1-1-11

The end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011.  On December 30th I went for a walk along the quay to take pictures of the Golden Ears Mountains east of where I live.  You can see the Skytrain bridge in the foreground and the Patullo bridge behind it.  It snowed on the morning of the 29th and the mountains looked spectacular.

The witch hazel is starting to put out it's winter blooms, there are two of these along the quay, one orange and the other yellow.   The yellow one is still dormant.

These leaves have not seen any sun and have a lovely frosted look to them.

Rita's beauty berry bush has some lovely colours on it right now.

New Year's Eve I walked down later in the day and the mountains were starting to take on the colours of the sunset.  It was quite cold but a lovely sunny evening.

Today the view to the west shows the sun shining on the Fraser River.  It was even colder today than yesterday.

The winter flowering forsythia was putting forth some flowers.

This was the sunset from my balcony tonight, the colours were truly amazing.

The bridge seen in the background is the Alex Fraser Bridge.

Just a minute later the colours are deeper.

Five minutes later and again they are even more rich and lush.

So ends 2010 and the 1-1-11.  The west coast of Canada is a great place to live and enjoy.  May all good things come to you and yours this year.  Enjoy the sunsets!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Canadian Thanksgiving is this weekend, last weekend I took some pictures of a couple of different flowers.  I'm not sure what this one but it reminds me of an artichoke.

 The colour the leaves of this peony are turning are very pretty.

 The coleus looks like it was gilded with gold.

 This birch tree has a luscious lemon colour to the leaves.

 A straw flower in oranges and yellow.

 The ladybug came for a visit to this zinnia, this week they have all been removed from the gardens.

 I like watching how the leaves of the witch hazel change colour over a couple of weeks.

 Red coloured oak leaf hydrangea.

 A snail found it's way up onto this witch hazel leaf.

 The beauty berries and leaves are so pretty.

 Today is much like the photo in this picture, blue skies with the sun shining.

 This is one of my favourite seasonal quilts.

 This another of my favourite autumn quilts, I ran out of the black pumpkin fabric and substituted the orange polka dot one..you might not have noticed if I didn't mention it.

May you all enjoy your Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends.

November's dull days are upon us once again. We've had some record rainfall this month thanks to some Pineapple Express weather systems. Rita's beauty berry plan is just full of colourful berries. I wish that you could dry them and enjoy them the year around. The leaves are turning such pretty shades of red, orange and yellow.

It is amazing that this little maple seems to be holding onto it's leaves when all the other trees are bare.

The oak leaf hydrangea is getting a more vibrant red each time I photograph it.

This is a peeling bark maple, the leaves are such a pretty colour and shape, the bark is very interesting how it peels off.

I'm not sure when this guy showed up along our pond, but I think he is quite delightful. He looks so realistic.

I made this Crowdiddy bag last year at a retreat. I added the handle because my zipper wasn't quite long enough. You can see the original design at http://www.beecreativestudio.com/

check out the pattern section

The design inspired me to make this ladybug/platypus design from my friend Tricia's birthday. I had intended to shorten the face but she likes it as it is.

For her secret Santa gift last year I had made the needle case and mini pin cushion.

For our quilt show this year I created the crowdiddy inspired needle case and mini pin cushion.

Then I designed the pin cushion inspired by the colours I used on my crowdiddy bag.

Saturday I took a purse workshop with Agnes Rhim. She is one of our Fraser Valley guild members. She makes lovely purses. I managed to make both these bags in about 5 hours. I had quilted the large bag fabric prior to the class. The smaller one I quited during the workshop.

She has a Korean language blog at http://blog.naver.com/yhagnes I use the translate button to understand some of the messages. [ Sometimes the translation is a bit off.]

I like how each side of the bag is slightly different.

I don't know about you, but I hate trying to find something in a bag with a dark lining, so I made the inside of mine white!

Today we're having some more rain. Doesn't the beauty berry look lovely with the drops dripping of it?

These drops are almost bigger than the berries themselves!

The winter Kale looked like it was covered in crystals.

The skies were grey and dull, fortunately the rain was quite light and I didn't need to use my umbrella. The walkway can get quite slippery at this time of the year.

The roses are still hanging in. There are lots of bright coloured rose hips to be seen.

These red roses looked so pretty with the rain drops on them.

The pink winter flowering forsythia is starting to bloom.

Rain drops are everywhere you look.

These drops all have little images in them. I hope you can click on the picture and see it enlarged.

This maple tree is just outside on of our courtyard entrances. The last leaves just don't want to go yet.

This afternoon I went for a walk to enjoy the last rays of October and Hallowe'en. I've got my favourite quilt hanging and decorations celebrating the season. I designed this block from my friend Debbie's 50th birthday a few years ago, she adores Hallowe'en.

This Japanese maple tree is just outside of one of our doors, it is so small and delicate.

I like how the sun is catching this small tree, making it glow in the afternoon autumn sun.

This is the yellow witch hazel tree that I love to photograph, its leaves are almost a lemon yellow right now.

This leaf has such a pretty shape and the shadow it makes on itself makes it so interesting.

This set of condos have some lovely trees by their front doors.

Still hanging on for a few more days of autumn.

This beauty berry bush has such a lush colour of purple.

I adore the colours of red you see the leaves turn this time of year.

This oak leaf hydrangea is turning even more red than last week.

Another group of the same oak leaf hydrangea.

This is the red witch hazel tree.

The view along the river just outside my condo.

The ornamental cherry trees in our courtyard are changing colours every day, soon they will be bare for the winter.