Safe at home

Should we congratulate the weather people that the freezing rain and the ice storm finally hit? I'm not sure. Let's just say the traffic at the CreativFestival was slow, but I was very surprised by the number of folks who did venture out in the morning. Kudos to them all and I hope everyone got home safe. There were a number of firsts that happened at this show. It was a first for me in the Husqvarna Viking booth and it was a lot of fun. I got to visit with quite a few people and learned a lot from people and made a few commitments which I certainly can't tell you about at this point in time.

It's very much against the rules to start packing up before the show closes. However, this was the first time that people openly started to pack up (with one hour left) and no one said a word. Most of the audience was gone and we were all standing around. It's time to pack up!

I had heard from others that the ice was thick on the cars and I was not looking forward to going out. I had to bring a sewing machine home and so around 6:30, I ventured out to see the damage. It was slushy, it was wet and it was thick!!! It's hard to see in this picture, but the accumulation was about 2 to 3 inches of granulated ice on the windshield of the car. Only on the front windshield of course! And I never thought to lift my windshield wipers when I parked the car in the morning and they were frozen solid to the windshield. I managed to scrape enough off to see and then another first happened.

Lots of granular ice on the windshield

We were allowed to drive our cars right into the International Center. Bless their hearts and a HUGE thank you to them. That made loading a whole lot easier. I parked my car inside and after loading the sewing machine and its parts (which made the car FULL), I was back in the booth for a bit more and then headed home. I still had to chisel my wipers out, but it was a bit easier inside. But not warmer! And all the wet made that floor very slippery. My hands were frozen! My glove was wet and I couldn't get it back on so I was in my bare hands with all that snow and ice.

Waiting to thaw the wipers!

It rained ice pellets all the way home, but the roads weren't slippery, but they were slushy! Fortunately, everyone was driving with care and I was home in about 40 minutes. Yes - there was no way I was going to drive further north back to the retreat and then come back today. I love my friends and I love being at the retreat, but let's just say I don't love those things that much to do all that extra driving on ice-covered roads. This retreat was a bit of a bust, but no time to dwell on what could have been - let's just focus on the two days of fun I had with them. I just heard that they are advising people to stay off the roads today - perhaps they are all going to get an extra night?  Now I'm jealous!!!

I was getting notices all day of various quilt stores in the area that were closing and will be closed today. Hopefully, quilters get it. No one can be that desperate for fabric.

When I popped out this morning for Murphy's early morning business, the driveway is thick with ice pellets. It's got a crust which I didn't even break through. I'm guessing, we won't be shoveling this! Thankfully, it's not slippery - just thick with ice pellets.

Now I can hear the freezing rain hitting the windows and I don't think we're going to the park. But don't tell the girls that. I'll pop out for our usual walk and they won't know the difference. I hope!

I've got the entire day ahead of me with no quilts to quilt, and no deadlines that I can work on. How did that happen??  BUT a bad thing happened at the show - I found (and bought) a couple of things that I want to work on and so I might work on one of those or I still have a lot left in the retreat bag - I might work on that. Either way, I'll keep busy for sure.

I now have oodles of edited pictures to share with you so you better be sure to come back each day!

I thought I would share with you what I did with my English Paper Piecing. I went out one day with my little pouch and realized I had left my scissors, thread, and needles in another EPP project I was working on. They are now all consolidated into one bag. But I needed more thread for the basting. I went through my thread drawer and all the partial spools are now in the EPP pouch. There isn't enough on these spools to do anything so they are perfect for this task. I love getting myself organized! And someday, I'll find that other container with all the prepped hexies. Someday!!

Supplies to put in the EPP pouch

I have a number of calendars around the house. I should share them all with you because they all have a special meaning to me. Here is the one with quotes on it and I thought it was fun! I hope this is what happens when people are around me. I love to be happy. I'm not always happy, but I try to be and I try to see the silver lining in everything. So hopefully you all want to hang around because I'm happy!

April quote on my word calendar

On that note, I'm out of here. It's going to be a very busy week, but there's nothing I can do today to help out in any way so I'm going to enjoy a FREE sewing day just for me.

Have a super day - stay warm and don't go out if you don't need to. It's ugly and no sense endangering ourselves or anyone else.

Ciao!!!!

