Motivational Monday

It works much better for me to show you on Tuesday what I've been working on since I'm usually running around getting ready for Monday and since I'm the key keeper, I can't be late.

Yesterday was Monday sewing. Always tons of fun, always lots of work gets done. From time to time, I get a few pictures of what the others have completed. They are a pretty prolific group!

I had to laugh at Claudette though. She voiced something that I was thinking just the other day. While the rest of the group seem to be off and working on a bunch of new stuff, we're stuck making things that should have been done months or even years ago. Oh well - we both like working on stuff with little pieces and it takes time.

This morning, I decided to dig out some projects for the upcoming sewing retreat. I think three of the four are on the UFO lists - either last year or this year's lists. I think this is where the focusing comes into play. You have to focus on finishing things and you have to STOP trying to do all the things that everyone in the group is doing.

In other words - pick projects that YOU want to do, not what the others are doing. I'm making good progress so I'm not going to complain. Although I did have a moment last night (because now I'm dangerously behind) where I wondered why am I continuing to work on the 150 Canadian Women. The celebration year is over. There's one person in our group who has already finished her blocks, made three quilts from them and they are gifted. Two others have their quilt tops together - waiting for quilting. Yes - there are two others working on the blocks, but I think they are way behind me.

I decided that I'm this far through the project that I'm going to forge ahead. Get it done so I can move onto something else on Monday.

Let's see what the others have been working on. This is a string quilt made by Claudette. She's been working on this one for a while, but the top is now DONE! The colors are beautiful. Nice and bright. And it's BIG! That's another reason why it takes so long to make quilts - if you make them big, it takes longer.

String quilt

Just to put things in perspective, Claudette was lamenting about working on projects that others have already finished. Well - look at what kind of projects she works on. The string quilt above, which is a fairly easy thing to sew. BUT look at this one. Those are teeny tiny little squares. Cut 1"

Teeny tiny little squares

 She's making a Bonnie Hunter quilt and this is part of one block. And then she wonders why she is still working on old stuff.

Blocks that are teeny tiny

 Claudette needs to work on a project like Tishs'. This is Vintage Farm Girl. Tish made all the blocks in the 12-inch format. She made two quilts with her blocks (there are 45 in total). Those pieces go together easy peasy and FAST. The borders are now on this quilt and it's ready to be quilted!

Vintage Farm Girl

 What did I get done? Well, I have to say that my improvised carrying case for the pixelated quilt worked perfectly!  I love that blue felt board that's supporting the little pieces. It was a good investment. They don't make that kind anymore, but I think they should!

Anyway, I got quite a bit of block 9 completed. There's just the bottom row to sew into four patches and then join the five rows together. That's impressive for one day of enders and leaders. I wish I had thought of doing this months ago - I would be done!

Pixelated quilt - block 9

I did get six more blocks completed for 150 Canadian Women. Unlike last week when it took almost all day, I finished before lunch. I'm excited about that. But as I mentioned earlier, I had a moment of doubt. I want more red/white quilts so I'm forging ahead.

6 more blocks for 150 Canadian Women

 I now have 78 blocks completed. That means I'm over half way there. And if I keep up this pace, I'll be finished in 12 weeks. ACK - that's still three months. That's a LOT of work. But I'll get them done and then design the quilts and get moving onto the next project whatever that is.

I got one more block sewn together for the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge. This was NOT a beginner project and I see some of the finished quilts on the internet and the color schemes that some chose were amazing!!!!  I'm OK with my colors - it's bright - I'll dress it up with some fancy quilting.  I still have to think of a sashing/border combo for the quilt. I think I've got something for the sashing, but what color do I use for a border? I used solids and any solid would be too overpowering. Maybe just a darker shade of grey.

7 of 9 blocks done!

 I made good progress on Block 8 yesterday so that won't take long to complete next week and the last block is also cut and ready to sew. Hopefully, I'll get both of them done next week.

Then I get to go back to the Garden Patch quilt. Yeah! More fiddly bits. It seems boring that I'm always working on the same quilts! 

Two more blocks cut and ready to sew

Yes, it seems that I, like Claudette, like fiddly little projects! We're our own worse enemy!

