Much progress and a scholarship!

 OMG!!!!!!! When I read the first line of Daphne's comment, I was going to say - I used to work at the Main Office of BMO in Old Montreal. The number of days I had lunch in the park across the street, right in front of Notre-Dame Basilica. But seriously? There is a plaque in the BMO Museum about the Pauline Vanier Scholarship! I did not know that, and I hope Daphne got a picture. That was ME!!!!!! I should tell you that story someday. I have photos at home -- it was a really big to-do. And it was a very generous scholarship! That scholarship was one of those major life-changing events for me!

What a blast from the past that is!!!! WOW --- I'll have to digest that one today!!!

And even more bizarre, I had the front page of the Montreal Gazette framed in my house for the longest time. It was the date of my birth, even though I was not born in Montreal. And the Vaniers were mentioned on that front page!!!!! Coincidence? 

Well, yesterday was quite the busy day, and I'm plowing through everything I brought with me. No one will be able to yell at me for overpacking for the retreat. Overpacking in the past was bags and bags of stuff that never got touched. Not so now! I've learned!

I have been forgetting to post this picture for the last couple of days, but when one of the ladies and I were out, we snapped this picture of a barn quilt block. Technically, it could be called a church quilt block since it's on a local church. There were several quilt blocks that I spotted, but didn't get pictures of. I love seeing them on the buildings, and I have several books at home about the barn quilt trails in Ontario. 

Barn quilt block on the local church

Two of us went for a walk in the morning, and to avoid bugs, we didn't go all the way to the other concession, since there is a creek near there, and it was pretty buggy. That meant we headed towards the highway, and on our way back to the house, we spotted the activity shown in the photo below. First, the road past the house is typically quiet. A few cars and trucks in the morning, but on Friday? It was like being on a super highway! Many farm vehicles passed us. 

Anyway, a farmer was out in the field, and well, you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl, so we stopped to watch. 

Planting - but what?

Hmmm—that is a pretty unique pattern in the field, and we were curious about the swath that didn't get planted. And then we spotted this massive piece of equipment coming down the road. It wasn't so much massive as it was wide, taking up the entire road. 

That's a big piece of equipment.

Thankfully, the tractor pulled into the driveway just in front of us. But see what I mean? It was huge. 

Wide load coming through.

Turns out this is a spud planter! Potatoes!!!!! So we stood there and watched it plant a couple of rows. Pretty fascinating, and it brought back memories of planting and hilling potatoes by hand!!!! I'm sure the farmer was laughing at us!

Then we were off to a quilt show in the afternoon. We only found out about it because we had been to Threads That Bind the day before, or was that two days ago? I'm not going to share photos because I want to share them with my Monday group, but if you have time today, you have to check it out. It's in Feversham, hosted by the Grey County Charmers Quilt Club. 

The theme of the quilt show

Now here is the interesting thing. This group has hosted a quilt show for each of the last four years. And each year, the theme has been very specific. Last year, it was all about log cabin quilts (I vaguely remember someone telling me about that show), and I wish I could have seen it. This year was quilting through the decades. Three ladies organize the show (I think it's three). Anyway, their theme idea is BRILLIANT. I thought the show was so amazing, and it was fun to see how the quilters interpreted the decade they chose. Sometimes it was the pattern, the fabric, the style, and some even modernized their quilts. 

It was truly fascinating, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We got stuck behind a combine (at this time of year?), and it took a bit longer to get home than planned. But what fun and what fun to see the quilts and discuss them with the group of five that went!!!

OK -- now let's check out what I've managed to get done in the last 24 hours. 

As I was digging through my project bag, I discovered another bag of HSTs that need to be sewn. Seriously?? This bag has been hanging around for quite some time because of the fabric it contains. These cutoffs were from a series of pineapple quilt blocks that I made eons ago. I made three quilts from this fabric collection, and they are all quilted, and I think one of them was donated at some point. 

