From clutter to treasure!

Thanks again for the comments -- I MUST answer them individually! There is NO customer quilt today. By the time I got home, I decided I had some wiggle room in my calendar and could push off one of the quilts on the list. Actually, only TWO more need to be done before I leave on Monday, and I have three days. 

I was going to start the quilt in the morning but decided that paperwork was more important. And for some reason, I was digging through the crap on the second desk in my office, and guess what? I found a book that I had been looking for for months. Yeah!!! 

My lost book

I have a plan for this book, and now that I found it, I just found a new project! I bet if I dig a little deeper, I would find the other missing book. OH -- I remember; I was looking for a box of jewelry that I think got put on that desktop. I know -- when things don't have a place, they get "lost." I'm trying to remedy that, and I need to take some time to at least sort out some crap and get rid of it from that desktop. 

So many little hiding spots! I'll have another look on that desk today for the jewelry -- I'd like to find the box. 

After some paperwork, it was time to pack for the trunk show. Amazing how MANY quilts fit into those two suitcases! OK -- so they spilled out into two totes as well. 

Packed for the trunk show

And someone wanted to come with me, but alas, she had to stay home. I think it was enough excitement that she jumped in the car to check it out. 

MOM -- I'm coming for show and tell!

Oh my goodness --- I had so much fun at the guild talk yesterday. I can't remember when I had so much fun speaking to a group! It was the Simcoe County Quilter's Group in Barrie, and I met up with two people I haven't seen in a while and two people that I know quite well from Zoom, so that was super exciting!

The meeting ran late, partially because of me, and there was a major accident on the way home, and Google Maps tried to take me off the highway, but I wouldn't have anything to do with that as I was on the phone (hands-free), at the time, and before I got home, I had to stop and pick something up since I was in the car! 

I got to see a treasure yesterday. Someone brought in an old quilt top they had no use for. I'm not sure if they found it in an old trunk or if it was a friend or family member who found it. 

An old quilt top

I will confess at first glance that, it looks like a crazy quilt top. But when you look a little closer, it's made from Fortrel, polyester, or crimpoline (however you want to call it) -- 100%, and all the patterns are crazy! It must be from the 60s or 70s. 

Crazy quilt from Fortrel

Look at those patterns!

And it was hand stitched between all the pieces. My Mom had boring patterns or solids! 

Here's a picture of Lynn and me. We met on Zoom several years ago! 

Me and Lynn

Here's Marg and me in front of her 365-day quilt. I also met Marg through Zoom, and both she and Lynn continue to be in my Zoom classes. Marg --- I will get my 365-quilt done!!! Thanks for the inspiration. Her quilt is absolutely stunning and I can't wait to see mine!

Me and Marg

And I met Bernice, whom I've known for years as we used to belong to the Brampton Quilter's Guild. 

Bernice and me

And Linda and me, who I've also known for years and I think I first met her through the Brampton guild as well. 

Me and Linda

Both have moved away, but with Zoom, we continue to stay in touch! You have to love Zoom!!!!

And here is Marg's quilt in all its glory!!

Marg's 365-day quilt

Someday.........................

I also didn't get in a second walk, but with all the packing and moving stuff around, I still walked close to 11 KM. 

After dinner, I played around with the embroidery software, and I SOLVED my problem. I'm not sure it's the best way, but I solved it nonetheless, and that's all that counts. 

And what did I pick up on my way home? An iRobot! Someone I know had bought a used one, and it didn't get used how it was intended, so I brought it home. The darn thing is rather large in diameter. She kindly had it charging all day, so when I got home and plugged it in, it went to work. 

MOM --- what's this thing? 

Murphy and Lexi were beyond themselves and were barking at it, so we didn't do too much with it yesterday. The second time I ran it to show DH, they were much better, and I bet they start going for rides if I don't watch them! Actually, both of them are too large to sit on it! 

So there are two instances of clutter in one person's home becoming a treasure in someone else's. Which fits in with Carolyn's comment about my thread. I aim to get it sorted, and then I will decide what to do with it. There are some that I will not give away --- who gives away pricing thread? Not at the price it is today. And at the rate I'm piecing, I may never get through that in my lifetime! 

But I want to play with the threads that I bought. Part of the problem is that there is so much and in such disarray that it discourages one from using it. Now that I know what I have, it will make it super easy to use. 

And while I tossed and turned last night (too excited from the day), I contemplated what to do with the last threads on the table. I've settled on buying more tubs from the dollar store and sorting them by weight -- one for 12, 30, and 40 weight respectively. Then I'll see what's left on the table, and it can go in the second small drawer unit. So I have a plan! 

