Row by Row Revisited

My readers are so intelligent. The flowering shrub is a weigela. I've never heard that name before, but it's pronounced wedge-eelia. I've got a lead on where to get more peonies, and the next thing I need is mulch—lots and lots of mulch. 

My schedule for June looks pretty good—one five-day trip away and then a few classes here and there, but it's pretty quiet. I love quiet! I have some personal stuff to catch up on, and I will try to get that done! And let's not forget the decluttering! 

Does anyone remember when we drove around the countryside collecting license plates for the Row by Row Experience? I went mad that first year (2014) and in subsequent years to collect as many license plates as possible. They are printed on fabric and were quite a hot item. We swapped them like mad! 

I made a quilt from the 2014 plates. Here's a link to that quilt and how it was made. 

The rest of my plates are stored in a box. 

My By-row license plates

Here's a side view so you can appreciate the quantity. Yes, I know—there's nothing like excess! 

ACK!!! 

So why was I looking at that yesterday? When we went to Maui, I had purchased a license plate. They had leftovers from previous years, and I looked through them and picked this one. 

My license plate I bought this year in Hawaii

I spotted this one from the same store when I looked through my collection! I could have ended up with the SAME plate as I'm sure they also had leftovers of this one. I wonder if they are from the same year. 

Already have one from Hawaii

When I was searching for something else in a different location, I spotted this license plate, which I know is a duplicate. 

Crazy Quilter license plate

I hung this one on my design wall so I could enjoy it rather than it being stuffed in a box. 

It was so much fun to go through all those plates, see the stores where I personally went (some are now closed), and look at all the slogans. Great memories! 

There was a real run on this from 2014 to about 2018, and then people got tired of it? We all spent gobs of money as we hit each store, but had loads of fun swapping them. The pandemic took a big hit on this event, and I see they are trying to resurrect it again. You can check out this link, as several stores in Canada are participating again, but I don't think they have the license plate thing happening. It's like a big shop hop as you can get a pattern and buy a kit to hang a wall. 

I managed to fill those two plastic totes with novelty prints and stacked two cardboard boxes on top. It's much less precarious now, so hopefully it won't collapse again. Yes -- I need to be working on using that up, but there are a few more priorities to deal with first. The bottom line is that it's neatly organized and out of the way. 

Four boxes of novelty prints

I had to "wreck" my fun configuration in Studio B this morning. I have a Facebook Live on Thursday about applique, and I have a dry run for the cameras this morning to make sure everything is set up and connected. I think I got it all done to my satisfaction. This time, it took about 15 minutes. Last time? It took days because I didn't have the right bits and pieces, but I eventually connected everything.  

This is my last Zoom or Facebook Live, which required some reconfiguring of the space until the fall. So all is good, and I'll be able to enjoy all that empty space soon.  

OH - I found two more yardage pieces when I moved some of that novelty fabric, so those are labeled and on the shelf with the rest of the quilt backings. I'm sure there's going to be more that I find, but for the moment, all is good. 

Two more yardage pieces for quilt backings

Back to the wonky quilt - I had a look at the pattern. The pattern is called Adjustable Size - Jelly Roll Race Quilt. I totally disagree with that title because it's misleading. It implies you are making a jelly roll race quilt that you can make bigger or smaller. However, to me, the term "jelly roll race" means I'm sewing the strips together and then folding that long strip in half and sewing it together and repeating that 5 times, and voila - the quilt is done. Right? Isn't that what we all perceive as a jelly roll race quilt? 

This pattern has you sew all your strips together (with an addition between the strips). That's no problem. But then it tells you to cut a strip X inches long, cut a second strip (the same length), pin them together, and sew. That is NOT the jelly roll race method. It's a strip quilt made with jelly rolls, but the methodology is completely different. 

So, while the pattern tells you to cut the strips to the same lengths and pin them, it tells you to start at one side, sew the two first strips together, and keep adding the next strip to what you already did. It tells you to start one row from the bottom and the next from the top to prevent the bow, but that doesn't stop the multiple handling the first row gets compared to the last. Never mind the excess bulk for pressing and sewing. 

And finger press as you go. ACK!!!! 

