Pay it Forward

It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. You all know I’m already a PIF type of person. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Sew Days

I've been really fortunate lately. At work, I've been playing the will I/won't I go travelling for business. At the last minute, I found out that I wasn't travelling. That means I get to go for a sew day!!

I've also recently been on a retreat with my guild. It was a blast. We got to spend the whole day sewing, some time shopping at a really great quilt shop, and stayed at a B&B with great service and food.

Here is Owloysious checking out the sewing.

I've been finishing a few things, but have entered the sewer's black out period (Christmas) so there isn't much to show. I can show you the ornaments I made for the ornament exchange. Each year, since 1994, I've been exchanging handmade ornaments with 3 other people. I'm now very lucky and have a tree full of beautiful handmade ornaments. Yes, I still have yet to finish mine off. It's funny how a deadline really helps to motivate the finishing.

I did however finish this quilt. A queen size no less! It's a crazy nine patch pattern made from all sorts of scraps that I had in the stash. (well, plus a few extras) You'll also see the Christmas tree without the ornaments. It's our first Christmas in the new place and our first time hosting Christmas! I couldn't resist putting up the tree as soon as it made it's way home, even if it is too early. The ornaments are slowly migrating to the tree. I'll post a picture when the migration is complete.

My Secret Santa parcel is on it's way! I can't post anything, my swap partner doesn't want to see it. But I can't resist a hint.... Big P, little P, what begins with P.

The Kindness of Strangers

I was meeting some friends downtown yesterday for dim sum. As I was driving there I realized that I had no cash for parking. I debated and decided to chance things. I'd park in the parking lot and run over to an ATM and then run back to get my ticket. Or at least, that was the plan. Instead! As I was pulling in to the parking lot, some people were pulling out and they gave me their parking ticket! And! As I was leaving, there were some other people coming in so I was able to pass the ticket onto them. Yeah!

All in all, one of those moments that restores your faith in humanity.

I haven't done much in the way of quilty things lately. But I'm frantically trying to finish the binding on a quilt. Tonight is our last night of the UFO challenge. The winner is declared tonight! Hopefully I finish it by in time to be counted.

I won't be able to post my Christmas swap offerings, my partner wants to be surprised. Me, I'm in awe of anyone with the discipline to wait and really doubt I'd actually wait until Christmas to open it. So, post away!

I will remember (I promise) to post this year's ornaments before I send them.

Kim Diehl

Some members of my guild and I got a special treat last night. We went to Kim Deihl's trunk show. We got to see and touch! many of the quilts she features in her books. If you get a chance to take a class with her or attend a trunk show, I'd recommend it. She was an engaging and funny speaker. We were allowed to take pictures, so I took one of each quilt. :) I have to say, as much as I love her patterns, if they were mine, I'd make very different colour choices. Though, I'm in awe of how she makes sooo many different fabrics play together so well in her quilts.

The Quilt of Belonging

This weekend I went with a few ladies from the guild to check out The Quilt of Belonging. It was amazing. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed. If you ever get a chance to check it out in person, GO.

It is a HUGE (36 x 3.5 metres) quilt each block represents one of the countries or nations that Canadians come from. There were even a few countries that we needed to look up on the map once we got home.

What I Did on my Summer Vacation

Here we are at the beginning of the world tour. We managed an empty seat so even Owloysious had his own seat. :)




Our first stop was England. This is the inner courtyard of the Victoria and Albert (V&A) museum. It was amazing. The plan was to go to the V&A, the Natural History museum and the science museum but instead it turned into a day at the V&A.



We spent a few days visiting friends in Tewksbury. This is one of the views from a little walk (hike) up a local hill. It hard to believe from this picture but 6 weeks prior, this view would have looked like you were looking at an ocean. (Tewksbury became famous this summer because of flooding)



The next stop was Sweden, where I had to take a picture of Ikea.



This year was the 300th anniversary of Linnaeus so there were all sorts of events going on. Plus, everywhere you went it was decorated in flowers in his honor.



This is just a typical street view and I thought it was pretty. The white building to the right was in a pretty famous movie a while ago. (I'm blanking on the name.)



This is the church in old Uppsala. It's pretty amazing. One of the first Christian churches in Sweden, right beside 4 Viking graves and a grove of oak trees where the vikings used to torture their enemies.



Our last county was Norway. This is a picture of Vigeland, if you get a chance to go there, it's a pretty amazing park. It's hard to imagine the scale of things and that one person could have created all the sculptures.



I couldn't resist a little shopping. This is the shopping I did once home. Hidden in here is a gift or two for my Secret Santa Swap. I hope once you receive your parcel you like it. I've been blog stalking and have quite a few ideas. I'm now suffering the best dilemma of narrowing down the choices.

While visiting I worked on a couple of projects. (Can't travel without something to work on) I've decided that I love train travel. You get time to work on things and you meet the nicest people when you have a project in hand. The apple core quilt (The curved one) was my first attempt at hand piecing. I've decided that curved piecing is a good one to learn on, it was much more forgiving of slightly crooked seams. The apple core quilt (front & back) was made from the Celebrate Spring charm pack. The other quilt top was made from the Summer in the City charm pack. Both are from moda fabrics. I've been recently inspired by all the doll quilt walls I've been seeing on some blogs and have been inspired to start my own as decoration for the new sewing room.

This is the shopping I managed while travelling. I got to visit a shop in each country. The fabrics are the same as you'd find here and more expensive so there wasn't too much temptation there. I did find some really interesting books and patterns and it was so much fun to see what people are working on in the different countries.

Travels

Well, I left my family behind and the other man and I went off to Victoria for the weekend. It was a quick little visit with my brother and sister in law. It was a fun visit but way too short. We went for a little tour of the harbour. Plus a tour of the quilt shop. Did a little shopping but didn't think to take any pictures. Here we are in the harbour.


This is my nephew Finley. Isn't he adorable!! I missed photos of Finley's favourite stop. We went to the marble slab ice cream shop. It was my first time and definately won't be my last.



These are the last of the gifts I'm finishing before heading across the pond. This table runner is for my granddad. The fabric in the rings is stylized trees and it reminds me of when my Nana and granddad used to come and visit us in Canada and we'd take them camping and fishing.


I also made a gross of notebook covers. These are for all the cousins.

I also made a SWAP deadline! I'm joining Donna's Christmas Swap. I've got a list of quilt shops to check out while on holidays and I'm hoping to find even more ideas while I'm over there. Though, I've got a couple already.... This will be so much fun! I can't wait!