Murphy is on the mend!

Yes --- so true about the words of wisdom. There are times when we feel compelled to criticize a loved one - usually our significant other. But was that absolutely necessary? NO -- so the next time you want to be the backseat driver, or mention that the dishwasher shouldn't be loaded that way, just be quiet. They are loading the dishwasher - be grateful! 

Not saying things that you know will cause issues can improve a situation by 1000%. Don't be the one who invokes the negativity! As they say in Frozen - "let it go!"

OK -- I confess - I was a slug for most of the day. I did get some work done, but I'm in slow motion mode, and I'm OK with that. The rest of the week, I can kick it up into high gear, although I have things to do that aren't work-related.

I had a few "spare" moments, so I ended up in the garage. This is the workbench, but as you can see, there really isn't much space to work, and it's just cluttered. I took this picture this morning, AFTER I tackled part of the shelves. Everything is coated with years of dirt and grime. But I made a start. I would love to get through the entire shelf before the end of September, and that is doable. 

The garage workbench

Even if the stuff only gets separated by category, put in boxes, and the junk thrown away. I'll see how I make out with that. 

BUT - look what I found. A good pair of scissors and WHAT???? It's that gardening tool that I have coveted for a while, but this one has a handle on it. Are you kidding me? I already had one of those tools? I bought the second one for the same purpose, but since it was buried under loads of debris, I didn't even remember buying it. Sigh...................

Finds in the garage debris

We have a wooden deck and lots of debris gets trapped between the boards. There is a gap to allow for expansion. The debris mostly collects on the joists below, and if it isn't cleaned out, it will cause rot faster. The wood on the deck is not treated. 

At last - Mom is cleaning the debris from the deck.

It would also help to get rid of the weeds growing between the flagstones. 

The weeds are back

I'm not surprised to find that tool, but I'm stunned that it's been so long that I don't even remember buying it. 

While I was in the garage, I had my helper with me. She was snuffling around, and next thing I knew, she was digging through the open top of a garbage bag. What the heck is she after? Oh my goodness - she found an old bone of hers that I tossed. When we went back inside, she immediately took it to the backyard. 

MOM - you threw out my bone!!!!! 

I'm not sure what was so important about that bone. I threw the old one away because she got a new one last week. Now I have to find a way to get the old one back into the garbage bag! I've heard some people mention their significant others have done similar things from time to time! 

My name is Murphy, and I'm a bone hoarder.

She is definitely feeling much better, which is a relief. That whole episode was a good wake-up call, though. I caught her flipping her NEW outside toy around. She managed to escape the house with this one, and well, I'm not bringing it back in. 

MOM - this bear needs a good shake! 

To top it off, when I was sitting outside in the gazebo, I saw her hanging out by the fence and wondered what the heck she was doing. 

MOM - I need a new stick

Oh great -- pulling a stick into the yard through the fence. That girl!!! As if she doesn't have enough to play with! What a goofball. 

She has no issues coming in the house at night now, but she needs to be upstairs with us, and she is currently still upstairs. I'm OK with that. I was getting a little freaked out by her need to be outside. I'm not sure what that was all about, but we seem to be moving forward positively. 

And what about Lexi? She is just chilling all the time. She loves sleeping under this table in the hallway, and it's OK to stick your head between the legs. What a silly girl. She's a little turned around because her buddy is not with her at night, even though they never slept together. But she looked a bit lost this morning, wondering why Murphy wasn't bothering her! 

MOM - I'm low maintenance

I finally got my new addition for the backyard. I was tempted to buy a new chair, as this zero-gravity chair has been around for a very long time and the seat canvas was getting a bit scratchy. I realized that I could buy a cushion for that chair and OH MY -- I may never leave the gazebo. It's super comfy. 

A new cushion for my zero-gravity chair

It was supposed to be delivered before I left last week, but only arrived when I got home. It had been compressed into a very small package that neither of us could figure out what it was. Then DH let the air in the bag and the thing just grew. It's a great way to resuscitate my chair. 

And then it was time to move downstairs. This is what I have to deal with. While the cutting table is NOT clear, I made good progress on clearing part of it. I don't want to put some of that stuff away because I'll need it for my Facebook Live, but I need to clear the space so I can work. It's all easy to access and pull out when I need it in two weeks. 

