Row by Row Adventure

I was going to be mean and post about something else this morning, but well - I couldn't hold back!  I knew you would all be mad if I didn't share what we did yesterday on our road trip.

And some of you are very smart!  A couple of weeks ago, I posted a picture on Facebook of a Row by Row quilt. I didn't say much about it, except that I thought it was a cool idea.  Yesterday, when I posted on Facebook that we were at the border, TWO people (Pat and Mary) guessed what I was doing and one person even remembered the picture that I had posted earlier!  Mary - you're very smart!

I shared that picture with Ronda and asked if she was interested?  Game on! She shared the information with Laura who immediately mapped everything out and plotted a route. A few e-mails and texts and a date was set and we were off!

Just wait - there are pictures!  

The first store opened at 10 AM, but we had to contend with crossing the border into the US so Ronda (the driver) and Laura (the navigator) arrived at my house at 6 AM.  They were about 2 minutes late, but that's OK.  We stopped at the Tim's for breakfast and holy cow, that set the tone of our cashing out experience for the day!  I think the person must have been new. After repeating our order several times, they finally got it right and we were off.

We arrived at the border, passports in hand.  Oh ladies - see that Nexus line over there?  Well, there is NO Nexus line. I mean there is a Nexus LANE, but no LINE in that lane!  Alas, I was the only one with NEXUS so we waited.  It took about 35 minutes to get through. No issues although I did think that Ronda was a tad too chatty with the border crossing agent!  Oh my - how picky we are! We had a good laugh about it and recounted all our border crossing stories while we waited.

Then we were across and in the state of New York. We arrived at our first shop around 9:30.  We had discussed waiting at a coffee shop or something, but this shop was in the country!  We popped in a few minutes before 10 and it was a glorious shop!!  It was way bigger than it looked on the outside and they had a little bit of everything in that shop.  This was definitely a must return to shop despite the fact that it was one of the farthest away.

Mount Pleasant Quilting Company

They had a quilt block on their garage which is below.

Quilt block on the garage

We had 20 minutes to peruse the shop and check out.  NOT ENOUGH TIME, but alas, if we were going to meet our goal, we needed to keep on schedule. And Laura was an excellent time keeper.   I can imagine if she volunteers for field trips with her kids.  Nothing would go amiss!

Back in the car and off to the second quilt shop which was about a half hour from the first.  It was located in an old community hall and as we entered, there was the stage at the back which had been turned into a sewing area.  Very neat shop.

The Quilter's Daughter

This shop required a slight off-rading experience as we pulled into the wrong parking lot. No problem as Ronda proceeded to drive over the grass between the two parking lots. I saw NOTHING!

Off roading experience

And so it proceeded throughout the day. Laura had done an excellent job of getting us to all the shops as a couple of them were only open until 3 PM.  We got lucky on one as it was scheduled to be open until 4 PM. But it closed at 3 PM.  Guess what time we got there?   About 2:45 PM.  We had no idea that the shop was closing.  Ronda and Laura had already returned to the car and as I was checking out, the staff was going around the store shutting lights off.  Phew - that was close!!!

Oh I must tell you about the van.  Ronda is driving and Laura is navigating with the GPS (all the shops were programmed in!)  I was the back seat driver, although I didn't really have much to say as all was good up front. I was in the back eating snacks!  I sat on the passenger side of the van and unfortunately this door didn't open from the inside. I wonder if that had been rigged?  So Laura had to be my door person as I didn't want to move to the other side. No reason - just lazy!

We arrived at one shop and it looked closed so Laura hopped out to see if the door was open and then she walked right in!  Wait!  You forgot me!  Wait!!!   Thankfully Ronda was still in the car and was able to rescue me. We had a good laugh about that and I wonder if Laura has ever left her children in the car?

We had a total of 8 stores to hit and I'm happy to say that we hit them all with about 15 minutes to spare at the end. Well by the time we left that store, it was 5 PM.  A super successful and fun day!

Oh - you want to see what we were doing?   Well here are some pictures.

This was the card that I had seen posted on the internet.

Front of the post card advertising the Row by Row

Eight shops in Western New York got together and with the help of designer Susan Rooney, created the most amazing row by row quilt ever.  The eight rows (and a small finishing kit) make up one coordinated quilt measuirng 54" square.

Here are the eight participating shops.

Back of the post card advertising the Row by Row

How could you resist this? And it was so close to us that we were able to do all 8 shops in one day.  We didn't say anything to anyone because we didn't want to walk in the shop and buy kits for others. I really feel that Row by Row is something that needs to be experienced in person and the effort that these stores made - well you must go to them all yourself - it's so worth it.