I cut out another quilt this morning. It's one of the urgent ones. It's super simple and between quilting the other one, I should have this completed by the end of the day.

On that note, I'm out of here. I've so much paperwork to do, I'm not sure where to start and I don't have time until next week or later this week to tackle it.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!

English paper piecing

While I didn't get everything done yesterday that I had hoped (I was hoping to have another customer quilt quilted), I'm still on track. It's going to be heads-down for the next couple of weeks until that long arm goes in for servicing. Then I can have three to four weeks of doing nothing! As if!

I did get that huge customer quilt completed the day before.

Customer quilt - DONE

 I still need to trim it, but as I have three in total for the same customer, I'll wait and trim later this week.

I got one of my quilts quilted as well. It's for a magazine so I can't share it with you. But here's something that I learned. I have figured out why modern quilts do NOT have borders. As I was prepping to quilt this quilt (it has a border, but is modern), I was contemplating how to quilt the borders. And then it dawned on me - the modern quilter's didn't want to deal with the dilemma of quilting a border, so they didn't add one! Seriously?  Yep - I think those borderless quilts are as simple as that!!

Anyway, since the border was the same size as the blocks in the quilt, I decided to carry the pattern into the border and quilt the border as if it were a continuation of the blocks. While that's all good in theory, I had to do a fair bit of ripping until I could get the pattern established. Let's just say that I was having a serious spatial moment to get that thing quilted. But I tried something new and I LOVE it. As I was quilting that one - no I didn't have a chance to think about anything else as I quilted that one. It required too much concentration!

That leaves 11 quilts before the long arm goes in for servicing. Five need to have custom quilting so that will be a wee bit of a challenge and two - well four still have to be made. But we are NOT going to go there. Like I said - it's going to be heads-down for the next three weeks. Not all are due right away, but since I can't quilt them without the long arm - well I could quilt them on the domestic machine and I will if I have to. Not the customer ones but my own.

More patterns got finalized yesterday and I believe they are on the Northcott website. You have to check out this new collection which is coming soon. It's called Sleepy Sloth and is absolutely ADORABLE.   Here is the picture of the quilt I designed for it.

Hanging Out

You can check out the fabric collection at Northcott's webpage. The collection ships in March and once it ships, you can use the product finder to locate a shop near you that purchased the collection. The free pattern should be available for download now.

And for my American friends, there is another free download using Northcott's latest Stars and Stripes collection. Oh, shoot - I don't see the pattern on the website yet. I'll post that when I see the link.

Here are my blocks for the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge. I took a picture yesterday morning and then realized that one block was still hanging on the wall. Of course, it was after I had packed everything up!!! So I had to lay the blocks out again. There isn't really a rhyme nor reason to the color scheme. I'm thinking some interesting quilting can be done in these large (16") blocks!!

Blocks for the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge

Then it was on to finishing up some items. Well, one. I got the binding on this table runner.

Sewing the binding on a table runner

 This makes finish Number ELEVEN for the year.

Table runner

 That table runner is a free pattern designed by me. It's on the Northcott website and looks totally different from the original.

The table runner was delivered last night. I purchased the fabric at Oh Look Fabric (the new quilt store in Milton) and it will be a potential class in the upcoming future. So watch for that. If you're not on the mailing list, you should get yourself on the list. If you look at that link above, you'll see the latest fabrics she has in the store. They are distinctly Canadian and SUPER CUTE.  I should have bought some last night, but I didn't think. Now I want some!!!!  Help!!!

Last night, we had our first class at Oh Look Fabric. I was supposed to put it on my blog, but I was so wrapped up in quilting, that I forgot to post the information. The topic? English Paper Piecing and you can see the ladies hard at work making their hexagons.

Making hexagons

 And when the evening was over, we had a nice selection of flowers. They did amazingly well and those stitches are very invisible. Kudos to everyone for a great job!!!

Finished hexagon "flowers"

This is such a relaxing technique. It takes very little to carry around a pouch of hexagons, scissors, and thread. Technically there isn't really any prep work. I really need to work on these - I have an audio book I want to finish so I'm going to put them together by my chair and see what I can get done.