Trying to clear the cutting table

I also left some of my samples out because some of them need to be finished. And even if I get one a day or week done, that is better than not getting them finished. Some of them only need the edges serged to look a bit more presentable. 

While I was at Heather Bell's Sewing Studio, I stocked up on green thread. This is a color I seem to gravitate to, and I was very low, so now I have five shades of the same color, and I'm happy. 

My new green thread colors

Before adding those colors to the box of green embroidery thread, I did NOT have this color. 

My box of green embroidery thread

Over the years, I have used and taught MANY of the Marti Michelle template sets. I spotted this one on the shelf at Heather's that I didn't have. So I bought it. It looks pretty funky! 

A "new to me" template set

And now it's added to my shelf of the other Marti Michelle template sets. 

The rest of my template sets

When I dug my bike out the other week, I found this little tote bag in the basket. Once I park the bike, I need a small bag to carry things. The handles were eaten off? I have no idea what happened to the handles, so I'm going to seam-rip them off and resew them on. They will be slightly shorter, but that's OK. 

Handles to fix on my small tote bag

OK—so I need some discipline to deal with the latest puzzle. Instead of working, I was tackling this. 

Progress on the latest jigsaw puzzle

Yes - that is a quilt on the puzzle. This one is dated 2008, and the artist is Diane Phalen. Remember how her artwork was on everything!! Boxes, bags, puzzles, tins, cards, etc. I was trying to work on the flowers, and finally gave up and pulled the pieces for that quilt. Then I went back to the flowers. I got a few more pieces in and gave up, and now I'm working on the other two quilts in the picture. 

I MUST put the design boards ON TOP of the puzzle, so I won't get distracted! I need to get to work today. 

I managed to get a couple of the distribution lists together and am starting to review the patterns we will need for the classes. I need to go through all the emails before I send out the lists, as some people signed up for more than one class in one email and it's a tad challenging to sort that. But no worries—I'm catching them all, or so I hope. By the end of the week, you should all have your confirmations. If you're missing a confirmation, just send me another email, BUT don't send me something if you have already signed up. Only if you haven't!

Here is the list of classes again—and if you know someone who might be interested, forward this along. 

There is a Virtual Retreat this weekend - Saturday from 6 PM - 9 PM and then from Sunday 3 PM - 9 PM. I'll post the links later, but this is just a reminder. 

And I'm sure by now that you've heard about Dolly Parton. She was such a classy lady, and her nephew (part of her security team) posted the official video about her death. The video was amazingly well done. We were fortunate enough to meet Dolly's design team (a team of 3) who designed her clothing and helped with her onscreen image. 

Steve had been with Dolly for over 30 years as her stylist! You get to know someone very well after 30 years. All three of them couldn't say enough about how amazing Dolly was and that they were family. It was kind of an emotional moment to hear them speak about her. They will be devastated, as will many other people. I feel very fortunate that we were able to hear them speak. 

And on that note, I'm out of here! There's a lot to be done, and I feel a bit more motivated! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

The OLD and the NEW - TAKE TWO.......................

Amazing how life gets in the way. There are SO MANY distractions!!!!!   Just looking at my desk - there are so many things to do. Phone calls to make, e-mails to answer, stuff to read and process - well it goes on and on!!!!!  

I am trying to find some way of recording my 2014 goals that is practical especially since some of mine are weekly or monthly. Checking options out online and some people suggest putting a DAILY reminder in your Google Calendar. So you would get a reminder EVERY DAY about your goals. I think that is a bit much as it will become an annoyance and I will shut it off or disregard it.

I think I might try setting a weekly reminder (on Sunday AM). These are the goals for the week. I would prefer to NOT have a separate app for the goals!   It would mean one more thing to keep track of. And as much as I like Google Calendar, there are some limitations to it. I find the TASK function is a bit weak.

Well back to the Old and the New.

Just a refresher - here is the old (well it is older than me - it was made in 1955!!!!   OK - so not MUCH OLDER, but OLDER).

Signature quilt from St. Agnes Church - made in 1955 (making it OLD)

Here are a couple more blocks from the quilt.................

Interesting how many just used first initials!!!!    NOT a good idea when documenting something like this, but who knew that anyone would be looking at it all these years later and commenting on it!!!!

