Row by Row Adventure

I was going to be mean and post about something else this morning, but well - I couldn't hold back!  I knew you would all be mad if I didn't share what we did yesterday on our road trip.

And some of you are very smart!  A couple of weeks ago, I posted a picture on Facebook of a Row by Row quilt. I didn't say much about it, except that I thought it was a cool idea.  Yesterday, when I posted on Facebook that we were at the border, TWO people (Pat and Mary) guessed what I was doing and one person even remembered the picture that I had posted earlier!  Mary - you're very smart!

I shared that picture with Ronda and asked if she was interested?  Game on! She shared the information with Laura who immediately mapped everything out and plotted a route. A few e-mails and texts and a date was set and we were off!

Just wait - there are pictures!  

The first store opened at 10 AM, but we had to contend with crossing the border into the US so Ronda (the driver) and Laura (the navigator) arrived at my house at 6 AM.  They were about 2 minutes late, but that's OK.  We stopped at the Tim's for breakfast and holy cow, that set the tone of our cashing out experience for the day!  I think the person must have been new. After repeating our order several times, they finally got it right and we were off.

We arrived at the border, passports in hand.  Oh ladies - see that Nexus line over there?  Well, there is NO Nexus line. I mean there is a Nexus LANE, but no LINE in that lane!  Alas, I was the only one with NEXUS so we waited.  It took about 35 minutes to get through. No issues although I did think that Ronda was a tad too chatty with the border crossing agent!  Oh my - how picky we are! We had a good laugh about it and recounted all our border crossing stories while we waited.

Then we were across and in the state of New York. We arrived at our first shop around 9:30.  We had discussed waiting at a coffee shop or something, but this shop was in the country!  We popped in a few minutes before 10 and it was a glorious shop!!  It was way bigger than it looked on the outside and they had a little bit of everything in that shop.  This was definitely a must return to shop despite the fact that it was one of the farthest away.

Mount Pleasant Quilting Company

They had a quilt block on their garage which is below.

Quilt block on the garage

We had 20 minutes to peruse the shop and check out.  NOT ENOUGH TIME, but alas, if we were going to meet our goal, we needed to keep on schedule. And Laura was an excellent time keeper.   I can imagine if she volunteers for field trips with her kids.  Nothing would go amiss!

Back in the car and off to the second quilt shop which was about a half hour from the first.  It was located in an old community hall and as we entered, there was the stage at the back which had been turned into a sewing area.  Very neat shop.

The Quilter's Daughter

This shop required a slight off-rading experience as we pulled into the wrong parking lot. No problem as Ronda proceeded to drive over the grass between the two parking lots. I saw NOTHING!

Off roading experience

And so it proceeded throughout the day. Laura had done an excellent job of getting us to all the shops as a couple of them were only open until 3 PM.  We got lucky on one as it was scheduled to be open until 4 PM. But it closed at 3 PM.  Guess what time we got there?   About 2:45 PM.  We had no idea that the shop was closing.  Ronda and Laura had already returned to the car and as I was checking out, the staff was going around the store shutting lights off.  Phew - that was close!!!

Oh I must tell you about the van.  Ronda is driving and Laura is navigating with the GPS (all the shops were programmed in!)  I was the back seat driver, although I didn't really have much to say as all was good up front. I was in the back eating snacks!  I sat on the passenger side of the van and unfortunately this door didn't open from the inside. I wonder if that had been rigged?  So Laura had to be my door person as I didn't want to move to the other side. No reason - just lazy!

We arrived at one shop and it looked closed so Laura hopped out to see if the door was open and then she walked right in!  Wait!  You forgot me!  Wait!!!   Thankfully Ronda was still in the car and was able to rescue me. We had a good laugh about that and I wonder if Laura has ever left her children in the car?

We had a total of 8 stores to hit and I'm happy to say that we hit them all with about 15 minutes to spare at the end. Well by the time we left that store, it was 5 PM.  A super successful and fun day!