English paper piecing

While I didn't get everything done yesterday that I had hoped (I was hoping to have another customer quilt quilted), I'm still on track. It's going to be heads-down for the next couple of weeks until that long arm goes in for servicing. Then I can have three to four weeks of doing nothing! As if!

I did get that huge customer quilt completed the day before.

Customer quilt - DONE

 I still need to trim it, but as I have three in total for the same customer, I'll wait and trim later this week.

I got one of my quilts quilted as well. It's for a magazine so I can't share it with you. But here's something that I learned. I have figured out why modern quilts do NOT have borders. As I was prepping to quilt this quilt (it has a border, but is modern), I was contemplating how to quilt the borders. And then it dawned on me - the modern quilter's didn't want to deal with the dilemma of quilting a border, so they didn't add one! Seriously?  Yep - I think those borderless quilts are as simple as that!!

Anyway, since the border was the same size as the blocks in the quilt, I decided to carry the pattern into the border and quilt the border as if it were a continuation of the blocks. While that's all good in theory, I had to do a fair bit of ripping until I could get the pattern established. Let's just say that I was having a serious spatial moment to get that thing quilted. But I tried something new and I LOVE it. As I was quilting that one - no I didn't have a chance to think about anything else as I quilted that one. It required too much concentration!

That leaves 11 quilts before the long arm goes in for servicing. Five need to have custom quilting so that will be a wee bit of a challenge and two - well four still have to be made. But we are NOT going to go there. Like I said - it's going to be heads-down for the next three weeks. Not all are due right away, but since I can't quilt them without the long arm - well I could quilt them on the domestic machine and I will if I have to. Not the customer ones but my own.

More patterns got finalized yesterday and I believe they are on the Northcott website. You have to check out this new collection which is coming soon. It's called Sleepy Sloth and is absolutely ADORABLE.   Here is the picture of the quilt I designed for it.

Hanging Out

You can check out the fabric collection at Northcott's webpage. The collection ships in March and once it ships, you can use the product finder to locate a shop near you that purchased the collection. The free pattern should be available for download now.

And for my American friends, there is another free download using Northcott's latest Stars and Stripes collection. Oh, shoot - I don't see the pattern on the website yet. I'll post that when I see the link.

Here are my blocks for the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge. I took a picture yesterday morning and then realized that one block was still hanging on the wall. Of course, it was after I had packed everything up!!! So I had to lay the blocks out again. There isn't really a rhyme nor reason to the color scheme. I'm thinking some interesting quilting can be done in these large (16") blocks!!

Blocks for the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge

Then it was on to finishing up some items. Well, one. I got the binding on this table runner.

Sewing the binding on a table runner

 This makes finish Number ELEVEN for the year.

Table runner

 That table runner is a free pattern designed by me. It's on the Northcott website and looks totally different from the original.

The table runner was delivered last night. I purchased the fabric at Oh Look Fabric (the new quilt store in Milton) and it will be a potential class in the upcoming future. So watch for that. If you're not on the mailing list, you should get yourself on the list. If you look at that link above, you'll see the latest fabrics she has in the store. They are distinctly Canadian and SUPER CUTE.  I should have bought some last night, but I didn't think. Now I want some!!!!  Help!!!

Last night, we had our first class at Oh Look Fabric. I was supposed to put it on my blog, but I was so wrapped up in quilting, that I forgot to post the information. The topic? English Paper Piecing and you can see the ladies hard at work making their hexagons.

Making hexagons

 And when the evening was over, we had a nice selection of flowers. They did amazingly well and those stitches are very invisible. Kudos to everyone for a great job!!!

Finished hexagon "flowers"

This is such a relaxing technique. It takes very little to carry around a pouch of hexagons, scissors, and thread. Technically there isn't really any prep work. I really need to work on these - I have an audio book I want to finish so I'm going to put them together by my chair and see what I can get done.


I did finish my Anne Perry novel. Boy - that was quite a story and that's all I'm going to say, but I'm anxious to read the next one. But I'm going to try a different author. At the moment, I'm reading about the movie Thelma and Louise. I never saw that movie, but now I want to. Got to find it somewhere - I'm sure it's on the internet.

Speaking of that - oh shoot - I have to find the pictures of M in her first TV show. I saw them this morning and now I can't find them. Perhaps she can send them to me via e-mail so I can post tomorrow.