One more block

Remember what I said last week - some old things are treasured (like this signature quilt) and should be kept. Other things are old and treasured, but SHOULD NOT be kept. Now what could that be???????


How about this.....................

ACK - I know! This is MY fleece jacket. I don't even remember when I bought it. It has been years!!!!!!!!!!!!!   That jacket has been everywhere - on all my bikes trips, to Europe. It is COZY, it is COMFY, and.............

while it is NOT falling apart (a testament to the good quality????), it is discoloured, it is just getting ugly, BUT I can't get rid of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You see the problem is I can't find a replacement for it. I did buy a new one in St. John's this summer. Do you know how hard it is to find a fleece jacket with just a zip - no hood and NOT a sweat shirt. Well while I like the new one, it is red, not black (OK - so I HATE change), it is longer, there is a strap thing on the new one and every time I sit down, I sit on this stupid buckle and it drives me nuts!!!!!     ACK!!!!!!!   Now if I were the creative person that I say I am - I could just MAKE a NEW one. I even have the fleece. Years ago, I purchased some very high quality outer wear fleece and it is still sitting in a bucket waiting for someone to do something with it. Hmmmm - I could get my mother in law to make it. She is good with clothing.

Yes - I have loads of other jackets (well not loads, but I have a few others), BUT they are not fleece. I told you I HATE CHANGE. And I like this jacket because it has pockets for my phone or whatever. I can't stand to wear a sweater without pockets!!!!!!    Plus this jacket brings back good memories of Salt Spring Island. Can you tell, I don't like change!!!!    It is not that I don't like change, I just hate shopping for clothes and will go with comfortable. Imagine what this jacket will look like in TEN years. OK - even I am getting disgusted by it, not so much for the look, but the colour is getting very bizarre. Plus it is WARM - and even though I am of "that" age, I find that I am still cold and will wear this darn jacket year round!!!!


ACK - maybe I better dig out that new piece of fleece and get working on something!!!!

But how about these NEW things................

New fingerless mitts. I love these (thanks Donna). In the winter, my hands often get cold and I love wearing these - they keep your hands warm, yet you can still work. This is my second pair (of course I still have the other pair, but these are in my favourite colour!!!)

And how about NEW SOCKS!!!   I normally wear WHITE athletic type socks. But I loved the Hudson Bay colours so I had to have a pair. 

Technically the socks are meant to be worn LONG - well long for me. 

There is NO WAY I can wear socks above my ankles. I hate the look and the FEEL????   ICK ICK ICK!!!!!    Give me ankle socks any day!!!!!!!!!!!!!    So I just folded them down and they are WAY more comfortable!!!!

Even though I say I am NOT particular in how I dress, I guess I am!!!!   I just HATE shopping!!!!   (My friend Elaine bought the socks - well I did go to The Hudson's Bay near me and they did NOT have them in stock)



I snagged a NEW ELECTRONIC toy the other day. I wonder how long it will take before I KILL this.

It is called a FITBIT. Mary has one and she has been raving about it for months. I started asking at the gym and Maria and Alwin (who I NEVER thought would have one) both of them were raving about the darn thing. Well if you can't beat them - join them. So after MUCH research, I got this one. It helped that the gym was having a Black Friday sale on them.   I raved to my friends about it and LOOK....................

A bunch of us got FITBITS. 

Mine is currently charging as I type and it should be ready in another hour. Then I can see how active I am in a day. How many steps and how many stairs. That should be interesting. And you can log on and connect to your friends and see how active they are. It is crazy, but seems to be quite the motivator to getting people to move more!!!!!!!!

Speaking of which, I could have used the thing yesterday. I came home at lunch time and was a SLUG the entire day. For some reason, I just wanted to be warm and snuggly, so I bundled myself up in a quilt and grabbed a book and read the rest of the day!!!!!   My FIT BIT would have been sounding alarms all day!!!!!!!!!

This is part of a block of the NEW quilt that I am working on. I managed to get more fabric yesterday. The colours are leaning heavily towards TAUPE and I don't really have any. I think I am good to go now. 

I found some pictures of show n tell as well.                

Claudette worked on this at one of my Sit n Sews. She finished it at home and is getting it FRAMED. I can't wait to see it completed. 