Oh - you want to see what we were doing?   Well here are some pictures.

This was the card that I had seen posted on the internet.

Front of the post card advertising the Row by Row

Eight shops in Western New York got together and with the help of designer Susan Rooney, created the most amazing row by row quilt ever.  The eight rows (and a small finishing kit) make up one coordinated quilt measuirng 54" square.

Here are the eight participating shops.

Back of the post card advertising the Row by Row

How could you resist this? And it was so close to us that we were able to do all 8 shops in one day.  We didn't say anything to anyone because we didn't want to walk in the shop and buy kits for others. I really feel that Row by Row is something that needs to be experienced in person and the effort that these stores made - well you must go to them all yourself - it's so worth it.

We began to realize that EACH of the rows had a specific meaning to each of the shops. We got to hear the story and chat to the makers of the quilts, the owners of the shops or the staff and they were all very proud (and so they should be) of their Row by Row. We really had a positive experience at all of the shops.

The big question on the way down was whether to buy the kit or just get the pattern.  After all, we all do have loads of fabric. But once I saw the actual quilt and fabrics, I said - GIVE ME THE KIT because it was so well done.  So yep - bought all eight kits and the finishing kit. The patterns are EXTEMELY well designed and in full color. These ladies know how to do it right!

Eight rows and a finishing kit for the quilt

We had a little happy dance at the last store and here's a picture of the three of us with the quilt hanging in Auntie's Attic Quilt Shop.

This quilt was the version that was hanging in the first shop (Mount Pleasant Quilting Company).   Most shops had their version hanging up.

WNY (Western New York) on the Go!

We had to laugh at some of the shops because this one had a description - the little red barn in the back.  OK - so you're expecting a farm?  Nope, this one was in the suburbs.  A cute little shop!

Simple Pleasures and Homespun Treasures shop

Yesterday is what Row by Row is all about. Good times, visiting shops you've never been to before, spending money (we won't go there for the moment), there was ZERO time for eating (I was forced to eat chips and candy as I was locked in the back). We did manage a potty break or two that was smuggled in at the various shops along the way - but god forbid that you went over the 20 minute time!   It was so much fun - I'd love to do it again, but I can't for a variety of reasons. OK - two reasons - time and money!

Here are a few sights that we saw along the way and then I'll tell you what happened on the way home.

I think there are more Tim Horton's in Western New York than there are in Ontario!  At one point, there must have been a Tim's at least every two miles.  I managed to snap half of a Tim's as Ronda went speeding by! They are called Cafe and Bake Shop in the US. In Canada, they are just Tim's.

Half a Tim's (cafe and bake shop)

 We saw huge wind farms.

Wind farms

There were some massive steep hills as we criss crossed the country side.


Once we finished with the last quilt shop, it was time for a proper meal!  We popped into Applebee's which was right across the street.  It was here that we had some bad news to share. We tallied up our receipts. OH!   OH! - I'm OK with that.  Dinner was great and there were two more stops we wanted to make before we headed home.

Joanne's  - which wasn't far away and we managed to snag a few things there. Apparennlty there was a 20% coupon that you could download on your phone. Oh - so those bicycle bookends that are $50 marked down to $25 will cost even less?  YES. OK - so I picked up the book ends.  Add another $50 to the receipt total by the time I got out of there.

I had wanted to hit Barnes and Noble, but the one that was in Niagara Falls is now closed. The closest was Buffalo or Amherst and while we had been in both places earlier, there hadn't been time to hit the Barnes and Noble. No worries - let's move on.

It's time to head home and get through the border.  We had quite the discussion on what to say as we got closer.  I'm telling Ronda that she was too chatty on the way over and she needs to be very short in her answers.   We rehearsed in the car! And this is how it went.............

