Nine and ten --- DONE!

The allergies were well under control yesterday! I don't have a fever; I've checked a couple of times. And every once in a while, I get a humbling day like that where my allergies just go berzerk! Then they are good! I've no idea why, but I know I've disturbed a LOT of dust over the last couple of days. I've Swiftering, and hopefully, everything is OK. 

OMG -- I just finished reading a book this morning, and I want ONE more chapter! Seriously! This book had plot twists and turns, and you think - AHA -- I'm smarter than the author, and I know where this is going, and then POOF -- she changes the plot and makes you guess again. And then there are characters you want to hate but can't and others that you don't care about and you should. Yikes -- a page-turner, to put it mildly. The title is Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner. 

Not that I need to have goals -- I'll read what I want in a year, but I did put down a goal of 50 books for the year. I've read 44, and I've got two more in my intray of audiobooks, including the SECOND one in The Seven Sisters series. I was going to have to wait several weeks for it, and then it just came in! 

The beauty of audiobooks is that you can listen and quilt simultaneously! Thank goodness for that, as I don't seem to have much time to sit down with a real book these days. Although I also finished the book "Joy of Jigsaws" by Holly Lambert. OMG --- can you believe some people are obsessed with jigsaws like us obsessed with quilting? She refers to puzzle rooms and specially built tables for assembling jigsaws! 

I can't even say that's crazy because we are guilty as charged! But who knew? And yes --- if you want to watch others assemble puzzles online, you can do that, and there are competitions. Yep --- it's a crazy world! But at least there is a hobby and an obsession for each of us! I love that! I'll stick to my one or two puzzles per year! 

I see someone mentioned that I can use the Wi-Fi to make my phone calls in the house. I wonder how I make that happen? And the kicker is that DH doesn't have issues with his phone. And it's very spotty as I'm OK for weeks, and then suddenly, I have an issue again. The carrier says it's not their problem, and the phone company says it's not the phone. I can replace the phone for about $300 (a deductible) or wait. But figuring out how to make calls on the Wi-FI sounds like a plan. There are still 9 months left on my contract. 

I did not do any embroidery yesterday as I wanted to focus on the quilts! And I looked through the flannel fabrics again and found a few more small pieces of bright flannel that got delivered to Diane. 

But here's what I did get done. 

This makes quilt number 9 of the 11 for the second batch for Quilts of Valour. 

Quilts of Valour quilt

And here's number 10. 

Quilts of Valour quilt

I had to make the backing for both quilts and the eleventh one, which is now on the long arm. I purchased some Canada-themed panels earlier this year and then realized that I will likely never use them, so they went into the backing for the 11th quilt. This is just a reminder to me --- be VERY careful what you buy --- will you actually use it or just buying because it's unique?? 

Here's the rug that I bound the other day. This was a class we took from Al Cote MANY years ago. 

My rug

You layer multiple layers of fabric; in this case, we did three (green, yellow, and red). There was another layer for the backing and a layer of batting. So it's pretty thick. We stitched a pattern over it, and then you cut out some layers in some areas to make the pattern show. 

Cutting out multiple layers

And yes, those are raw edges, so once it's washed a couple of times, those edges will fuzz up, and it'll be quite lovely as a mat. It's now in the laundry basket for the next time I remember to do the laundry. It's not high on my priority list, although I need to get to it soon. 

The lawn furniture is still on the back deck! However, I had some stuff in the garage that I had brought in, which needed to be addressed. It's now cleaned, sorted, and put away! Yeah!! 

I also did a smidgen of tidying in Studio B, and here's some new thread that got added to my collection. I didn't have the new colors from The Bottom Line collection by Superior Threads. And a couple of spools needed to be replaced because I'd used them, or they are likely in a project box somewhere! I LOVE this thread. 

New spools of thread

I still need to unpack these suitcases and repack them for my last two events of the year. 

Suitcases that need to be unpacked

Yes, Christmas is coming. The tree is up at the mall! I did not see Santa, but it's probably too early for him. 

The tree at the mall

All the Quilts of Valour quilts are trimmed, but not all the bits are tidied up yet. I'll finish that up tonight. I was tired and off to bed early, where I slept right through until 15 minutes before the alarm went off. I also decided to rip out the hand quilting that I had done on that small piece. I've got a new spool of thread ready, and I'm good to go!

My hand-quilting project

Don't forget that the York Heritage Quilt Show is this weekend. The dates are November 11 and 12. I plan on going tomorrow! It's always good to see quilts in PERSON!!

I'll be at Thimble Quilts and Sewing Company in Windsor on Saturday. I'll be demoing machines and techniques from 10 - 4 PM, so drop in if you live in that area. It should be a fun day, and I'm packing some samples to share with people!

November 15, I'll be at Pins & Needles in Listowel, where I"ll be hosting two seminars on quilting, so if you live close by, be sure to get signed up for that!

And as if that isn't enough, I'm running a four-part ZOOM session on mySewnet (hosted by Stitch by Sitch in Kingston), which includes the software, Wi-FI connectivity in the embroidery/sewing world and explaining what it's all about as it can be very confusing. I had to have it explained to me at least three times before I totally grasped the concept. The first session is on Monday, November 14. 

Next week, watch for the list of clubs I will host in 2023. I know what they are; I just need to schedule dates in my calendar, and I hope to do that this weekend! You can refer to this blog post if you can't remember what they are. Scroll down to the end --- in reality, there are only four new ones --- EQ8, Digital Cutters, the Jen Kingwell remedial class, and the Many Blocks project. Others, like the UFO Club, embroidery club, and Out of the Box, will continue, and at this point, there are NO or minimal spots open for 2023. You'll get the info next week. 

So there is lots of stuff happening, and I LOVE it all!

On that note, it's time to get to work!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!