Is this a coincidence?

I know - you want to know what miracle happened at 5 AM yesterday. I won't make you wait.

On my schedule for yesterday was to quilt a small quilt - or should I say to finish quilting the quilt. Actually, the quilt is done, but I don't think there's enough quilting on it so I wanted to do more. But where or where are the threads that I used to make the quilt? I know a box or some kind of container exists. I had NOT started to look for it.

Yesterday morning at 5 AM when I had been sewing for a bit, I noticed these two cabinets beside me under the sewing table.

Two cabinets beneath my sewing table

Hmm - what's actually in those cabinets? I had pulled something out of the bottom drawer on the blue one the other day as it's totally empty. I don't even remember what that was now. But what's in the other drawers?

I pulled the bottom one open. Oh my - here's a tin. What's in there? I tried to open it up while it was still in the drawer and that wasn't happening. I ALMOST left it and went back to sewing.

Tin in the drawer

But curiosity got the better of me and I pulled it out.

The tin is now removed from the drawer

I opened it and almost died laughing. Yep - that would be the box of threads that I knew I was going to have to look for THAT DAY!!!! How bizarre is that??

The missing threads - but were they really missing?

So technically, the threads weren't missing since I hadn't even started to look for them. But I doubt I would have looked there. The brain works in very mysterious ways. I also found a bunch of other stuff in the box. Most of it has been put away where it's supposed to go. But this is a BAD BAD thing. How many other project boxes are holding a ton of fabric or thread or possibly even tools? Oh boy - I know that I'm going to find more stuff as I continue the clean-up.

I was so busy with other stuff that I didn't get to quilting the little wall hanging. I even found the label for the little quilt. Did you notice the date on the label??? 2008!!!!  Oh god - I was such a procrastinator!!  I have to confess that the quilt didn't get quilted because I was super busy. It's that I want to add more quilting, but I don't know what quilting to put on it. I'm going to contemplate that today and try to get it off the list!!!

The label for the mini quilt

BUT -  I decided to go through all the drawers in those two cabinets and I was shocked at what I found. Do you know what this is????

A mysterious white box

Actually, it's not that mysterious - it's the accessory box for the sewing machine that's in the sewing cabinet. The one that I'm currently using. I had been wondering where it was but wasn't dwelling on it. And guess what I found inside????

Presser feet and bobbins

Yes - that's all the presser feet for the machine and some bobbins. Not that I missed those as I have duplicates from my other machines. So that wasn't such a huge find. But when I lifted out the tray and looked underneath, I almost died laughing. It was a hysterical morning!!!

OMG -- there's the straight stitch plate!!!!  I wanted one the other day and I didn't think this machine came with one! Thank goodness the dealers are closed right now because I even thought of calling and asking to buy one. I would have looked very foolish indeed!!!!

The straight stitch plate

And why did I want this? Well, if you are only piecing or quilting, this is the stitch plate to use. It prevents things from getting sucked into the bobbin case, especially when you're sewing pieces with pointy ends (like my half square triangle ender/leaders) and when you're working with the small stuff like my mini-quilt. Both of which I've been sewing in the last little while.

I whipped the zigzag stitch plate off the machine and put on the straight stitch plate.

The zigzag stitch plate

I didn't want to accidentally break a needle so I set the Stitch Width Safety to ON.

The Stitch Width Safety is now ON

And what does that mean? It means that I get a reminder when I turn on the sewing machine that it's set for a straight stitch.

The machine is set for Straight Stitch

That's a HUGE thing - no need to put a sticky note on the machine. And it won't let me choose another stitch other than the straight stitch. Yep - a super nice feature to have. I'm sewing on the Husqvarna Viking Opal 690Q. I know - I have access to some pretty exciting sewing machines and I'm sewing on the low end one. I'm OK. It's a super machine and I love it!!!!

I have other things to share with you that I found in the drawer. Oh boy - as DH says - I have way too much stuff and don't even know what I have or where it is located. Well, I have to answer yes to the first accusation, but the second? For the most part, I do know where most stuff is. And I'm getting better now that most of the stuff is getting a permanent home.