Border crossing agent: "How long were you away?"
Ronda:   "Left this morning"
Border crossing agent: "Did you buy anything?"
Ronda: "yes"
Border crossing agent: "What did you buy?"
Ronda: : "Fabric"  and he looks in the open back window to see if we're telling the truth
Border crossing agent: "How much did you spend?"
Ronda: "all together?"
Border crossing agent: "yes"
Ronda: "$XXX"   (god - I can't share that number with you - are you kidding me!!!!!
Border crossing agent: "so you each spent about $XXXX/3
Ronda: At this point, Ronda threw Laura and I under the bus as we had spent more than herself. She shakes her hands towards us and says, "well, I spent this much, Laura this much and Elaine this much!"
Elaine (to myself)  - remember to NEVER ask Ronda to have my back!
Border crossing agent: " have a nice day ladies"
Elaine (once the windows were rolled up and we were moving away)  "START THE CAR!!!!!!"

Between the three of us, well, let's just say that we helped the economy of the quilt industry in New York - a LOT.

And really, those border crossing guys are looking for smugglers. We weren't smuggling - we did declare everything we bought. We're three very innocent looking women - we had nothing to hide.  So we didn't have to pay tax at the border.   THANK YOU border crossing agent. That made me feel a smidgen better about the money I spent!


This is for Ronda and Laura -  here is the scary blue bridge that we drove over when I was at Paducah!!!  Open grid on the entire length of the TEN SPAN totally metal, narrow bridge.

On that note, I've a ton of work to be done today.  The dogs have been to the park and they're exhausted.

And if you get a chance to get out to do some Row by Rowing, take advantage of it.  It's so much fun. Yes - I wish it had of been in Canada to support my local quilt shops (but I supported them last weekend when I was at the retreat!)

Anyway - the most important thing - get out and have fun.  Now the next key thing is to actually make that quilt.  It's so cute and now that we know the stories (well most of them), I really want to make it.  A good project for the retreat!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!!

Oh Canada projects at the retreat

As I was finishing up the posts for QUILTsocial (and I'm mightly happy with the results), I thought I might as well continue to edit pictures.  I have a few edited for the next couple of days including a few from the retreat. The order of things will be mixed up but that's OK. That's just like my days!

Here's a shot of one half of the great room where we sew at the retreat. Look at all those windows and lots of task lights for night time sewing. Notice how tidy it all looks??  Actually there was a bit more stuff in there as this picture was taken on the last morning and some stuff had already been taken to the cars. 

The sewing room at retreat

But have a look at that cutting table and ironing surface.  I swear it was this neat the ENTIRE time.  No one left their work on the cutting table. No one hogged the work spaces. We were a very neat, tidy and orderly group. I'm not sure how that happened!

The immaculate ironing/cutting stations

It was also a Canada themed retreat as several people worked on Oh Canada projects.  These little pouches belong to Ronda. I bet she knows how to put in a zipper with no issues? Right???

Little pouches!

I had to repair my Canada tote bag.  Remember that I had tried to cut the corners from the top of the bag. Thankfully I only made ONE slice into the bag.  ACK!!!!  For whatever reason, I continued on to finish the bag. Why???  In hopes that the slit would magically disappear?  I've no idea. But it meant that I had to disassemble part of the bag in order to repair it.

Canada tote bag - repaired and ready to use

 I opened up the bag and zigzagged the slit together.

The slit is now together

I then made and sewed a key fob over the slit. The bag is now as good as new and no one will know that it needed a repair job!

Key fob saves the day!!!!

 Here's another shot of the great room.  See my table on the extreme left??  Yep - that's my FOUR candy dishes that we used for the taste testing of the Smarties versus M&Ms and the peanut butter M&Ms versus Reese's Pieces.

The sewing room at retreat

Notice that even in this picture from Saturday that the room is pretty neat.  We really were a great group!


As you read this  - well depending on when you read it, I'm off to a great adventure today. With a couple of well meaning friends.  I mean that in the nicest way, but these two have a bad reputation of getting into trouble and well - we'll see what happens.

