Retreat Day Five -- The Long Way Home

ACK --- I feel like I'm missing out on something. The more I talk about the Bruce Trail, the more I hear stories of people who have hiked the trail or are currently hiking it. I need new friends -- ones that are hikers! And we need a support person to ferry us to and from sleeping accommodations each day! 

I may never walk the entire thing, but I will walk part of it. The trail goes close to where I live, so YES -- I have walked part of it already. But a short section. 

So this happened yesterday. I had gotten up early and was ready to sew, and I had a mission. I was a few seams away from finishing my bed runner, and I ran out of thread on the top, never mind the bobbin! I was sewing with the lid shut and knew that I was close to the end of the spool, but I didn't realize I was that close until BOOM - I ran out of thread. Luckily, I had a spare spool in the toolbox, and I was good to go. 

Ran out of top thread

Paula made a jelly roll rug while we were at the retreat. She made the rope on the second day and then decided to get the rug together yesterday. It looks fantastic, and it's pretty darn flat!

Paula's jelly roll quilt

Laura got one-third of her Postcards from Sweden quilt done. Yep -- I really think that thing could be randomly sewn together. The only thing, and I'm not sure if I've ever noticed this on pictures of the original one, but there are squares created by the values. Again -- that would be easy to achieve by randomly putting it together. 

Now I'm intrigued to see the difference between the original and a randomly positioned setting. I should dig out the squares I cut to make this quilt and get it together! Maybe the next retreat. 

Ronda was working on a Laura Heine collage quilt. She had some of the tracing done before the retreat but made excellent progress. It's a giant snowglobe, and there are bits around the edges to define it. 

Ronda's snow globe wall hanging

And here are three of the 24 kitchen towels that were made. They had a neat little handle that fits over the handle of the stove. Cute!  We got the link from Katheleen's sister on how to make them. I don't have the link handy, but I'll go back in my e-mails to find it. 

Three kitchen towels

And here's the gang of rowdy sewists just before we packed up to leave. It only took three tries to get a photo where I wasn't moving! 

The retreat group

And here it is!!! By 9 AM, the top was together in one piece!! I was so excited that I went for a walk, which I don't usually do on the last day. A shorter walk of almost 6 K. 

The completed bed runner

I binge-watched some baking shows and got some of the paper out when I got home. I've got about a quarter of the paper out. 

Some of the paper is removed

I still had some time before going home, so I had a hand project to work on. This is Lexi's favorite mat that usually resides in her kennel. However, someone chewed one corner, and I had ripped out the last couple of rows and rejoined the strips of fabric. Now it's back together again. The only thing that remains is to secure the final stitch with the sewing machine, so it doesn't unravel. 

Lexi's favorite mat

I made strips of fabric and folded them, so the cut edges were inside - pretty similar to what happens with the jelly roll rug, but no batting inside. Then I crocheted the rug. It's VERY HEAVY!! And if Murphy so much as sniffs at it -- well, she's going to be in the dog house if she touches it!

A corner of the crocheted mat

Speaking of the girls, they were happy to see me. But since DH had left for the airport couple of hours before I arrived home, I suspect they were more excited that someone would let them into the backyard. 

But they had to entertain me while I was ripping out the paper from my project. Murphy just looks like she's having a bad hair day!

Hey MOM --we are entertaining you!

And I swear, they are just crazy. I was lying on the couch to watch more of the baking show, and Lexi slept quietly in the big dog bed. Technically, we bought it for Murphy, and their quilt was hanging out of it, but Murphy wanted to sleep in the bed, so she ousted Lexi and climbed in herself, and Lexi had to sleep on the floor. 

Get out of my bed! This is MINE! Mom bought it for me!

Technically, it's big enough for both of them, but that would never do. 

So when I arrived home, I quickly emptied the car and took things upstairs or downstairs as needed. I didn't get everything unpacked, and I didn't touch any sewing last night or this morning. I didn't even go to spin class this morning. I was wiped from all the excitement of the weekend. I'm OK with that. 

I did clean out my purse, though, which had become a dumping ground for a lot of crap. Now it's all clean again. 

