Happy Valentine's Day!

I was going to call this post "nasty things", but I thought that might be too negative of a way to start the blog, especially on Valentine's Day when the air is supposed to fill with roses and love. But nasty jobs - we all have to do them. And can you tell me why we leave them until the last minute? We procrastinate on them until - well, it just gets ugly!

I had a nasty job sitting in my studio for almost one year. It's been on various lists and I totally ignored the task. But it's time to get this thing done.

You may remember that we did a LOT of tuffet classes last year. Unfortunately, I had one student who - well, it just wasn't going to happen for her. I think she had tried two different covers and both of them - well, they just didn't work. I felt bad for her and I offered to fix her cover and get the tuffet finished. I know - why do I do that? Because I'm a nice person that's why!

The worst part is that I didn't act on my kindness right away. So now I'm trying to get it finished.

Oh dear -- another nasty job just happened. I've been having trouble with my computer. The memory or something is just bad. I had spent hours with GeekSquad last week but I don't think the problem actually got fixed. I tried again yesterday - again HOURS trying to resolve the problem. While it seems to have resolved the problem with Outlook, I can't load pictures this morning. I may have to reboot the PC to get that process started.

Let's reboot and see what happens.  AHA -- we have pictures. I'm not sure what the problem was. I think they cleared everything out of the temporary memory and so that takes a wee bit of time to repopulate.

Anyway - regarding the tuffet. I'm also tired of moving this darn tuffet form whenever there is a sit n sew. Time to get it done!!!

Tuffet form that belongs to a student

What was the problem? The blades were not cut correctly. So she had a beautiful circle with 24 wedges that looked like this, but in fact, they were not supposed to be wedges.

Wedges which will not work for the tuffet

The wedge was supposed to be cut from a three-inch strip. You can see where the problem lies. I had to cut the wedge down to make 2/3 of the piece a straight strip with a taper along the other 1/3.  Centering the taper and all that fun stuff. Then I used the wedge ruler to trim up the tapered side as they weren't necessarily the most accurate either. 

Retrimming the tapered edge

So the one on the left is what they are supposed to look like and the one on the right is what I started from. Thank goodness the pieces were too big and could be cut to size. 

Left is the good one, the right is the starting point

The good news is that I've got 12 of 24 wedges recut to the proper size and shape. I hope to get the rest of them done today and even to get the tuffet cover sewn together. If not, then it's sitting there ready for the Sunday Sit n Sew this week.

Another little bit of nastiness. Oh yes - lots of nasty things to cover today. So after my fender bender, I've been going for physio and massage. I really like the massage person. Trust me, the massage was awful. It was painful, it hurt bad and the muscles in my neck are a mess. In particular, there is one spot that is just painful - right about where the seatbelt was.

I'm supposed to be using heat which I do a lot and I'm supposed to be doing strengthening exercises. Hm - I might not be so good at that. Then I remembered this torture device that has been hanging on the back of the bedroom door. Oh - I guess I could use that. It now sits on my ironing board and when I have a few minutes, I do 10 reps of an exercise. My shoulders are going to look like the Hulk. 

My revisited torture device

Because of the nature of what we do - sit at the computer or sew all day, we have a tendency to have rounded backs. My posture is not so good either. Another exercise that I'm to do is lie on the floor (or works just amazing in the sauna) on my back with a towel rolled up and along my spine to open up those shoulders and let them fall back where they are supposed to be. It helps to stretch out the shoulders. I'm really trying because this painful muscle situation isn't pretty. And it'll help me with my job as well. And who doesn't like to just lie around on your back and it is good for you?

So if you see me using my torture device - you'll know why. I have to say, it actually feels good to do that stretching (and strengthening).

Here's another bit of nastiness. M would appreciate this one. I'm experimenting with what to put in my oatmeal in the morning. Love the banana, love the almond milk. The occasional time, I'll throw in some raisins, but I ate them all - so no more raisins. I thought I'd add some spices - like cinnamon. That's not bad - just don't throw in a lot. This morning, I added a touch of nutmeg. OK - so it was more than a touch. Did you know that nutmeg can be considered a hallucinogenic???  Oh my!!!  But I think you need to take a lot of it! And if you read this article, it's actually very good for you. I think I might just continue to add it to the oatmeal, but not quite so much!!!

