The end of things

Oh my -- I'm as busy as ever and wasn't August supposed to be a quiet month? Well - it will be, starting tomorrow! HA - no laughing!! It seems that everything I'm working on, I still can't share with you! How crazy is that?

I finished off the second quilt for Quilts of Valour yesterday. The binding got put on by machine, and the sleeve got hand stitched in place. In case you're wondering, that particular quilt hanger is a rod with clips in case the quilt doesn't have a sleeve. This quilt needed a sleeve so the clips are just hanging there.

The sleeve is on the Quilts of Valour quilt

This is a quilt that I designed for QoV and will be used as a fund-raiser for them. They are in the process of putting my quilt and three other designer's quilts in their newsletter, which will go out shortly. Then you can see the quilt that I designed. I had to make it twice - once with the Oh Canada fabrics by Northcott and once in a blender collection. I chose the Dublin collection, which I LOVE. Anyway - enough about that - you'll see it shortly in their newsletter.

We had Monday sewing, and I'm finding that it's easier to do handwork while we chatting and I have a fair bit of stuff sitting in the handwork basket that needs to be done. After the other quilt was finished, I grabbed this challenge quilt that I made earlier this summer and hand-stitched the facing to it. It still needs some sort of hanging device on the back.

The facing is hand-stitched in place

This is part of a challenge for the Canadian Quilter's Association - the Try A Triad Challenge. They will be putting the quilts online shortly, and then you can vote on them. It's for that reason that you don't get to see the front of the piece.

Now that I have a plan for Mondays, I should be able to whip through that pile of handwork. There's not much, but a quilt that needs to have the binding hand-stitched, two sleeves, two labels, and a bit more ripping. A couple more Mondays, and that pile will be gone!

I had a pleasant surprise when I checked my progress on the Route 66 Virtual Challenge. They've added percentages along the route! I'm 67% of the way, and now I know where the next significant milestone is - 80%. I should be out of New Mexico in the next five days. I just keep marching along!

The remainder of the route for Route 66

Is anyone else doing any of these Virtual Challenges?? Some challenges are much shorter than this one. Of course - we have to go BIG.

I forgot to mention that yesterday was the first day of my week to blog on QUILTsocial. So now you have TWO days to catch up on.

I'm working with the Husqvarna Viking Designer Brilliance 80 this week. If you're in the market for an embroidery machine, this is a great machine. Check out the blog posts to see why. Even if you're not in the market for a new sewing machine, I offer a lot of tips and inspiration to make some great gifts. During the week, I also compiled a Christmas Wish List, so you might find an item or two to add to your Christmas Wish List.

QUILTsocial - Monday post

QUILTsocial - Tuesday post


On that note, today is short and sweet. I'm off on a road trip for the day. Tomorrow we leave for the retreat (I know - don't ask), and I still have a few things to prep as well as a couple of e-mails that have to be dealt with today!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Scrap Happy

I'm late this morning! My routine is all tossed around. For some reason, I was wide awake in the middle of the night. Well, one can only lie in bed for so long, and then I had to get up and do something. I accomplished a LOT. But now that I've slept in, I don't have time to show you what happens in the middle of the night at my house.

I'm going to have to change up my routine a bit. I like routine, but even I'm getting bored with my routine. GASP!!  Did I say that? The same walk in the morning and the afternoon. The same thing every day - listen to an audiobook, read a real book, quilt, and sew. And sweep the floor after Murphy has brought a butt full of mulch into the house.

Yes - I've thrown some video watching in there, as well as decluttering. But I need to find a new task today. Maybe. Thank god for hobbies - I'd be dead without the sewing.

I got one of the quilts done for Quilts of Valour. I managed to get that trimmed in the wee hours this morning so one complete quilt is done (I don't have to put the binding on the ones they give me) for this month and four more to complete.

Quilts of Valour quilt - DONE

Then I went to work on one of my own projects. The facing for the Dream Big panel.

The facing is on the Dream Big panel

There are oodles of ways to put the facings on a project. I want it to be neat and even on all sides and especially at the corners. So I did this to my facing.

