbour. This photo was taken last summer when the wharf under the bright red Fish House Museum was being restored and raised due to rising ocean waters and the damage that had been done in previous storms. We are fortunate that this construction took place when it did or the last two severe storms and tidal surges could have done a lot of damage.
You can see from the height of the wharf, that high tide is about thirty five feet above the Harbour's floor, which is exposed at low tide, and has only a tiny stream running through to the ocean.

In the winter, the store is closed for the season, as the proprietor is a "snowbird" and spends her winters in Florida. Life here in the winter is very quiet, the community hall and the historical society building are both closed to conserve costly fuel and lower operating expenses, and the community's C@psite and official clerical seat for the many community organizations moves over to the firehall, which must be heated at all times to assure the continuity of fire and first responder service. The small rural church down the road from me continues its regular schedule of services on Sunday mornings and the occasional hymn sing as well, but mothballs it's second, smaller  church on the east road and uses only the lovely 1840's structure over here on the west road. Several of the "year round" residents have taken to wintering in town or in Florida, and the seasonal residents aren't seen until spring either.

Over time, many of the younger residents have left for the city, other parts of Canada, and in the case of my daughter and her family, to Europe. Many of the houses now contain one or two aging people at the most but it is heartening to see several younger families raising their kids here, and a few young single people still around too. We all keep an eye out for each other and get through the winter and welcome spring with a sense of relief.

Before I go back to taking inventory of the vintage quilt kits I offer for sale on http://www.novascotiaquilts.com/

I want to share this sweet vintage New Year's card with you, and also

I want to remind you that my friend Mich at Redkettle.com is hosting a GIVEAWAY on his blog. Got to http://redkettle.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-huron-carol-a-special-christmas-feature/ and leave a comment in order to be entered for a chance to win. The giveaway will be drawn at midnight December 31 - that's tomorrow!!!

Until tomorrow - enjoy your evening, stay safe and stay warm.

Hugs from Janet!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! AND THE GIVEAWAY WINNER IS.................

I hope you have the blessings of family and friends together today and that all you wish for in     the New Year will be yours.

Late last night I drew the winner of my Christmas GIVEAWAY and an amazing coincidence took place! My winner is Micki of Irish Muses (http://thedote.blogspot.com/) and guess what? Micki won another giveaway which she is going to re-gift to a friend and won it the exact same way she won mine: she was the last to comment and enter on each one.

Now I use Random.org to determine my winners, so there is no playing fast and loose here - a genuine coincidence - last and first seem rarely to be chosen and to have it happen twice in one day? Amazing!!!

Micki - I will be sending an email and leaving a comment on your blog, so contact me and tell me what you wish your gift to be - a lap sized wholecloth quilt kit, a set of repro civil war fabric fat quarters, a penny rug kit, a counted cross stitch kit or a lovely hand embroidered and crocheted table runner from my sister site http://www.funkybabymine.blogspot.com/.
I'll get it out to you right after Christmas Holidays.

Today has dawned bright and relatively mild with no snow other than a light skiff on the ground. We may get the tail end of the storm that is hitting Washington at the moment, but that will probably be late tomorrow or on Monday morning.

My only daughter and her family live in Europe so it is a long distance celebration, and hence very low key here. Yesterday I visited with dear friends who had all three of their adult sons home at once and had an early Christmas dinner with them as June must work this afternoon. A lovely festive meal and delicious as always.

I plan to cook my turkey breast with all the trimmings for New Years and will munch snackies today - hopefully avoiding many of the temptations in the house at the moment, and eating cheese and fruit.

I am counting my blessings and enjoying a new-to-me Dodge Caravan that has no rust, and runs very nicely indeed, and preparing to make inroads into the quilt commissions I have on hand.

Blessings to you all! Stay safe, stay warm and enjoy family and friends together during this holiday season!

Love and hugs
Janet

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: 1 day left and my giveaway draw is tonight!

A contemplative Santa from the earlier days of urban life, when high rises were only slightly taller than church steeples and chimneys were still made of brick and mortar! Perhaps fewer world issues for Santa to contemplate, perhaps not; as we need to remember there had just been a major world war and a tragic 'flu epidemic. Yet to come was World War II, and the concepts of mass extinction of peoples and nuclear warfare. I hope we all nurture in our hearts the idea of universal brotherhood and the basic human rights of free speech,  education, health services and a constant food supply in the coming years. I want to wish everyone, no matter what they celebrate, their heart's wishes in this coming New Year.

Peace and brotherhood to all!

On a lighter note, you only have the rest of today to enter for my great GIVEAWAY draw - it will be drawn for at midnight tonight and announced tomorrow morning, so get on over to:

http://quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-christmas-giveaway.html

And good luck!!

