What a memory!!!

OK --- I'm sitting here with tears streaming down my face, and I can't help it. They are tears of joy, but still. And even when I got ahold of myself and then came back to edit, these pictures still bring tears to my eyes. 

I just had a quick peek at Facebook before I started writing, and I spotted this post. I knew my nephew, who recently got his pilot's license and bought a small plane, wanted to fly from Winnipeg to visit with my parents in North Battleford. It's about 840 km. 

When I talked to Mom yesterday and asked if anything new was happening, she said that Devin and his girlfriend were there for the weekend. 

And here is Devin taking my Dad for a ride in his plane. My Dad would be tickled to the ends of the earth with this, and I just can't stop crying when I think of how much this would lift his day, his week, his year!!

Grandfather (my Dad) and his grandson (Devin)

One of Dad's buddies (best man) lives in Edmonton and used to fly small planes, and Dad talked about it all the time. Going for a ride with his grandson in his own plane will have him over the moon. And they flew over the farm, which is even more special. I bet the neighbors were wondering who the heck was in that small plane!! 

What's left of the family farm

Gosh -- if it weren't for the blue roof on the old garage, you wouldn't even know there was a farm there! Almost everything is now gone, but you will notice a long line of debris in front of the blue-roofed garage. That belongs to my brother, who is in total denial about being a hoarder, just like Mom. He is a hoarder of old trucks and cars. While he's in the process of getting rid of it, there is still a lot of work to be done. But that's not my problem! 

OK - I think I've settled down now! WOW --- what a thrill of a lifetime for Dad. He'll be talking about that for years! I might have to get those pictures framed for him! 

My news for the day is pretty tame compared to that. I'm so not used to having NOTHING to do on the weekends that I'm positively becoming a slug! Well, that's not true, but I didn't get done nearly as much as I would have liked. But you know what? That's OK. 

This was my quote in my tea in the morning. How fun, and it's so true whether you are quilting, getting from A to B, or anything in life!! I try to "enforce" that when I'm teaching a class. I am not a fan of teachers who dictate how something must be done. There are a few rules in my vocabulary when I teach - I have my preferred way, and I like to state why that is my preferred way, but honestly, does it matter if the students do it slightly differently? Not at all!

Quote for the day

The three of us went to DH's golf club for brunch. It was a beautiful day, but it was cold, and when that wind starts up, it's even colder. When I walked Murphy in the morning, it was without mitts, but when I walked Lexi, I got mitts. 

It was a wonderful buffet, and we had a great lunch. I only took pictures of the best part! Dessert! They had yummy cupcakes. 

Mother's Day dessert

But the best part was the creme brule!! Oh my --- the portion was tiny, so I did sneak a second one, and it was so creamy and heavenly. A great way to finish off a wonderful meal. I'm sure DH will be happy when his sister moves out! So much talking and frivolity at the table! He's used to my one-sided, idiotic conversations, but to have someone respond to me -- well, I'm sure he's getting tired of it. I think it's hilarious and loads of fun!

Creme brule to die for!

I had not been out to the club for several years, and I used to ride my bike in that area, but the roads have all changed now. I almost got lost! 

So what did I do once we got back home? That darn puzzle was calling my name, and I just couldn't resist. After all, it was Sunday, and Mother's Day on top of it, so I resisted the weak pull of the sewing machine and sat down to work on the puzzle. Those buildings were a challenge since there were loads of windows, but there were small figures in them, and, well, it all came together. And this is more like me—finding a home for all the pieces I have selected. 

Progress on the puzzle

Then I covered the puzzle and said, "No more," but I couldn't resist, and before I knew it, I was back to working on the puzzle. And this is what it looked like when I shut things down last night. I think you can now tell the city it portrays! 

