Well, last night was a much better night at Puppy Kindergarten!  Tillie actually walked on the leash, sat when told to and made me proud!  I think that we are both going to make it through this class!  Thank goodness for the instructor, Gayle, she is patient and totally understanding.  I think that both the instructors didn't think she would make it either.  But, we practiced alot and she was not so freaked out as last week.  Several of the other puppy mom's said that they were worried about Tillie last week, how sweet!  She loves all the other people but is having problems with the other puppies.  I don't know what the big deal is, she has Maple and loves Sadie.  Maybe she is getting Maple's attitude?!  Hmmm...Anyway, I have breathed a sigh of relief that we made it through another night and we are doing much better. You are right Carrie, they are smarter than we are!  She knows how to get what she wants, when she wants it!  Thelma had said that everyone is nervous on their first day of kindergarten and she is right, I was as nervous as Tillie was! 

Another cool thing about going to class is to get to see all the puppies!  As you can probably tell, I love dogs and puppies too.  Last night we got to exchange puppies and play with the other puppies, that was so much fun!  All the other puppies are so cute, there is a cocker spaniel, a Morkie, a Bernese Mountain Dog (she is so cute, Molly), a couple of pit bulls, a black lab and several others.  I am sure getting my puppy fix!  Tillie absolutely loved the other people when they had her.  She was all over them.  She is so funny!

So, now that I'm feeling better, I am getting back into the swing of things.  I have a retreat this weekend in the Chicago area, Patches and Prints,  and I'm teaching Across the Ocean.  It is one of the patterns that I designed to go with Olde World Style.  Great quilt and a fun class.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of the students got it done this weekend.  We always have a good time at the retreat and it's nice to see people I haven't seen in a while. 

Another quilt that I re-did using Olde World Style, is Box of Chocolates, renamed Twinkling Stars.  Quilt Magazine just published it in the new fabrics and it is so pretty!  They put it in their 2011 Quilt Almanac magazine and it is a great publication.  If you get a chance, check it out.  We are offering kits on bundlesandbolts.com .  It is such a thrill to see your designs in a magazine. 



Talk to you next week!  Have a great weekend!

Monique

A wise lady, Jill, said to me:  "I truly love January, not for the weather...this
California girl has adapted quite a bit over the years, but not that much. I
love the “clean slate” that January brings. A new beginning, a fresh start. "

As most of you know, I'm a Canadian girl so I love the cold.  My brother and dad would not agree with me but I definitely love it.  So, January is a great month.  I love the colder weather, the time to be able to spend it at home with your family and hang out.  I'm not much for winter sports, or any sports for that matter so it's okay with me to stay home and be cozy. 

Now, Tillie agrees with me about the weather.  She loves it outside in the cold.  She doesn't have a full coat at this point but she still thinks it is fun to run, jump and eat snow.  Sadie came over last weekend and again, they had a blast running outside.  Tillie is getting as fast as Sadie is so watch out Sadie, I think you have met your match.

Puppy Kindergarten...oh boy!  We sure had a rude awekening!  Poor Tillie screamed and cried when I put the collar on.  So, when we got the the training facility, there were dozens of other dogs there, people, noise...crazy!  Tillie just stood and shook.  Many friendly people came over to help me out but she would have none of the consoling or cajoling to do anything.  She just wanted to jump in my lap and shake.  I finally got her to walk a foot or two with her leash and collar on but that was it.  No sitting (which, by the way, we have been practicing and she is perfect at home!), no eating of treats (which she can't get enough of when we are at home), no nothing but shaking and crying.  So, needless to say, we were the worst in the first class of our puppy kindergarten class.  Like I told Bill, we were the worst of the worst and remember, they are all puppies that are less than 5 months old.  Well, we have no place to go but up, right?!?  I am determined to get that little dog through this class so we are going to practice, practice, practice!  Wish me luck!  Who would ever think that this sassy puppy would be so scared?!

Hope you all enjoy January as much as Jill and I do.  Keep warm and enjoy the new beginning!

Monique

Hi Everyone,

The questions of the day are:  What are your favorite and least favorite parts of quilting?  We all have our favorite point in the quilting process and parts that we dread.

Here are my favorite parts:

1.  I love to pick out fabric for a new project.  It is so much fun to go through your stash or go to a quilt store and look at all those yummy fabrics.  Then to imagine how they will look together and how beautiful the quilt will come out.  I still get a little thrill when I start choosing for a new project. 

2.  Cutting of the quilt...I know...what!?!  most people say that this is their least favorite part of quilting.  I think it's the Mathematician in me.  I love the preciseness of cutting and the figuring out how much I will get from each strip. 

