Christmas Coasters

I'm not planning to do a lot of Christmas baking this year. (If I make cookies, I eat too many!)

Wanting to create a simple hostess gift, I decided to try a non-edible option: a set of four Christmas coasters.

I have lots of leftover fabric with Christmas motifs.














(When I started to quilt, I made things for Christmas, like this little table runner. So I have lots of scraps.)

I cut four 5.5 inch (12.7 cm) squares of Christmas fabric, four of plain green fabric (for the back), as well as four soft flannel squares for the middle - to make the coasters a little more cushy...














I laid them one on top of the other, and machine stitched several rows of quilting around them to hold the layers together.


















Then I trimmed the edges with pinking shears. I'm not sure how they will weather a washing... Perhaps they will fray.

Wondering if I should have finished the edges, I made a second set of coasters a different way.














Cutting the three fabrics into slightly larger 6-inch (15.4 cm) squares to accommodate a seam, I sewed around three sides, then turned the tiny "pillow cases" inside out, tucking in the fourth side and machine sewing it shut.














Then I quilted the layers with several rows of machine stitching to make them flat.














Now I have two sets of Christmas coasters. I'm not sure which I like best!

Mystery Afghan Update

I left for England a day or two after Clue 8 came out... This clue called for 8 flowered squares...














Having made a whole afghan of flowers - I wasn't sure I wanted to do flowers again! I started, but left them unfinished.

When I came back, Clue 9 had come out. It was a plan for organizing the squares.














I had serious reservations about putting my wild and crazy mitered squares into the same afghan as the traditional granny squares... So I decided to make two afghans - one using the mitered squares in the center, and crocheting a border around them.














I'm still working on this project, but it's coming along.

I plan to assemble the others into a second afghan, but I will need to make up some more (lacy) squares to replaced the 16 mitered squares I no longer have... In the meantime, clue 10 has also come out - a border for around the afghan. (You can see in in progress at the bottom of the clue 10 blog.) I'm not sure I want to do that either, but I'll see how it fits in with the rest of the mystery afghan, when I get back to that...

For now I'm trying to finished the mitered one... I do have a deadline for it: Christmas!

My Travel Essentials

I have learned - the hard way - that the following are essential when I travel:

1. A neck pillow for the long ride... or flight.














2. A waterproof jacket or coat...


















...with lots of pockets...


















3. A suitcase with wheels


















4. Two or three pairs of COMFORTABLE shoes...














(Forget fashion!... Nobody knows me anyway!)

5. And a spare, expandable bag.














My favorite grows from this...














...to this!

My Travel Style is... Looking at Buildings!

Don't forget to go to the theater, one of my sons tells me, when I leave for London. I know he makes a point of attending concerts, plays and sporting events wherever he goes. And although I notice plays in the vicinity of my hotel, they don't attract me...














I can attend the theater at home... Here I just want to enjoy this city - something I can't do anywhere else. (And watching British television in my hotel room at night is a cultural experience as well!)














So I walk around the city streets, noticing the mix of old and new...


















What am I looking for?


















I don't know - The personality of the city perhaps... whatever that means.














I spend most of the daylight hours, every day, absorbing the sights and sounds...


















For some reason, old architecture fascinates me...














So as I walk down random street, taking pictures of... random buildings...


















They look so interesting!














Now that I'm back home, I have no idea what most of them are (I'm not organized enough to write down all the names!)














But they create an image of London in my mind...


















When I set out on my walk, I have a general destination, but then I get distracted by interesting places along the way. I often come across surprises, like this gorgeous sign at the British Library...


















I had planned to visit the Russel Hotel (at Russel Square in Bloomsbury), built in 1900...


















I discovered it in my hotel research before leaving home. (So I'm glad I actually found it!) It was a masterpiece a hundred years ago... (About the time that Boldt Castle was being built on the Thousand Islands closer to home.) It must have been an era of luxurious hotels...


















I had seen pictures of the grand staircase - so I just had to slip in and take a picture... My camera doesn't do it justice!














Not far away, I wander into a shopping mall (I don't see many of them in downtown London.) I am intrigued by this apartment building overlooking the mall. Are they attached? Would it be interesting watching shoppers from my balcony window? These are thoughts that come to mind.














I happen upon this lovely old building. My tour book tells me it was once the Midland Grand Hotel - above St. Pancras Train Station. It is being converted into condominiums and a Marriott Hotel.

Travel is a voyage in self-discovery! I realize my travel style is... LOOKING AT SCENERY, LOOKING AT BUILDINGS!

As I think of our family's different travel interests - attending plays and sporting events, gambling, shopping.... (My parents loved to visit long-lost relatives and catch up on family stories!)

We're all so different! Yet we travel together. It's a wonder we have managed to do that for so many years!

You Say You Speak English...

There are a lot of differences between North American English and British English, though many Brits now tend to speak "mid-Atlantic" (or halfway between the two!) - according to a British friend.

When I started teaching at the Anglican Church International School in Jerusalem, many on staff were from the UK. The school followed a British curriculum - but there were non-British teachers as well (like me) from many English-speaking countries: the US, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

I got used to hearing "flat" for "apartment," "lift" for "elevator," and "loo" for "bathroom" (as in "Where's the loo?") Also "post" for "mail" (used as both verb and noun) as in, "I'm going to post this letter." Or "Has the post arrived?"

So I was surprised when one of my British colleagues turned to me one day in the staffroom and commented: "Fancy you teaching English... You don't even speak it!"

I hope he was joking! But I was reminded of his words recently, while in Britain, when I noticed, again and again, how my English is different from theirs...














"Take-out" food - in Britain - is called "take away" food. So, in Canada, a server might ask: "Is that for take out?" But in England, the question would be: "Is that for take away?"














I bought some "old" cheddar cheese, which in Britain is called "mature."















Car and truck rentals... are called "hires."














You don't "line up," you "queue up."














And a traffic "detour," in England is called "diverted" traffic.

Fortunately, it's usually easy enough to understand what is being said, though sometimes I did have to pause and think!

Day 5: Is it Really Good-Bye??

My time in London was almost over. Time to tie up loose ends! My 48-hour tour bus pass would expire soon, so I wanted to go around again. (After all, some of the streets had been blocked the day of the Lord Mayor's Show.)














It was a picture-perfect day for a bus ride!














No rain clouds in sight!














We crossed several of the bridges that span the Thames River...














Saw the British Parliament from a bridge...














And again across the river......














We all snapped pictures of the Tower of London (where the crown jewels are kept)...














Saw the new City Hall... (which resembles a bee hive... or a wasps' nest!)














Two other monuments that stood out to me were the Animals in War Memorial... The statue of a horse reminds me that animals were widely used in war before motor vehicles were invented... But other animals were used too. Dogs... And even fire-flies: Before flashlights, soldiers at night read maps by fire-fly light! (How times have changed!)














Another interesting monument we had a good view of from the top of the double-decker bus was this statue of peace descending from heaven into the chariot of war, causing the horses to rear up. It stands atop Constitution Arch in Hyde Park.

My head spinning from all I had seen, I decided to get off the bus and return to the shopping area near Regent Street.














I went back to Liberty of London and examined this quilted table-runner... Should I buy a packet of fabric to make a similar one?














In the end, I did!














Then I wandered back to the hotel, passing the toy store that had crowds in front of it the previous day...














Today there was a costumed lady blowing bubbles...














On to Chinatown...














Past its big arch...














Past the Poker Club that brought me to London!

And back to my hotel to pack!