And another bag of HSTs 

I pulled out my knitting and was prepared to get to work, only to discover that I didn't remember how to bind off and join the blocks. I searched online and found the technique—Three-needle bind-off—, but somehow that didn't seem right, since I only had one needle with live stitches, which wasn't going to work. I tried a few suggestions from the master knitters in the room, but nothing worked. 

HMMM - now what?

I had a small book that includes 54 different ways to cast on and cast off, but was the book in the knitting bag? Of course it was not, and it wasn't in my bookcase when I went through the books. It had better be in the cupboard where the knitting bag was, or I'll be buying a new one! Or maybe the library has it. I must check first when I get home. Since I couldn't work on that project, I took the bag to the car. Mind you, there were three other knitting projects in the bag that I could have worked on, but I really wanted to finish my afghan. Next time!!! Or that could be a great job for the gazebo. 

The knitting bag was moved to the car.

Speaking of knitting, I spotted this little knitting instruction book for making World Cup players here at the house!!!! The players on the front of the book are generic, but all the team jerseys' instructions were in the book. Also, a pattern for a soccer ball! The figures were attached to a knitted glove, so you can make them move! Super cute, but it's still on the table for someone else to pick up!

Instructions for knitting World Cup players

I managed to get my eight poinsettia blocks done and sewn together!!! 

Poinsettia blocks - DONE

And I got all the appliques cut for the sledding block. WAIT -- I'm still missing the trees and a dog. I'll get those done when I'm home. 

Applique shapes - DONE

Then it was on to another small handwork project that had been sitting at home for months. Actually, this was started years ago, and I'm almost done. I have this pile of paper pieced Christmas ornaments. I needed to sew three bells on three of the Santa ornaments. And I had to use a Pigma pen to draw the eyes and mouth. Seriously?? Why has that sat for so long? 

Santa face - DONE

So now the six Santa mittens are complete!!!

The six Santa ornaments - DONE

I had four snowman mittens, and they needed a face. The pattern said to use seed beads. Seriously?? How much work is that? So I used the Pigma pen and drew eyes and a mouth. Those smiles are very wide, but that's OK - those snowmen are happy!

Happy snowman ornaments - DONE

And the last one to finish is the birdhouse, where I'm supposed to sew a bird button on its roof. However, I did not bring a bird button with me. Good grief!! 

The last one to finish

There is a whole bag of ornaments that are completely done. Now that I have one small thing to do to complete the entire pile, what the heck am I going to do with them? I need to find a Christmas bizarre!!

The other completed ornaments.

This coming week will be busy, but I'm going to leave all these almost finished projects out, and I WILL get them done. I need to get them out of Studio B. They just add clutter and are so close to being finished!!!!

I managed to get five more raindrops removed from the Cherrywood Challenge. Two of them were small, and with the narrower stitching, they are a challenge, but they are gone!!!

Progress on applique removal

This morning, I pulled out some new things to work on. It's mostly the stuff that I panic-packed, and I'm glad I brought them. There is one quilt top and three bags of scraps in the retreat bag that I likely will not touch this time, but that's OK. I should be able to make progress on everything else! 

I had some sewing and cutting to do this morning, and decided to leave that one bag of HSTs on the cutting table. These units are sewn and pressed, but need to be trimmed. So every time I went into the cutting room, I trimmed four. 

Trimming HSTs

I trimmed quite a few, but didn't take a picture of the total pile. I have no idea where these came from - some project that doesn't ring a bell. Perhaps someone gave them to me. But look at them -- there is a seam in the light. And these are trimmed to 1 1/4". I need my head examined! This is the LAST pile that I will ever work on that is smaller than 1 1/2"  

There are two seams in these!!!

Then it was onto the next project. I go to a few trade shows and events a year and have never made myself a name tag. So I'm using the By Annie Call Me pattern. It's actually a place to put cards, phone, name tag, etc. I had the supplies sitting out for a long time, and it's on my Visual To-do list. This seemed like a good time to make it with Quilt Canada coming up next month. 

Some parts were cut, and others were not. So I got it all cut and quilted, and then cut the quilted section into the proper sizes.  

