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September 9, 2022
More books with fabric from Quilting & Learning

I seem to be flitting around these days with many short, fun projects. Here are a couple more

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August 2, 2022
Happy hexie flower mug rugs from Quilting & Learning

Hi! It would seem that hexies are back into my life. They are very meditative to prepare and to stitch together (i.e. relatively mindless but enjoyable for a short time). 

Happy Purple & Spots

July's colour for the 2022 Table Scraps challenge is purple and the theme is circles, spots and dots. Until last year I had very few fabrics with spots but because of a wonderful gift of scraps, I now have tons.

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July 27, 2022
in with the new . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

Do you know what happens when you make up your mind to back-post before you current post again?

Nothing.  LOL!

And the longer I put it off, the more daunting the task became.  So, here's what happened this past weekend:

I switched out my patriotic decor that went up in time for Memorial Day (and stays up through Bastille Day—July 14) . . .

For summery, sun-shiney sunflowers!
I love changing out my accent pieces for the seasons.  More and more, it's become mostly pieces I've made or been gifted.  I love that!!  Once I got everything out, I ...

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June 27, 2022
Learning from the exhibition from Quilting & Learning

Fibre 15's exhibition, Conversation, ends Sunday. It's been a very busy month with lots of learning. Here's a peak at some of it.

Getting ready

I've been to openings of exhibitions before, but it's a lot more exciting when you're part of a smaller group of artists. The vernissage was very well attended with roughly 100 people showing up. It was also the opening of a new shop as well as the first event of the year for the Stone School Gallery.

Journey of many paths at the exhibition

The vernissage was on the ...

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May 30, 2022
Let Them Flourish is finished! from Quilting & Learning

If you've been following me on Instagram, you've seen lots of images of the progress of this piece. Lately I've been adding a gazillion French Knots, finishing up the beading and then finally mounting it on a fabric-covered canvas.

Let Them Flourish - Ready for Exhibition

Let Them Flourish (aka Biodiversity)

In the Beginning

This piece started off as a fabric collage of images related to Biodiversity, the theme that was given to us as part of the February 2021 TextileArtist.org's Stitch Club workshop. Kate Tume, our instructor, had us exploring narrative potential with embellishment.

The ...

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May 23, 2022
back in my world . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

I think I posted in February that life had been crazy and the Valentine blog hop post was just the thing I needed to get me going again. Only I didn’t, and life—got crazier. And even a little scary. And again, I’m not going to tell the tale here (though if you know me IRL or we're friends on facebook, you have some ideas), but I will go back and write posts for my lost weeks, because it's cathartic and also helps me track when what happened (and what projects I worked on) down the ...

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May 14, 2022
Tug Of War from Quilting through Rose-colored Trifocals!

You've all been there -- in a "tug of war" between what you want to do and what you need to do.  It's tough because you are the only person on both teams -- how will either "side" ever be able to declare a win??

Do you stay at the sewing machine even though it's a beautiful day so you don't fall behind?


 I haven't fallen behind (but I haven't finished anything either)!!  I've moved that lovely nosegay UFO forward by using the piecing of the little flower blocks and the diamond borders as my ...

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April 17, 2022
Stitching procrastination from Quilting & Learning

I've been in the mood to stitch!

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April 8, 2022
Journey of many paths aka Traveller's Blanket from Quilting & Learning

I am so happy to be writing this post. The Traveller's Blanket was a journey of almost two years, and a union of several projects. When I started my traveller's blanket with a course with Dejanne Cevaal, I didn't really foresee this amazing journey in slow and meditation stitching. I'm so happy that you've shared it with me.

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March 21, 2022
Final update on Traveller's Blanket from Quilting & Learning

Hi! This is my last update on my Traveller's Blanket because the next time you see it, it will be done

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February 23, 2022
Please let me play from Quilting & Learning

I've been very busy quilting during the last few weeks. It's been such fun! However, I realised that with all of these busy projects, I'm missing the meditative calmness that slow stitching brings. So today I spent some time finishing up my "Please let me play" piece.

Adjusting the composition

In the Out of the Box Textile Artists Group, we've been learning about composition. I've read a lot about it, but it always feels more intuitive than just following rigid (or black and white) rules. I get the feeling that there's a lot of ...

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January 16, 2022
Wishes for 2022 from Quilting & Learning

After the holidays, it was good to start 2022 calmly and quietly. I did a little bit of free motion quilting (FMQ) which I will show you at the end of this post. Today I want to share with you a very fun project - another squirrel!