While I was waiting for the GeekSquad to work on my computer, I was busy making soup! Yep - we have another pot of yummy soup all set for lunches this week. I have a feeling that it's now far from the version that James made for us. I literally emptied the fridge of all veggies and then what celery I didn't put in the soup - I ate that raw!

Also got to work on something else that had been sitting for a while. Here are my new geckos!! This is actually homework for my freelance job with SVP. It's part of a class that we offer to sewing machine dealers and their customers. It's all done in the hoop and doesn't take that long. Let's say that my shiny stretch material was a wee bit of a challenge. But common sense prevailed and I got it stitched out no problem. The red one is made with red vinyl and it also stitched out no problem. OH - it's all a learning experience. It seems that everything I touch is a learning experience.

Geckos

Hm - I've got requests to make more. Or perhaps they should do it themselves to learn how to use the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC????  I could be nasty and do that, but that stretchy fabric? - well, I wouldn't put that on a new person. I might throw a couple more on the embroidery machine later today. We'll see what happens.

The darn little guys are stuffed which is a wee bit of a challenge. Somewhere in this house, there's a stuffing fork. I know it's in a white plastic bag with the bits of a doll that I was stuffing. Now, where is that white bag? I was also tidying up some stuff yesterday and went to put something in this closet that's off the studio.

Closet in the studio

 Oh crap -- the darn door is locked!!! Because of stuff in front of the door, it's a bit of a tight squeeze to get in there and I bet my butt turned the little knob and locked it. There's only one problem. Where the heck is the key??? I'm pretty sure that it's in a bright orange bowl that used to sit on a table downstairs. The bowl has been put somewhere -  but where??   The last time that happened with a different door, I ended up picking the lock to open the door. I may have to resort to that as well. I would like to find those stuffing forks! It'll make the job of stuffing the geckos a whole lot easier!!!! I know - when I find the keys - put them ALL in a VERY SAFE PLACE.

Enough of the nasty stuff for today. Let's see some good stuff. If you remember, I finished the top of the Jamestown meets Stonehenge. Yeah - now to find a backing. I had initially pulled two bolts of fabric but realized that the one on the left was too burgundy and the one on the right didn't have nearly enough fabric on it.

Auditioning fabric for the backing

They went back in storage and I pulled out this bolt of Hobbit fabric that I got for a very good price recently. Hmm - I think that'll work just fine. 

Hobbit fabric for the backing

 I made the center of the backing from the Hobbit fabric and essentially used the leftovers from the quilt top to add a border on all four sides of that center. That took a LOT of time. 

The backing is made for Jamestown meets Stoneheng

I took all the leftover fabrics and filed them in their respective color baskets. Yeah!

Leftover fabrics are filed in their color baskets

And here's the binding, the backing and the quilt top (oh yes - the pattern as well) and now it's been moved to the "to be quilted" pile. My second one added to that pile for this year. 

Binding, backing and quilt top ready for quilting

The best news? This was one of my UFOs for 2019. It's crossed off the list. Yes - I know it's not quilted, but my definition of a "finished" project is to get it into the "to be quilted" pile. It's my list - I make the rules.

On another positive note, I got all the applique prepped for this second to the last block on Gingerbread Joy. All the pieces are glued in place and ready for stitching. 

One more block is prepped and ready for stitching

Time to consolidate a couple of glue bottles. I filled one up but didn't empty any. I wondered why my hand was sore the morning after the gluing session. Because I'm trying to squeee glue from an almost empty container! Duh!!!

Lots of glue on hand

Lots of other stuff to share, but there's no time this morning. I'm going to be a few minutes late!

Have a super day!!! Let's hope for a wee bit of sunshine to start melting this ice mess.

Ciao!!