Sewing bees!!

 Let's face it - the British are a wonderful lot. They are very creative in their TV shows and I was recently introduced to another neat show that I think you will enjoy!

It's called The Great British Sewing Bee. I believe there are three Seasons, but there are only four episodes in the first season. I haven't had a chance to see all the episodes yet, but the bottom line - they are looking for the best home sewist.

It is interesting because in each episode the contestants  (they started with eight) have three challenges in the first week. They have to make a garment from a pattern (I know - that sounds easy, but many of them struggled with the tasks), they have to alter a purchased garment (those are fun) and the third challenge is to make a garment but it has to fit a live model.

I think I would do just fairly well on the first and second challenge, but I would fail miserably on the third!

Here is the link to the episodes for the first season. Have a look - I know the version that I had was a bit annoying with the adverts, but maybe you will be more lucky than I.


The Great British Sewing Bee - Season One - Episode 1
The Great British Sewing Bee - Season One - Episode 2
The Great British Sewing Bee - Season One - Episode 3
The Great British Sewing Bee - Season One - Episode 4


Warning - each episode is ONE HOUR long.  And not only is there the three challenges, but they provide some history of sewing, tailoring and sewing bees. And each episode offers a very quick simple home dec project. Quite interesting. I have thoroughly enjoyed the episodes that I have watched and I am going to watch more - a great time to sew binding or labels!

Thanks to Anita for introducing me to that show.


Back from the gym. A cardio/weight class. Time to make some changes so that means swapping one spin class for something weight related. I have a feeling that I will be sore tomorrow!


So what did I do while I watched The Great British Sewing Bee last night?  Binding of course!

Binding on my quilt - DONE

 If you want to see the quilt - you will have to come to the Brampton Quilt show on May 2 and 3. It will be hanging and it is unusual!  Nothing earth shattering - just unusual.

|Binding on my sewing machine skirt - DONE

The sewing machine skirt is ready for the upcoming retreat. Yes - another retreat. In hind sight - the timing is bad, but that is OK!!!

I made good progress on the binding of another quilt. That leaves one full quilt, half a quilt, a table runner and a mini quilt left to bind. There are two quilts in the basket that need to be ripped apart  - they are going to have a make over. More details when I get to them.

Wow - that basket could be empty soon!!!   Well - the quilt I just finished binding last night was quilted a year ago! No need for it to be bound!  Now I am going to have to seriously look at my quilts because the number of finished quilts is getting up there and there are a few that I really don't need, although they come in handy for trunk shows or demos!  Drat - may hang onto them for a bit longer.

On that note - I am out of here. It is sewing day and I am actually taking my sewing machine. I haven't done any sewing in a while and I feel the need!


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

Ciao!!!!


BTW - are there any Clive Cussler fans out there??  Perhaps your husband?  I am trying to find one of his earlier books - Dragon - part of the Dirk Pitt series. If you have a copy - I'd like to borrow it.

My new wheels!

Great workout at the gym again - another 30 K.  And the videos we watched - well they are just plain craziness but entertaining!  Some people don't watch them, but I focus on them and forget that I am on the bike! Works for me. 

So................................ - did any of you rush and get your clothes in order??   It doesn't take much once you make that initial effort.  It is that effort that I have to do with paper. I know what I have to do - just has to be the right day to work my head around it. But I think I am more  "take one box at a time" person. Otherwise - it is just going to be too much! And I would get bored easily.  I think the best way would be to dump the boxes without looking at them. I know I wouldn't miss anything, but I like to look through the stuff - brings back lots of memories and perhaps there is a memory or two that I would like to keep. 

Despite all the craziness, I am trying to keep up with the quilting. I did a bit of tidying in that area the other day - not ready to share it with you yet. And let's just say that there are still a "few" quilts to be done before I leave. Thank goodness for that cut off and I have some time in the summer to focus on my stuff and some charity stuff.  But there is no time to ease up!  

Charity quilt - DONE

Customer quilt - DONE!

You know that I have been looking for a folding wagon for a month. It is all Mary's fault. She waltzed into one of our sewing days with her wagon and I have been trying to find one ever since.

It's a ..........................

folding wagon. 

The darn things are pretty rare it seems and thanks to Costco and Julie - guess what???   YES - I now have my own folding wagon.

