A bird's eye view

 

I'm positively in chill-out mode. OK -- so I'm not up to date on everything - still three more documents to write up, two quilts that need to be quilted, and well - that's it. OK - so there are two small quilt projects that I'd like to work on. But seriously?? I'm in control! The studio is pretty much organized; there's NOTHING on the calendar starting tomorrow for FIVE entire days. Oh my -- what am I going to do with myself? 

It's going to be a glorious day - weather-wise and well - we need to get this day started! But first - let me share with you what happened yesterday. 

It was Monday sewing, and I'm happy to say that I actually got some sewing done. I did have some issues with the internet yesterday. I'm not sure how many times it went down, but the important thing - it did NOT go down during my presentation last night, and that's all I care about. But Monday sewing is the BEST. If you are NOT part of a Zoom sewing group - then you need to organize one. Seriously - we get to talk about current events (I tried NOT to talk about the pandemic - I let the others do most of the talking about that), we can talk about our sewing machines, our projects - we get help, we get suggestions and more importantly - we get SUPPORT.

If you're not getting support from your friends - then you're in trouble. We need that human contact to help us emotionally. So Zoom has helped enormously in that area. I'd be going out of mind without it. 

What did I get accomplished? 

I sewed those sections together and was able to use the ruler that I had borrowed. That was so easy to do with the group chatting in the background. I LOVE my earbuds because it allows me to travel from station to station in the studio without losing touch with the group. Ignore the mess at the end of the cutting table. YES -- that end is covered with a few things that need to be prepped. I have an ENTIRE quilt top to put together in the next couple of days. The blocks are done - but the top has to get assembled. 

Trimming the sections of PRISM squared

These are the scraps from the PRISM Squared quilt. I had to sew the sections together and then cut them into a wedge. So that part is done. All that remains is to sew these new wedges together to get the final small quilt. 

The wedges are cut for the secondary project

Technically, I could put this back on the shelf - it wasn't even on the current projects table, but when I searched for something else, I found the bag of strips and the ruler. The ruler is now with the quilt that will get quilted today, and all can be picked up by the owner. OH yes -- I'm all about getting things out of the house!

When I cut these blocks, which are part of Bonnie and Camille Bee Quilt homework this month, I was short ONE square for this block. Now the block is together. 

Star block is together

And here are the four blocks - DONE. 

All four blocks are done!

That pretty much took up all of the Monday Sewing time. I got another customer quilt quilted, but you can't see it. You will see it - but not at the moment. Thankfully, it wasn't too large and was easy to do. 

This morning I worked on my Long Time Gone. I'm a wee bit behind on the homework, so I need to get that up to date. The quilt tops are supposed to be finished by mid-June when we have our final show and tell. It would NOT look good if the teacher didn't have her quilt top done. Who am I kidding? That's part of the reason I have so many UFOs. The teacher did NOT usually get the homework done and so many quilts to finish!

I hate pinning, and if I don't have to - I won't. Even when I'm joining longer pieces. I match up the beginning and start to sew. Then I match up the ends and hold them while I'm sewing. 

Look - NO pins

When I get to the end, those pieces match exactly! Oh yes -- what a waste of time to pin. The trick is to make sure the pieces are the same length when you start or close enough that you can ease them in. I know some people need pins, but there's no need. An extension table helps a bit to keep things in order. 

The ends match perfectly

Take note that I use PINS, but only on borders that are too long to do what I did above. 

And now my Section Three is almost together. Some of those seams are NOT sewn together. I should be able to get this done later today. I'm so excited - that means that I'm up to date on the homework for sewing the sections together. But I have a few pineapple blocks (15) to make, and I still have one more churn dash block to make. 

Section Three of Long Time Gone

Isn't that exciting? Oh - shoot - I forgot to take a picture of the other thing I worked on yesterday. Let me run and get that. 

I got TWO of these tiny Snails Trail blocks done. Yeah!!!! This is part of the homework for the All in a Row Quilt. Yep - I'm behind in that one as well, but not by a whole lot. That center four-patch is ONE-INCH finished. 

Two teeny Snails Trail blocks

Now I have three blocks done - I need 48. The good news is that the rest of the blocks are cut and ready to go. They'll be perfect for enders and leaders over the next couple of days. 

Three of forty-eight blocks done!

