Welcome to Blogathon Canada Day 2 in Atlantic Canada

Hello! Welcome to Blogathon Canada! My name is Linda and I'm honored to be one of your hosts for Day 2 in Atlantic Canada, along with Linda at Scrapmaster. There are so many exciting things going on today! First of all be sure to stop by Sew Sisters, the Blogathon sponsor, to enter today's giveaway of goodies from Camelot Fabrics. Remember to check back at Sew Sisters each day this week, for a new giveaway! There are wonderful prizes to be won! Don't miss out.

"Blue Northwind" - generous twin size

Below is a list of links to other blogs in Atlantic Canada that I encourage you to stop by and visit, and of course I have an exciting giveaway too! But first let me tell you a bit about myself.

I've been sewing since the age of 12, quilting for over 25 years, and teaching quilting classes at local quilt shops and for Guilds for almost as long. I am a retired school teacher, and I have to say, teaching quilting classes is more fun!! For a little sample of my "teaching", you'll find two tutorials on my sidebar; I hope to add more in the future.

"Talkin' Turkey,"  a Bonnie Hunter design

 I love everything about the quilt-making process, especially choosing the  fabrics (I love color!) and piecing the tops. For me the journey, the "process", is more important than the destination. Scrap quilts are a particular favourite right now.

I've been blogging for almost 6 years and am so grateful for the many wonderful friends I have made through this blog.

"Not Quite Civil Pineapple", 8.75" sq.

 Lately I've been bitten by the "Miniatures bug" and I enjoy the challenge of seeing how small I can go, while still being absolutely precise in the piecing. (Some people think I'm crazy, I'm sure.) Actually I do enjoy Crazy Quilting too! You can see my Miniatures and Crazy Quilting in the Galleries on my sidebar. This miniature is 8.75" square and has nearly 450 pieces. It's one of my "garbage can quilts" - made with scraps anyone else would throw in the garbage. Not me! If it's larger than 1/2" square, I save it! (Did I already say some think I'm crazy?) Miniatures is one of my most favourite classes to teach.

 I hope you'll spend a little time looking around my blog. You can see more of my quilts by clicking on the "My Quilts" and "Small Projects" labels. You'll notice that quilting is not my only hobby. I am also a stitcher, a gardener, an avid reader and a photographer. So you'll find some gardening posts, book reviews, the occasional tried and true recipe, and lots of photography. I hope you'll return to visit me again, and I'd be very happy if you chose to "follow" my blog!









Now, on to some other bloggers in my area. I know some of these gals in person, and look forward to getting to know the others. After visiting them, don't forget to come back to enter my giveaway!

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Through My Window 

Judy Cooper Textile Images

Quilt, Knit, Run, Sew

Devoted Quilter

One Mother of a Blog

Quilti

Sister of the Brush 

A Pictorial Quilter's Journey 

The Q and the U

Cool Cats

It Is what It Is!

Love to Quilt

Fredericton Quilters' Guild

Cotton Mill Quilt Guild

Elm City Quilt Guild 

Now, on to my Giveaway of a luscious batik Fat Quarter Bundle, courtesy of Sew Sisters. (Naturally it is blue, my favourite color!) It is open to everyone, no matter where you live, and there are no hoops to jump through and no word verification. Just leave me a comment below ON THIS POST and tell me where you are visiting from. That's it! Easy peasy. There is one tiny catch though- you must have an email address. If you are a No Reply blogger, a WordPress blogger or you don't have a google account, you must leave your email address in your comment, otherwise I cannot reach you, should you be the lucky one drawn! The Giveaway remains open until midnight my time Nov. 23, the winner will be drawn and announced on Nov. 24. I will email the winner.

Finally, don't forget to visit my host partner today, Linda at Scrapmaster. She, too, has a wonderful Giveaway for you to enter, and more great Maritime bloggers for you to visit. 

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy Blogathon Canada the rest of this week - each day two host bloggers will have giveaways and a list of other blogs for you to visit! Now how great is that! I know you'll want to join me in saying "Thanks Sew Sisters!"

Piece!
Linda

"Make new friends, but keep the old;
Those are silver, these are gold."
~ Joseph Parry

Grow Your Blog Giveaway Winner!

The Grow Your Blog event was to officially end yesterday and Vicki asked everyone to announce their winners today. I received 70 comments and gained a number of new followers - a warm welcome to you all!  And of course I found a good number of wonderful new blogs to follow myself. What fun! Thanks to all who visited, and special thanks to all who took the time to leave a comment. Huge Thanks go to Vicki of Two Bags Full once again for putting this all together... the list of participating blogs will be there on Vicki's blog so you can always go there to browse the list and find some interesting new blogs if you are so inclined...