Cleaning out the purse

When we first started going to retreats, the number of sweets that came was obscene. After much "lecturing," the numbers decreased. Well, it's time to start nagging again. The number of sweets that came was obscene. I tried very hard to resist everything, although I did succumb to a few more pieces than I would eat if I were at home. But when you are only seven people and each person brings enough for 15 people, that's a lot of sweets. I didn't buy any sweets for the last meal, as there was already so much.

I'll be making a new rule. Bring enough for one meal -- one sweet per person (I know -- I'm mean!) and NO MORE. If people want more snacks, then bring your own! It's amazing how we use food as a comfort thing or a way to bring joy to others, or a feeling of sharing or comradery. But -- if you're not careful, those sweets quickly add up, and they are a killer to take off the waistline. I have no problem eating them, but MODERATION. 

I know they had a quick exchange of sweets when everyone was packing up. I brought NOTHING home. 

I now have a couple of pounds to get rid of because of it, and I walked every day!!! Anyway -- enough of that. 

It's Monday sewing, and I have a ton of stuff to do - mostly tidying up and regrouping, but I hope to get some sewing done as well. And I need to look at the inbox at some point and the long arm. 

I've only got five presentations this week - the last week for a while. One per day! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Crocheted rag rugs

 A couple of observations before I start. I was up early (as usual) and off to the gym. I wanted to go, then I didn't want to, and finally, I just said - get your butt in gear and go! There are very few people at the gym at 5 AM. I walked for 2 KM on the treadmill, and to keep myself entertained, I turned on the TV. Good grief! Who can watch this stuff? I had the local news channel on, which would be the equivalent of CNN?? 

Anyway, the type of station that has people talking (I couldn't hear them - no headphones), but also headlines flashing by, the weather, the traffic, and everything else, or so it seemed. There's so much information on this screen; it's overwhelming. You feel COMPELLED to watch it constantly because you might miss one of the headlines, even though they are in a loop. But what if they change? 

But when one reads the headlines, everything is depressing. Earthquakes, volcanoes, coupes, pandemics, murders, accidents -- I swear - if I watched that daily, I'd go mad. Who watches that stuff? I watched for less than 10 minutes, and I was done!

Then I popped off to the "famous" US news channel. Only because I'm reading a book called Hoax and well, I was curious. I've never watched that station. Without headphones, it wasn't too exciting, but what's with the five minutes of commercials. Oh yes -- I sure couldn't watch that either. 

Next time, I'll take my audiobook, or I'll watch HGTV. At least that's somewhat entertaining. Not realistic, but entertaining. 

Shoot -- I thought there was one other observation to share with you, but POOF - that is gone! 

Another SUPER day yesterday!  I swear that this past weekend was the PERFECT weekend. I got lots done - well, not lots, but enough to make me happy. 

We had UFO club in the morning, and I promised three things to people, and before I had lunch, the three things were done and sent, and the list of homework assignments was typed and sent. Who has kidnapped me?? 

I will say that it felt good to get those tasks off my back immediately. No need to feel guilty about not getting them done!!!

I was out geocaching in the afternoon. It was a puzzle, so my mission was to gather the information needed, and then I'll figure it out at home and go find it later today or tomorrow. What's amazing about geocaching is that you find things that you've driven past for years and never knew were there. I was looking for a plaque on a building. I knew the building but had no idea that the plaque was there. I love geocaching for that.

OH -- I got a little gift in the mail last week. I swear I took a picture of it but can only find the tag. It's adorable. I'll try to remember to take a picture today. Thank you, Cathie -- I LOVE it, and we're going to use it. There'll be no saving of items for that special day at our house! We use stuff and enjoy it!!! 

The tag for my new tea towel

After reviewing the list of UFOs for the last couple of years, I decided I need to get my butt in gear and get some of those done or STOP adding new ones each year! This one was on the list for 2019. It was a disappearing 4-patch made with 5" squares, so there was a LOT of sewing involved. And it's quite large at 69" by 80". 

The quilt top was sitting on the table of current projects waiting for backing and binding. I quickly surveyed the pile of backings and found something that was perfect. It's not only about the color but the quantity. So that backing got made. 

