Saturday, July 15, 2017

FAL 2017- Meet the Host--Izzy from Dizzy Quilts


Hi - I'm Izzy from Dizzy Quilts and it's my turn to tell you a little about myself!



I'm a mother, step-mother and foster mother to six children, grand-mother to one gorgeous little girl and wife to my soul mate. During the day, I manage a team of e-Learning designers/developers at a global financial company.

All of this keeps me pretty busy, but I've always made time to be crafty - when I was a little girl, my mom taught me how to knit and I made all my teddy bears knitted sweaters!

During my teenage years, I was a little too busy with school (and with boys!) to craft, but a few years later, when I had my first child, I started sewing.  I made some baby clothes and I made curtains mostly. I even took a sewing class to learn how to make garments for myself, but I never got the hang of that - nothing ever really fit right.

About 9 years ago, I walked into JoAnn's to get fabric for new curtains and spotted the cutest little quilt kits. I bought one, put it together and haven't looked back since! I was completely and totally hooked.

The first few quilts I made were very traditional - lots of small pieces, small florals, etc. I really had no clue what I was doing, but learned so much with the making of these quilts.

A lap size log cabin quilt made for my step-mom

I started making these quilts for pretty much everyone in my family.  And pretty soon, every bed in the house had a quilt on it.

Quilt I made for my sister-in-law - this is Bronx testing it.

I even made quilts as curtains!!
Around 2010, I discovered quilt blogs and the online quilting community.  That literally changed my quilting life!!  I started my own blog, met some amazing people and a couple of years later, found the Montreal Modern Quilt Guild.

Through the members of this guild, I learned about modern quilting and I fell in love with quilting all over again.

I started making modern quilts and building a stash of really colourful fabrics and solid neutrals.



When I first started quilting, my least favourite part of the whole thing was the actual quilting. My sewing machine was pretty small and wrestling with a big quilt in that tiny little space was painful and I very often ended up with puckers on the back of my quilts.  And then I changed two things: my sewing machine and my basting method.


I purchased my Juki TL-2010Q. It is literally a dream to quilt with. Lots of room to the right of the needle and super consistent, fast stitching.

I also learned how to board baste my quilts - which has saved my knees, my back and to a certain extent, my sanity!  :-)

And now quilting is actually my favourite part. I look forward to finishing a top just so I can get to the quilting. My dream is to some day own a long-arm machine, but I would need to get a much bigger house before that could happen!



Last year, I became the Vice-President of the Montreal MQG and that has been a lot of fun. The group is growing and we have such amazing people and quilters.  Each meeting is a great source of inspiration and I'm learning so much.



When I was approached to become a FAL host last year, I was so flattered and so happy. I love hosting these link-ups - so much inspiration and so much talent every quarter.

Thanks for reading and if you have questions, please leave a comment!  :-)

Izzy

Sunday, July 2, 2017

FAL, Quarter 3 Linkup!


It's time to link up your list of unfinished projects that you propose to finish in Q3 of the FAL. I am looking forward to seeing what you are planning to be working on over the next quarter.

The FAL is hosted by a community of bloggers across the world. Our hosts are:
  • Sarah - Sew me - Northern Ireland
Social Media Director
For those of you who are new to the FAL, it is a place to find motivation and encouragement to complete those unfinished projects that are hanging about becoming UFOs. Every quarter you post a list of projects you hope to finish in the next three months, and then at the end of the quarter, you post a link from your blog, Flickr or Instagram of each successful finish from your original list.

Each finish is an entry for wonderful prizes from our sponsors. There is no penalty for not finishing a listed project, so feel free to make your list long or short, as you wish. The 2017 Schedule and Rules for the FAL are on my permanent FAL page, let me know if you have any questions.

Here are the fantastic and generous sponsors for Q3 of the FAL - you can see each of their prizes listed under their logo (think about visiting them and saying thank you):  



As you may recall from last year, there was a return of tutorial week at the end of each quarter, between the opening of the link for finishes and the day that link closes. Are you enjoying this? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below! This will take place each quarter. Each host works hard to put these together so I hope you are visiting their blogs to encourage them. If you have a tutorial that you would like to share, please let me or another host know.

It's time to round up those projects you want to finish over the next three months, take a photo of each one and make your list. Please ensure that you have at least started your projects - pulled fabric with a pattern is now considered a UFO, and remember it is only finished projects that will get you an entry toward the above listed prizes. So while we love to see your bee blocks, the "finish" is when they are a completed, usable project.

It is very helpful if you tag your list as #2017FALQ3yourname when posting on social media: Flickr, Facebook & Instagram. Using the same hashtag over the quarter when sharing progress or finishes before the link, helps the hosts find your original list quickly - especially when this is done over a 3 month period. IMPORTANT: Don't forget to link your finishes up when the quarter closes.

The 2017 Q23link for your list of proposed finishes is now open below on my blog and on each of the hosting blogs. You need only link your list once, on one blog - and that link will show up on all of the blogs. If you are using Facebook, Flickr or Instagram, link a mosaic and put your list in the description. Katy of The Littlest Thistle has a great tutorial on how to link-up if you need it.

