With a little help from my friends

What happened here? I got up a bit earlier than usual and got the presentations done, and then I felt tired, so I figured a wee nap was in order, and WHAM! I'm really late, so the blog will be short!

Last night, we had a fantastic show and tell for our Jen Kingwell remedial. I have taught several Jen Kingwell quilts over the last 5 years. Some of the tops had been completed, and some had not. So I, along with others, toiled away. 

You know what was the best thing I heard last night? "THANK YOU for making this class happen - because without it, my project would still be in pieces." And I said THANK YOU right back at them because my quilts would still be in pieces without the group. 

What a WONDERFUL collaborative effort we all did! I'm really proud of that group and all the efforts they made. A few are still making blocks, but overall, the remedial class was a HUGE success. 

I finished my Boho Heart quilt top. YES -- it's quilted and bound. 

My BOHO Heart Quilt

I finished the Long Time Gone. And it's also quilted and bound. 

My Long Time Gone Quilt

And there's Wanderer's Wife (used to be called Gypsy Wife). I don't have a flat shot of it -- I'll find one and add it later today. It is also quilted and bound. 

Wanderer's Wife Quilt

Getting those three quilt tops quilted and bound was HUGE. And I have the group to thank for pushing each other every month to make that happen. 

Then, there was the fourth quilt - Green Tea and Sweet Beans. I aimed to get it quilted and bound, but that didn't happen. I thought I might struggle with it because of the applique, and I was right. Don't get me wrong - I like applique and am good at it. I'm just slow. But I made giant leaps and bounds, and this is what it looks like right now. 

Green Tea and Sweet Beans

I am thrilled with the quilt. Well, I'm thrilled with ALL of them. The colors in this one are bright and cheery. The applique in the center is done! 

The pattern calls for an applique border, and do I want it or not? I put what I've done with the borders on the wall, and I WANT them. So I have a plan. 

The borders

I'm not a fan of how "interesting" the vines are positioned, so I plan to remove them. Don't tell me NO - my mind is made up. I will attach the border fabric (GASP - for applique? YES). Then, I'll glue the vine back and stitch with a zigzag stitch. That's easy to do on this quilt as I won't have to turn it except for the corners. The new placement will take some time, but I have a wide open table at the moment, so it is the perfect spot to do that on Monday sewing. 

Then, to apply the flowers and leaves, I want to experiment with something, and this quilt will be perfect for it. You'll have to wait for that one. I hope to have it done by the end of January. 

The other day, in a meeting for class, the topic of Jen Kingwell came up! Hmm -- do I venture to teach another one? My arm could be twisted as I like them, as much I "complained" about how much work it all was. 

There are two potential quilts -- one is this one - Green Tea and Sweet Beans. There are LOADS of techniques in this quilt, and if you want to learn new stuff or try your hand at some techniques that might be rusty - this is a good one!!

The other quilt I was thinking of is My Small World. 

My Small World

So here's the thing -- if you are interested in my teaching a Jen Kingwell  - let me know which one, and I'll see what happens. It will start in October 2024, so there is no rush, but I'd like some feedback soon so I can reserve the quilt to teach! It'll be on Zoom hosted by Thimbles and Things, and if I don't call dibs on teaching a Kingwell quilt, someone else might!!! Send me an e-mail with the Jen Kingwell quilt you'd like for a class. elainetheriault@gmail.com

Loads more happened yesterday, but I have a Zoom class at 9:15 and no time to fiddle around this morning. Sorry for that!

And if you have a UFO or two languishing around your house and want in on the excitement of finishing a quilt, watch the blog because tomorrow, I'll reveal all the clubs and classes for January to June of 2024, and some spots are open! And it's mostly about finishing or learning a new technique - there are NO NEW projects for those six months. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Remedial classes work!

There are two presentations today, and both are ready to go! You have to love that, and then once they are done at noon -- I'm done! I don't have ANYTHING to prepare for tomorrow. Well, that's not true - I have a software class in the evening, so I need to review the topic and ensure the files are in the right spot, etc. 

It seems to be a never-ending process, but the more I use the tools, the faster I become. The more knowledge I learn, the better I become at teaching! As a matter of fact, all of what I teach, I learned BECAUSE I committed to teaching a class. Yep --- I learn by doing!

We had three excellent classes yesterday, and so exciting to see the homework.

But I will return to Friday night when we had our Jen Kingwell remedial class. Remedial may not be the correct name, but it works for us! Over the last couple of years, I've taught several of the Jen Kingwell quilts - Long Time (twice), Boho Heart, Wanderer's Wife (formerly known as Gypsy Wife), and Sweet Tea and Green Beans. Many people signed up for the classes, and some signed up for all! 