Here's what I would do: 

• Join all the strips into one long strip, including the inserts if you want. The inserts are just spacers to increase the size of the quilt. More on that another day. 
• Once the strips are in one long strip, cut the first length. Then, cut the second length and sew them together. Set them aside. 
• Cut the next two lengths and sew them together. Always start these seams from the top. 
• Continue sewing until all the pairs are together. Carefully press the seams as you go, ensuring they are straight. Draw a line on your ironing board if necessary to keep the seams straight. 
• Then start joining the pairs and start your seam from the bottom. 

Let's say you have 24 rows or columns. After the first pass, you will have 12 pairs, and each strip has been handled the same number of times—ONCE. 

Next, you'll sew the pairs together, giving you six groups of four strips each. Press those seams and repeat the process, remembering to start sewing from the bottom. 

You should now have three groups of 8 strips. Sew the first group to the second and then add the third. All the strips will be handled pretty much equally. You never have to deal with the entire bulk of the quilt until you sew the final seam, and it makes it a lot easier to press with only a small portion of the quilt at any given time. 

I haven't had a chance to watch the video. My friend mentioned that she did not read the PDF but went by the video, and the video is different from the pattern. I'll check it out for tomorrow. 

So here's the moral of this story - just because you can, doesn't mean you should. And just because someone makes a video does not make it right. There are too many poor-quality (filming and techniques) videos on YouTube. Everyone wants to be a star and earn money by creating videos. I went back to check that $8K monthly. I don't know where that came from because I spotted another piece of information about this company: they only earned $1K monthly from their videos with almost 1,000,000 subscribers. So PLEASE be careful --- not every video is worth doing! 

If in doubt, double-check with someone else. There is so much wrong with this particular pattern (the name, the pressing, the piecing) that I can only imagine the "fun" when I watch the video. 

YES—I know I'm opinionated, but my friend was all excited because they made a jelly roll race quilt when, in fact, they did not. They made a quilt from jelly roll strips, but the method was NOT the jelly roll race. Am I being too picky? The methodology is so different. 

And if you want to resize the quilt using the jelly roll race technique, I know how to do that, and I'll share that later this week. Yes, I spend loads of time thinking about this stuff! 

On that note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Squaring up a VERY WONKY quilt

Although I didn't have solid plans for yesterday - there was a quilt to trim, applique to cut, etc. —I got none of that done. 

Instead, I was repaying a favor, and someone came to use the long arm, so I spent the day helping with that. WAIT—that was the easy part. She also brought a wonky quilt that we attempted to square up. Hmm—that was quite the mental exercise, and before we knew it, it also turned into a physical one. 

I will say (and I told her) that I disagreed with the construction method, and something strange happened in this instance. When you take one strip of fabric, add a second strip of fabric, and then continue in that fashion, the result (after adding MANY strips of fabric) is that the end is usually longer than the beginning. Not so with this one - the end was much shorter (or narrower by at least 11 inches) if you want. And it had quite the bow in it! 

The task of the day was to try to salvage the quilt. Of anything I've been asked to do, this one stumped me. 

We started by clearing off one work table to see if we could square it up. Hmm—that wasn't working well, so we tried folding the quilt in the opposite direction, parallel to the seams. Then, one side of the quilt was trimmed. We tried using that edge as a guide to cut the other edge. 

To our horror, that first cut did NOT look good at all. One half of the side was straight, and then at the fold, it took a crazy angle. 

So we laid it out again and tried to square it up—again with it folded in half, but in the opposite orientation. But NOT before I gave the darn thing a good press with steam. This is what it looked like. 

Trimming a quilt by folding it

You can see how the end on the bottom was significantly longer than the top edge, and it had significant bows in it (I wish I had taken a picture), which resulted from sewing row after row in the same orientation. I believe this was a tutorial online! Sigh.....

That wasn't working, so I moved more furniture so we could lay the quilt top out flat. Oh boy—this is pretty wonky. What to do? 

Then, I decided to use a floorboard as a guide. So we lined up one side with a floorboard. Then I took MANY rulers to continue that straight edge on the quilt top. Once I was happy with that, I marked the line with chalk. The ends aren't going to be square—the ends of the strips, that is, as some of them have a bit of an angle. But the edge of the quilt was STRAIGHT. The mat went on the floor, and she trimmed it along the chalk line. Ignore the pink tape measure - it makes the side look wonky, but it was just lying there at this moment. 

