It's all about the binding

I lied. I said that things were pretty much normal at our house. For me and the girls, not much has changed, BUT for DH, there are no sports programs on TV. There's nothing for him to watch. He's not into the highlights or whatever they are showing these days. He's getting a lot of reading done.

But for me, as I said, not much has changed. I walk the girls, I sew, and I read. That's about what I did before, but at least there would be a group meeting or sewing days or something. I have to say that I'm liking this quiet lifestyle. I could get used to it very easily. Does that mean it's time to retire? I don't think so - not yet! BUT I had better get all the stuff in the office dealt with before I decide to retire because I'll be too busy lazing around and I won't feel like it!

Today would have been our UFO meeting. We're doing it virtually with people sending me their homework assignments. That includes me! I need to get it all completed by lunch. Hopefully, I'll have all the pictures today so I can share that with you tomorrow.

Yesterday was all about binding. I have a huge pile of quilts that need the binding sewn on and I decided that while the embroidery machine was running, I should get several of them finished.

I started with this quilt. The binding needed to be made. I very quickly made the binding and started to sew it on. I was almost finished when I realized that this is NOT going to Quilts of Valour and thus the binding could have waited until we had a community projects sewing day. Oh well - one less that went in that pile in the storage room.

Community projects quilt - completely done

AH - this is the one that I was supposed to be binding. It's going to Quilts of Valour. The binding was made and I'm happy to report that it's ready to go.

Quilts of Valour quilt - DONE

The fifth quilt for Quilts of Valour for this month is loaded on the long arm and ready to be quilted later today. The binding is made for that one so it should be a simple matter to get it completed. Then from that stack of quilts that I shared with you yesterday, I'll select three more to quilt next month and make a drop-off of this batch and pick up one more quilt for a total of four quilts for April.

I know that they appreciate what I'm doing, but I equally appreciate that I can find a home for these quilts. It's all about taking responsibility for my mess and doing something about it. I would say that the mess is pretty much organized and mostly under control. The best part is I'm making it happen to get these quilts finished and out of the house. I'm a happy camper. I just wish I had started this process years ago!

No time for regrets - use that energy to move forward. It's all positive!

I was feeling good about reducing the stack of quilts that needed binding, so I grabbed one of mine that had the binding sewn on one side and now the binding is completely on. It's going upstairs to join the others on the bed.

One of my quilts is finished

I think there are still 6 or 7 quilts that need to be bound. A project for later this week or if I do one a day, they'll all be done by the end of the week.

I love being able to bind the quilts without having to put a walking foot on the sewing machine. The IDT technology on the PFAFF is amazing! I'll try and remember to post the links to my binding techniques today. If you haven't learned to put a binding on with the sewing machine, you should give it a whirl. Yes - I know that we have all the time in the world to hand stitch those bindings on, but for everyday quilts? I wouldn't consider doing them by hand. Even if you sew one side by hand, there are still amazing tips in those links to help you get the binding on right. There are several big issues with binding - the seam allowance is too narrow, the mitered corners are NOT miters, and the seams are not pressed correctly.

Using the IDT system on the PFAFF creative icon

I made great progress on another quilt but you can't see that until next week. It's looking great and I'm becoming extremely good at design positioning on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 for machine embroidery. Wait until you see it!!!!

So the girls and I took an extra-long walk yesterday. We headed over to the mall to check out the other side of the construction. Shoot - I took a really close up photo that the camera isn't wanting to transfer. Not sure what's going on there. But this is a view from another angle.

The old Sears store at Erin Mills Town Center

I swear it looks like they are already starting to put up walls inside what's left. That can't be right as I would suspect they would complete the new structure before. Who knows????

OK - just got an e-mail that Fabricland (at last) has closed their stores temporarily. Let me say that the mall parking lot, except for near the Wal-Mart was dead. It appears that all or most of the stores are closed.

So here's the thing about Fabricland or the quilt stores for that matter. I have a friend who grew up in Canada. They moved to St. Lucia years ago and guess what? There are no fabric stores on St. Lucia - at least ones that sell quilting cotton or nice thread that we have access to here. Guess what that means?? Yes - you improvise. She did without or used something else or waited for one of their shopping trips to Miami. Now, we could be buying online, but I find that buying online just encourages one to overspend. I don't normally buy my supplies online and I'm not about to start. Yes - I need to support my local shops, but if I don't have the income to support them? And I don't need anything, I'm not spending my money to make someone else happy.

My friend used to have to wait until their big shopping trip (I think it was twice a year) to Miami if she was missing supplies. Imagine that!!!  So I think Fabricland did the right thing. There's no need to endanger their employees so we can buy fabric and thread.

The thing we have to remember is that we (the ENTIRE WORLD) are stuck in this same situation. Some countries are in way worse shape than we are in Canada. I feel for those people - but we need to be respecting the guidelines that are currently in place and stay home! Just stay at home! The internet seems to be working just fine - it's not slowing down and there's plenty to do if you look and relax.

It's interesting to walk around the neighborhood these days. It's quiet. Very quiet. I see a few more people out walking, but not many. I saw a family playing in the park and a mother and son trying to fly a kite. But there is NO ONE outside. It's OK to take a walk. We're encouraged to take walks to get some fresh air, get some vitamin D for our immune system and just to do something different.