Great progress on the jigsaw puzzle

And while I loved getting the information, I didn't need to know there was a second puzzle store in my area!! I looked at their Facebook page, and it looks like a wonderful store in Toronto. It's called PuzzleNerds, and it's about 30 minutes away by car. Hmmm--- I may have to take a visit, but they have a very good website, so one could just look online and order! Lots of great independent puzzle makers with some amazing pictures!

I spotted this puzzle, which I need to get. It's called Soaring Over Tofino, and since that is the location of the next wedding, it's a must-get! It's out of stock at both puzzle stores!!! The Villager is a Canadian company. Yeah!

Soaring over Tofino jigsaw puzzle

Anyway --- it was fun not having any pressure to get something done, and working on the puzzle was amazing. I LOVE doing jigsaw puzzles. 

However, I did accomplish some quilting things. The customer's quilt was finished. 

Customer quilt - DONE

I just have to join some batting pieces for the community project quilt I'll work on today, and I'll switch back and forth between these two categories to finish them. It's time I got back to the long arm! And I have some learning to do, and this would be the perfect time since I don't have much pressure from classes. And can you believe? This coming weekend is also empty!! I MUST get my bike tuned up, so I can get out for some rides!!

I also traced all the applique shapes for that winter seasonal quilt I'm working on. I didn't get any sewing done, and I'm OK with that. Tracing the applique is a boring process, and it's all done!

Tracing the applique shapes onto the fusible.

It's Monday sewing, so I hope to get all the fusible on the back of the fabric scraps and cut them out. Then, when it's time to do the applique, all is prepped. I have some other applique stitching to do, and today might be just the perfect day to make it all happen. While it's OK to slide a bit, I don't want that to become the new norm. I like sewing and have so much I want to do. 

I'm off to spin this morning. Notice I didn't say "class." I'm going to hop on a bike in the main area and watch the TV without sound. I'm OK with that. I just need to get back into my routine, and I really, really miss the spin classes. 

And on that happy note, I'm out of here!!

Have a wonderful day!

Ciao!!!

Where's the tattoo?

Happy Mother's Day everyone! Most of us won't get to see our mothers today, but I haven't seen my mom on Mother's Day for years! But I always call and I'll be calling later today.

As I've been tidying up, I came across this Mother's Day present from M and got a good chuckle out of it.

This was a note tucked inside a CD case. The CD is missing, but apparently, it had a playlist for ME. I wonder what songs she picked? I'm sure I'll find the CD somewhere. WAIT - I'd better check the two radios that I'm going to give away. The CD compartment is still taped shut on one radio so it won't be in there. Just checked - the other one is empty.

I don't think she ever got that tattoo on her arm. I'm heartbroken  😀😀😀😀

Here's the note that was inside.

A note from the kiddo

I'm not sure how old she was. These notes are just the best. I might hang onto this one. It's still in the pot that needs to be dealt with.

There are a lot of things that we can't control right now. Well, there's a lot of things that we can't control on a normal day. But guess what? We can control the stuff in our house and what goes on in our house. I'm thrilled beyond words that I'm finally taking the bull by the horns and dealing with the stuff in my house. Until the day I die, I'll probably always have too much, but my goal is to get it under control and when I'm done with something - it goes!

I feel so much freer. I feel way more focused and I definitely am getting more done. I'm not there yet, but I'm making good progress and that's all that counts. I can see the light at the end of this tunnel. And I'm going to be saying NO if someone offers me stuff in the future. Well - I'll be giving it some very serious thought before I say YES.

I decided there's no time like the present so I went down to the boxes of stuff that's been set aside for community projects and I did a wee bit of sorting. I filled a laundry basket with the yardage that can be sorted and put together into kits to make community project quilts. There'll be a bit more to add as I sort through some more stuff. I pulled out three boxes of scraps that still hadn't been sorted. And with all the stuff that I found in that laundry basket, it's now all in one place and I'm starting to sort through it all.

This was one of the boxes that I went through yesterday. There were a LOT of big pieces of fabric in there. It's now in the laundry basket with the other yardage and will be sorted into kits.

