Much progress and a scholarship!

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

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

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

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

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

Barn quilt block on the local church

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

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

Planting - but what?

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

That's a big piece of equipment.

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

Wide load coming through.

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

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

The theme of the quilt show

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

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

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

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

And another bag of HSTs 

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

HMMM - now what?

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

The knitting bag was moved to the car.

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

Instructions for knitting World Cup players

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

Poinsettia blocks - DONE

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

Applique shapes - DONE

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

Santa face - DONE

So now the six Santa mittens are complete!!!

The six Santa ornaments - DONE

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

Happy snowman ornaments - DONE

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

The last one to finish

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

The other completed ornaments.

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

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

Progress on applique removal

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

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

Trimming HSTs

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

There are two seams in these!!!

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

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

Supplies for the Call Me pattern 

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

The binding on the vinyl pocket

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

Oops -- the corner got nicked off.

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

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

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

Removing paper from the HSTs

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

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

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

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Many hands make short work

WOW --- what great stories of coincidences!!!! And, amazingly, our brain makes these connections! It's an amazing tool, and we need to use it or listen to it a lot more than we do!!

Good progress was made at the retreat house. I moved another bag of finished projects to the car last night, leaving one bag of projects and my knitting bag! We are here until Sunday, so I should be able to touch most of the stuff I brought. Well, let's see, since some of them are small, but still -- despite my panic packing at the end, I think I did pretty well. ONE bag of projects to take to the car —even if I don't get to them all—that's all that remains!!!!

Let's start with those half-square triangles. I managed to finish this entire grouping. Yeah!!! There were two dark triangles left without a matching light, so I'll add them to my tray of triangles when I get home. One of the things I love is getting home, unpacking the bags, and prepping for the next retreat!! Lots of satisfaction in that task. 

Another grouping of HSTs done!

So it was time to unpack the next grouping of half-square triangles. I've started working on this group, which I didn't even realize was in the retreat bag. That leaves one bag that needs trimming; I might save it and do it at home, or I'll work on it here. And there is one large bag with HSTs in various states of completion. Once these three groups are done, I think I'll be caught up. What a relief that will be!! I'll keep the two bags of HSTs to sew in the retreat bag as they are good enders and leaders. 

The next batch of enders/leaders

Speaking of enders and leaders, I went to sew another quilt top together and realized when I opened the bag that I need to finish making the blocks! I had cut all the pieces needed, but I had forgotten that the blocks were not finished. So that will go back into the retreat bag, as it's a great ender-and-leader project for the retreat. 

Here are the partially completed blocks. 

Partially completed blocks

And here are the pieces that need to be assembled. This is one project I brought, but I won't be touching it, nor the other two bags of HSTs. I'll continue to bring them until they are done, as they are good to have at a retreat. Once those are done, I know I have a couple of other projects that will work for enders/leaders. 

The pieces to complete the blocks are ready to be sewn.

I'm happy to report that I finished the other quilt top, but what an ordeal!!! The fabrics in it are very busy, and even though I had it laid out on the design wall, I managed to join the same fabrics together, not once, not twice, but THREE times!!!! I decided to leave it that way. I was not ripping it out. Did I mention that I had four blocks left over? 

The scrappy quilt top

But when I hung it up on the wall to take a picture, I wasn't happy, not because of the fabrics touching, but the ratio. It was too narrow for its length, and that will drive me insane. So I took the bottom row off and added it to one of the sides. I needed a few extra blocks to make that happen. This was probably my original intention, but of course, I did NOT leave myself a note. That would be too easy!!!!

And this is what it looks like now. There is one block leftover, and I'm OK with that, as I have another bag of blue flannel scraps with me, and that block will go in that bag. It's a decent-sized quilt top and made of MANY scraps, but together, it looks just fine! 

The correct orientation of the quilt top

Now here's a wild coincidence. I had picked up this small package at some US quilt show eons ago. There was a sheet of sewing lines (Moda Recipe paper #2) and two 10" squares of fabric. You could try out the papers and make two smaller blocks. It has been in the retreat bag for MANY retreats. I decided last night that if I wasn't going to make the blocks, I should NOT bring that back. 

A kit to make two quilt blocks

So I decided to sew the two blocks together. Here was the "recipe" that came with the kit. The sewing and cutting lines are marked on the paper, and you have this diagram to show how to assemble the block. The idea is that you pin that paper to fabric from a layer cake (10" pieces of fabric). 

The block instructions AKA Cake Mix Recipe

And here are the two blocks. 

My two blocks

What will I do with them? They can go in my orphan block box, and I'll need to tackle them during our upcoming scrap class starting in the fall. 

So there was nothing unusual about that, except that I finally tackled that little project in my retreat bag. 

