Eleanor Burns taught me how to quilt!

 

What a day! Except for the appointment with the chiro, I had NOTHING to do all day! As if! But it was a bit uncanny. Shouldn't I be on Zoom? Shouldn't I be prepping a presentation? Once I got over the fear of being late for something or missing it altogether, I went to work! 

Some writing got done, not as much as I would have liked, but the plan is to get more done today. And I was at the long arm ALL DAY or trimming quilts. 

While I was working, I watched one of the episodes from Series Three of The Quilt Show, and Eleanor Burns was the guest. Oh my -- so many memories. She was my FIRST in-person celebrity class, and I think I signed up for all three days or however many days she was teaching at The Hobby Horse. All I can say is that I learned so much from her. The use of the quilter's awl or stiletto, twirling seams, pressing, and so much more. 

Eleanor Burns on The Quilt Show

The modern quilters might think she's old-fashioned, but her techniques were flawless, and unless you have good basics, well, you can't mess around with them and get away with it. I LOVE Eleanor Burns and did get a chance to meet her again in Houston a couple of years ago. Thank you to The Hobby Horse for bringing her to Canada. Honestly, that workshop and Gail's support are how I became the quilter I am today! For that, I'm forever grateful!

My knee was so stiff yesterday after the visit with the chiro. He's working on my knee and my back. Can you believe that our hips, knees, back all are connected - who knew! And well, when there are issues with one, this becomes an issue with all. Part of the problem is the lack of strength to hold everything together! But according to him, I'm pretty darn flexible. Seriously?? I can reach my toes no problem, and I can arch backward, so that makes me flexible! I find it hard to believe that I'm more flexible than most people that come to him. Seriously? You can't touch your toes? Oh well. Now to get more flexible so my palms will rest on the floor. 

Anyway, when I went for a walk, it wasn't a fun walk, but you just work through the pain. No pain today! I'm making great progress on my virtual walks. I'm now in West Virginia on the Appalachian Trail. 

Progress on the Appalachian Trail virtual challenge

And on my walk across Canada, I'm finally out of Ontario! Hello Quebec. I'll be in Quebec for a couple of months, and then all that remains are the four Atlantic provinces, although I realized that I didn't route myself through PEI. Good grief  - how could I have missed that? Oh well. I'll make it to St. John's by the end of the year as long as my knees and back hold up! 

In Quebec - at last on the virtual walk across Canada

Here's the customer quilt that I did yesterday. A giant quilt! I just need to trim it this morning, and it'll be ready for pickup. 

Customer quilt - DONE

In an effort to get that cutting table clean, I cut one of the projects that needed some prep work. Good grief - I found a fat quarter of blue fabric in with the white and the red. Now how long has that been there, and why is it there? There is ZERO blue in this quilt. The red and white are for that redwork quilt that you saw on QUILTsocial yesterday. Wasn't that just the best way to finish up a UFO? 

A rogue blue fat quarter

I didn't even turn on the sewing machine yesterday, and the pile of stuff to sew is getting bigger, and there's still one more project that I need to prep. But Diane has been sewing up a storm. I picked up BAGS of baby quilts that she put together with the flannel scraps. Holy --- I need to get to work quilting all those. Most of them have the binding and the backing made, so it's just a matter of putting them on the long arm. Each of those could be done in no time! And I have a roll of polyester batting that I need to use up. 

Baby quilts for community projects 

Here's what the cutting table looks like this morning. The object here is not to have it completely empty, but that it contains ONLY those projects that are currently in the prep stages and that there only be one or two. I mean, how much cutting does one need to do? This is the MAIN workstation, and so it must be clear! In the past, this table was so clogged with stuff that you could barely work. And NONE of it ever moved off. It was a dumping ground. Never again!!!

The cutting table

The blue scrap boxes are on the cutting table as I'm cutting some crazy small blocks for the All in A Row quilt. Then there's just a couple of small things that still need to be dealt with. This feels amazing! 

I didn't take a picture of the stack of sewing, but I hope to get some of that done today and next week. 

Now that we are back in a province-wide lockdown and short-term rentals are a no-go, the planned sewing retreated for next week is canceled. That means I have FIVE days with NOTHING scheduled. Hmm - whatever will I do? Well, there is the stack of sewing on the table and the things that got packed into the retreat box. There are no worries about having nothing to sew, and I must get the embroidery machine fired up as I have a couple of things there to embroider. Perhaps we'll have a virtual retreat via Zoom. 

If you are a Louise Penny fan, then you probably got her newsletter yesterday. Oh my -- that was a rabbit hole as I voted for my favorite sleuth through the Washington Post - Armand Gamache is in FIRST PLACE by a long bit. I think the voting ends today. 

Then I found the Agatha Awards list by Malice Domestic, an amazing list of books dating back to 1988. NO - I do NOT need to add more books to my list. I just don't!

Then, there's the chef (Dorie Greenspan) who made a cookie in honor of Armand Gamache. You see what I mean about a rabbit hole? I don't even bake, and these look awesome!!!

OK  - that's enough! 

The bottom line is that I'm not getting much sewing done, but I'm prepped and ready to go when I get a chance to turn on the sewing machine. I hope to get those storage shelves reorganized today. But the next two quilts in the queue are also giant, so they will take one day to quilt. 

Don't forget to check out my QUILTsocial post today. It's all about that ¼" seam and how to achieve it in two different ways on the Husqvarna Viking sewing machines. And I finished another quilting project.

On that note, I'm out of here! I've got things to write and dogs to walk!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!