Supplies for the Call Me pattern 

By Annie.com Shepatterns use all sorts of material types, and there is a vinyl pocket so you can see the name badge through it. When I put the binding on that pocket, I had to sew it onto tissue paper to prevent the vinyl from sticking to the sewing machine bed. 

The binding on the vinyl pocket

And a word of caution -- when cutting, make sure your instructions are not under the fabric. I nipped the corner off the written instructions. 

Oops -- the corner got nicked off.

However, when I went to put the zipper in, I realized that I had an invisible zipper. Seriously??? Why? And I didn't bring any fold-over elastic with me. So I have only the bias binding to finish right after this, and then I have to put it away until I get home. Good grief!!!! That's what happens when you don't check the list of supplies before you pack up a project to bring to a retreat. But I had the right thread colors! 

But I have several other bag projects with me, and I'll work on them until I run out of some critical component, and then I'll finish them at home this coming week. I also have a couple of things to complete for the June wedding, and I hope to work on that today as well. There are three new things to make and one to fix. All are small, but we know that no project is completed in the allotted time frame!!!

Remember the person who was making HSTs with the paper? She had to rip the paper from all of them, but it's done, and the HSTs got turned into a table runner.

Removing paper from the HSTs

And on that happy note, it's time to get back to work. We are going out for breakfast this morning, but there is NOTHING else on the agenda. Thank goodness. We seem to have done a lot of traveling around to various things, and we've had a couple of visitors. Someone came to pick up a couple of books yesterday! 

And then tomorrow is the last day. But I still have time to work on projects, and I'm going to get as much done as I can. 

We all know that what happens at retreat, stays at retreat. I can't thank my friends enough for making each of us feel comfortable sharing almost everything! That says so much about who your friends are and who you spend time with. We are a small group (6), but boy, oh boy—we work well together. No drama and a high level of security—that makes me feel very happy!!!! And I'm thrilled to know I'm not alone in so many areas!!! Thanks, everyone!!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

If you have a stash....................

This is an eye-opener for all of us with a hobby where we have amassed HUGE quantities of stuff. We think it's OK to leave it to our families, friends, or guild members to clean up after we can no longer do it ourselves. But have you considered the time, effort, and money that is required to clean it up? 

Here's the thing -- my parents live on a farm. There are no dumpster services to call, there are no handy donation centers, and there is no weekly garbage or recycling service. The majority of the stuff will get left in an old house and buried when the house is razed to the ground, or it may get burned, although burning garbage is not as easy today as there are many rules. 

Now if you live in the city, you have access to services that make it easy for you to get rid of stuff. Even cleaning out a home, you would be able to load a car with recycling and take it to the recycling depot. You could bring in a dumpster, and within a day, you could empty the house and be done. You could call friends and have them carry it away. But it's a very RESOURCE-consuming effort to get rid of what we have collected. 

But let's say that you are a quilter, and you have passed on. You have a huge room filled with fabric, patterns, wool, and gosh knows what else you have, but the house has to be emptied. So who are you going to call? 

Here's an example. My Mom had a MASSIVE collection of ceramics. Not only did she have the molds that formed the shapes, but she had much greenware and already fired items. 

So you find a buyer who is persuaded to bring help. Four of them arrived bright and early (8 AM) with a large truck. I'm going to say that was a 26-foot truck. 

26-foot truck

Then with MANY boxes and four people doing most of the packing and moving, and TEN hours later, you leave with a truck filled. This is NOT the final picture, but the height of the boxes in the truck was half height as this stuff is heavy and delicate, and it was jammed to the end of the tailgate. And I mean JAMMED. 

Almost full

And the SAD news is that it honestly doesn't look like anything was removed from the house. I guess if you look at it this way, the area was SUPER JAMMED when they started, and now it's just jammed. 

So the moral of that story is if you have a LARGE collection of something and you think it's OK to leave it for someone else to clean up, you're saddling someone with a HUGE job. Perhaps it would be better to get a friend or family member NOW and start clearing out things that you will never use. Imagine if a NON-quilter came to clear out your stash. They would have no idea where to even start. And even if the person coming to clear out was a quilter, would they know what goes with what? The sheer enormity would be daunting! 