Well, imagine my surprise when one of the ladies had similar sheets. When I looked closer, she was making HSTs from the Mode Recipe sheet #2!!!!! What are the chances of that? 

Someone else is working on Moda Recipe #2

Would I use them again? Well, it was kind of nice to have everything preset, and in particular because I was using the two 10" layer cake pieces of fabric. But to just make HSTs? I don't think so. But it's done!!!

And yes, I remembered to remove five more raindrops from the Cherrywood Challenge. Slow and steady. The five I removed yesterday were the big ones, which are easy! It's going to take me five days to remove all of them on the left side and a couple of weeks to remove them from the other side. It doesn't matter - it's just important to keep at this so I can get it finished!! I need to leave that beside the computer, and it would be a great thing to do at Virtual Retreat, Monday sewing, or watching a YouTube video. 

More raindrops are removed.

WAIT --- there's more!!! I woke up at my usual time when I'm home, and since I had had a great sleep, I was revved up and ready to sew. That's when I discovered that the black-and-white blocks weren't ready to be sewn together. 

But I grabbed the next bag of scraps to assemble into blocks and realized I only had a few blocks left to make. It's from the leftovers of making the eight dog quilts for the staff of our retired vet last year. 

Making scrappy dog fabric blocks

I had enough scraps to make ten blocks, and the rest was already made into blocks. The leftovers from this exercise are the two pieces at the top. Those got put into the other bag of dog fabric that is random colors. I will leave that for the next retreat. In addition to the ender/leaders, I like to bring a bag of scraps to make blocks. I still have a bag of Oh Canada fabric, the dog fabric, and some blue flannel bits. 

Blocks for another dog quilt

The plan with these particular blocks is to make a couple of borders around this dog-themed panel I couldn't resist last year. But I need to trim the panel, and I need a coping strip to go around it so I can add the 6" blocks. I just realized I could design it in EQ8 here, and when I get home, I can trim and add the coping strip. I might dig it out and do that. I  may or may not sew it at home. It would be good NOT to bring it back, so I might put it on the priority sewing list when I'm home. 

The dog panel to go with the blocks

And then, before I left the house, I threw in some scraps so I could work on the appliqué for the sledding block for the winter quilts. I got that all prepped last night and just need to fuse the shapes to the fabric, cut them out, and stick them down. I will get that done today. And now I'm working on the poinsettia pieced blocks. 

The appliqué is ready to fuse and cut.

And that was all I accomplished since yesterday's blog! OH WAIT --- one of the other ladies and I walked into town because I needed bananas, and while we were there, we went to our respective coffee shops because they were right there. No bug bites, which was good because I still have a lump on the back of my head, although it's much smaller now. 

And then one of the other attendees and I went back to Creekbank. Don't ask, but I picked up a couple of spools of thread! You'll see more of that when it's time. 

Remember that I talked about the low-tech of putting a jigsaw puzzle? I mean, no technology is required, so it should be easy for me to handle. Well, not so much. The puzzle I brought to the retreat was brand new, and I needed to open the seal. Well, that was a job and a half. 

I had trouble using a knife to slit open the tape and ended up sawing through the bottom of the box!!!! 

Oops - a bit too aggressive in opening the box

All I really needed to do was to pull that tape off!!!! Oh FARCE!!!!!!

It was as easy as pulling the tape off!

The good news is that the puzzle is done!!!!

The puzzle is done!

And the good news is that many hands make short work of any puzzle. Of the six of us here, four actively attacked the puzzle. I think we all did it at different times. One person would leave, and then someone would sit down! 

Many hands!

I have worked on jigsaw puzzles at other retreats and was never joined by anyone. They just left me in my corner, and I worked away. This time, it became a community puzzle even though the intention was for it to be a personal diversion, just like at previous retreats. But you know what? Who cares—if the others had fun putting it together, I'm happy to let them work on the puzzle. I have the setup, the puzzles, and the time to work on them at home by myself. And I'll do this one at home by myself at some point. I think the expectation is that I bring a puzzle to future retreats! 

One of the ladies has actually been to the location of this puzzle - Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. 

The puzzle!!!!

This is an older puzzle because it has a photograph on it. Many of the puzzles today are no longer photographs but are designed by graphic designers. And there is a BIG deal about them NOT being designed by AI. This is a lucrative business: designs created by people, for people. I would NEVER buy a puzzle generated by AI. OK - I said NEVER again, but seriously --- these designers need to be employed, and AI could not generate all the details required for a puzzle, without making a mistake. 

Besides, there are some amazing Canadian artists and some amazing Canadian-based puzzle companies. We need to support them!!!!!