I did finish my Anne Perry novel. Boy - that was quite a story and that's all I'm going to say, but I'm anxious to read the next one. But I'm going to try a different author. At the moment, I'm reading about the movie Thelma and Louise. I never saw that movie, but now I want to. Got to find it somewhere - I'm sure it's on the internet.

Speaking of that - oh shoot - I have to find the pictures of M in her first TV show. I saw them this morning and now I can't find them. Perhaps she can send them to me via e-mail so I can post tomorrow.

And now I have to run. I'm teaching two classes today. I'm all prepped or as prepped as I'm going to be!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!

Third time's a charm!

I have to say that I'm a very lucky person. I was able to spend a great day sewing with friends on Sunday at my house and yesterday was Monday sewing. It just doesn't get any better than that and I'm very grateful for my situation that allows me to sew two full days in a row. But I often wonder if I didn't sew - what the heck would I do with my days?

I've gotten up early in the morning and sewed for years. What would I do at 5 AM if I couldn't sew? I guess I could go to the gym!

So a lot has happened in those two days and you'd better sit down because - well I did a lot although I don't necessarily have a lot to show for my time.

The first thing on the agenda was to fix this quilt. I wasn't happy with the direction of the print in the small squares. I'll be doing a post later this week with more details on this very subject!

Hmm - directional prints - a pain!

 So I had to rip out SIX of those little squares and give them a quarter turn and now life is good! This quilt is ready for quilting - this week. It's on the "URGENT to be quilted" list.

The little square is now in harmony with the big square

 I unearthed another one of my 2018 UFO projects. This project has been carried to many retreats and never made it to the top of the bag. Well - it's time to get it done! I had a huge bag of squares of fabric and a lot of the pieced patches that had already been sewn together. They needed to be combined and made into a triple four patch block. So I'd already done a ton of work on it and there it's sat for years!

Components waiting to be sewn

I taught this class years ago and one of my students had made a ton of those teeny four-patches. She gave me her extras and while I already had a huge quilt made of these, I decided to try a different setting with all the leftovers. This is the triple four patch block.

Triple four patch block

 And here's the thing - I'm not sure if I have enough of the 3 1/2" squares, so I had pulled fabric a while back that could be cut if I needed it. I also found some more of the smaller blocks in a bag. Do I need those?? Not sure so they are staying where they were.

Extra stuff if it is needed

 Oh, of course, I could not possibly sew all those together without making a slip-up! This has been fixed and probably already sewn into a block.

Oops!

 Let's just say the sewing isn't the best. I think a blind person sewed them together. But part of that is that I didn't do all the initial sewing and cutting. Once I got the blocks together, I trimmed them down to 6 1/2". I worked on them in batches of 10 so there are 50 blocks ready to sew together into the quilt top.

Fifty blocks ready to go!!

 This was the situation at the sewing machine at the end of the day on Sunday. There is still LOTS of block components to sew together.

Block components

 I was a busy girl last night and more blocks got sewn. The stacks now look like this.

Fewer components - yeah!!

 Hmm - I'm thinking I'm still going to have to cut some more 3 1/2" squares - the question will be how many?

And now there are 70 blocks completed and trimmed.

70 blocks done!

 I'm not sure how many blocks there will be. This quilt is supposed to be square so the minimum would be 100 but those stacks look too big for only 30 more blocks. so I'm guessing it's 144. That means I'm halfway - well almost!

I know - I'm flitting from one 2018 UFO to another without actually finishing any of them. I couldn't work on borders of the Celtic Solstice when everyone is here. There wasn't room. BUT the blocks are all together and I've chosen the fabric for the first border. However, I realized that I don't know what width to cut it so I have to sew the blocks together for the second border (the blue/orange ones below). Then I can figure out the width of the white border. Then there is one last border, the binding and the backing. It wouldn't take long - OK - it will take the better part of one day to finish this one!

Borders for Celtic Solstice

This is the homework table runner for the ongoing class at The Hobby Horse. The blocks were partially completed so I could show the technique to the class. I finished off all 8 of the blocks and assembled the runner. Now I want it to be a bit longer as I LOVE it!!  So now I have to make four more blocks!!