Box for the folding wagon

Now what am I going to use it for????   Well there is a quilt show this weekend and I have boxes of stuff to carry in. No more carrying - I will load up the wagon and pull it all in. I'm getting too "old" to be schlepping heavy boxes around. I will use it to carry stuff to class when I have loads and it happens some days. I will use it for guild meetings again when I have too much stuff to carry in at one time (oh yes -it happens often), I will use it when I do trunk shows and here are a couple of other uses for it..............

Little Sammy getting a ride in the wagon!

Sparky is getting old and while she still wants to go for a walk, by the time we come home, she is dragging. Now I can take the wagon and give her a lift once she gets too tired to walk!!!!!   I know!!!!   Just wait for those pictures!!!


And LOOK - LOOK what fits PERFECTLY in that wagon!!!!!!!!!!!!

Three Chubby Charmer bags fit like a glove in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a pinch, I could do a clean sweep of the work tables, shove the stuff in the wagon and just wheel it all out of the way!!!!!

Will I use the wagon???   Oh yes - I can't wait to find more uses for the wagon.   I feel like a kid again!!!!!   Hey - why didn't soemone invent this years ago????

Don't forget that the Brampton Quilt Show is this weekend - May 2 and May 3. Most of the vendors are from a distance away - ladies - that is stores that we don't usually visit and I bet they have some good stuff!!!!  I will also have my books with me for sale (maybe in my wagon!) so if you want one - you can come and see me. And let's not forget all the quilts that will be on display, the mini quilts, the raffle quilts and a whole lot more.

On that note - I am off to get some work done today.


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


Ciao!!!!!!!1

It's tidy up time!

I am trying to finish reading the book "the life-changing magic of tidying up" by marie kondo.

the life-changing magic of tidying up by marie kondo

As I was reading, I made several observations and a few of those were confirmed by Anita yesterday who has also read the book and implemented some of the ideas in her house.

1. this author has an OCD problem. At age five she came across a phrase about tidying and well - she became obsessed. She doesn't say that, but it is pretty evident as you go through the book. Read the book and see what I  mean!

2. the examples she gives are based on living in Japan. She talks about bags of garbage in huge numbers like 30 bags from one small room. Keep in mind that garbage bags in Japan are way smaller than North America.

3. she references garbage on numerous occasions rather than recycling. Perhaps recycling isn't a big thing in Japan?

4. she talks to her clothes and things and thanks them for giving her a good day. She treats like each item is a living thing. Each to their own!

5. she is very wordy. Pages are written for something that could be said in two sentences. Which is interesting when she is talking about tidying up and yet she doesn't tidy her words!

6. she goes into detail about all the other organizing methods that don't work. If they don't work - don't mention them or mention them briefly. Ah - but that takes up more pages.

7. you MUST tidy each category at one time. Seriously?  Oh yes - this is Japan and their houses are significantly smaller than North American houses.

8. strive for perfection. Seriously?? Doesn't exist!

9. she comes home from work and in five minutes, she has put away her things, changed her clothes and ready to relax. Seriously??  Five minutes (and that includes talking to her things) - I haven't even unpacked from the retreat and that was weeks ago. Why? Because I have a busy life and there isn't time to get everything done.

10.  does she have a family or live alone? Makes a HUGE difference.


OK - so you get the gist. While the things above are things that I do NOT like about the book, there are some very good messages in the book.


1, Put "like" things together.  I can't stress how important this is and I have been doing this with most of my stuff for years. Especially in the studio. And why??

• You can see how much you have (and we won't go there), 
• Things are easier to find - you only have to remember one place for each item category
• Things have a home and are therefore easier to put away
• No buying duplicates
• and I am sure there are more ideas.

2. Before you can find storage for things, you must discard. Yes - you can't run out and buy new storage units when you don't even know how much you have to store. It is easy to fall victim to buying all those pretty storage boxes and storage units, but if you have nothing to put in them - then what was the point?

3. There are good tips for discarding. I like her order of things - clothes (they should be the easiest one to get rid of), then books (ah - not so easy), paper (my biggest issue), odds and ends and then sentimental items. But she is very rigid - it MUST be done in this order. It MUST be done all at once. In other words - deal with all the paper at ONE TIME. Seriously? That isn't going to happen. Again - the difference in quantity is huge!

4. Method of folding clothes. She has a very neat system for folding clothes which I think is brilliant for T-shirts. The rest of the stuff - not so much.