I've been wanting to contact someone that I haven't been in touch with for quite a while. No e-mail address or phone number. And can you believe that I found their e-mail address in those drawers??  It may no longer be valid, but it's a starting point!!! I was shocked and had a great laugh about that as well.

I've been getting loads of sewing done. I got the binding on this last quilt for Quilts of Valour. So those are all done for this month. Five of them and I had to bind four of them. I'll make arrangements to deliver them at the end of the month and get the next ones prepped for May. I may not keep up the same pace as we head into summer, but I'll see how it goes. I also may run out of quilts that are appropriate for Quilts of Valour. That's OK - I'll just move onto quilting the other community projects quilts that are in the pile.

Quilts of Valour quilt - done!

I got the binding sewn to the back of this quilt and now to get it sewn to the front.

More binding on another quilt

 And then it was back to the mini-quilt. I have to make 28 of those little half stars. I have five different fabrics so that means 6 more or less from each fabric. Obviously, I can't count early in the morning, because I made 7 from the same fabric. The components for six of them are completely sewn and trimmed. I just have to trim the half-square triangles for the last one.

The pieced border

 I did get the top sewn together. It's a wee bit larger than it's supposed to be and I think I'd like to add the white sashing and cornerstones to the outside of the top. That means - I may I have to make a couple more of those darn half star blocks. That's OK. I'm going to have to add a coping strip to get the quilt top to the size right to put that pieced border on. There is one in the pattern, but I'll have to change the size.

The top of the mini quilt

Who am I grateful for today? DH of course! I guess he should have been the first person that I mentioned. He has been doing all the grocery shopping, but then he did most of it before the current situation. And he does all the cooking. OK - I do make my own breakfast and lunch. But he makes dinner and then we sit around and have some grand old conversations about many things. I know - I'm totally spoiled, but I have ZERO desire to cook anything. It just doesn't interest me and he loves to putter with foodstuff. More power to him!!! 

I've been so used to making my morning cup of tea at home, but lately, I've been thinking about a tea from Tim's. Just for a change. He so kindly stopped on his way home yesterday and got me my tea. I also asked for a cookie. Now here's his one problem. If you ask for ONE cookie, he can't get just one - he got six. What am I going to do with six cookies? They'll go stale before I can eat them all. Oh well - I'm not complaining.

A tea from Tim's

I don't want to bore you with all the details of my virtual challenges, but it's one of the things that I check every day. Oh god - I'm obsessed about a whole lot of things. I made this challenge to myself to walk the equivalent of walking across Canada and to do it in TWO years. That's aggressive and means I have to walk 7.1 miles EACH and every day to make it happen.

I'm almost to Edmonton!!!  But what the heck is that dip into Edmonton proper?? Am I going to City Hall or something? I got a good laugh out of that detour!!! Although this map shows that I'm ahead of my pace marker (the red dot), in fact, I'm about 2 miles behind. The map doesn't update the pace marker until about 9 AM. It's weird how the timing works on this. Instead of doing everything at midnight, it updates at the exact time you started the challenge or something like that. I don't know the entire thing.

Almost in Edmonton

But here's the exciting thing. Look at how many miles I've walked so far this year.

 I've walked 778 miles!!!!  That's HUGE. I still have 622 days to keep up this pace to make it across Canada. I WILL DO IT!!

The daily distance that I've set for the Route 66 Challenge is significantly less so I'm something like 80 miles ahead on that challenge. Remember, we are talking MILES, not KM. The girls and I are in great shape, to say the least. They are loving every single step!!!!

I'll leave you with this link today. The International Quilt Museum (in Nebraska) has some videos. You should check them out. There are lots of videos so that would keep you entertained for a long time.

And here's a great article about how crafts are good for the soul!! Of course - we all know that and that's why we quilters are going to conquer the world one day.

And on that note, I've run out of time. SO much more to say, so little time!!!!

Got a busy day with two on-line software consults with people, quilts to design, things to sew, lessons to prepare and so much more.

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!