I called my dad after dinner, and he was home! So we had quite a chat, and then I called my brother. Oh boy -- when your parents get old, they get some weird ideas, and he has one right now, which I want him to wait on. He's waited five years to do something we thought had been done, and now he wants to rush into it. NO -- wait until we are all together in four weeks, and then we can chat together since it involves all of us. Will he listen? I don't know - I can only hope my brother can divert him for four weeks!!!

My brother and SIL were taking him a birthday cake. They also got him a personalized license plate, and the cake is decorated like the plate. Do you know what it means? I'll give you a hint -- two words! 

Dad's birthday cake

When I talk to him, he is just like my grandfather, and I suppose I'm just like him. We see the wonderment in such small details! We are happy to putter for hours, trying to solve a puzzle. The only disappointing thing is that while my Dad understands computers and he understands CNC technology, he can't put that together with what I do! The digital cutters, my long arm, and my embroidery machine all run on that technology, but he never goes on about how "smart" I am, but he'll give credit to my two brothers for the tinkering they do! 

But, like many -- we don't say those things to the people who do them. I should ask my brother if he ever says anything about what I do. I think he needs to see it in person, as that would help him understand it better. I'm just going to leave it as it is! It's not anything to get uptight about! 

Like my grandfather, he has intentions of making it to 100! And they are stubborn, and that good prairies background, so let's see what happens! 

I don't drive the car much, and honestly, I would NEVER consider using the car for errands again. If I have to carry something heavy or go for a distance, then yes. But the hassle of parking and getting in and out of crowded parking lots? Nope -- walking is probably just as fast for my local errands, and almost everything I need is close enough to walk to! We sure picked a good location when we moved here! I have a LOT of errands today, and I must get that quilt done and the next one (which is a big one) loaded so I can get it all done tomorrow. 

I only have TWO presentations all weekend -- wow, but don't forget that we have a Virtual Retreat. 

Saturday, April 29, starting at 6 PM

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89254233911?pwd=VGQrTnFybW1HMWpleHA4M2Q2NGVwZz09 Meeting ID: 892 5423 3911 Passcode: 982797

Sunday, April 30, starting at Noon EST

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86119598156?pwd=ZDFxcElxS0NmeTRjczdSR2FXd3N2Zz09

Meeting ID: 861 1959 8156
Passcode: 053861

Plus, I must unpack those suitcases and finish packing for the retreat. Then I need to pack for two trips in May, and I still need to make some samples. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!

Help!

I can procrastinate like no tomorrow. Especially if the task to be done isn't one that I want to do.

I've been procrastinating on a couple of things and waiting until the absolute last minute to get them done. Why? Who knows. It's ridiculous because it puts enormous pressure on myself. Half the time, once I get started, the task wasn't such a big deal.

So yesterday was the time to get working on those now very urgent tasks.

The last of the blog posts got completed and I'm VOWING to start right now for the next series. Good grief - it won't take much. Already got the machine to work on so there is NO excuse.

I have a quilt to make and it wasn't until late in the day when I got my butt in gear to get that cut. I got half of it cut. Then I went searching for the fabrics to make the second half of the quilt. I had to dig deep into the bowels of the stash room to find what I was looking for.

I'm searching through the bags of stuff and then WHOA - what's this???  OH MY GOD - I found some samples of crazy quilting that had been missing for YEARS.

Three crazy quilt blocks (works in progress)

But this was the one that I was really looking for. OH MY GOD - do you see the year on there???? 2004!!!!   That hilarious. Anyway - I found the darn thing and all of these will go in the box with the crazy quilt stuff. Yeah - one more thing off the LOST list.

Crazy quilt block started in 2004

Don't you think we should all keep a "lost things" list? It would be great to see if we're actually winning the race of finding things. At this moment, I think I'm still missing two things - a cheque (I know - don't ask - I have 50 days to find it) and that second orange USB stick.

I sorted through the box of stuff that was deep in the corner. Hmm - I found what I needed but not enough. I popped in the car and off to Salvation Army where I was able to get more of what I needed. Of course, I'm not going to share with you what I was looking for. Then home and threw everything in the washer and now I'm going to have a task to do when I watch my online class later today. So that task is essentially under control.

That's two for two for the day!

Next up was the motor. My thought was to at least take the motor off the long arm and get ready to install the new one.

The first couple of pages was removing the covers. No problem, most of them were already off or half off.

So this is the instruction in the manual on how to disconnect the old motor. Looks easy right?

Disconnecting the old motor

However, this is what my motor looks like.  That is NOT an easy connector to just slip out. Needless to say, I have sent an urgent message to Iowa to see what the next step is. It's not looking good at this point.

Hmm - that's doesn't look like an easy connection to dismantle

Here's a picture of the motor. That's the new one. Motors are heavy in case you didn't know. 

