No fabric is safe at my house!

OH  --- Elle mentioned in the comments about waiting to see the BIG totals at the end of the year. The number of quilts made, donated, the fabric used, etc. 

I am NOT good with that kind of stuff! Well, I am, sort of. I do have some tallies, but I doubt I've captured everything. I have a folder called "year-end review," and I think I put pictures in it at the beginning of the year, but it's missing lots. However, even the stuff I remember from the last couple of months will be impressive. 

I'm now at the point where I'm telling people that my ENTIRE stash is up for grabs. WAIT --- that's not what I mean. The entire stash is in danger of BEING USED! All those beautiful flannels are waiting to be cut up for quilts, and once those are done, there's more where that came from. NOTHING is sacred, and NOTHING is being added. You have no idea how freeing this feels. I have precuts, kits, and scraps, and there will be some fabrics I'll hang onto, but as long as Diane keeps sewing, I'll keep her busy! Everyone needs a Diane!! Thanks again, Diane!!! I appreciate your help so much -- you have NO idea what you have helped me accomplish mentally and physically! 

And honestly, it excites me to know that the amount of stuff is decreasing; even though we can't see any dents, in reality, HUGE dents have been created; you just can't see them yet! I'll try to find the before and after pictures. 

It was a super productive day, although it didn't seem like it at the time. 

I started the day by getting the binding on that quilt for the customer. It was a big quilt and seemed to take forever. However, the good news is that it's done and will be picked up tonight. The favor is repaid, and we are happy! 

Putting the binding on the customer quilt

Here's the finished quilt. 

Finished quilt for a customer

Then it was time to load a quilt I hoped to quilt in the afternoon. But a meeting scheduled for ONE hour led to more than 2 hours, so that didn't happen. The meeting was excellent, so I wasn't going to bow out earlier. 

However, right after dinner, I did this. This is the first of the next group of eleven Quilts of Valour quilts I want to get done by November 11. Not a lot of time! It's trimmed and ready for the binding to be attached. I don't mind if the bindings are NOT on the quilts -- I just want them quilted. 

Quilts of Valour quilt -- Number one of eleven

But back to the afternoon and what I managed to get done. See how easy it is to find a specific color of thread; when the spools are grouped by color, as they should have been much earlier. I don't think I need any red thread for a while. 

My red 50-weight threads

But I managed to empty one more spool of thread in my next adventure for the afternoon. I haven't shown you the threads I bought at Salon Quebec yet, but there's no time to take pictures! 

Empty spool

We always talk about bobbin chicken, and I LOST. I had ONE inch left to sew, and the bobbin ran out! No worries, I found a similar color in the leftover bits on the bobbins, and soon that one inch was done! 

Ran out of bobbin thread

And so the first quilt of the afternoon was finished with the binding completely sewn down. This is one of the four groups of ten quilts for Project Linus, and I think there are 40 or 41 in total. Soon, I'll be halfway through them!

Binding on a Project Linus quilt

Then it was onto the next one. I needed something to keep me busy while the long arm was quilting. 

Binding number two

And the third one that I did. 

Binding number three

I think four of the ten are now bound, so I might get the rest done by the end of the week. I'm away for two days, and today, I have e-mails that NEED to be sent. 

I've got some fabrics set aside for backings in the fabric storage area for community projects. Since this next group of eleven quilts has NO backings, I will start pulling those out. That will use lots of fabric, so I'm excited about that! 

Look at the flaw in this one. The fabric got folded during the printing process! Well, it's not a perfect backing, but it'll have to do. It's already loaded on the long arm with the next quilt and ready to quilt sometime today! I believe I had bought this knowing it had a flaw in it. 

A flaw in the fabric

I have a pretty clear calendar for the remainder of the year. I have lots of classes to teach, and there are four days related to the sewing machine business, but there is time to have some fun and hopefully get caught up on some things that have been set aside! 

And I'm trying to finish The Seven Sisters book by Lucinda Riley. It's an 18-hour audiobook, and it's due in three days. Because of my schedule, I was tardy in listening to it. I believe I listened to a quarter of it yesterday, taking me over 50%, so I should have time to finish it. It's historical fiction, intriguing, and the characters are likable; the narrator is excellent, and I WANT TO KNOW WHAT happened. Hopefully, I can get a few more hours listened to today, but I also have to pack and prep for my events tomorrow and the day after. 

We decided not to hand out candy last night, and I think many of my neighbors did the same thing, as I didn't see many lights on. But we still had someone ring the bell TWICE. Seriously people -- if the lights are NOT on and there are ZERO decorations out (not even a pumpkin), you would think they would know we're not handing out candy. I wonder if there were lots of kids out? I didn't even look out the window. 

Well, it's going to be a busy day, and I've got to start! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!