I'm back - I just had a little tidying/photoshoot session which I will share with you. A while back - I did empty all my closets and I got rid of a lot of stuff and everything was then sorted into "like" categories and stored in the closet. Here is my post from March 12, 2014 - where I did the initial clothes purge I have kept it that way because it is easy to find stuff, although I do tend to live out of my laundry basket! Meaning that I don't wear a lot of the stuff in the closet.

I grabbed one of the baskets that contains T-shirts. These are short sleeved T-shirts with NO logos on them. Hey - I have the luxury of that kind of space!

Basket of plain short sleeved T-shirts

Normally T-shirts get folded like this.  And then we stack them on top of each other and most of the time - we tend to pick the top one to wear which is usually the one we wore last week and once washed, got put back on top. Right? We all do that.

Folded T-shirt - almost a square

BUT - if you fold that T-shirt once more or perhaps in thirds - you get a little package - almost looks like a fat quarter.

T-shirt folded ONE more time

 And then just like a fat quarter, you put those little packages on their side, not flat!

I refolded all my T-shirts and put them in the basket. Hmmmmm...............

Refolded T-shirts in the basket (a LOT of black!)

Except that they all don't fit now!!!!!

 And when I placed the extra on top - well the basket doesn't look much better than when I started!!!
By the way - there are 23 T-shirts in that basket, most of which I haven't worn in a LONG LONG time.

Ah - the basket is still full and looks awful!

 So.................   I purged and this is what is going back in the closet.

There are now 14 T-shirts in this basket 

 Hopefully I will wear them more often now that I can see them?  I do know that there are a few still in the laundry basket ready to be folded. 

And the give away pile - there are 9 T-shirts here 

 Total time: about 10 miinutes. That is the beauty of having "like" things together. Takes no time at all to sort. You see what you have and you decide!!!  I guess I am going to have to go through the rest of the stuff as well.because I know there is a LOT of clothes that I don't wear and won't wear. It all fits as I got rid of the ill fitting stuff last year, but I just don't wear it all.

 Now in all fairness to marie kondo -there are times when I would call myself OCD as well.

Like the other morning, I was trying to deal with a bit of the aftermath of the last couple of days. I was attempting to clean up one set of work tables.

Work tables in a bit of a mess

There was stuff from CreativFestival, there was stuff from the classes and demos and well - a bit messy.

One of the things I had to put away were my hour glass blocks. They go in this tin.

Tin (yes the lid doesn't fit any more) of hour glass blocks - trimmed and ready to do something with

However these tins come with a paper that is GLUED to the lid and it is a pain because some of the stuff in the tin would stick to the glue. I got out the Goo-Gone and VOILA - no more sticking.

Goo-gone got rid of the glue!

A little thing, but it took about 10-15 minutes, but no more sticking!!!!!

And how am I doing on the work tables???

Progress being made on the work tables!

Most of that needs to be shoved back in that laundry basket and we are good to go. But I am trying to process it (sew it) rather than just shove it back as a UFO!!!   Wish me luck on that one!!!!

Now here is something that would drive marie kondo - CRAZY.  And I will tell you the story of the basket and the wine in another post. But see what is nestled beside the bottle of wine???

What is nestled beside the bottle of wine???

Yes - that is my cordless phone. It was on the ironing board and fell off and into the basket a couple of days while I was prepping and didn't have time to pick it up!  So it stayed there until the phone started to ring yesterday and OH YES - it is still in the basket beside the wine!  The phone is now back in its holder!!!!!


I am issuing YOU a challenge. Start by assembling all your clothes in one spot. Sort them by categories and start purging!!!!!    It really doesn't take that long. I think last year, I took a couple of hours. Be ruthless and if you need help - call me!!!!  I'll come running to help you purge. Think about the numbers. If you have FIFTY t-shirts. That means you can wear a different one every day for almost two months. And if you are like me - well I get two wears out of a t-shirt so that is almost four months. That means I wear each one three times a year. Do I need 50 t-shirts???  Probably not!!!

On that note - I have a ton of stuff to do again today and I had better get myself organized and on with the day!!!!

Oh and here is an article about marie kondo and a LONG LONG list of comments. Sounds like people are so desperate - they will try anything to tidy up!

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


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!

It's here......................

I wrote a series of Tech Tips that appeared in A Needle Pulling Thread magazine from Spring 2010 until Fall 2014. These articles were chock full of information about rotary cutting, quarter inch seam allowance, pressing and a whole lot more.