I saw a line outside the liquor store. It wasn't a very long line, but a line none the less. No line outside the grocery stores. And the good news? We finally got ONE 12-roll package of TP. That was all that was allowed. And that's the way it should be. One pack with 12 rolls will last a fairly decent time (at least for the two of us) and then we'll get another. We also got chicken yesterday which we haven't been able to get for an entire week.

After our long walk, the girls and I retired to the backyard. Yes - it was below zero. OK - wait - I have to tell you this. I'm walking the dogs and I have my hat, scarf, and mitts on. It's below zero and there's a wind chill. But the sun is out and it's glorious but still cold. I see a young couple coming towards me. The guy is wearing a T-shirt and shorts. The girl has long pants and a sweatshirt. They are running. It's a nice day, but seriously????  Get a grip!!!

Back to the backyard. I sat in the gazebo and had an after walk snack. Hey - you CANNOT snack if you don't take a walk. I mean - do you want to come out of this event weighing more than when you went in? If you're NOT getting some activity into your day, you CANNOT eat snacks. Sometimes, I walk so much just so I can eat snacks!!! I like snacks. Anyway, I had my coat and scarf on. The afternoon sun hits the gazebo so it was warm and sheltered from the wind. It was glorious!!!

I saw this in the pond. What is that? It looks like a bluejay feather. I wonder what got him excited that he dropped a feather in the pond? Thankfully, it wasn't a heron feather.

A bluejay feather in the pond

And I had to share this photo with you. This is from Google Maps and my Virtual Challenge to walk across Canada. I've just left Jasper. Notice the angle of the camera? Normally, the camera is in the middle of the road as the camera is mounted on a car. I wondered what happened this day???  But the photo is beautiful. I'm on my way to Edmonton! It's going to be much "easier" to walk once I'm out of the mountains. Less beautiful scenery though!!

A photo from Google maps just outside Jasper, Alberta

I thought I'd share this article with you. It's about face masks. I know that it's a challenge to know what information is right or isn't right. But this one definitely rings true for me and I've heard it backed up in numerous places. People are making masks from cotton. READ the article - I think it's very informative. Not just for now, but for future reference.

A somewhat similar situation with the disposable gloves. This disease is NOT spread by skin contact. You could probably touch it all day and not contract it. BUT the minute you touch your face with your hand (whether it has a glove on or not), you have just introduced the virus to your body. Think about that! So why is there such a run (for regular people) to get gloves? Because NO ONE is thinking this through.

The other thing is about wipes. If you're not going outside and therefore NO DANGER of introducing the virus into your house - why would you need to wipe everything down and disinfect it? Just some food for thought. Please do NOT lose your common sense!!!

And now to end this off on a positive note, here are the links from QUILTsocial on how to bind a quilt with the sewing machine. Enjoy!!!!

There is some great information in these links. Check them out. Send me a picture of your bound quilts!!!

           Binding from start to finish including the video on winding the binding into a figure 8
https://quiltsocial.com/binding-a-quilt/
 How to make continuous bias binding
https://quiltsocial.com/9-steps-to-making-continuous-bias-binding/
Calculating yardage for binding and what to do with leftover binding strips
https://quiltsocial.com/the-formula-for-calculating-the-necessary-yardage-for-binding-your-quilt/
Learning to put the binding on with the sewing machine
https://quiltsocial.com/2-ways-to-machine-stitch-a-binding-on-a-quilt/
Prepping the edges of the quilt before sewing the binding on and trimming the quilt
https://quiltsocial.com/7-essential-tips-for-sewing-the-binding-on-a-quilt-by-machine/
Using different stitches and thread color choices to stitch down the binding
https://quiltsocial.com/stitching-down-the-binding-thread-color-stitches-and-stitch-length/
Using striped fabric for binding and what happens when the binding gets damaged
https://quiltsocial.com/3-tattle-tale-experiments-on-binding-a-quilt/
General binding tips and making a hanging sleeve
https://quiltsocial.com/2-questions-before-you-sew-binding-by-machine/
Piping and decorative stitches on the binding
https://quiltsocial.com/2-quilt-bindings-that-add-pizzazz-getting-creative-with-the-epic-980q/
Turning the corner on the binding that is NOT square
https://quiltsocial.com/3-essential-tips-for-binding-a-quilt-turning-your-corners-successfully/
Reversible binding
https://quiltsocial.com/how-to-make-and-apply-reversible-binding-on-your-quilts/
Using invisible thread on the bindings
https://quiltsocial.com/key-tips-on-sewing-your-binding-by-machine-and-thread-choice/
How to add a flange to your binding
https://quiltsocial.com/5-steps-for-adding-a-pop-of-color-with-a-flange-in-the-binding/
Stitch length for sewing bindings
https://quiltsocial.com/the-five-bobbin-sewing-challenge/

Vow to learn something new today. Make good use of your time. While the world is in total chaos, we need to make sure that we use our time wisely.

On that note, I'm out of here. Got loads to get done today and I'm ready to get started.

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!!