The new motor

Well, that could throw a monkey wrench in my plans for the month of August. I had a schedule and now I'm two weeks behind. That's not good!!!!  I'll wait and see what happens today but I hope it doesn't mean it has to be sent back to Iowa?????  Gulp - I have a quilt that needs to be done and in the mail - well should be today, but that's not going to happen.

I desperately need to book some travel arrangements but not sure I'll have time today. I have one more urgent thing that I want to get finished today and that's going to be my focus. I WANT it done.

Isn't life fun when it throws you a curve ball? Well - let's just see what can be done.

I see that Miss Lexi finally calmed down and was able to post about all the excitement in the backyard. Seriously, she and Murphy are just two crazed dogs.

Here's the link to the QUILTsocial blog for today. I sure hope you're flipping over and reading them. The number of people who have commented about the great tips - well you had better check it out. There's a lot of great info and I put my heart and soul into those posts.

On that note, I'm out of here for the day. It's going to be crazy - an online class, an in-person class and that urgent item that needs to be tidied up and hopefully some good news on the motor installation.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

A blast from the past!!!

I was totally blown away by the feedback that we got from our impromptu meeting. I got more e-mails throughout the day!  Wow!  We are definitely going to do this again for next guild year. Now here's the big question - what comes first? the members or the topic?   Hmmmm - that's an interesting dilemma - it's like the chicken and the egg.   If you have any suggestions on cool topics - let me know and I'll see how I can compile them. It's basically the same thing I do with my blog.   I get story ideas from everywhere and then one day - it all comes together. I've got several in mind - just have to think the logistics through.  Like that will happen - I need a 48 hour deadline and it will come together no problem!

Love my job - love my job.  Some quilters were in the warehouse yesterday and of course, I had to zip out to meet them.  Turns out one of them used to be a member at the Mississauga guild many many years ago.  We had a great chat, I gave them an impromptu show n tell and got them organized for the challenge - more on that in a second and they were good to go.    Ooops - I'll give you more details on that challenge another day. 

However there are downsides to the job.  How about being asked to make something out of "this" and "this" so it will sell.  Yikes!   No presssure!!!!!  I don't really call that a down side - it just means that I have to put my thinking cap on - break out EQ7 and away we go.  Plus I found a recent book that is perfect for one of our new panels that will be released at Spring Market in Salt Lake City.  Never mind the tutorials and patterns that need to written - OK - I need 48 hours in a day!  

But since I love what I do - I'm not worried. I just need to find some quiet time to focus on that writing, but once I set my mind to it - it won't take long and it really is just revamping some stuff I wrote a while ago. But I'm off to the Lancaster show in about 10 days and this stuff needs to be done by then. So I think a bit of discipline is in order. Got to get my new phone working in the car and download some books as I'll be driving to Lancaster! Yeah - road trip!  I wonder how much stuff I can shove in the car for the trip home??  Too bad row by row hasn't started yet.  I've got more details on that for another day!

Got to do some tidying on my computer.  I'm in the process of writing for three different blogs and all three are on different platforms. All three are open as well as my photo editor and my computer is starting to protest. I guess I had better reboot it after this post gets published!

Back at the end of February, I managed to get to PAMA (Peel Art Gallery and Museum Archive)  to see their display of antique quilts.  It was definitely worth going to.  Actually when I think of it, the timing was pretty funny since I was prepping to leave for QUILTCON which is Modern Quilting.   However - the two styles (modern and traditional) are married in more ways than you think. 

Entrance to PAMA

In downtown (or is that old town) Brampton

PAMA is in the older part of the city and I don't know if they have a name for it.

Home to a half naked squirrel - I wonder how he lost his hair?

And I thought this fence was brilliant.  There is a real door and a real window - now how cool is that?

Artistic fence

It's really interesting to see how people react to quilt shows. I know of two different people who went to this show and one person was "oh it's OK - saw one quilt I liked".  The other person encouraged me to go and I'm very glad I did.  I must confess that I look at most things through the eyes of a child. My eyes are always open to little details, to the creativity, to the workmanship (good or bad), and I can't stress enough how little things amuse me. If curiosity killed the cat and I was a cat - I'd have been dead years ago - even with nine lives. I want to know EVERYTHING!

I would love to post all the photos I took, but here is a sampling (a rather large sampling) and how I saw the show.

Title of the show

Info about the show

And let's give credit to Cathy who is a VERY accomplished quilter and a master when it comes to quilt history

And now on with the show.................


There were a LOT of log cabin quilts.  Log cabin is my favourite block in the entire quilt world and if I could only make one block for the rest of my life - it would be the log cabin and it's many variations.