To be truthful - those Tech Tips originated back in 2002 when I did a Block of the Month for the Mississauga Guild. I felt that providing a block pattern each month wasn't enough (yep - call me crazy) so I created a series of handouts that became the base for these Tech Tips. The ones in the book have pictures and of course as I learned stuff - I updated them.

Funny when I think back that I started to quilt in late 1998 and wrote a series of technical articles about quilting in 2002!!!!!    But I am a quick learner and MOST of the information in that original series is still true today!!!!   I learned so much from keeping ahead of the students when I became a teacher and of course - I have made a LOT of mistakes over the years.

When QUILSocial was released in June 2014, the articles were assembled into a booklet that was "published" as an e-book. If you signed up for QUILTSocial, you should have received half of the e-book for free. You had the option to purchase the entire e-book or you could also order as a physical book.

I have had loads of requests for the actual book and guess what - the books have arrived!!!

Tech Tip book

Of course - I am very excited to finally see the book in print (well I have had a copy for a while) but exciting to be able to offer it to you!

Have a quick peek at my original copy that I ordered on-line.

The original book

Do you see any difference between them???

The difference between the old (on the left) and the new (on the right)??

How about now???   Yes - it is very subtle, but before the book went to print, Carla changed the colours on the cover and the inside cover from pink to ORANGE!!!!   Very appropriate!

Bottom line - I have books for SALE!!!!!   They are $15.00 and I shall be flogging them over the next month. They will be available for sale at the Brampton Quilt Show which is on May 2 and 3 at the Jim Archdekin Arena in Brampton. I will have them at the Mississauga Guild meeting, at my sewing days and any classes that I am teaching. And yes - I will sign them if you want.

I have lots so don't worry about not getting a copy and if they disappear quickly, I shall reorder again.


Now I have a little task for you. Remember my "While I'm Away Challenge??"   I haven't received much so I guess that means you are giving me a break while I am away????   If you still want to be part of that challenge (all you have to do is give me something) - check out the post so you can get all the details. That deadline is fast approaching - well you have ONE month.


On that note - I am off to spin class.    Oh boy - I forgot. This is the start of the locker room switcharoo!   They need to do some renovations to the ladies locker room, and because all the workers are men - they are switching the locker rooms for a couple of weeks.

No danger of going into the wrong locker room with that huge sign!!!

Let's just say that the men have a beautiful locker room. OK - so do we, but theirs is much bigger (well it seems bigger) because it is much more open and spacious.  Apparently we have more lockers?  I'm thinking moms with their strollers would LOVE this locker room. None there early in the morning, but during the day - it can be a zoo.

It was pretty funny this morning because we didn't get to see our usual people as everyone spread out and there was a TON of people that I have never seen before. Where did they come from???   Or are they always there, but tucked into the bowels of the ladies' locker room??  Going into the steam room was a bit challenging as when I entered, it was full of steam. ACK - can't see a thing - where do I sit down? How big is this place? And then when I did sit down - OH - where is the door?????  And I could hear someone in there so not as if I could go feeling around!   But it was fine once I got my bearings. Hey - LIFETIME - I love the men's locker room. We should switch!  Don't worry  - already told them that - numerous times this morning.


Ok - off to Monday sewing where I will be doing some hand stitching. Got to finish up a binding for a quilt in the Brampton show this weekend. I am so glad that I was reasonable in what I could get done for the show! (one quilt!)  Making a bit of headway on cleaning up and putting away. I'll keep you up to date on that!

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


Ciao!!!!

The CreativFestival

What a crazy three days!!!   I have never seen the CreativFestival so busy. Almost the entire time, the booths - well at least ours was jam packed.  And because we have so many little things - well - you spend a lot of time trying to keep things somewhat organized and restocked?  Nope - that wasn't even possible.

I had a demo on bags yesterday and saw a few familiar faces. It was standing room only in the class which is always exciting. Thanks to everyone who came - I hope they picked up a few tips.

I did manage to snag a few things before the show was over and thank goodness the show wasn't longer or quieter - I am sure I would have found a lot more to buy!

Here are a few pictures from the CreativFestival that I thought you might enjoy.

