New ways to work!

Last night at dinner, DH asked me if I was going away in two days. I said yes. He then asked why I wasn't all in a tizzy and panicking about getting stuff done. Well, I have a new philosophy - what gets done gets done, and what doesn't? It didn't need to be done! 

Having said that, I did make good progress yesterday, and I've already been working for several hours this morning. I had a bizarre dream which prevented me from going back to sleep. Nothing to do with sewing or deadlines. What I need to do is to stop embroidering for a bit and focus on finishing the samples that I have stitched out! 

I might make that today's priority.

Yesterday did not start out well. I had planned to finish the stitching by lunchtime; however, an errant bobbin dictated that wasn't going to happen. I swear these things just happen to make me humble. I was stitching out four flower sections in the same color. The first two worked beautifully; the second two - the bobbin went haywire. Could I live with it? Absolutely not! So out the stitches came. And isn't it amazing that if it takes 5 minutes to stitch them, it takes at least 10 times longer to take them out? 

A wee bit of ripping 

And while this looks wrong - stitching upside down - for this technique and using the Specialty Techniques Embroidery Hoop - it's perfect. You'll see the finished sample tomorrow. I keep saying that because I did not take a picture of that other sample yet, but I will! 

Stitching upside down using the Specialty Techniques Hoop

I was using regular embroidery thread, as well as some thicker threads. I seemed to have created a trail of thread in the room. How did this thread get on the back of the chair? That wasn't even the chair I was using when I was embroidering!

Perle cotton threads on the chair!

It's one thing to embroider on a piece of cloth and then make it into something. It's quite another when you are trying to stitch on a ready-made item. You typically have to take it apart to some extent. And this is what part of my embroidery looked like. This was step one. 

Step One - stitching on the right side

That looks just fine, but when I had to turn the hoop upside down and transfer all that bulk to the left? Well, that wasn't going to work. Hmmmm -  now what? WAIT -- I have a free arm on the Husqvarna Viking Designer Epic 3, so I slide off the embroidery extension table and VOILA -- all that bulk fit UNDER the free arm of the machine! It was tight, but it worked! I'll share that sample as well tomorrow. 

I'll double-check later today, but I've done close to 20 hours of embroidery, if not more, over the last 10 days. That is not the time the machine has been on, but the time that it was actually stitching. Not changing the bobbins or the top thread, but the needle actually moving! 

At the same time, I'm trying to sew my shirt. Well, the second or third step of sewing the placket on the front was to hand-stitch the edges on the inside down. WHAT?? I don't have time for handstitching, but I sat there and listened to my audiobook. 

Can you tell which side is hand stitched and which is not? 

The right side of the button-hole placket

The wrong side of the button-hole placket

While I am not a fan of hand stitching, I'm darn good at it! MOST hand stitching should be invisible. Stitches on a binding should not show; stitches to hand stitch the edges of anything should not show! Yes - it's slow and takes up a lot of time, but you know what they say - if it's worth doing, do it right! 

BUT I was so excited because I got to use a new tool. This is called a Hot Ruler by Clover. 

Using the Hot Ruler by Clover

When you need to turn under an edge, in this case a 5/8" seam allowance on the long edge of the front placket, then you place the ruler on the fabric and with the markings on the ruler, it's easy to fold and press that very accurate seam allowance. 

The pressed seam allowance is perfectly lined up. 

I've left it out in case I need it again, which I think I might use on the yoke, which has to have the entire edge turned under (1/4") and then stitched in place. 

The only thing is, it made it challenging to sew the shoulder seam and sleeves. This is a solid white fabric, and there is no right or wrong side, except what you choose! I've been having fun with that, but now that the sleeves are in, it should be much easier! However, because of the way I finished the sleeve seams, it's still a challenge to tell which side is the right and which is the wrong side of the shirt. I have to check that placket very carefully before sewing anything. 

I still have to finish the seam finish on one sleeve, and then I can move on to the other components. 

Speaking of sewing - remember back in the day when everything we sewed was a 5/8" seam allowance? How do you judge that on your machine? You can use the markings on the stitch plate or this Adjustable Guide Foot by PFAFF. 

Adjustable Guide Foot

I love it, and I love having all the necessary presser feet at my disposal so when I need something, I grab it from the drawer. 

