As many of you know, I was recently in Kitimat, BC for a month, awaiting and assisting with the arrival of my first Grandchild.  I am so happy to announce that the little one has arrived.  We welcomed  baby Eli  on March 24 at 10:07pm (Pacific time)  weighing in at 8 lbs 11oz a beautiful little baby boy who has entered into our family and of course our hearts.❤️ See his newborn pic below:

I'm so proud of both my daughter Katie for doing such a great job of growing a healthy baby and working hard at giving birth to this little miracle of life and to Chad for being a truly supportive, involved and loving daddy! See a picture of this new little family 2 weeks after Eli's birth below:

 Eli's baby shower was hosted on April 8 at a friends home in Kitimat, BC. Check back tomorrow when I show you some DIY ideas for a fun baby shower! 

Happy Monday and hopefully spring arrives soon in your neck of the woods? 🌷☀️😊

I have had some very busy days with my 2 quilts in Quilters Connection Magazine coming out last week, sending out magazines to the Give Away Winners, launching new patterns, fulfilling pattern orders and responding to long arm quilting inquiries.

My oldest daughter just got engaged May 28th!  I am so excited for Katie and Chad!

On Friday June 10th, my youngest graduated from OCAD University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.  Mallory has worked very hard and I am so proud of her!  We celebrated with her Friday night and over the weekend.

I have many blessings! Which I never take for granted, but which do keep me busy.

​  I am trying to keep up with blogging because I love to do it and I enjoy sharing ideas with others, however if you don't see as much content as in past months, you will know why!  

Have a great Monday everyone and enjoy your blessings! ❤️

I am so excited to announce that Quilter's Connection Magazine has published one of my newest pattern designs on the cover of their magazine for the "Summer" issue and thats not all!!!!!  Another of my designs is also published and in the magazine. 

I joked with my daughters when I said:

"Does This Make Me A "COVER GIRL" ?  LOL!

 Seriously! The cover quilt is called "Hot Summer Fun", page 10 and the one featured in the magazine on page 36 is called "Summer is Gardening"

I was asked to create a summer quilt with lettering and so I was totally thinking hot sun and fun summer activities with a modern vibe when designing the quilts for the magazine.  I hope you like both of them!

The magazine will be mailed out to subscribers very soon or you can purchase it at your local quilt shop.  Check out www.quiltersconnection.ca to find a store near you.

Also, see  the original story of how this came to be in this blog post here 

So...... the first 5 people who can tell me what the primary "technique" is included in the quilt shown above on the cover, will get a free magazine!!

Please comment below and also give us your email address so we can contact you if you are the winner of this giveaway - we will contact you to mail it out to you.

​Quilter's Connection Magazine is a great magazine for quilters by quilters, I encourage you to read all about it below or check it out for subscription information here

I can't wait to get this magazine in my very hot hands.

​I really hope you enjoy reading it and are inspired!

Have a Great Monday, I hope your long weekend has been fantastic, the weather here was beautiful!☀️😊

While my house is upside down with renovating, I decided to try my hand at a knitting class.  I actually thought it might be a peaceful past time to get some "ZEN" happening.

 I am laughing as I write this because I went to my knitting class all eager and ready and realized I was really rusty and quite the challenging student!  
​Lynne (my very patient teacher was very discreet and helpful).
I missed steps and dropped stitches and finally caught on but probably should have done a wee practise prior to the class start date!

What am I making?  "Toe-up Socks on 2 Circulars with Lynne"  
I did not know prior to this class that this is possible but now I know.

​ I have caught on to at least what I have to do up to the heel part.  The next class is about the heel joined to the rest of the sock.  I also caught on that Shall We Knit in Waterloo has wonderful and luscious yarns, great classes, books and information on knitting and crocheting and it's very near my home (almost too near!).

I have a head start on these socks for next winter and I am thinking there may be brightly wrapped knitted objects under an evergreen tree this December!

This is all if I can find the time away from quilting and sewing, but it's a refreshing activity that allows my mind to wander into quilt wonderland while I am knitting away!

Happy Monday, enjoy this lovely weather ☀️☀️😊

Doesn't the above look typical and how it is all crammed into a box?  
Kind of a symbol to what we all do, take on too much and cram in too much in our lives.

 Having said that, we all make resolutions and we try to keep them but I do believe it is an important process to put goals on paper.  As a list maker myself, I find writing down goals a sure way to get something done.  This surely does not mean everything, but it is a good starting point.

 I will share with you my goals/resolutions for 2016 and encourage you to write down your own as a guideline to accomplishment!

My "Guideline to Accomplishment" for 2016! 
(aka New Years Resolutions)

I sincerely hope that everyone experiences happiness and good health this year and that your creative spirit soars!  