Okay, now my least favorite part:

Borders!  If you notice on most of my quilt patterns, I stay away from pieced borders.  The reason is that I just don't like to put borders on quilts.  Even the solid borders, I don't like to do.  I know that it finishes the quilt off and makes it complete and is necessary for most quilts but I just don't like to do it.  I've tried to analyze the reason for this.  I think it's because it takes a lot longer than I think it should and it's tedious to make sure that they fit right.  I recently did a small wall hanging quilt that had 3 borders, a skinny inner, a larger middle and a skinny outer.  I had it all together, was looking it over and decided that the middle border was too big.  It took away from the center of the quilt.  So, now I had to rip.  That's one thing about me, if I don't like something in a quilt, I will change it right away.  It will bother me until I change it.  So, I spent most of the rest of the afternoon ripping the seams and re-doing the border.  Of course, as usual, I'm on a deadline so now I'm scrambling to get the back pieced and ready for my quilter.  Thankfully, LeAnne Olson is my quilter for this project and she is very flexible.  She is actually going to bring her Old English Sheepdog, Sadie over Saturday to have a play date with Tillie.  She's picking up the quilts too so tomorrow I will be getting the backing ready. 

Now, it's your turn, let me know what is your favorite and least favorite parts of quilting.  It's fun to see what other people think.

I wanted to give a warm thank you to both quilt guilds for inviting me to lecture at their guilds yesterday.  They both were wonderful and I enjoyed meeting everyone!  My next lecture is in Crown Point, Indiana so if you are in the area, please come by!

Have a great weekend everyone!  I will be busy putting borders on quilts! 

Monique

Tomorrow I am off to lecture in Steger and Flossmoor, Illinois.  Both my lectures are on Wednesday but I am going tomorrow evening to stay in the area.  I am excited to get the new year and new schedule going.  Now that Christmas and the holidays are over, it's back to routine.

My parents left on Friday and I got my sewing room and house back in order.  I love to have my parents visit, we had an awesome time but it's nice to get back to normal.  My sewing room is set up and my Christmas decorations are put away.  Time to get busy! 

I made another bag this weekend from Terry Atkinson's Zippy Strippy bag and I love them.  I now have 3 coordinating bags in the three sizes from the pattern.  Check them out...aren't they great!  Nicole from Sister's Choice and Pat from Life's a Stitch inspired me to make them.  It's one of those things that you want to make more and more with different colors.  Here are the 3 different bags.  I made the smallest one to put my I-Pod in and it's perfect and my I-Pod skin is the same color as the bag...coincidence?!

Big news for Tillie and I.  We are going to Puppy Kindergarten.  I think it's more for me than for her.  She pretty much runs the house so I need to take back some control (good luck!)  Anyway, we start next Wednesday so I will keep you up on her progress.  Saturday, I decided that she needed to get used to wearing a collar and riding in the car.  Oh boy!  I put the collar on her and then the leash.  You would have thought that I had hurt her!  She squealed like crazy!  Maple came running over to make sure she was okay (or to see if she could help finish her off...hmmm!?!) Don't worry, Maple doesn't hurt her, she just puts her in her place when needed.  Anyway, she freaked out with the collar on but I drug her to the car and once in, she was perfect.  A little scared but no crying or whining.  I guess we will have to work on it before next Wednesday.  Always an adventure with Tillie! 

Talk to you soon!

Monique

Hope everyone had a Happy New Year.  It has been a busy couple of weeks.  I was in Canada for Christmas, which was wonderful, as always and now my parents are visiting. 

Christmas in Winnipeg is always a great time.  My brother and his family are wonderful to me and we all get along great.  My niece, Holly, is in beauty school to become a nail technician.  So, she gave me a manicure and painted my toe nails.  Love the pampering!  I could have had one every day!  She is doing excellent in school and she will be a great success.  I am so proud of her!  She likes to do nail art and she painted Christmas presents on my toes.  They are so much fun!

My other niece, Blaire, made me a scrapbook for Christmas.  She is so talented and it is so creative.  I was super touched.  It brought me to tears.  I am so proud of her too!  Here are some pages that she created.  Can you believe a 14 year old did this?  Love it!


My brother, Mike also has loads of talent.  He has sold several of his art work and is getting more and more known.  He does pieces on consignment and his area of expertise is pastels of sports figures and musicians.  His art is being sold through Birchwoodartgallery.com. 


Tillie...she has been growing like a weed!  She is now over 20 pounds and keeps growing!  My mom and dad are visiting and my dad has taken a real shine to her.  He thinks she is the cutest thing.  He plays with her, hugs her, talks to her and she is eating it up.  She is going to be in for a big let-down when he leaves!  My mom likes her too but appreciates calm Maple more.  Maple just wants attention and quiet.  My mom can give her that.  


No sewing in the last few weeks but I am looking forward to this weekend.  I have to dismantle my sewing room when my mom and dad are in town so on Friday, I'm going to get everything back in place so I can sew again.  Deadlines will be coming soon!  My dad helped me get all my patterns and rulers stuffed and organized.  My mom helped me organize my closet and sewing cabinet yesterday and I'm so excited about it.  Here are pictures of the "after"...I conveniently forgot to take "before" pictures...it was quite a mess!





I've had a few comments for testimonials for my website...thank you Lisa and Karen!!  They will be posted later this week.  Karen commented about my rulers and that is awesome.  I really appreciate any feedback on any of my products.  Thanks again and please, if anyone has any other comments, let me know. 

Have a great week and will talk to you later this week.

Monique