How to tips!

Notice - that is "how to tips" with an S - not "how to tip"  with no S.  The first one, I'm great at - the second one - I need those little percent buttons on the payment machines!!! 

In light of our conversation the other day about gift giving - you may have decided to make some personalized gifts for your lucky recipients this year.  Here are some good tips that can you save time in getting those gifts ready on time. 

Time saving tips for making holiday gifts 

Oh my sweet Lexi - isn't she a beautiful dog!!!   So clever too - loves to blog so I'm sure she will be back again from time to time.   And thanks for all the beautiful comments.  Hopefully you will get to meet her - she is a doll. 

Remember the Misty Pines quilt that I quilted a couple of weeks ago????   Let's just say that I run a ONE-STOP shop here.  The customer didn't know how to put on a sleeve so the quilt could hang and next thing you know - the quilt has a sleeve.  The customer did all the hand stitching. But I bet by now that that quilt is hanging up!!!!

Putting a sleeve on Misty Pines for the customer

As you may or may not know, Quilt Canada 2016 and 2017 will be held in Toronto. That is a major coup for Toronto area quilters and also a major coup for the show itself.  Here is an opportunity to build on the show, have a dedicated team building the show and well - why can't we have something similiar (albeit smaller) than the shows in the US????   I would love to see this show grow and it can only grow with YOUR help.


Check out the web site for Quilt Canada 2016.  But even more important, check out the classes.   Yes - I know there are some exciting classes, but you should sign up for mine!   Why?   Well - while all those other classes are exciting - you WILL go home with a finished top in my class.  How is that?- learn a technique and have the top done.  The finished top will make a great place to play with free motion designs. If you have any questions - ask me.   I've taught this class numerous times and the end results have always surprised me as the students use their creativity (and their NEW SKILL) to experiment with the techniques. There is NO APPLIQUE on this quilt, yet all those circles are well stitched in place!!!!

Sample for curved piecing at Quilt Canada 2016

The other thing to check out is my lectures.  I have TWO lectures at Quilt Canada 2016.  The first one is on Organizing Your Studio - going to be loads of fun - very inspirational and if you don't go home with a plan of attack and some tips - well - trust me - you will. The second lecture is about scrap quilts. My favourite kind of quilt. There will be ways to store your scraps, what to do with them and also a trunk show of scrap quilts. Going to be super fun!!!!!    I hope to see you there!!!!


It was hard to get to the computer yesterday when Lexi took over the blog, so I didn't have a chance to discuss the plan of attack on my messy room.   First things first - did YOU pick an area in your house that you want to tackle?   If you didn't - you are now behind!   But no worries - we have loads of time still.  I'm very serious about this.  The last thing you want is for your children or a friend to have to deal with your mess. OK - so now you have a spot.

Now get a piece of paper and a pen.  Take a look around that space and write a list of things that you have been wanting to do, but never did. These are things that won't take very long to complete or that you would hire someone to do for you.  In my case - I have 14 things on my list.  Most of them would take one hour or less to do.  Some of them are things that I have wanted to do forever  - like reupholster my chair that I sit on. The fabric has been worn for YEARS.  All the supplies are sitting here and I could probably do it in an hour or so.  I have a rack with all my thimbles that needs to be hung up.  How long would that take????  And so on.  I took a quick glance around the room and had that list of 14 things identified in about 5 minutes.

Now this list does NOT include any of the heavy thinking stuff.  Papers to sort through - nothing like that.  This is just the quick fix things like returning items that don't belong to me, putting items in their rightful spot in the house.  Stuff like that. You can even put a time estimate to get the task done if you so choose.

Now that I have that list - I might even eek out a task or two just because it is now on that paper and I want to put a BIG check mark beside it. Once those 14 tasks are complete - the room is already going to look completely transformed, but not quite.  That is where I will get into the heavy duty tasks such as sorting paperwork and I'm going to decide how to do that when these other tasks are complete.  

We get so overwhelmed if we say "I'm going to clean up this dining room".  But if I say - "I'm going to put the leaf blower (still brand new in the box) in the shed".  That is an easy task to do and will free up some space. You see why I'm calling it divide and conquer?????  

I'll be looking for before and after pictures - don't be shy - this is something that I'm sure everyone of you can relate to.  We all have a problem spot or two in our house and now is the time to tackle it.   If you want to share a before picture - no names need to be published to protect the innocent.  Just wait until you see some of my pictures - you're going to be SHOCKED.

On that note - I've got two small things to prep before work and a walk in the forest with Lexi and Little Sammy.

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


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