When I started to quilt and bought fabric willy-nilly, I gave no thought to that, but after seeing the results of hoarding and the challenge it is to clean up, I've been acutely aware of the situation and am doing my best to rectify the situation. I won't go into details, as I think you've all seen enough from previous visits that old papers, books, etc., need to be dealt with. It's a HUGE issue and wastes so much time on everyone's part. 

My brother is into motorcycles, and look at the amazing weathervane that he has over his shop! Yep -- that's a motorcycle, and I think it's specifically a Harley Davidson!

Motorcycle weathervane

How is this for a barn quilt? I spotted this on my Aunt Irene's barn. I love the small barn, and the barn block is perfect. 

Barn quilt on a barn

They have had llamas for years, and look at this guy. I think he's in desperate need of a haircut. He looks like a yak or a woolly mammoth. 

Llama in disguise

But you never know what you'll find on this "funny" farm. That's what my cousin calls it, and a lot of the animals belong to her. She has goats, guinea hens, and loads of cats, and dogs. It's actually a fun place to check out. 

One of the goats

We also spotted a moose on the drive. That's something I've never seen in this area before, although they have been in the area for a while now. 

A moose

And I had the pleasure of following this large piece of equipment for a while. Having him pull over is NOT an option, and the car that was coming towards him had to pull completely off the gravel road to let him pass. When the equipment turned into the farm, it was a track tractor and an air seeder, which comprises two big pieces of equipment. So not only was the entire unit wide, but the length was pretty substantial as well. If you're a car -- you take a back seat and drive slowly behind him. And that allowed me to get a picture! 

Stuck behind the farm equipment

Farming is so different from when I lived here. OK -- so I found a video. Of course, there's a video for everything out there.   In the video, you'll see how LONG this entire unit was, and there are several different setups, but if you watch for the RED tractor, you'll see the tracks on the tractor, NOT wheels. It's amazing to see how technology has changed the world as that entire unit would be driven by GPS, so not an ounce of seed and fertilizer would be wasted by seeding over something that had already been seeded. 

I know I'm a geek, and I'm OK with that. Totally fascinating to see how this works. 

Well, today, we're off to see an accountant to get some questions answered. And what I'm loving about the entire process is that everyone is on the same page. So now -- get the answers, have another discussion, and then attempt to figure out the road map to get from A to B. All very productive, and we'll see what happens. 

OH --- the ticks are pretty bad around here, and well, I'm not walking in any grass if I can avoid it. But even so, I found a stupid tick on my hand. He was still crawling around, trying to find a spot to burrow, but I made good work of it. He will NOT be searching for any spot to burrow!

Have a super day1!

Ciao!!!

We're in cow country

 

I MADE IT!!! It was easy to get that last 5 KM in and done before 9 AM! I've finished walking the Pacific Crest Trail -- at least virtually. 

I'll write more about it when I get home. 

Alas, the weekend has ended, and I'm on my way home this morning. It was a great weekend; I learned a lot, and I could pass along some of my knowledge, which is always great. As they say, you will retain 95% of what you teach! So I'm always looking for a teaching moment. 

And we've been so lucky as the weather has been beautiful. Look at that blue sky! Even more impressive is that there has been zero humidity - at least here. 

Perfect conditions for walking

I've been staying right next to this massive dairy farm. We walked over to one of the barns just to peek at the cows and perhaps to see some puppies? We didn't see the puppies, but we saw the cows. Lots and lots of cows1 

A massive dairy farm

Seeing those massive barns and how many other buildings were on that property was amazing. Apparently, in this part of the area, there used to be cheese factories on every corner or practically, but those days are gone. I'm sure there are still cheese places, but not nearly as many as there used to be. 

It's a strange area - well, not in a bad way, but so different from the countryside where I grew up. Here, many of the kids bought houses on a couple of acres that have been severed from the main farm, and they have "away" jobs - in other words, they don't farm, but they still live close to their families, and they live in the country. 