Trying to get a straight edge

We used THREE long tape measures in our journey, as well as many rulers. NO—the quilt sides are not 90 degrees to the top and bottom, and I'm hoping that can be fixed when it gets quilted. 

It took a lot of finagling to get the other side parallel to the first. Do not ask me why this wasn't a simple task, but it wasn't. I think the curved seams gave off an optical vibe that was very distracting to work with. 

Attempting to square the other edge

However, we persevered, and the second side is now parallel (more or less) to the first one. This quilt ended up being 73 inches wide or somewhere in that range, and it's much longer than the width, so it was a challenge to deal with, not just the wonky seams but the optical illusion from the curved seams and the size. 

But here it is - more or less trimmed and ready to be quilted. 

The quilt is salvaged

So here's some good advice - just because someone posts a video on how to make a quilt - don't believe it! If someone thinks they have a better method for making a jelly roll quilt, don't believe them. While I think this was to emulate a jelly roll quilt, with the goal of making it larger, there are better ways to make a larger jelly roll quilt. Speaking of jelly roll quilts - the construction method dictates that the quilt is a specific size. You can mess with that to some extent, but you will run into significant issues if you're not careful. It's a simple mathematical formula to resize a jelly roll quilt. I should explain it one day. 

The second thing is NEVER just take one strip of fabric and, without measuring it, add it to another piece of fabric and then repeat that process. The lengths will NEVER be the same, and they will skew, as happened here. I'll equate EACH new strip in this quilt as a border, and one should NEVER just sew the border onto a quilt. It needs to be measured, cut to the appropriate length, and PINNED. 

How would I have done this? I could have measured the first strip, and then I would have cut the next strip to the EXACT SAME length, and I would have sewn a pair of strips together after pinning them. Then I would have sewn the next two pairs and so on. Then, when I had a pile of pairs, I would have started to join (always pinning) the pairs. Continuing to sew to the first row (column) means that the strip gets handled a LOT, so it tends to stretch, while the final row was handled once and didn't stretch. 

By sewing in pairs, each strip is handled the SAME number of times - zero stretching! 

I want to find the instructions to see if this was, in fact, how the instructor said to sew this quilt because EVERYTHING about the construction, as I understand it, is WRONG!!! This is from a YouTube instructor, where I saw in a short video this morning, earns about $8K monthly from her videos. I hope the others are better than this one. I'm missing out on making a lot of money! But I do NOT want to be tied to making videos. I have better things to do! I could make videos on decluttering! That would be entertaining. 

Happily, the quilt on the long arm turned out beautifully. 

The quilt turned out amazing! 

I did accomplish a few things. I sorted through two of the boxes of novelty prints and removed FOUR large pieces that can be used for quilt backings. They were measured and moved to the quilt backing area. 

Four quilt backings are measured and on the shelf

I removed a couple of fruit fabrics as I have a separate storage area for them. 

Fruit fabrics

And those new plastic bins hold much more fabric than the cardboard boxes. It was a fun trip down memory lane as I went through all those prints. Gosh, I seem to have everything on fabric. Do you see the matches?

A bin of novelty fabrics

The next quilt is loaded on the long arm and ready to go today. I have some applique to do, and it's Monday Sewing, so it'll be the perfect day for that. 

Here are some photos of what's in bloom in the backyard. Two lilies have appeared in the pond. 

The first two lilies in the pond

Oh dear -- I need to find out what this flowering shrub is. Gardening was never my strong point. Where are the bees? This one is also quite fragrant and beside the gazebo, but it has been a few days since I've been there. No time!

Another flowering shrub

My one peony is starting to bloom. I had a better picture than this, and I think I should plant a few more plants (bushes) behind this one. It seems to thrive in that area, and there's a lot of empty space there. OK—where do I get peonies? I want colors that are different from the fuchsia I have. 

My peony

After our water issues were resolved, I could get the pump to the pond going, and Miss Murphy was again fascinated by the waterfalls. Oh, and you can see the remains of our irises. We have yellow ones. I'm surprised they are still living because they are right where Murphy likes to tramp. 

