BOM 2013

With the last years BOM's complete, I figured it was the perfect time to jump right into the next pattern. I'm going  with the Traditional Pastimes Freebie 15 program. Its a great program where you pay a fee the first month to receive your pattern and fabric for the first block. After that, as long as you show up on the 15th of the following month and show them you've completed your block, you receive the next month free. You may purchase the companion if you like, but so far I have just stuck to the freebie block. Last week I just happened to come in time for the Friday Demo and I made a few new friends. Sandy, Mabel, Millie... you get the idea. I may have been the only one with brown hair (at least the natural kind). Mostly grandma's, but hey, they were very kind, very friendly and full of advice :)

These are the first few blocks of 2013... Vintage Plates #1

Vintage Plates #2

 Vintage Plates #3

Random projects

I've also been working on a few random projects over the past year. This pile of fabric became a quilt for Kari. I called it Garden Patch.

I've become quite intrigued with mini quilts and so these random projects emerged.
Peacock Display...

Rose Garden... 

Spice Cake... This one came from a 2" charm pack. Love the simple design.

Christmas Projects

I tried a few Christmas projects this past year. I used some panels and some imagination to create table mats, placemats and the newest quilting rage - the mug rug.

These were so cute. I also made a couple of mug rug sets to give as gifts and unfortunately forgot to take pics before I gave them away. One set was a traditional set of 2 in red, green and white with traditional Christmas motifs. The other was a set of 4 country Christmas style mug rugs in blue, white and plaid. 

I learned how to make the Dresden Plate in my last BOM project and love the look of them so I made 2 mug rugs and one table mat for my in-laws using this pattern.

Again,I forgot to take a picture of the mug rugs, but they were a smaller size, approx 8" sqaure where this is approx 24". Beautiful machine free motion quilting. Love them. 

And of course, a Christmas tote.

Bublegum Serbert

Ove the past year I was working on nother BOM through Craftsy.com. For this project I choose all shades of pink... just because I could. A few of the blocks became favourite patterns, and the end result - I like it!

Both BOM's still waiting to be quilted. I plan to take these home to my mom's so  she can help me put them together some day.

Baby Quilts

Two more baby quilts completed.

I added a little white and pink toque and SOLD the set at the Bowness Christmas Craft fair.

This one comes with a little blue toque.

Both made from panels, backed with flannel and machine quilted.

Winter Wonderland

This is a small sized table top or lap quilt. I wanted to experiment with rectangles,of course, framed in white. I love the clean crisp look. Then machine free motion quilting throughout.

I do not have blue decor in my house, so I gifted it to my mom who loves blues... what a switch. Usually its her who gives me quilts. Loved being able to reciprocate.

Hawaii 2013

So we finally made it to Hawaii!

We chose Oahu as our destination, ready for some fun in the sun, waves and all the tropical beauty Hawaii has to offer.

Going to Hawaii has been a long time dream of ours, perhaps more so for Rob and myself, and so we kept telling ourselves it was going to happen - one day. Then we told ourselves, "we need to make the trip a part of our 5 year plan"... Not like we really had a five year plan, but if that's what it's going to take to get us there, we'll make one!

One day, a random search on the internet  led us to amazing flight deals to Honolulu if we were willing to drive to Bellingham, WA. Sounds like a good idea. Never mind the fact that we live in Canada, its in the middle of January and we have many miles of the BC Rocky Mountains between us and the airplane.

Still, we checked the schedules of our family and realized the timing was perfect! Our son would write his first round of high school final exams during the first week, and then nothing for the next two. Our girls would miss some school, but hey, elementary and junior high? At best they miss some math and a few basketball games. A small price to pay for Hawaii! Next we looked into booking a condo - found one, so the tickets were purchased and the collecting of "must see's" and "vacation tips" began. Our five year plan was in motion!

The weeks immediately leading up to our road trip were filled with great anticipation and anxiety. It was cold and seemed to snow every other day - lots of heavy snow, and we were concerned about the roads. However, along with the sunrise, January 20th arrived with clear skies and warm temps. We had packed, re-packed and loaded carefully - we were to spend one night in a hotel before we were to fly out. And so begins the Braun Family Hawaiian Adventure - which is kind of ironic as we are not an extremely adventurous bunch by nature...

Hawaii - Day 1

We made good time to Bellingham, WA. The roads were clear - no ice. We arrived in Bellingham though a thick blanket of fog, blindly picked our way to a hotel and enjoyed a great nights sleep. Our flight was scheduled to leave on Monday, January 21 at 6 PM. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and waited patiently to check in. We headed to the counter, only to find out our flight had been cancelled! Apparently, the flight coming in on Sunday had been delayed due to excessive fog. That meant the flight going out to Maui on Sunday night was cancelled and re-seheduled for Monday night in place of our flight to Honolulu. Our new flight schedule would be Tuesday night at 10 PM. Yuck...

The airline put us up in another hotel for the night, but we were going to miss out one one day in Hawaii. Nothing we could do about it, so we checked in and made some new friends - others who were also now delayed by one day.

Rather than enjoying the sun and beaches in Hawaii, we spent our day in Bellingham doing this...

                                    

                                   

                                                            

I think it was right around 0 degrees, but it was freezing in Bellingham. We also did a little bit of shopping and found winter ski jackets, one for each of the girls on sale for $18 - regular price around $150 each.

Day 1? I guess not... maybe tomorrow.

Hawaii - Day 1, Repeat.

The flight is incredibly long. I think it's around 6 hours to Honolulu. With the time change we were scheduled to arrive at 2 AM local time. Our condo is located about 45 minutes north of the airport, but we did have a car rental booked. Would they be open this late? Would we be able to get the car?

Apparently not... Our arrival in Hawaii found us spending time in front of the Alamo car rental until they opened at 5 AM. We were in good company, as our new friends were waiting with us - I think there were 3 families enjoying the warm night air in front of Alamo Hawaii.

  At 5 AM, we were second in line, received our car and headed out to our condo. The sky was dark and the morning rush was just beginning. We arrived at the condo, brought in our bags and went straight to bed.

Hawaii - Day 1, Cont...

We woke up around noon. After getting a few food items at a local grocery, we had breakfast and headed to the beach across the street from the condo.

The sand was deep,

the water was warm,

And although the picture does not show it well, the waves were big - at least for us prairie dwellers.

After spending time in the waves, we went in search of sea life.

Hawaii - Day 2

Today we headed out to the Dole Plantation. It is about an hour drive up the centre of the Island.

We went through the gardens and the pineapple maze.

We found tea leaves...

Japanese Koi...

Coffee plants...

Not sure what these are...

Flowers...

Water filled tropical plants... we found several snails living in the water in the centre of these.

And of course the kids had to pick them up...

But some were just on the ground...

Bananas...
                                                   

The hibiscus walk...

A lizard...

Bead fruit...

Not sure what this one is...

We did see pineapple trees and so many different colours of flowers, but my battery was really low on the camera and could not take any more pics.

After the gardens and the maze we continued a little further north to the North Shore. The waves are supposed to be really high and frequented by local and professional surfers. Although we did find the north shore and watched a few surfers, we did not stay too long.

We did, however, find an Island beauty...

and were just in time to catch a couple of sea turtles... One on the beach and a few just floating near the shore.