Back home, people would move away. Hence, there are many houses on the roads, and many kids stayed close to home but not at home. There's a real sense of community and family togetherness. 

Those properties would get sold, and new people move in or whatever. Back home, the kids just moved away. Houses are sparse as the farms are much larger. 

I should have taken this picture sooner as a tractor and sprayer was going down the road, and a man and his dog were out for a walk. It's definitely farm country. 

A man and his dog

But equally weird for me, there is a MAJOR highway (417) literally behind those big cow barns! 

So my hosts (Ian and Michelle) took me to Alexandria for dinner last night at a restaurant that used to be an old mill. And yes, I looked at my geocaching app and realized that there was one of those little adventures in Alexandria. So after dinner, they humored me, and we did one of them (an Adventure Lab, which is part of geocaching). Thankfully, it was easy, and there was not much walking/driving. That meant I got more points and only 210 points left to hit my target. I still have two weeks!

We saw this mural on our journey. 

A mural we saw on the Adventure Lab tour

The big question is -- did I get everything done in the quilting department? YES -- I have one quilt that I could have finished, but I'm so close, and I was getting brain-dead, so I can finish it at home. The big thing was NOT to finish any quilts but to gain knowledge, and I accomplished that. MY phone is bursting with pictures and all is good. 

According to the Air Canada app, my plane is on time, and hopefully, I'll be home in time to join the Monday Sewing Group, when it starts at 10 AM! How cool is that? If I don't tell them, they won't even know where I was this morning! 

And I finally have the rest of my stuff that I took to Quilt Canada, so I'll get the last of that unpacked when I get home. Not enough to warrant checked luggage -- only my carry-on, and the plane was NOT full - not by a long shot when I checked in last night, so it should be an easy flight. Let's pray that there are no delays. 

That's it for me. The girls will be super excited to see me and go for a walk this afternoon. 

On that note, I'm off to the airport. Can you believe I'm up early so I can blog for you all? Well, it's no earlier than I would normally be up, and I LOVE to write, so it all works!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Love notes in your UFO projects

 Another super sewing day with the Monday group! Gosh -- I would be so lost without that sewing group. They keep me grounded, and we catch up on all the gossip and what's happening in the world of guilds and quilting. Some guilds have embraced this technology and really flown, and others? Not so much! I currently don't belong to any guilds as I mentally needed a break from all the politics. Why or why do guilds need to become political? It's so sad how some of the quilters treat the others - for the sake of what?  I won't even go there as it's so sad and what's even worse is that so many people put up with it! They let the bullies get away with murder! 

Someone said that I could be a guest and hear the guest speakers if I wanted. Well - I could, but I'm having fun listening to Alex and Ricky on The Quilt Show. I paid $50 US for that privilege, and while I watch the shows, I also listen to the live events, and I'm having loads of fun. A nice change from the audiobooks. Definitely more entertaining, and I'm learning loads. 

I accomplished a lot on my Long Time Gone quilt. However, I've decided to make a couple of changes, and therefore, I'm keeping it under wraps until I can share it with the group in two weeks. So you have to wait until then to see what I did. It's NOT a huge thing, but something that has bugged me about the quilt from day one. So I'm making some changes, and I'm thrilled with it. It requires a wee bit of work to make that happen, and I still have four pineapple blocks to make, so there's still a LOT of work to do before that class. 

All the quilted quilts are now trimmed and almost ready for pickup today. That means that I'll be putting another one on the machine later today. I NEED to get some computer work done. And there's some embroidery that has to be done today. It's just like a merry-go-round at our house. 

One of the Monday ladies pulled out a new project to work on. And what she found is a quilter's DREAM. What was it? She had left a detailed note about what was done and what needed to be done on the project. 

A love note in a UFO project

Now, isn't that just the best? I mean - who wouldn't want to open up their UFO and find a note about what needs to be done?  I'm very impressed, and I wish I were better at this. My problem, I don't realize that it's going to get shelved. That just happens. 