MOM -- there's water flowing!

Meanwhile, Lexi just watches. She's so calm compared to Murphy. She's my "hero" and will save the world. Do you see the resemblance? 

MOM -- I'm on watch duty!

On that note, I have a ton of follow-up emails to complete today. I'm a tad behind in that, but I also have stuff to do in Studio B since I didn't get much of my stuff completed yesterday. And I was OK with that. I'm glad I could help with those two quilts, and now she can move forward on completing them. 

And I'm off to spin class and want to find those instructions! Just because you can doesn't mean you should! 

I managed to get a bit more put away in the kitchen, and the spice drawer is almost finished. Why is it taking so long? I have to wash the little funnel after every use, and rather than take the time to dry it, I let it air dry. When I have a minute or two or just pass by, I grab the funnel and fill another jar. I thought of a great idea to store the excess spices. If I had ripped through the process, I wouldn't have time to mull over the ideas, so slow and steady is how I work because I'm problem-solving as I go. 

This method has worked for me for years - I will NOT change it, despite all your "protests" that I move faster. 

I hope you are all tackling your drawers or some areas of your house. It doesn't need to take hours - a few minutes well spent in any area can start to make a difference!! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Minor water woes

I was back at the drawer situation in the kitchen. What a long process, but then I'm not dedicating hours at a time. This shows that even a few minutes a day can make a difference in decluttering, especially when you're on the second pass like I am. 

The cutlery was all washed and dried. 

The cutlery was washed and dried

The cutlery tray was also washed, and all the cutlery will be packed into my give-away box this morning. 

The cutlery tray was washed

Some artists use cutlery in their art, and I wish I knew someone close to whom I could donate this. 

Here's one artist who makes bouquets from cutlery, but I've also seen stunning eagles made from cutlery. I hate when you search for something; all you find are pictures from the PIN site. There is never a source, just a bunch of pictures. That is NOT helpful at all. Where is the credit for the artist? Where is the link if you want to buy it? It drives me crazy!!! Just a bunch of pictures. 

Anyway, progress is happening in the kitchen, and I'm good with that. I still have a few spices to transfer to the new jars, but this brought up another issue. I wasn't happy with how the trays slid around in the drawer, and I certainly don't need four units. So, I grabbed some shelf liner and put it under the two trays I needed. That allowed me to remove the foam I had placed along the side. 

The spice drawer so far

Then, I can put the extra spices behind the two rows of jars. If I don't keep the extra handy, DH will be out buying more, which has caused some of the issues in the first place. This drawer is a work in progress, and I'm not sure how it will all turn out. But it's a start. 

Someone asked where I got the large trays for the utensil drawers. Wal-Mart! Here's the label. They have different sizes, but this one worked perfectly for my drawers. 

The label for my utensil drawers

What will be the source of entertainment when all this clutter is gone? OH - I know - I get to start all over again! One day, we'll have nothing left in the house! 

We have the most inconveniently located water tap for the backyard. The water pipe exits the house under the kitchen window and then travels under the deck for about 10 feet, with MANY bends—OK, about 3. Yet again, the pipes burst over the winter and needed to be repaired. 

I know it needs to be drained and left open before winter, and I swear I did that. Anyway, the guy came over last week, and it took him three attempts to fix it. The three visits were not his fault! This is NOT the first time this has happened, but it's been several years since it last occurred. 

The boards that had to be lifted when Miss Murphy got stuck under the deck had never been screwed back in place, so it was easy enough to remove them. He spotted a leak, where it had never leaked before, and we thought we were good. 

Boards removed from the deck

Nope—there was an even more significant leak, which is what I could hear. That required removing one more board, where we found the pipe had completely blown apart at a previous fix. So that got fixed. Can we be good? 

One more board

No, there was one more leak on an elbow joint near the house. Good grief—what the heck happened to the pipe—this was the worst we've ever seen. Then I asked for a new valve with a lever, as I was getting tired of cranking that twisty valve open and closed. The new valve had a leak! So that had to be replaced. But now we have water in the backyard! 

And I swear if this happens again, we're moving that pipe ABOVE the deck so it's easy to fix. 

