Friday finishes!

This morning I put the final stitches in the binding of my Quilty365, or as I am calling it, A Year in My Life.

This is such a special quilt to me. 

It was started as a sewalong with Audrey at Quilty Folk, with the idea of appliquing a circle per day for a year with the intention that the fabric chosen would reflect that particular day in some way. Most of mine were, but I have to admit that some days I just picked a fabric to get the block done! Although, I somehow think that subconsciously the fabric chosen probably did have meaning on any particular day!

My quilt spans November 12, 2015 to November 11, 2016. For those of you doing the math...a few of the blocks are not on the quilt....they will be incorporated into the label on the back.

I started with a circle, but right away remembered years ago wanting to do a quilt with appliqued hearts, so I switched it up.

Lots of memories in this quilt.

Birthdays...

...puppies born last Summer...

The day we found out that our twin grandbabies would be a boy and a girl!...

....and near the beginning of the quilt, quite a few purple blocks to represent pain I was experiencing at that time....

On a side note....

In the Fall of 2015 I was in a lot of pain....so much so that I considered asking my doctor for a handicapped parking pass. I now know that sugar is the culprit for me. I try now to avoid sugar and on the times I choose to indulge I'll get what I call my "sugar pain". 

The other day I had a visitor bring me a beautiful butter tart (a Canadian treat which is mostly sugar, and delicious!). I chose to go ahead and enjoy....and like clock-work 45 minutes later the sugar-pain shot down my legs. (It was worth it!)

My life has changed so much since this quilt was started almost two years ago now. The biggest being taking up running and really enjoying taking part in races! 

Here I am last weekend after the Disco Dash 5k....I had to ask this stranger to pose for a picture since he was probably the most authentically dressed!....

What I'd like to know is how on earth did this happen, and with probably a million stitches in the quilt, however did I even notice it??!!....

I marked this block with a pin so I would remember to go back and fix it. I don't know if you can quite see it, but one of the stitches is a big loop! I've tried to ease it in, but, nope, it wouldn't co-operate, so I'll go back and un-quilt a tiny bit of the quilt and fix it.

I will cherish this quilt! Among other things, it will represent a transition from pain to good health :)

I'm also happy to say that I have actually finished my OMG - One Monthly Goal!!!

My goal for August was to complete my Freefall quilt....and I did it...

This quilt measures about 39" square, so I think it will be a wall-hanging for the guest room.

I am linking up with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal-Finishes.

I am also linking with Busy Hands Quilts for Finished or Not Friday and with Mama Sparks World for Friday is Finish Day, and with Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Can I Get a WhoopWhoop!.

To end this post, I'll choose a bit of cuteness...

Our pups are doing well, they are now trying to use their spindly legs to hold up their chubby selves and walk around!

Have a lovely day!

Quilting....and a puppy update!

I was not able to do as much stitching this morning as usual, but I did manage a bit.

I've been trying to get a nice picture of my quilting without much success...

....and when I went to stitch this morning, the sun was catching the quilt just right...

LOL, you can practically see every stitch!

I'm turning the first corner...only three sides to go.

The challenge on this border has been marking my lines so I can see where to quilt. You can see in the first picture I've been trying painters' tape. It works but I don't find it easy.

I came across a marking tool I've had for years and gave it a try. It's this Clover chalk tool...

I don't know how I forgot about this marking tool, it was always a favourite. It's called the ChacoLiner, and I'm not sure if they are even sold anymore.

So, this morning I marked my lines by laying the tape down and drawing a line along the tape with my ChacoLiner, then removing the tape. Works for me!

 I had this tool in a white chalk, also. I'll have to have a look for it as I think it would show up better. You can kinda see the line where the red arrow is pointing to. It shows up enough for me to be able to quilt it.

Soon I'll have stitching of another kind to work on. I gifted a quilted a while back, I'm thinking in 2004. It's been so well-loved that I've been asked if I could please repair some of the applique that's come loose.

It was so nice to see this quilt again. I love it so much that a part of me would love to do it again so I could keep it!

There are pieces all over the quilt that will need a bit of stitching, like the pink heart shown here and lots of the vine...

This is what a quilter loves....to see that their quilts are being used!

Puppy Update!!!

On Tuesday Minnie gave birth to three pups...