You know that I was out in the car last week for a couple of long trips. Well, it did NOT go unnoticed in the house, and a certain someone was quite upset that she did not get to come. When I left the door open to bring in my stuff, she jumped into the car. And she would NOT leave. No amount of coaxing would get her out. Notice how she ran as far away from me as she could. 

MOM  - I NEED to go for a ride!

I thought I could trick her and take her for a drive to the end of the street and back. Oh - she's way too smart! She didn't fall for the trick, and I finally had to drag her out of the car. I felt bad! But I was NOT getting back in the car. And it's not like we used to go for car rides. 

Speaking of road trips, on one of my road trips, I was lucky enough to see visit a dairy barn. I've seen one of the automatic milker set-ups before, but it's fascinating to wash the cow teats get cleaned (with those little red and white brushes). Then the milk suckers (I have no idea what they are called - maybe nozzles) get attached automatically to the cow, and the cow gets to enjoy some treats while all this is happening!!

An automatic milking machine

And this is the inside of the computer thing that controls the milker. The best part of this? We were given the tour by a young girl! OK -- she's probably in her late teens, early 20s. But she's interested in the family farm and has learned the automation in the barn in a couple of weeks. I was truly impressed. 

Inside the guts of the automatic milker

I got to see brand new calves - this little girl was just a couple of days old. 

A newborn calf

And look at the face on this one!! 

The masked cow

OK - so that face reminds me of a new movie coming. Cruella - the adult version. Check out this movie trailer and think about the cow's face!!!  I can't wait to see the movie - that means we have to get Disney + or Premium or whatever it's called just to watch the movie. Oh, and DH has a couple of movies he wants to watch as well. 

Check out the sponsors at the bottom of the webpage. YES - that is JOANN (as in Joann's fabrics) and SINGER as in the sewing machines. The costumes in the movies are stunning, and I believe that they were stitched on Singer machines? I'm not sure. But oh my - they are stunning. 

Here's a couple of shots from the forest. No one can ever accuse me of NOT stopping to smell the flowers. Keep in mind, these plants are only about 6 inches high at the most, so unless I actually laid on the ground, it would be a tad difficult to actually smell them. I think Miss Lexi is getting tired of stopping to allow me to take pictures. That silly girl. 

Almost ready to open

And here are more of those flowers in a little bunch. 

More flowers

I've been watching the trilliums. They are in bloom. In some areas, the blooms are completely open. I did take pictures of those, which you get to see another day. But spring is here!! Well, the weather is pretty rainy these days, but that's good - perfect weather to stay inside and sew. And I need that - Studio B has exploded. There is stuff everywhere, and I do need to get it under control. 

The Virtual Quilt Canada is coming next month!! Are you signed up?? I need to get myself organized as I've decided to sign up for the entire thing - I think. I definitely want to do the virtual walk-through of the quilts, lectures, a vendor mall, and PRIZES. The prizes are AMAZING, but you have to be signed up to win!!!  Check it out and remember - you don't have to be a member to see the show, you don't have to travel to see the show, and it's going to be great to get all the insight into some great work.  SIGN-UP!!!!  Hey -- you can even visit in your jammies with a glass of wine in your hand. Now - it just doesn't get better than that. 

WAIT -- it does get better. Here's the thing -- why not sign up for a lecture with a friend (s). Then schedule a Zoom meeting for the evening, and then you can compare notes and chat about the quilts. I mean - that's what it's all about - making modifications so you can still enjoy the show - just in a different way. 

Instead of lamenting about what we can't do, let's celebrate what we CAN DO. And if we're creative, we can actually see and do almost everything we could do before. Change is going to be a constant in our lives, and we need to learn to adapt. I have to admit that I'm so used to the lockdown that I don't even care any longer. We live a pretty quiet life, so we're doing pretty good - OH, DH does not like the fact that golf is shut down. 

I can't even wrap my head around decluttering at this point, but here's the task for today. Dig out ONE UFO and get it organized like we saw above. Even if you don't work on it - get it out and get it organized. 

Anyway --- check out the links above - lots of cool stuff coming. 

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!!!

And the frog goes RIBBIT......

