When faster isn't better

 

Like many people, I would say that I use the internet a lot. Lately, I've been using it for Zoom and have been known to run 12-hour Zoom sewing sessions. I've never had an issue with the internet - my calls never dropped, I rarely experienced lag time for the video. I did get a couple of "your internet connection is unstable" from time to time, but it's been excellent. 

Someone in our house, who shall remain nameless, has been bugging me to upgrade the internet speed. "Hey - there are advertisements that you can get this amazing download speed (1.5Gbps), and we should get that". Well, I called, and we do NOT have fiber optics to our house, although it's in our neighborhood. However, I had the option to double our download speed, which cost $15 LESS than what I was paying. OK - I guess uploading at 50Mbps is better than the 25Mbps that we had. 

I booked an appointment for Sunday. That was the day of the virtual retreat, so I knew that I would lose my connection, but that's OK. I've learned that even if the Zoom host goes down, the call remains in place. YEAH for that. Although Carol had been set up as a co-host so when I dropped off, the entire call wouldn't go down. 

After the internet was reconnected, I thought I was good to go. Oh, no - the fun was just beginning. I believe my internet dropped FOUR times during the remainder of the afternoon. OK - so I called my provider, and the customer representative assured me that it could take until midnight for the system to stabilize. While I wasn't happy, I was good with that. 

Well, guess what? The ^&*((*&&^ internet is so darn unstable that I'm fuming mad. I got dropped TWICE during our Monday sewing group. And to make matters worse, I got dropped ONCE during my presentation last night and the lag time on the second class was horrible at times. Guess who I'm calling this morning?? I don't care if we go back to 25Mbps (which we can't), but this service is TERRIBLE. 

They have 36 hours to resolve the issue before my next class. I have a ton of Zoom calls this week and into the weekend. I cannot exist with such an unreliable service. 

Thankfully, the group was very patient last night, and I wasn't down for long. But you can bet that I said a few choice words and worked frantically to get the call back up. 

Let me show you what I've been working on during the Virtual Retreat and Monday sewing. I know - I should have been working on my homework assignments! One of them is done, and I have another one almost cut out. That leaves one more to deal with. I still have presentations to put together, but thankfully, that's just uploading some pictures. With everything on the schedule this week, well - you don't want to know, and let's just keep it that way. Breathe - breathe - breathe - it'll all work out. 

So you remember my Aviatrix Medallion. This is the ongoing class at Oh Look Fabric. The final two borders were assigned in August. Some of the previous borders on my version were made, but not attached to the quilt and I had only made two blocks of 72 made for the final border.

This is what my project box looks like right now. 

The project box for Aviatrix Medallion

The quilt top is DONE. Well, I still have to add one more border of the cream on the outside. That can wait until next month. I LOVE it. And I have to laugh as someone made a comment that they didn't think the quilt could be made with only two colors. Oh yes - in my world ANYTHING is possible. I used two colors, but with both colors, I used MANY different fabrics. That makes it quite interesting and helps to pull it all together. That's why I LOVE these ongoing classes. I used to try and keep it like the pattern but now? I try to be as far from the pattern as I can possibly be. I learn so much more that way and it shows the students that you do NOT have to follow a pattern. Not the design and certainly ot the color. I made several design changes in my version of the quilt. 

Aviatrix Medallion missing the last cream border

Remember, this was the quilt that I had to search for some matching cream fabric. Well, I hadn't really calculated how much fabric I needed. I think I bought one meter of each of two fabrics. Well, there's only enough left to put the last border on and there won't be much leftover. I seem to have a sixth sense when it comes to what I need. 

We're going to finish the year with this quilt discussing quilting options, bindings, backings, and all the other things needed to finish off a quilt. That'll be easy and no homework (or little) on my part. So that's good to get one of these quilts done. 

The binding will be orange. I haven't pulled that yet, but I had a peek at that huge stack of orange backing fabric and found one that's the perfect size!

I decided that I needed to get myself organized for our upcoming UFO club. I have four things on my list and only one of them is completed. Well, this is what I did yesterday. I had to trim the edges of the quilt top and I added a small cream border. Then I added the outer border. Not only is this part of the homework for the UFO club, but it's on my Dirty Dozen list for 2019. So I'll be able to cross this one off that list soon. 

The quilt top for the disappearing nine-patch

That sixth sense really kicked in on that border. I had FOUR fat quarters of that coral colored fabrics. Was there enough to do what I wanted? Hm - I thought about it while I was walking the dogs. I didn't have anything else to use. The four fat quarters are part of the collection. Oh crap - I can't be bothered to do the calculations. Let's just cut. 

So I cut and I sewed and I cut and I sewed. And one by one, the borders got added to the quilt. This is what was left. 

Leftovers from the four fat quarters

There were EXACTLY enough pieces. Oh my god -- I did a bit of a happy dance when I realized that. This quilt is a bit larger than I normally make - I think it's about 68" wide and 80" long. I love it and I might "keep" it for me. I have a lighter fabric (also from the collection) to use for the binding - no other choice and I've got to figure something out for the backing. I believe my homework was to have the top completed. YEAH - that's two down and two to go. I should be able to make the deadline on Sunday morning and I've got to think about what I'm putting on the list for next month. 

OH -- I should qualify my willy nilly cutting. I did look at the fat quarters and determine the best way to maximize the fat quarters and the size of my quilt, but I didn't do all the math to determine if I had enough. I just winged it! I'm terrible this way, but I LOVE it and it works for me. Besides, if it didn't work out? I'd find something else that would have closely matched and moved on. There is NO TIME to worry about such little things. 

I see loads of people signing up for the classes. I'll be getting in touch in the next couple of days to confirm. I'll also be uploading the complete list to the blog, but that's not going to happen today. 

I have a bit of a wild day ahead of me. I need to get started or I won't get everything done! 

Hae a super day!!!

Ciao!