Cutting it close!

You do not want to see my house at the moment. A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks, and there hasn't really been time to keep things under control. I swear as the day went on yesterday that it got worse!

Here's that heap of quilts that need to be bound. I was hoping to tackle that this morning, but that's not going to happen. 

Quilts to be bound

The cutting table is buried, and I need to cut stuff this morning. I doubt there'll be time to deal with it, so all that will get dumped on the floor. 

There's a cutting table under there?

And the floor, which is usually pretty tidy, looks a mess. 

The floor is filled with stuff

And by the end of the day, it looked worse!

And now it's worse!

I could play "what's different between those two pictures!" Boxes and bags were partially unpacked, and the stuff was unceremoniously dumped on the floor. 

I am comforted in knowing that this is temporary. I remember when this was the norm. Actually, the above looks way better than the norm used to be! So I've made loads of progress. Unfortunately, this is my writing week, and everything else will be set aside until that is done!! And I'm happy to report that one part is finished. 

Oh my gosh --- we had a great class with Green Tea and Sweet Beans, and I'm going to be in the remedial class that starts in January! I'll be working on that quilt, and I'm going to use the remedial class to get my Long Time Gone, Boho Heart, and Wanderer's Wife quilted and bound, in addition to finishing off Green Tea. Watch for those details later this week. 

Look at those girls. They are so unlike each other it makes me smile every time I see them. Lexi has almost given up sleeping anywhere else but on the couch. It's covered in dog hair, and who will vacuum that up? It's certainly not going to be DH, so the two of them just wallow in it! And she does NOT like to be disturbed! 

Lexi, from her new perch

Meanwhile, Murphy is definitely more active and likes to watch TV. But her version of TV is interactive. She wants to jump in and play with whoever is on the screen and has taken to barking at the dogs she sees. NO --- Murphy. Mom said there is NO barking in the house. 

Murphy actively watches TV

But she is so enthusiastic that she barks when she sees other dogs. She's just a vocal girl and can't help herself!

Oh yes --- we had an excellent embroidery club. There were so many pictures that we barely got through it all. I suspect there isn't room in the embroidery club for any new members. But what I love about the embroidery club is the talent in that group. I think we have all the brands of sewing machines covered, from the small to the top of the line in several brands, and everyone is doing something different. I LOVE IT, and it's one of the best hours of the month! I have learned so much from the others. 

Here's what I have been working on. I now have twelve of the fifteen hoopings completed for the quilt backing for my 150 Canadian Women. It shouldn't take long to finish the last three, but I doubt it will happen this week.  

The quilt backing for the 150 Canadian Women quilt

And when I was at Thimble Quilts and Sewing Company the other day, I took the Designer Embellishment Attachment with me to finish up an embroidery. 

The Designer Embellishment attachment

And here's what happened. My partially completed design was in the hoop, and I sat down and realized that I had NOT brought the embroidery file with me. NO!! Hey -- no worries. This came from the mySewnet embroidery library, and I turned on the Designer EPIC 2 and accessed the library through the Wi-Fi and got my file! I was back in business. You can't beat that! 

Anyway, I was adding some ribbon, and I guessed how much I needed. I figured I would have enough, so I hit START to do the second half of the hair. OH BOY --- I don't think there's enough ribbon. 

I'm going to run out of ribbon

So I improvised and hand-stitched some more ribbon to the end of the ribbon on the roll. It was not the most convenient thing to do, but it worked. And can you believe -- my hand-stitched join was 1/2" AFTER the stitching stopped! So I snipped off the end, and no one knows what happened! I couldn't have let that short tail loose on its own; I needed the extra length to anchor the ribbon as it stitched. Phew -- lady luck was on my side!

Just made it before the join

And here it is -- my witch!!! I love it! The face is machine embroidery, the hat is machine embroidery applique, and the hair and the flowers on her hat are ribbon embroidery. 

The witch from mySewnet embroidery library

So many cool things happening in the world of machine embroidery! 