At our last Marti Michelle class this past week, we had these items for show n tell............

This is the SECOND Dresden Plate table runner that Cathy made. I have shown this before and said she made TWO, but in fact she had only made one and this is now the second one!!!   It is so CUTE!!!!!!!

Carol is making  a bag with her NEW YORK fabric. The pieced block (which she did an amazing job on) is going to be the pocket!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great job on the projects!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Yesterday, we had our show n tell for the $10 quilts. It has been eleven years since we started the first quilt. 2003!!!!   And since then, we have worked on 23 projects!!!!!!!!!!!    We had a GREAT representation from all the years and with our helpers (Celeste, Catherine, Madeline and Berke), we (the quilters) got to enjoy them while they did all the work. Mark took pictures which I hope to share in a couple of weeks.

It was so exciting to see all the projects!!!!!!!!!!!!      I know that I worked on several to get them done for yesterday and I will continue to work on them. I will make finishing a couple of them as goals for 2014. There is NO WAY, I can finish them all in one year, so will pick a couple that are close to completion. My shelf for those projects is getting way crowded and I need to get some of them done to make room for the next round of projects!!!!!!!!!!!


On that note - I am out of here. Got to hit the quilting machine again today. And I have some paperwork that JUST has to be done today.


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Molas - Part Two

I wanted to get some literature on Molas in preparation for my demo on Sunday - OK - so I have to IMMERSE myself in the experience - can't just show up empty handed!!!!

I searched the library and they had NOTHING on molas. I called the local used book store - he was just back from vacation and not responding. NOTHING in the local Chapter's so I broke down and went online to Amazon. They had a number of books ranging in price from $10 to a couple of hundred!!!!!   Well - I hate to buy books without a good recommendation or seeing the actual book, so very carefully I read the reviews and looked at the budget and ordered the books on SUNDAY. Guess what arrived at my door on TUESDAY?????   Yep - my books - have a look.................

I recognized the cover of this book in my online searching and after a quick search of MY own library - I found it!!!!!

This is a GOREGOUS LARGE book with many coloured photos of OLDER molas

Beautiful pictures and lots of text of older molas

This book is to die for!!!!   It is HUGE and loads and loads of coloured pictures and all kinds of text!!!!

Beautiful book!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I also purchased an inexpensive book on designs which is OK. But it is a design book so I am OK with that. 

Anyway - I think I did AMAZING with just reading the reviews. I love all THREE books I purchased. However these books are NOT for loan. If you want to see them - you MUST come see my demo on Sunday, February 3rd between 2 and 4 PM at the Peel Art Gallery and Museum Archives at 9 Wellington Street in Brampton.


I did manage to download all those pictures yesterday - took forever. Now I have to find the pictures of my wild weekend and I will get myself up to date.


I did NOT take pictures, but yesterday I started taking BRIDGE lessons. I know - who would have thought!!!!!   I love it, but I never realized all the "conversations", `bidding`and other stuff that happens in the game. Yikes - I hope I remember it all for next week. It is really a lot of fun and I never was a big card person, although we played KAISER at lunch at school all the time. Now if you do not know a thing about KAISER - here is the definition that I found on the internet...............   (from Wikipedia)

Kaiser, or three-spot, is a trick-taking card game popular in the prairie provinces in Canada, especially Saskatchewan and parts of its neighbouring provinces. It is played with four players in two partnerships with a 32-card deck.

I grew up in Saskatchewan so now I know why people around here have no clue what I am talking about!!!!!!!!!!!!



Today, I taught a class at Ruti`s. It is part of the Marti Michell series. If you are NOT attending these - you are missing out on some good information. Not only do we talk about the product of the month, but lots of other things get discussed as well. Today was the Kaleido-Ruler. I forget what is next time, but the next class is at the end of March. You should come!!!!!!!!!    There are some very cool things you can do with this ruler!!!!!   So many more quilts to make!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Went to the gym this morning and my body is going to be protesting tomorrow. If I am going to be at the gym, I am going to make it worth my while. We have to partner up on Wednesday and Sophia and I have a good system going. We have a tough workout, but like I said - what`s the point if you are going to slack off!!!!!


