It was meant to be

What's on my reading list at the moment? I'm reading The Missing Millionaire by Katie Daubs. It's a book about a Toronto businessman who owned theatres at the beginning of the 20th century. He sold one of his theatres for $1 million in December 1919 and then disappeared. They never found him or his body. Because there was money involved, the story just never died. Family members fighting over money, shysters trying to get money through the family and well - it just never seemed to end.

It's an interesting read as you get some insight into life in Toronto 100 years ago. How different things are now.

I'm also reading a book about WW2. If someone had told me a couple of years ago that I would be reading books about the war, I'd have told them they were crazy. It's not my favorite genre - the subject matter makes it very difficult to read. This one is called The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. While we can't compare our current situation to wartime - it does make you think that we're not so bad off after all.

At least when we go to the grocery store, we know that we'll get something to eat and when we go for a walk, that we won't be shot. We have access to computers - heck - sometimes, they didn't have access to electricity or heat. It's an audiobook and I'm 3/4 of the way through. I hope to finish today. It's an excellent read if you're into books about the war.

I know that I'm in a very good mental place as we go through this pandemic. There are a couple of reasons for that. I'm NOT dependent on others to keep me entertained. I think of children today who have no idea how to play on their own as their schedules are constantly filled with activities. I lived in a remote area when I was a kid and had limited access to friends until I hit Grade 6. I know - that's totally crazy. I have hobbies that will take me well into my retirement years and they are hobbies that I can do on my own. I'm not a hugger so if I don't get a hug from friends, I'm OK with that. That's just a couple of reasons why I'm not going crazy with the self-isolation.

I can only hope that once we emerge from this situation that people/children will have learned some good life lessons and not have spent the entire time in front of a screen.

More time on the phone yesterday, and that's OK.

Someone was looking for a particular pattern in a magazine and they thought it was McCalls in 2002 and 2003. I checked ALL the issues - YES - I have them all and I was able to put my hands on them in mere minutes. The beauty of having things organized. I did not find the pattern.

However, I did find this which I thought was hilarious. A comment from me in an issue of McCalls from 2002. It's all about EQ5. How cool is that? I still use EQ8 pretty much every day. I'd be lost without it.  I see a new submission just came in so I'll be hitting EQ8 later today to start figuring out the next quilt design. I know some people are good with graph paper, but you can't beat EQ8 for its ease of use, versatility, and SPEED.

Quote from me about EQ5

Oh - here's the stack of magazines that I pulled off the shelf to search for that pattern. I think this highlights the importance of keeping ALL the supplies, including the pattern with the quilt.

McCalls magazines collection

I tidied up the office table a wee bit more. I had emptied this small basket so I put everything in the basket that I want to deal with this week. Or at least grab one or two items as I pass by during the day. Now the table doesn't look quite so messy and I'm NOT allowed to add anything to the table until this is dealt with. That's going to take a while, but I did manage to deal with a couple more things yesterday. Progress is going to be slow - I totally OK with that. Any progress is better than none.

Paper stuff to deal with this week

I had loaded a quilt last week and it needed custom quilting so of course, it sat there for a while before I had time to get it done. Here's the quilt.

Community projects quilt - DONE

Like almost everyone, I struggle with how to quilt a quilt when a new one comes up and it's not going to get an edge to edge pattern.

I decided to do a background fill. OK - decision number one is made. I did the background fill.

Swirling background fill

As I was quilting, I was contemplating what to do with the star blocks. As I was quilting, I was really liking how the stars popped up from the background. Normally I would do some stitch in the ditch around ALL the edges, but I decided that this wasn't necessary. I stitched in the ditch on all the internal seams, but NOT the outside of the stars. If that makes sense.

The center block has this embroidered saying about Cancer Can't. I stitched the background fill around the stitching, but not over it.

Cancer Can't

Here's the label for the quilt. OH GOD - look at the date! This has been languishing in the "to be quilted" pile for 16 years!!!!

The label

This label is pieced into the backing, along with signature blocks from SOME (not all) of the people who made the blocks in the quilt.

