Almost Christmas!!!

Hello kind friends and readers. Happy ALMOST Christmas! I have been under the weather as has DH and we have been so low that we nearly had to back out of having Christmas dinner here at our house! Please forgive the long, silent absence. I BELIEVE that I am , once again, back in the land of the living. Aches and pains are lessening, hand and finger are MUCH happier and I even have a little bit of energy again!! YAY!!

I have to say that I have been following many of your blogs and they kept me feeling like I was still somewhat involved. I really look forward to starting up my art quilting and dyeing again after the New Year. Thank heaven for my camera!!! I have been "married " to it for weeks now which has been great. It has kept me sane AND I have learned a TON! I have just kept experimenting with varying degrees of success. I HAVE made a LOT of photos that will provide me now with an almost endless supply of subject matter for quilts. In case you do not follow me on Flickr -carolynn.mcmillan@yahoo.com

I shall post a few examples of some of the things I have been doing. One really FUN and interesting experiment was "The Great Pumpkin Experiment". I bought a GREAT pumpkin at Hallowe'en that had a splendid "handle". It was no neat that I could not bear to carve it so I just looked at it, as did the little kids who came Trick or Treating. After Hallowe'en, I used my apple corer and poked two small "eyes" into it and with the small paring knife, slashed a sort of "mouth" line. The pumpkin was intact otherwise- seeds inside and all. Then, I perched it up on an urn in the garden and just left it to see what would happen! I will show you a few shots but to see the whole progression, have a look on my Flickr Album entitled The Great Pumpkin Experiment!!

One of the first shots showing how I "carved" him.

The beginning of the Squirrel "carving"!

Squirrels, apparently, LOVE pumpkin and pumpkin seeds!!!

One of the "sculptors" !!

...put him in a pumpkin shell...

Look inside. It is beginning to look awful.

And so, we say cheerio to this year's pumpkin!!

I LOVE Macro, as you know. Here is a brief sample of some of my favourites...

A little wreath I made years ago of North Sea shells from the beach at Alnwick.

Fun with eggs!

GREAT fun with eggs

Dandelion head

There are at least a zillion more- check out my Flickr. Just to round things off and to wish you all a VERY Happy Christmas or any other festival you celebrate at this time of the year....

Basket full of shiny glass balls and lights.

Our Christmas tree lights.

Let's all try to have a LOT more fun than these two appear to be having!!!

That's more like it! I think I was 4!!!

Happy Christmas and a Happy, Healthy, PEACEFUL New Year to all!

With Lots of love xxx

Lest We Forget

Lest We Forget.

Long Time, no POST!!!

Happy Hallowe'en , everyone! I am disguised as the World's WORST Blogger tonight, wearing a large sparkly acid green and black sequined SPIDER on my jade green sweatshirt!  That otta fool them! The goodies are in two bowls at the front door and we await the little Trick or Treaters:-)

I have not blogged. I have not Fibre Arted. I HAVE photographed a LOT in between trips to the hospital with Mum who had a fall a couple of weeks ago (fortunately nothing broken!) and appointments for DH who has had more than his share of frustration lately. 'Nuff said. He has been quite miserable. Things begin to look up now- we HOPE! I have just been waiting and worrying or else trotting off to appointments.

I AM getting ready, ITCHY even,  to do some new work though. I am thinking in light of Christmas being so near and we HOPE to visit DD before that, that I will just make preparations and not actually start until the New Year. That way, I will have one fewer messes to clean up before Christmas.

Here are my Hallowe'en photos. I have not carved this pumpkin with the gorgeous handle. I am going to poke and slash it a little and hope that the squirrels will do the rest and I will then get GOOD pics for NEXT Hallowe'en!

Not very trad pumpkin photos but when was I trad??

I belong to a little Flickr group called  Macro Mondays and their theme this week is Shadows in keeping with Hallowe'en

My Catrina doll's "face" close up!

I HAVE been celebrating the beauty of Autumn too . It has actually been a pretty colourful fall here.

