Ice cream for breakfast

My life seems to be one giant learning curve and I'm so excited!

Last year when I did the dTox thing, I decided that I needed a Vitamix blender. Yes - I spent an obscene amount of money on the thing. Which is hilarious because I complained rather loudly when M insisted that we buy one for her. Well, she took that one when she moved out (technically it was a gift to her). So I had to eat crow and go and buy one for me. Sadly, the blender has sat in the box for an entire year. I know - don't ask.

Now I decided it's time to open that box. So I made my smoothie yesterday with the Vitamix. A frozen banana was no match for the blender and very quickly, I had a nice, delicious smoothie to enjoy.

This morning it was frozen strawberries.

Making a strawberry smoothie

Not sure that I had the right quantity of almond milk - I might have been a wee bit short, maybe too many strawberries and a little bit too long in the blending process. I got strawberry ICE CREAM. That's OK - it's got protein powder in it. Tastes amazing and that's my breakfast. So you can have ice cream for breakfast and it's super healthy.

Strawberry ice cream made in the Vitamix

I really should read ALL of the instructions. I will next week.

I just can't seem to last much beyond 8 PM these days. I'm in bed reading and lights usually out by 9 PM, but I'm up super early - I won't tell you what time. I know - that's why I'm in bed so early, but it works for my body clock.

I went for a long walk yesterday - the bank, the library, and Indigo - where I bought nothing. We have new ATMs at the bank. According to Ronda, my bank information person, these ATMs are NOT new - our branch appears to be slow. Anyway - they are super awesome. Very easy to use and much faster than the old ones. I didn't even have time to warm up from my walk.

I'm going to be away this coming week - off on an exciting adventure. I'll still be blogging, but before I go, I'm trying to get some stuff done. As usual!

So I have not one, but TWO embroidery machines going this morning. 

Husqvarna Viking Designer Brilliance 80 madly stitching out designs

Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC finishing off another design

I swear that I really try to keep those tables clear but look. Those two embroidery machines are buried in stuff. Actually, there's plenty of room around the machines, the rest of the tables - a HUGE disaster.

Tables are a mess

 If you look really close at the left just beside the door, there's a sewing machine there!!!

The EPIC is buried in this mess

I'm constantly learning with the embroidery machines. There's just so much that you can do. I'll show you pictures at a later date. But I had a WOW moment this morning. Oh my god - what technology can do is incredible. I'm making something for the QUILTsocial blogs and they will be posted at the end of January. You'll see my WOW moment then. I'm in total awe.

I've got a website for you to check out this morning.

If you know nothing about scissors or rotary cutters, here's a good link to get the overall scoop on them. The OLFA rotary cutter is celebrating it's 40th anniversary this year. Can you imagine life without a rotary cutter???  I started with the basic OLFA cutter and I won't change. I just love that cutter and I know that I have a FEW of them. There are tips on caring for and cleaning your tools as well.  If you want to see my rotary cutters - go to this link.

The West End Modern Quilt Guild met yesterday and we laid out the blocks for our Quiltcon charity quilt. Oh my - I didn't take a picture of the final layout, but what fun we had. I think this is what it looked like when we just threw the blocks onto the design wall. Then the blocks gots switched around. A super fun exercise. Surprisingly, it didn't take us very long to agree on a final design. Yes - 30 people agreed on the placement of over 100 blocks???  Yep - I managed to finish all my blocks - well all but 5.

The first iteration of the WEMQG charity quilt

Well - that's it for me today. I've got to check on those embroidery machines to see what's going on and I suspect I need to reload them as I see they are silent on my phone app.

Have a super day!!!


Ciao!!!

How to make a modern quilt

It was the monthly meeting of the West End Modern Quilt Guild yesterday. What a super talented bunch of ladies. I'm so impressed by their talents, their drive and their ability to open their minds to explore new avenues.

Yesterday was a day of sharing notions and tools that we liked and disliked. Oh boy - there were some amazing tips and it's so nice to see participation from all of the guild members. I always say that the more you put into anything, the more you get back in return. It's just boring to be a passive member of anything - even day to day life.

Here's a sample of some of the work we saw yesterday.

Our guild participated in the Modern Quilt Guild charity challenge for Quiltcon 2018.  In case you don't remember that quilt, this is what it looked like.

West End Modern Quilt Guild charity challenge for 2018

We had a lot of half square triangles and odd bits of fabric left over from the project and not wanting it to go to waste, I decided to divvy up the leftovers into 35 bags (one for each member). A while back, I distributed the bags to the guild members with the idea that at the May meeting, we would have a show n tell of what the members created with their little bag of goodies.

I know that a lot of members forgot the challenge as we only had four pieces show up at the meeting. But that's OK. They've all been reminded (that's the big issue - people don't write these deadlines in their calendar and it was only a verbal note at the meeting so I don't blame them!)

Anyway, here's a look at mine and how I got there.