Oh, Murphy -- she's all over the place but likes to be in constant contact. She's checking out the new floor space. 

MOM -- so much space!!!! 

She still has a mat under the table if she needs a den-like sleep.  

Sleeping under the table

Or if she wants to be outside, she can still keep an eye on me from the window. I tend to disagree with anyone who says dogs are not intelligent. They are way smarter than we think they are. 

MOM -- I can still see you! 

And where's Lexi in all this? Asleep under DH's desk. 

MOM -- please, I'm trying to sleep here

I got another quilt done, so that was good. 

Customer quilt - DONE

The plan is to get more quilts quilted this month and try to make a dent in that pile of community project quilts. I'll see how it goes. 

We had our final two Zooms in Applique and Tequila Lime. I'll have to share the Tequila Lime pictures with you. These quilts were stunning. It was a ton of work and much grief to some, but it was worth the hassle! 

The quilts got trimmed, and I did a bit more tidying in Studio B. Sweeping the floors and washing tubs—all this tidying takes time, and I was exhausted at the end of the day. I should make good progress downstairs today, and the end is so close! But it'll still take me a couple of weeks to get everything as I want. I guess I could do it in one day. Maybe today is that day!

On that note, I'm out of here! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!

Progress in the kitchen

It was an exciting day for some people in my life. 

A friend and her daughter arrived in Santiago after walking the Camino. Her boyfriend and she started out a month ago. He could only get a couple of weeks off, so he walked partway. Then she continued on her own and was lucky enough to have her daughter join her about 200 km from the end. They finished yesterday!! I wonder what they did this morning? Oh, sleep in! 

Another friend and his son have finished their European bike tour. They camped along the way, so they had to carry all their stuff on their bikes. They arrived at the Amsterdam airport yesterday and are likely home now. That is something you have to say about Europe—you can ride up to the airports on your bicycle. Where in Canada would that happen? 

And someone else rang the bell at the cancer center. Her treatments for breast cancer are done! 

All three journeys had their issues, but by far, the hardest and the longest was the breast cancer journey. I pray that it doesn't recur and that she lives a long and healthy life. You have to love the advancements in healthcare! 

And now, back to my decluttering journey, which just never ends! If only I had made a note when I started the tidying and decluttering - I bet I was shocked when the realization hit me that I needed to do something about the mess in my life. I know it's been at least 12 years. A big game changer in my life was when I went on my Artic Tour bicycle ride in 2010. Guess what? I can now share photos with you because those photos were on that hard disk that I paid gobs to recover! 

Here's me after a very muddy day riding on the Dempster Highway!! The entire 800 KM of the Dempster Highway is unpaved, hence the mud! +

A muddy day on the bike!

 Those three weeks without TV and electricity for the last week made me rethink my life. I stopped watching TV cold turkey and likely looked around my house and said, I don't need half of what I own. I'm not sure, but I'll need to check further in my notes. 

So I tackled the kitchen again. I want to clear off those countertops of the mess I created by trying to declutter. When they say the mess is only going to get worse, they mean it!

I took that cutlery tray that I discovered the other day and emptied it. I sorted the knives, forks, and spoons. 

Can you tell me how this happened? I sorted them by style, and how in the world did I end up with so many different spoons? The ones on the left are from a set, and a couple on the right are from another set—probably the very first set of cutlery I owned many years ago. But the singles? I have no idea! 

Many spoon styles

The same goes for the forks. Where did all the different forks come from? 

Different forks

And yet, when it comes to knives, they were all the same. Why is that? 

The knives are all the same

We'll chalk that up to the mysteries of life and leave it at that. I will throw all of them in the sink with hot water and soap and dry them. Then, they go to the giveaway box. Obviously, we don't need them, so there is no sense in keeping them. M is going to be thrilled to see all this stuff go, and she won't have to deal with it when we're too old to do so!

I kept ONE spoon. I've had this thing for years, and I suspect I stole it from Eaton's cafeteria in Montreal many years ago. I don't even remember who I was with, or maybe I was alone, but it's a great souvenir! And I'm allowed a few of those! 

My Eaton's spoon

A few more things to sort through are still in the cutlery tray—seafood forks, fondue forks, etc. I don't think I'm keeping any of them, but I'll deal with them later today once I finish washing all that cutlery. 

