A star is born (or not!)

So I've been keeping a secret for almost a year! How the heck did I manage that?

It started about this time last year. I was still at my day job at the time. I received an e-mail from the Canadian Quilter's Association that the HGTV show Property Brothers was looking for a fun quilter to include in one of their episodes. Was I interested? Hm - that took all of a nanosecond to say YES!!!

Then I was put in touch with Penny who the coordinator for scheduling the filming date. You have to remember that Drew Scott was a participant in Dancing with the Stars last fall and the voting public didn't want to let him go. That created all kinds of scheduling issues for our session and for the Property Brothers in general. He was eliminated on November 21 - I think he was the final contestant to be eliminated before the final episode with the top three contestants.

Our film date got changed countless times, but I was ready to take a day off work if needed. The date was finally set for November 23, 2017. The time was set for mid-afternoon or something like that. I didn't really have any idea if I was to prepare anything, were they going to want to sew something? were we just going to talk about quilting?

The episode originally aired on March 30 and here's a link to the recap of the episode. All my contacts with Penny were through my work e-mail. I was let go from work the week after the taping and I had no way to get in touch with her. I've been searching the internet and found nothing - because I wasn't looking in the right place.

A word of caution - the recap says that Linda and Drew visited a local quilt shop - I think they mean my house. I haven't even seen the episode myself.

As the film day drew closer - I think it was two days before, Penny asked if I could have some quilting friends present to make it more - well - I don't know, more like a quilting bee. So I asked four friends if they would come over and pretend that they were sewing. Thanks to Ronda, Nancy, Marilyn, and Audrey for their assistance. I think they only came to meet Linda and Drew and not to help me out in the least!!!!  Jonathan was not part of this particular filming session.

Film day arrives and the time kept getting pushed back because Drew and Linda were needed elsewhere. Finally, the setup crew comes. The dogs were whisked to the backyard for which they were NOT happy. A coat rack appeared, bottles of water, lights, cameras, and people. I think at one point, there were about 14 people present (not counting us).

I had staged all my red/white quilts on the upstairs railing. I know they filmed an intro up there, but no idea if that got into the episode.

Then Drew and Linda came downstairs and we got big hugs from both of them. They are extremely personable and easy to talk to.

In preparation for the visit, I had read the autobiography written by the Property Brothers.

Property Brothers book

It's quite interesting and the two of them were very entrepreneurial from a very young age. I think Drew's first foray into making money was to sell yarn covered caot hangers. Hey -coatMom has a pile of those - I wonder if there's still a market????

Linda and Drew signed my book and LOOK - I'm a Property Sister!!!!

I'm a property sister!!!!

We ended up sewing a nine-patch on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC. That was interesting because it doesn't have a take up lever!! I think we were using Northcott fabric in purple? I can't even remember as they took the nine-patch with them. No - I think they gave it to Julie who was the homeowner that the show was about. Linda was impressed with the sewing machine and Drew asked how much it cost. I told him and without batting an eye, he asked Linda if she wanted one for Christmas! Sure - just like that - I'll drop $15,000 on my sweetie for Christmas. I don't think they bought one. They have NO time for sewing or crafts even though Linda likes to do crafts.

Of course, we had to have photos and here's one of myself and Drew. He's a wee bit taller than I am to say the least. (Look at those Halloween blocks in the background!)

ME and Drew Scott from the Property Brothers

It was an interesting process - don't look at the camera when you're talking. BUT I WANT TO. Nope - not allowed. And we did most of it in one take - well several different shots, but mostly in one take. After I stopped talking to the camera.

Oh - we did get to meet Julie who was the home owner. Her husband Patrick was upstairs and never got to come downstairs to see the studio. He would have died anyway!!

After the filming was done, Linda and Drew were whisked away to their Winnebago that was on the street and bit by bit, all the lights and whatever else they had brought in was packed up. We had a great chat with the crew. What a life - while we might think it's exciting, they are constantly ON HOLD. What was to be filmed during the day, was filmed at night. They had probably worked all day or were on hold somewhere. I know the crew ate at a local restaurant (South Mississauga) as they had asked for a recommendation.

Of course, we all signed waivers to keep quiet about what they were filming. God - I had no idea - we were told nothing. But I kept quiet! Although I think the above picture did surface on Facebook a while back. We were given permission to do so.

It's very hard to find a specfic episode of the Property Brothers and HGTV is NOT good about having the episodes available online.  Thanks to Audrey B (a different Audrey than was here that day) who watched the episode yesterday and alerted me that it's on this morning as well.  The episode is called Patrick and Julie - so search your TV guides for Property Brothers - Patrick and Julie.  It's on HGTV this morning at 11: 00 AM  EST.

I got DH to tape it for me as I'm not sure I'll be here to watch it. And then I'm not sure how to turn on the TV and get to that channel. What channel is HGTV anyway??? Oh boy!!!

So there you have it - thanks to CQA for thinking of me when they were asked for the name of a FUN quilter in the city. Thanks to Penny for all her scheduling and thanks to the Property Brothers for letting me be part of one of their episodes. Thanks to Drew and Linda - it was a blast.

On that note - I'm out of here. My day (and the blog post) have been turned completely upside down from what I was planning on doing today. It's all good. I'll just have to do tomorrow what I was going to do today. And of course, I'll tell you all about it.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!