Colleen from The Crochet Crowd

As usual, The Crochet Crowd went WILD with their booth. The theme was the 70s and Colleen managed to find - yes she did NOT make this wild and groovy outfit.  What you see on the top - oh yes - that was a PANTSUIT!!!!   And how cool is her flower child pin!!!!    Great inspiration for having a great time!!!!   Thanks to The Crochet Crowd for your entertaining booth.

And then there was this STUNNING quilt made by Renske Helmuth of the Waterlook area. Every year she coordinates a quilt that becomes the feature quilt for the New Hamburg Mennonite Relief Sale.

This year, the theme is Africa and the quilt is just absolutely breathtaking.

Threads of Africa

Block detail

Block detail

 The quilt will be auctioned off at the New Hamburg Mennonite Relief Sale. The details are below. Not only will this quilt be for sale, but there are  many many other quilts as well. There are other crafts, there is food - there is a LOT of stuff. Check out the link above if you want more info. I got to meet the auctioneer!!!

I remember one of the quilts done by Renske raised $44,000 - that is NOT a typo.  It was an amazing quilt and I hope this one raises that kind of money as well.  The details are just amazing.


AHA - I found all the previous quilts that were coordinated by Renske for the New Hamburg Mennonite Relief sale including the one that sold for $44,000.

Check out this link to see them all and see some other work by Renske.  She is a VERY talented quilter.


On that note - I still have a quilt to quilt this morning because the customer is coming to pick it up today and I have a class to teach this afternoon.  Yep - the craziness just doesn't stop!!!!

By the way - a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by the booth to say HI or came to one of my demos!!!  And thanks for following me on the blog. It is always nice to meet new people and catch up with those I haven't seen for a while.

And I have loads and loads of pictures to post - and I better off load them from the camera cards!!!!   QUICK!

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


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

What to do if...............

While there are lots of different ways to work on a project - there are probably two main ways to get organized.

There are those that gather the pattern, all the requirements - fabric, interfacing, batting, thread, etc. You know - you are making a bag and you MUST find the perfect colour thread to do the stitching.

The second way - you stockpile - not that I know ANYONE who stock piles. You start to work on your project late at night. Yep - everything is going great. You leave the project for a while, then come back - again LATE at night. Ah - crud - not going to have enough of that thread colour. Scrounge through the partially filled bobbins to find something to work in the bobbin so you won't have to use the good colour - well the best matching colour you could find in the thread box.

Oh no - bobbins used up. Hmmm - and you are working on the only spool that you have of that colour. ACK - well - back to the thread box - what is the next closest colour?  CLOSE ENOUGH!!!

It makes me laugh how crazed we get about matching and when push comes to shove - we just wing it!!!!  I know I would be bored to tears if every project went perfect. Every screw up, every design challenge because part of the life of that project and the more "bad" things that happen - the more interesting the project when it is complete!!!!

Case in point - I am trying to get a bag done this morning. Oh - it has been sitting here for a long time, but I NEED it this morning. The good news - I am almost done, and the bad news?  Well there is no bad news this time, except I had to find more thread to do the topstitching!!!

Getting low on this colour

The next best colour

(Don't worry - when you see the colour of the bag - the prints are VERY busy! -both thread colours work just fine!)   The big question is - do I buy a new spool of that dark brown? Just in case????

You see why I piece with ONE colour for everything. Then I never have to worry about running out of thread. Just buy lots of that one brand and colour!!!!   It is these darn bags which I seem to be doing a LOT of that require a thread colour that is somewhat in the ball park of the fabric colours!!!

It was a ZOO yesterday at the CreativFestival. An ABSOLUTE ZOO.  I don't think I have ever seen it that busy.  We couldn't even get into our own booth. I had a couple of demos and there was STANDING room only in the first one. And at one point, the line to the cash was so long that we got complaints from the show office!!!

My leg was pretty tired at the end of the day - well not tired, but in a lot of pain, but as soon as I sat down - it isn't so bad.  But the show must go on!!!!!   I really can't blame anyone since I am too "busy" to book that damn physio appointment.

I didn't spend a single penny - but I did scout out a couple of things that I will pick up today.

I got to chat and see so many people - it was awesome. Great to see everyone!!!!!    Some people I hadn't seen in years!!!!  Just like school reunion!   As much as I hate the set up and take down and the long hours on the concrete floor - I do love the atmosphere of the CreativFestival and well as long as I find someone to let me work for them - I'll do the show!!!!   I learned a few tricks that I have wanted to learn and will share them with you at some point.

