Christmas Wishes

Wishing you and yours the happiest of holidays!

Craftsy is Making Changes...And What it Means to You

All designers who have a Craftsy pattern store, received email notification of a change in the Craftsy marketplace. I am one of the designers whose Craftsy shop will remain, however not all my patterns may remain. Only Craftsy knows what patterns will remain available after December 28, 2018. Also, I can't add any new patterns to Craftsy until sometime in 2019.

The patterns you have purchased from me will still be available in YOUR Craftsy account library after December 28, 2018. I would recommend downloading the patterns to your computer just to be safe (if you have not already).

All patterns on Craftsy will remain available for sale (unless the designer deletes them) for the next week. If you’ve been eyeing any pattern on Craftsy, now is your last chance to go grab it.

I heard and read comments on social media about this fiasco and so many are saying that they won't support Craftsy anymore. I get it BUT I still have MY shop there, so if people are going to boycott then I have no more business and I have no idea where I will sell my patterns or host free patterns at this time.

PLEASE, please don't stop supporting the few designers who didn't get the boot by Craftsy. My only complaint is that this is happening at Christmas and with only a weeks notice. I'd rather be enjoying family time than worrying about what I'm going to do.

As my way of saying thanks for supporting me let's have a draw for a free pattern of your choice from my store! Leave a comment with the name of your favourite pattern and I'll do a random draw on December 28, 2018.

two of my latest patterns

Thank you for all your support and help over the last few years. Merry Christmas!!

Snowman Mini

I seem to be in a little bit of a funk lately. Whether it is a lack of sun for the past month or that machine being gone still. I finally felt the need to sew!! Wanting to sew nothing big but just to sew. What? No idea just something.
I thought maybe pulling out some scraps might spark some inspiration. I just looked at them, nothing jumped out and said use me. While I had my scraps out I needed to put together  2 1/2'' WOF strips for my guilds Christmas fun. Hope whoever gets mine will be able to use them and likes them.

20 2 1/2'' strips

Those strips did help me find a quick fun easy project though. As a few of those strips are from fabrics I picked up when my guild went on our mystery tour in October. One of the shops we went to Heart'n Home included a free pattern in a gift bag they gave out. 

free table runner pattern

I wanted something small if I only made one snowman I would have an adorable snowman mini. YES! Perfect it checked all the boxes small, quick, easy. And while those scraps were all out anyway it was an easy matter to pull what I needed for this little guy. In a little over an hour I had him cut out, and stitched together. Next up quilting him, I used one of my older machines my Singer 15-91. Those swirls may not be perfect but they look good, texture wise at least.

swirls in the white, loop-de-loops in the green

I think he turned out rather cute if I don't say so myself. He finished up at a 10'' x 19'' mini. And what's a snowman without the snow. I am looking for some buttons for the front of him.

snowman in the snow

Potluck lunch today at my guilds meeting. I love potluck lunches they are hands down the best.

Well I'm off to have fun I hope you get to have a little fun yourself!

I did it Again

Another month slips by and I wonder where did it go, what if anything did I get done. Rest assured I have been busy doing a few things. First up a secret sewing project took up most of my attention and time, more about that in the new year. Wow talking about the new year already. Slow down I need to get through the rest of this year first, and there may be a big holiday in there too.

 No homemade gifts this year my wonderful  NOT machine is again in for repairs. I am ready to give up on it, I haven't trashed the company that makes it but that doesn't mean I don't want too. This is the seventh time in two years that it is in for repairs. I took it on Nov 5. and may get it back by the 15th of Dec. This is the machine I do my fmq on. I do have an older machine I'm using but with a small throat space and no extension table for it makes it hard to do fmq. I am beyond frustrated. It spends more time in for repairs than it is being used by me.

I need it to work properly so I can quilt it is what helps to relieve stress and brings a smile to my face.

 Progress is being made at least on one project. I have been putting my 150 Canadian women quilt blocks together, I only made 80 of the 150. But if I do say so myself it is coming together nicely. I am doing 10 rows of 8 and have 7 rows done.

Canadian women Blocks

A new ironing board cover was also made. I think it was past due! What do you think?

before on right after on left

A little retail therapy doesn't hurt at any time.

Winter Elegance from in The Beginning Fabrics, Collection for a Cause from Moda, and Fant-04 from Kona Bay Fabrics

These are from Stitch-It Central in London, On. Forgive the shadows, it is dull and grey out again, so indoor photos it it. The sun is hard to find lately.

Tonight we are off to see our local Santa parade. 

I hope your quilting is going smoother than mine.

A Sunday Reflection

I recently read a post by Kirsty Cleverly of Bonjour Quilts on the business side of pattern writing. I know some of you will think this is something that doesn't interest you. I found her article well written, not in your face telling why you should buy from a pattern designer but how it effects pattern designers. The behind the scene costs are all outlined for anyone to see.

