Some pretty pieces of fabric....

I started the day as I always do....with a bit of hand-stitching.

Anyone who knows me knows that I like to start my day like this, but what you don't know is that at the same time I enjoy listening to podcasts. 

I thought I'd pass along a couple of favourites for those of you who like podcast as well. Please feel free to comment with your favourites!

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, but this year I did....it was to listen the the Ted Talks podcast everyday. Not too difficult, as they tend to only be twelve or fifteen minutes each....but packed full of good and interesting knowledge. Well, I haven't kept up, but I do still enjoy it often. 

Another good one is Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard. He is an American actor who, a lot of times, plays a bit of a goofball. He is surprisingly well-read and has very interesting guests and topics.

Anyway, on to what was being poked at today....

This morning I worked on the last two tulips on Block 2 of A Curious Journey BOM by Susan Smith...

It is now complete, except for removing the water-erasable pen marks....

I'm liking this BOM....and I'm liking the use of my hoarded Tilda fabrics :)

A lot of designers like to have all the applique pieces stuck on to the background fabric all at once with a bit of fabric glue.

 I'm not a fan....actually, I should admit that I've never done it since it didn't appeal to me at all!!! I really thought that it would be a nuisance, with un-sewn pieces just getting in the way as I appliqued.

I figured I should at least give this method a try.

Well, I have to admit that this was not the case. It was "okay"....but will I do it again?....probably not.  I do encourage you to give it a try though....what works or not for me may be the opposite for you. There is no right or wrong way....just many "right" ways, wouldn't you agree? (Although, I'm sure we all have that one quilty friend that is always quick to announce there is only one proper way to do things, lol)

I also stitched a little block for The First Day of Christmas by Susan Smith. I hate to admit, this was a kit that I purchased late one night when I was quite tired....way too easy to push the "Add to Cart" button during this pandemic, isn't it?????

This week on Instagram I came across a stitchalong with @thenextstitch...

If you are on Instagram I encourage you to have a look. There is not a specific project, or anything to buy. We are encouraged to do a bit of slow-stitching for 15 minutes per day. The bonus....she (I can't recall her name at the moment, maybe Wendy?) is going to do a bit of a tutorial on Instagram once a week. I thoroughly enjoyed the first one. These videos do not disappear, they will be accessible all the time.

Something I got back to this week is my Temperature Quilt for 2020.

I've been keeping track every day of the forecasted high temperature....but somehow haven't sewn on it at all since March 27!

On our lovely rainy day on Saturday I did manage to get a row of geese flying sewn down the right hand edge of this piece. Each goose measures 2x3.5 unfinished and the piece is approximately 30" square so far. 

That's all for now. It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day, so an outing is in order, including a visit to the Good Bread Company in Vittoria...yum!

 Hopefully a little extra stitching time, too!

I am linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching. Try to visit with Kathy and see what others are slow stitching today. 

Sunday Stitching

Nothing much planned for today....which means a bit of extra time for some slow stitching and maybe a bit of sewing time.

A friend asked me if I would repair her beloved quilt that was made for her by her grandmother years ago.

It didn't need much....a replaced binding....

....plus, there was a huge worn out spot on the backing, so I appliqued a heart over it. The heart is about 8" across....that's how big the L-shaped tear was...

The fabric that I used for the applique is at least fifteen-years old and was a favourite designer of mine at the time....and I can't for the life of me remember her name! Does anyone out there know????....it's going to bug me until I remember.

It is always an honour to repair old quilts. It feels like the original sewist is looking over my shoulder quite pleased that her quilt has been so well-loved.


When I finished that this morning I took a few applique stitches in this month's Fun on the Farm block, which is the current online BOM from Eleanor Burns Quilt in a Day.

It's been a long time since I've done a Dresden Plate block!

Today I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching. It will be nice to visit with her to see what others are working on today.

It's been a while!

Well, I knew a while ago that May was going to be a very busy month....but I didn't know that I wouldn't even have a few moments to do a blog post!

The jam-packed calendar continues until mid-June.

Here are a few highlights of the month so far, beginning with our quilt show at the beginning of May.

I was able to see my Down the Rabbit Hole hanging. This was the quilt that was completed just in time! 

Part of the fun was strolling around looking at the quilts with Gail of The Cozy Quilter and Kathy of Kathy's Quilts. 

And I was only able to visit with one of the vendors (due to a series of events brought on by the terrific wind storm that weekend), so was only able to make one purchase...

I wish I could make time to do some prep-work on this before heading to Nova Scotia, as it would make a perfect travel project, but I don't know if there is time for that!

The quilt show was followed by a quilting retreat. Why is it that it feels so relaxing while on retreat, but you come home exhausted???

Here is our hostess, Lana of Quilt Junction...

Here is our set-up for the three days, in the ballroom at the Elm Hurst Inn ....

....and the beautiful view from my room...

I managed to work on a few projects, such as my RSC18, Squared Away...

...and some of my Simple Folk pieced blocks...

It was also fun to see what others were working on!...

....and I even had to get a picture as proof that I am no longer a salmon virgin...

...that's a big piece of salmon! I figured if I was ever going to try salmon, doing it at a 5-star Inn may be the place to do it!

I did manage to get all the blocks completed for our BOM we've been doing at the Haldimand Guild this past year....

I am going to like this quilt once it is done. The irony is that despite the simple blocks, there were many errors in the pattern which made it frustrating. The further irony?....it wasn't until I had all the blocks on the design wall that I saw that I had made a huge design error in the planning of this! So funny! Oh well, keeps one humble, I guess!!  I'll elaborate at a future time.


