Having a routine is a good thing

Ever notice how "routine" our lives get? I don't consider my life routine, but boy, I sure have my routines. I like to get up at the same time even if I have the day off or it's the weekend. I've done that for years when I worked outside the house and even when I worked from home. 

The route I take to get somewhere. I try one way, then I try another to try and find the best route, but once I find that route, I generally stick to it. I even heard on the radio the other day that you should eat the same thing for breakfast everyday - I could do that. The rationale? You wake up each day with the same amount of will power. So if you have to make decisions about what to eat for breakfast, you have less will power as the day progresses which is why we snack in the evening?  I can't say that I do that either. Again I have my routine - a cup of tea, a couple of cookies (and did you know that TWO Girl guide cookies have more calories than FOUR of my Simple Pleasures!)

I would have to say that routine plays a very big part in my sewing. As I was sewing this morning, I noticed that I didn't read a single word in the pattern - I followed the pictures, saw what they were trying to achieve and went with my routine way of sewing whatever component I was working on. I did try to read one of the sentences in the pattern and - well it didn't make sense.  I'm going to ask the group today if they understood what it meant. 

I have three classes today - all of them short, but even the short classes require prep work. I'm not even going to say that I'll keep up with all three classes (two of them go all year) but let's just say that these are things that will be going in my retreat bag.  Some of them are partially finished blocks. They are partially finished because I needed to show the students a critical step. There will be four partial blocks from one class to take to retreat. But I got all the prep done for that one class. I also got the prep done for the second class and half the prep for the third class.  I'll just have to walk them through it. Thank goodness that I've been prepping for the last week or so as there is a lot of cutting in these projects. 

In addition to prepping for the retreat - hey I have allowed myself three bags (that are the equivalent of one laundry basket - no sense straining my back carrying a huge heavy laundry basket!). Two bags are prepped and ready to go. The third bag sits empty. I've a huge pile of stuff on my work table that needs to be prepped - OK - it's not that huge, but there are things I want to take with me - they won't take long to do (so says I), but would be nice to have all the prep work done before I leave so all I have to do is sew! A couple of those have deadlines so they will be a priority. 

When I was posting the pictures last week for Reminisce, I felt homesick for my version of the quilt. I dug it out and well - it's now in one of the bags prepped for the retreat.  Only the next border is prepped and if that's all I get sewn on - I'm OK with that. And it's all contained in a plastic shoe box that takes room. That's why I need so many bags!  But I dare not take more than three after all the fuss I've made about it. 

Reminisce project box ready for the retreat

The other day, I received the next two patterns in The Canadian Sampler by Sew Sisters.  I need to get my butt in gear and start this project. I didn't want to make the quilt from red solid and I have NO monochromatic reds. NONE - isn't that wild?  

The Canadian Sampler - next two blocks

I had pulled all that I had to use on the Canadian Women quilt. I have to get a few more of those blocks prepped for the retreat. I think there are about 5 that are completely cut, about 5 that have the white cut and a few that have nothing cut.  I had to buy some FQs for the project and so now I can cut again. 

The other day I was at a quilt shop and I bought three reds that I could use in the Canadian Sampler.  I got them home, took a picture and well - they are monochromatic reds, but yikes - they are sure different - two read as red/orange and the other borders on red/pink/fuchia  I guess in the color world - it would be a red with hints of blue. This is just proof that the MORE reds you use, the more they blend together. I may mix up the two batches of reds and well - I'm at a quilt store today - who knows what will come home with me, but those monochromatic reds - they are HARD to find. 

Monochromatic reds

Hmmm - do I take the girls to the park?  It's raining - they don't care, but they going to come home a huge mess.  Oh what the heck - might as well make them happy. Then perhaps Lexi will have something to blog about tomorrow. And the event list will be updated.

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!

Seeing red?

I had a super fun day with the sewing group yesterday.  It was so great to be back (even for just one day) despite the fact that I had a ton of stuff to do so I didn't get to chat a whole lot. Besides, I'm used to working heads down by myself so it was almost overwhelming a bit!

I got HALF of the backing done for my One Block wonder quilt.  Then I realized I was going to run out of time, so I put it aside. It was the hardest half so that is good to have that out of the way. It will have to wait until I get back to finish.  I also got the binding done.

I got a whole pile of flying geese done for a pieced border for another quilt. I needed that border on for 9 AM this morning and I'm happy to say that I'm right on target with that.

Then I needed a sample for our booth. Something small (thankfully) and I whipped that up last night and bound it this morning. Is it my best work?  No - but it's all improv stuff and well, there's so much to learn from improv.  I'll show it later and give you the blow by blow on what went well and what didn't.

