Stick to it!

I'm back home after two wonderful days sewing with friends! There was so much chatter going on that I was in grave danger of not accomplishing a single thing!!

And I wasn't alone. I saw this at Colleen's sewing machine at the end of the day. A partial seam that had been that way for most of the day!

A half-finished seam!

I'm always amazed at the amount of stuff that gets shuffled from one person to another whenever we meet. I delivered three quilts that had been quilted, and I brought home three more that need to be quilted. Now, how did that happen? I knew about two of them! It's all good. 

The day started off with a geocache. I didn't have a lot of time, but there were several close to the hotel. Oh boy -- there's one in the tree. It wasn't so much the tree that was the problem, it was all the water surrounding the tree, and my boots were at home! 

Geocache in a tree

My feet got slightly damp in the process. Then I didn't have a pen to sign the book, but I got it down, opened it up so I could at least say I got it! I need a small pouch to carry essential geocaching tools that will always be at the ready -- like a pen! 

I wandered down to the next one. Hmm -- this one was hard to get to because of the small brambles in front of it. No worries -- I'm getting good at bushwhacking! But it was a small cache on a tree branch. Hmmm  --- which branch? I didn't have time to do a thorough search, so I had to abandon this one. Next time!!!

A small cache on a branch?

Oh yes -- there will be a next time. This was so much fun and so great to see everyone and just catch up. Don't be jealous! As long as you find a place, anyone can have a sewing retreat. I organized it - I don't mind, and it was loads of fun. I've got to look at the calendar to see what will work for the next one. And then there are a few longer ones coming up. Oh yes -- retreats! You can never have enough retreats!

Although I will say that it's sometimes hard to get any work done with more people, and EVERYONE wants to chat. But I was OK with that. 

I took my UFO applique project to work on. The LAST one from the 2018 list. I may have to put another UFO project on the list for 2022. That way, it's easy to carry to events like this, and I don't have to take a sewing machine. BUT I must remember to check the fabrics! This is a fall-themed project, and I had all kinds of yellow/gold and leaf colors, but there was nothing for blue, silver, and several other colors that I needed. So I plowed on and did what I could. 

I don't remember how many blocks are in the quilt, but I worked on most of them and did what I could with the colors I had. 

One of the applique blocks

Each of the blocks was in a stack with the shapes traced onto the fusible. I had done that at the last retreat. The shapes were in a Ziploc bag and inserted between the pages of the pattern. 

The second block I worked on 

Here's one of the other blocks that I worked on. 

And one more block

BUT - wouldn't it have been much nicer to take those blocks in these fabulous project bags that Ruth was working on. They are flat and have a piece of vinyl in the front, so you can see what's inside. I LOVE them and will have to make a few of them. 

Super project bag

Here's one with fabric around the vinyl window. A super fast and easy project! And a way to use up some of my zippers! These are so simple  -- you do NOT need a pattern for them. Just get creative and use the back as a place to practice those free-motion quilting techniques. Or use your embroidery machine?? 

A different style of project bag

Here's one of the fabrics I bought the previous day. It's from a different dye lot, so not quite the same, but close enough! Yep -- it's grey and pretty boring, but I needed it for that barn quilt.

My barn quilt fabric

Here's the other one I bought to fill in the gaps on Urbanologie. It's not a perfect match, but it's close enough. 

The second background fabric for Urbanologie

The one I was trying to match is on the bottom, and it's almost like it has a grey cast to it? This is not rocket science! But here's a good lesson: the more background fabrics you use, the easier it is to match them up! It'll work.

Of course, we had a yummy dessert, thanks to Colleen. Her friend made these, and they were very delicious. 

Yummy desserts

Here's the company name in case you want to know. 

And thanks to Shelly -- the fabric mule, I got my Cherrywood challenge kit. It's gorgeous. Helen Anne's was also part of that pony express delivery, and she will get hers this coming week. The theme is graffiti!!! Bring it on!!!