I got a chuckle from two people here. This small piece is not a scrap -- this is the size of a finished piece that goes into a block from the Quilted Diamond Quilt by Linda Franz. She is hand-piecing this quilt, and, well, sewing this into a block could be a challenge!!!!

Now that's a small piece.

And this is someone else's shirt!!! What to do with threads when you don't have a spot? Put them on your shirt!!!! 

That's a lot of threads.

It's been a bit chilly here, and while I'm sitting in shorts at the moment, I might have to put pants on to go for a walk. 

But I'm fired up and ready to get some work done today!! Heck - if I get no more work done, I'll still be happy with what I've accomplished so far. Anything else is gravy!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Half-square triangles

OH MY --- there are so many stories of how people just "randomly" meet, and it's meant to be. The blog is going to be late, as I listened to another story of just such a situation. Life is so full of coincidences, or are they really coincidences? The next time a coincidence happens --- think about it --- that happened for a reason.  

I am not sure that I'll go for a walk this morning - at least not in the direction that we have been going - down the local road. The black flies are out, and, well, I had a little extra protein for breakfast, and I have more lumps and bumps on my head and a bite or two on my arm. I might walk to the grocery store to get some bananas!!! Hoping that along the road, there will be fewer bugs. Oh, silly me! 

I made great progress in the day and found several more bags of HSTs in my retreat bag. Good grief -- you would think that I would work on one bag at a time. Nope—I like working on multiple groupings. Can you tell me why?

I found this one with some black, white, red, and grey. I'm happy to report that all is sewn, trimmed, and ready to be put away when I get home. 

Working on the first group of HSTs

Here is proof that all is done! 

All is done in this grouping.

Then I found this bag of cream, pink, and orange. A good part of them are sewn and trimmed, and I'm using them as enders and leaders as I work on my quilt tops. 

The second bag of HSTs

Yes, I'm working in groups of four. And this is what I accomplished yesterday! 

What I accomplished yesterday from this grouping

There are three other bags of half-square triangles in the retreat bag. One bag contains units that just need to be trimmed - that was the one that I have been trying to find, and I was pretty sure I had tucked it in that bag. One is just the triangles waiting to be sewn together, and the third one I had forgotten about, and some of the units have been pressed and trimmed. Some need to be sewn. That will be for later. 

Then it was time to get back to work sewing the scrappy flannel squares together. And this is what happened. I was pulling one row off the wall to sew it together, and a whole section fell off. Thankfully, I had taken a picture, so it was easy to put them back! 

Ooopsy

And later in the day (much later), it was finally assembled. 

One quilt top done!

Yes -- it's pretty scrappy, and yes, there are four very bright spots. And you know what? I'm OK with that! 

Then I pulled out the next bags of scrappy blocks. I got those put on the wall last night and got part of it sewn. 

The next very scrappy quilt

This is a very scrappy quilt, but all of the squares have a wintery theme. I'm making good headway on getting it done. But so much for sewing three quilt tops together in one day! I should be able to sew this together today, and hopefully the last one as well? We'll just have to see. 

I also removed five more raindrops from the Cherrywood Challenge. The large ones are super easy to remove, the small ones with slightly narrower stitches are a bit more of a challenge! No Prince song this morning as I write this. 

Removing more raindrops

And then there was the puzzle. It's a challenge as well - the easy bits are done, and now we are onto the greenery. There are three of us working on the puzzle, and hopefully we'll get it done before we leave. 

Progress on the puzzle

Plus, two of us went to another quilt store in the area. And we spotted this barn quilt along the way. Oh shoot -- we saw one the day before as well, and I keep forgetting to post that picture! 

A barn quilt

How is this for organizing half-square triangles? These are not mine. Of course not! Mine are always in a jumble, while these are super neat and organized!!!!

Nicely organized HSTs

We have no plans to go out today, except to walk to the grocery store and hopefully avoid the bugs!!! My head is itchy!!!!

Will I get through everything that I brought? You know what? I'm doing pretty well, and I should be able to touch almost everything I brought.OKK -- that's a lie - there might be a couple of things, but it's good to have variety!!!

And that's it for today. I must get back to the sewing machine. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!


PS --- YES -- the arm that doesn't move while walking is the arm I use to hold Murphy's leash. I try to keep a tight grip on her, and it shows!!!!

WAIT WAIT WAIT ---- I have something else to share. My artist friend (we've never met but have stayed in touch via social media for years) has been shortlisted for a jigsaw puzzle for Villager Puzzles (amazing company by the way - Canadian owned by a woman with women artists). 

Anyway, if you wish to vote for the puzzle, here is the link. It appears to be only on Instagram. Cynthia Frenette is one of the three. Vote for the best (which is hers!) OK -- so I'm biased.