Before anyone asks and in case you did not know- Goldenrod galls! Aren't they beautiful!

There you are. A smattering. If you are interested in seeing more try ...
carolynn.mcmillan@yahoo.com. That is my Flickr site. There are LOTS of REAL photographers posting on Flickr. Check out some of the people who have commented on my pics. Some are AMAZING!!! I think that when Tuesday comes, I will post this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com despite the lack of needle OR thread just to show that I am still in the land of the living.

I wish you all the happiest of Hallowe'ens and hope it was all treats and only fun tricks! 

Happy Thanksgiving- slightly past tense

Greetings to all of my kind readers. I wanted to wish you all a VERY Happy Thanksgiving, 2015. Despite the prevalence of so many sad and horrific stories in the world these days, there is MUCH to be thankful for in each of our lives. I, personally , am blessed with good health, a wonderful family, a BEAUTIFUL young Grandboy (coming up to 20 months) . My Mum is joining us for supper tonight . She is 95 and really quite well - although shaky on her feet and a little forgetful. I am very thankkful and LUCKY to still have my Mum!

Here is beautiful Indian Corn which will decorate our Thanksgiving Table

One wish for you all is a table that always welcomes friends and family and that always has enough good food  on it.

Euonymus Alata

And I hope that there is beauty in your lives and that you spend time actively seeking, enjoying and sharing it!

Sumac

Monkshood or Aconitum Napellus

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving. Stay well and enjoy the lovely Autumn colours and weather. And...


                                                   DON'T FORGET TO VOTE !


I am now going to post this to the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com Sorry you could not have had my good wishes yesterday but they are equally sincerely wished today! Happy Thanksgiving just past!

Show's over, Folks!

****BEST NEWS THIS WEEK!! I AM HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL AND THE DR ONLY INJECTED MY HAND WITH CORTISONE INSTEAD OF DOING THE SURGERY . It will need doing some time , but he says not yet!! Yay!!! Escaped :-)***

The Trunk Show is finished and if I say so myself, finished successfully :-) I was very pleased and my audience seemed pleased as well. I showed 35 quilts and spoke on the age old question, "where do you get your ideas??" Here is the clutter STILL on the dining room table, waiting to be packed up and put away.

 Just a sampling of the top layer. You have seen them all but it does make a colourful start to my post this week!

 I have been preparing for today for a long time. This is F day!! FINGER Day- I HOPE!!! My appointment is at 12:15 PM and I hope Dr G is in top form today and that he sees fit to Fix the aforementioned finger!!!

 In the meantime, I have been taking a LOT of pretty cool photos because I cannot cut fabric right now. We went out looking for good Ontario Farms yesterday. It was a beautiful day and we were out all afternoon- 136 km, I think DH told me! He IS a good and patient man.  Here is a sampling...

A lovely long line of mature maples marks this farm lane. For folks who've never visited Ontario, this is a VERY typical look.

Corn ( fodder and/or for Ethanol) is EVERYWHERE. 

I LOVE the "corduroy" rows of crops!

More Corduroy corn rows.

A clump of wild sunflowers whose particular name I do not know but what a jolly sight!

Guess where THIS is headed when it grows up???

And as many ripening soybean fields as cornfields. The beautiful pale copper of ripe soybeans is not quite here yet!

A gorgeous protected turtle pond we pass frequently. There is a n old log, partly submerged in the mud where I have often seen MANY turtles of varying sizes sitting in the sun . There were TWO today but by the time I got the camera set up, BOTH had quietly slipped into the water :-(

And once again, Guess What THIS is heading for?? Have I mentioned how much I love fences and fenceposts ;-)

Well, folks, soon time to make lunch and be off to the hospital so I will post this now and set it up for the needleandthreadnetwork.blogspot.com for later this afternoon. There is some interesting stuff on my Flickr this week too if you are interested. Carolynn McMillan on Flickr in google will get to it.  Enjoy TNTN and this post ( I hope) and take care.