Paranormal? or the wind?

What's with the weather? So - we have those beautiful trees in the backyard, but when the wind picks up - well, it's quite another story than the peaceful scenario you usually see. When we were eating dinner on the deck last night, it was very noisy, and when the wind really picked up with the rain at about 10 PM, it was like a train going through. Holy!!! Let's hope if any of the trees decide to topple over that, they fall away from the house.

The rain and the wind were pretty spectacular. I'm glad I was in the house!

I think I'm like one of those perpetual clocks. I can't stop moving, or I'll shut down! I've been "chained" to the sewing machine doing paper piecing. Oh boy - that's a mind-numbing job!!!! And it was my choice! This is for the mini-swap for Quilt Canada. Yes - it's late, but both my swap partner and I are OK with that. Each of the 14 blocks has about 35 pieces in it. They are teeny tiny and oh my - what a job.

Well - this sucks! I've just tried to upload pictures, and nothing happens! Let me try one more time.

OK -- so it looks like no pictures today. Well - you'll just have to put your imagination to work as I describe stuff. Or I might just chat about something else and save the stories and the pictures for tomorrow.

Like I said, strange things happened in our house yesterday, and now it looks like a gremlin hit the computer.

The cleaning lady came yesterday. I don't know who was more excited - us or the dogs? I swear Murphy has revenge for us. You know all that pretty mulch in the backyard? Well, Murphy is a dirt magnet. She's just like Linus on Charlie Brown. She loves to lie in the mulch and then comes in the house with her fuzzy butt covered.

We've had to sweep the floor every day. Then Crystal came yesterday, and Murphy hasn't tracked anything in the house. What's with that???

I tried one more time and VOILA - pictures!!!!

I had to buy this iron because it was orange. How sad is that? Well, it's not my favorite iron because of the way the controls work. And then the other day, it went mad, and all the lights were flashing bright red. Not sure what that was all about, but it hasn't repeated that little hissy fit since.

Flashing lights on the iron

I decided to dig out my UFO for this month. The month is going by very quickly, and that date is looming. I don't want to have to make 80 blocks in a day again! Thankfully, my project this month only has 9 blocks. It's a snail's trail quilt.

It's called Let Sleeping Dogs Lie. I didn't take a picture of the pattern, but it's basically the same as the Let Sleeping Cats Lie, except it has dog heads on the outer part of the snail's trail blocks instead of the cats. And I think both patterns will be up for grabs should anyone want them.

Let Sleeping Cats Lie

There was one block completed up to the point of adding the dog heads.

One snail's trail block done

So up close that blocks looks OK, but when I put it on the wall and stood back. Hmmm - no contrast.
Oh gosh - excuse the mess as Studio B is a bit turned upside down at the moment because of the "film" studio in the corner.

There is a contrast on only ONE of the brown spots

Look at all the fabric in the project box.

Fabric in the project box

The good news is that ALL of the fabrics were cut and in the project box. 

Fabric cut for the snail's trail blocks

The squares were cut, but they needed to be cut in half and laid out. It's a bit tricky to get the pieces all going in the right direction. This next block was partially sewn together. So I got it all laid out as it's supposed to be. 

One more block laid out and ready to sew

Since I was on a roll, I got all the squares cut in half and divided up the pieces into blocks. And I still have over ONE WEEK before the deadline. I'm on a roll!

The pieces for eight more blocks

 I even got the next block pieced and put it on the wall. OH NO!!!!  While the contrast is a wee bit better, it's still very weak.

One more snail's trail block done

And from a distance, the contrast is gone.

No contrast in the block

OK -- so we have a couple of options. First off, I don't think I'm going to add the dog heads to the blocks. That would be 36 APPLIQUED dog heads to put on the quilt. What was I thinking when I bought the pattern? That's NOT going to happen in my lifetime. And I'm NOT happy with the contrast in those first two blocks. SO - what I might do is go back to the fabrics and cut more of the lighter browns. I'll mix those with the darker browns and the blacks, so I get high contrast in ALL of the blocks. The two blocks already made will go on the back of the quilt. I'll make enough blocks to get a decent sized quilt with borders, and it can be donated to Quilts of Valour. I guess I'll have to do some math and some cutting later today.