We also ask that you become part of the FAL community. Please check out the links of others - visit and comment on their lists. We all need encouragement to get those finishes done, so please share some of your own too. When creating your list there is one thing to remember....No deductions for not completing something so ..... Aim High! Nothing to lose!!! Well Now..... Get those lists together and get linked up. 

The Q3 proposed finish linky party will stay open until 11 pm EST, July 8, 2017- as we are global, you might want to check your time zone to determine your last possible time to link. Remember: you only need to link up on ONE hosting blog and it will automatically show up on all hosting blogs.




Saturday, July 1, 2017

FAL, Q3, my list!




I'm off to Sisters, so this list isn't what I intended as I won't have much computer access there.
It's mostly just left overs from the last round.  I'm hoping to finish some stuff up before school starts up again!

Sewing

1.  Violet Craft's Lion quilt (it's pin basted, STILL awaiting hand quilting)
Violet Craft lion

2.  Tula sampler block quilt, version 1 (top and back done)  I need to get some king sized batting still.
Tula sampler


3.  Round robin Improv  (top pieced)
IMG_7467


4.  Milky Way Sampler, hosted by Blossom Heart Quilts (I was going to do this as a BOM but I caved and bought the pattern...so I COULD, in theory, finish this one.)
Milky Way quilt


5. Chocolatier BOM, hosted by Gen X quilters (again....just a WIP)
Chocolatier


6.  Tula Sampler, V.2 Cotton and Steel (started)
Tula block 1

7.  The Honey Pot Bee, hosted by Molli Sparkles (again a Wip)
Honeypot bee quilt

8.  Do.Good.Quilt, Serenity Circle, April Quilt
April Serenity quilt


9.  Test Tank for Katie (cut)
test tank for Katie


10.  Hospice 1
Hospice 1

11.  Small World
Small World


12.  Pool Tote 1 (I cut it out intending it to be a Christmas present and then fizzled)
pool tote 1

13.  Trail tote 1 for Karen


14.  Smorgasboard quilt (still hand quilting)
Smorgasboard quilt

15.  Project 48 quilt  (Top basted)
Project 48 quilt

16.  Sushi Washi  (Cut..I have to learn how to rethread my serger because I ran out of thread)
sushi washi

17.  Octopus top
octopus top

18.  Cross Quilt improv
cross quilt start

19.  Patchwork City quilt
Patchwork city

20.  Sprout mini quilt  (Patchwork from Scrap class)
scraps

21. Lawn tunic
lawn tunic

22.  fairy/butterfly for MIL (it's been sandwiched, waiting to do reverse applique)
jersey quilt

23.  triangle skirt  (cut...awaiting the aforementioned serger rethread)
triangle skirt

24.  Purple improv
purple improv

25.  HST play
HSTs

26.  Single Girl quilt
freewheeling single girl

27.  Meadow quilt (at longarmer)
Meadow start

28.  Meadow mini quilt
frog block

29.  Project Linus quilt
economy blocks

30.  Galaxy dress/washi (see serger rethreading..I cut a bunch of these last time and ran out of thread)
galaxy dress


31.  Arrow skirt  (see serger note)
skirt

32.  Itty Bitty Broken star quilt
broken lonestar

33.  Tear Drop quilt
IMG_9613

34.  Dr who shoes (need to resew one and elastic both)
dr who shoes

35.  Hospice 3
hospice 2

36.  Love scrap quilt
Love scrap quiltLove block

37.  Tula The Hood quilt (This one is my #quilttheweightoff quilt project)..It's, um, stalled, pending some much needed weight loss.
house quilt


38.  Grocery bags (3) for Ginny
grocery bags

39.  Long Time Gone QAL
Longtime Gone QAL

40.  Aviatrix
Aviatrix


41.  Urbanologie BOM, hosted by The Intrepid Thread
Urbanologie

42.  Summer Solstice quilt
Solstice


43. quicker by dozen quilt
quicker by dozen

44.  Art student tote
Art tote


45.  Squircle quilt


46.  Word quilt (starting at Sisters)


47.  Garden Gate  (starting at Sisters)


48.  Peru quilt  (starting at Sisters)


49.  Serenity Circle quilt


50.  Vinyl zipper pouches


51.  Hesperides pillow  (starting at Sisters)




Knitting

1.  manticore socks
Manticore socks


2.  Peacock mittens  (still on mitten #1)
Peacock mittens


3.  Scrap blanket
scrap blanket

4.  slip stitch socks
slipped stitch sock

5.  Katniss Socks
Katniss socks




Bucket List for 2017  (NOT INTENDED FOR THIS QUARTER'S FAL LIST)

1.  Tula Tumbler quilt
Tula tumbler quilt

2.  Tula Butterfly Quilt
Tula Butterfly

3.  Sujata Shah's Organized Chaos
Organized Chaos

4.  Forest Fancy quilt
fancy forest

5.  Sloth quilt
Sloth quilt

6.  Epic Halloween quilt
Halloween quilt

7.  Tula Future Garden quilt
Tula Future Flower garden

9.  Steampunk (I have one block cut)
Steampunk!

10.  Tree quilt
tree quilt

11.  Triforce Throw
triforce

12.  Fish quilt
fish quilt