I see I have a couple of pictures in my photo editor that I haven't shown yet so here they are.

Radiant Light

 The top is together, but the pattern still needs a bit of work. Yikes - there are a LOT of seams in this one.

And I got the next two patterns for The Canadian Sampler at Sew Sisters.

Next two blocks

Here's an interesting thought. I spoke to Judy the other day about popping in to get some red fabric to start making these blocks.  Nope she says, red is very hard to find this year. OK, so I checked at Hobby Horse and there were NO suitable reds either. Lots of reds with designs in them, reds that are orange/red but NO deep rich monochromatic reds. And I don't have any in my stash either!

So what's going on?  Because it's Canada's Sesquicentennial, has everyone been buying up the reds?

Well red fabric is now on my shopping list. It's so much better to go to a quilt show with SOMETHING on the list. It helps to avoid buying willy nilly!

On that note, I'm out of here.   I've a few things to get done before my plane leaves tonight at 6 PM.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Oh happy day!!!!!

I had so much fun yesterday. It was relaxed, I did mostly what I wanted - well almost and no panicking and no stress.  Oh HAPPY DAY!!!!   I think we need to have those stressful days in order to appreciate the simple, quiet days in our life.

I had some errands to do and spent a great part of the day doing that. I did feel a bit guilty and thinking that I really should get home, but then I remembered that I didn't have anything urgent, so why hurry!

However, when I did get home, I accomplished a LOT.

I'm on Block 23 of the 150 Canadian Women so a bit behind. Some of the reds were cut out, but not the white. Now all the white is cut out for Blocks 23 - 36 and the red is cut out for about 6? of them.

The white scrap bin

 I'm using whatever bits of white that I can find in the white scrap box.  I'm using a lot of solid white.  The reds are a bit more formalized, but not by much. I did have to buy FQs for the reds as I don't have anything much in the way of solid reds. And when I run out of the four new reds I just bought, I'll add a few more.

Blocks mostly cut

 I'll be using the blocks as enders and leaders as I sew today.

Next up was to get the first two blocks of The Canadian Sampler cut. I'm sure the next two block patterns will be winging their way to me shortly and I need to get the first two done.

I hadn't chosen any fabric for this one, but I ended up using a different white for each block - I think I'll be missing two whites. I don't have any reds that I liked so I have to put more reds on my shopping list. And I was at a quilt store yesterday morning and never thought about it.  See why lists are so important???

The whites are chosen and cut for these two blocks

 Once I get the reds, I can start cutting and use those as enders and leaders as well.


I did have a list for my errands and that made it so much easier to shop. Although I did buy a few extra things - not much.  This was one of the extras that I bought.  This wasn't my favourite fabric choice, but it was the only thing I liked in this type of fabric.  Do you know what it is????

Then off to Fabricland where I decided that I needed topstitching thread and yep - the fabric was in the car so I winged it.  I'd say the yellow is OK, but the blue is a bit off.

Matching threads?

 I checked in my stash and I found this blue which I think is better.

Better for matching

I have seen this NEON thread before, but never bought any. What the heck - I bought it and now I have to come up with something to do with it.

NEON orange thread

I did a bit more tidying and guess what?  Yep - I found the book with the things to do - phone calls, etc.  In a bag under two quilts!!!

My missing notebook

 Never did find the pattern that I was looking for, but then I wasn't really looking and NO LUCK on that book of lists, but I'm well over that now.

My biggest problem is that there are too many bags!!!!  At least you can't say that I don't use my tote bags.

Bags full of stuff

So what exactly did I do with the rest of the day?  I did cut as I mentioned, I did select some fabrics for an upcoming project. I did finish sewing that binding on with the invisible thread and started to sew on another binding.  When I went to use the invisible thread this morning, same problem.  OK - let's do the obvious and lower the tension slightly?  Worked like a charm.  DUH!!!!  I should know better.

I hand stitched the sleeve on the quilt last night while watching a movie and this morning, I made the sleeve for the quilt that I bound this morning.

I have a BUNCH of labels to get done today.  I think there are NINE quilts in this stack and all are missing labels. All have sleeves, but two have to be stitched down. That is excellent and if I have my wits about me, I could have NINE finished projects this week. That would be awesome and I could stop carrying them around in my bags!

Quilts that are ALMOST finished

 
Only one of them is technically mine - the rest are ones that I designed and made for work. Once they are 100% completed, I'll post them on the blog and tell you all about them.

I've started prepping for a couple of classes that are still two weeks away!  Imagine that!

And I'm almost finished this quilt. A few more half square triangles to finish off and sew the last couple of blocks together and DONE and ready for quilting.