And now I have to run. I'm teaching two classes today. I'm all prepped or as prepped as I'm going to be!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!

Catching Up!

Here are some random topics that have been sitting in my blog posts and I guess it's time to cover them.   

From time to time, I check out the quilting books at the library.  There are dozens of new releases every month, and I don't have a budget to buy them all.  I love to peruse them which is one advantage you get when you go to Quilt Market.  The publishers do have their new books on display and you can knock yourself out looking at them. In some cases, you can even buy these new books from the publishers. But then you have to carry them home, which isn't a problem for me as we would shove them on the crate. 

Anyway, I'm much more discriminating about book purchases than I used to.  And magazines - well I have stacks of magazines at work to keep me busy and I'm trying to go through one or two a day.  Yes, I read them, I mark interesting patterns and I look at what the competition is doing in the way of ads, I check out designers and well - it just isn't about all the pretty quilts in them. I have developed a filing system which is pretty handy and easy to maintain considering I can turn any page into a .pdf with the copier.  No ripping required and the magazines go to the next person for review. 

OK - all that to say that I had borrowed a book from the library about English Paper Piecing. I've done a bit of EPP, but a far cry from being an expert.  If you are interested in EPP, you MUST buy this book.  It's called "all points patchwork" by Diane Gilleland.   The book is extremely comprehensive, covers every shape you can imagine for EPP, shows you how to draft all the shapes in case you can't find the size that you would like and well - it's an all round excellent book.  I think I will add it to my collection.  The problem is that I have NO MORE ROOM for books in my house and I'm hesitant to buy more for that reason. 

all points patchwork

So if you're into EPP - I'd buy this book.


The other books that I've been reading are not novels either.  They are sort of travel adventures.  I was introduced to this author a couple of months by a friend of mine. Thanks, Margot!   Anyway, Margot lent me the book called "What the psychic told the pilgrim".  It's about Jane Christmas' adventure along the Camino de Santiago  - the 800-mile pilgrim trek in Spain.

Well, I enjoyed her writing style (although honestly - she's a bit of ditz when it comes to packing or traveling!)  and so I had to borrow her other books.  The Pelee Project where she and her daughter spend a winter on Pelee Island and Incontinent on the Continent where she spends a month in Itlay with her elderly mother.

Jane Christmas books

Yes  - now I want to do all three trips - well I could leave out her trip to Italy, I'd do my own thing. But to live on Pelee Island for an extended period of time?  Yep - sounds like fun.  Hike the Camino de Santiago?  Yep - in a heartbeat.   Sounds like I need to find a sugar daddy who can support me so I don't have to work!!!   But I do love my job!   She has also written another book about nuns - I can only imagine where that one goes. That is her latest book and I must remember to borrow it from the library.

Oh my - just saw on the internet that her beau (Colin) whom she met on the Camino de Santiago has cancer.

And now onto some quilting stuff!


Remember how messy my cutting table was???  Well, I got TWO pet mats done!

Two pet mats - DONE

And then I started on a small quilt for a challenge using these yummy solids.  I can only pick two, possibly three colors to work with.  Can you guess which ones I chose????  You'd be surprised!  The size of the quilt - 14 by 14.  Should be finished the top tonight.

Yummy solids

And look at that cutting mat!!!!!

I do have one project that needs to be done by June 1. I've started it, but need to get my act in gear or that isn't going to happen!  And then there are three other RUSH quilts - all for me. Fortunately, none of them are too big.

Oh, I found some excellent articles for you to read concerning caring for your quilts, including washing, labels, etc.  Have a read - there is a lot of good information here.

Cleaning quilts

Labelling quilts

Storing quilts



Don't forget to check out QUILTSocial today as well.  Last day of review at this moment for the Husqvarna Designer EPIC.


Well, I must get my act together and get to work.

Have an awesome day!   Stay cool!!!!

Ciao!!!

Emergency run........................

As you have probably figured out by now - I am in Saskatchewan visiting with family.  Since there is not a lot to do but visit, I always bring hand work.

Since I have been here - I have finished hand stitching the binding down on that quilt that I quilted for my mom.  The one that she made 50 years ago.