The backing for the UFO

And then, not to be deterred, I got the binding done, and this got moved to the "to be quilted" pile. And I've crossed it off the UFO list. 

The backing, binding, and the quilt top

For my UFO homework this coming month, I'm working on TWO different UFOs, one from the 2018 list and one from the 2019 list. The 2018 project is the LAST one on that list. I WANT that one to be done this year. There are six left on the 2019 list, and I CAN get those done if I really focus. 

I was going to quilt a customer quilt but decided to do one of the community projects instead. I'll get it trimmed this afternoon and then goes in the pile for my MIL to bind. 

Community projects quilt - DONE

This is the quilt I quilted on Saturday. YES -- the double wedding ring quilt is quilted!!!! I'm thrilled with the way it quilted out. Actually, considering that two different people sewed it and with all those curved seams, not all the blocks were square, but you wouldn't know it!! Lesson learned here -- you don't need to be super precise to have something turn out excellent. 

Customer quilt - DONE

Here's another lesson. I quilted that with an overall pattern. GASP!!!!  Yep, and I have no guilt over doing that either. The quilt pattern is strong enough to stand on its own. And choosing the correct thread color makes all the difference. The thread does NOT overpower the quilt. 

Edge-to-edge quilting pattern

So the next time you have a quilt, and you think it needs to be custom quilted, think - do you really need to custom quilt it? How much negative space is in the quilt? How much extra will it cost? Can you find someone to custom quilt it (or do it yourself)? What is the end game for the quilt? Going in a show? Being given to a kid? Does it have a special meaning? How special? 

I have decided that I will NO LONGER do custom quilting for anyone other than myself. For some reason, I don't enjoy custom quilting other people's quilts. I love doing it on my own, but it takes so long that it bogs the rest of my schedule down. I can't afford the time it takes to do custom quilting. 

So the other thing I did yesterday was to sort some scraps. I had several bags of flannel scraps that needed to be sorted. These were the leftovers from the 30 quilts that Diane made. My MIL had done somewhat of a sort, but the final process was to put them in containers by color. 

OH GOSH -- Murphy -- DO NOT put your ball in the basket of scraps. "But MOM - play ball with me!!!!!"

Murphy and the ball are everywhere!

So now I have seven (I think) baskets of flannel scraps sorted by color. There are still a few more scraps to come, but not many. I will chop these into lengths of about 6" and sew them together in rail-fence-like blocks. Then I'll sort the blocks into quilts, and someone can sew those blocks together. 

The purple flannel scraps

I did a bit more sorting in the storage room where all that community project stuff is stored. I have ONE large container of cotton scraps as well to deal with. It seems such a shame to throw those scraps away, as I bet I'll get about 10 more small flannel quilts from the scrap!!! 

Done right - they can make attractive quilts. 

OK -- so we have the weirdest dogs in the world. Last night, while eating on the deck, DH swatted a wasp away from his beer and knocked the glass over. The glass did not break, and thankfully the glass was almost empty, but it spilled on the deck and the table. Murphy ran to lick the deck, while Lexi decided to lick the underside of the table to get what seeped through the edge of the table. Sigh............

Lexi licking the underside of the table to get some beer

I finished the crocheted rag rug!!!  Now that took about 1 hour in total, and it sat on that shelf for a few years. It doesn't matter - it's done now!!!

Finished crocheted rag rug

I dug out the next hand project from that shelf. This is Lexi's rug that used to adorn her kennel in the house. Miss Murphy decided to chew the corner of it. Since it's crochet, it's relatively easy to fix. I had to undo two rounds of crochet - I'll rejoin the strips when they were chewed and then crochet it. Easy fix, and I might get it done tonight. 

Crocheted rag rug to fix

As soon as I brought it out, Lexi was right there. "That's MINE!!!!! Where has it been??? MOM!!!!" 

Lexi and her crocheted rag rug

And I have to confess that about 7:30 PM - I was chilled sitting on the deck, so I came in the house! Good grief!!! 

It's only 14 C this morning, and it's lovely!!!! But I think we are getting some heat this week. 

