You need space to bind a quilt

I thought about the stride thing yesterday with my KMs, and it's NOT the stride. I did measure that way back when I got a FitBit. I tried to verify it last night, but do you think I could find that in the app? Nope! 

The big issue is the translation from my FitBit records to the data on the Virtual Challenge site. It's sporadic, and I have no idea what's happening, but have a look and see what I mean. 

The data from the Virtual Challenge website for the last two days

For comparison, my FitBit for yesterday says 12.23 KM (instead of 11.68 - so close), but what's with the number of steps? I had 17,702 steps, not 4,986. 

And for the day before, I had 11.9 KM (not 9.99), and the steps were 15,472, not 12,116.

So why is that all cockeyed? THAT IS NOT CONSISTENT!!

Look at the difference in the steps versus the KM for those two days. Does that make sense to you? It doesn't to me. I will be short if this continues, and who knows how long it's been going on. I've not been this close to the end and being slightly behind, so I never paid attention to it before. I will calculate the KMs that Virtual Challenge calculated and then count what my FitBit collected. Then, I'll add the difference to the Virtual Challenge, and hopefully, that will bring me closer to my goal. OR I can enter the data manually, which I might do for the rest of the year; both will take a bit more time, but I'm OK with that. 

Why am I fussing? I'm sure a few of you are saying, "Get over it and move on." And yes, I could, but it's the principle of the thing. If my FitBit says 10 KM, but I'm only getting credit for 9, I want that extra K. I set my goal based on the FitBit numbers, and I'm being cheated!!!

I'll check with others to see if they have the same issue. 

I promised my binding class that I would make a video to show them how I do some of the techniques in detail. That got done this morning—FINALLY. Now, I need to edit it and remove some spots where things went awry. I've not done much video editing, so that will be my learning curve today. 

The quilt I chose was tough to do for the video as it was a flannel quilt, front and back, with a flannel binding. But why not show them the most difficult one rather than the easy one? The thing is—the technique is the SAME! 

The binding on the quilt

But here's ONE TIP that I'll share with everyone. If you are putting a binding on a quilt, and I don't care if you are planning to hand stitch it or to sew the entire thing by machine, do yourself a favor and USE AN EXTENSION table and have loads of room to support the quilt to the left of your machine. I can't imagine attempting it without somewhere for that quilt to rest while manhandling it through the machine. 

You need SPACE to bind a quilt

I do not sew on a fancy table. This is a $50 wooden banquet table that I've used for over twenty years. It is the BEST investment for my sewing room. It's hard to find wooden tables these days, but there are options. Even for sewing, a larger workspace is IMPORTANT—I would almost say critical to the success of your sewing. 

The quilt got quilted, but I had run out of steam by then, so it will get bound and in the mail today. There's a potential mail strike, so it might have to go by UPS. I can't share the front, but the quilting pattern is so perfect for it!!!!

The quilting on my secret quilt

So DH and I are getting back into the EXIT Game with one of the small games—only ten puzzles. We need to be warmed up for December 1 when we crack open the Advent Calendar. We've done pretty well on this game, looking at the clue only once and only the first of the three parts of that clue. We knew what we should have done; we just didn't do it. DRAT!!!

Well, last night, we got lucky! But I'm sure we would have figured it out the correct way. This scenario required us to find three numbers from these materials. 

How do I find three numbers in this?

It takes a moment for your brain to trigger what you need to do. We did it, and I looked up the answer, and the code was correct. But it bugged DH because he thought our logic was too random, and we've learned that NOTHING is random in these EXIT Games. I looked at the clue to see if our logic was correct. Oops --- we screwed up in two of the three numbers, but both of them gave the same number, so we were good! He wasn't impressed because I came up with obscure words, which still worked. Well, it's tough to explain, but the logic was there, and we had the correct reasoning, but not quite the same way! 

This goes to show that there is more than one way to do anything! The bottom line is that we solved the puzzle without looking at the clues! 

I got my Trendtex challenge the other day! I've known what I will do with it for a while. So yesterday, I designed the quilt and got the measurements, and all I need to do is start sewing! I cannot leave this until the last minute! There is a solid beige at the bottom of the pile. I would NOT have chosen those colors, but this is what they came up with this year. If you're not aware, the Trendtex Challenge is part of the CQA (Canadian Quilter's Association) annual show. 

The Trendtex Challenge

As I was looking through the basket of flannel that is the backing for the next group of community project quilts, look what I found. A ticket from when Wal-Mart sold fabric. The date is 2008!!! I bought four meters of flannel for a total of $17.08. 

A fabric ticket from years ago!

With all the talk about irons lately, I decided to clean up my irons. I have four that are in good working condition, two of which are brand new. I'm saving them until I need them. 

My irons and supplies

It was time to clean this iron, which I was going to use. It's a great iron, but the darn thing has these bursts of steam that drive me crazy. So I poured a whole lot of vinegar into it, as it desperately needed to be cleaned. 

It's a steam generator. I sat it on the kitchen sink, and it continuously generated steam for 20 minutes! All by itself. 

Generating steam!

There was a lot of junk in it. 

ICKY!!!!

Then I cleaned it off, and it seems to be working OK. 

Nice and shiny

I can't find the manual, so I'm going to try to find it online. But one very important thing about this iron—DO NOT use it until it has heated up! Oh yes, if not, it just gushes steam when it's not supposed to. Follow the guidelines for proper iron usage! 

Most of us say that our sewing machines do not mend clothes, but I fixed a small hole in the back of a pair of pants. The seam had originally been serged with a 5-thread safety, so there were two lines of stitching, but now it's fixed. 

Mending pants

I felt good that I'm not part of this fast-fashion craze. I will fix my clothes rather than throw them out. I wore my socks and gloves that I repaired the other day, and you would NEVER know they had been mended. They are comfortable to wear, meaning you can't feel the mended spots. I felt good that I was repairing it instead of throwing it out. 

With all the wind we had in the last couple of days, not many leaves are left on the trees, although it's still pretty to walk through the forest and see the leaves falling all around. However, this tree did NOT get the memo that it's fall! I don't think any of the leaves have dropped. 

This tree doesn't know it's fall

Well, there are loads on the agenda again today. I do what I can in a day, and if it doesn't get done, it doesn't get done. I'm just keeping up with the priorities and working from there. There is no rush, and there are no deadlines, although I have to think about what's on the agenda for next week. It is nice not to have a single commitment this weekend! 

On that happy note, I'm off to edit and figure out why the KMs do not translate well. 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!