Have a super day!!!!!


Ciao!!!!

Published! Again!

I'm going to sound like a broken record! But another one of my quilts is published in McCall's Quilting.  This is the September/October 2017 issue that should be hitting newsstands any day.  

McCall's Quilting - September/October 2017

Oh my - I even got my picture in this one!

Yep - that`s me!

Of course, I`m not going to show you the quilt. Nope - you have to run to the newsstand and buy your own copy so you can make the quilt.  While I love the version that I made, I see the editors messed around with the design and came up with other possibilities which I LOVE.  Now I have to make another one!  Never mind that I have TWO more quilts that have to be in the US by next Thursday. It`s going to be a busy weekend.



And my mind is racing with more designs. The more I design, the more ideas that are flowing.  I love being able to unleash the creativity that is bursting through the brain cells in my head. None of them are rocket science designs - I don`t have time for that. Although I do have some ideas for more complicated quilts - I'll work on those later. For now, I'm having way too much fun.

And if you want a free download, check out this link for Flight of Fancy by Northcott. Here's a link to the collection which makes me want a piece of all of it.  It's absolutely gorgeous and comes in three colorways. The free pattern is one that I designed (it's very very simple).

I have three amazing projects to show you when the QUILTsocial posts go live in a couple of weeks.  I think I mentioned that I chat about how my brain works when designing - it's pretty wacky, but loads of fun.

I did get my new tire installed on the car yesterday so I'm good to go for another couple of years.

I worked from home one day this past week. I had patterns to write and got two completed. I spent the rest of the day sorting out paper that I seem to carry back and forth to work each day and never touch. The kitchen counters were empty (as they almost always are) and I sorted and spread everything out. A pile for this, a pile for that. Toss that piece of paper and so it went for an hour or so.  Sticky notes, paper clips and before I knew it - I was organised.  Now why don't I keep my stuff like that?   Going forward I'm going to. For one thing, the mess didn't seem so big or messy when it was sorted.  Now I assign myself tasks each day and I'm working through and soon I'll be so far ahead of myself. Well, that's the plan!

And on that note, I'm out of here.  Got my assignments for the day and hopefully I can stick to them. And I'm hardly carrying anything to and from work. I take only what I need. What a concept that is!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!

Shopping!

I'm shocked that my colleagues think I have a shopping problem!  I can't imagine where they get that notion from.  I don't shop a lot - well not nearly as much as I used to, but  I always have lots of show n tell from my stash.

Here are some of my latest purchases from Thimbles and Things.  I did buy a lot of "boring" low volume neutrals. My plan is to some day get my design head in gear and focus on using them up.  But don't worry - I do have a design already done that's going to be published and it uses low volumes for the background. 

You know that I can never resist buying Halloween fabric.  There was the cutest charm pack of Halloween fabric.  This is totally Laura's fault that I bought this. She bought one first and made a big tote bag from it. I may have that picture somewhere. Damn her!

Halloween charm pack

I also found this little pack of embellishments in the sale bin. I couldn't resist it since I have a project in mind for this colorway.  No wait - I have the fabric pulled, but NO DESIGN yet.

Cute pack of coordinated trims

Speaking of design, oh my - I had an interesting session last night. Trying to get the last of the items completed to post on QUILTsocial and well, I was on such a whirl, I couldn't sleep. So yes - I was up at midnight, cutting, pressing and sewing and making up the project as I went along. I'm thrilled with the end result.  I'll be describing the design process in that blog post so be sure to watch for it. It was pretty funny what happened.

I managed to drop that tire off at the garage last night and do a few errands while I was in that neighbourhood.  I checked all the other tires and it appears that this was in fact the same tire with the cut in the side. I thought the cut looked different, but nope - same tire.  There was also a screw embedded in the tire. It didn't look new, but between the two issues, the tire has to be replaced.  $250!  At least I don't have to buy two tires and the new one will get installed later today!