Speaking of drawers, have a look at this. This was the state of the drawers in my space this morning! OH -- I guess I could be a bit tidier, but that will all get put away and tidied up later today. 

What's with all the open drawers?

What was I looking for? I needed new needles, cleaning tools for the bobbin case, and some marking devices! ALL of them were exactly in the place they are supposed to be, so I am no longer wasting time searching for anything. That saves me enormous amounts of time and prevents so much frustration. I discovered another cabinet in the far corner while digging out the tracing paper, and I will need to clean it out when I'm back. 

As for the "empty" table, it wasn't empty! There were boxes of thread piled all over it. My yoke (white fabric) still needs to be cut out. But did you notice something else? 

The "empty" table isn't so empty.

As I work on my shirt, I don't want to just throw it in a heap, so I grabbed a hanger. Hmmmm -- now where do I put the hanger? WAIT - I have that bar on the table top, and it's the perfect place to hang the two shirts I'm dealing with at the moment! 

There is only one problem with this arrangement. As I worked at the embroidery machine, I kept feeling like someone was standing at the end of the table! 

A great place to hang WIPs

If you look carefully at the picture on the right-hand side, you can see most of the Visual To-Do list. Oh my—there are still a lot of things on there. I'm working on several of them and will attempt to focus more on them in a week. And there are several that are almost finished; those should be my priority when I'm back. 

Usually by dinnertime, I am done for the day, but yesterday I was close to finishing a couple of things, so I kept working. I was very glad when this popped up on the embroidery machine. My embroidery was done and so was I!!!

Done for the day!

And then I got to do the fun stuff - I got to work on the jigsaw puzzle. OK --- I am not a fan of puzzles with a lot of insects and flowers. They are very challenging to do. I made progress, but not a lot! But it's not the end puzzle that is important. It's the process. Slow and methodical and making my brain think! That's all I care about. It's not a speed puzzle after all. 

Progress on the puzzle

I have a story to share about the girls, but I don't have time for it today. But I will say that Miss Lexi is a diva. She will eat only when she's starving, and often her food goes untouched. She likes when a snack goes in her dish (a few veggies cut up), and then she will eat her food. She is not starving - there is always food out there for her. 

But both girls are now on Omega 3 - they probably should have been on it way before now. I managed to find a liquid form, so they get one squirt at each meal. Well, that Miss Lexi is there almost before Murphy is and gobbles the food down. It's one squirt of oily stuff, but she loves it! 

MOM - I love my food now!

And while I was stitching this morning, she was giving me grief. She is on the main floor, while I'm in the basement. She will not do the stairs, and I'm OK with that. But I could hear her moving around unusually, so I came up to investigate. And there she was trying to get out the screen door. So I let her out. She is not a barker, so if she did fuss with animals in the back, she would be somewhat quiet! She had better be - it was VERY early this morning. 

I left the door open about 6 inches and went back downstairs. Murphy was quiet as a mouse downstairs with me, so I was good to leave the door open. Then I could hear Lexi fussing again. What now? OH -- she's outside, and the door isn't open ENOUGH for her to come in. Good grief - she is not a big dog - she could easily have fit through the opening. "But MOM - the door would have touched me!"

Oh, Lexi —it's a good thing we love you! You are becoming a very fussy girl. WAIT --- you were always a particular and fussy girl. 

I got more work done on the class offerings, and I should be able to post it tomorrow. If not, it will be early next week. I want to proof the dates to make sure I haven't screwed up!

Well, I have a yoke, cuffs, and a collar to install today. Easy stuff! The rest (side seams, snaps, and hem)  I can finish tomorrow. And I have two embroideries I really want to get done today, and I must make that small repair on an item I did earlier this week. Then the rest of my focus will be on finishing the samples. I still have some experimenting to do, but I'll make that happen when I get back. There is always experimenting! 

I'll have one item that I won't be able to touch, but I'm going to take it with me. I'm going to be in a room filled with machines that are capable of doing that stitching, and I might even get some of it done while I'm showcasing the products! So I must make sure I have all the supplies for that. 