And the other day, I embroidered this little guy. When I was looking on the shelf for something, I came across that PRISM Squared project and a hunk of Minky. There was a disk of embroidery patterns with the Minky, so I decided to make one of the monsters. He's so cute!! There are 3-D monsters on the disk and some that are applique. This would be adorable as an applique! Hmm - I should fire up the embroidery machine today while I'm sewing. 

3-D Embroidered monster

Remember those rocks I spotted yesterday? Well - they were gone when we walked by. I looked for them in the event they got kicked around - nope  - totally gone. 

Then I was almost home and saw this on a neighbor's roof. I've seen the squirrels before. They LOVE to climb up the tree beside the house and perch on the rooftop. There was a squirrel on one end of the roof and a robin on the other. And I guess that's what a bird's eye view is all about! 

Squirrel on the roof

A robin on the roof

On that note, I'm so excited about today! Yes - I've got to get that paperwork cleaned up, but I have plenty of time to do that this morning. Then quilt the quilt this afternoon, and I might even get a bit of sewing in there!! 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

The aftermath

 

Have you noticed that we spend a LOT of time doing quilting stuff that has nothing to do with the sewing of the project? 

This is the scraps from PRISM Squared. I took apart all the seams for the pieced sections - remember, this is the scraps. Now I need to cut out the center for the next project, which uses the scraps from cutting the first set of wedges. YES - there is a bonus project with this one. I'm trying to get everything organized, and it might go in my retreat bag! 

Sorting through the scraps

Then I'm still trimming those darn double wedding ring arcs. I have EIGHT left, but I was getting so bored with it that I had to stop. I'll get those done today, and then I'm ready to start the next set of arcs. Only 176 or some ridiculous number, but some of them are already sewn or partially sewn. I won't have time to look at it in the next two weeks, but these arcs will be off the cutting table. 

Trimming the Double Wedding Ring arcs

And then there's the placement of blocks for Summer Moon, which I need to start sewing together soon. I wasn't happy with the placement of some blocks since I randomly placed them on the design wall. Just when I thought everything was good - I noticed two similar blocks side by side. Or the same small sashings were grouped close together. I think I'm good with it now, but I'll have one more look before I start to sew it together. 

Summer Moon blocks on the design wall

What did I see on my walk yesterday morning? Why someone in the neighborhood is celebrating a birthday! Imagine getting up and seeing this on your lawn! At least the neighbors know how old you are now. 

Happy Birthday to someone 

Now, this is very bizarre. In the morning, we spotted a bike lying on the path. Well, actually, as we entered the forest, I spotted a garbage can that was tipped over and the garbage was strewn everywhere. And there was a bicycle lock beside the garbage bin. Then we spotted this bike. Hmm - I don't think you could ride it as the derailer was smashed or at least not attached to the wheel. 

An abandoned bike

Then on my afternoon walk, the bike was back near the garbage bin, and it was locked to this tree. Now that's totally weird! It's like the wooden palette (which hasn't changed in days) - who does these mysterious things???

The bike is now locked to a tree

We had a SUPER successful class on EQ8 yesterday. It was all about building and modifying blocks! Oh boy - I think I've unleashed something! They are going crazy about designing their own blocks and quilts. I promised that I would post the blocks, but I need to gather all the pictures. Here are a few that I downloaded this morning. I'll be posting more as the week goes on. And today we have one more class on panels, so who knows what they'll make of that!!!  

I LOVE THEM!!! And once you get the hang of EQ8, it's NOT complicated. So if there is anyone else out there who has EQ8 but is NOT using it. I'd be happy to run another series of classes next year. And - well, we could have a club or something so we could go through ALL the modules of EQ8. We're just doing basic stuff here!!!

So here's the first quilt that I got. Shelly was playing along with me as I ran through the first class. This is version one. 

Color one of Shelly's quilt

And here's version two. Oh my - I could definitely see that made as a quilt. I LOVE the colors. 

Version two of Shelly's quilt

The best part of all this? And not to take away from any of the students, but that quilt is so easy to design in EQ8 that it's crazy! But the coloring is uniquely hers. Great job, Shelly. 

This is a block that Katheleen modified. I see there's one more thing that I need to explain to them this afternoon. And this is the perfect example to show!! 