We began to realize that EACH of the rows had a specific meaning to each of the shops. We got to hear the story and chat to the makers of the quilts, the owners of the shops or the staff and they were all very proud (and so they should be) of their Row by Row. We really had a positive experience at all of the shops.

The big question on the way down was whether to buy the kit or just get the pattern.  After all, we all do have loads of fabric. But once I saw the actual quilt and fabrics, I said - GIVE ME THE KIT because it was so well done.  So yep - bought all eight kits and the finishing kit. The patterns are EXTEMELY well designed and in full color. These ladies know how to do it right!

Eight rows and a finishing kit for the quilt

We had a little happy dance at the last store and here's a picture of the three of us with the quilt hanging in Auntie's Attic Quilt Shop.

This quilt was the version that was hanging in the first shop (Mount Pleasant Quilting Company).   Most shops had their version hanging up.

WNY (Western New York) on the Go!

We had to laugh at some of the shops because this one had a description - the little red barn in the back.  OK - so you're expecting a farm?  Nope, this one was in the suburbs.  A cute little shop!

Simple Pleasures and Homespun Treasures shop

Yesterday is what Row by Row is all about. Good times, visiting shops you've never been to before, spending money (we won't go there for the moment), there was ZERO time for eating (I was forced to eat chips and candy as I was locked in the back). We did manage a potty break or two that was smuggled in at the various shops along the way - but god forbid that you went over the 20 minute time!   It was so much fun - I'd love to do it again, but I can't for a variety of reasons. OK - two reasons - time and money!

Here are a few sights that we saw along the way and then I'll tell you what happened on the way home.

I think there are more Tim Horton's in Western New York than there are in Ontario!  At one point, there must have been a Tim's at least every two miles.  I managed to snap half of a Tim's as Ronda went speeding by! They are called Cafe and Bake Shop in the US. In Canada, they are just Tim's.

Half a Tim's (cafe and bake shop)

 We saw huge wind farms.

Wind farms

There were some massive steep hills as we criss crossed the country side.


Once we finished with the last quilt shop, it was time for a proper meal!  We popped into Applebee's which was right across the street.  It was here that we had some bad news to share. We tallied up our receipts. OH!   OH! - I'm OK with that.  Dinner was great and there were two more stops we wanted to make before we headed home.

Joanne's  - which wasn't far away and we managed to snag a few things there. Apparennlty there was a 20% coupon that you could download on your phone. Oh - so those bicycle bookends that are $50 marked down to $25 will cost even less?  YES. OK - so I picked up the book ends.  Add another $50 to the receipt total by the time I got out of there.

I had wanted to hit Barnes and Noble, but the one that was in Niagara Falls is now closed. The closest was Buffalo or Amherst and while we had been in both places earlier, there hadn't been time to hit the Barnes and Noble. No worries - let's move on.

It's time to head home and get through the border.  We had quite the discussion on what to say as we got closer.  I'm telling Ronda that she was too chatty on the way over and she needs to be very short in her answers.   We rehearsed in the car! And this is how it went.............

Border crossing agent: "How long were you away?"
Ronda:   "Left this morning"
Border crossing agent: "Did you buy anything?"
Ronda: "yes"
Border crossing agent: "What did you buy?"
Ronda: : "Fabric"  and he looks in the open back window to see if we're telling the truth
Border crossing agent: "How much did you spend?"
Ronda: "all together?"
Border crossing agent: "yes"
Ronda: "$XXX"   (god - I can't share that number with you - are you kidding me!!!!!
Border crossing agent: "so you each spent about $XXXX/3
Ronda: At this point, Ronda threw Laura and I under the bus as we had spent more than herself. She shakes her hands towards us and says, "well, I spent this much, Laura this much and Elaine this much!"
Elaine (to myself)  - remember to NEVER ask Ronda to have my back!
Border crossing agent: " have a nice day ladies"
Elaine (once the windows were rolled up and we were moving away)  "START THE CAR!!!!!!"

Between the three of us, well, let's just say that we helped the economy of the quilt industry in New York - a LOT.

And really, those border crossing guys are looking for smugglers. We weren't smuggling - we did declare everything we bought. We're three very innocent looking women - we had nothing to hide.  So we didn't have to pay tax at the border.   THANK YOU border crossing agent. That made me feel a smidgen better about the money I spent!