I can see some interesting quilting happening on this one!

String pieced table topper

Let's not forget the pixelated apple quilt. I did make some progress on this on Sunday. But when sewing those scrap blocks, there's not as much need for enders and leaders!

Pixelated apple block 7

Then it was onto Monday sewing and this is what happened there. I got Block Five of the National Quilters Circle Block Challenge completed. It was mostly together from the previous week but I was missing a couple of squares of fabric. And now it's done!

Block 5

Then I started to work on Block 6 only to find that I had not cut all the fabrics required. This seems to be a theme. I should just throw the fabric in the car so that if I goof, I can run to the car to get it. But I'm OK with coming home and finishing the blocks off. It's easier than carrying a bunch of fabric around.

Block 6

This is going to be a BRIGHT quilt. Made from solids!

But I started the day with my favorite project - 150 Canadian Women. I needed to sew 8 blocks yesterday in order to get to the right sequence of threes! And I was a week behind and it took two weeks to catch up. So here are my eight blocks. I was so happy because I had NOT had to rip out any part of them and I had not miscut anything! Hey - I was on a roll and very happy although it took HOURS to get all eight of these blocks done.

Eight more blocks for 150 Canadian women

HEY - what's going on???  Do you see what I see?  It was only when I laid them on the floor to take a picture that I noticed that all was NOT right in the block world.  Yep - the middle one is wrong. OH, CRAP!!!! 

Let's get out the seam ripper. There, now that's better.

Mistake is corrected

I laid that block out on the floor to retake it's picture only to discover that I had rotated the WRONG Square!!!!  Oh boy - let's try that one more time.

At last - the block is complete!

I think that give me 66 finished blocks. I prepped 7 blocks last night. I was only planning on doing six blocks but I missed one pattern when I was cutting so to keep the patterns in order, I just prepped an extra one. I may or may not sew that next week. Some of these are very fiddly. I'll see how it goes.

But if I keep up this pace, I could be done the blocks in 14 weeks. Yeah!!

Now it's time to focus on stuff that I need to get done for customers, for magazines, and for blog posts. It's all piled nicely on these two tables and will be the focus of my work schedule over the next couple of weeks. The more that I complete, the less I have to move in preparation for the next Sit n Sew day!! Wish me luck!

The projects that are on deck!

I have to say that everyone has been super good about the eating thing. I only had ONE person who brought forbidden food into the house! To protect her innocence, I won't say her name!  But that open container sat on the cutting table and I didn't touch one of those candies!!  I notice also that she didn't take the container home and it's now tucked away for the next sit n sew in case anyone has a sweet tooth. After that - it goes in the garbage!

Forbidden food at my house

 I've been really, really good about the eating thing and it's paying off. A good friend of mine who is also watching what she eats is also very strict! When you only have a certain number of calories to eat in a day, you choose very wisely what you eat. If you have that cookie, then you can't have the banana and nutrition wise, which one is better for you?  If you need to get enough protein, there is no room for fat. I seem to be doing great and my weekly average was right on for the percentage of carbs to protein to fat. I'm a happy camper! And it's off to the gym this morning to see what "fun" exercise program they have in store for us.

On that note, I've got computer work and I've got a date with the long arm so it's going to be a buy week.

Have a great day!!!!


Ciao!!!

There's an app for that!

I'm very happy to report that the seam ripping experience for yesterday was greatly reduced from the previous week. I'm guessing that it was MY fault for last's week seam ripping escapades and NOT Lynn's because she was sitting beside me yesterday. Oh boy - I guess we all have days like that!!

Even though it was a productive day, there isn't a whole lot to show for my efforts. But here they are.....

Back to work on the 150 Canadian Women project.  I was certain that I had prepped 12 blocks, but it appears that I only prepped 11. I got 9 of them completed yesterday - took all morning! And the very first block I started with, I had miscounted some of the squares I cut and I was short by 4 squares. I fixed that when I got home so 10 got made yesterday. One of the blocks needs the ends of the triangles cut off for easier sewing and I have templates for that at home, so that block and the templates are in the bag for next Monday. And I prepped eight more blocks last night.

