The dinner table

 

I don't know about your households, but DH and I are on our own for breakfast and lunch. I make my own breakfast and lunch, and usually eat it at the computer, or sometimes lunch at the table reading something. The other day, I even ate lunch at the table in the office (aka the dining room). But dinner is reserved for face to face conversation. 

We chat about books and interesting articles that he finds in the newspapers. And there seem to loads these days on people finding a hobby. All they have to do is pick up handwork or sewing or quilting, and they will NEVER be lacking for something to do. But I get it that some people are just not makers - never were and never will be. 

An article in the Saturday paper

But you never know!!!

Last night we had a discussion on the meaning of words. I won't go into detail - it's complicated. All I will say is that attitude is a HUGE word, and I saw this saying on my table this morning on a stack of stuff that I have to sort through. This is my attitude for today and most days. 

It's all about ATTITUDE

And it would appear that while I'm obsessed with numbers, I do NOT report them correctly. I've not walked 216.6 km this year. Oh no - I've walked 270.8 KM, including yesterday. DUH!! I short-changed myself. Here's proof for you and me to verify!!!

My walking distance so far in 2021

We had TWO amazing Zoom classes yesterday. Two new groups and yes - all the homework got finished on time. I actually had loads of time to spare - I almost didn't know what to do with myself. 

Do you want to see my blocks???  OK - so the first one is for the Bonnie and Camille Bee Quilt, which The Hobby Horse is hosting, and you can still join if you want. Both of these quilts are great for new sewers or those that want some fun project to work on. 

The Bonnie and Camille Quilt Bee

Here are my first three blocks. Actually, we're making two of the same block, so technically, we have to make four this month. 

Block One

Block two

Block three and block four

When I was cleaning up that huge mess at the bottom of the stairs, I found a bunch of fat quarters that I had purchased several years ago, just because I loved them. But never did anything with them. They are PERFECT for this project. Hopefully, I have enough, but I'm pretty sure I do—the fabric requirements in this pattern as quite generous. I HATE when fabric designers do that. They don't care two hoots about us buying copious amounts of fabric to make a quilt.

I didn't figure it out before, but now I want to know. Give me a minute. 

OH MY GOD!!!!!!   I just did a quick tally of the fabric requirements. Keep in mind the quilt is 68 ½" by 80 ½". Not a queen-sized by any means.  The requirements for the colored fabric is SIXTEEN yards. SIXTEEN!!!!!  Oh - wait, and then you need SIX yards of background fabric. For a total of TWENTY-FOUR yards of fabric. That's insane!!!!  Who do these designers think they are, and who do they think we are that we can afford that? Let's just say that each yard is $15, and I'm very generous in that price. That's $360 for the top. That's why people get discouraged, and then they end up with copious amounts left over. It's so NOT responsible. Hey Bonnie and Camille - are you listening???  This is totally irresponsible of you. 

Let's take the math one step further. How many square inches are they in the quilt?  (68 ½ multiplied by 80 ½) equals 5,514.  Let's find out how many square inches there are in the fabric requirements. Each yard (I'm talking yards, not meters) has 1,296 square inches. So multiply that by 24, and what do you get????   31,104 square inches of fabric.  Wait a minute - that's totally obscene. I get it that you need extra for seam allowances, mistakes, and a variety of colors, but this is totally ridiculous. 

The backing (5.125 yards - reasonable) and the binding (.875 yards - also reasonable) are NOT included in the above calculation. They basically include 41 fabrics from their Shine On collection. Some yardages are a 10" square (who buys ONE ten-inch square) to 1 ½ yard. I get where they are coming from, but SHEESH -- This would be one expensive quilt. And I bet there are kits out there!!!

I bought 15 fat quarters for about $4.5 ($67.5) each and about 5 yards of a solid cream ($60). For a total cost of less than 1/3 of what they suggested. 

OK -- I said I would be awesome today - I already feel better letting you know how crazy this is. But I must move on!!!

One of the class participants bought two kits for another project by a different designer. She had enough to make THREE quilts with lots leftover. 

The second class is Schoolgirl Sampler. This is a great quilt with lots of little blocks. They are easy to do, and you still have time to sign up. It's also at The Hobby Horse. The cost of both classes is $25 EACH for the entire year. You can't go wrong with that. 

Schoolgirl Sampler

OK -- so you don't like this quilt because of the fabrics. Well, why not change it up. Yep - I went to the scrap box and found this box of teal scraps. The one I talked about yesterday. 

My box of teal scraps for Schoolgirl Sampler

And here's my first set of blocks. I think the quilt is going to be gorgeous. I didn't check the fabric requirements for this one. I will do that later when I write up some guidelines for the students. 

The first nine blocks of Schoolgirl Sampler

This one really lends itself to a scrap quilt, and the box, which isn't going to cost me anything, will make a gorgeous quilt. 

The other day, someone talked about white quilts, and they would never make one with kids, pets, or husbands in the house. Oh, that was Sheila. Well, I need to remove this white quilt from the wall. Lexi was lying beside it, and yep - that's black dog hair!!

Black dog hair and a white quilt do NOT mix

I spent the afternoon in Studio U. It was glorious - the sun was shining, and I loved it. And the best part - the space was immaculate when I walked in. But it didn't' take long before I had my project strewn around the room. 

My partial quilt top on the work table

But there was ONLY one project on the sewing table. And it was so nice to not have anything else in the way. 

The sewing table with ONE project

Even the ironing board had something on it, but it was the current row I was pressing, so that was OK. 

My pressing project

Today is the UFO club, and so that's what I was working on. Of course, I can't tell you if I finished or not. OK - I'm not done......... yet. 

I had to laugh because the e-mails with completed homework came pouring in yesterday, and I need to get them arranged into a presentation today. Now that I have my shared drive working between the two computers, it's a snap. I put the presentation together on this computer and then open up the laptop downstairs, and VOILA - there's the presentation. It's like having a network - well, I guess it is, but it's in the cloud - some cloud. There are so many these days. I miss the number of steps I would get as I ran from one to the other when I couldn't find it on the laptop. 

I knew the blades in the two 60mm rotary cutters in Studio U were toast and so why do we continue to try and use them. Finally, I grabbed the box of rotary cutter blades and switched. DUH!!!!  That was so much easier to cut. 

The old blade

See how organized I am?? I've got a spot for the old blades and the package of new ones. All my rotary cutters and blades that I'm not currently using are all in the same place, and they appear to be very well organized. No extra work involved there. Yeah!!!!

Cases for the old and new rotary cutter blades

Should I give you something to work on or at least contemplate today? No - today is Sunday - a day of rest, or so they say!! If there a spot that you didn't get to last week - why not try today. Or even take one pile of paper or even ONE piece of paper and deal with it. We CANNOT leave this mess to our children, friends, or even an enemy. That's just not right. Instead of doing something, get a plan together and perhaps get things organized to tackle a spot later this week. I try to grab a piece of paper or two each day if I'm not going to be tackling a specific area and deal with it. I've already done that with FOUR pieces of paper today. Four is better than none!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!!