This is for Ronda and Laura -  here is the scary blue bridge that we drove over when I was at Paducah!!!  Open grid on the entire length of the TEN SPAN totally metal, narrow bridge.

On that note, I've a ton of work to be done today.  The dogs have been to the park and they're exhausted.

And if you get a chance to get out to do some Row by Rowing, take advantage of it.  It's so much fun. Yes - I wish it had of been in Canada to support my local quilt shops (but I supported them last weekend when I was at the retreat!)

Anyway - the most important thing - get out and have fun.  Now the next key thing is to actually make that quilt.  It's so cute and now that we know the stories (well most of them), I really want to make it.  A good project for the retreat!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!!

Acquisition Day!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was a crazy day - but it included a bridge lesson. OK - so several of us (OK - most of us in the class) have gone crazy over this card game. But it is hilarious to LISTEN to us play. Now in the REAL WORLD of bridge - there is NO TALKING. You use the bidding process to communicate with your partner what you have in your hand. Well - when we bid - we make a bid and then we analyze it - I bid 1 Heart because I have 13 or more points and at least 5 hearts. Then when each person bids - we discuss that. I did say that we are learning. THEN we decided to bid a round and NO TALKING. Well - there was silence, but not just silence - a STUNNED SILENCE. Now what?????   What do I do?????    Help!!!!!!!!!!!

I think most of us have the opening bid figured out (for the most part), but the bid answering - well we have a LOT of work to do on that. Flo might regret that she ever got herself into this!!!!!!!!

Then get M to the dentist, Berke to pick up his car that needed repairs, groceries and at last Fabricland.


I LOVE BAGS. All kinds of bags - I usually carry all kinds of crap with me and therefore bags are important. Purses are just NOT made for shoving crap into (well not my Micheal Kors) - a purse is a purse - we all need BAGS.

While at Fabricland, I was picking up some zippers for................

This is called A CUTE BAG and I am teaching it on Sunday at the Hobby Horse. I found two of those three fabrics in my stash. Zipped to Ruti's to get the blue in the foreground. Then got the rest of the supplies at Fabricland. Now at Fabricland, you have to purchase a bag and for some reason, I never think to carry a bag in from the car. I do at the grocery store, but no where else. 

HOWEVER....................................

At Christmas, the girls at Monday Motivators presented me with a large basket with all kinds of goodies in which I have used a lot of. |This is one of the items in the basket. Do you know what it is?????

It opens up into a nice nylon bag. I love it because it folds up small and neat so I can put it in my purse.  BUT when I want a bag - I have one at the ready!!!!!!    So I put all my crap that I bought at Fabricland into this bag. 

But if you want your own over the shoulder bag for your stuff including your iPad, then check out my class this Sunday at The Hobby Horse. 

While at Ruit's, I saw this pattern for a crocheted basket. Well - I just had to have it. I do NOT know why I am obsessed with this stuff, but you make it from T-shirt material and yes I had to purchase a ball of it!!!!!!

My outsourcer (Marian) brought me TWO reds as per my requisition. And so I can finish that other quilt.  THANKS Marian 

Wondering how the tie turned out??????   Well - have a look.......................

I think that M did a FABULOUS job on this tie. It sure doesn't look homemade, but I think she needs to redo the hand stitching. Well that was the word according to Berke. We all agreed that would be a good idea. 

Already been to the gym - almost didn't make it - stupid dogs that have to go pee (or hunt rabbits) in the middle of the night. Now I am running behind and got lots to do today.


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



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

Quilting update!!!!!!!!!!!!

I seem to be in a bit of manic mode these days. I can't STOP sewing. This is exactly how I felt when I took a year's leave of absence in 1999. I never went back to that corporate job and that feeling of "I can't stop sewing" has ebbed and flowed over the years, but it has never gone away. I just LOVE to create!!!!!   Why I got a business degree is beyond me!!!!!!!!!!

The good news - the raffle quilt top is DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

But not before I had some decisions to make - Carol is very  quick and noticed the issue with the corners.   If you look at the quilt in the previous picture you will see the corners are NOT the same and because there is an even number of blocks across the quilt, the corners cannot be the same.


I had three options - above you can see the star is disjointed from the rest of the blocks - NO

In this picture - the stars are following the pattern from the side borders

And in this picture - well the points of the corner star are touching the  star points in the border. But there was NO way to make all four corners the same. I went the way the pattern said. Bottom line - it is done!!!!!!!!!!!!

|And here is the backing and the binding - DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After taking that big quilt off the wall - there was this HUGE WHITE EMPTY space. I couldn't leave it like that so I HAD to put something else up. I grabbed the quilt on the right that has been on the wall several times now. It needs to have some calculating done for the border - and the one on the left is the squares I bought in that kit at the Hobby Horse. Why am I working on that?????   Just because!!!!!!!!!