This organizing thing isn't such a bad thing. However, I must learn to TRUST myself. Someone had borrowed a ruler from me a while back. Anyway, when the ruler came back, it sat in my office for months.  I remember looking at it every time I walked in and I thought,  "I MUST put that ruler away".  Well a couple of weeks ago, I was tidying up and the ruler disappeared.

I'm gathering things for a cutting session, and needed that rule which was nowhere to be found. I searched through everything in the office, I searched through the piles to be sorted in the studio - NO RULER.  Drat - I'm not going out to buy another one of these rulers - it's a specialty ruler.

Then I thought to myself, perhaps I should check where the rulers are stored in the event that I put it away and BINGO!  There was the ruler.   There are several morals to this story:

• Don't lend your tools
• Put things away the moment you are done with them
• Before you look like mad through everything, check the "home" for the tools in the event that they are there!

I'm in the process of gathering the fabrics for this project which I will share with you.  It's going to be a class and I'm pretty excited about it. It might even be a Block of the Month which will be even more exciting.  and for those in the BOM classes, I just found the motherlode!  I'll be checking pattern availability and we can go from there. 

Oh my - so many of you say that you get tired reading my blog!  Sorry - it's just that there are heaps and bounds of energy stored up in my body and I have to let it out somehow or I'll explode!  I mentioned that my upper back was tired the other day.  I hadn't really thought why, but now I know!  I started to lift weights at the gym and was getting into some heavier (for me) weights on Friday!  There is usually a two day delay on the tiredness and that must have been it.  

Well, I had to do something in the basement last night.  We try not to turn on the A/C.  I can't stand how inefficient the system is.  Despite closing the vents and all that, the basement is like a refridgerator when we turn the A/C on.  Last evening, the temperature was just right!  And it cooled off during the night.  I guess I just tolerate the heat well. 

I quilted ANOTHER wall hanging.  I know, this looks like I'm cheating by counting the same one twice, but there are in fact TWO of them. 

Customer quilt - DONE

When I was in the US a couple of months ago, I saw this fabric and HAD to buy it.  I have a very specific project in mind for this of which I found another piece of the puzzle yesterday.  It's almost time to start sewing that one.

Cute farm fabric

 Then the opportunity came along yesterday to get a coordinating panel for the book.  Never knew that existed and so I made the book last night as well.

Farm Animal book

The frog goes RIPPIT

 Then onto the sorting and prep work.  I have to get better at what I do as I cart a whole pile of bags to work, then I cart them all home again and never do anything with the stuff.  Last night, I really sorted them - the stuff I'm taking today HAS to be done or left at work.

But I was prepping a bit more for the retreat as well.  Gosh - this is so NOT like me.  Now I have FIVE bags of projects prepped and ready for the retreat.  Five day retreat - five bags worth of stuff to do!  Who am I kidding!  I'll be lucky if I get through ONE bag of projects.

Almost ready for the retreat

If you counted, there are in fact EIGHT bags here.  One is strictly hand work in the event that I want to sit outside and enjoy the day. Two are tools - I know that seems excessive, but there is an iron, my applique box and a few other things.  And notice that the bag, second from the right is practically empty.  That is the URGENT bag and I have a couple more projects to prep and it will be full and then I can relax until the retreat!  As if!  Friday is a holiday and I can't wait! Actually, I have a three day weekend with ZERO commitments. I think I've died and gone to quilting heaven!!

And I get excited about going to work everyday. Either that or I just like having an excuse to stop at Tim's for a tea!  

On that note, I had better get going. 

Have an awesome day!

Ciao!!!

Down on the farm..............................

When one is on the farm, one must look at the stuff on the farm.   The more I look at it - the more I realize that the apple did NOT fall far from the tree in my case. Our ENTIRE family is crafty and it appears that we must constantly be creating or we will die.  So it is in the genes.

I went out to have a look at Dad's shop yesterday and OH BOY - the tools are different, but the set up is so similar to the quilting studio.  I had to laugh. So bear with me while I post this - it is pretty funny and so describes me.