A lot of people completed their quilt tops and even got them quilted. However, a few didn't quite make the final show and tell, and I would hate to see them end up as UFOs. So I started the Jen Kingwell remedial class, and it's working!!

This past month, we have THREE completed tops and ONE completed quilt. Have a look. I believe this is the first month since we started that we have completed quilts and quilt tops. 

Like many of us, Jackie started making the quilt like the pattern until one person decided to add to the top and the sides to balance the quilt out. So Jackie had to remove the top background, extend it by 6 inches, and then sew it back together. It wasn't that onerous of a task, but it did take time. 

And here's her completed quilt top. 

Jackie's Boho Heart

OK --- here's a picture, complete with the additional side strips! Great job - Jackie, and it feels good to get it done! She used scraps for the blocks, and it looks amazing!

The strips are now added to the sides

Loretta came from nowhere with her completed top. We had seen a few blocks here and there, and then POOF --- there's a complete top. 

One of the advantages of delaying the process is that she didn't have to remove the top to add the extra --- she just added it as she assembled it. I LOVE the colors in this, and she did an amazing job arranging everything. Way to go, Loretta!!

Loretta's Boho Heart

And Sonya finished her top as well. You have to love all those reds and inks -- a great job of using one color family. Sonya also added to the top and the sides. Once she got backing the groove, this went together in no time! 

Sonya's Boho Heart

And here's my completed quilt. It's bound, and I am thrilled with the colors. It looks dark on one half because of the lighting I took the picture in. As you can see, I extended the top and added extra to the sides. This pattern needed the extensions, and I'm surprised that no one said anything until after we had cut our background! 

My COMPLETED Boho Heart

We'll just blame all the extra hard work on Gillian, as she was the one that started the trend. Speaking of Gillian, while she's not participating in the remedial class, she used the UFO group to get her Boho Heart quilted and bound. I LOVE the heart pantograph that she used to quilt it!

Gillian's Boho Heart

So one by one, these quilts will get completed! Once people are done (well, they may want to stay until they get those quilt tops quilted!), they no longer have to attend the class. However, some want to because they learn from what others are doing! It's a great opportunity. However, I still hope that I'll be alone at the last class in December as I finish the binding on my Green Tea quilt. I don't think either will happen!

On that note, I have to get the girls walked, so I can be back in time to open the Zoom call for UFO at 9 AM. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Getting organized!

It was another late night, but only because I was outside for most of the afternoon. It was too nice to be inside, and I'd rather take advantage of the fantastic weather! 

We had a great time at Monday sewing, and it's been a while since I haven't had to zip out prematurely because of a work commitment. I got to stay until the end! 

Lots of stuff happened in Studio B, and I knew, with all my tidying, a couple of scenarios would arise - not being able to find something and refining already sorted areas. 

For the most part, everything has a home, making it super simple to tidy up! However, several almost-finished things are hanging around, and I hope to get to work on those. I bet, in many cases, that ONE hour on each project and it would be done! So I will try and work on those in the next couple of weeks, in ADDITION to everything else I need to get done. 

In my efficiency of tidying, I could NOT find a few things. So while I was quilting, I was determined to find them. What was missing? Stuff for the serger! I was missing feet that I was sure I had received. I had samples that had gone astray and a couple of projects that needed to be serged. Where could they be? 

AHA -- I found everything. They were in a tub under the long, and it was LABELED, no less, but I had forgotten that I put the stuff there. 

The tub of serger stuff

I must move the tub to the first spot I looked at yesterday. It's OK under the long arm -- it's just on the wrong side! 

And guess what? I found the missing cover stitch hemmer that I swore I already had, but now I have two. One will be returned. 

Two cover stitch hemmers

I found all my samples and many more feet for a different serger and more duplicate feet. It really needs to be sorted and neatened up, so that is on the agenda for today. I also found serger thread in the tub, which has a home, and it's not in this tub. So that resulted in a tidy-up of the serger thread, all stored in one plastic rolling bin. 

Colored serger thread

Decorative serger thread

White serger thread

Grey, cream, and black serger thread

I found the serger projects that need to be finished, and I plan to work on those today, so I have a few more samples for my serger class this week at Hamilton Sewing. I'm also running a lecture on garment sewing techniques, so I'll also be working on a few samples for that. 

Serger projects to finish

And here I am with the tub opened and sorting. 