TWO "new" quilts are on the design wall

I managed to get the first four rows sewn together. Well they are in pairs of two rows each. 

Remember the new pattern I am making from the jelly roll?????  Of course - you don't.  Anyway - I got these blocks done - 30 of them.

Here is the pattern

Well - as I was assembling it - I was originally going to make the throw size (54 inches square), but as I started to sew, I realized that with a bit of adjustments and adding a few (8 more strips), I could make it much bigger so that is what I did!!!!!!!!!!   (64 by 74)  and VERY LITTLE waste.   This is a class I am teaching at The Hobby Horse.  You should COME!!!!   You will learn a LOT. The class is called Intertwined or Leftovers - there are two different patterns on the same day.

Then I also got these half square triangles (NOT done my traditional way). See - I don't always do things MY WAY!!!!!
So I have almost all the half square triangles sewn - they just need to be pressed. But I need TWO more strips of red. Since I have exhausted the variety of what was in my stash, I have contacted my outsourced supplier - Marian!!!!!   Let's hope that she can come up with something. 

And LOOK - that ironing board is EMPTY. All that rug fabric is CUT UP - thanks to the Shape Cut that I got from Marian!!!!!!   Hmmmm - do we see a trend happening here??????

Here are all the strips cut - now for Step Two - joining them together. I won't join them all  - I will work in bunches. 

But then I found this on one of the tables. DRAT - more scraps. Some of this will be cut up into strips - going to try and get that done today. The big triangles - well - maybe join them and they can make a quilt back. OR - I could sash the triangles with burgundy and it makes a top??????    I realize now that it is the thrill of making something from nothing that excites me in quilting.   

After looking at this container, I realized it will be perfect for the string quilts - so it went in with the other pieces. I have Bonnie Hunters books on string quilts (OK - so I could not find mine and bought another one)  

Now we had a LOT of snow the other day. Remember what the pond looked like.............

This was last week - ice was strong enough to hold FATTY Sammy

Then we had LOADS of snow on Friday

This is what the pond looked like on Monday morning

And this is what it looked like Monday afternoon!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yes - this was a FAST melt for sure.



And I have been listening to my audio book - a James Patterson one - but NOT my favourite. It is called Toys and happens in the future. Anyway - it is something to listen to while I am stitching (hand embroidery). Now I cannot show you what I am working on until after the class. You know how crazy these class people are - they want to work ahead, but NOT until I give them the tips on stitching and fabrics and stuff. Then you can see what I am working on.


Oh yes - We had Monday Motivators yesterday. A number of us are learning bridge with Flo. Well a couple of us are CRAZY about it and we take every opportunity to learn.

Here we are - playing. We were very fortunate because Flo was there and she helped us. I think it will take a LONG time before I feel comfortable with the bidding process. I am good on the first round (more or less), but the second time around - I FREAK OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But we were very good - we played only one hand which we discussed for a long time after and it was great fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Flo - we are having a blast with this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




Well - I must be disciplined today and get a quilt on the machine or I am in BIG trouble.



Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




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

Why I don't like jelly rolls.................

OK - snow day today. I had better make some good use of the day. The first thing I should be focusing on is tidying up this room. I think I have been coming home the last couple of days and just dumping......

This room looks like a disaster!!!!!!!!    And yes those are the nutcrackers on the left  - they need to be put into their box. There are piles of scraps on the floor to be cut for the crochet rugs - I NEED one of those strips cutters - NOT an accucut - too much money for me, but I need one of those big plastic things that I can cut the strips rather than move the ruler. (It is by June Taylor) I don't care for great accuracy here. Does anyone have one of those??????   I have the small one for cutting fringe, but a bigger one would be great. 

OK - so I mentioned jelly rolls the other day. While the concept is brilliant - I get a strip of every fabric in a particular line of fabric, but when you go to make a pattern - there is NEVER enough lights and darks to suit the pattern you want to make.

Here is an example.........................

Here is the pattern I want to make. And I want to emphasis those little pinwheels - otherwise what is the point of making them. 

Here is the jelly roll I am going to use. It is a line from Kansas Troubles. (Hey Marian - can  you tell me what line????)