I wanted to share this photo with you - this is from our cross Canada walk. There are four of us, and we're taking the northern route so walking right up the west coast of Canada, from Victoria to Whitehouse, and then we take the northern highway across Canada, ending up in Labrador. We're getting closer (not close), but closer to the BC/Yukon border. The scenery is amazing!!!!

The scenery in Northern BC

On that note - it's Monday sewing, and I have to walk the girls first!!!

OH yes -- don't forget the Virtual Retreat this weekend coming. Saturday, August 21  (6 PM - 9 PM) and Sunday, August 22 (10 AM - 8 PM).  I'll be working on UFOs!!!!

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!

Play BALL!

 I told you yesterday was a great day! And today is going to be just as great!! The temperature has dropped significantly, and the humidity is gone. One little trick that doesn't make the heat so unbearable is that since we don't use the AC, we are more acclimatized to the high temperatures. That way, the backdoor is open for the girls to come and go, we don't suffer as we go inside and outside, and we can enjoy our backyard as if it's part of our house, which we do!

Having said that, if the temperature would stay like this all year - I'd be happy! I spent a fair amount of time in the backyard, which gives Murphy an invitation to play ball. That's all that dog ever wants to do - play ball! She's a dog gone mad! Don't worry -- she tries to play ball in the house as well!

She's a very SMART dog. She knows she is not allowed in the pond, but she has no issues dropping her ball into the pond and then asking me to get it for her. Sometimes, she gently dips her paws in so she can bob for the ball. However, if the ball gets pulled into the skimmer, she goes and sits right there. 

"MOM- my ball is in the skimmer - help me!" 

Or then she intentionally drops it in a small opening at the side of the deck. It's too narrow for her to get her nose in there.

 "MOM - my ball is stuck in the deck - help me!" 

Does she do this on purpose? Oh yes, she does!!! You see, I've told her that I'm not playing fetch if I have to pry the ball out of her mouth, so she's good at dropping it at my feet. I suppose she thinks I'm getting lazy, so I have to get out of my chair when she drops the ball in the pond or in the deck! What a dog!!!!

It's like she's a trained dog - like those cadaver dogs -- when they think they've found something, they are often trained to sit and wait! They don't go crazy and bark! Neither does she! She knows I'll spot her! What a big goof!!!! And she NEVER gives up!

Oh, before I get to the other stuff, here's one more picture from the Celebrity Quilts. This is another one that I did - a Tribute to Kalen Porter. 

A Tribute to Kalan Porter

Here's the information in the booklet: 

A Tribute to Kalan Porter

An 18-years-old college student from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Kalan Porter, won the Canadian Idol competition in September 2004 and immediately signed a recording contract with Sony/BMG Music Canada. Classically trained on violin, viola, piano, and guitar, his first single, "Awake in a Dream," is the biggest-selling single debut ever for a Canadian artist. His debut album, "219 Days", has reached amazing triple platinum status. He has toured right across the country to sold-out venues and was voted "Favorite Canadian Artist of the Year" at the 2005 Much Music Video Awards. 

Size: 65" by 73"

Let's say that I suffered a lot with this quilt. You see, there were two women -- two GROWN women who were friends with the person who founded The Quilt project. They were interested in Kalan Porter -that's an understatement - they were infatuated with the guy. Anyway, they gave me one of his concert T-shirts and were quite pushy in how I made the quilt. They enquired from time to time - I know that they wanted to buy the quilt. When I finally sent them a picture, I got back the MOST SCATHING e-mail I have ever received. The insults went on and on -- How could I call myself an artist? - I had ruined everything - blah, blah, blah. 

I was totally taken aback, and I was in shock. Should I tell Carol, the founder? These were her friends. I was NOT making the quilt for these two women (and I use that term generously!) I ended up not saying anything publicly until now! I'm over it, but it cut right to the bone when I read it. These were PROFESSIONAL women. I wish I had spoken out and embarrassed them for the unprofessional, infatuated people they were, but I did not. 

What helped the situation is that the quilt sold for $2,800 at the auction, which was the highest price paid for any of the Celebrity Quilts, and they did NOT buy it. They couldn't afford it. Just goes to show - there are all kinds of people in this world, and while I was totally stricken at that time, I got over it - years ago! 