I hope for those that came to CreativFestival yesterday that you will be at the Mississauga Quilt Show today!!


The studio is looking worse and worse by the day - I'll grab some photos tonight when I get back which will be late since it is tear down day!!    Yep - literally throw stuff out of one bag and restuff it with more stuff.  Got two short classes at Hobby Horse this morning and another demo this afternoon on bags. Oh yes - the excitement just never stops around here!!!!


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


Ciao!!!!

Doesn't get any more chaotic than this!!!!

Yesterday was one of those days - well - what can I say except to tell you the story!

Not a lot of time so got to make it short (I know - you are all breathing big sighs of relief at that!)

Let me start with showing you my treasure...........  Elaine was in Maryland last week and look what she found!!!  Yep - left over from last year. Well since the new Row by Row Experience is gearing up for this year, I've been on several web sites and let's just say that I know EXACTLY what I am going to do with my license plates from last year. Now to find the time to do it. It is going to be FUN!!!!!!

2014 licence plate from Row by Row

This plate just solidified what I am going to do. Thanks Elaine - this is the starting point of my quilt!!!!   Ooops - did I say a quilt?  OK - so I am going to make a quilt from them. You just don't know what kind!


Yesterday was set-up day for the Mississauga Guild Quilt show and the CreativFestival and I was at both! I know - I finally figured out how to clone myself. OK - not really. I was at the Mississauga show at 8:30 AM to drop off a couple boxes of sheets. Then off to the Creative Festival where I had a HUGE surprise.

We had help! Two extra bodies including a nice young man so I didnt' have a lot of physical work to do to get all the product to the booth.  Oh yes - it is going to be a GOOD day.

Went to my car at noon to get my lunch and OH MY GOD - I left my lights on (despite the fact that I have a little beeper to tell me I left the lights on) and the battery was dead!!!! Thank God for CAA. Couldn't call them right away because then I would have to leave the car running and we weren't done yet. I called around 2PM and they were there by 3 PM just when I was ready to leave - PERFECT!!!!   See - I do have SOME time maangement skills.

Off to the Mississauga Show to see what was happening there and the show was up and everything looked awesome!!!  On the way to the show, I got a call and something that I needed last  night was still at the CreativFestival. And I had a guild meeting last night. Prep for TWO demos today - well you get the picture - it was a crazy crazy day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here the recap that you need to know:


Mississauga Guild Quilt Show -    check the link for details. But here are some tips::

The show is in an arena - I would advise that you dress with shoes AND socks and wear layers and you may even want a pair of mittens. I know that sounds crazy, but with the weather - the arenas haven't had time to warm up.  And you WANT TO STAY for a while. There are some GREAT vendors and the quilts are SPECTACULAR!!!!!  

There are 22 challenge quilts (and yes - the ribbons will be on the winners this morning),  (between looking for that list of winners and prepping for the demos - the studio looks like a disaster!!!!)

There are ELEVEN of the block of the month (well - the chunk of the month) that I designed.  They are all stunning and a very interesting study to see how each of the eleven quilters interpreted the grayscale pattern.  Really really worth having a look at.   Look at the different styles of quilting as well - interesting.

There are demos - amazing demos.

There are over FIFTY mini quilts waiting to be won!!!   Just don't pick the one that I want to win. Yes - I sent money with one of the volunteers to buy me tickets!!

There are the two gogeous raffle quilts that you can buy a ticket to win. The draw is on Saturday.  


And then there are the over 250 quilts. They are stunning.  A HUGE variety of styles, colours, patterns, quilting ideas.   Have a look - both at what was done with the domestic sewing machine and the long arm. There are great examples of bindings!!!!   I'll let you look for those!

 I had an hour yesterday and part of that was consumed in chatting to people. I did snag some good photos which I will NOT share with you - at least until the show is over. But I really really want to go back with my TEACHER EYE on and look for examples of stuff.   Not sure if they would let me into the arena tonight. I doubt it.

Anyway - a GREAT SHOW - you need to go.



CreativFestival -    I had a quick run through all the booths last night and there is some amazing stuff. Remember it doesn't take much to get me excited!!!!   Some new booths  - milk paint must be hot - I saw TWO booths.   The book guy is there with TONS of new Zentangle books. Well - too much to describe in a few minutes. I will try to post more pics on Facebook today if I get a chance. The show opens at 9 for those with advance tickets and I must hustle my butt out of here.


