Updates!!!!!!!!!!!

M did not win a medal in the competition. She was up against some stiff competition - the girl who won also won the overall top award for highest marks for the female category of the ENTIRE competition. Which is exciting that is was in the Fashion category. Sounds like she has been sewing for a LONG time as she announced before the competition began that she was so nervous the night before that she whipped up a dress that she wore that day. Also the girl who won second place won second place last year. Again someone who has been sewing for a while.

However as I have learned through life, it is NOT about winning the medal. It is about winning with yourself. M has limited sewing experience and most of it in the last couple of weeks. She ran into difficulty with some of the areas and she was able to work through them. She did not quit and I am sure it would have been easy to just say "I quit", but she stuck with it.

I am very proud of her and I think she has learned in leaps and bounds from this experience and to me that is WAY MORE IMPORTANT than winning. And her attitude about the entire thing - well again - she graciously accepted not winning and that is so important. Way to go M!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Trust me I know from experience - winning isn't everything!!!


And you might not think it, but I have been busy working at home. I have managed to get FOUR quilts done in the last couple of days. They are smaller ones for the Mississauga Outreach program.

Quilt number ONE

Quilt number TWO

Detail of Number TWO

Quilt number THREE

Quilt number FOUR

Now with these quilts - we are supposed to trim and put on the binding. And then stitch them down. Well I don't stitch by machine (ever!) and I don't have time to do the hand stitching, but I have people who have volunteered to do that for me. I have ONE binding on, another made and hope to get that finished today.

Then onto the next urgent quilts!!!!!!!!!!!!


I am working on some sewing as well, but not much. My machine is wondering what has happened.


In case you did NOT get to the Brampton Quilt Show - here are a couple of my quilts that were in the show............

A Bling Thing pattern by Anka's Treasures

Hopscotch  - pattern by The Quilt Patch. This is ONE of those Halloween quilts we did in the fall. This is MINE with the orange plush backing. And NO - that is NOT a red ribbon on it. That is simply a piece of plush (from another quilt) that I put there so people could feel how soft it is. 

All About Me - pattern by Atkinson Designs - this is Berke's car quilt. Someone asked me about it and wanted the car fabric. Well - I bought enough - there is enough left for a kit. I'm waiting for him to contact me. 

All About Me - pattern by Atkinson Designs - this is M's quilt. Everything in it starts with the letter M. The red plush is on the back of her quilt. Now Berke wants one with plush on the back as well (his has flannel). I LOVE making these quilts with the novelty fabric. So fun. I must make one for myself. 

And here are the two quilts hung together. I made them hang their own quilts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 I had two other quilts in the show, but I seemed to NOT have taken a picture of them.

This quilt belongs to Linda P. We both participated in a tinners project last year at Christmas  Club at Cockadoodle Quilts. Linda's theme was autumn. She made the large center block and each of the participants was to make an autumn themed block that measured 15 inches or something like that. 

This is the block that I made for her. 

It looks great. I must start working on all those group quilts that I have participated in over the years. Just no time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I am still working on the $10 quilts. That is my priority this year.


Monday Motivators is still going strong and look - here is my favorite Monday person.................

Robbie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He is so cute, but he was NOT feeling well this past Monday. Generally he is very good natured, but this day - well he was just not happy.

I am happy to report that I am working my way through the stack of my quilts that need to be bound. Of the 6 that were in the Brampton show - I did pin a few labels on, so I hope to get those sewn on and then they can be put on the FINISHED list.

The next quilt show (yes - I had THREE of them this year) is the Halton Hills Quilt Show and that is the first weekend in October.  Mark your calendars. I will provide more details in a couple of days. There are FIVE or SIX quilts still in the "to be bound" basket and I am working through them. I take them to Monday Motivators and hand stitch them there. So I hope to get all of these done before that show and they will go in that show. Then I will be caught up. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Then I plan to go around the house to ALL the quilts and see what is missing - some are missing labels (don't tell anyone), some need the sleeves stitched down (pins are great), some need the bindings stitched down (steam  a seam is handy) and some need a bit more quilting and just get all those ones DONE DONE DONE. That will likely take me to the end of the year.   This quilting is HARD WORK.