Log cabin quilts

 Now I know you are thinking - that middle quilt is NOT a log cabin. Doesn't look like it - does it?  BUT have a look at the detail.

Detail of the log cabin

 AHA - that is a log cabin after all.  And wow - what about those pieces. How small are they???

Those pieces are THAT SMALL.   One block is about 2 inches square

  I am suspicious that the pieces are folded and sewn along the edges?   A little hard to tell when you can't touch.  But the quilt was magnificent and in excellent condition.

Can you guess how many pieces are in that quilt????

Yep - that many!!!!

Then another quilt caught my eye.  Annie May Johnston made this quilt and reproduced images of local schools and churches.

Quilt commenorating local schools and churches

Detail of one block

 Now I want you to read this label below and tell me if you know what she used to create the blocks????

Information about the quilt blocks

Did you ever use those products????   Does the name Artex come to mind?????   I know there was another brand, but the name escapes me at the moment.  And how do I know????  

Well around the time that Annie May was making this quilt, a young girl (still in high school and living in Saskatchewan) was also making a quilt using those same darn tubes of liquid embroidery. And she still has the quilt to show you.

MY beautifully painted blue roses

I painted those squares when I was in high school and put the quilt together when I left home and got married at a ridiculously young age (gasp!).  I used this quilt on our bed - the dog jumped on the bed and probably slept there too and sunlight and well a few of the squares aren't holding up so well.  I think I did a beautiful job on the roses - not so much on the leaves!

Ooops - a few squares are deteriorating

Badger (my dog at the time) did have a field day one day with the quilt and many years ago, I took it apart and repaired it. But it has gotten worse. And look at that lovely polyester batting of which I think I used several layers and the quilt  is THICK.  Hand quilted no less.  My intention is to take it apart and save the good squares (back them with interfacing) and put it back together again using COTTON, not polyester, although the polyester (the blue) has held together quite nicely.

Anyway - I digress.

There were also a number of crazy quilts.  I love the fact that each one is different. Some are whole cloth style, some are blocks, embroidered or not. Anything goes with crazy quilts.

Crazy quilt

 One of the things about crazy quilts that I absolutely love is the use of RIBBONS.  A lot of political ribbons, cigar silks and other commorative items were created and used in the quilt.  Imagine if they still had political ribbons today.  I wonder what some of them would say!

Commemorative ribbons

Another ribbon and this quilt has jewelry on it

 There were also many different styles of signature quilts.  These are always fascinating - who were all these people.  What were they hopes and dreams?  Since many of them were used for fund raisers  - what did they do with the money they raised?   And did they have the same issues with getting the projects done and the same people doing the bulk of the work?

Signature quilt

I always get a laugh out of these type of signatures.  Remember when everyone was MISS or MRS?  I guess I'm dating myself there. OK - mentioning that I made a quilt using liquid embroidery dates me!

Mrs. Fraser!

Signatures on a crazy patch!

The other thing I love about quilts is TEENY TINY pieces.   And this next one didn't disappoint.

Teeny tiny pieces in this quilt

Made from silks or sateens

Information about the quilt

 You see why it is important to put a label on your quilt???   Not only is it fun to read about why the quilt was made, but where, by whom, etc.  There are so many quilts out there today - they all can't possibly end up in a museum.  But that label information should be important to your family? friends?

I would hate to see a quilt made by me with this label on it.

Not a lot of information about this quilt

There were a couple of quotes on the wall and I think you will get a kick out of this one.  Bottom line - quilting beats the gym any day!!!  Although I get fired up at the gym so I can quilt more!  Oh yes - pay attention to the DATE!

Quilting beats the gym!

Looking at some of the quilts and the dates of the quilts, you wonder how the heck they had time to make them. Some of these quilts are very labour intensive. I just hope that the quiltmakers of today can also take pride and joy in their quilts because most of us don't have a lot of time to sew.

Saying that is as true today as in pioneer times

In another exhibit at PAMA, I stumbled across this quilt commemorating Canada's Centennial.

Canadian Centennial quilt

Quilt information

 Yes - 2017 will be the Sequicentennial for Canada!  Can you say that word???   I know that Northcott has some things up their sleeve for Canada's big birthday and I had better get my butt in gear to get my part finished by this coming week.  You must stay tuned for that big event - it's going to be fun!


Now check out this last picture.  If that isn't a modern quilt, I'll eat the next quilt I make. But look at the date!

A modern quilt from 1941

Just keep this in mind as you move forward in your quilting adventures. NOTHING is new - NOTHING.  It's all in how you look at it.

Wow - that was quite a trip. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!!!!

Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!

PS - the show closed at the end of February just in case you are wondering.