I started by placing all the half square triangles on the design wall.  Each bag had a comparable amount of half square triangles in all the sizes. There were some leftover bits of unpieced fabric and each bag got some as well.  This is what I started with. I had laid the HST out in some semblance of a pattern.

My starting point

I needed one more half square triangle to fill the bottom right corner.

The next step

Then I sewed it all together.

All the HST sewed together

 My inspiration for this next step came from a member (Johanna) of the Grand River Modern Quilt Guild (of which I'm also a member) and that meeting was on this past Thursday night. Perfect timing. I sliced the piece up! Vertical slices that were somewhat even in width. Then every second strip got reversed and I sewed it all back together again. I LOVE IT!!!!!

My NEW modern piece

 I didn't get a chance to quilt it yet, but after seeing some of the other pieces, I might reconsider what I'm going to do with it. Maybe I'm not done yet.

BTW - I got rid of that last HST and the orange bits as one member wasn't around when the bags were handed out and I gave her my leftovers. I did add a white square to make the last HSTneeded in order to complete my rectangle. That was allowed. There were NO rules.

Here are the other pieces that showed up at the guild meeting.

This first piece was created by Veronica.  I love what she did and I love it even more that she had quilted it. Veronica is a traditional quilter who is experienced in life. What I so love about the modern movement - initially, I thought it was all about the young people. NOPE -- I think the older generations are having way more fun with the modern movement than the younger generations. Why? We have more money and time, we have the skill set for sewing,  and we have all the tools. More importantly, we have that burning desire to do something different.

Veronica's modern piece for the challenge

This one was done by Judy. I love it as well. Again, Judy is more experienced in life than the average modern quilter, but it looks like she embraced this challenge with gusto!!  It's quilted in a variety of ways which I love. It looks like she used pretty much everything that came in the baggie (as did Veronica above).

Judy's modern quilt for the mini challenge

 And look at her label!!!!   I love that!!!!!

The label on Judy's quilt

Then Heather got up to show us what she had done and my jaw dropped. Heather is also an experienced in life quilter and a very traditional quilter which she openly admits.  WOW - where the heck did this come from???   I absolutely LOVE the piece. She came up with the quilting idea herself and did it her self on her domestic machine. She used the lines in the small piece as her inspiration and to set the direction of the lines.

Heather's modern quilt for the charity challenge leftovers

 WOW  - WOW --- that was super show n tell for the leftover bits challenge from the charity quilt.


I think the rest of the members will show up next month with their completed projects as people were reminded of the challenge. I won't be at the next meeting, but I'm sure someone will take pictures!!!!

Way to go Judy, Veroni, and Heather. You've impressed me to death!!!!!

Here's my inspirational quote for the day!!!  That's exactly what ladies did. And did a superb job as well.

Inspirational quote of the day

I have to confess that after I got home from the meeting, I really didn't feel like doing much. It was coolish in the house, I was tired and so I had a wee nap. Not that long otherwise it messes up my night (and day).

I managed to get some cutting done.  I had been prepping for the next big ender/leader project and going through this box of scraps and cutting 1 ½" squares. I sorted through the box for those pieces that were big enough to get 1 ½" squares and that's the pile on the cutting mat.

Cutting 1 1/2" squares

Normally when I'm cutting/sewing, I listen to the radio. But I have an audio book that I need to listen to. It's on my phone which makes it handy and no need for headphones. I started the book and now I'm well into the book. The only problem, I realize is that I use the radio as a clock. Without the radio, the hours did fly by.

This morning, I thought I would get ambitious again and cut some more, but for a different project. Today, I'm cutting pieces for 150 Canadian Women. My goal?  Cut the remaining 24 blocks. I'm almost completed the white for all 24, then onto the red.

Cutting 150 Canadian Women blocks

I wanted to sit outside yesterday afternooon, but it was a tad too cool.  Today looks more promising.

But I've decided that I have to get some hand embroidery done. So while we watched a movie last night, I worked on this block. This is one of my UFOs and I had better get my act together if I have any hope of getting it completed by the end of the year.

Hand embroidery block

I'm almost done this block, but it'll still take an hour or more to get it done. A couple more movies or more audiobooks.

Sorted more paperwork and it's in the box for the shredding date of June 2. Still, a HUGE stack to go through - we're talking YEARS worth of paperwork. I hate to just dump it all without quickly browsing the receipts and keeping one or two (for fun or just because).  Hey M -- you do realize that I'm making your job easy by getting rid of all this stuff now!!!!

Here's my advice to anyone out there and I so wish that someone would have given me this advice years ago and if they did that I would have listened to them.

1. Set aside some time every day/week to sort through whatever comes into the house and deal with it. 
2. Set up a filing system and use it. (I have one set up - hardly every used)
3. Watch what you buy. Do you really need five thousand (OK - a slight exaggeration) of one thing?
4. Don't let your kid dictate what you buy
5. Watch how many craft supplies you buy
6. Don't buy Happy Meals just for the toy

Anyway, we're (I'm) muddling my way through this mess. Every day, it looks better (I just need to make sure to do a little every day) but I'm so of the midset to get a dumpster in the driveway and open the windows and doors and just dump everything (except the basement studio) that we haven't touched in 6 months. I'm so ready, but the practical side of me (learned from my parents - darn them!) says - go through it - sort it, keep some of it, give some away, blah, blah, blah. 