It was an exciting morning, and Minnie was a trooper. Cooper was pacing and trying to peek at what the heck was going on....

You can see that Minnie tore up the box while in labour. Don't worry, we have her and her family all set up in a clean, fresh bed...

My husband said that my "training" in watching Call the Midwife had finally come to good use. Haha!

I am linking up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching. I am so envious reading her post today....I wish I was further along with my Life is Beautiful as hers is looking great!

I am also linking with Cynthia for Oh, Scrap!. She always has a good scrappy story to tell!

Have a lovely Summer's day!

A little bit of stitching...

I've been putting quilting stitches into my Year In My Life/Quilty365 this week. 

I was getting such peace from the sight of the hand-stitching that I had to take a moment just to reflect and enjoy....and I had to take

a picture!

I really do get such a peaceful feeling when I am quilting. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again.....hand-quilting is good for my soul...I like my applique time, but hand-quilting takes it to another level. It really is my daily meditation time.

As opposed to this.....

I'm also binding a quilt. I know that people enjoy it, but to me it's just something that has to be done to have a completed quilt :)


There wasn't much time for stitching this morning as we had to leave quite early for Woodstock, Ontario for the Dairy Run!

I'm sure I read that this would be a fast-paced race....meaning nice and flat. But, no, there were many, many darned hills!

It was a tougher race than usual for me but still lots of fun!

It was a tough race, but a special one, as it was the first time crossing the finish line with a friend!


Saturday evening I looked up and saw the pups posing for a perfect picture....and luckily I had my phone with me!...

(It would have been a much better picture if I'd gotten the rest of the mulch on to cover the landscape fabric!)

I think they were having a wee rest before the beginning of a week of "getting it on"....yes, by the beginning of August we should be having a litter of puppies. 

I am going to relax for a bit and see who else is linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Quilty365, the finale!

Today is a special day! 

Audrey at Quilty Folk is hosting the final linky party for the Quilty365 quilts. You can visit HERE to see everyone's beautiful quilts and even have a chance to win a prize by commenting on her post.

The idea for Quilty365 was to applique a circle every day for a year....using fabrics that may reflect our lives that particular day.

The name of my quilt is A Year in My Life.

I started with a circle, but right away remembered that a few years back I had wanted to do a hearts quilt....so I changed mine up...

Lots of memories in this quilt....a birthday heart...

....we had a litter of puppies last Summer...

....the times my sister got on my nerves....

.....the day Prince died...

....the day we welcomed new grandson, Lachlan, into the world....

......and so on, and so on, etc., until I now have this beauty....

I'm maybe halfway done the quilting on my quilt. I hope to have it done in time for the Fall Fair this year.

Thanks again, Audrey!, for a wonderful idea that has many of us with these quilts that have been so inspiring.

Long Time Gone

I've been taking part in a sew-along online for the Jen Kingwell quilt, Long Time Gone. 

It's a good way to be part of something that has many people from around the world sharing their progress, as well. I have to admit, I do seem to like sew-alongs lately!

So far, the workload hasn't been too bad, but there are some pretty intense blocks coming up in the near future. 

We are starting Week 6. So far I am keeping up...somewhat.....I still have to go back and complete Week 2 at some point. 

There is a deadline to finish the specific sections each week. Once complete the blocks are posted on Instagram to be eligible for prizes.

Hopefully I'll stick with it and not let this join the pile of UFO's!

Today I am linking up with Lorna for Let's Bee Social, with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for I May Have a Scrap Problem, Silly Mama Quilts for WIP's and with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek-Makers.

If you've never tried a sew-along, I encourage you to think about it....it's lots of fun!

This week I did a bit of hand-quilting on my Quilty365/Year in My Life. I happened to lose my needle so I spread the quilt on the floor to run a magnet over it. I thought I'd take a picture while it was out on the floor....

I may be about half-way done, not counting the borders. At this point, I have no idea what I'll quilt in the outer borders. Some of the stitching you see is actually the longarm-basting that is holding it together. I take those stitches out as I progress across the quilt.

I hope to have this one done in time for the Fall Fair season!

Oh, and you can see Minnie in her "throne" watching the action. She does think it's her chair....if the grandchildren dare to sit in it she gives them what-for!

Have a great day!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!  

I have a mixed-up schedule this week and will be working today but I still took a few minutes to do some slow stitching. 

