Property Brothers - follow up

AHA -- I managed to turn the television on. Gosh - that's the first time since 2010 that I've turned on the TV. SCARY!!!  Then the task of finding the right channel. I started a few minutes before the show was to air at 11 AM just in case I had technical difficulties. Thank goodness for Google. I searched for the HGTV channel with my provider and Google gave me the channel number which was then easy to put into the channel changer. I was set!

Some days, I'm good with technology - yesterday was one of them. Wait - I did have a wee SNAFU later.

Now that I've seen the episode, I wanted to make a few comments.

First - I had NO idea how extensive their house reno was. I wasn't given any information, nor did I need to know. When the segment came on that we were in, I thought I'd tape it on my phone. Well DUH - it sure helps to hit the button with the RED SQUARE and not just take a picture. So I stood there with my phone fixed on the TV screen during the entire segment only to realize afterward that I was doing that for nothing! Oh silly me! One day, I'll be good at all this stuff.

Second, they filmed our segment AFTER the house was completely done. I was asked for some tips several months PRIOR to the taping to keep them on track? But let's say that that craft room went together without any input from me.

Not sure if you read the episode recap that was in the blog yesterday. If not, here's the part where they talk about the crafting room which was a very important component of the whole house reno.

Crafters need their own space

Julie, an avid crafter and quilter, needs a space to spread out her quilts and crafts without taking over the entire house.

"Crafters need their own separate space," Drew agrees. And he should know: Once he moved in with his fiancee, Linda Phan, also a committed crafter, there were supplies scattered everywhere until they built her a dedicated room to contain the chaos.

Drew recruits Phan to go with him to a local quilting shop, where the experts weigh in on how the ideal crafting room should look. They suggest it have separate stations for storage, cutting, piecing, and sewing—as well as a design wall, where Julie can pin up inspirational photos and work from them.

So yes - the local quilt shop was my house. We all agree that you need separate stations for storage, cutting, piecing and sewing - as well as the design wall, but I'm not sure that's what Julie got. This is a good example of having a great idea (and providing great exposure for the quilting industry), but NOT a good example of how to put together a craft room or a quilting studio. I hate to say that a good organizer does not always make a well-organized room. You need to appreciate how the person works, what they are doing, and what tools they need, etc.  

I had watched the episode (on the internet) of Drew's Honeymoon house when they built Linda's craft room. Hmm - I'm not so sure I could work in that room. Yes - it's pretty, but how functional is it? Well, my guess in both cases is that crafts/quilts will continue to be spread around the house. 

The other thing - we wanted to get Julie a new sewing machine. They had tried but didn't have the right contacts. It was too late once they got in touch with us so the new sewing machine didn't happen. But it would have been a great place for a wee sponsorship by a sewing machine company. 

Bottom line - quilting got mentioned and for that, I'm 100% thankful. I'm also very thankful for all the airtime we got. They basically left everything in that they filmed at our house - the introduction filmed upstairs, the quilting bee with Audrey, Marilyn, Nancy and Ronda, the design wall, my quilts hanging up downstairs and Drew sewing on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC. And they filmed the hugs - I didn't know that! And I think we all did a great job on our segment. It was loads of fun and I'd do it again in a heartbeat! 

Did you notice that quilting and quilters are getting more and more mentions in mainstream media? Remember that Laura Coia was in the ad (representing Canadian Quilter's Association) in Zoomer magazine? (check out the link to watch a video). That's super exciting. Now, where are all those new quilters so we can get them quilting. 

Speaking of learning, if you missed my binding talk last night at Oh Look Fabric, you missed a great event. I had a ton of samples to show. I have to admit that some of the bindings were so well done that I had to look back at my QUILTsocial blog posts to see what stitch and threads I had used. Yikes! I'll be doing the lecture again at the next meeting of the West End Modern Quilters Guild. The date is October 13 at 10 AM in Streetsville (Mississauga) at the Kinsmen Senior Center. Guest fee is $5.00. It's a really, really good lecture on binding and the group last night got way more than they anticipated. 

For those of you who cannot attend the meeting on October 13, simply go to QUILTsocial.com and search in the box on the right-hand side for binding by Elaine Theriault. I made it easy for you - just click that last link and you'll be there with all the tutorials. I have 12 blog posts about binding a quilt. There's a wee bit of repetition amongst the posts, but there is TONS of information and it's all FREE on how to perfect your bindings. I still have one more blog post for the end of this month that I'm working on so be sure to watch for that. 

OH - if you didn't get a chance to watch the Property Brothers episode yesterday, the episode is called Property Brothers - Patrick and Julie. It is Season 12, Episode 7 if that helps you find it. It is also on this coming Sunday at 10 AM  EST and 7 PM EST.  Check it out. Our segment is about 3/4 of the way through the episode, but still fun to watch the entire show. You can Google HGTV Property Brothers and check out the schedule if Sunday doesn't work for you. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!