I am afraid that if I use the "plain" beige on the bottom for the pinwheels that they will bleed into the other lights unless I very carefully place them. So I decided to eliminate ALL these strips except the bottom three for the pinwheels). I think there are EIGHT that I put back in the Kansas Troubles basket of fabric. 

Then I cut some additional strips from OTHER Kansas Troubles that I had to make up for those lights that I eliminated

This blue (there isn't ANY blue in the jelly roll) which has the red and green in it - will be used for the dark half of the pinwheels

More reds in case I need a few more - I didn't cut the same amount I eliminated

But this is my biggest beef with jelly rolls - unless you just throw it together, you often lose the pattern or can't follow the pattern. But I like this solution. So maybe I will look at doing that with other jelly rolls that I have.



The other day I mentioned that I am learning to play bridge. Well - Flo - we will just have to learn to HATE her. We are HOOKED.

I bought cards so we could play at Monday Motivators (for practice of course)

Got some books from the library to help with the strategy

And many of us have downloaded apps on our iPads so we have "someone" to play with. I am liking the game very much and here I always thought playing bridge was an "older" person's way of passing the afternoon with tea and goodies. HOLY COW - this is a serious game. You never know - we may end up ditching the sewing machines on Monday and just come to play bridge!!!!!!!!!!!!!  


Well - I see time is marching on and I had better get something useful done with my day.



Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




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

Molas - Part Two

I wanted to get some literature on Molas in preparation for my demo on Sunday - OK - so I have to IMMERSE myself in the experience - can't just show up empty handed!!!!

I searched the library and they had NOTHING on molas. I called the local used book store - he was just back from vacation and not responding. NOTHING in the local Chapter's so I broke down and went online to Amazon. They had a number of books ranging in price from $10 to a couple of hundred!!!!!   Well - I hate to buy books without a good recommendation or seeing the actual book, so very carefully I read the reviews and looked at the budget and ordered the books on SUNDAY. Guess what arrived at my door on TUESDAY?????   Yep - my books - have a look.................

I recognized the cover of this book in my online searching and after a quick search of MY own library - I found it!!!!!

This is a GOREGOUS LARGE book with many coloured photos of OLDER molas

Beautiful pictures and lots of text of older molas

This book is to die for!!!!   It is HUGE and loads and loads of coloured pictures and all kinds of text!!!!

Beautiful book!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I also purchased an inexpensive book on designs which is OK. But it is a design book so I am OK with that. 

Anyway - I think I did AMAZING with just reading the reviews. I love all THREE books I purchased. However these books are NOT for loan. If you want to see them - you MUST come see my demo on Sunday, February 3rd between 2 and 4 PM at the Peel Art Gallery and Museum Archives at 9 Wellington Street in Brampton.


I did manage to download all those pictures yesterday - took forever. Now I have to find the pictures of my wild weekend and I will get myself up to date.


I did NOT take pictures, but yesterday I started taking BRIDGE lessons. I know - who would have thought!!!!!   I love it, but I never realized all the "conversations", `bidding`and other stuff that happens in the game. Yikes - I hope I remember it all for next week. It is really a lot of fun and I never was a big card person, although we played KAISER at lunch at school all the time. Now if you do not know a thing about KAISER - here is the definition that I found on the internet...............   (from Wikipedia)

Kaiser, or three-spot, is a trick-taking card game popular in the prairie provinces in Canada, especially Saskatchewan and parts of its neighbouring provinces. It is played with four players in two partnerships with a 32-card deck.

I grew up in Saskatchewan so now I know why people around here have no clue what I am talking about!!!!!!!!!!!!



Today, I taught a class at Ruti`s. It is part of the Marti Michell series. If you are NOT attending these - you are missing out on some good information. Not only do we talk about the product of the month, but lots of other things get discussed as well. Today was the Kaleido-Ruler. I forget what is next time, but the next class is at the end of March. You should come!!!!!!!!!    There are some very cool things you can do with this ruler!!!!!   So many more quilts to make!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Went to the gym this morning and my body is going to be protesting tomorrow. If I am going to be at the gym, I am going to make it worth my while. We have to partner up on Wednesday and Sophia and I have a good system going. We have a tough workout, but like I said - what`s the point if you are going to slack off!!!!!


On that note - I have a TON of stuff to do - paperwork - ACK!!!!!!!   I just can`t keep up with the administration of all these classes and committees - never mind my own stuff. And let`s not even talk about the long arm nor the piecing. 

OK - I am out of here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Have a good day and hopefully tomorrow, I will get those pictures of the wild weekend posted!!!!



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