I pulled out my Quilty365/Year In My Life quilt to do some hand-quilting. If you remember, each block was done to commemorate each day last year. I thought it would be nice to work on last year's Easter block.

As far as I can determine, I think this one is it...

One of them looks like it may represent Easter eggs, don't you think?

Whenever I pull this quilt out to work on, it makes me feel like I could enjoy the whole day just quilting....so peaceful.

My goal is to have this one done by the time the Fall Fair comes. I'm not going to rush it, though, it'll get done at some point. 

I am linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching so we can see what others are working on today, and also with Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh Scrap!.

Have a wonderful Spring day!

A beautiful quilt to end the year....

Ever since I started my longarm journey I've promised myself the last two weeks of the year as "time off". 

It's usually a mad rush to get the quilts done that need doing before Christmas but this year I've seemed to kept up nicely and finished the last quilt of the year on Monday.

The quilt is a real beauty, designed by the piecer herself!

The centre was a perfectly done Mariner's Compass....surrounded by a large circle. The aim was to have this look like a Dreamcatcher...and I think we succeeded!

The eagle feathers were a feature that she was hoping could be incorporated...

We used wool batting (love!) and the back was a solid flannelette (I love that word, it makes me think of my mom) which makes the back as wonderful as the front....

Now that quilting is done for the year I can relax a bit....getting ready for Christmas, get some serious prep work done for applique ( I hope! ), do some organising in the sewing room. 

The last couple of weeks I've spent my coffee hour enjoying the quilting of my Quilty365....

I haven't hand-quilted a large project in quite a while. Today I find myself suffering quite a muscle strain in my hand. I'm figuring it's the quilting so this morning I took a break and did a bit of embroidery on a Life is Beautiful block...

My stitches are a bit wobbly in places, but that's ok....it's really all about enjoying the journey, isn't it? Just doing your best on any particular day.

Some of you know that I've been involved in a Learn to Run class.

I've never been anything close to what you would call an athlete. I still find it surreal that I've been going faithfully to this class for the last fifteen weeks. 

I've had the fun of sharing this adventure with an old friend...and made some new friends along the way! 

Thursday night we have our graduation run....we will run the entire 5K with no walking intervals. Wish me luck! I am quite proud of our whole group of "runners"!!!


I am linking up with Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social.

Have a great day!

Loving my slow stitching!

It looks like a dreary sort of day out there today. 

I wonder if there is some link to the weather and the amount of time I spend at my hand-work in the mornings? I have certainly put more than my usual amount of stitches in my quilt this morning. 

Maybe once in a while it's just nice to take things slow.

This morning I did some more quilting on my hearts...

It's difficult to put this aside and do what needs be doing! Namely, binding some quilty gifts. I know a lot of people out there enjoy doing the binding, but I just see it as something that needs to be done to have the quilt completed....in other words, a chore.

Here is one quilt that will be slated for stitching the binding down...

This was a great pattern to follow by Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs and is called State of Being. I think I may be starting to embrace the look of modern quilts!

The quilt is for my 2-year old grandson when he soon will have his first big-boy bed, so I attached a fun border. In this picture you can see that I really like the fact that I can attach the binding to the quilt with the longarm...

I needed to make a baby quilt for our latest grandbaby and my original idea was just not working out. Luckily, a friend shared a quick go-to idea....and I love it! It just took a charm pack and some background fabric. I neglected to buy some matching fabric for the binding so I think I'll use the leftover fox fabric from the State of Being quilt.

The plan will be to have this one quilted up before the weekend is over so I can return to client's quilts on Monday.


I've been working on the 150 Canadian Women quilt and decided to sash it as it goes along....something I'm sure I'll appreciate a year from now!...but I also decided to put in scrappy cornerstones, as well.

I have a good reason for this. Sometimes, if I just sew in long horizontal sashing, the vertical blocks don't always line up. I don't know how to explain what I mean, but if it's happened to you then you'll understand! By putting in the cornerstones I think I'll have a much better chance at things looking nice and square. 

As an added bonus, I think it will look awesome!

I am linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching ( and I do think there will more Slow Stitching in my day today! ) and with Quilting is More Fun Than Housework for Oh,Scrap!.

I am also linking up with a blogger I've just discovered recently, Tweety Loves Quilting!

Have a great day!