And this is another block that Katheleen played with. Not sure if she created it, or it was one of the blocks in EQ8. 

Katheleen's block

And here's her final quilt using the block above. 

Katheleen's block

It looks great! And so super easy!!!

Lynne sent me this picture of a table runner that she created! These are the ones that came in pretty much right after the class!! That's how much fun they had in the class. 

Lynne's table runner

Oh  - I see where we need a review class to talk about the samples that they made! I'll tack that onto today's class! And after today, we have one more class!!

There's a lot more to show you, and I'll try to get the pictures ready for tomorrow's blog. 

I've got to run as I have to finish off the project files for today's class. The website was down yesterday, and I couldn't download the fabric files, and I KNOW they want to get their hands on that file!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

You too can write a book!

 

Two more presentations under my belt for this week, and that leaves two for today. I'll stop talking about the internet connection since everything seems to be good! Yeah! 

I listened to a webinar last night from a library (Wheaton Public Library)somewhere in the US. How cool is that? Normally, I wouldn't have been able to attend this author event, but because of the wonderful world of COVID, I could. Boy - when things go back to normal, whatever that is, we are going to miss a whole lot of these kinds of events. The author was Mary Kubica. The book that I read of hers was The Other Mrs. It's an excellent book, and it was so much fun to "meet" her online. Her genre is psychological thriller, and she doesn't disappoint. 

Webinar - meet the author with Mary Kubica

It almost made me want to start writing a book as I listened to her. I've got to come up with a plot first! I know what I like, and well - when I'm out walking the neighborhood, I guess I'd better come up with a plot. 

However, I'm going to ask YOU to write a book for me. We did a group exchange a while back, and I asked the group members to write a book for me! OK - so you just have to make a quilt block that looks like a book and give the book a title. Something that relates to me! Of course, everything is always about me! 

Here are the books that I received. The camera angle must have been off since the books look distorted, but they are not. 

The book block

I supplied the paper pieced pattern, and people chose the colors to reflect something about me or a color that I like. And then the even better part is that they gave the books a name. So this first one was titled "Accurate Quarter Inch Seams & Other Stores from the Cutting Mat by ............ (they did write their names on the blocks - I just blanked them out). 

Accurate Quarter Inch Seams & Other Stories from the Cutting Mat by.......

Isn't that fun???  I just love the concept, and I want to make a larger quilt. I only have eight blocks, and I'd love to have more. 

Here are the rest of the books. 

Night at the Movies by ..........

Memorable in Orange by Elaine Theriault

 I might remake that cover - gosh - a very dense design and so not stabilized enough. Look at all the wrinkles!

OH MY GOD!!!!

All of the books are AMAZING, but this one truly stands out. Look at the detail. Can you guess the title? How Pack for Retreat by.................  It's hilarious!!!

How to Pack for Retreat

And look - there's me in the car on my cell phone!!! Oh my!!!

Detail of the quilt block

The beauty is that a piece of fabric works for the front as well. 

For the love of quilting by .............

Oh - this one is sideways. 

A cup of tea and friends make the perfect blend by .............

Shoot - there's supposed to be two more. I'd better go back and check the box. Or when I sent them to myself, I forgot two of them. Found them. I was so quick to select them on my phone that they didn't actually get selected. 

Sewist Extraordinaire - Tails from Studio B by ..............

Row by Row - A Quilt Posse Road Trip by ...................

Seriously??? Aren't they just the best? They were so creative in the chosen fabrics and the titles. So if you are interested, I can e-mail you the pattern, or I'm going to find a way to put it on the blog so you can just pull it off. But then you need to send it to me so I can send you my mailing address. 

I'm doing a trunk show on group quilts in February, and it would be awesome to get the blocks into a quilt by then. 

Speaking of packing for retreat, after reading Katheleen's book on how to do it (or more likely Tish's advice on ONE basket, I packed this morning for the retreat. This is it. One basket - I have a few more things to add once I find the appropriate thread and a few supplies. I'm ready to go! The retreat is not far away, and I'm so ready to go!!

Retreat basket

When I was out walking yesterday morning, I saw that one of my neighbors had all their grass removed from the front lawn. NO - they are not doing anything funky with it, as I saw them resodding it later in the afternoon. It was kind of sad, really, as I saw the guys shovel a VERY thin layer of topsoil onto the lawn. What's the point of all this? Why didn't they throw a good whack of topsoil on the existing grass and reseed it? Seems like a huge waste of time and effort. Not my lawn, but still!

