Ooops - I did it again

I'm listening to an audiobook at the moment called Finding Chika by Mitch Albom. It's a short one, so I hope to finish it today. It's about a Haitian child who was brought to the US because of a serious brain tumor. She does die - I'm not looking forward to that part of the book. The audiobook is way more interesting and fun than the actual hard copy of the book. The author reads the book, and there are audio clips of Chika and Mitch throughout the book. It's fun to actually hear some of the things that are talked about in the book.

But here's the thing. When Mitch and his wife undertook the care of Chika, they were past childbearing years and had never had children. He keeps referring to the wonderment of life that he learned by discovering things through the eyes of a child. He's absolutely right! Many adults do not stop and smell the roses, so to speak.

We're too busy doing things, getting things done, driving in the car, or whatever we do. I even heard the radio announcers this morning make mention that they find themselves just sitting and looking out the window - something they never did before.

I find this rather shocking!! This is how I live my life EVERY DAY. I love to look at things - I love to ask questions. I want to know how everything works! Well, maybe not everything, but curiosity is a great thing. Unfortunately, many people lose their curiosity or don't allow it to the surface once they get older and too busy.

By the way, there are videos of Mitch and Chika on the internet, if you choose to search them out.

Why am I telling you this story? I was sitting in the gazebo yesterday afternoon. No time for a nap, but I did manage to finish my book. As I was sitting there, this is what I observed. There's this ant with what looks like a grain of rice in his "hands." He's making great progress up the post of the gazebo. Where is he going? I'd better check that out - I don't want an ant nest up in the roof of the gazebo. It's bad enough that the squirrels think they are entitled to camp out there.

An ant carrying something

So what's this next guy doing??  A slacker for sure. He was going up, the same direction as the other one, but his "hands" were empty.

This ant is getting off pretty easy

Perhaps he has a different job. Anyway, watching ants is a fascinating thing. I don't know why they seem to be all over the gazebo. I should put out something to discourage them.

A big shout out to Linda, who suggested I get with this type of running (walking shoe). I believe this is the FIRST time ever that I've worn out the heels of the shoes before the toes go.

Heels are getting worn down

See -- look at those toes. Totally intact!

The toes of the running shoes are just fine

I guess it's time to walk down to National Sport and get myself another pair of shoes. I bought them in December and started wearing them in January. Since then, I've walked over 1,400 MILES. I think I got my money's worth from the shoes. FILA seems to be the ONLY shoe company that makes this style of running/walking shoe. I wish I could wear the fancy, colored running shoes, but the toes are made of mesh, and I'll go through them in no time. 😞😞😞

I just hope the next pair isn't as bad to break in. I now know that I need long socks at the beginning until the tongue softens up. I still have marks on my feet from that!

I'm happy to report that the quilt I was working on yesterday is DONE. Well, almost. All the little details on the back still need to be done - label, sleeve, sewing the facing down. But to submit the quilt, I only needed a picture of the completed front. That's done! I need to set aside a day for hand stuff as I now have several sleeves, labels, and other tidying up things that need to be done.

BUT as I was finishing off the quilting, look what happened. The batting flipped behind the quilt, and I had stitched several lines before I realized it. OH SHOOT -- of course, I was too lazy (smart) to rip it out and restitch. This picture was taken after I started to fix it.

The batting got stitched to the quilting

I took a pair of very sharp scissors and cut away all the batting between the lines of stitching. Then I picked the fluff out from between the stitches and VOILA -- no batting attached to the back of the quilt. A little bit of the backing got tucked in there as well, but I was able to pick that out. It didn't take long. Phew!!!!

The backing is now clear

I'm not sure if I showed this to you, but I did the same thing when I was embroidering the Dream Big panel. The waste cloth strips along the sides got tucked under the hoop. Oh - I had checked and rechecked every time I hooped. But I was having trouble getting one of the pedals in the right position and had to rehoop several times. I was so happy that everything was positioned just right that I forgot to check under the hoop. As luck would have it, this happened on the densest part of the stitching. I was going to rip it out - AH - I don't think so!!!  I cut the bulk of the fabric away. Thankfully, it was just fabric in this case. I could take the scissors and cut more away, but I think it adds a story to this piece, so the mistake stays!!

The back of the Dream Big panel with an oopsy

I got a customer quilt loaded and quilted. I'll get it trimmed later today or tomorrow.

Customer quilt - DONE

So the entry form for the Try a Triad Challenge got submitted. I got my confirmation back, and I believe the online show will take place in September. I'll let you know.

Then it was onto the next quilt, which was also a challenge that was supposed to be done for Quilt Canada. This is the Trend-Tex challenge. You buy a pack of five fat quarters and make something from those five fat quarters. Of course, I wasn't done! But the design was made, and it was partially completed. There's applique on the quilt.

The applique got finished yesterday, and the quilt is loaded on the long arm ready to go when I start to work this morning. It shouldn't take that long to finish - it's only 16" square. The application is ready to go, the binding and sleeve are cut and ready to sew on. If it gets to Ottawa by July 22, it can be included in the judging. If not, at least, it'll be included in the sale. I rather like my piece, and I might buy it back!

The theme for this year is 2020, which brings lots of things to mind. As I was working on the piece, I was wondering what to put on the back. Then I thought of my stash of Millennium fabric. Oh yes - that would be perfect to put on the quilt.

Millennium fabric stash

I was a new quilter when this fabric started to surface, and well - I dove in like a madwoman. I scoured the earth to get every Millennium fabric I could find. Literally - as I purchased one of the pieces from England. I cut a two-inch square of each and put them in page protectors to help me with my shopping.

Swatches of Millenium fabric

And here are more swatches. Trust me, this is only part of the collection.

More swatches of Millenium fabric

I did this with a couple of other themes, but I'm cured now! There are several patterns in the basket as well, and yes - my goal is to make ONE quilt from the Millenium fabric. It's not time yet - perhaps on the 50th anniversary - if I'm still quilting! 

I keep forgetting to post the information about the Virtual Retreat because YES - there is a Virtual Retreat this weekend. I've got a lot of stuff to sew - actually, I have two projects that I want to sew, and having everyone working along will keep me at it.

The Virtual Retreat is Saturday, July 18, and Sunday, July 19.  It will run from 9 AM to 8 PM  EST.
Here's the Zoom link for Saturday.

Join Zoom Meeting SATURDAY, JULY 18 9:00 AM EST https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84059623529?pwd=aVF6SnN4N1IzeHBxRGJsWWJmOFZjQT09 Meeting ID: 840 5962 3529 Password: 905818

I will be posting the link every day until Saturday, and I'll be posting the Sunday one as well (just not today). Hopefully, you'll get a chance to stop in and say HI. Just say HI or sew-along for an hour or two or stay all day. Your choice. But we've had so much fun in the past, and it's almost like having you all in Studio B with me.

I've got to finish up the Trend Tex challenge, and then I've got a couple more projects that need to be finished. OK -- so they need to be started and then finished! You'll hear about those, just not yet.

In the meantime, I've got a bunch of e-mails that I need to address this morning before I get to work in Studio B.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!