Happy 5th Blog-iversary mmm! quilts

Five years ago today, after waffling for months, I finally wrote a blog post and published it. I still recall that vulnerable feeling of having sent something out into the world, where any and all eyes could see it... However, I have never yet not learned, not grown from facing a fear, so that was partly why I decided to just jump into the Quilting Blogland pool... and found the water warm and welcoming indeed. Here's the quilt I was working on at the time of that first post, still one of my all-time favourite makes:

Seaside Rose

I think five years is rather auspicious, so I decided to celebrate in fine form this year, with a blog post that has five sections of five points each:

• Five Favourite Quilting Tips
• Five Favourite Blogging Tips
• Five most popular/favourite Blog Posts
• Five Favourite QBL Activities
• Five Prizes Giveaway

Sounds like fun? Come on in and let's party!

Knitted Selvages Rug - A Finish!

Yay for another item to cross off my Q3FAL List which is here. I started this exactly a year ago (knitters extraordinaire like Helen in Ireland and Sue in England may roll their eyes at my tortoise pace) and I've just picked away at it here and there, as my selvages stock grew, (that was my first excuse) and then as I accumulated lots and lots of them, my excuse was, well, nothing.

A Quilt for a Little Boy

This was a DrEAMi! project. For those of you who are not familiar with that term, it stands for those projects where you just have to Drop Everything And Make it! They are also known as squirrels. All squirrels are urgent; some are fun; others are desperately needed. This quilt falls into the latter category; it had to get made because of a tragic event...
Back in the first of my final 15 years of my teaching career, at a Junior High in Sherwood Park, I taught a beautiful girl named Shannon. I soon learned that her dad also taught at the school, but little did I know he and I would become very good friends. This quilt is for his grandson, Shannon's son, who is just 6 years old.

The wind and the rain hung around all weekend; the quilt is not that friendly... 😄

Wildflower Pinwheel Placemats Published!

I am published again.😁 This makes five publications, (the number five is an auspicious number of late!) four digital and one print. Six if you count the Moda Bakeshop one I guess! A new edition of Modern By the Yard is out as of today, woot! woot! and I am super-excited to let you know of more secret sewing that was done a few months back, June to be exact.

You can click the ezine cover which will take you to Benartex Fabrics' blog, Sew in Love With Fabric. I hope you are on their email list so you never miss a post; there's always lots of new fabric lines information, designer interviews, blog hops, and giveaways from time to time too! Here is my project in this issue:

See one's own work professionally photographed never ceases to thrill!

Throwback Thursday #9 Windy Day Fun

It's Thursday, right?! The first Thursday of the month...yikes! It's Throwback Thursday, aka TBT!

I did not forget about it, honestly I did not. I just didn't write the post ahead of time, and then, yeah, right about 8:15 am when I finished my Yin yoga practice, zing! When I did my Yin on Monday, I thought I'd do this month's post on this quilt, because I often use it when I do Yin through the summer months. This is called Windy Day Fun. I love all the secondary patterns you see from simple squares, triangles, and rectangles.

Update on Projects and OMG

As you know by now, I really enjoy sharing with you 'the process', and reading about that very thing on others' blogs. Here are some of my ongoing projects, as well as my OMG for September, which is this quilt in progress:

Please note: these are all reds: shades, tints, hues, so they go from bright red, to burgundies to pinks, corals

...which I hope to have the centre section complete (that's 156 6" blocks with sashing and cornerstones) by the end of the month. I'm putting them together in the order in which they were released, with my six blocks interspersed. I'll highlight those once the quilt centre is complete. Yes, there are borders! It may very well end up being my biggest quilt to date. I may have to do a final piece count...

This is my 150 Canadian Women quilt, a quilt along I did with Kat of Next Step Quilt Designs from December 2016 through October 2017. My first post is here, December 6, 2016, and my last is here, January 3, 2018. Canada celebrated her sesquicentennial July 1, 2017, and this was the project, three blocks per week for a total of 150. For this layout you needed to make six more, which I did, for a total of 156 (12 X 13 blocks layout). I have the first six rows sewn together, and row 7 is done as well, and pinned on the design wall. I found sewing the rows into groups of three worked well, and then I sewed the group of three rows to make the group of six. This is what I plan to do for the bottom half. Whether row 7 will get sewn to rows 1-6 or start the bottom section of rows 7-13, I haven't decided! The bulk of the quilt has been sewn on my Featherweights, 1951 Tillie, and 1947 Billie. I am in LOVE, mad crazy effervescing love with this quilt. It's huge. Can you see the tiny cornerstones that finish at 1"?! It's a plaid-type print from the 'With Glowing Hearts' line by Moda. Perfection!

In the Shadow of the Plus in Modern Patchwork

I can finally write about my quilt which is in the current issue of Modern Patchwork! You can get your copy now in major stores and bookstores, or click the link in the sidebar to purchase online.

It started with my fifth design, back on February 10, that I drew in the second #30quiltdesignschallenge2018 I hosted on Instagram this past spring. The design got a ton of interest and likes, and I knew it was a good'un, so I removed it from Instagram. I played with it a bit and came up with the shadowed plus signs floating on a large background plus. I then decided to submit it to Modern Patchwork in early March, and it was accepted!