Almost finished the piecing

And now the day is stretching out before me with NO deadlines.  I've got a lot planned for the day including a bit more organizing and I can't wait to get started.

OH - the best news of all????   I was sitting on the couch with my iPad and the movie had ended and I had finished stitching the sleeve to the quilt. I thought - let's check to see if I can find the second season, Episode 2 of The Great British Sewing Bee.  YEP - I FOUND IT!!!!   I watched half of it last night.  I love that show!!!!   And I don't call that watching TV.  Watching TV means sitting there for hours in an evening watching the shows.  I watched half of the show and I'll watch the other half hopefully today.  It's similiar, but NOT the same. There are so many Life is Short quotes - well you can check them out.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!!

I'd check out Lexi's blog - I think she was posting something this morning. Her and Murphy are just like big kids.

It's scary at our house!

Yes - lots of scary stuff happening at our house.  First up though, an update on the stairs. If you read Lexi's blog the other day, there was a picture of the staircase with stuff on the steps.  YES, I know this is dangerous. YES, I know that stuff shouldn't be sitting there - it is a hazard and people have slipped and fallen.  So, I'd like to acknowledge that the stair case is FREE of stuff. Thanks to Barbara for that nag!

Staircase is empty!

The other thing I want to thank Susan for alerting me to a site that I think is perfect for managing my book series.   It is called Fictfact.com.  There are TONS of authors on this web site. The books are in order by author/series and you can mark each book as read, reading, to be read (or something to that effect).  I believe you can then have a report which will tell you the next book in your various series.  This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for.

While there are many sites that will tell you the NEXT book coming out, (author alerts), this doesn't help me since I'm not up to date on many of the series.  Now the issue will be to highlight the authors that I want to keep track of.  I figure that I'll do them one at a time when I choose a new author.  But there are THOUSANDS of authors.  I DO NOT, I DO NOT need to find a new author!!!!

I'm currently reading a book by Linwood Barclay.  If you haven't read his books - you need to. However I will warn you that they are NOT easy to read. Not because the language is difficult, but the subject matter is.  I'm reading "No time to say good-bye".  The premise is that a 14-year old girl wakes up one morning and her entire family has vanished. Why????  Well that's the story. They are thrillers, but for some reason, the subject matter is a bit tough in this one.  Were they murdered?  Did they abandon her????   I'm half way through the book and well - I can't wait to find out what happened.


The other scary thing that is happening at our house is the studio. I've never seen it so tidy and neat - well at least the working areas.

However when I went to pull out the next urgent project, I did have a bit of a panic attack.  Found the two bags of partially cut background fabric, but where was all the bits that had been cut for the blocks.  ACK!!!!!   This was on top of not being able to find some labels that had been printed, or the pattern that was almost completely written.

Let's not panic.  Think, think, think!   AHA - I remember - I had cut TWO projects the same day and since it was from the same fabric, is it possible they are together?   Yep - the two bags of bright fabric were together.

Found bag of cut bits

The bits are bagged and tagged - very organised!!!!

Partially cut background

And I'm happy to report that I did find the missing pattern. It was with the fabric that needed to be cut to test the pattern. DUH!!

The missing pattern

I've been looking for those silly labels for a week - no luck. I think it's time to just reprint them.  Yep - the missing ones will pop up - no doubt!!!!

And with NO tidying, here are shots of the cutting table this morning..............

Cutting table - ONLY the current project is there

The ironing board

And the sewing table

Now that is pretty scary!  That has never happened to me before, but I've so much to do - I can't lose focus for a moment!  At least when I'm sewing.  Don't worry - I mess around with those two girls of mine a lot and I get a lot of reading in!

Do you want to see what I'm working on???   It's a quilt that has to be done soon. I won't tell you when exactly.  And I couldn't decide if I liked the light background or the dark background. So I'm doing both.  I need my head examined!!!!!

What do you think?????

Light background versus dark background

The lighting is off a bit as you can see all the colors against the dark background, but I think I know which one I'm going to focus on because I think I'm going to have stop working on both and focus only on one!

And there are a lot of cut off bits which I'm saving in a safe place to make half square triangles.

Cut off bits to make half square triangles

Guess what I got in the mail yesterday????   My first two patterns for The Canadian Sampler by Sew Sisters!!!!!   Another red/white quilt!!!!!!  

Two blocks for The Canadian Sampler

These are fairly simple blocks which will be great to use as enders and leaders.  I'm almost up to date with the 150 Canadian Women quilt as I use them for enders and leaders while I'm sewing those star blocks.

On that note, I'm going crazy today.  I thought everything was under control and every time I open an e-mail or get a phone call, it's more work!!!!   All exciting stuff mind you so I can't really call it work. But it's another deadline!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!