Busy day on the porch

 

The porch was a hotspot yesterday! I should have taken a picture of the two bags of fabric that Diane picked up in the morning. Actually, that was an exchange as she left me this in place of the two bags. 

Completed quilt tops for community projects

I think there are six quilts in total in that basket. Yep - the basket is mine, in case you didn't figure that out. I sent it to Diane a while ago filled with fabric. 

Then I had someone pick up a quilt that I quilted for them. And they dropped off a community project quilt that they had worked on. 

One more community project quilt

In addition, another quilt was dropped off to be quilted, and she took a bag of all the Christmas fabric I found in the storage room and some batting. That will be made into placemats! 

A HUGE THANK YOU to all who are helping to get rid of this excess fabric and making something useful from it. YES -- I need to get to the long arm!

And to top it off, this package was sitting on the step all afternoon waiting for the UPS truck.

Porch pickup

The driver was very late yesterday. The pickup window was until 7 PM, and we were on our way home from the restaurant about 7:15, and he was making a delivery not far from the house. I hope we were his last stop of the day! Anyway, I checked about an hour after we got home, and it was gone!

But on top of all that coming and going, I had a VERY productive day in Studio B. As you probably guessed, I finished the binding on the magazine quilt and pinned a sleeve to the back. 

I fired up the embroidery machine to get to work on the next project. It's something that I designed in the mySewnet embroidery software. Not rocket science, but the concept is very cool. I'm happy to report that ALL of the embroideries are done. That only took several hours! 

I love how smart these embroidery machines are. I was using the Automatic Jump Stitch Trim, and if too much thread gets caught in the bobbin area, you get an error message, and this is what it looks like. That was easy to fix. I was using the Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby 90 for that embroidery. 

Thread caught in the bobbin area

It's a great machine, and I have more embroidery to get done this weekend, and I'll be using that embroidery machine. I have a few samples that I want to make before my presentations start on Tuesday. Yikes -- Tuesday. I had better get myself together. There's always another sample to make!

So while the embroidery was working away, I was on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 trying to get my UFO homework done. I choose to get a lot done this month. Hey - what's the point of making a goal if it's not a STRETCh goal. I want those darn UFOs done! 

ONE of my goals was to make EIGHTEEN maple leaf blocks. Only one of them was done. I had to trace them, cut the pieces out and fuse them to the background. That alone was a HUGE job since, as mentioned, only one was complete. As all good applique needs to be done, I started with the stem of the leaves. I'm using the buttonhole stitch for the leaves - the first one was done that way. 

The stem of the maple leaf applique

 Let's just say that it's the most tedious stitch to do - well, not tedious, but you have to be careful with pivoting to make sure the end stitch looks decent. I did all SEVENTEEN stems. Might as well since that color thread was in the machine. 

It's a bit slow as there are loads of points and curves, but I think I did a pretty decent job. Heck -- I did an amazing job!!!

The buttonhole stitch 

I love that audiobook by Robert Galbraith, and when I get in the zone, I get in the zone. And when I got tired, instead of having a nap, I went for a walk! I actually walked almost 16 KM yesterday. Two walks with the dogs, one walk to the grocery store, and one walk to the library. When I walk to the grocery store or the library, I make it a LONG walk; I don't just walk to and from the place. I was going to walk home from the restaurant, but I figured I had walked enough for one day. 

The bottom line -- I got FOUR leaves completely done, and all the stems of the other blocks are also done. Plus the one from before, that makes five.

Four leaves are done!

 Only thirteen more to stitch. I WILL get it done - the next class is two weeks away, and I'm going to keep setting those aggressive goals. If I don't wait until the last minute, I can get a lot done -- it's all about focus. It's going to be harder as I'm back quilting and doing the presentations. It's all about working smarter and being focused. 

As if that wasn't enough, I wanted to babysit the embroidery as it finished the last motif. I was tired of stitching the leaves, so I returned to that binding on the double wedding ring quilt. I made good progress last night, and if I can do that a couple more times, I'll be done. 

Working on the binding for the double wedding ring quilt

Yahoo!!!!  I love when I have a super productive day like that. Nope -- I haven't seen the inside of the gazebo in a while. Perhaps one day this week. I can go out there and study my French terms before the class on Wednesday. 

I love sewing, and I love to read, and this combination that I've found is working like a charm!!

I was getting a bit miffed with my FitBit. The darn thing just wasn't syncing properly with the computer and with my phone. OK -- as I sat and waited for the embroidery to finish, I finally got the darn thing paired with my new phone, and this morning everything was synced the way it's supposed to be! Yeah!!!  I have to finish setting up the TWO sets of Jabra earbuds that I have - I'll keep one for the computer (Zoom) and one for the phone - then I should be set to have everything paired. 

There is a bit of paperwork to tidy off this morning, and then I'll be off for a wee adventure. 

I hope you get out and enjoy the day! The weather is absolutely stunning right now. Not too cold, not too hot, zero humidity. Enjoy it because, before long, we'll be bundled into our winter coats and wishing for summer. Enjoy what you have NOW!!!!

Don't forget the Virtual Retreat this weekend. 

Here's the Zoom link for SUNDAY night. 

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88510520090?pwd=WHZPMmNFWTlwc3RaZ3MzOXJQaXordz09 Meeting ID: 885 1052 0090 Passcode: 897479

And we're going to sew all day Monday as well. If you stop in, you get to meet the ladies I sew with on Monday. A great group!!!! That runs from 10 AM to 8 PM.

Here's the link.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85132911786?pwd=T3EyMjh2UnJndUZ3eG1ld0lEdHAyZz09 Meeting ID: 851 3291 1786 Passcode: 073041

On that note - I"m out of here. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!