So if what I said about mySewnet went right over your head, be sure to sign up for the sessions at Stitch by Stitch that start TONIGHT. Wi-Fi connectivity is here to stay in the sewing industry!!! And thank goodness for that. 

I'm running a four-part ZOOM session on mySewnet (hosted by Stitch by Sitch in Kingston), which includes the software, Wi-FI connectivity in the embroidery/sewing world, and explaining what it's all about, as it can be very confusing. I had to have it explained to me at least three times before I totally grasped the concept. The first session is TONIGHT. Even if you are not in the market for embroidery or (GASP) own a different brand of machine, this is going to be loads of fun to discover how the industry has changed! 

And here's where I'll be tomorrow. 

November 15, I'll be at Pins & Needles in Listowel, where I'll be hosting two seminars on quilting, so if you live close by, be sure to get signed up for that!

I'll be posting the list of clubs I will host in 2023. You can refer to this blog post if you can't remember what they are. Scroll down to the end --- in reality, there are only four new ones --- EQ8, Digital Cutters, the Jen Kingwell remedial class, and the Many Blocks project. Others, like the UFO Club, embroidery club, and Out of the Box, will continue, and at this point, there are NO or minimal spots open for 2023. You'll get the info by the end of THIS week. 

And if you haven't signed up yet, I'm teaching Goast in PJs on FRIDAY. This is also on Zoom and hosted by The Hobby Horse. It's a two-part Zoom class, so get yourself organized for that. 

In a million years, you will NEVER guess where I'll be later this afternoon. You are going to laugh yourself silly when I share some photos tomorrow! 

On that note, I'm out of here. I'm off to spin class to let my mind whirl away and solve the logistics of the coming week as I spin my heart out!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!

You too can write a book!

 

Two more presentations under my belt for this week, and that leaves two for today. I'll stop talking about the internet connection since everything seems to be good! Yeah! 

I listened to a webinar last night from a library (Wheaton Public Library)somewhere in the US. How cool is that? Normally, I wouldn't have been able to attend this author event, but because of the wonderful world of COVID, I could. Boy - when things go back to normal, whatever that is, we are going to miss a whole lot of these kinds of events. The author was Mary Kubica. The book that I read of hers was The Other Mrs. It's an excellent book, and it was so much fun to "meet" her online. Her genre is psychological thriller, and she doesn't disappoint. 

Webinar - meet the author with Mary Kubica

It almost made me want to start writing a book as I listened to her. I've got to come up with a plot first! I know what I like, and well - when I'm out walking the neighborhood, I guess I'd better come up with a plot. 

However, I'm going to ask YOU to write a book for me. We did a group exchange a while back, and I asked the group members to write a book for me! OK - so you just have to make a quilt block that looks like a book and give the book a title. Something that relates to me! Of course, everything is always about me! 

Here are the books that I received. The camera angle must have been off since the books look distorted, but they are not. 

The book block

I supplied the paper pieced pattern, and people chose the colors to reflect something about me or a color that I like. And then the even better part is that they gave the books a name. So this first one was titled "Accurate Quarter Inch Seams & Other Stores from the Cutting Mat by ............ (they did write their names on the blocks - I just blanked them out). 

Accurate Quarter Inch Seams & Other Stories from the Cutting Mat by.......

Isn't that fun???  I just love the concept, and I want to make a larger quilt. I only have eight blocks, and I'd love to have more. 

Here are the rest of the books. 

Night at the Movies by ..........

Memorable in Orange by Elaine Theriault

 I might remake that cover - gosh - a very dense design and so not stabilized enough. Look at all the wrinkles!

OH MY GOD!!!!

All of the books are AMAZING, but this one truly stands out. Look at the detail. Can you guess the title? How Pack for Retreat by.................  It's hilarious!!!

How to Pack for Retreat

And look - there's me in the car on my cell phone!!! Oh my!!!