On that note, I see that the day is gorgeous outside. I've NOTHING planned for the day, although I do have a ton of work to do. But I think it's time to pump up those bike tires and hit the road.  Then think how many calories I can eat today!!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!!

BTW - I see that Lexi was at the computer this morning. Check out her blog. 

Take time for yourself

First I have to say a HUGE HUGE THANK YOU to those that showed up for the West End Modern Quilt Guild (unofficial title) meeting yesterday!  I was totally blown away by the response.  Now don't get me wrong - there weren't hundreds there, but given the fact that some couldn't make the time and date, we had an excellent showing for a first meeting. Get this - we already discussed and decided on a cap to the number of people in the group!  I know - first meeting and we're talking capping the numbers!

I'm super excited - it's a good group of people with a huge variety of talents and quilting backgrounds. At this point, I'm not sure if there is any room left!  BUT for those of you who have e-mailed me (and sorry - I haven't responded) and for those that I have already sent an e-mail to - you are on the list if you wish to officially join the group.  I'll be compiling and sending out an e-mail later today to all of you who responded.

The meeting was amazing, so many questions, so much to learn from each other - hence the reason to keep it small so we can ensure that the hands-on experience and answering everyone's questions will be met.  I did take some pictures which I'll share later this week.

Normally at a guild meeting, I have a quick bite to eat before I get to the meeting. This past week, that didn't happen as the traffic was bad and I had promised the speaker I would be there at a specific time. I got the speaker organized and then went to get a sandwich and when I got back, I managed to eat the sandwich while chatting to a lot of people.

Someone mentioned to me that I should ensure that I take time for myself.   Despite the fact that you all think I'm running around like crazy, I would like to say that NO ONE should worry about that. I've very good at taking time for myself. Yesterday, I went to lunch with a few of the meeting attendees and when I got home at 2 PM, I grabbed a chair and a book and the two dogs and we sat in the backyard until 6 PM when it was getting cool, they were getting hungry and I finished the book!  Yes - I should have been quilting, but we had more important things to do!  It is very hard for me to keep my nose out of a book and I have averaged almost one a week for the last 10 years.  Nope - I don't think I'm sacrificing ME time to anyone!

Here's another picture of a project that I did at the retreat. My witches!!!!

Witches

This a pattern from Buggy Barn. You are supposed to use EIGHT blocks in the quilt and what do you do with the last one?  Well - I'm changing it up and putting all nine blocks in the quilt. As I was working on this quilt, I realized that I only had EIGHT pairs of legs, not nine.  Someone reminded me that they remembered this same scenario from a previous retreat and guess what - I never put fabric in for the last pair of legs.  The fabric is NOW in the project box so it will get done this next retreat. But this time at least, I did get the blocks sewn together. They were only half sewn last time.

I swear I also had a basket with more fabric for this quilt hanging around the studio. I looked but didn't find anything.  I did find the one I was looking for in the Halloween fabric stash so I must have filed everything away BEFORE the quilt was done.  GASP!!!!   Anyway - I will trim the blocks before I leave and cut the necessary pieces so the quilt can be assembled. It may not have borders, but it should be together.

So far, I'm respecting the two tote limit and I'm thinking that I might not even get through the first one! We'll see. There are lots of small things that need to be finished or advanced to the next stage.  It might not take as long as I think to wing my way through them. No worries, there is a HUGE project in the second tote that will take days just itself. I won't run out of things to do.

It certainly hasn't been a week for sewing.  Look - I haven't even unpacked my sewing machine yet. It's still in the front hall. That has never happened to me!

No sewing machine set up!

 I've been trying to clear up the mess from all the coming and going these past two weeks.  This is how the studio looked this morning.

The cutting mat was a mess

The staging area (you can never have too many of those!) was also a mess

The ironing board was a write-off

I'm happy to report that the cutting table is now free (at least half of it) and I've been busy prepping things this morning. A couple more to cut and then I'll be packed and ready for the retreat.

The ironing board is in pretty good shape as well. The staging area?  Well - there is stuff there that needs to be prepped for the retreat. I hope by Tuesday evening, it will be clear.

Got a couple of small URGENT projects that need to be done by tomorrow AM. They are cut and ready to sew. Guess I'm going to have to get that sewing machine downstairs. And I've loaded a quilt on the long arm this morning so that needs to get done before I leave as well.

Never a dull moment. I don't think I'll be sitting outside with the girls today - but you never know. I do require a break from time to time and I have a new book sitting here waiting for me to start.

The girls and I have already been to the dog park. They're just a pair of loony tunes, but I see that Lexi was blogging again!

On that note - I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!