Be safe, warm, content and surrounded by friends and family during this holiday season.

Love

Janet

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: 2 days left

WHEW!!!!! All done - nothing more to do and nowhere to go - I'm drinking this morning's coffee that I missed this morning as a warm over and just started the woodstove. Misadventures with the new car ate up yesterday and this morning as I visited the garage and had a new battery installed. Picked up my mail, went to the bank, the grocery store and picked up a couple of presents that had not been gotten because of the changeover from old to new car. It's turning cold and I really need the fire today, and will just spend the day picking up loose ends, eating chocolates and lazing about the house (that will be after I carry in some wood)  scanning blogs, and wishing season's greetings to all my friends. 

A darling Christmas Greeting postcard this morning shows a little boy and girl at their Christmas tree. They are dressed in the typical children's wear of the 20's and 30's and the scene is in an Art deco mood. Another found treasure!

My Christmas GIVEAWAY ends tomorrow night at midnight when I draw a name with the help of Random.org  so get over to:

http://quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-christmas-giveaway.html 

and good luck

My friend Mich's giveaway runs until midnight on New Year's Eve so go to:

http://redkettle.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-huron-carol-a-special-christmas-feature/

and leave a comment in order to have a chance to win his lovely prize.

Stay warm, stay safe and enjoy the fellowship of friends and family!

Warm best wishes

Janet

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: 3 days left

I wish I could tell you which old European Master painted this lovely and devout Nativity scene. There was no credit line for it, so if anyone knows I'd love to know too. What is so lovely is that there are no rich robes and jewellry here and no kings or wisemen, just awestuck faces of country peasants, the rapt parents Joseph and Mary, and a few cherubim.

It's going to be a green and damp and chilly Christmas in Nova Scotia this year I think, but on the up side after days of gale force winds coming from the direction which causes my stove to backdraft I've finally lit the fire and met with success rather than  having to air out a cold house full of smoke!

Yeay!!!!

Now to remind you to get over there and enter my special Christmas giveaway to be drawn at midnight on Christmas Eve. Go to:

 http://quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-christmas-giveaway.html

Your chances are still quite good to win a prize of your choice from one of five possibilities, and entry is open to anywhere in the world. Enter today - just become a follower and leave a comment.

My friend Mich's giveaway is on until Midnight on New Year's Eve and is a wonderfully illustrated book featuring the Huron Carol as depicted by a First Nations artist, a metis poet and sung on an accompanying cd by Inuit artist Susan Aglukark. A unique gift for you, especially if you are not yet familiar with Canadian First Nations Art. Read the article on Mich's blog - informative and inspiring!!! Head over to:

http://redkettle.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-huron-carol-a-special-christmas-feature/

Until tomorrow ~ my wish for you this evening:

That you are warm, safe and well fed and that you take a pause to remember all your blessings, and to make sure that someone less fortunate has a few blessings to count too.

Warm hugs,

Janet

COUNTDOWN TO CHRISTMAS: 4 days left

Today is the winter solstice ~ a time when, before Christianity, the celts and druids celebrated light and fire and made merry to prevent the death of the sun, and to ensure that spring would return. It was natural as Christianity took hold in Europe and the British Isles, for the birth of Christ to be celebrated at a time when feasting and religious observance had always occurred.

Here today it is very windy, and it's rainy and my fire won't draw - all unpleasant, but not the end of the world; and I'm waiting for the water to boil for my cafetiere of morning coffee - always yummy! Things will look much better after I've had morning coffee.

We have been watching the days growing shorter and shorter for the last few months, but after today we can watch them gradually getting longer and brighter again, and begin to watch for other signs too. Although January and February often carry with them brutal cold and storms, by the time February is over, spring is truly on the way.

I have reached the point in my daily blog reading where it seems just about everyone has a giveaway going on, but before you go looking at my suggestions, make sure you stop by and enter mine at:

http://quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-12-15T16%3A59%3A00-04%3A00&max-results=7

All you have to do is leave a comment and make sure you become a follower and if your name is drawn you will win your choice of one of 5 prizes - all nice worthwhile items

AS well drop, over to my friend Mich's site and read about our unique Canadian Christmas Carol dating to 1643 and written in the Huron/Wendat language by a Jesuit priest who was later martyred in tribal warfare while serving his Huron congregation. You can sign up there for a chance to win a beautifully illustrated book and cd featuring the Carol. Go to:

http://redkettle.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/the-huron-carol-a-special-christmas-feature/

I will update here by adding giveaways from the blogs I am going to check out this morning ~ check back later!!!

Blessings of the season!

Janet