Cherrywood challenge

Speaking of Pony Express, I had to laugh when I got home. There was a box sitting in the front hall, and it had a sticky note on it. It says Box for Canada. No label - just that sticky. Hmmm  -- OH, the label is on the side! I don't know what brand of sticky note that is, but I'd say it's pretty good advertising. This box was in transit for 5 days from the US, and the sticky note was still intact!! 

A very sticky sticky note!

I didn't have too much to unpack from the car, but it took more than one trip. It all got dumped at the cutting table, and I'm in the process of putting it away. I needed to cut some stuff last night, so it's looking much better than this. 

The aftermath of unpacking

I felt like I didn't get enough done at the retreat, and after we went out for dinner, I was motivated to keep working. I'm going to share what I did tomorrow. 

Applique prep

OK -- so here's the reason I kept working. Oh - did I mention that I ran into some rain and freezing rain (or pellets) on the way home? Not a lot, but still a reminder that those silly tires need to be changed on the car. 

So it was about one hour and a half both ways to the retreat. A perfect distance. I decided to listen to the current audiobook. It's called The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty. OK -- so if you have NOT read her books - you need to. They are mostly character books, but honestly, they are so good. They are funny and sad, but you are cheering for all the characters, and there are always some silly shenanigans. The narrator is Australian, which is excellent as the author, and the books are set in Australia. 

After dinner, I wanted to keep going on the audiobook, and seriously??? I couldn't put it down. It was well into the wee hours when I finally threw in the towel, only to lay in bed with my giant headphones on to get in a few minutes more. I have one and a half hours left to finish the book. I do not generally use my earbuds when walking the girls, but this morning? I should be finished the book by the time I'm done walking them. What happens? And what happens to the baby? 

Liane's books are a super read if you haven't read any of her stuff!

On that note, I'm ready for my two classes this morning. Then the afternoon is free. But I've got some embroidery to do, and there's a quilt waiting to be quilted. 

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!

The Escape

 So before I knew that my schedule was going to get super crazy this month, I had booked a couple of days off. It's time to get back to the real world of sewing in person, and that's what we did. We were v16 yesterday, and today we are 15 or something like that. 

Where did we disappear to? K&A Quilt Studio in Ingersoll has a giant classroom, and that's where we are! It was loads of fun, and I don't think I managed to get a whole lot done. But there's a reason for that - wait for it!

I've seen most of the people on Zoom over the last couple of years, or I've seen them in some of the clubs, but it's nice to have a one-on-one with some of them rather than talking to the entire group!!

But I swear that I can't leave the house without lots of stuff! I only had one bag of stuff to work on - well, besides my clothes and my portable office. Mind you, a good part of the stuff was to bring to others. I brought quilts that I had quilted for one person, things I was "donating" to others, and a sewing machine that I lent to someone to try out. I'm taking that back home with me. 

And with all the chatter that went on yesterday, it took me a while to get started. I'm prepping some raw-edge applique for my UFO this month. I didn't quite get one block done because I'm missing some fabrics for parts of it. I never even thought to check that, but I'm not going to worry about it. This large block is mainly done, and I can quickly finish that up at home. I'm now working on the second block. I don't have all the fabric for that one either, but I'll prep what I can. Every little step is a step in the right direction. 

Can you believe that I didn't even take a picture? I was - well, I don't know what I was thinking. I was so excited to be out that my brain wasn't working correctly. 

But because of all the bookings that occurred in November and a logistical issue, I had a presentation yesterday. Trust me, I double and triple-checked that the correct presentation was on the computer and a backup on a USB. But with the advantage of Zoom, I zipped to the hotel, logged into the internet, and Zoomed. 

Zooming from the hotel

It worked like a charm, and I'm glad to know that the internet issue I was having at my house had nothing to do with my laptop. Hopefully, it's all working OK when I get home. 

And one has to be resourceful. I do not have a mousepad at home, and I need one. However, I grabbed this issue of Food and Drink from the LCBO, and it worked like a charm! I didn't have my room, yet so I borrowed from a friend. Hmm -- I sit right beside a shelf of magazines - I might have to pull one out and use it. The table just doesn't cut it. That darn mouse can be very temperamental at times! 