My brain is bursting with quilt designs.  It's almost like an addiction that is worse than the sewing part. Why?  Because you can design something fairly quickly - well I can.  But there is one collection that I absolutely love, but am struggling to come up with something that I like.  Why???  I've no idea. I've spent a lot of time with the collection and have designed a couple of quilts, but nothing that I'm super excited about.  Have a look at Northcott City Scene.  Any suggestions???

Well back to finishing this blog post. It's taking me forever today.

I found this great saying on my daily quote calendar.  Imagine if the whole world followed this philosophy.  Unless what makes you comes alive is bad - like candy or drinking or worse!!!

Inspirational quotation

Oh - here is one more thing I bought.  Another license plate for row by row.  This is number three.  I have a feeling that this might be the last year for Row by Row!  It would appear that the enthusiasm from consumers is down significantly. It also appears that fewer shops are participating (my guess only) and it certainly seems that fewer stores have license plates to sell (thank god!)

Row by row license plate - number three or is that four?

Now if you're into reality TV, you're going to love this next link.  It's a reality quilt show!!!   Done by a shop in the US.  I've only watched the first episode and it looks amazing and FUN FUN FUN!!!!!!  I want to run one or participate in one.  Anyone game?????

You have to see this.

On that note, I've got to get my butt in gear.  I've have my fun of designing and now it's time to get some real work done.

Have a super day!!!!!


Ciao!

OH - I'm not going anywhere fast

The day started out great.  Finished prepping things for the day, loaded the pictures into the blog, walked the dogs and went out to the car to load my stuff.  Only to find this.........

A flat tire

It's hard to tell in the picture, but that tire is flat!    I couldn't even get mad - I was actually laughing when I saw it.

You see, I knew that one of my tires was low. Just a feeling I had last week that something wasn't right.  I did have a visual look at all the tires at the retreat and I noticed that the right front driver's tire looked a bit low, but everything seemed fine. And just as I was getting home on Monday night, the tire pressure light came on.  From the day I bought this car, there has been one tire that has given me issues.  The seal - well - it just won't seal properly.  At least once a year, I have to take it in for repair. You would think they could fix it?  It's probably the rim that is damaged, but again, this was from day one that I got the car.

So at the retreat I said that the driver's side front tire was looking low.  However if you can tell from the picture above, that this is NOT the driver's side.  Yep - it's the front passenger.

It's also the tire that has had that cut in it for over two years.  I'm lucky that's it's only a flat tire that happened in my driveway.

That is why we have things like CAA.  I have no shame being a girl and calling them to change the tire. I mean, seriously!  I waited about a half an hour. The guy comes with his truck and pulls out a HUGE jack which is way safer than the little one that comes in the car.  Then he pulls out his pneumatic wrench so he can take the lug nuts off and replace them.  In about 5 minutes - well maybe 10 he was done.  No one got hurt, no one got dirty and well - that's the way I like it!   I just checked back to the last time I had a flat tire and it wasn't so easy to fix. I had forgotten about that.

If you don't have CAA - it's so worth it for peace of mind.  Now I have to drop the tire off at the garage later today to see whether the tire can be fixed or do I need a new one?

Oh - I just checked back to the picture of the tire with the cut and I don't think this is the same tire. I didn't bother to check it this morning.

However that made me late for the rest of the day. I'll write the blog that I was going to write today - tomorrow. If that makes sense.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!

Motivational Monday!

How is your list of projects coming along? I have to confess that despite prepping a couple of those monthly UFOs and taking them to the retreat, I didn't work on them. Yikes!  That means I better start buckling down soon or I will be miles behind!

And I keep "panicking" thinking about a project that isn't on my deadline list. Then I check - oh yes - it's already there. I did end up with another very urgent project yesterday that has to be done by next week. Thankfully it's not big. I had complete option to do or not do, but I choose to.  That means TWO quilts, same deadline date. All in a days work!  Thankfully, both are fairly uncomplicated and one is almost together.