Getting a new lawn

I actually got in the car yesterday and went to pick up the TWO rolls of batting for the Quilts of Valour quilts that I'll be quilting starting December. Thanks to everyone who made a donation to help out. Those two rolls will allow me to get quite a few quilts quilted and off to the organization!!!

I stopped at Micheal's as I was looking for a few things. Gosh - I haven't' been in that store in a long time. I managed to snag a couple of things. Like that bright orange scrubby yarn to make kitchen scrubbies. Maybe I should throw that in the retreat bag!

My purchases at Micheal's

I got a few more of the double wedding ring arcs trimmed. OK - I need to get the rest done, but what a fiddly job. I looked at the next step, and OH BOY -it's the A arcs. So that's going to be more of the same. But once the arcs are done, the majority of piecing is done, and then I can start to sew the sections together. I'd better get moving - I want to get this done!

Trimming the double wedding ring B arcs

The backing and the binding are now done for PRISM Squared. That quilt has been moved to the "to be quilted" area. Yeah!!! I'm excited about that. I have another one - Aviatrix Medallion, which needs the binding and backing made, and that one can be moved as well. It's still sitting on the cutting table. 

Bind, backing, and quilt top of PRISM Squared

I've been dealing with the samples that I've been making. They literally got thrown in a heap after I took photographs. This is the magnificent lion! 

Magnificient lion made with ribbon embroidery

It's done with the ribbon embroidery attachment! Isn't it fabulous???

Detail of the ribbon embroidery

And it's time to get started on the UFO homework for next month. Oh boy - I see that all the parts of this block are cut - they just need to be sewn together. These eight-pointed star blocks were pieced, but they look too wonky for my liking, so I'm taking them apart or at least partially apart, and I'm going to resew them. I know - I'm a crazy person for doing that. 

Wonky looking eight-pointed star blocks

So life goes on! Things are more or less under control, but to look at the kitchen table, you wouldn't think that. I  need to take some time to tidy that up as it literally became a dumping ground for stuff going upstairs or downstairs. My last presentation finishes at 4 today, so after that, I might take a few moments and tidy up! I've been trying to keep Studio B under control, or I would never find my samples and such when I need them. 

Well, it's time to go! 

Have a super day, and I hear the sun will be out. So make sure you get outside and walk or even just sit out for a bit. Get bundled up!

Ciao!!!!

UFO Show and Tell

 

OH - I found the pictures that I wanted to share with you, but I'll do that tomorrow. And I sure hope that you popped over to the Try-A-Triad Challenge page and voted for your favorite quilt. Remember, mine is on the bottom row on the left!

And did you go to Riel's web page? If you haven't, check it out. She's a quilter, and she published two quilt books. I haven't had a chance to read The Little Ghost, who was a Quilt yet. 

Today, it's all about the Show and Tell from our UFO meeting last weekend. It's not a huge incentive, but I tell you, people are getting stuff done! It's so exciting, and I have to say that even if I don't quite finish what I'm supposed to (has happened once or twice), I make great progress into getting things done, and that's all that counts. We need to clear up these massive piles of UFOs. 

Susan got the top of her Halloween table runner done. It looks awesome - I love that fabric collection. Now to get it quilted for next Halloween!

Susan' table runner

Detail of the table runner

In addition to making the table runner, she was making Christmas cards! They are beautiful! 

Susan's pop up Christmas cards

More of Susan's cards

More on Christmas cards another day. I've got to start writing! And I've already received my first card, but it's too early to put it up. I wonder if Susan will send me a card? Those are very fancy, and she won't be getting one like that from me!

Katheleen is working on the Quilter's Patch Quilt by Laundry Basket. She got her three flower blocks done. Here's what all of the blocks look like. This is going to be gorgeous. I will start working on my version since I was motivated when I saw her working on hers. 

Katheleen's Quilter's Patch

Here's the book for the quilt - she just has the center part and the borders! She'll have that done in no time!!!

Quilter's Patch

Here are my blocks to work on for next month. Partially assembled and only two blocks. I should be able to manage that. 