The mitered corner on the facing

I mitered the corners on the facing. I did not have enough of the backing fabric to make the facings so I found something similar. I had to join the backing and I used a piece of the facing fabric (this happened during the quilting process). The facing covered up that issue. But there was another issue with this quilt. When the facing is done, I'll show you.

I edge-stitched the facing as well to help it lie as flat as possible. I should have taken a picture - OK more pictures of this quilt tomorrow. The good news is that the facing is almost completely hand-stitched in place. I did that while I watched a couple of episodes of The Quilt Show. Almost finished Season Two.

The sleeve is cut, but not made. My goal is to get this quilt completely done this week. It's on The Task Master list. Even though I'm motivated without the list, I like checking things off the list and it reminds me of what needs to be done during the week.

Then it was back to sorting scraps. Perhaps the sorting thing is what's boring me to death. It doesn't matter, I made good progress yesterday. This is the pile that I'm working on today. It's a good thing to do while on the phone. It's mindless - just sort by color. Who can I call today? I finished my audiobook yesterday. I need a break from audiobooks!

The pile of scraps to deal with today

And look - this is what the "to sort" pile is looking like. Plus what's on the table of course.

Scraps still to sort

I did find two small bags to add to this mix. I'm just happy that it's being addressed. I think that box is mostly poly/blends and I'm not going to keep any of it. So this situation is looking very good indeed.

This is what's still hiding under the stairs to be sorted for pet mats. There's a bit more in another spot as well. This looks a mess - I must go in and right all those boxes. Since when did I become Miss Suzy Homemaker? Maybe I could have a pet mat sewing day?

Boxes of scraps to deal with for pet mats

It's just that as the piles start to reduce, I like to group them tighter together so I can really see the open space. Yep - my brain works in mysterious ways!!!

As promised, I came across two fabrics which are a blast from the past. Both of these came from my days as a student at Sheridan College. I was in the textile program. I wasn't able to finish the program at the time, but I would sure love to go back. It's now a four-year university program and it's NOT cheap. It might be a while before I get a chance to go back.

For the life of me, while I was awake last night, I was trying to think of the word for when you take a class, but you're not registered (to get the credits). I knew it started with the letter A. It was on the tip of my tongue. All I could think of was monitor, but the word is AUDIT. It just came to me!!!

Anyway, this fabric was designed (yes - we had to design and make our own fabrics for class) by Andrew. I don't remember what he was making with this fabric, but he was born in 1977 (yikes!) and that's why 1977 is highlighted in brown. It has a pattern. I have no idea why I NEEDED a piece of his fabric, but I got some! It's now in the red scrap bag.

Andrews' fabric

We often used bedsheets to practice the screen printing on and I found this sheet in one of the bags of scraps. We were "hired" by the theatre department to make items for a live show. I was assigned to make fish. They had to be HUGE and bold so they could be seen from a distance. I don't remember what my fish fabric was going to be used for, but this is one of my color tests. 

My fish fabric

Yep - I drew and designed those fish and bubbles. It occupies one corner of the sheet. What to do with it? I think I'm going to preserve this corner with the full repeat and use if for a quilt backing. Not sure which quilt yet, but I'll put it with the backings and see what happens. I hate to throw it out or cut it up - it was a fun thing to make. I may even have more of it somewhere else, but I don't think so. I can't even remember what the final colorways were. See - that's why we need to document EVERYTHING. But don't tell my mom that!

I found this gorgeous piece of yarn-dyed cotton. I don't know what to do with it, but it's gorgeous. I'm keeping it!!! Maybe there's enough to make a blouse? Like I'm sewing a lot of garments these days. I should try that - just for something different to do.

Gorgeous yarn-dyed fabric

I spent a while on the phone talking to my parents. Everyone seems to be doing fine and they are all self-isolating there although restrictions are starting to be relaxed, just like they are here. We are just over two weeks to the sewing retreat and well... I don't know. Will they relax the rules enough? I'll go mad if I miss another one.  I know - first world COVID problem. I'll just keep my fingers crossed. And pray a lot.

Oh - I do have blog posts to write - that'll be different. I'll do that today.

On that note, I'm out of here. The girls are outside playing in the snow. Seriously?? Did Mother Nature look at the date? This is MAY 11 and I'm still bundling up to walk the dogs. In the snow! It's melting as it hits the ground, but still.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!!