A great mousepad

I was going to eat my lunch while I waited for the call to start. I had brought a salad. Only to realize that I did NOT have my utensils. I swear I brought them, but maybe they got left in the car? Nope -- it turns out I left them at the store! Sigh........

This hotel is a mess right now! Well, part of it is under construction. There are nine of us staying here, and when I went to get my luggage from one of the other rooms, I took the stairs. And walked right through this. 

So that doesn't look so bad. 

Hotel under renovation

But how about this?? They are gutting the rooms and redoing them. And yes - it is needed. Our room is clean but tired. 

Gutting the rooms

And down one of the halls, there's drywall all over the place. And I guess they didn't expect anyone to take the stairs! Yep -- it's a total mess.

Obviously, one should be wearing protective gear - I was not! But I did at least have my running shoes on!

Our little group of four is making good time walking across Canada. We are at 49%, which means we are ahead of the game and should be at 50% two weeks ahead of my planned schedule. Not that I shared that plan with the others, it was just a number in my head. 

As I've mentioned before, I LOVE checking out the map. It's one of the best parts of the whole thing, and we get exercise at the same time. I'm glad the walk is virtual because it's minus 12 in this area, and they have snow and ice. Yikes!!! It's only 4 this morning here, but it's dry!

But what I don't understand about the maps is that tiny blip on the map called Baljennie. That is the SMALL village near where I grew up. It used to be a railroad stop, but the trains stopped running years ago, and it's basically deserted and has been for years. Yet, it still shows up on Google maps. Wow!!!!

I'm going to get my day started soon. It's still dark outside, but I want to try a couple of geocaches in the area. It will begin to get light soon, so I must get packed up and in the car. Although I need my walk, so there are a couple that I can walk to, and if I don't find them - well, I'm OK with that. I'll get them at home. 

My supposed geocaching buddies did all the caches when I wasn't here - they came down a day early. So much for geocaching buddies!! 

OH -- I should mention that the project that I brought to work on is a HUGE one. It's all raw edge applique, and if I had kept up every month like I was supposed to  - it wouldn't be a UFO. But I didn't, and so it's a UFO. But I've really made significant progress thanks to the UFO club. 

And I know you're asking if I bought anything at the store. I had two pieces of fabric that I was looking for, and I found the same material for one of them, so I bought two meters of that. It's for my barn quilt. The second one was to finish off Urbanologie, and I found something a bit better suited than what I found at home, so I bought 1.5 meters of that. And I found a roll of Cut-A-Way Light stabilizer that I was hoping they would have. And no pictures of that either. Good grief -- where was my head yesterday? 

That was it! Only three things, and I needed them all. I may buy a "treat" today? I'm not sure. There's so much to be tempted by, and we found the most adorable quilt that was done as a block of the month a whole back, and I'm tempted, but I certainly do NOT need it. And I won't buy a kit -- I have so much to choose from at home!

The cuteness is by The Quilting Company, and the quilt we saw was the Camp Sugar Bear. 

Well, that's it for today. I'm off to pack up and geocache. Find something to eat and then off to the store to hopefully get a LOT more done today than I did yesterday. 

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!

Birthday Cake and lots of it!

 

So when I created a folder for the pictures today, it hit me. Where did August go?? Tomorrow is the last day of this month, and it literally flew by. How the heck did that happen? 

I must confess that I was a bit of a slug yesterday. I had a big nap - too much celebrating or just getting old? A bit of both, but those late nights just don't sit well with me, and if I don't sleep well on top of that? Oh boy! 

And I don't know what the heck is happening to me, but it seems that I keep getting insect bites, and they are these angry welts, not just a wee mosquito! I had two along one foot last week and one more on my leg today. This one is not nearly as itchy as the first ones I got. But with traipsing through all that bush when geocaching, I'm surprised that I don't have more!