My Quilter's Patch homework for next month

Here was my homework for the month. The top was supposed to be completed. And it is for the most part. The center is not finished, but I was so happy to get this quilt to this stage. 

PRISM Squared quilt

But here's the even better news. OH - yes - I did cough up some cash because I was honest and admitted that it wasn't quite done. I'm happy to report that the entire center is appliqued in place.

The center of PRISM Squared

That means the entire top is DONE!!!!  I made the backing this morning, and the binding is cut and ready to sew together. I hope to get at least that much accomplished today. Then I can cross this off the UFO list. 

Finished top of PRISM Squared quilt top

Dede finished off a small wall hanging that is a gift for her neighbor. I think she said she finished it the day before the due date. Yep- funny how that happens, and if we didn't have a deadline, it would still be sitting there - not finished! 

Dede's Autumn wall hanging

Lynne is working on her Dream Big panel, and it's looking amazing. She should be finished by the end of next month!

Lynne's Dream Big panel

Linda had a stack of blocks that she wanted to be assembled into a quilt top, and there they are! This is a gorgeous scrap quilt. 

Linda's scrap quilt

Here's a baby quilt that she worked on this month as well. I love that people are doing their own quilting. If you don't want to do the big ones, at least quilt the small ones yourself! Great job, Linda. 

Linda's baby quilt

Elaine is also quilting her own quilt. She's working on the borders and almost done!!!

Elaine's current quilting project

Diane had to finish piecing these blocks together and get the top assembled. I think we have finally convinced Diane that she doesn't have to make every quilt a queen size! 

Diane's scrappy looking quilt top

She had some leftover blocks and made a second item - a wall hanging. I love the colors in these projects. It's unusual, and maybe that's why I like it. 

The leftover blocks form a smaller quilt

Sharon is coming along nicely on her Piecemakers Calendar quilt. This is so much work - you just can't begin to imagine. She has ONE block left to put together, and then there's a big tree on the left border. Once all that is done, she needs to start embellishing the quilt. 

Sharon's Piecemaker Calendar from 2000

Here's a picture of the train station. Look at all that detail!!!!

The train station

And the train is stitched in place. 

One of several trains on the quilt

Liz is working on these gorgeous star blocks. She got a couple more made and will be working on the remaining blocks for next month. 

Liz's star blocks

Jane was quite busy and not only got the long table runner pieced, but it's quilted and bound! And she also bound the two smaller projects on the left. She was finished weeks before the due date and wanted brownie points! There's always one in every crowd!

Jane's completed projects for the month

Laura got the borders on her Over and Down Under Quilt. This is gorgeous and looks amazing hanging on her clothesline! It's made from a flannel jelly roll. 

Laura's completed quilt top

Shelly got her embroidery done! She still has a lot to embroider on this block, but her goal was the tree, and she got some bonus snowflakes done as well. 

Shelly's hand embroidery homework

Diane T needed to get a backing made for her string-piece table runner. She found some blocks from another project and repurposed them for the backing! Great job, and this gets rid of two UFOs at the same time. 

The backing and the front of Diane's project

Ronda got the top pieced of this flannel quilt. It's a birthday gift, so she needs to get it quilted soon. She designed the quilt using EQ8 and downloaded the fabric collection into the software. Great job!!!

Ronda's quilt top - DONE

And that wraps up the UFO show and tell for this month. Everyone has their assigned homework for next month. Each person assigns their own homework because they know what they want to work on, and they know how much time they have!

I'm going to host TWO sessions of the UFO club next year. Both will be on Zoom. I'm not sure how many people I have for the second session, but there is still room if you want to join. I'll be putting it on the blog again as we get near the end of the year. 

Two more presentations are out of the way this week. Four to go! I'm really enjoying them now that my little internet fiasco is over. And guess what? It's time to start planning for 2021!!  

I'll be offering some online classes, so if there is something that you want, let me know. I've got a couple of ideas, but I want to focus on techniques rather than projects. Do we all need to start another project? And I want to host a machine embroidery club. Perhaps a class on collage and a couple of hands-on with your machine. But it would have to be for certain machines only - too hard to do a variety of machines. Anyway - I'm still thinking about what to offer. So send me an e-mail if there's something you'd like to learn.  elainetheriault@gmail.com

I'm out of here!!!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!