Going through a box of scrap fabric

I went through that brown bag of scraps as well. So that was a good day - a box and a bag.

This is what still needs to be sorted.

Boxes of scraps and random fabric to be sorted

I dumped a small bag on the worktable this morning so I can work my way through that today. Once those boxes are gone through - that's it - there shouldn't be any more rogue fabric at my house.

OH WAIT - I still have a lot of bags that were donated to make pet mats to go through. I just want to bang my head on the wall for that silly, silly, silly thing I offered to do - take other peoples' scraps. What the heck was I thinking? That's a whole different story and I'd like to get some of that done as well. That's an intimidating pile, but it's smaller than it was. I can do it!!!  And imagine how I'll feel when all that sorting is done? It'll be glorious and then just focus on getting it used up!! That I can do very well.

Here are a few things I found in the bag and box that I sorted through yesterday. A bunch of half-square triangles and a pattern.

Half-square triangles and a pattern

I sorted the smaller scraps that are suitable for the strings quilts by color. Those got put into the appropriate bag of scraps. There were some bigger squares and they got put into another pile. I'll cut them into squares at some point and they can be sewn together to make another quilt.

The sorting process

If only I had a sorting hat, as in Harry Potter. I could wave my magic wand and everything would be sorted. I watched a couple of episodes of The Quilt Show while I did the sorting. It worked out just fine.

I also found some big triangles that I can add to my box so I can make more quarter square triangles.

Big triangles for quarter square triangles

The trick to all this is if you have NO IDEA what you have, then you can't use it. Now that like things are being put in the same spot, it's easy to use it up. All very logical, but it's taken me YEARS to figure this out. I know that some of the fabrics I'm going to go through today are from 20 years ago. Just wait for that.

I took a picture of the weekly laundry basket. Nothing has changed. I did forget that I have homework to prep this week and I haven't added that container yet. I will confess that I've been working on other stuff, but it's trimming quilts and making sleeves. Not "real" sewing. That gets done in Studio B. Don't worry - there's a method to all this madness.

The weekly laundry basket

I'm almost finished the blocks for the magazine quilt. Then I MUST get myself in gear and work on my UFO or the date will have come and gone and I'll owe $10. We can't have that!!!!

Here's something else that needs a home or it's getting tossed. This is a sample pack of Quilters Dream Batting. I have two - I don't need two.

Quilter's Dream Batting sample pack

Includes samples of the different kinds of batting

My big project for the day was to quilt this customer quilt. It was huge and took a fair amount of time. But it's done. I now have a couple of quilts to trim.

Customer quilt - DONE

I didn't take a picture, but I also trimmed my Dream Big panel that I had machine embroidered a while back. That wasn't an easy task since there are no guides. I just cut. It turned out very nice and I'm working on a facing for it today.

So I still haven't found those bodkins and that bugs me. But what bugged me more was the fact that I couldn't close off the ends of serged stitches on the pet mats. They were sitting on the counter in Studio U and were bugging me every time I looked over there.

Then I had a brainstorm. I have YARN needles. I have PLASTIC yarn needles which would do the same thing. I dug them out - I think I bought this pack of needles when I was a teenager. Still in the original packaging. Note they were MADE in the USA.

Page of yarn needles

They worked like a charm and I got all the thread ends tucked inside. The pet mats are now packed away ready to be delivered/picked up. I'm a very happy camper about that.

Tucking in the ends of serger thread

Do I have a timeline for getting everything tidied up? The sooner the better, but I'm giving myself 20 years.  Once I get everything tidied up, I have to start using what I have and getting ready to downsize. So I give myself 20 years to use it up! I'll probably be so tired of quilting by then, that I'll be happy to give it away! I wonder what kind of fabrics will be in style in 20 years?