I hate hate hate spin classes. Well I am going to have to retract that statement. I went to Joseph's spin class last night and I worked my BUTT off. According to the bike speedometer, I cycled 25 MILES (40 KM) in one hour which I don't think is right, but I'll take the numbers. We pushed up hills and then MORE hills, then down the hills. My towel was sopping wet when we were done. But the class was AWESOME. And I am liking the other instructors as well. OH dear - I am just kicking myself that I didn't start sooner. My legs are feeling stronger and stronger every day which is what counts. Now if I don't eat extra because of the extra workouts - I could lose a LOT of weight. According to the computer - I used OVER 1000 calories in one hour. How is that for a workout!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And tonight is yoga!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   It better be relaxing!!!!


On that note - I am off to get more work done.   So much nicer to NOT have deadlines. Still have commitments, but NO pressing deadlines.


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



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

Skills Competence FIRST HAND experience

I'm so excited - I have a guest blogger this morning!!!!  Yesterday was a pretty exciting day and Ms Bamford did an AWESOME job keeping me informed on what was happening. The mentors were NOT allowed to talk to the students, the students were not allowed to talk to each other except at lunch.

Well - here is a recap of the day from a participants point of view. The pictures are from Ms Bamford...........   (M wrote this late last night and I think she was a tad tired!!!)

What a whirlwind!

It seems like just last week; today was “I have until next Tuesday; plenty of time”. Today was an inspiring day as I pushed my limits beyond comfort and came through in the nick of time (thanks to some well-timed generosity, more on that later). 

I arrived at the Ontario Skills Competition grounds in the wee hours of morning to check into my competition, Fashion Design. My fashion teacher, Ms. B and I wandered around the grounds, treating our early arrival, and discovered so many various skills activities set up for the coming day; such as Cessna planes for aviation mechanics,  bakeries and kitchens for cooking, electrical, plumbing, construction, auto body mechanics, even flower arranging and cosmetology competition set ups. Less equipment based competitions were held as well like public speaking, safety inspecting and computer work; the atmosphere was roaring.

Notice the kitchens on the floor - those big boxes are fridges!!!!  

Pattern drafting wasn't difficult; as soon as I focused and got over my nerves. I finished them up pretty quick. Cutting became a task with such small space, but once everything was cut, things started speeding up; until some road bumps…

Sewing station (which was done by drawing a number from the bowl, but M lucked out and got the BEST station because it was tucked in the back away from the THOUSANDS of spectators that went through the competition during the day

Pattern drafting

Cutting the paper pattern (with Mom's BEST SCISSORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  - I'll just pretend I didn't see that)

Cutting the jacket (I guess she is used to LOTS of space at home - next time, I'll give her a smaller space to practice in!!!)

There were two very nice ladies supervising our competition and one had the task of repairing sergers on the fritz (each exposed seam was required to be serged, so the machines were used frequently). I sat at the serger maybe 20 times, and half the time something busted on one of them; and always as soon as I sat down! It must have just been the counter act of some good luck I would have later at the end.

Twenty minutes to the end of the competition and I was finishing up my patch pockets and hem. I was working at a great pace; despite my earlier doubts due to technical difficulties. I decided to zip up the front zipper closure and see how it looked, when I noticed; the neckline edge was almost 2 inches off! I had 20 minutes to go so I zipped through my hem and pockets to try and salvage the unaligned zipper (the underlying cause to my chaos). Ripping through 7 inches of sewing seams and serger seams was a task when under pressure. At 4:27 pm, with my stitches clean and ready to re-sew (terrified I wouldn't make it), my luck came through. The nice serger lady (Holly) gratefully came over to tell me the competition had been extended to 5:00. The biggest smile came on my face as my determination rose; “I will finish this jacket and make it look amazing!” I thought. Five o’clock rolled around as I was just clipping the last threads.

Love the safety glasses!  