Blocks for 150 Canadian Women

Once I get the 8 from next week sewn, I'll have 66 blocks completed and only 84 more blocks to go. Oh my - I'm close to halfway! If I can continue with 6 blocks each week, that will take me 14 more weeks. Yikes!!!   But I'm determined to not let this sit as a UFO.

However, this is all the red fabric that I have left after prepping the next 8 blocks. I think I might have to add some reds to my shopping list.

Reds for the 150 Canadian Women project

 I don't want to make a big quilt using all 150 blocks so as I'm sewing, I'm thinking of various ways to split the blocks and come up with some creative ways to sew them together. I haven't done any planning yet, but I might get started since (hopefully) before I know it - those 14 weeks will have zipped by!!

Speaking of buying fabric, someone left a comment on my blog yesterday that is hilarious, BUT very serious at the same time. Someone has created a spreadsheet (that we can all use). You enter what you use from your stash and what you buy with the end result being a deficit at the end of the year. Just like if you're counting calories and wanting to lose weight. See - quilting really is like eating!!!

Here's the LINK to the blog.  Scroll down in that blog post to get the download link to the spreadsheet. It's really very simple, yet an ingenious way to get PERMISSION to buy more fabric. It's also a way to really identify if you're reducing your stash or not. Since I'm really focused on finishing UFOs, I might calculate approximate yardage in a project when it's finished, although technically it's out of my stash already. Anyway, read the blog, it's an eye opener!!!

And thanks to whoever it was that e-mailed that link!!!

I also got a couple more blocks completed for the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge. This is a free pattern and I don't really follow the comments on Facebook, but thank goodness I don't because it appears that there are a ton of people complaining because the patterns are hard to read (NOT!), there are errors (I think I found one in 6 blocks).  The blocks, although they are large, are a wee bit of a challenge especially since I changed the colors compared to the original. When will people ever become grateful for something free and stop complaining!

Two more blocks for the National Quilt Circle Block Challenge

I have two more blocks ready to sew next week. I'm happy with the blocks, they are huge - 16 " square and the quilt will certainly be bright. Gosh - I was marking some lime green squares yesterday and almost went blind!

Am I dedicated to this weight loss/eating better thing? You bet. I got home from Monday and realized that I was doing great on the calorie intake, but my Fitbit steps were down for the day. Should I run around the house to get to 10,000 steps?  No! I decided to go for a walk after dinner. Well, if I was going for a walk, I certainly couldn't go by myself so I had to get the girls ready and there we were walking in the rain, in the dark just so I could get Fitbit steps. And they say technology is bad for you!!! 

Technology is good as long as you use it wisely!  And so today is a new day. New calorie intake and a new goal for Fitbit steps.

On that note, I've got a lot of work to do today and I've got a lot of errands and the errands are taking precedent over the studio. Yikes!  I'll have to play catch up tomorrow.

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!

It's MONDAY!!!

It's my favorite day of the week - Monday! And I love it even better now that I'm not working!

If you've been following me for a bit, you might have noticed that I did NOT report what I accomplished at last Monday's sewing day. Let's just say that I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. It started out with the very first block I touched - one wrong cut and I couldn't finish the block. And the day went downhill from there!

Actually, it's not that bad, but it was pretty funny! I also didn't have time when I got home last week to unpack the Monday bag and fix things and get prepped for this week. It was a bit of a crazy week but this week is going to be much better.

The applique quilt needs a bit more work on the binding and a sleeve and it's done! I'm very happy with the end result. I love it and can't wait to hang it up!

I did get some work done with my imaginary friends yesterday. Remember - it was supposed to be a Sit n Sew day with a full house but it was postponed because of the icky weather.

I got another customer quilt done.

Customer quilt - DONE

 It's trimmed and I've got the next one already loaded for later today.

Last Monday, I did work on this block from the Quilter's Patch quilt. The quilt that I did the final reveal yesterday except that mine isn't quite done yet. I did all the piecing for this block last Monday and I did the hexagons over the course of this past week. I'm not super experienced with English Paper Piecing and I learned a few things!