My goal for the month on this quilt was to piece nine blocks (technically two are done) and decide what to do with the quilt. That is now figured out. So seven more blocks and my homework is done for this month. That should be easy now that I know what I'm going to do. Planning is half the battle. This is the LAST project on my 2017 UFO list. Oh - I still have to sew the red/white log cabins blocks together into a quilt top. I'm very close to getting the 2017 UFO list done! Getting those last two items off will be my focus for the next two months.

When I was tidying up yesterday, I snapped a picture of the drawer from which I removed the lint rollers. There are a few things that don't belong in that drawer. I'll put those away in a bit, and then I get to decide what goes in the draw. How exciting is that? Maybe this is all that goes in the drawer?

An almost empty drawer to contemplate

Here's another customer quilt - DONE. I'm in the trimming process, so hopefully, all the quilted quilts will get trimmed today. 

Customer quilt - DONE

Back to the paper piecing. I finished with one of the colors, and here's my little scrap pile. Gosh - this is a LONG process. Usually, I like paper piecing, but maybe because these pieces are teeny tiny, I'm finding it a slow process. I was even able to use some of my castoff scraps from this pile for some of the pieces. That's how small some of the pieces are. I hope my swap partner appreciates the quilt when it's done!!!

Paper piecing scraps

I had been listening to the radio, but I was fading and fading fast! I need to move! To keep me entertained, I decided to binge-watch BluPrint classes. I haven't received a letter about my subscription, so I don't know when it's going to shut down, but I decided to get my money's worth, and it's perfect for watching when I'm chained to the chair. That's the one problem with those little tables. The ironing surface and the cutting mat are too close to the sewing machine, so I don't have to move. I don't move, I fall asleep!

Watching BluPrint classes

So what about the paranormal activity? I went downstairs this morning to find this big blank space on my wall. NO - it wasn't any bookcases, but rather a small shelf that I had installed a while back.

The shelf fell down

The shelf itself fell onto my sewing table. The quilt that hung from the shelf is still attached.

The fallen shelf

I should have taken a picture, but all these bits of stuff were strewn on the floor. Nothing broke.

Stuff that fell off the shelf

What's weird is that it was installed with plastic plugs. Three of them. Two came out with the shelf.

Plastic plug attached to the shelf

And one is still stuck in the wall.

Plastic plug in the wall

What's even weirder is that in the last two days, on two separate occasions, stuff has fallen from this shelf. I thought it was because I shut the door beside the shelf too firmly on one occasion, but the other? I wasn't even close to the shelf. That's weird.

Then as I was working this morning, I noticed something else amiss. Hey - three of these blocks fell off the wall. Now, they have been stuck to the flannel wall for months. Never fell off and then last night? Poof - three fell off.

Three squares fell off the flannel wall

So - the wind? A ghostly visited? Or just a coincidence?


Here's another picture of Oreo and his new quilt. He looks pretty relaxed. I think he likes it!!!  The things we do for pets!!! The best part? His quilt matches his Mom's quilt!!!

Oreo on his quilt

Well, another busy day planned. I must focus on that paper piecing for ONLY an hour or so. No more cause it just throws me off. I'm happy to report that 4 of 14 blocks are DONE. And parts of the other fourteen are completed. I figure I'll have everything done by the weekend. I've got projects planned for our Virtual Retreat this weekend. I can't wait to see everyone!!!!

Here's the link for Saturday, June 13th   The Retreat starts at 9 AM EST and runs until 8 PM EST. 

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82795140672?pwd=U1Zqb2d1UStZVzBCZW1VemRaY0wzQT09 Meeting ID: 827 9514 0672 Password: 928966


Feel free to drop in for a few minutes to say hi or stay for an hour or stay all day. Your choice and it's free for you to participate. You don't even have to be sewing - just come and chat. As I said yesterday, it's very close to being right there with everyone. It's a lot of fun. 

On that note, I"m out of here. Loads to get done today, and I'd better get started. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!