Let's not forget the virtual retreats -- they are easy to get to - it's all on Zoom. The cost is right -- totally free, and you can pop in to say HI or stay and sew a while. There are TWO in September. The first one is September 5 and 6.  That's Sunday evening and all day Monday. We'll be piggybacking on the Monday Sewing group for part of the day on Monday, but that's OK. I'll be posting the links later this week. 

The second one is scheduled for September 25 and 26. That's the usual Saturday/Sunday time slot. That link will go out later this month. 

Now -- how many of you are addicted to Kimberbell designs??? There are two versions of most of her patterns -- sewing or machine embroidery. If you have an embroidery machine --- it's super easy to do. And all of the patterns are cute -- just adorably cute!!!

It appears that MANY of us have those patterns, and we're not getting them done. So guess what? We're going to have some sort of class or club to make that happen. If you're interested, let me know. You will have to have the patterns -- I'm not sharing or sourcing them for you! That will come sometime in September. I might do that instead of the embroidery club -- I only have so much time. 

Here's the latest Halloween Kimberbell. It's so cute --- wouldn't it be great to get that done BEFORE Halloween? 

The latest Kimberbell Halloween quilt

OK -- so let's zip back to the weekend and see what happened at the retreat. Remember, we rented the room at K & A Quilt Studio for two days. It's a beautiful space, and the cost was $10 a person. 

Here are some scenes from the retreat/birthday bash. We really did have loads of fun, and we're going to plan some more short retreats like that in the future. It's next to impossible to find dates at a retreat house, so this will just have to do. And I'll be madly booking dates for 2022 later this week. 

First, we had cake. This is the cake that I took -- it was red velvet and very yummy! The poor guy in the bakery did a good job even though I don't think he does that regularly!!!

Birthday cake number one

Some of us stayed over rather than driving home, and after dinner, the girls surprised me with ANOTHER cake. This one was made by Colleen's friend, and it was SUPER YUMMY. Thanks so much for that little surprise. 

Birthday cake number two!

And yes - we had a cool beverage so that we could have a wee toast. 

A birthday toast

You have to love the self-timers on camera. You can take a picture anywhere!!! Yes -- we were having that much fun!!! A huge THANK YOU to everyone -- that was a very memorable birthday!!!

Birthdays with friends - -the best kind!

And now back to the retreat. I didn't get a lot of pictures of us during the retreat. I was so focused on my project!!!  But you can see how HUGE this sewing room is. 

The sewing studio at K & A Quilt Studio

And then we had a wee bit of shopping happening. Some people bought Halloween fabric. 

Halloween fabric

Some people walked out with little bags, and others had BIG bags. Not passing any judgment - OK -- I got a big bag, but it wasn't full!

Shopping bags

This kit seemed to be a trendy item. It's a Christmas kit by MODA. The kit includes the pattern, the fabric, and whatever embellishment you need. One person bought two, and she's not in the picture! We'll protect her identity - but we all know who it is.

A popular kit

If you're interested, I think there were one or two more kits left, and you could also have one!!!!  It's adorable -- I do love Bunny Hill quilts, but I don't need another one at the moment. OH -- did I mention, the kit was ON SALE!!!

The kit for this quilt is ON SALE at the shop

I confess that I purchased a thread bundle for the Kimberbell Halloween quilt. Why not? I'll use the thread in more than just that quilt. 

My thread bundle

I didn't get a lot done -- too much chatting, but that's OK. I learned lots while I was there, and well -- sometimes, it's just about being together, not getting stuff done. 

However, I'm happy to report that I traced ALL the shapes for this applique quilt. I decided to do the entire thing with fusible. Why not? Before I left, I gathered all the bits of fusible that I found in that cupboard. I threw them into a bag, and I had used most of the scraps by the end of the tracing. WOW!!!!!! 

Tracing an applique pattern onto fusible

I had one more block to finish off, and I did that yesterday as I was quilting a quilt. Yeah!!! Now I'll sit down with my scrap boxes and block by block; I'll get this quilt done. It's the LST project from the 2018 UFO list. Oh my --- while there is still a LOT of work to do on that quilt, the end is in sight. 