One more block for Quilter's Patch quilt

 Life is full of learning experiences - ALWAYS!

Since the sewing machine was set up for applique, I machine appliqued the edges of the flowers down last night. DONE!

Here are my blocks that I've completed so far. While there are 12 on the wall, technically only 11 are done as the dogs need to be redone.

My blocks for Quilter's Patch. 

I had started one more block last week, but it had a TON of pieces and I kept putting some of the components in the wrong way and well, I got three of eight rows completed. I hope to finish that block today.

Here's my block from the National Quilters' Circle Block Challenge.

National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge

 I believe there are five or perhaps 6 blocks that have been released (out of nine). I did work on one other one last week, but again - made some cutting errors when I was prepping and so I couldn't complete the block. Let's read those instructions please - cut ONCE, NOT TWICE on the diagonal - it makes a huge difference!!!

I now have two blocks completed. One partially done which I'll prep for next week sewing and there are two patterns sitting there that I didn't have time to cut.

Two blocks completed for the National Quilter's Circle Block Challenge

 The very first block I messed up on was the 150 Canadian Women. Nothing to do with the pattern - this time, I cut left when I should have cut right. I didn't have time to do any prep on that, so I'm taking some fabric with me and hope to get some blocks prepped this week. Next week, I'm going to have double of everything to catch up on!!!  I don't think I'll sit beside Lynn today - apparently, she's a bad influence with the ripping!

So yesterday, while my imaginary friends were sewing, I got the middle section of this flannel quilt done. Five rows on the top left still have to be sewn together but the rest is in one piece. I'll try to get that completed before this Thursday's Sit n Sew so it's off the wall.

Scrap flannel quilt

I did get a lot done this past week and I'm super happy about that. Two BIG projects will be off the list - one already is (except I have to write the pattern) and the second one (the applique one) needs about one more hour of work. Make that two - I have to sew the sleeve on.

How is everyone doing with their Motivational Monday plans?  Here's a couple of observations that I've made about myself since I made a conscious effort to change how I work.

One - I'm SUPER focused. Now that doesn't mean that I work on only one project at a time because I would be BORED to tears if I did that. But I'm focused on the couple that I'm doing. And yes, I have a few diversions here and there, but that's OK.

Two - I'm not starting anything that I don't intend to finish. That's HUGE. So while I'm working on my UFOs, there are NO NEW ones accummulating. That means that when I finish something, the number of outstanding UFOs actually decreases!

Three - I'm finishing projects! That's exciting and I MUST remember to write them down as I'm not good with that and I can't remember from one week to the other what I worked on. Thank goodness for The Task Master.

Four - I had to give The Task Master a break as I keep adding new things to do and I don't have time so now that these two big projects are almost done, it's time to see how much is in the book that is not done and maybe add a couple of things.

All in all - my style of working has changed a LOT. How I keep things tidy so I can actually work better in my space and how I'm more focused. I'm really liking the new me!!!!

On that note, it's time to get the day started.

Have a super day.


Ciao!!!!

Productivity is UP

I just realized that I don't have anything new to tell you today. I'm going to make you wait one more day before I tell you what I did last week. I have some unpacking to do before I show you.

First - I want to let you all know that there is parking in the rear of the new quilt store in Milton. Oh, Look Fabric. Turn north on Martin and then an immediate left. Parking in the rear!  That's good to know. Thanks to Trixy for that information!

The other reason that I'm not sharing anything new is that I'm so excited about yesterday that I have to share that with you instead. But before I do that, I thought I would let you in on some stats about me. I use Grammarly (an add-in app) to help with my grammar and spelling on anything I write. While some people would look at it as a crutch, I look at it as a learning tool. My grammar is much better and I hope that what I write sounds better as well.  I get an e-mail once a week with some stats. This is what I got this morning.

Hm-interesting numbers. A large part of my grammar problems is with commas and my keyboard! Words get misspelled because I miss a letter. I'm still on the fence about the keyboard, but I have to say that the more I use it, it seems to be loosening up so that is a good thing. I might not replace it after all as I'll probably have to break in a new one.