Sorting through the tub of serger stuff

Even with all the sorting and tidying I've done in the past, some pockets in Studio B still need attention. And that's what I'll be working on when I'm in the mood and have the time, like sorting through the books and this tub of serger stuff. 

I also attacked the Current Projects table -- I mean, how many current projects does one need?

The Current Project table

A few of the projects were moved to the ironing board, where I hope to refine them today. If they can't be done quickly and in the next week, they must find a home on a shelf! 

Projects to sort through

I should resign myself to the fact that the cutting table will likely NEVER be completely clear. As I ended the day and with a few minutes to spare, I put stuff on it in preparation for today

The immediate stuff to work on today

There was ZERO drama when quilting the customer quilt of the day. It's done and needs to be trimmed later today. The other two quilts I quilted earlier this week are trimmed and ready for pickup! The next one is loaded; hopefully, I can work on it this morning rather than late in the evening!

Customer quilt - DONE

But I did cut it close with the bobbin thread. I still had an almost full bobbin and this, so there was more than enough to finish the quilt!

Bobbin thread chicken!

It was HOT yesterday, and I could have worn shorts when I walked in the afternoon! But even in the morning, it was hot, and look at poor Murphy! She can't handle the heat, so she won't be happy for the remainder of this week! 

MOM -- it's HOT!!

But look who I spotted in my pond! A cardinal was having a grand time bathing! What fun to watch him as he sputtered around. 

Cardinal in his larger personal birdbath

And, of course, Murphy was out there with me. However, I had left the door open, and the next thing I knew, an INDOOR toy was outside. 

An indoor toy that is OUTSIDE!

And yes -- it ended up in the pond! She has a fascination with water! 

MOM -- the toy jumped into the pond! Help!

Someone asked me the other day if I had a favorite colorway when making quilts. Hmm -- not really, but I love this quilt's PINK/ORANGE combination. And look, it matches the pink and orange on my sewing machine! 

Binding a quilt

But that quilt got bound, and I met a commitment for this week. 

The quilt is bound!

Remember that I was making a priority list of THREE quilty things per day that needed to be done. I stopped at Indigo on my walk and spotted this in the discount bin. 

A weekly "to-do" list

This will be perfect. I can write the week at the top of the page in the spot indicated. Then in the top left box, I can list all the commitments/classes for the week. Then per day, I can list the THREE priority things that must be done. And if I need to make notes, I can put that on the right-hand side. 

I read a quote the other night in my Happiness Journal about "tidying up" before you go to bed. And this can be part of that process. Before bed, I can check that the three priority things got done (and yes -- they got done yesterday), and then I can decide, based on the weekly requirements, what the priority is for the next day. I will NOT fill this at the beginning of the week as I may get more done in a day or whatever. 

I think this will work, and if I like the system, I can go back and buy a few more! This was the only orange one, but I can live with another color. I think there are 52 pages in the pad, so it'll work for the year. At the end of the week, I'll rip the page off and start a new one! Let's see how the system works. I like the idea of consciously picking three things that are a priority - rather than thinking they are a priority! 

With the amount of stuff that I have to do, it can be overwhelming to write it all on a list -- I think the three priority things per day will help me, and trust me -- I got way more done than just those priority things, but I need some structure in my day, and I think this little bit will help. Plus, the five minutes of reflection on the week every evening will help to avoid those panic days. At least, I hope so. 

Hey --- I need the serger stuff for Thursday, and I was working on it on Monday, so that's a start! 

Only one of the suitcases got unpacked, but I'll have to focus on the other one today and get it repacked for tomorrow night. I'll be at the Grand Quilt Guild, so you can stop by if you're in the area. They do their meetings hybrid, so you can get the link from them ($10 fee) and watch my scrap quilt lecture!!! 

On that note, I'm out of here! I walked 15.5 KM yesterday and am on track to finish my Virtual Challenge in 14 days! 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!!

We almost lost the other dog!

For the moment, things are fixed here at our house. I should take a picture of the door, but with a couple of layers of duct tape and a piece of cardboard, that front door opens and closes with no issues. However, it must be locked to not pop open on its own, but I'm OK with that. No word from the lock company yet on a replacement part. 

And the dishwasher? Well, guess what I found in there. First -- I had to remove the lower rack and the strainer and scoop out the dirty water. Why does the dishwasher clog whenever we cook a tomato base dish? Ugh.

Cleaning the dishwasher

When this little strainer got cleaned the last time, someone very zealous pushed that lid so far down that I couldn't pop it back out. And because it was slippery, I needed pliers, but I got it open. 

The lid was jammed shut

And I found this inside. TWO pieces of that dish that DH broke several months ago. 