Detail of the quilt block

The beauty is that a piece of fabric works for the front as well. 

For the love of quilting by .............

Oh - this one is sideways. 

A cup of tea and friends make the perfect blend by .............

Shoot - there's supposed to be two more. I'd better go back and check the box. Or when I sent them to myself, I forgot two of them. Found them. I was so quick to select them on my phone that they didn't actually get selected. 

Sewist Extraordinaire - Tails from Studio B by ..............

Row by Row - A Quilt Posse Road Trip by ...................

Seriously??? Aren't they just the best? They were so creative in the chosen fabrics and the titles. So if you are interested, I can e-mail you the pattern, or I'm going to find a way to put it on the blog so you can just pull it off. But then you need to send it to me so I can send you my mailing address. 

I'm doing a trunk show on group quilts in February, and it would be awesome to get the blocks into a quilt by then. 

Speaking of packing for retreat, after reading Katheleen's book on how to do it (or more likely Tish's advice on ONE basket, I packed this morning for the retreat. This is it. One basket - I have a few more things to add once I find the appropriate thread and a few supplies. I'm ready to go! The retreat is not far away, and I'm so ready to go!!

Retreat basket

When I was out walking yesterday morning, I saw that one of my neighbors had all their grass removed from the front lawn. NO - they are not doing anything funky with it, as I saw them resodding it later in the afternoon. It was kind of sad, really, as I saw the guys shovel a VERY thin layer of topsoil onto the lawn. What's the point of all this? Why didn't they throw a good whack of topsoil on the existing grass and reseed it? Seems like a huge waste of time and effort. Not my lawn, but still!

Getting a new lawn

I actually got in the car yesterday and went to pick up the TWO rolls of batting for the Quilts of Valour quilts that I'll be quilting starting December. Thanks to everyone who made a donation to help out. Those two rolls will allow me to get quite a few quilts quilted and off to the organization!!!

I stopped at Micheal's as I was looking for a few things. Gosh - I haven't' been in that store in a long time. I managed to snag a couple of things. Like that bright orange scrubby yarn to make kitchen scrubbies. Maybe I should throw that in the retreat bag!

My purchases at Micheal's

I got a few more of the double wedding ring arcs trimmed. OK - I need to get the rest done, but what a fiddly job. I looked at the next step, and OH BOY -it's the A arcs. So that's going to be more of the same. But once the arcs are done, the majority of piecing is done, and then I can start to sew the sections together. I'd better get moving - I want to get this done!

Trimming the double wedding ring B arcs

The backing and the binding are now done for PRISM Squared. That quilt has been moved to the "to be quilted" area. Yeah!!! I'm excited about that. I have another one - Aviatrix Medallion, which needs the binding and backing made, and that one can be moved as well. It's still sitting on the cutting table. 

Bind, backing, and quilt top of PRISM Squared

I've been dealing with the samples that I've been making. They literally got thrown in a heap after I took photographs. This is the magnificent lion! 

Magnificient lion made with ribbon embroidery

It's done with the ribbon embroidery attachment! Isn't it fabulous???

Detail of the ribbon embroidery

And it's time to get started on the UFO homework for next month. Oh boy - I see that all the parts of this block are cut - they just need to be sewn together. These eight-pointed star blocks were pieced, but they look too wonky for my liking, so I'm taking them apart or at least partially apart, and I'm going to resew them. I know - I'm a crazy person for doing that. 

Wonky looking eight-pointed star blocks

So life goes on! Things are more or less under control, but to look at the kitchen table, you wouldn't think that. I  need to take some time to tidy that up as it literally became a dumping ground for stuff going upstairs or downstairs. My last presentation finishes at 4 today, so after that, I might take a few moments and tidy up! I've been trying to keep Studio B under control, or I would never find my samples and such when I need them. 

Well, it's time to go! 

Have a super day, and I hear the sun will be out. So make sure you get outside and walk or even just sit out for a bit. Get bundled up!

Ciao!!!!