Stitching on a clean-up cloth

The first workshop of the year at TextileArtists.org was presented by Vanessa Marr. It's called Domestic Story Cloths. Vanessa stitches stories of women and domestic work on dusters. I was intrigued by the workshop and took a couple of days to think about the possibilities. 

please let ...

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January 9, 2022
Best of 2021 from Quilting & Learning

It's hart to believe that the end of 2021 is almost here. It was a rough year in many ways but it did help me enjoy more slow stitching and try a couple of new things. It's only by looking back (I'm so grateful for my blog) that I realised what I accomplished.

Slow stitching finishes

My favourite is by far my "After the Storm" piece. I really impressed myself

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January 2, 2022
one day in . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

I love the new year . . . the roll out of new resolutions, new challenges, a new word, and a fresh opportunity to get it right.  A clean slate, so to speak!  Mind you, I do not do resolutions, but I do enjoy selecting a word to focus on for the coming year. This year my word is . . .
Yup, aware. That works on a lot levels.  Yesterday, it was important for me to be weather aware.

When your temps get up to eighty degrees ahead of a cold front, chances are good severe weather will follow.  It was a balmy, windy ...

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December 10, 2021
Traveller's Blanket Update from Quilting & Learning

I've been doing a lot of slow stitching, mostly on my Traveller's Blanket and then posting on Instagram. There have been lots and lots of hours pleasantly spent stitching and now quilting it.

Quilting the Traveller's Blanket

The last update on my Traveller's Blanket was October 11, 2021. I was showing you my daily stitching on the #100dayschallenge on Instagram. At the time I was up to day 37/100. On Day 39, I started quilting the background of the right top corner of the piece. This picture was taken about a week ago.

Slowly quilting ...

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November 30, 2021
Best and Worst of Times from Quilting & Learning

It's finally finished! My fabric concertina book, Best and Worst of Times is done. The workshop with Mandy Pattullo through TextileArtist.org was held in July 2020. Considering the amount of stitching in the book, a year and a quarter is not that long! lol

Fabric Concertina Book

The book is the story of the last two years. It goes from being full of fear to eventually finding joy. It's also bilingual (English and French) except for the title and end pages.

The front page is written in chain stitch on one of my first hand-dyed gray fabrics ...

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November 15, 2021
a repeat stitcher . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

What a great weekend I enjoyed in Hendersonville, TN!  We went up early Thursday morning for a Lifeway Women's Leadership event.  Three days packed full of fabulous speakers, great teaching, encouragement, fellowship and fun.  But whew!  I was worn out.  Hence my slow stitching post didn't get written for yesterday, and that's a shame, because I have some fun stitchy stuff to share!  So Monday it is.  ;)

Ellie (oldest granddaughter) had shown some interest in embroidery.  For Christmas two years ago I gifted her with a sampler kit that I put together for her.  Once we started ...

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November 7, 2021
thanks-stitching . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

Last week was a long week.  My coworker has been out sick for two weeks. She's coming back on Monday, but can only work half days, doctor's orders. Luckily it's a short week—we're closed for Veteran's Day on Thursday, and I'm off to Lifeway's Women's Leadership Forum!  

I'd ordered an assortment of flannel fat quarters from a vendor on Etsy.  She sells under Prairie Grove Peddler, and y'all she was fantastic to work with. I sent her a question about shipping, and she went ahead and bundled the assortment ...

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October 31, 2021
trick or treat . . . from Count it *all* JOY!

. . . and Happy Halloween!  I am participating in the Trick or Treat blog hop, offered by Jo at Serendipitous Stitching!!  If you haven't visited her blog yet, head over there and definitely check it out.  She's got a list of participating blogs, and at each blog you'll find a clue to the mystery Halloween phrase!  You'll find my clue at the bottom of this post!

You know how there's spooky fun and spooky scary?  For the most part, I'm definitely a fan of spooky fun! When I was trying to figure out something new to ...

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October 12, 2021
Updates on Slow Stitching projects from Quilting & Learning

My Traveller's Blanket made it's way to North Bay for our Canadian Thanksgiving. It was the first time in years that I was able to go and it was great seeing all of the family again. I showed off the blanket and even got a little bit of stitching done at the hotel before we checked out. I also took some lovely pictures of Lake Nipissing - it's such a beautiful area, even when the sun is behind clouds.

Stitching up an eco-printed piece

I really wanted to see the effect of stitching on my eco-printed piece. It ...

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