I'm reading a fun book and very appropriate for Mother's Day. It's called Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson.   It's a short book and I listened to more than half of it yesterday. I hope to finish today as it's due in a couple of days.

During our current crisis, the one subject that no one seems to be talking about is our immune system. Why aren't we focusing on how to build a stronger immune system so that if we are exposed to the virus that we won't get it or if we do, that the symptoms will be mild??

I'm not sure you can access this PODCAST, but it's about boosting your immune system. I must get myself organized and listen to PODCASTS on my phone instead of an audiobook. Darn - the PODCAST player is in the same folder as my Libby (audiobook player). I just ignore it. Well, I'm not going to ignore it in the future. Now, what PODCASTS can I listen to??

Here's something else that I think is fun. The fact that we should be laughing MORE. I couldn't agree more. I do need to smile more - I don't know why I don't, but I need to make a mental reminder to smile all the time. It's fun and makes people wonder what's going on!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day. Don't forget to practice physical distancing. The word is now - practice physical distancing, not so much stay at home.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

I guess I had better remember to call my Mom today or I'll be in trouble.  Funny how they sometimes seem so above the Mother's Day thing, but god forbid if you forget to call!  That's the same with birthdays and anniversarys!  Those dates are embedded in my brain!

It would appear that Lexi and Murphy were up to no good last night as I see Lexi has posted something this morning. Those two girls are just big trouble makers!

Speaking of being a Mom, my kid now lives in Vancouver and seems to be liking it there.  Just have to figure out a way to get all of her stuff that is in our house out to her (or pitch it!). Here's a recent picture that she had taken.

M

And Little Bear

Yep - that's her teeny weeny dog. Murphy would have a hay day with that little dog.

So I got a package in the mail this past week. I love how it was addressed. Can you see?  Didn't have my name on the package - nope - addressed to Mom!  I love it!!!!

Addressed to MOM

And this is the coolest card - Mother's Day card with a gold bike!  I love the card - thanks kiddo!

Cool Mother's Day card

 And I got a bike charm and bike napkins.

Bike themed goodies

Now those napkins will get used!  Again - what is the point of having this stuff if it doesn't get used!  Enjoy the moment and move on!


DH wanted to take me out for brunch, but there is NO TIME for brunch.  I don't know why people feel obligated to eat out on Mother's Day - I mean the brunch thing.  I don't really care, we have our weekly date dinner and I'm OK with that. What I want today is time to work on what I'm supposed to be working on!

Yesterday was a super productive day. I got the quilt top finished and loaded on the long arm, ready to get started later today. I had come up with some quilting patterns, but then thought of another one this morning. Whatever it is, has to be quick as this quilt is BIG  (80" square) and it has to be in a suitcase on Wednesday morning with the binding attached. The sleeve can be hand stitched or pinned when we arrive.

Quilt is loaded

 I also got the binding done for the other quilt that I will get back from the long arm quilter tomorrow so that one can be finished tomorrow.

Binding prepped

 I did get part of the next row on that "nice to have" project.  It didn't take that long so that was good. If I could get two more rows on, I would be very happy.

I zipped out for a couple of hours yesterday to buy supplies for that 3-D project.  It was funny as I ran into someone I knew at all three places.  That never happens!

Then back home and got most of the bits cut out and a wee bit of work done on it. It's still on the fence whether it will get finished in time or not.

3-D project - cut out

And last, but not least, I took a ton of photos, edited 57 of them and they are uploaded to the QUILTsocial blog posts. Now to fill in the text. That is the big job of today.

I was super happy with my progress and don't feel any stress. I'm wondering if that is a good thing or a bad thing?

I also decided to dump the photos from my camera card (all 6,058) of them (in one year) to the hard drive of the other computer. Yes - I'm typing this on the laptop!

They will need to be sorted and tagged and probably many of them need to be deleted as they have served their purpose. I might try to do a few every day - again there aren't a lot of topics and they can be moved as groups - dogs, quilt shows, blog pictures, etc. And since they tend to be in groups, that makes it even easier. Heck - I might even get the class photos done!