But people --- unless you are PAYING for a commission, you have NO RIGHT to criticize someone else's work!!!

When I was sorting through some paper the other day, I also found this document. It was the WRITTEN conference catalog for Quilt Canada 2000. This was my first CQA conference, and it was a big deal to me. I went through that catalog like it was GOLD. Lots of good memories  - I haven't parted with this yet -- there is a bit of information I want to look at, and then it will go. 

CQA Conference Catalog from 2000

It was such a nice day that I decided to zip out for a walk - well, I do that every day regardless of the temperature. However, I went geocaching. The cache title was called Stuffed Pork - now, how could that relate to a walk in the woods? 

I get it that this looks gross, but there is a pig in there!! A toy that was made very dirty, so it blends in perfectly. It was all the empty shells that caught my eye. 

A geocache

It's hard to believe that this narrow little path .........

Leads to this major street in the city!!!! 

There are LOADS of little pockets of green space in this city. The trick is to get out there and look for them!!!

I got some quilting done, but this is all I can share with you at the moment. I'll share the quilt tomorrow. All I can say is that I emptied another spool of thread! 

Another empty spool of thread

And Miss Lexi has her moments - she's not a slacker in the entertainment department. She has her issues as well. It was such a nice evening, and I remembered that I have a bunch of handwork things that I shoved into a cupboard in Studio U., so I grabbed the first thing I saw - a crocheted rug that is ALMOST done. There are two balls of "string". I used up the first one and need to join the second one. I'll do that today, so I can finish the rug this evening. 

My crocheted rug

But I think someone was trying to tell me something. Like, "MOM - I love this, can I have it?"

Mmmm--- this is so soft!

"Mom, I REALLY love this - I NEED it." 

"Ok, Lexi, you can have it."

 I do have to repair the one that was in her kennel from before. And then she can have two!!! 

And as if that wasn't enough evidence that she wanted it, she got herself all twisted in the string when she and Murphy tried to play RIGHT BESIDE ME. There is an entire backyard to play in, but NO, we have to be as close to Mom as we can!!!!

I'm showing Mom that I REALLY NEED this

Well, it's UFO Club today. I have to say that it's exciting to NOT be rushing this morning to get my commitment done. Yeah!!!!  That's my new goal -- try to get things done BEFORE they are actually due! 

I also had a look at my Task Master list of UFOs from previous years. OH BOY -- it's time to get back on track with those. I am plugging away, so it's not like I'm not getting anything done. Turtle pace -- that's all that counts!!!

Even though it's going to be a nice day, I want to get some sewing done as well. Thank goodness, I'm not a gardener or have family commitments. I can literally do whatever I want all day, almost every day! Am I selfish? You bet - and I LOVE IT!!!!  There will be few regrets for me!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

So we have snow.............

We did get quite a lot of snow on Saturday and it's cold. However, I don't think we can even complain one little bit about it. We maybe got 15 cm of snow - Newfoundland got 75 cm. The temperature this morning is -14 C while Calgary and other parts of Western Canada were at -40 C last week with NO wind chill.

This is Canada. I love it! I was up at a ridiculous hour this morning to scrape the snow and ice off my car so I could get to the gym to do my miles. Totally insane. When you're on a mission, nothing is out of the question!

We had a great day at UFO yesterday. I had sent a message that if people didn't feel like venturing out with the roads, that was OK and they could send me a picture. I think I might still be missing one or two pictures so hopefully will get those all in later today and then I'll be posting. But the five of us that did show up had a great conversation. It's so exciting to see these UFOs resurrected and getting completed. I can't wait to see everything we all work on this year. I am almost done the Stitcher's Garden quilt - well - more on that another day.

I'm having fun with a new software package which I'll share with you next week. Nothing like trial by fire! I love learning software and wish I could get to the point where I know it inside and out. Focus - focus - focus!!!

I'm madly trying to listen to the rest of The Huntress by Kate Quinn before it's going to be automatically returned. So I tried sitting down and listening. Mistake. I fell asleep - even though I was trying to crochet!