A piece of ceramic caught in the strainer

So then I cleaned everything out. Couldn't find anything significant regarding obstruction -- just a lot of small bits and hair! My hair. Sigh.................

However, then I reran the dishwasher and look -- NO F11. Yeah!!

The dishwasher works! 

Then it was down to Studio B to try and get something done. 

It's hard to tell in this photo, but it's in bad shape. I did get some stuff cleared away, so that was good. And yes -- there is one bag of stuff in the middle of the floor, and I need to deal with it, but no time right now. 

Studio B

My first thing was getting the long arm going, as I needed to quilt a quilt. Let's hope that this customer didn't screw up! OK -- so the customer is ME. And in all fairness, I CANNOT blame the customer for many of the issues - especially the last one I had, which was totally my fault. 

My quilt on the long arm

Lots of threads to clear off the quilt. Which, in this case, is expected since there were a ton of seams. I wish I had pressed it well before loading it, as I found some seams that could have been pressed better. But then I'm my own worst critique. When the quilt gets washed, or even now, you can't tell. I'm just super picky!

Lots of threads to remove

And I'm happy to report that I had backing and batting to spare when I got to the bottom. Yeah!!!

Backing and batting to spare

And here it is -- my version of BOHO Heart by Jen Kingwell is quilted. I'm happy I added that bit to the top and the sides! 

My Boho Heart quilt

Some people had their version custom quilted but seriously? That quilt is so busy; who would have seen any of the quilting? And let's face it, with HUNDREDS of quilt tops to quilt, I just need to get them done! I'm thrilled with an edge-to-edge. 

The other "fun" thing I did yesterday was this. I will say only what I got it up and running with little difficulty, and well -- I've got stuff to sew! 

Pattern projection with Ditto

I also had the embroidery machine fired up -- Oh yes --- it was quite the day. And I was working on something so adorable. 

The place got even worse as the day went on. Notice my sewing machine isn't even in its usual place. It's somewhere on the floor, and I immediately took over this space. In case you wonder what's going on --- I have six weeks of those Zoom classes, some new toys, and a few samples to make, and they are all happening now. In a couple of weeks, that will all be done. 

The sewing table is NO longer a sewing table

I had a lot of fiddly stuff to do by hand, and I spied this new show on CBC Gem called Best in Miniature. I love MINIATURES of any kind, and I have three that I should share with you one day. So as I sat and fiddled, I watched three episodes. 

Making minis while watching a show on miniatures

You can see the little thing that I was fiddling with. As I worked, my pieces got progressively smaller, which was perfect to be doing while watching a show about miniatures. 

The fiddly bits got done! Yeah - but only after I had multiple pairs of scissors for trimming and hemostats for turning the pieces. I hope to get the "things" completed today. But I also have a few garments to sew, and we know everything takes longer than you think it will. 

Plus --- we have a massive amount of snow to move this morning, and I'm in denial! No -- I want to just ignore it, but that won't happen. I have a Zoom call this morning, but thankfully, it's on Zoom, so no snow date required! We start the Barn Quilt Sampler this morning, and I'm excited!

We went out for dinner last night at 5:30. No snow, but when we left the restaurant at 6:30, the "blizzard" had started. 

Of course, the dogs wanted to go out. Well, Murpphy wanted out, and Lexi lay on the sofa. Murphy must have come from Finland or Sweden. She plopped herself down in front of the fireplace, which was hot. Then she asks to go outside and plops in the snow. 

Murphy enjoying the snow

And if she had stayed out there much longer, she would have been buried. 

Still lying in the snow 15 minutes later

This picture was taken yesterday when we only had a little snow. Does that Husky look happy? I think not! 

MOM - I hate it outside!

I think she's mad because Murphy doesn't want to play with her, although they did play for a bit. 

Hey MOM -- what are you looking at? 

And this is what it looks like now. A veritable winter wonderland, except if you have to shovel. I will NOT be walking the girls this morning, but they don't know yet. I am not trudging through a foot of snow, and I'll wait for the plow to pass. 

A winter wonderland - NOT! 

Well, that's it for me. I'm off to shovel. Oh, joy! 

Have a super day, and stay safe! 

Ciao!!!

A PRODUCTIVE day

I hate when I wake up and realize the answer to a problem, and it's too late to fix it! I was doing machine embroidery last night and couldn't get the third hooping to match up. It was close but not exact, but I went ahead anyway. This morning, I'm pretty sure I know what happened. I do not have any way to verify that, but it irks me that I didn't think of it last night. 