I am doing TWO demos today.

Rule your rulers at 12:30
and
Hand embroidery is hot at 3:30.


check them out - I have loads of samples to show and techniques to demo!!!!!



On that note - I need to get out of here.


Have an awesome day and if you are at the CreativFestival - I am in Booth 268.   Stop by and say HI!!!!!


Cioa!!!!!

Construction up in Tiny Town!

Wouldn't you love to have the time to sew everything you want to sew?  I see so many awesome designs that I would love to make, so many things I would love to experiment with and then let's not forget the designs in my head. If only we had the time.  I can't eek out any more time and I have no suggestions for you. Well maybe one - FOCUS!!!!

Anyway - it's time to check in on the construction in Tiny Town to see what's happened since last month. The blocks are so creative and the details are fun to check out.

Have a look....................  Here is the original pattern

Tiny Town by Bunny Hill

And here is the homework...................  (I'm not even going to pretend that I remember all the names and since I know some and some I don't - I'm not going to put any names on the blocks). This month we made the post office block.

This person LOVES to fussy cut images and put them on her quilts. I LOVE the hippy vehicles!!!

I'm loving those busy backgrounds and beautiful hand work on this one!

How about that funky van! and the yellow cab!

Beautiful soft colours, Love the polka dot car!  How come we don't have real cars with polka dots? Especially the bug!

Bright colours in this one. Love the striped roof line, the FUNKY car colour and she used a printed fabric for the clock!

This is the rebel in the class. Never seems to get the applique done quite on time or perhaps it is the wrong block, but the quilt is always complete at the end of the class!!!!   Yep - there is one in every crowd!

Nice fun bright colours. She is changing the shapes of the cars and I love the bright red bird!

This lady is making two quilts - one by hand and one by machine. However she was on vacation last month so didn't quite get the block done!

These colours are so very soft - very Japanese feel to this quilt. 

I love that mail box. It is outlined in black which makes it really pop out. And how about the brickwork on the post office. Let's not forget the fussy cut fabric for the tree. 

Very soft colours, and beautifully done. She took an element from the "brick work" on the post office and appliqued it to the door. 

Block done in SOLIDS!!!!   This has a very cartoon feel to it and I LOVE IT!!!!   I never thought of doing that, but what a neat concept. 

Catch up block from last month. She used stitches on her sewing machine to create leaves and falling leaves on the tree!!!  She also stitched around the door frame with the sewing machine. Her aunt is known (well to us) for her creativity with the sewing machine and it looks like the talent is spread through out that family!

Busy backgrounds!!!   Look at the clotheslines that was embrodiered into the middle of that block. Very creativie, very funky!!

More of the busy backgrounds - love them!!!!

I am very impressed. I gave the class all kinds of ideas for making the clock instead of embroiderying it. Most embroidered it. This class loves their hand work. And it is beautifully done!!!!  There are a few doing the quilt by machine and they equally are having fun with their stitches.

Can't wait to see these quilts when they are complete!  I'll invite you to the show n tell. This class is at Sew Sisters in Toronto.

We also had some non Tiny town show n tell.

This is the musical quilt.  I believe there were about 30 different music fabrics in the quilt. The pattern is one of the variations of Turning Twenty - I didn't catch which one.

Karen's music quilt

It was made for a musician and the names of his songs and other pertinent things were quilted onto the quilt. Nicely done - it is awesome!!!!   And what a great way to personalize a quilt. 

Vjera made this little wall hanging and of course someone piped to ask if she put the chicken or the egg down first!!!

These little bundles of batting come from Fabricland and if ever you see them - they would make great samples for quilting. Buy several, do different quilting designs (especially density) and then you can compare the results.  I have several now and hope to get some experimenting done - one day!!!!   Thanks Karen.

Bundle of batting samples by The Warm Company

On that note - the start of an insane weekend starts. It is setup day for CreativFestival and that's where I will be. It is also set-up day for the Mississauga Quilt Guild show and well - I can't be in two places at once.

But check out both shows - they are going to be awesome!!!!!   I know we have some amazing challenges in the Northcott challenge at the Mississauga show. Now if I could just find the paper with the winners so we can pin the ribbons on.  Don't PANIC!!!!   (not yet - I have 24 hours to find the papers!)

Have an awesome day and drive safe!!!

Ciao!!!!