Yep - I thought it would be a nice afternoon to listen to the audiobook and get started on my Swifter cloths.

Hmmm - do I even have the right crochet hook? I knew exactly where the crochet hooks are stored and it didn't take long to find the right one! I don't have a lot, however, I did have a 5 mm.

A small stash of crochet hooks

I don't even remember how I learned to crochet. My mother? My grandmother? It was probably one of them, but I've known how to crochet forever. I just don't do much of it. And so like a duck to water, I sat down and read the TWO LINES of instructions for the Swifter cloths. Oh - chain the stitches and then double crochet. That's easy.

I got this much done before I was nodding off. I'm liking the color I choose - it won't show the dust bunnies. The pattern called for doing the double crochet in the back loops or maybe the front loops. I chose not to do that. However, that would have created more ridges to collect dust. I might try that on the next one since I have a huge ball of crochet cotton. I'll be making more than one.

The start of my Swifter cloth

And I did take that quilt off the long arm. It's HUGE!! It just needs to be trimmed. I've got a lot of quilts that need to be trimmed.

Customer quilt

I ended up doing a private embroidery class yesterday. No problem. We did have an embroidery class scheduled for the afternoon, but with the dicey weather, I didn't want people venturing out. That left the afternoon free so someone took advantage.

There's always so much to learn. I happened upon this video about threads from Superior Threads. I know they have a ton of information on their website. If we could all spend some time every day learning - that would be awesome.

Speaking of learning, I found out some more information about needles. Terri (waving as I pass through on my Walk across Canada), informed me that vintage sewing machines require the flat part of the needle in different positions depending on the sewing machine. The flat part can be required on the left, the right or the back. Hmmm - now I'm wondering - what kind of needles does she use? Can she use modern needles in her machines? What about the eye? I know some machines (I think my Mom's old Singer - you had to thread the eye from left to right or could have been right to left). OK -- this has opened up a whole lot more questions.

If you're a vintage sewing machine user - I guess you have to know your stuff a wee bit more than users of modern sewing machines. Terri uses washi tape on the back of each machine to remind her of the needle position. Thankfully, the modern sewing machines are pretty consistent - flat to the back.

Would I be correct in saying that the groove along the needle should always be in line with the way the machine is threaded? In other words, the thread has to follow the groove and into the eye to work. I think all the needles are like that. But now I want to know more about the needles for Terri's vintage machines.

I'm curious.

On that note, I'm about to brave our "cold" temperatures to take the girls for their walk. I need miles!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

It seemed like a good idea at the time!

I didn't get as much done as I would have liked yesterday, but then who cares! I'm not in panic mode at this time of year. However, I did get a design off to the magazine and that took longer than originally planned as I kept adding options.

Went for an hour long massage so I'm pretty stiff this morning. But not too bad. Went to Fabricland to find more of that cording and well - I thought that what I have is a different size than what they had in the store. Did I take my sample with me? Of course not!!!!  They even looked in the book for me. I think I know what I need to buy, but not buying it yet. I'll go back today with the sample. Besides there are a few other things I'd like to check and I did see some gorgeous faux leathers that would be awesome to do some embroidery on!

I went for a long, long walk and I have another post office story for you. I arrived at the post office with five things that needed to be mailed. One was a letter and it had something other than paper in it. However, I put a regular stamp on it and it was gone. Two things already had prepaid postage and addresses on them. That was easy, but I did have to buy a padded envelope for one. It's about time after how many years that I return the old transponder for the 407 toll highway.  I had to buy another envelope to send some fabric to Terry in BC. And the last item, I had was a box - yes - at last sending those two quilts and a book to my Mom.

The box wasn't heavy - it had two small wall hangings in it, a small piece of dowel, and a small book. It cost over $20 to mail it. I almost had a heart attack. Are you serious????  I paid - this way, I get my Mom off my back. But wow - it just goes to show that I could NEVER deal with participating in a swap. I could NOT handle the price of shipping stuff.

I did feel sorry for the man who had been standing in line and was filling a form out on the side. When he was finished, he asked if the clerk could continue with him, but she made him go to the back of the LONG line. I didn't think that was fair.