Okay, back to the Giveaway. I asked the hubby to choose a number between 1 and 70 and he chose 58. The 58th comment was left by Kathy H who said "Your blog is filled with wonderful projects and photography too. Looking forward to reading your posts."

Congrats Kathy! I have emailed you and will wait 48 hours for your reply. If I don't hear from you, I'll choose another winner. Your Santa will be on his way in Monday's mail.


Peace,
Linda

Luck is when opportunity knocks and you answer.

Grow Your Blog and Giveaway

I have joined the Grow Your Blog! event, organized by Vicki at Two Bags Full. Hundreds of bloggers are joining in on the fun of finding new blogs and meeting new blogging friends. Whether you are visiting because of this event or not, I hope you'll take a few minutes to look around here, and perhaps even choose to follow me.

For all my new visitors, let me introduce myself. I'm Linda Hubbard, and I live on the east coast of Canada in a  beautiful small city.  I'm a Mom (two young adults) with an "empty nest", and a retired teacher. My blogging adventure  began in 2009, as a way for me to share my hobbies and photography with my friends and followers. I would never have thought then that I'd still be here five years and over 800 posts later! I guess one of the reasons I am still here is that I have met so many wonderful friends through blogging, and learned so much from them. And I can't wait to meet more bloggers through this party! Thanks Vicki, for hosting Grow Your Blog!




I am a quilter and a stitcher, loving them both equally. I'm always trying to find more hours in the day for both!! I teach quilting classes at a local shop and for Guilds around my province.  I enjoy piecing quilts (appliqué is just not my thing) with scrap quilts a particular favourite. Below are a couple of my favs. You can see more of my quilts by clicking on My Quilts under "Looking for Something?" on my sidebar. You'll even find a few tutorials there.

"Blue Northwind". Generous twin bed size.

"Talkin' Turkey". Designed by Bonnie Hunter. I've used well over 100 different reds.

I also enjoy making miniature quilts, this one below is not quite 10" square! I love the challenge of working small... (I know, I know, many think I'm crazy...) Actually "crazy quilting" is another one of my loves!! You can see more of my miniature quilts and crazy quilt projects in the Galleries on my sidebar.

"F8" Miniature.  (Photographers will understand...)  Design by George Siciliano

Detail shot of Crazy Quilting

Gardening is another of my passions. Our growing season here in Atlantic Canada is fairly short, but I enjoy the seasons and spend the cold snowy winter dreaming of next year's garden! Below are a few blooms from my perennial gardens. (Have you already figured out I love blue?) I love nature and it is my favourite "subject" to photograph. You can see more of my nature photography by clicking on the Nature or Wildflowers labels on my sidebar.

 

I am an avid reader, and a serious amateur photographer. There's nothing better than holding a good book or a camera in your hands .. well, unless it's a good piece of dark chocolate!! I love sharing book reviews and my tried and true recipes on my blog too, chocolate and otherwise. I also enjoy good quotes and try to end every post with an appropriate quote. Travel is a passion I wish I could pursue more frequently than I do. My most recent "big" trip was to Prague in the Czech Republic this past July; again check my labels on the sidebar if you'd like to read those posts and see that beautiful city.

I hope you've enjoyed visiting Stitch Lines and I always appreciate comments. (After all, if you don't leave a comment, how will I get to know you?) If you'd like to leave a comment below on this post, I'll enter your name in my Giveaway, which will be drawn on Feb. 15th. If you are not a blogger, be sure to leave your email in the comment so I can reach you if you are the lucky winner. I'm offering one of my stitched and beaded Santa ornaments - your choice! They average  4" - 4.5" tall, the designs are by Mill Hill.  The Giveaway is open to all, and I will mail to anywhere in the world.

Be sure and drop by the Grow Your Blog party to check out lots of other wonderful blogs. Have fun!!
Edit: Feb. 17th - Even though the Giveaway is now over, if you are a new visitor to my site, I'd still appreciate you leaving a comment to say Hi and tell me where you're visiting from. 

Peace,
Linda

"A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints."  ~Wilfred Peterson            

And the Winners are......

I hope you all enjoyed my Giveaway- I certainly had fun! I not only got a good number of comments/entrants, but also a number of new Followers - a whole lot of new friends and new Blogs to check out. Yippeee! I hope you all will enjoy dropping in for a visit now and then, following my progress on new projects, and listening to my ramblings!

And now, without further ado: the WINNERS were drawn by my Hubby last night, and they are both Bloggers from Ontario!!