Now here's the story of this quilt and why I dug it out of the "to be quilted" pile. And yes - it did get crossed off the master list!!

Way back at the turn of the century (doesn't that sound weird to say that?) when I was a new quilter, I was involved in The Quilt. This was a fundraising project for Breast Cancer and it was run by Carol Miller. Each year, people/organizations donated quilts (and some of the quilts were stunning), but all were made with hope. The quilts were then auctioned off and the project grew from one show in Stratford to shows and auctions in various locations across Canada. I think the show closed in 2006??

I arranged to get a fabric donation from Northcott Silk (their name at the time) and made kits with blues and white. The kits were sold for $10 and we had 100 kits. People were to send the blocks back to me along with a signature block. The blocks were assembled into quilts - I don't even remember who helped me do that. To be honest, I can't even remember what happened to the other 6 quilts. I think they ended up in some of the auctions. I'll have to check that out as I still have all the catalogs.

This was the last of the 7 quilts to be made and it was made with all the odd blocks that were leftover. I knew the lady who had embroidered the Cancer Can't block. The Quilt project closed down before I could get this last quilt quilted and there it sat. I had spoken to a friend of mine (the mother of the lady who did the center block) and the intention was that she was going to "buy the quilt" by making a donation. Then she could have the quilt and do with it as she pleased.

In an odd turn of events, cancer has arisen it's ugly head in this family. I thought it was time to get the quilt done and they could have it if they wanted. So that's where this quilt is going. It's being picked up and delivered tomorrow. I can only pray that the story behind the quilt and the fact that a family member embroidered that center will bring some hope and cheer to the young (way too young) recipient of the quilt.

And that will bring to an end my involvement with The Quilt project that started over 20 years ago.

Shoot - just pulled the catalogs and I don't see any of the quilts in there. I'll check more thoroughly later. Does anyone remember where those blue and white quilts went? I know I don't have them and I swear they were sold.

You can read back in one of my posts where I chat briefly about The Quilt project.

So I'm truly trying to clear up some of the UFOs that have been set aside for various reasons over the last 20 + years. Slow and steady - that's all that counts. Slow and steady and ZERO guilt. It's called amnesty quilting. NO ONE is allowed to judge. We just pull out these UFOs and get them done. That's all that counts.

I'm not losing any sleep over some of the procrastinating that I've done over the years. I'm just glad to get some of these quilts off to a good home.

Speaking of UFOs, here's the current status of that mini-quilt. There are THREE half star blocks left to sew. THREE!!! Happy dance!!!!!

Mini-quilt block status

I've got a lot of work to get done today. Now that the custom quilt is off the long arm, I was going to load a customer quilt. Then I thought that wouldn't be a good idea. I haven't tried the long arm since I did the update and so I'd better find a small community projects quilt to try - just in case something goes wonky. You just never know!

Bindings to put on quilts, more stuff to tidy up, walking and I PROMISE to put up the UFO homework from a couple of weeks ago. There just seems to be something that I NEED to say so those pictures get put off until the next day. The other thing I MUST do today is to get the vacuum out. I'm so not good with that. I see the dirt and I can literally walk right over it without caring. That's how important housework is to me. I know people who probably vacuum every day. Not in this house. I attribute that dirt to our good health. I know some of you would be shocked, but I don't really care!

On that note, I've got to get the day started. What's with the COLD wind out there this morning? Brrr!!!

Oh - speaking of walks, I have to share this photo with you. On my walk across Canada, I've left Edmonton and working my way to the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. Look at the landscape - now that's flat.

Landscape east of Edmonton

I'm almost in Oklahoma City on my Route 66 challenge. I follow the Facebook page of others on their various challenges. It's so uplifting to read some of the stories. A man who has lost 20 pounds during the pandemic. He decided that he was going to come out of the pandemic a different and better person. A woman who has walked without a cane for the first time in 8 years. She walked 1/3 mile. The stories are so uplifting.

OK -- got to go - I have meetings this week and some stuff I need to prep for.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!