I didn't take a picture of the laundry basket for the retreat, but I did assemble all the bits to finish the Canada tote bag. They are safely tucked into a large plastic bag and in the laundry basket. I wish I could say that the laundry basket was my idea, but it's not! That belongs to Tish. She would go to our retreats with ONE laundry basket. None of this messy and overflowing bags of stuff. It might take a while for me to learn, but I do get it eventually!
There are some very exciting things happening around here! I did open all my mail, and well - you can't see the fabric that came so I could finish my quilt. But it's gorgeous - it's flannel, which is hilarious considering that the temperature is in the 30s this week. Thankfully, Studio B is cool. I'm happy to report that the quilt is mostly cut out, and I have 7 blocks left to finish. The components are mostly made, so that won't take long at all. Then to sew it together.
I think the customer quilt has to come off the long-arm, and this one goes on. Then I'll reload the customer quilt. No choice - there's just not quite enough time to get them both done. Not to worry - let's move on.
Before I pop into the quilting stuff, here's a quick update on my virtual walking challenges. It is the end of June, so this is a good check-point. I set a goal of one year for the Route 66 challenge, so technically, I should be at the halfway point, and the Cross Canada virtual walk is a two-year goal, so I should be at the quarter mark. And where am I?
I'm well over the halfway point for the Route 66 Virtual Challenge, and I'm right on track for the Walking Across Canada challenge. Whew!!!! It's not really that big of a deal to keep up. The Canada one is a stretch goal (just over 7 miles every day), and I'm able to keep up. Sometimes, I get behind, and sometimes I'm ahead, but I keep walking every day to make it happen.
Where I'm a wee bit behind is on my cycling goal. I should be at 50% of that one, and I'm only at 34%. I think I may have to adjust that one because of not attending the gym to get to cycle class and having a crappy spring. OR - I get my butt in gear and get out on the bike every day. I don't have any additional time to devote to exercise. It's either walking or biking, but not both. So I'll have to modify this one. No big deal. It is allowed because of the COVID thing.
I have to share this picture with you. This is from the Cross Canada tour - I'm on my way to Winnipeg. I'm just leaving Regina, so I've got a ways to go before I hit Winnipeg. And once I get to Ontario, well, I'll be in Ontario for a long, long time.
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| On the way to Winnipeg |
And on the Route 66 challenge, I've now less than 1,000 miles to go. That's so exciting. I've walked almost 1,300 MILES since January. That was accomplished by walking 1 ½ to 2 hours every day. My legs are feeling super strong, and I can whip around my little track in no time flat. What's great is that what I thought was a fairly lengthy distance around that big block isn't that long any longer. Once you do it several times, it becomes routine.
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| Less than 1,000 miles to walk |
I only had one silly driver last night. And I swear, she looked at me, like I was in the wrong when I clearly had the right of way. Then I realized what it is. Drivers don't think pedestrians have the right-of-way, and they certainly don't think it's the law to stop at a red light BEFORE they turn right. I must have missed that on the driver's ed test! Sigh..................
OK -- so as if that isn't enough silliness about walking, guess what? My group (we're called the Quilt Posse), signed up for this.
I know - how crazy is that? So this Virtual Walk starts in St. John's and goes to Victoria. So at some point, guess what's going to happen? I'm going to meet myself!!! Talk about a time warp moment that'll be.
It starts tomorrow. So if you get a team together - or you can do 800 KM and get the finishing medal yourself. We're four to walk 8.,000 km and we have one year to do it. That's very doable!
If you or someone you know is interested, here's the link to sign up. But sign up TODAY to save a ton of money on the registration fee.
And now onto the quilting stuff.
I participated in the Quilt Canada mini-swap. We were assigned a swap partner, and we were going to meet up at Quilt Canada, which was to be held earlier this month. We were both a bit late getting the mini-quilts done, but Dolores received hers last night, and I received mine last week. It was in one of those packages. So now we can share.
This is what Dolores made for me. Yep - I like words, and I love orange!
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| My new mini-quilt |
Even the back and the label have words on them!!! It's adorable, and I'll have to find a place to hang that up!
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| The back of my mini quilt |
And this is what I made for Dolores. She likes teal/purples and Minions. Since Minions are yellow - that was a challenge. So this is a Midnight caper with the Minions. Bob, Kevin, Carl, Stuart, Dave, Phil, Tim, and Jorge are all represented here. Oh yes - I learned a lot about the minions as I made this quilt.
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| Midnight Caper with the Minions |
I threw it on the long arm and did a very dense background fill.
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| Dense quilting |
And here's one of the eyes! They were paper pieced, and there was a LOT of pieces in each eye. I had "fun" making them. But the end result is so worth it.
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| A paper pieced Minion eye |
I found the patterns for the Minions at Fandom in Stitches—lots of free designs there for characters of all kinds. I only used the eyes from the patterns, but the entire body of the Minions is also available.
And here's the back of the quilt. I thought it appropriate to use the Minions on the orange background so she could remember me!!!! Shoot - I didn't get a picture of the label, I'll have to ask Dolores to send me that.
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| The back of the Minion quilt |
So I saw the strangest thing last week at the retreat. A cradle for your phone to simulate walking. This is for a game - Pokemon. I shall not say whose phone this is. It just makes me think - what's the point? But I digress.
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| A cradle for your phone |
Let's just hope that the Fitbit doesn't get on that cradle!!!
Here are two more finishes from the retreat. This is one of Ronda's sports quilts. I think that one is a Raptor's quilt. There's a story about these quilts, which I'll share tomorrow.
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| One of Ronda's finishes on the weekend |
And this one is Susan's. She had never made a quilt with sashing before, and she got it together with NO ripping.
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| Susan's finish for the weekend |
Yikes - I thought I should clean my sewing machine before I started to sew yesterday. AH - I think there's a wee bit of lint stuck in the feed teeth. I pulled out the little "felt pads" that had grown in there.
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| Cleaning out the lint in the sewing machine |
Now I'm really excited about these tubs. I inherited them from someone, and they were at the house when I arrived home. It was like Christmas when I got back!
So what's going to happen with these seven giant tubs??
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| Storage tubs |
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| The mess of UFOs and new projects to clear up |
That is really the last area in Studio B that needs to be addressed. And it'll be inspiring to get that organized and sorted. Then when I need to "shop" for a new project, I can scan the lists and then pull out the appropriate item.
I'm going to put all the UFO items on my Task Master lists in one tub, so they are even easier to find. I just need ONE day to pull all that together. That's not going to happen this week, but you never know what can happen early one morning.
One more very exciting thing happened yesterday. I got a text telling me that I could schedule an appointment at my local library branch to pick up the books, well some of them, that I have on hold. Thankfully, I had gone in and put many of them on suspend. So I have an appointment for tonight. Just a few minutes before my scheduled Zoom class so I have to shift the class by 15 minutes because I don't know how to switch the library appointment. DUH!!!
We had our four-hour Zoom session with the Monday sewing group. This is such a great way to stay in touch with everyone. I LOVE Zoom.
On that note, I'd better get the day started. It's going to be busy as I hope to get that quilt on the long arm tonight and ready to quilt tomorrow.
Have a super day!!!!
Ciao!!!
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