I have purchased patterns in print and PDF.

a few of the print patterns I have purchased I have a lot more than these

I have even made some, see I don't just collect them. This summer I made myself a new handbag. The farm animal quilt from Sew Fresh Quilts you can read about here.

as you can tell I have been using my handbag

unfortunately I haven't made this one yet.

The above pattern Blue Skies & Sunny Days is from my friend Sandra of mmm!quilts. 

I have and will continue to support pattern designers even though the list of want to makes keeps getting longer. Oh the life of a quilter we are never done making quilts. There is always another one in line waiting to be made. 

I enjoy designing quilt patterns and have free ones and for sale patterns available in my Craftsy store.

a couple of my latest patterns available for sale

Did you read Kirtsy's blog post? I would love to read your comments on this.

Guild Fun Plus

I am sitting here staring at my screen trying to decide if I have anything to blog about. What have I been up to quilting wise? Well let's see. I went on a mystery shop hop with my guild, always fun. We car pool and in our vehicle we had a blast. All the laughing and sharing with like minded quilters a JOY. This year we were to wear a quilters hat hmmm. I had never heard of a quilters hat, time for a little creativity. First off I am not a hat person not a good way to start coming up with something. After thinking about it for awhile I thought to myself Now really how hard could this be? I decided on a fascinator, easy peasy right! I started with the following items head band, some felt, ribbon (in green of course), 1 1/2" quilting blocks, bobbin, thread, needles. First step cut two felt ovals, glue the headband between them. Add one 6 loop bow and embellish with the assorted items. Want to see? Of course you do.

now doesn't that just take your breathe away 

It is soooo lovely another picture is in order.

I will not be taking orders any time soon

We went to five quilt shops and had a lovely lunch in St. Jacobs at the Stone Crock.  We Started our shopping at  Undercover Quilts and More in Fergus We ended in New Hamburg with two shops, Heart'n Home Creations and Quilting by Design. 

The other ladies outdid themselves with their hats, now I wish I would have taken pictures but that didn't happen. We had one person who made a band box hat topped with a cardboard sewing machine, which she had coloured accordingly. We had one hat with ziplock bags hanging everywhere full of quilting tools, we had fabric wrapped hats. Well done ladies! One shop owner asked if we wore our hats to meetings, NO.

On Monday at my guild meeting we had a couple demos of paper piecing. Heather showed traditional paper piecing. You know the type sew through paper spend hours ripping all those papers out. I showed the freezer paper method, it is the only way I do paper piecing as I am most definitely not a fan of ripping out paper.

This is the block I showed them, hopefully some will show up in November with finished blocks.

a simple freezer paper pieced block

The black and white block is for our monthly block challenge, which was Septembers challenge. One of the requirements is that all blocks must be 10 1/2'' unfinshed, and in this case black and white other than that the sky's the limit. We use the blocks to make charity quilts, this year they will be going to Ronald MacDonald House in London and Victoria Quilts.

For not knowing what to write, I think I had more to share than I thought. Hope you are having fun too!

Where did September go?

I seem to have lost a whole month of blog writing. September came and went and it appears I went right along with it.

It is guild season and that means it's time for our annual BOM. This year I went for a little bit more of a modern look. Most of my guild members are more traditional quilters, but sometimes getting out of our comfort zone is good for our creative spirits.

2018 BOM for my quilt guild the Quaker Quilt Guild in Norwich, On

All that negative space to quilt as little or as much as we want. I may have gone overboard with the feathers, which I love adding to a quilt.

feathers and swirls

As Christina Cameli does in her Craftsy/Bluprint class Wild Quilting: Creative Free-Motion Combinations I added a showboat. A little affiliate ad here: You can enjoy Bluprint Get Started Event: Watch All Classes + Shows For Free (10/5-10/12). It is the center focal point with the crosshatching and is surrounded by feathers, swirls and pebbles. 

Want to see a closeup of a few of the blocks? Of course you do. Who doesn't like some eye candy?

ruler work and a few pebbles

straight lines, crosshatch and curved lines

simple stippling on this one I called it Twister

The background is Kona snow, the yellow is a Micheal Miller solid that I don't remember the name of nor did I bother to write it down when I bought it, silly me. The lighter print is a Northcott and the darker is I believe an Art Gallery, another silly me moment I removed the selvedge for someone who was collecting selvedges. For the backing I used a wideback from Connecting Threads. The batting is a Hobbs Heirloom Bleached Cotton Batting. I do prefer an 80/20 Hobbs but was looking for a white batting so I settled for the 100% cotton. 

a neat photo showing the blocks shadowing through the back 

This is a big part of what kept me busy, that and having my main machine in for repairs for the better part of the summer. It is back in again for repairs for the 5th time in a little over two years. I know totally UNREAL! 

Linking up to 

Needle and Thread Thursday

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?