Yep - while visiting with family, I got out my needle and thread and got the entire binding stitched down.  Haven't done a a binding in a while and great to get this one done.  Mom was very pleased with the end result.  So here is an OLD UFO - done!!!!!!!!!!!!    The only thing - I forgot to make a label, so will make the label and bring it next time and stitch it on. 

Brought some knitting and got one square done.  I am rarely a passenger in a vehicle, but the other day I knit all the way to town and back and got this done and half the next one done.  I only brought three balls of yarn with me and half of it is done. Do you see where I am going here?????

I think I meant to bring my embroidery and I forgot it at home, but I had thrown something else in my bag. Does this look familiar?????   Tish?????   Diane????   A number of friends are getting involved in English Paper Piecing.  I have had this project on the go for YEARS.   The only thing that I had done was cut out some of the hexagons.  I had only prepared ONE hexagon.  OK - I am going to tackle this project and try and get some done.

English paper piecing

Get out the needle and thread

Oh crud - this is fiddly - did I mention that my hexagons are 1/2"  - so each of the 6 sides are 1/2" long. 

Now somewhere along the way I had heard of using glue pens to do the "stitching".  I must have because I had one in my box.

Glue pen

Hmmmm - is that really going to work?????   and how do I get the papers out?????


Well time to open up YouTube and see what it is all about. Found some several videos and after 5 minutes - I thought I would give it a whirl.

YouTube video

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hexagons glued down.  FAST FAST FAST

I had two packs of 100 hexagons with me and I had picked up another one at the quilt store in Saskatoon. 

These things are fast to make

There is 100 done. 

OK - so now we have a problem.  I had black hexagons cut and I had some orange - but a silly orange. I don't really like the fabric. Now that I had 1/3 of my hexagons done with black - I needed some more fabric.  Well if I were home, I would make a 5 minute trip to Ruti's. However she is a bit far right now.  So I hopped in the car and drove 50 minutes to Fabricland.  The only option. However this is a great Fabricland and they have loads of quilting fabric.

Look what I found.   Got .25 m of each

Now I have to cut the hexagons. Oh boy - not looking forward to that.  However my Mom has a small cutting mat, one ruler and a HORRIBLE cutter that needs a new blade.  Well - it is all I have, so will have to make due.

Now here is something absolutely hysterical. When I was a kid we were NOT allowed to watch much television.  For numerous reasons. We could watch, but not much.  Now I do not watch TV at all and my Mom spends the entire evening watching TV.  Oh my - how the tables have turned!!!!!!

Anyway - I watched two shows with her (and now I know why I do NOT watch TV any more) and in two hours, I was able to prepare over THREE HUNDRED little fabric hexagons.   Oh yes - I had the cutters, the scissors and I had a production line going.

Table room is scarce at this house (my mom is a piler - just like me). So I improvised with a little stool - worked like a charm

I think I got 28 of each of 12 colours

Made a few pink ones before I went to bed and reconfigured my little box and everything fit in

Got some silk thread to stitch them together. Not sure it is the best, but all I could find. 

Those little packs of hexagons aren't cheap - well I paid $7 for the last batch of 100.  My mom says - I have a punch. So she dug it out, but the edges are 3/4" (or very close).

So what do you get with an 8 1/2" by 11" piece of card stock and a hold punch?????

50 hexagons in a mere matter of minutes.  She is well trained with hole punches. Now I need her to do that three more times!!!!!!!

I picked this fabric up to use with the larger hole punches.  I know - a stripe.  No one said I was smart!!!!!

Also got a ball of cotton yarn to make a dish cloth in the event I get really bored

Saw this gorgeous rick rack so bought all they had - it was cheap!!!!!!

If you have ever been to the prairies you would know how wide open the skies are.  I don't think I will ever get enough of that.  It is stunning to see the sky change.   There is NOWHERE in the city that you get that feeling.  As I was driving yesterday - I had to stop many times and take pictures. Here are a few for your enjoyment.   Yvonne - these are for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This yellow in this canola field was just BRILLIANT 

Looking off in the direction of North Battleford

Cool clouds in the sky

More neat clouds

Looking out over the river valley

This picture was taken in February - same spot

Had to stop and take a picture of these pretty flowers

Hmmm - would be nice to make into a quilt???????    A journal cover?????

On that note - I have hexagons to put together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!



Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!