The first name drawn was Karen from For The Love of Needle and Thread. Congrats Karen!! You get first choice of the Santas. Let me know which one you would like.

The second name drawn was Dolores of True Blue Canadian. Dolores, once Karen has let me know which one she would like, you can choose from the remaining two Santas. Or, if you really really wanted the one Karen chose, I'll make another one for you. You might have to wait a week or two for it though... :)

I'll get these Santas in the mail within the next few days. This was so much fun, I think I'll do another Giveaway in February for my second Blogiversary!! Sound like a good idea?

Peace
Linda

"His eyes - how they twinkled, his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow...."
~ Clement Clarke Moore

Time for a Giveaway!

The more I "blog-surf" the more giveaways I see, so I think it's high time I did a giveaway. My "excuse" is I'll very shortly be making my 300th post! I think this is as good a reason as any, don't you? (*wink) I don't know where the time has gone, and I certainly can't believe that in less than 2 years in Blogland, I am at this point. And to think I was worried about "what will I ever talk about?" ha!
I must say though, in all this time, I haven't gathered many followers.. of course I haven't really worked hard at that either.... Nor do I get many comments; it seems to be the same few who comment all the time.. I like to hear from you, readers - no one wants to think they are talking to themselves..haha!
SO- here's how the giveaway is going to work: 1. You don't have to be a blogger to enter- it is open to all readers. But if you are not a blogger, you will have to include your email address with your comment so I can reach you if you are a lucky winner!
2. You must leave a comment on this post to say Hello. I will choose a winner next Thursday, Nov. 25 - one month before Christmas, by pulling a name "from the hat". And - if you're not a Blogger, I'd love you to tell me where you live!
3. If you are already a Follower of my Blog, or if you join as a new Follower, I will add your name two extra times.
4. If you have a blog and mention my giveaway there (you could even link to my post!) I'll add your name two more times. Of course, you'll have to tell me that you have done this...
And what might you win, you ask? You could win one of the stitched beaded Santa ornaments shown on this post - Saint Nick (top), San Nicolo (left) or Santa Claus (below) - your choice. If I get more than 100 comments, or I reach 50
followers, I'll draw two winners. If I get both - over 100 comments AND 50 followers, I'll draw three winners! I will add a little something else to the winnings as well, depending on if you are a quilter, crazy quilter, a stitcher or whatever your passion is....
So, dear readers - I'm waiting!! I want to hear from YOU!

Edit: Mon. Nov.22 - I just realized that some viewers may not know how to comment, or become a Follower. Anyone can leave a comment - all you do is click on the word "Comments" below- a white box will open up - type your comment in the box, then below it click on "Comment as". If you do not have a Blog or Google account, select Anonymous in the drop down menu. (just remember to add your name and email addy in your comment so I'll know who you are in case you are the lucky winner!!) Then simply hit the "Post Comment" button. Simple as that!
To become a Follower, you must have a Google account. Scroll way down my sidebar to find the box of Followers, then simply click on the word Follow and follow the prompts.

Peace,
Linda

Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something.

What a Weekend...

What a busy busy weekend. It was great to have Mark and Laura home for a few days. They were busy working on papers that are due later this month as well as spending some time with friends and family. Laura and I went to our local farmer's market on Saturday morning- one of our favourite weekend "things to do", and of course she got in some Mall time too... I spent considerable time in the kitchen so could send them back with frozen lasagna, chili, spaghetti sauce, banana bread, muffins, and fresh apples, Clementines, carrots, broccoli, and some other groceries. We lined a pair of mitts Laura finished knitting while home with fleece, so they'll be extra warm, and I got a pair of jeans mended for Mark. I was going to get a new pair of flannel pajama pants made for Laura, but that didn't happen. Maybe this coming week... Ollie is exhausted from all the extra playtime and attention he received!
I did sit down late last night and finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. It was a quick and easy read, and a heartwarming story of father and son relationships, as well as young love. I didn't know much about the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII, nor about the frosty relations between Chinese and Japanese at this time. Guess I didn't stop to think of the fear and prejudice there would be towards the Japanese after the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Anyway, a great read, and a slightly different "slant" on life during the early 40's.
I should finish the last outline stitching and beading on my Arctic Santas tonight so may have one ready to show you tomorrow... Y'all come back !!
I will soon be hitting the 300th post mark, and since I've never done a Giveaway, I think it's time!! So stay tuned ... you will have to comment to be entered in the draw, and Followers will get their name in the hat an extra time. Stay tuned for more details soon...

Piece,
Linda

"A child enters your home and for the next twenty years makes so much noise that you can hardly stand it. The child departs, leaving the house so silent you think you are going mad." ~John Andrew Holmes