It's like buying a car. NO - I haven't heard a thing about the car yet. I'm going to call today or look at the file on the internet. Yep - that's how you check today on your claim. I could call, but I can also just look at the file.

Not sure if I'm going to need to buy new, but I'm pretty sure. I've got a number in my head of what I'll get for my car and another number at how much additional I'll have to shell out to get a new set of wheels. For my entire life, I've had a Toyota car and it's always been red (oh - there was one car that was a blue), but you get the picture. They've always been manual as well. I think you see where this is going.

Well before the Matrix, I had an Echo which was a small car and very inexpensive to operate. I could get almost 600 KM to a tank of gas and I was happy. When I bought the Matrix, I can barely get 400 KM from a tank of gas. I was totally dismayed and annoyed. But the car was much heavier and consumed more gas. This time, I'm very aware of that and am going to forsake a larger (Rav 4) car for a smaller one (Corolla). That's assuming I'm buying a new car.

I also looked at the Prius C which is a hybrid car. I decided that the extra money it costs to buy that car (which is smaller than the Corolla) doesn't justify the gas savings I would get. Let's say that I fill my tank once a week at an average cost of $50. That's average of what I put in my Matrix right now. I could NEVER have a huge vehicle that took $100 to fill. Anyway - that works out to about $2,500 for the year in gas. If I were to save 1/3 of that by buying a Prius, I would save $800 a year. But it would take 4 or 5 years to recognize the savings in the price difference between the two and the car is much smaller so I wouldn't be able to shove rolls of batting in the back and sewing machine boxes.

I guess I'm trying to be conscientious of my carbon footprint and trying to reduce it as much as possible. OH - here's another thing about carbon footprints and then I'll get to the quilting stuff. Did you know that buying online actually INCREASES your carbon footprint rather than reducing it? Why? Things like rush or failed deliveries, porch pirates, returns, split shipments and traffic congestion (to get the package to you). All those factors are about equal to the "cost" of you going to the store and buying 24 items. So if you think buying online is green - it isn't. And besides - we need to get out of the house!!!!!  I felt so good after my walk yesterday that I didn't feel guilty about having a hot chocolate.

All that to tell you that I didn't get much done in the sewing department yesterday. But I did get more paperwork cleaned up and in the recycle bin.


And of course, this morning, I ran out of bobbin thread so that took 15 minutes to clean out the machine and rewind my five bobbins.

I now have five columns of Misty Pines completed. Column 1 an 2 are sewn together, as are 3 and 4.

Five of the eight columns are done!!!

 There are 5 blocks left to sew together. The last three columns should go together very quickly if I can get to the sewing machine.

The last three columns

What's exciting is that this is a UFO. I'm good if it gets to the "to be quilted" stage. I don't need to finish it, but it might get quilted this year. I'm going to try and reduce the pile or at the very least, not allow it to get bigger. If things go well, I should have ONE of my TWELVE UFOs done by the end of the week. Of course, there are technically 24 UFOs on that list (carry over from previous years) so I must get another one done this month. It's already pulled out and I don't think it will cause me too much grief. Wait until you see it!

Here's my ender/leader project. I'm almost at the stage where I need to do some more cutting. I'm making great progress and so nice to have everything prepped and ready to go.

Ender/leader project

Then I dug this out. Recognize that fabric? Yes - this is the same fabric as that big ball of string that I showed you yesterday. I must have been having fun cutting all those strips. This was years ago. Anyway - what is all that mess?

Another mess of strips

This is a crocheted basket. I know - it did seem like a good idea at the time. 

Crocheted basket

That's what the cording in the other pile was for. The cord was inserted into the fabric tubes and then used as crochet cotton. There's still yards of the cording. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it and what am I going to do with this big basket???  Hm - actually I have a thought and I might just do it. Bottom line - it would be great to have this mess cleaned up before the end of this year.

Clothesline inserted in fabric tubes

I found this project inside a laundry basket that is LOADED with small projects. Half completed projects so that'll help out with the 100 finished items for the year.

Now I'm off to make a list of things to look at when I'm at Fabricland today. Not adding anything new to the list. I'm trying to make samples for embroidery and to finish up some projects.

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!