This is my Dad's cutting table - OK - so it is a welding table.   He is in the process of creating something which is that big square piece hanging out in front. And when my brother was here - he made something for him so he just temporarily welded that pipe in the right most corner as a jig.  I so get this set up.  And the table is on wheels.   Then he has a bunch of clamps which used to be in a pail.  Makes more sense to have them on the welding table - so he added a bar to the table to hang the clamps on.  You can see them at the front of the table underneath - by the blue leg on the left. 

He just recently got a plasma cutter which I will go into more another day because I am very INTRIGUED by the darn thing.  Anyway now he is rigging up a mechanism that he can use to cut straight lines, circles and who know what else.  The movement for the cutter is EXACTLY same principle as the long arm quilting machine.

This is part of the mechanism.  That round tube thing is the cutting tip.  But he had to get the cutter working first and made up the missing parts.  Yep - MADE THEM UP.   Let's not waste timing ordering the parts - let's just make them. 

The tools so NEATLY laid out in the tool box.  OK - so mine aren't quite that neat

The tool box - also on wheels.

The lathe - this thing is 17 feet long.  Yep - my quilting machine is 14 feet!!!!!    It was next to this machine that my Dad weathered out the tornado from several years ago.  He lay right beside it and wasn't hurt, but the building around him was completely sucked away.  Pretty wild!!!!!

A work table - with WHEELS.   

A little tester that he made.  Yep - if the tool is too expensive to buy - let's make one.  It amazes me always that he can create something from nothing.  

And this is his version of a label!!!!   Just use letter punches and punch into the metal.  I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Have to say that I am pretty proud of my parents - they taught us so much about life. Thanks Mom and Dad,


So I was off to visit a friend of mine and I took the back roads (well I call them back roads, but they are not really).    To say that there is water in Saskatchewan is an understatement.

This is one of the roads I went over . While the road was fine - you can see that earlier in the year - it was NOT.  

Another section of the road. 

That water is not far off the height of the road - a HUGE problem in this area. And this is NOT even close to the area that was flooded. 

And I saw this scenario several times - I don't think I will be venturing down this road.  I bet it is pretty soft with the water at the exact height of the road surface. 

My friend - the coyote!!!    That field is a field from last year that had not be cultivated or planted this year. 

More water flooded a farm yard 

Then I arrived at my friend Susan's farm. Well their family farm. I first met Susan several years ago through a series of bizarre events. My parents and I were driving down the highway and saw this pink thing off in the distance. As we got closer, we realized it was a quilt block on the side of a granary.  A BARN QUILT!!!!!!!

Susan's barn quilt - because this are is so FLAT - we could see that sign for miles. 

Here is the link to the day that I discovered the barn quilts.


Barn quilt blog


She has another one as well - this is the second one. I just love them.

Second barn quilt

 Well this year - they got a massive shed built on the property.  I had seen a picture of it and I was intrigued by the size. So I had to see it. The building is 60 by 120 feet.

This door is 57 feet wide, 20 feet high.  HUGE!!!!!    And it opens in less than a minute.   AMAZING!!!!!   I told you it doesn't take much to awe me. 

Inside the shed is HUGE, but a good place to put all the equipment over the winter. 

The door is fully open. 

And there is even a door at the other end as well. A DRIVE THRU shed - perfect. No backing up required!!!!!!!

And her sewing bird house. 

Anyway - I had a great visit with Susan and her husband.  I got my package which I will share with you tomorrow.    I got to see the carousel that wasn't allowed as carry on luggage from Toronto to Saskatchewan, but was allowed as carry on from Europe to Toronto.  Go figure.  Anyway - I rescued the carousel for them a couple of months ago.

Myself and Susan

I love to check out other quilter's dens. And we all have the same stuff - the UFOS, the scraps, the tools.  I have to laugh because Susan has gold fish - shoot - I should have taken a picture because her fish are BIG.  She sews in the basement - yep - so do I.  Anyway - we had a great visit and then back to the farm.


Thanks Susan and Cam - had a great time.


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


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