The good news is that if I didn't tell you there was an issue, you'll never know, and I'm leaving it at that! 

I was exhausted last night when I went to bed. Almost 15 KM -- no wonder! Good grief -- I averaged nearly 13.5 KM a day in January! How did that happen? Thanks to Helen Anne for keeping me on track while we were at the retreat. 

However, I got the binding completed for BOHO Heart. 

Cutting the strips for bias binding

And here it is all done and ready to be put on when the quilt is quilted. 

BOHO Heart ready for quilting

Has anyone been to the Vancouver Airport (BC) and thought about how those bathroom tiles would make a good quilt? Thanks to my friend Pauline for the picture. I couldn't find mine, and she happened to be in Vancouver when I needed it! 

The tiles in the Vancouver Airport washroom

Here's my interpretation of the tiles into a quilt. I had to change it up to make it work as a quilt, and YES -- I eliminated the orange. I used the tiles as an INSPIRATION, not to copy it exactly. 

My interpretation of the tiles

Where is the pattern? You'll find it in Issue 61 of A Needle Pulling Thread. The theme of this issue is TILES, and there are some pretty cool tile-inspired projects in there. Go to the website and click on the cover to see some pages of what's inside. 

I managed to get TWO quilts quilted, but since they were small and loaded back to back, it wasn't a huge deal to do both. 

Back-to-back quilts on the long arm

And here they are - so adorable. The maker decided to leave the four sections as smaller baby quilts rather than sew them together to get the large one. I LOVE this quilt and should get my own top together one day. 

Customer quilts - DONE

And then I'm off on an adventure next week, so I've started packing. This is what I got so far. 

Packing for next week

Yep, another sewing adventure. But I have a ton of things to finish this week, so there is no time to slack off! 

I found a new marking tool for machine embroidery. I should wait and save this tip for the club, but I'll share it with you. In our Advent Box from Watergirl Quilt Co., we got this hera marker locally made from wood. I was trying to figure out what to do with it. But then I also HATE marking my fabric with a wash away pen, especially if I need to press during the embroidery stitch-out. So I decided to try the marker. And it WORKED beautifully through all five hoopings. 

Wooden hear marker

I like its shape and feel, and this type of tool (handmade of wood) is becoming a huge deal. Check out this link if you want to buy one. I'm very happy with it and will definitely use it again! 

And here's a sneak peek at what I was embroidering. I'm thrilled with the results. Again -- I shouldn't be spilling the beans before my clubs see it, but I have to share. I created the font to match the pattern. I did some sneaky stuff (can't share yet) in the embroidery software to change the font and then more sneaky stuff to get it stitched out. I haven't had a chance to clean it up yet and press it, but I'm over the moon with my newfound abilities in the embroidery software and machine embroidery, except for that ONE tiny mistake. 

What I was stitching

But you know -- making that mistake (I've only made it once before), but hopefully, it's solidified in my mind what to check should it happen again! And I'll take lots of pictures to share with the clubs. Oh -- it was a happy day when that was finished!!!!

Here's my new phone, all charged up and ready to go. Well, I should put in the date and all that stuff, but it was nice to have a conversation without someone saying they couldn't hear me. No time to deal with technical support yet with the cell phone. I hope this one has a speaker, as it's a pain to try and take notes with one hand!

My new phone

I started my new Virtual Challenge -- the Fellowship of the Rings. I'm doing the long route, so I'll be there for about three months. 

Starting a new challenge

Although the Lord of the Rings series is great, I'm not fond of the hand-drawn map. It's not as exciting as Google Maps, but the medals are supposed to be worth it. I don't really care -- I just walk. 

This drives me nuts. We have garbage furniture -- let's just dump it onto the side of the street. Who cares about the snow. This will be here all winter, and it's an eyesore. 

An eyesore on the side of the road

Oh boy -- my memory could be better with books I've read or not read. I snagged a copy of Atomic Habits yesterday, and to my surprise, when I popped it open in Libby, it said that I'd already read 32% of it. Really? I didn't remember that. I started back at the beginning. 

One doesn't need to read both habit books, as I find this one duplicates much of what was in The Power of Habit, referred to in this book. But the more one understands habits, I guess the better it is. I have to say that my mind wanders a lot in this book. I was so busy running from the embroidery machine to the long arm that I wasn't really paying attention, which is probably why I didn't remember reading the first part last time! 

It doesn't matter, and after a while, I stopped listening. It was too distracting. I find that it's OK to listen when sewing or doing one thing, but two things and listening? That's too much. 

Well, it's time to be off to spin class. Yeah!! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!