Sunday 28 October 2012

Last Sunday in October

It is hard to believe that is is the last Sunday in October already, we had some rain yesterday and last night but the sun came out this morning.
 I stopped and took a look at Rita's garden and found this lovely pink Dahlia in bloom.
 Her ornamental lanterns are looking lovely.
 The yellow witch hazel tree has some lovely lemon yellow leaves.
 Some lovely Autumn reds and yellows.
 The Oak leaf hydrangea has a lot of different colours of red.
 Here some of the leaves are turning from green to maroon.
 A late ladybug looking for some brunch.
 This couple was enjoying their walk amongst the turning leaves.
 I saw a lot of ladybugs today amongst the roses.
 Some lovely raindrops on this rose.
 More raindrops making a pretty design.
 Another ladybug peeking out from a petal.
 Pink coleus taking a bit of a late growth spurt.
 Yet another ladybug.
 And another..
 ...more ladybugs enjoying the morning sun.
 A spider and web, I find them difficult to photograph.
 A ladybug a fly and just peeking between the petals an ant...must be a good brunch.
 Still hanging on.
 Rose hips starting to plump and become red.
 Some more rose hips.
 Lovely oranges and yellows.
 A closer peek at the colours.
 One of the cherry trees at the entrance of my condo.
 All dressed for Halloween.
 View from my deck towards the reflecting pond, this tree will change over the coming days.
 The view across the river, some trees have more colour than others.
Enjoy your season.

Sunday 21 October 2012

Harrison Hot Springs 10th Anniversary Retreat!

For the past ten years our Fraser Valley Quilters' Guild has been holding a retreat at the Harrison Hot Springs Hotel.  This year the hotel surprised us with a lovely cake to mark the occasion.
 The weekend was a wet and windy one, perfect to spend indoors quilting and renewing friendships. This was the view from my room Saturday morning.  Those are Canada Geese in the shallows, there were quite vocal throughout the weekend.
 The clouds were hanging low over the lake.
 Beckie put this lap quilt together from strips another quilter's estate.
 My table mate Betty was surprised with my photo of her.  She has come to all ten retreats.
 Wendy helps with our preemie program and this was her first retreat, she was my roommate.
 Nancy Chan also attended all ten retreats.
 Kim is our publicity person and puts together our quilt shows.
 Val and Cher sharing a table, both these ladies are incredibly talented.
 I caught Deb eating breakfast and she couldn't flash me a smile.
 A lovely project by Sandy, she was going to make 3 more for gifts.
 Marilyn made 3 pumpkins, but only had stuffing for one.
 Lynne has taught many of us how to machine quilt and she made a lovely mini quilt along with Judy to present to the hotel.
 Cathy busy matching borders for a quilt for a granddaughter.
Judy who did the machine quilting on our mini quilt sharing a laugh with Wendy.
 An overview of our room, a hive of activity.
 Another view of busy quilters.  We unfortunately cannot put up design walls in this location.
 Betty and Wendy busy.
 Kim using some fire doors to hang a project under way.
 Carmie made two of these lovely table runners; one with a fall theme.
 And this one with a winter theme.
 A Halloween project from an old magazine that Carmie had.
 Donna Mae and Charlotte were busy working on this lovely Alaska Glacier quilt.  This one is Donna Mae/s.
 The leaf quilt that Lynne made and Judy quilted.  Just perfect for the hotel.
 The signatures of those of us at the 10th anniversary, 29 in total this year.
 Beckie pounding holes in her tree so the Christmas lights can be put through.
 Marion's turtle on top of some of the block Cher is creating.
 Leaves around the hotel.
 R.C.M.P. bear on guard in the lobby.
 One of three stained glass metal Canadian Geese flying over the fireplace in the hotel.
 My Christmas tree completed with ornaments from the Mary Lou Weidman swap.  All it needs now is a hanging sleeve and binding.
A lovely retreat at Harrison once again, I only missed one year, in 2010 when I broke a bone in my foot 3 days before and couldn't go.  Here is to another 10 years!

Thanks to everyone who has come and gone and will go to the retreat and the hotel and staff for welcoming us each year and the visitors who wander through to see what we are doing.