I have quite a few appointments during the Spring Market and as I'm working, I'm planning out those appointments.  There is one that is a bit different from the others and this is where keeping pictures of all your work becomes important.  As I was transferring some pictures from one computer to the other yesterday, I found some that I was looking for.  Now the key is to assemble them all in one place (iPad is preferable) so they can be shown. BUT this task would be so much easier if all my pictures were in one place, tagged and sorted.  Oh well - if life were that easy, where would be the fun?

On that note, I'm out of here to take a few more photos and get writing!

Have a super Mother's Day!!!!

Ciao!

This one is for you MOM!!

Hmmmmm - the weather was beautiful - there are four bikes in the garage begging to be taken out for a ride. I got a garden that is screaming - weed me and distribute that bag of mulch in the driveway. The backyard swing was very inviting, BUT I decided to stay indoors and do something for my Mom!!!!!

And this is how my day went - even when I try to be nice to my Mom - she caused me no end of problem!!!  Wait until you see what happened................


When I was home in February, my Mom gave me a number of quilt tops that she had made a LONG LONG time ago. She gave them to me to quilt. I thought that Mother's Day was a perfect day to quilt one of them. I grabbed the scrappy one - with the squares of fabric that I recognize - well at least some of them and that got loaded onto the machine.

Mom's scrappy quilt

Went to the batting closet and after quickly browsing the labeled pieces of batting, I was able to find four pieces that would be big enough for the quilt

Joined those four pieces, measured and OOOPS - not big enough. OK - so math was never  my strong point.  Back to the closet and two more pieces of batting 

Those little labels that get pinned on the batting pieces are a brilliant idea!!!

Despite all that - I still short changed myself on one side of the batting!!!!!!   Not to worry - I just cut off a peice that was hanging on another side and used the interfacing and fused as I went to fill in the hole.

Let's say that I NEVER do that with a customer quilt.   But for my own quilts - I have no problem to join batting. It is an excellent way to use up scraps. And I got rid of SIX pieces. Once I get this quilt trimmed - there won't be much left. I'll show you tomorrow.


While I was ironing the quilt top I found a little treasure. Well not as exciting as a US feedsack, but if you look closesly at this next photo - can you see it????

Right in the middle of this picture- in washed out blue ink - it says 20 LB.  Obviously a feed sack, but we did not have fancy feed sacks in Canada like they did in the US.  I thought that was neat. 

So I knew that one end of the quilt was a bit wonky - I loaded the quilt and then thought I had better deal with it otherwise I will be trimming off a bit of quilt.

See - two rows were short

And at the other end three rows were too long

Oh yes - it would have been so easy to have fixed this BEFORE I loaded the quilt. I even contemplated taking if off the machine. Then I had a brain storm. I cut off the excess from the one end and resewed it to the short end - all while it was on the long arm.

The new piece sewed to the short end (right through all layers with the long arm)

Flipped back into place

Edge basted and ready to quilt - VOILA - problem solved and took only a few minutes

And that is what was left for batting at the end!!!!!   You can see that I was working with all different lengths

And at last - the quilt is quilted!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Mom likes flowers so I used a floral pattern to quilt it with

Nice cosy flannel from the stash on the back

And the binding? Well - I will just pull scraps from my binding scrap bin - join the pieces together and then get that sewn on. 

I still have to trim the quilt and will try to get that done today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


So Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!!!!!   I spent a good part of the day cursing you but the bottom line - the quilt got done. I had fun and lots of memories.    Oh - and I spent a long time on the phone chatting to Mom and one of my aunts!   It was an awesome day and the girls and I went for a nice walk to enjoy the weather.



Have an awesome day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



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

What it means to be a MOM!

It is Mother's Day.     HAPPY Mother's Day to everyone!!!!!!