While writing for me is somewhat therapeutic - I like to read, therefore it makes sense that I like to write. But even more important, I hope that the writing is keeping my brain active!

Oh - here are the stats for my top three mistakes. That, damn, comma!!!!

Yesterday was a super productive day. This is the best part of not having a 9-5 job. Not only am I super productive, but I get to spend the day with friends and lots of laughs and great conversations. Yep - I love my Mondays. What makes Mondays even better is that I'm totally prepped when I go. I have everything cut out or the tools that are necessary in order to work. That's the first thing I do when I get home from Monday is prep for the following Monday. I love to unpack my stuff and see what I did and then get ready for the next week. No rushing on Sunday night! 

So this what I accomplished yesterday.

First up was the 150 Canadian Women project. I got 6 more blocks sewn together. I think this takes me to 48 blocks in total sewn. I have the next six prepped (the red was already cut, so cutting only the white took no time at all). I noticed that I have nothing cut beyond Block 54 so next week's prep will take a little bit longer. Seventeen weeks to finish the blocks up if I can continue to make 6 a week.

Six blocks for 150 Canadian Women

 Then it was onto the next project - Quilter's Patch. I did manage to get a lot of the blocks cut out last summer, but never got a chance to work on them. Now is the time to get them done. And one of the items on my shopping list was to buy more background fabric. I got that this past weekend so I'm good to finish cutting the borders and one or two blocks that were missing background.

Two more blocks for Quilter's Patch

Here are all my blocks to date. I need to remake the one with the dogs as that background just doesn't cut it. But now that I have the new background, I'll remake it and I want to change the color of the Husky as well.

Quilter's Patch blocks

Then I had thrown something else in the bag. These blocks were made years ago. I'm talking many years! There were six that needed some applique stitched down. They were prepped and glued down, just needed to be stitched. You'll see more on that stitching later this week. Once the applique was stitched down, there was ONE curved seam per block. The curved seams got done yesterday!!!

Curved seams completed 

Then when I got home, I had to locate the remainder of the blocks which was a wee bit of a challenge. Remember how things got shifted around in that studio? I had to look in two different places and at last located the pizza box that they were hiding in. Didn't take that long. I think there are 36 blocks in total.

The rest of the blocks

 I also found in the box, one of the foundation pieced sections - obviously NOT from this quilt. And two big hunks of black fabric. What was that for? There was also one pattern sheet with the foundation pieced arcs on it, but NO pattern.

Fabric, but not pattern

I think the pattern has been missing for quite some time as I found this printout from the internet of the quilt. But the pattern? Who knows. There was no date on when the picture was printed and that's probably a good thing.

Pickle Dish quilt by Bee Creative 

 So those blocks joined what was in my finished pile and I was onto the next thing. I don't normally do sew along projects as you get so caught up in them that you don't have time for anything else, but I seem to have my fair share hanging around (150 Canadian Women) and this one which just started. It's called the National Quilters Circle Block Challenge. There are nine blocks in total. This is Block One. I have Blocks two and three cut out.

National Quilters Circle Block Challenge

 As if that wasn't enough, I was prepping for an event this weekend - not just for me, but for Ronda! She doesn't know what! More on that this coming weekend.

Then it was onto the long arm to get a long overdue project completed. I need a quilted background for some applique. That was easy - just layer two pieces of fabric and quilt. I'll be working on that this week and hope to be done by the end of the week. Plus I have one quilt that is critical to be done by Thursday. The backing is loaded and I have to give the top a good press.

Quilted background for applique

I got some paperwork done last night, but it'll be my focus this morning. I just have to clean some of this stuff up!!!

As promised, here's a picture of all my bicycle cushions. Oh, shoot - I should have added my bicycle pillowcase! Anyway, these sit in our living room and everyone who comes gets a chuckle. I like them! At least, they are NOT stored in the linen closet. I'm using them. 

Bicycle cushions

I wonder why the bicycle is always pointing to the right? Is that the accepted direction for going forward?

That's it for today. Don't forget to check out QUILTsocial today. Did you see that sewing machine yesterday??  Oh my god!!!   Today is all about some great tips on piecing.  Be sure to check it out.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!