Right on the heels of the quilt show, and the retreat....race weekend!

I had three races that weekend....not sure I'll do that again, but I did have a lot of fun!

.....and managed to have a wee visit with my daughter at the Optometrist where she works....obviously we have good taste in sunglasses....

This past week was more of the same...so busy with visitors from Alberta. Somehow I still managed to get a bit of applique accomplished. 

Here is the first block of Tomato Soup, The Sequel (almost)(finally!!) done...

Today I am linking up with Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social, and with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.

Have a lovely day!

One Monthly Goal, among other things

It feels like I haven't done much in the way of posting on my blog lately....the days just seem to fly by sometimes.

I'm still plugging away on my Down the Rabbit Hole during my morning coffee-time. I've been determined that it will be done in time for our quilt show at the beginning of May. Yesterday I almost put it aside...but soon realised that I've finished maybe 85-90%, so I should keep at it!

I have completed my One Monthly Goal for March. My goal was to finish the quilt that I started at a workshop in February.

I did like the pattern we learned about in this workshop, was just not thrilled with my fabric choices. You can read a bit about it HERE. 

I was actually going to ditch the project into the garbage (that's how much I didn't like it!) when my husband remarked on the blocks that were on the design wall. I ended up making this quilt my monthly goal as there wasn't going to be too much work involved and figured, in the end, it could at least be used as a picnic quilt or something to that effect.

A couple of blocks...

Almost done...

Top finished, and made the decision that this would be it, no borders...

I chose some fun modern quilting...

The binding is done, now it just needs the handsewing...

In the end, I've warmed up to it a bit, lol! I think I'll try selling it in the boutique at our Quilt Show to make a bit of spending money for when I go to the East Coast this Summer.

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I took part in a Fabric Postcard exchange lately. Now that the recipient has received her postcard I can share the details.

The exchange was arranged by Elm Street Quilts. The postcard I made was destined for a quilter in Texas....her desired theme was "bright".

I've never made a fabric postcard and was a bit nervous but the process was fun and quick. There are plenty of tutorials out there on You Tube.

The theme for the postcard I received was "houses" and came from a quilter in Texas....

I love it and love all the detail she put into this postcard. I still have it on display!

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I've finished this month's step in the BOM from the PEI Modern Quilt Guild Mystery Quilt...

These blocks are pretty sweet and I can't wait to see how this all goes together in the end!

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I'll finish up with two things I've learned lately....one good and one bad.

I've recently worked on clients' quilts that have a wonderful 1/4" inner border. What a great way to add interest without doing a "flange"...

There is a trick to this and I will be doing this on one of my own quilts this Summer. 

The "bad" is when I used a Chaco-liner to mark a bit of quilting lines on my Down the Rabbit Hole this month and the marks are not disappearing. 

I'm pretty bummed about it. The fortunate thing is that I didn't use this marking chalk elsewhere on the quilt.

One more picture....of me at the end of the 5k portion of the Around the Bay Road Race this past weekend in Hamilton....

It was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing it again next year as a 3-man relay for the 30k. 

The funny thing is that at the beginning of the race it was like it is every time. My legs are tight and I wonder what the heck I think I'm doing....me? a runner?....then around the 2k mark things seem a bit better and I'm in the groove.

In April, our running club in Port Dover starts the new season of Learn to Run. I encourage anyone to give this a try....you just might surprise yourself....I know I did!!!.....and you'll make some new friends as a bonus.

Well, this has certainly turned out to be a lengthy post! Hope you've lasted this long to see that I'm linking up with .....

Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal Finish linky,

PEI MQG clue 7,

Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers, and

Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social

A burst of sewing!

This week most of my work on the longarm has been put on hold as I've been nursing a back problem that pops up from time to time. 

I have managed to get a bit of sewing done as I'm ok in a seated position :)


First up was sewing one of the final borders for Down the Rabbit Hole. I held my breath as I pinned it onto the quilt, wondering if it would fit. Luckily, Sarah Fielke designs a pretty good pattern....

This morning I appliqued the final leaf to Down the Rabbit Hole!!


I also finished my Magnolia Mystery offered by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs. This is the second mystery I've done thru' Meadow Mist Designs and Cheryl does a wonderful job!

I am going to hold off on quilting this one until I have the time to really have fun with all that open space.


I've also sewn my blocks for this month's Rainbow Scrap Challenge....what a lot I've accomplished while off "sick"!

Here are my Squared Away blocks...

The block at the top of the picture actually makes my eyes glaze over a bit because of the fabric choices....but I'm leaving it in.

I also have my three birds done for the month....except for their legs, those will come in February hopefully....

Aren't they adorable!!

I do hope to get back to the longarm today as I'm actually working on one of my own quilts, Happy Days, which was the BOM offered by Sarah Fielke in 2016...

I hope my back continues to improve as I have signed up for the Robbie Burns 8k, which is run this Sunday. I have so looked forward to this race (maybe because I get to wear my kilt, or maybe to start the race to bagpipes?). 

Here I am running in my kilt in the Caledonia Race in the Fall which was a warm, muggy day. We were encouraged to dress with a Scottish theme, but I think there weren't more than ten of us that did!

....and such a special feeling crossing the finish line with a good friend, which doesn't happen often...

Today I am linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? and with Busy Hands Quilts for Finished or Not Fridays. 

I am also linking with Sandra at Musings of a Menopausal Melon for TGIFF - Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday, and with Angela at So Scrappy to see what others have been working on for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.