Being a Mom is a crazy job. Just crazy - you have no idea what you are in for when you decide to become a parent. I remember coming home from the hospital with this little bundle which we laid on the couch. We sat on either side of her and looked at each other and said "Now what?"  We had NO CLUE at that point how a baby was going to fit into the mix of our busy lives. And we were mature, responsible adults at the time!!!  (I've since regressed!)

But time went on and we figured it out pretty fast.

I would like to say that I am PROUD to be a Mom.  There are days when I am a SUPER Mom, there are days when I am a crappy Mom. There are days when I make mistakes (OK - there are many days like that), there are days when I question whether I even want to keep my kid), there are days when nothing goes right, there are days when nothing is good enough. Well you get the picture.


But there are days when you connect with your kid that make up for all the rotten days. We have spent many hours messing about, having fun, doing road trips and just general silliness which is part of being a Mom.

I remember the day when she discovered her hand. She sat in her little chair and stared at her hand as she moved it around. I'm not sure who was more mesmerized - me or her. I have to say that as M gets older and continues to make discoveries about life, I am even more mesmerized as she figures out the big picture. Even though there are days when I could kill her  - there are many more when I am so PROUD that I could bust with pride!!!!!!!!!!!

And part of Mother's Day is to remember MY MOM.  I don't envy my Mom.  I was a feisty child - I "hated" my Mom because she was so strict, there were rules for everything and I felt like I was constantly being punished for every little thing.  I could NOT wait to leave home.   OK - we did have some good moments as well, but somehow we all seem to remember the bad things and never the good. Funny how that happens!

Now that I am older, I have a good relationship with my Mom. I wish we were closer but that isn't going to happen so we chat on the phone.  I wish I had spent more time with my grandmothers - getting to know them a bit better, learning their stories.  I was not interested in that stuff when they were alive. That makes me sad.

Anyway.........................


Here is my FAVOURITE picture of M and myself.

Yes - that cute little baby is M!!!!!!!!   

It appears that I really LOVE this picture because look................

YEP - there are TWO of the same picture on the table!!!!!   I never noticed until someone pointed it out to me. DUH!!!!!   OK - so I am a clueless Mom!!!!!

And what was my best present ever for Mother's Day???   Not the spa certificate (although I will never say no to that), not a new sewing machine (although I would not say no to that either), not the kitchen appliances (although I am shocked that I am not getting a Vitamix blender - just because M wants one). NOPE the best present ever was this handmade collage of the trip that M and I took to Europe.

She chose the pictures, made up the sayings and assembled the collage onto a placemat from a restaurant that we ate in near the end of our trip.   This really is the best present ever and it is one of my treasures. It hangs in the stairs and I pass it every time I am up and down to the studio (which is many times in a day).

So many cool memories!!!!!     Thanks M - I just LOVE LOVE LOVE that collage!!!!!!!!!   It means so much to me.


We went out to dinner last night because it just isn't going to work today. We had a fabulous time and boy the world is small. We were sitting there and out of the corner of my eye, I thought I recognized the woman sitting at the table behind me. I was just about to say something when M says that she knows one of the boys at the table and then the woman speaks to us. YEP - she and I were on the same sales team many years ago. She also knows DH as he worked there as well. M and her son went to the same school.   They live very close to us, but we were work friends and never became neighbour friends.  Small world - but it was pretty funny how everyone recognized each other at the same time.

Anyway - it was a super dinner, but I realize that I (and M) can no longer eat a big meal. I only ate the meat from the hamburger - no bun and a salad and fries and I was stuffed. We just don't eat big meals any more. We eat often and small. And I think I was asleep before my head hit the pillow!!!!


On that note - I am off to enjoy the day.  Not sure what I will do - something just for me?  Something that needs to be done? I'll figure it out as I go along. I may just hang out in the backyard with a book.

But I will call my mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Have a wonderful Mother's Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



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