There will be so much for the "guests" to see that no one will know if a sample or two of mine aren't there. Who will know? Absolutely no one, so I'm not going to get my knickers in a knot! For me, it's more about the learning than the finished sample, but it is nice to have finished samples to show.

And on that note, I'm out of here to get things done. 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!

. 

A miracle in the backyard!

I sat at the computer yesterday morning and did some catch-up with email, and I have part of the class information written up! Saturday is still my deadline to publish that information, and I should be OK with that. So much other stuff sitting around the computer that needs to be dealt with -- how does it accumulate so fast? OR am I pulling things out when I see some open space? 

And to answer the question - will Busy Beach be a sew along? It's on my plan (the price is right)  -- just not this year. 

Speaking of sew-alongs, let's hear it one more time for Brenda's quilt. I sent the links to the blog posts to the participants and asked them to mention if I made any goofs, and I did. The tower in the top right is the Calgary Tower, NOT the CN Tower. I was going by memory, and I goofed on this one! That's it—unless something major happens, you will NOT see this quilt on my blog again! LOL

Brenda

I'm happy to report that I accomplished a lot in Studio B as well. It may not look like anything, but it's the little details that will niggle at your brain until you are going mad. As I get older, I need calm and clear and uncluttered in my workspace. So I took some time in the morning and finished off these. 

This was the original sample you saw, but now it has a sparkly bead for an eye. It looks much better. 

Machine embroidery with yarn

Then I had a chance to remake only the bird. My intent was to use up a sample similar to this (the one above). However, as I worked, I realized that this is a perfect example for showcasing the positioning and projection tools on the Husqvarna Viking Designer Epic 3 and the soon-to-be-released (September) PFAFF creative icon 3. So I made another sample with just the bird. 

Another sample with just the bird

Now I have three samples - the original one on top, which has many teaching moments in it, the newly completed one (what I learned!), also with a sparkly bead for an eye, and the sample that I can use to show how to use the projection and placement tools. It's so super easy, but you have to remember to use them properly. 

Three samples

This was my quote in the tea the other day, and I think it's perfect in this situation. 

Quote of the day

I'm glad that that situation happened, although it was frustrating. The project wasn't big, and I learned some valuable lessons and further developed my skills. If I had just winged it and it worked, then I wouldn't have learned so much. Actually, I did set it all up properly the first time, but for whatever reason, I moved the top fabric before I pressed start. That is a big NO-NO after you have placed something! I have no idea what I was thinking. 

Since I liked the eyes on the birds, I decided my spider needed eyes too, and I found some sparkly red beads in my bead stash. So that got done. 

Eyes on the spider!

I had another sample that needed pressing and starching, and that got finished as well, but I realize that I forgot to take a picture, so you'll see that tomorrow. 

I also stitched out the new design for my shirt, and it is very cute. I'm glad I changed the design, but I didn't need another lesson to make that happen! I needed to buy some ribbon for that, and when I was standing looking at the rack and saw the ribbon hanks on sale, I decided to get many colors. Why buy one, when you can buy many? 

LOTS of ribbon to choose from

But amid the commotion, I realized as I was putting my Embellishment Attachment for the EPIC 3 away that I had lost the long, thin threading wire. DRAT!!!! How the heck will I ever find that, and I hate losing bits of anything. However, I got very lucky! As I was sitting at the embroidery machine, I glanced down and saw a line on the floor. To my surprise - it was the wire. 

The missing threader wire

The white on the left is my huge hunk of white fabric for the shirt, and I need to recut the back yoke now that the stitching is done. That was easier than cutting the yoke and embroidering on the smaller piece of fabric. I need to cut that with a clear head, so hopefully I can get it done later today. Everything else is cut out, and I need to get working - the clock is ticking. 

At last - some clear space - calm!

Seeing those empty tables, all the thread bits in the garbage, the threads back in their respective cases, and the tools in their place just makes it so much more inviting to work when the space is like that. I also opened another small table and moved everything from this table (mostly my samples I want to tidy up) and anything on the cutting table I'm not focusing on this week. It all went on the table. I need less clutter!! I don't care how cluttered the tables are - I can easily ignore that - it's my three working spaces that I need clear. 