Here's a very sobering thought though about our projects. I spent five days at the retreat sewing. Granted I didn't sew as much as I normally do - I did slack off. It was a vacation after all.  But five days dedicated to sewing. While I did get projects done or very close to being done, it was alarming how much didn't get done. And this is only a teeny portion of the entire mess.  Oh dear!

I'll share with you over the week what I got accomplished. I did take a few pictures of some of the others' projects as well and will share those with you.

This is a project that had been cut for a long long time.  At least two years so I guess it isn't that long ago. It's all batiks.  I don't think these came from my stash - I do believe I bought them. It's so bright and cheery and I absolutely adore the colors!  Very tropical and I''m in love with it.

Bright batik quilt

I motored through this quilt very quickly with no or little regard for the placement of the strips, although there is some order to the strips.

As I mentioned, I had cut those two pink side borders and put them on at the retreat.  The length of the quilt was designed to have no borders on the top and bottom, although that is easy enough to change.

What do you think?  Border on top?

Same width as the sides

Narrower than the sides

Personally, I like it without the border. It's unpredicatable and I like that. But easy enough for anyone to add the top/bottom border if they wanted to. I think no border adds to the jarring effect caused by the high contrast of colors. So no top and bottom border it is!    If I were to put top and bottom borders, it would have to be with a slightly different pink. That helped the decision!

Here is what's leftover. Yikes - there's a LOT of fabric strips left over, and lots of those little pink rectangles that are already cut.  Hmm - a couple of options come to mind. See - there's that same problem again - what to do with the leftovers. Make a quilt? Add to the stash?

Leftovers

I ended up adding them to my batik strip stash. There are a couple of pattern ideas in that box and one day, I may end up making something else with the batik strips.

Batik strip stash

Two different pinks

While I was on a roll putting stuff away, I hung this quilt up for the pictures. Stored the bits and thought I might as well choose a backing fabric at the same time.  I found a bolt of this NON BATIK fabric in my stash. Yes - there is a fabric bolt stash!  I think it's perfect. I haven't had time to make the backing yet, but I hope to get down there later tonight. The good news is that the bolt stash is very slowly being depleted and NOT being replenished!

Backing for the batik quilt

I worked diligently on the editing process for QUILTsocial. You know I have a love/hate relationship with technology. Well here's a new one. I like to use Grammarly (an add-inn) to check spelling and basic grammar. It certainly does slow down the process in some applications. But I choose to live with that. I decided to do my editing on my newer computer and I was having a very hard time as the cursor was jumping all over the place for words that had been highlighted as having an error in them.  Oh my god - I thought I was never going to get done.  I switched computers - problem solved.  Seriously????  It may have something to do with the different (newer on the new computer) operating system???  I've no idea.  I guess all editing will be done on the old computer. No big deal - I just thought the newer one would be faster.  However for inserting captions, the newer computer does works better. Go figure! Thankfully  both computers are fired up, sit pretty much side by side and easy to switch from one to the other.  I'm learning!  And one day (as if!) all my technology problems will be over. Well - my life will be over too!


If you're looking for some great quilting designs, check out these Minute Motifs by Handi Quilter.  Some great ideas.  Don't forget to try them on paper first!!!   I am very serious about that. Don't think that I'm just saying that off the top of my head to give you more work.  NO - think about this - if you try to pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time, it's very hard. Your brain can't compute doing two different things at once. That's the same for machine quilting. If you're learning how to do free motion (and get the stitch length consistent, learning how to move the fabric) AND learning a new stitch at the same time, your brain goes into over load and can't function at anything.  I'm not kidding!!!!   So learn the new design on paper. Your hand and brain are very comfortable with pen and paper.  Once you get the hang of the motif (muscle memory for your brain), it's much easier to get to the sewing machine and stitch it out.  It may take a few trys on the sewing machine to get the design moving properly, but so much easier if your brain has already been trained in a safe, non stressful environment.