That would leave the 2017 and 2018 lists - DONE. There are 6 projects on the 2019 list, and I could get one for sure done by the end of the year and possibly more. Oh yes -- focusing is a good thing!!! 

But right now, I have THREE projects that need to be done very quickly, and none of them are on the UFO list. They are all brand new projects. I'll be focusing on those this week. 

And here are Coleen and Joyce packing up at the end. They travel LIGHT!!! 

Colleen and Joyce packing up to go home

Again -- a huge THANK YOU to everyone for all the laughs, the gifts, and spending time together. It was the first mini-retreat, but it won't be the last. 

I don't know about you, but this weather is totally whacked. The rain we had two nights ago was insane. We never have to close the windows on the side or the back of the house when it rains. But that night, when I checked those windows, the rain was pouring through and onto the floor. So I quickly shut all the windows and then ran around with a towel to mop up. DH was totally oblivious that I was muttering rather loudly about the mess and running around upstairs!!! 

Heavy rain

On that note, it's Monday sewing, and I spent the morning cutting, so I'm prepped to sit at the machine today and sew!!!

Think about the Kimberbell. The intention is that you do NOT go out and buy a pattern. This is for those of us that have them at home but have NOT touched them. Or maybe you have, but it's still not complete. I'll run it as a club once a month, and you can work on whatever one you want. I'll give out tips on doing the embroidery and using all the embellishments. E-mail me if you're interested  - elainetheriault@gmail.com. 

And don't forget the Virtual Retreats -- we get so much done during those days -- I want more!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Back in the saddle

 Oh my --- what an enjoyable little break in the routine. I want to say a huge THANK YOU to K&A Quilt Studio for hosting us. It was great fun to finally meet Kate and Ann in person - I'd seen them many times over Zoom. The classroom is HUGE - that's all you can say to describe it -- huge, bright, great tables and chairs, fully equipped with irons and ironing boards. What more could you want? GREAT FRIENDS to fill the space. 

Well, we didn't fill the space to capacity, not even close, but it worked for keeping our distance, and that's important. Let's just say that there will be future mini-retreats at that store. Oh yes!! 

Another huge THANK YOU to everyone for the birthday wishes! I got e-mails, texts, cards, e-cards, notes on social media. What fun to hear from everyone!! Thanks so much. I feel very blessed. 

One thing that we were chatting about at the retreat was how much more comfortable we feel in our skin the older we get. Isn't that weird? You go through all that crap in adolescence totally NOT prepared for all the bullying, snide comments, petty fights, etc. OK -- so as an adult, that behavior still exists, but we feel so much more prepared for it. 

I'm at the point in life where I care about that stuff, and negative comments still can cut to the bone, but I get over it much faster, or I let it go and just ignore it or confront it. While I care about that stuff because it can hurt, I'm more at the point of NOT caring a bit what others think. Why would I worry myself about someone's bad vibes. Oh my --- life is just not fair!

I'm going to wait until tomorrow to share what happened in the store; today, I will show you what happened outside the store. YES -- I did some geocaching on my own, and with Ronda, and Dede came along for the ride for part of it. 

I know -- if you're not into geocaching, you might find this boring, but it's never boring. Trust me!

Oh wait -- here's a picture of the back of my car just before I left. Can you believe that I took that much stuff for two days of sewing? 

What I took to retreat

Well, I did take three quilts that needed to be returned to their owners, a box with the birthday cake, clothes, some sewing stuff, and of course, the portable office. 

Oh yes -- what happened with that bag? I took it in to the store when we arrived so I could dig out the portable speaker. Then in our excitement to leave the store and go for dinner, I left the backpack IN THE STORE. No access to it until the next morning. 

It was only when we were in the hotel room later, much later, and I had a thought in the middle of our conversation. NO BLOG!! My laptop is in the backpack, as is my charger for the phone. Sigh...............

