I was lucky enough to spend Halloween with my nieces this year. Lucy was the prettiest princess and Alice a very cute Jaguar. It was a windy night, cold and a few sprinkles of rain, but thankfully no snow! Lucy had a fabulous time and made sure to ask everyone for candy for her baby sister Alice too.

Those that have been around the Quilting Gallery site for a year or more may remember the birth of my Alice Lynne, last Halloween.

This year, I’ll be taking my nieces out trick or treating for the first time. Lucy, at 3.5 years old, is very excited to be a Princess (again!) and Alice will be a pumpkin.

Here are the pumpkins my sister and Lucy made this year.

I’ll post pictures of Alice’s birthday present later in the week.

This was the scene the other night around midnight. Both of my boys sleeping soundly in the often fought over chair. I guess they were too tired to fight anymore and decided sleeping together wasn’t so bad after all.

The black and white one is Slade and the brown tabby is Daniel. Daniel is 10 and has been with me for 8 years. He was rescued from the streets by some kind folks in the small town where my parents live and then given to me.

Slade has been with me for 2.5 years and came from a local family up here after being rescued from the cold weather. He’s around 7, but a little harder to say for sure as his health isn’t the best. He was obviously abused and it took a good year before he’d even come out of hiding when friends came over to visit.

Daniel is a momma’s boy. He’s almost always near me, and if I sit to watch TV he’s on my lap even when I don’t want him to be. He’ll often come sit beside me as I work or stitch and demand to be picked up. He’s still very playful, loves toys and the laser pen.

Slade would be happiest if I went to bed by 9:30 and got up at 6:00 each morning. Late at night, he’s often in the bedroom meowing for me to come to bed. He’s still skittish and scares easily. He adores Daniel and always wants to cuddle with him or be close by. Daniel could care less. He loves his Aunties Julia and Linda best.

I’m not sure that alpha male is as important to cats as it is to dogs, but Daniel still has the upper hand even tho Slade far outweighs him. I’ve been expecting the power to shift, but I’m not sure it’ll happen as Daniel is too easy going to really care.

Here’s my submission for Blogger’s Quilt Festival – Fall 2009.

So far, I think this quilt that I made for a wedding gift for friends is my all time favourite. I love the warm and rich colours used. It’s a Disappearing Nine Patch.

Read more about this quilt and a few other pictures here: Caitlin and Harry’s Wedding Quilt

Back in August, I told you about Canada’s new quilting magazine: Quilter’s Connection Magazine and that I had written my first-ever article for publication in it.

The magazine arrived a couple of weeks ago and I have to say, it’s fabulous. The paper quality is the best of any magazine I’ve seen, the layout is superb, great images, plenty of white space to read comfortably, gorgeous colour on every page.

Heather, the editor, asked me for feedback, and I couldn’t think of one thing negative to say or offer any suggestions for improvements. Anyone who knows me well enough will know how rare that is. haha!

There are three gorgeous patterns, one featured on the cover Partridge in a Pear Tree, a gorgeous, very detailed stitchery, Tree Trimming Party, and a beautiful table runner, Art Deco Delight. All the pattern pieces are included in the magazine, you just need to enlarge them as indicated to use full size.

You’ll also find feature write-ups for Caring Hearts and Many Hands, Quilts of Valour, Confessions of an Incurable Quilter by Pippa Moore, Trisha Sherman’s A Shop Near You, CQA/AAC Corner, listing of quilt shows across Canada, reviews, show & tell, recipes and more. Everything a quilter would want in a magazine.

I highly recommend it. I’ll be purchasing my subscription this weekend. Visit their web site for more information, a list of Canadian shops carrying the magazine and an up-to-date list of events across Canada: Quilter’s Connection Magazine.

My Article

It was very exciting for me to see my first-ever article published. In it I discuss blogging, Facebook, Twitter and other ways quilters are connecting with one another. You’ll find a list of some Canadian blog designers, blogging software recommendations and some tips on successful blogging as well as tips for using both Facebook and Twitter.

I hope you’ll enjoy it. It’s a small PDF file and shouldn’t take too long to open.

• The Virtual Quilting Bee: How quilters connect online

I’d love to hear your feedback on both the magazine, if you’ve seen it, and on my article.

Is Social Media a Fad? You Decide…

I found this video recently entitled the Social Media Revolution. It contains some incredible statistics. Blew my mind, and I work on this crazy thing called the Internet every single day.

Running the Quilting Gallery site, it’s no surprise that dozens of quilting-related blogs come across my screen each day. I can’t remember another blog that captured my attention so thoroughly like Leah Day’s 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs.

I’ve been watching the progress daily on this blog for a few weeks, and I must say, I’m totally impressed. Doing 365 days of anything, is a huge accomplishment. Coming up with 365 different designs, stitching them and capturing them on video is mind boggling.

Day 47 features Cubing, pictured and the video is featured below.

Each daily post includes:

• photo of the completed design
• stitching video
• inspiration for the design
• filler design type – stacking
• difficulty level
• directional texture
• suggestions for use
• photo of the back

Blogs are notorious for being difficult to quickly and easily find what you are looking for. Leah’s solved this by creating design pages that show 20 designs at a time, and you can click the corresponding link to view the blog post related to that design. Fabulous idea!

You can also search by difficulty level: beginner, intermediate, beginner/intermediate and advanced designs. Just click a link on the side of the blog for the level you are interested in. You can sign up to receive a weekly summary email too.

Leah will also be releasing digital books and DVDs. There’s more information in this blog post. I’ll have to see about featuring Leah in an upcoming Friday Give-Away.

My goal is to try the beginner designs to start and hopefully progress to beginner/intermediate in time. I’ve been working on some scrappy blocks for a queen size bed quilt (for me!!). It’ll have 99 – 9″ finished blocks. The perfect size to sample stitch. I’ll stitch it on my domestic machine in pieces so that it’s manageable. I doubt I’ll get to any of the quilting until the new year, but it’s nice to have an idea in mind.

Leah also sells quilting supplies on her site, Day Style Designs Online. Lots of free articles and videos there too.

Thanks Leah for creating this fabulous resource. I can’t wait to see all 365 of the designs. They are a huge inspiration. Thanks too for the permission to use your photo and video in this blog post.