Well - I'm off to work. Got loads of writing to do today and trying to get things organized. I have little bits of this and that all over the place and I want to be organized with lists of what needs to be done in this category and what needs to be done for another one. I'm sure once I get that to happen that I'll feel much better and more in control.

And not that it's huge, but I eliminated 6 pieces of paper from the office and a box of stuff that needed to be thrown out. I had no idea that the box was full of things destined for the garbage.  I feel better already!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!!

Retreat - Day Five

What an indulgence to get away to a sewing retreat.  There is one more booked for 2017 and it's months away. And there are four booked for 2018.  It's so worth it to get away.  

The group was up early for the last day and packing up all their stuff.  Some left around 11, but the troopers (Ronda and Laura and I) stayed for a yummy lunch of leftovers and then we headed out around 12:30.  

I manged to get some last minute projects done before packing up so I was happy about that. 

Into the traffic for the trip home.  Was it going to be good or bad?  I programmed my home address into the GPS so I could see if it gave me traffic avoidance directions. It said that I would arrive at home at 14:25. The traffic moved along pretty well for the first 30 K and then there was a slow down. But it picked up again and slowed down.  

As I was nearing the city, my GPS was taking me to the 401 which is a crazy highway with lots of traffic. Obviously no traffic avoidance happening here.  I wasn't planning on going that way and was going to take the 407 which is the toll highway. I get free mileage on Sunday (well a certain number of KMs). However I noticed signs that the on-ramp to the 407 was closed.  WHAT?????    Thankfully the signs were well enough in advance that I got off one exit early and then detoured to the next on-ramp.  A slight delay but so worth it. 

I got home at 14:37 which isn't bad considering I had to take a detour and go through several bouts of stop and go traffic!

I did check on the internet about my GPS.  Turns out that I have the NUVI 66 LM by Garmin.  If I want to have traffic avoidance, I need the NUVI 66 LMT.  The T stands for traffic avoidance. You can't upgrade!  That solves that technology question. 

The girls were quite happy to see me and we had a good cuddle. When I retired to the gazebo with my book and my tea, they happily settled around me.  Ah - it's great to be away, but even greater to be home!

I hadn't even unpacked the car at this point - except for the food items that I brought home. Finally I managed to get the energy to unload the car. Bag by bag, I carried the stuff downstairs and slowly unpacked everything and put it away. Yes - I found a home for almost everything. There were a few projects that needed to stay out as they need to be worked on immediately. 

I then spent the entire evening editing my blog posts for QUILTsocial. I didn't quite make the deadline for all the posts and I feel very badly about that, but the goal is to finish most of them tonight and the last bit tomorrow night. When I write my personal blog posts, I'm not that picky about the grammar and other things and sometimes the words may come out a bit jumbled.  I'm writing how I talk so it's easy. But when I do a QUILTsocial blog post, I'm talking about a subject and I may have to check the name of something, get the facts right or rejig the words so everyone can understand me!

I did take some pictures last night, but I didn't have time to edit them.  I still have a couple of pictures from last week in a post and here they are. Motivational Monday post will be tomorrow. 

When I was at Monday sewing last week, I realised that the girls have gone to hell in a hand basket!  They're working on these tiny scrap quilts that are crazy!

Look at the size of the nine-patches that they're working on.  The BIG one is Maria's and the little one is Diane's. 

Teeny nine-patches

The teeny ones are for a quilt called 99 Bottles (Joan Ford - Scraptherapy).  This is Jan's quilt below. Jan is the crazy one since she started this craziness!   A great ender and leader project, but doesn't use up a lot of fabric!  I have the book and had intentions of making this quilt - just never got there yet!

A small part of Jan's Ninety-nine bottle quilt

And on that note, after a sleep deprived night, I'm off to work.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!