However, I still went geocaching on Saturday morning. It was still dark outside, but that was OK. By the time I arrived back at the hotel, there was no power on that phone. And I remembered on a previous occasion that any hotel would likely have a cord. Yep  --- MANY people forget their chargers in their hotel rooms. So I asked at the front desk, and sure enough -- there was a charger for the Android phone. 

I sat in the small sitting area and whipped out that small blog post yesterday. OOPS  - sorry for that. Then off to breakfast with the others, and my phone was at 77% by the end of breakfast. Plenty enough for the geocaching session. 

While the others did their thing until the store opened at 10 AM, Ronda and I were off to geocache!

But wait -- here's our geocaching adventure from the previous night. I was out in sandals. NOT good geocaching footwear. 

Sandals are NOT good geocaching footwear

At one point, we were in a cemetery (in the corner, not disturbing anyone), but we had a small pile of rocks to clamber over, and on my way out, I slipped on some weeds on the rocks, and oops - there I was sprawled on the ground. At my age!! My only thought as I fell was - don't rip my shorts as it was the only pair of pants that I had brought. I could just imagine myself in my bright orange PJ pants for the rest of the sewing retreat. 

Fortunately, nothing ripped or tore, and I was fine!!!

Some of the caches are easy to spot once you zero in on the location. This was on the steel roadside barrier that you see along roads and highways. 

Easy to spot geocache

This was in a large hollowed-out stump of a tree. As a matter of fact, as you zero in on the coordinates, you start guessing --- Hmm -- it's THERE. 

In a large stump

But others are a bit tricky. And required a bit of ditch-digging, then across the road to a sign, and finally zeroing in on this fence. 

The gate to the cemetery

Ronda searched part of the fence; I searched another. We couldn't find the darn thing, and then I went and searched where Ronda had searched and VOILA -- there it was. I'll just say my fingers were longer than hers were and leave it at that. Oh yes -- you have to search EVERYWHERE. 

YES -- Up there is a geocache

The next morning, I put my running shoes on, and I was off. It was still dark at 6 AM, but that was OK. 

Much better shoes for geocaching

By the time I got to the first one, it was light enough to see it. 

Plenty of light now

Oh, boy  --- a little hill, and I need to be on the other side. It looks impossible, but there's a small STEEP little path, and I managed to climb up! Thank goodness for the running shoes. 

Up and over

And sometimes, you're faced with this. It looks impenetrable, but I plowed through it! I know -- perhaps short pants are also NOT a good thing to wear when geocaching. I did get a few bites, but I was fine!

I have to go in there? 

My reward was this pretty little spot, completely hidden from everyone. 

A little stream

After much searching, I found the cache lying on the ground about 20 feet from where it was supposed to be. So I moved it back to where one would think it would go - UP IN A TREE. 

A cache that fell out of the tree

There was one that I couldn't find. Perhaps it fell down that steep bank - I was NOT going after it. 

Then I hooked up with Ronda after breakfast, and we went out to a small hiking path - not a very well-groomed one, and we ended up at this tree. 

There's a cache in this tree

And we spotted a HUGE spider on a web that we walked around. I have ONE small clip of him clear on a short video - I'm trying to cut that frame out to show you. I love my phone, but on the macro lens, as always, it's tough sometimes to zoom in on the thing you want. This shot focused beautifully on the background, but I wanted the foreground. I must learn how to make that happen. 

That blur is a BIG spider with a treat in its spidey fingers

Anyway, the geocaching website has a new challenge (OH god -- I'm a sucker for a challenge). You get a certain number of points for each cache you find. The total has to be the same as the height (in meters) of a mountain peak - one per month on each of the seven continents. This month was Puncak Jaya at 4,884 meters. I'm done for the month. On September 6, the quest for the next summit begins. I'm saving the caches until then! 

If you know nothing about geocaching, check out the website. It's a FUN activity to do - you never know where you'll end up, and it's FREE. Well, the PREMIUM membership is $30 US per year. That's pretty cheap entertainment for the entire family. 

And on that note -- I'm out of here!! I've got loads to do today, and it's time to get started!!!!  

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!