On that note - I have a TON of stuff to do - paperwork - ACK!!!!!!!   I just can`t keep up with the administration of all these classes and committees - never mind my own stuff. And let`s not even talk about the long arm nor the piecing. 

OK - I am out of here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Have a good day and hopefully tomorrow, I will get those pictures of the wild weekend posted!!!!



Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it time to PANIC yet???????

There are some times when I wonder what the HE** am I doing?????   Why do I get myself into these predicaments?

Well not exactly predicaments, but time crunches.


So this weekend is the start of the END!!!!!   I got suckered (NO - actually I was the one who brought it up) into teaching Dear Jane. Do you know what Dear Jane is????

This is an amazing quilt that was first made by Jane Stickle in 1863. It has become a "once in a lifetime" desire of many quilters to replicate this sampler quilt. The quilt is made up of 169 blocks and 56 pieced blocks in the border.


BUT if it were only Dear Jane - it might not be so bad - OH NO - let's dig deep for punishment. I also have a couple who are doing Farmer's Wife AND Hobo Quilts. Plus there is the usual $10 quilt and this year it is called Spring has Sprung.

Farmer's Wife

Hobo Quilt

Spring has sprung

On top of that - I had a class I had to prepare for yesterday (more on that in a minute) AND this weekend is the weekend we are doing our first exchange for the Around the Block challenge with my retreat group.

Oh yeah - it never rains but it pours!!!!!!!


So yes - I was feeling a TAD overwhelmed in getting all this stuff prepped for the class, making up distribution lists so we can keep track of each other and figuring out what blocks and how many to do each month.

I am in OK shape, but by no means am I even close to being finished for the weekend.


I did get a LUCKY break (well I think it is lucky), when I was preparing for my Wednesday class (Marti Michele) and the teacher material talked about using the templates for other projects. Guess what other project?????   FARMER'S WIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How cool is that - so we are going to do Marti Michele templates to cut (that is a HUGE time saver) - well I am going to use them  - who knows about the students.

I have to laugh when I hear other people talk about finishing one project before they touch the next. HAH!!!!   _ I worked on THREE projects this morning. Got the binding ready for the Christmas Charm (my 12 for (20)12 January project), got FOUR little blocks completed for the retreat exchange and almost finished assembling the top for the last senior lap quilt I had. And the day is only going to get more wild.

I know they say multi tasking does NOT work and while it may not, while I am sewing on one thing - I am mentally locating the materials that I need for the next project, what is needed for the classes on Saturday, what e-mails need to be sent - that sort of thing. I have bags set out for each class or guild meeting. When I think of something that should go in that bag - I put it in the bag. Oh yeah - this studio is a well oiled machine!!!!!


What is the Marti Michele class???? It is held on the 4th Wednesday at 10:30 at Ruti's Needlebed. It is going to happen every TWO months, so the next one is in March.

When I think back to what I have done that is Mari Michele - there is a LOT. I have made at least FOUR Queen sized quilts - another queen sized partially together and ONE MORE waiting to be sewn. Then there are at least 5 wall hangings that I can think of and probably more. My thought when I was first asked to do a quilt using these templates - wasn't GOOD!!!   After making that quilt -well you can see by what I have completed since that I am LIKING these templates.

This class I am teaching is all about taking the templates/rulers and showing you what all can be done with them. Many are multi purpose. Yesterday was no exception as we took the Setting Triangle ruler (did you know there are FOUR of them in total - but you only need one) and showed how to make setting triangles AND use it to make this table runner. It would also be good if you have a block that you want to make into a square in a square. All in all - it is a VERY VERSATILE tool - no math required and it does MORE THAN ONE THING which is great.

Marti Michele pattern

Now another good thing about this class - Marti has put together a series of patterns that are JAM PACKED with information - not only about the pattern in questions, but lots more besides. If you belong to this class - the patterns are $5.00. A great deal.

So if you have Marti Michelle templates and not sure what else you can do with them - this is the class for you. In the next class we are going to cover the tool (not sure which one that is yet) AND the tools required to make Storm at Sea.

It is a GREAT CLASS and you won't be sorry that you signed up. You will be SORRY that you missed it. I LEARNED several things from that pattern and that is hard to do.


On that note - I MUST get going with the day - more e-mails to send, things to check and then let's not forget all those blocks that have to be made.


Have a great day.




Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!