Working on the belt

It turns out; out of the 12 competitors only 4 (including me) actually finished the jacket. I was just thrilled that it was DONE. I handed it in and walked away happy and confident I had done my best. My teacher, my mom (especially!) and friends were so proud of my accomplishments. I could not have done it without their support. Seeing my teacher on the side lines, my mom’s favorite color in my hands (the fabric choice was bright orange!) and everyone’s encouraging words in my head all kept me going until the end. I had a fantastic learning experience, with a new appreciation for Project Runway contestants and greater confidence in my abilities for the future. I want to thank Ms. B for her awesome support and guidance through the whole thing and my mom for getting me from day 1 to here.

- M

What the jacket looked like if you made it from the block patterns (got to LOVE the colour)

M and her finished jacket (she added a belt)

So Ms B and M are on their way back to the competition this morning for the awards ceremony. I don't care if she wins because she is already a WINNER in my book. She pushed herself when it was necessary - she didn't quit. Honestly - that is the BEST MOTHER'S DAY present I could ever ask for and it isn't even Mother's Day. I LOVE MY KID - she is the best. Way to go M!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And THANKS SO MUCH to Ms Bamford for supporting M through this and for keeping me up to date yesterday. You ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The purpose of the Skills Competition is to show students that there are MANY jobs out there that do NOT require a university degree. These jobs require college level education, apprenticeships and so on. It is a SHAME that MANY teachers do not care enough to help get students into this competition. M was the ONLY STUDENT from her school that went and only because of Ms Bamford. The other teachers were not interested. That is a SHAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!      How can we change the system?????

Well - got loads to do today and got loads to tell you, so must close this blog off. 

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

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

Skills Competence Canada

Today is an EXCITING day at our house.

M was up bright and early at 5 AM. I know - 5 AM!!!!!!!!!!!    Her fashion sewing teacher picked her up at 5:30 AM and they have arrived at the Skills Ontario competition in Waterloo.

My child in a SEWING competition???   What other way to warm a mother's heart mere days before Mother's Day. I LOVE that kid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is the link if you want to know more about the Skills Competition.



http://www.skillsontario.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=42&Itemid=39&lang=en


The competition starts at 8 AM, no phones, but Ms Bamford will be sending me updates as the day goes on.
They start at 8 AM and have EIGHT hours to draft the pattern and make an unlined jacket. Oh my goodness - I am nervous for her, but she has worked VERY HARD the last couple of weeks and she is as ready as she will ever be.


She has made several iterations of the jacket and tweaked the design each time. I know she spent a LOT of time in the studio this past weekend when I wasn't here. We had a small consultation when I got home from the marathon and when I was fast asleep, she woke me up to tell me that the jacket was done. My brain didn't compute that, but when I got up - this is what I saw.................

Never mind the DUCKS UNLIMITED camo fabric that the jacket is made of - that was just scrap fabric the teacher gave her to make the jacket. There is a belt and she has somehow incorporated the zipper into the belt. Not sure how that will work. But the sleeves were in (I did nothing to help- I was just the consultant along with her teacher). I think she did an AMAZING job.    I am PROUD PROUD PROUD of her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When she was sewing the pleats in the sleeves, I told her to sew over the pins. SHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Don't tell anyone. Anyway - she was freaking out, so I dug out the safety glasses and she wore them. I did not take a picture!!!   But she looked cute!

Like I said - she has arrived, there are twelve people in total in the sewing competition, they are using Husqvarna sewing machines (YEAH!!!!!!) and the fabric is ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!!!  


Let's keep our fingers crossed for her. It is going to be a LONG LONG EXHAUSTING day. I will be getting text updates from Ms Bamford.   (thanks for the updates!!!!!!!!!!)

M's work station

Drafting the pattern

I am so excited for her and she has worked so hard.   This is such a great opportunity for the students - there are MANY MANY trades in the competition. The more experiences that one gets exposure to - well you never know what will happen. A visit from then Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau when I was almost finished Grade 12 COMPLETELY CHANGED MY LIFE. Who knew? I should send a note to his son Justin - honestly - my life turned 360 after that. But this post isn't about me - it's about M!!!!!!!!!!!

GO M GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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



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