​Happy Monday

Recently, local guild members and quilters were asked to complete a small, quilted but unbound quilt (measuring 15 1/2" square) to be entered into a competition at the International Plowing Match (IPM) (Wellington County 2016) and then to be used and assembled into "one magnificent raffle quilt".  

The theme chosen for this competition was "Thirty Shades of Green". The top 3  winning quilts would be given prizes and these were generously donated by Northcott Silk.  

Renske Helmuth who is the Quilt Committee Chair for the IPM was requesting 30 blocks at first but tells me she got 80+ blocks!!!  Some real talent and  competitive enthusiasm in this area for sure. More than one quilt will be raffled!!

So although I have never entered a competition before, I decided to try my hand at it. I sure had some trepidation. I thought about what I wanted to do in my quilt and gave some thought about crops, farming, food sources and our current environment.
The criteria for the block was that it had to be 15 1/2" square, interesting on the back, to complement the front, a noticeable amount of green fabric used and embellishments would be permitted. 

I chose a sunflower because of it's importance as a food source for our planet and because I have always loved its beauty, strength and versatility.  I also felt it would be an excellent subject for my thread painting passion!!!

This was also a tuesday technique that I blog posted about recently!

See a photo of my inspiration is below, this was taken from my sister and her boyfriends garden:

A picture of my finished entry into the competition is below, front of quilt:

A photo of the back of the quilt is below:

Recently my niece asked me to assist her with patching her kids snow pants and I was reminded of doing this with my own 2 girls.

What I remember is buying those commercial patches with the glue on
the back only to discover they do not work unless you sew them in.  
If you iron them, the iron melts your lovely snow pant material and unless you sew them in, they come off your garment with aggressive snow play.
We all want our kids to play outside right?

So this is my solution:

1. Buy 100% nylon fabric from your local  fabric store 
2. Cut your patch size double the length you need
3. Fold it in 1/2 on the length
4. Turn all raw edges the the backside and top stitch 
5. Add batting to the wrong side if needed (sew it to the backside)
6. Top stitch this patch to the damaged area of the snow pants using a top stitch or jeans needle.
7. Forget the commercial patches, they do not work on snow pants (or at least I have not found any that permanently adhere)
8. Put the extra nylon left over in a zip lock bag and label it for future use
9. Encourage your children to play in the snow!!!

​

I'm trying to get you ready for winter !!

Happy Monday, hopefully the snow will wait for a little bit longer!!

Today Santa's little elves worked hard on miniature Christmas tree quilts made from folded 2 1/2" strips and lots of bling attached.  So much fun and each mini quilt made (4 of them between the 3 of us) were so different from each other.  Of course we just had to show and share them at Elmira Needle Sisters Guild.  I'm sure there will be more quilters working as little elves this coming season!

Christmas is coming and at this time of the year people are looking in shops and online for that "unique" or "special" gift.  

I know not everyone quilts or could even fathom sewing and this is why I want to feature my friend and talented quilt maker's quilts.  

​Carol's quilts  from www.cornflowerquilts.com are carefully home crafted using modern technology and no two are alike. This is precisely what makes them a great one-of-a-kind gift for purchase to give to someone special or for home decor.  

Carol takes a modern view at design of her quilts as you will see when you look at the quilts on her website here   They are worth every penny as high  quality fabrics are used and a multitude of hours spent on workmanship and care taken about placement of colours and fabric.  Carol is a member of both the Waterloo County Quilters Guild and Cambridge Quilters Guild.  She recently exhibited 5 quilts at the 2015 Waterloo County Quilters' Guild Exhibit and as such you would be purchasing a quilt from a very skilled quilter.  I encourage you to look at Carol's website and quilts page , be inspired and shop.  You never know, you could be done your shopping early!

​This past Saturday, I was at a craft show as a vendor for the purpose of getting my feet wet at selling hand made items and to assist my niece who is a very busy mom to fill a table and have someone to share in the joy of displaying her skills and talent. It was lots of fun! Check out my niece Ashley's handiwork on Facebook.
 Simultaneously, (almost albeit the time difference) my daughter and her partner where also attending a craft show in BC selling their hand crafted furniture and wood art.  The picture of the  www.twillandtimber.com booth is below:

Below are my items on display at home prior to the show.  I had cup cozies, mitten clips, bandana bibs for babies, baby bib and pacifier clip sets, bunny ear teething rings, purse tissue packs and "Sniffle Monsters"

... and the last minute item that I made and the funniest of them all, my "sniffle monsters" were my best seller.  These are tissue packs for kids (or adults who love fun stuff).
​ Murphy's Law is always at work in my life! Too funny!!!