Then, it was back to those utensil drawers. This is what they look like. This is the main one in the island. 

The utensils are sorted! 

Three of those trays fit perfectly side by side, with a bit of room in the front. They have a rubberized surface on them so they don't move, and they have a textured surface on the inside, which I'm sure I'll hate when it's time to clean them. 

There are spoons in one, spatulas and lifters in another, and a few other things in the middle one. There are a few things in front, but everything is easy to see and organized. YEAH!!!!!!

I could fit two of those trays in the second utensil drawer, so I was back at the mall yesterday to get them. This is a bit more of a hodgepodge, but at least it's much better than it was. I suspect I should keep track of what we use here, and after six months, I could toss some stuff. 

The second utensil drawer

Some stuff from the cutlery tray was added to the drawer, so the cheese grater was the only thing that didn't fit. 

This no longer fits in the utensil drawer

I suspect that since we mostly buy pre-shredded cheese (I know—spoiled), we probably don't need this. So that will be one of the things to watch. 

Since I was at the mall during lunchtime, I decided to stop at this amazing crepe restaurant and have a cheese crepe for lunch. It wasn't nearly as good as the sweet crepes, but I wanted to be somewhat healthy! 

My lunch

Then, it was back downstairs to get some work done. I made progress on my quilt top, which needs to be done soon. Actually, I completed the worst part—choosing the patterns for applique and fusing all the fabric onto the shapes. Now, to cut and stitch. Sewing and quilting the top will take no time at all! OK -- you can stop laughing at that one!!!

OH—I hope you check out the cushions with the invisible zippers and piping that I made. When I was at the hardware store the other day, I checked the outdoor cushions. They are sewn shut, so if you need to wash them, you likely toss them. What a waste that is!!!

Cushion covers are stitched shut

And again - stitched shut

So, let's talk about my John Deere quilt. I made this quilt in 2015, and it's been hanging on my stair railing ever since. I've been looking for a home for it, but nothing came up. OK—I didn't try too hard. It even has Minky on the back.

The John Deere quilt

Then I happened upon a young man (8 years old) who can talk tractors like a seasoned sales rep. His name is Jackson, and here's one of his videos. His love of John Deere and talking about the same tractors that my Dad had on the farm made it very clear where the John Deere quilt should go. So I contacted his mom, and the quilt got packed up and is now on its way to him in Indiana. I wrote them a letter explaining why I thought Jackson should get the quilt. He wasn't even born when I made it! 

On the way to the post office

Of course, the two girls thought they should be coming with me. Oh no! You already had your walk! 

MOM -- can we come too?

My headphones are acting up these days. For no reason, the power goes off. The power was getting low, so I decided to charge them last night to listen to my audiobook today—hopefully without glitches. 

Charging the headphones

I got another quilt done. This one is slated for Quilts of Valour. I'm not sure they like those scrappy ones, but I was assured they would. If not, we'll find a good home for it. 

QOV quilt done!

Here's that little green jacket I mentioned yesterday. I believe it was made by my grandmother or my mother. I would like to ask Mom, but I'm afraid that'll set off a whole thing about WANTING things, so I won't. It's such a shame because I'm losing some information, but I don't want to rock the boat. 

Green doll jacket

The jacket is very well-made and has a hand-stitched lining. My grandmother made jackets, so I suspect she made it. My Mom wasn't so much into that kind of thing. I need to find a small hanger for it, and I'll hang it up downstairs! It would be a good idea to make notes about this kind of thing because then M could evaluate whether she wants to keep it or not. But at least she would know the provenance of the item. 

The lining is hand-stitched

Here's the cutting table—it's looking pretty decent. There are a few other things to take care of on that work table—mainly three quilts that must be trimmed. So I'm keeping the place organized, neat, and tidy, and that's what the new me is all about. Let's keep our fingers crossed that in a year, it'll look exactly as it does now! 

The almost-clear cutting table

On that note, I'd better get myself organized. I have two presentations this morning, and I'm almost ready for both of them. They are the final ones in our nine-month-long classes. 

Remember to tackle those drawers! It's amazing how much collects in them, and I bet most of it you do not need!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!