It was a surreal day yesterday. The smoke from the fires in Northern Ontario was driven our way by the wind. It was DARK in the house, and we had to use the lights in the middle of the day. The sky was totally smoked over, and it reminded me a little bit of being in the twilight in the north in the middle of the night. It's still smoky this morning. But at least the temperature yesterday was pleasant. 

The sky is filled with smoke.

My local library branch is closed for the remainder of the summer while they install a makerspace and new carpet! I wonder where the maker space will go? I had requested a book and had it delivered to the next closest branch, which is about 2 KM away. Since the temperature was pleasant, I decided to walk! 

Guess what? They had a jigsaw puzzle on the go. It was on one of those puzzle boards with the drawers on the sides. Of course, I had to stop. 

A jigsaw puzzle at the library

My super sleuth eyes spotted this piece almost right away. Actually, I put the piece below that in as well. 

I added two pieces

And then I was able to assemble these three pieces together. 

A three-piece random section is now together.

But I learned something valuable. I do NOT like working on that felt surface! I need a hard surface to get the satisfaction of putting the puzzle together. Isn't that weird? Not really, because as I'm listening to the book, Sugar, Fat, Salt by Michael Moss, he talks about the sensations that make us crave more food or hate certain ones, and it's all about the crunch, the texture, and many other things that make us want more. I've got a lot to say about this book, but not today. 

On my way home, I knew there was a geocache in the retaining wall beside a shop. It's very close to my house, and I had attempted to find it several times, but no go. Yesterday seemed like just the perfect day to make that happen. And before you knew it - I found it. 

I had been looking for something ROUND, but the cache was this flat pack! 

A FLAT geocache

And it was stuck literally in the crack of the retaining wall! One more to cross off the list!!!

A clever hiding spot

I really need to get my bicycle in working order (tires just need to be pumped up) because while the walk was fine and only took 40 minutes there and 30 back, I could bike it as well. I found several shortcuts on the way home. 

I was out messing with the pond again. The high temperatures greatly affect the water levels. As I was looking in the pond, guess what I spotted? It's a MIRACLE. We have a whole new mess of BABY FISH!!!!! There must have been about ten—OK, maybe six or seven. And they were all hanging out together, but of course, by the time I got my phone, they had dispersed. But here is one of them. 

A baby fish

And here's another. We also have all kinds of bugs on the surface that make short work of mosquitoes in the backyard. I don't feel so bad about paying $70 for those fish now! I got a great deal on them. 

One more fish and some water bugs

I took the picture of my Vancouver Island puzzle and posted it on Facebook. There are now 239 posts of puzzles by Villager that the group members finished this month! And we are only halfway through.  

I put the puzzle away, and now it's time to work on the next one, which I chose from the pile. I wanted something smaller (500-piece). There was a bag of pieces in the box, and I set them aside. It was only as I was laying out the other pieces that I realized these were the border pieces that someone put in a bag. However, they missed one!!

One border piece escaped.

And when you lay out all the border pieces, it doesn't look like there are a lot! 

The border pieces

But the border is done, and I'm working on the inside. It's a rainbow of butterflies, flowers, and bugs. This is one that I bought at the thrift store. It's a no-name brand I'm not familiar with, and thankfully, only 500 pieces. I've become a puzzle snob in a very short time, and the pieces on this are very thin, and they don't really stick together well. So I'll get it done, and it will go back to the thrift store! The quality is something that you would find at the dollar store. 

Progress on the new puzzle

All is good in my world, and I don't feel stressed one bit. I have my list of projects I want to finish before I leave, and I have three days. I won't get them all done, but the ones planned for today should NOT take a lot of time if I do everything right! We all know how that goes! But I get done what I can, and what I can't? Then I'll do it when I get home. 

I'm also compiling a list of other samples that I want to make based on what I've done this past week. There's always room for one more sample to test a theory, a new technique, or a new thread. 

On that note, I'm off to see Brooke this morning. I am now going to the gym three days a week (two of them completely on my own) and am pretty consistent as long as I am home. It forces me to practice getting up and down from the floor, which is a great skill to have. I may not be super graceful, but I'm doing OK. I'm even contemplating going back to the gym FIVE days a week, but let's start with four days and see what happens. That will be after next week. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Color My World Show and Tell - Part Two

Weren't those Color My World Quilts from Part One stunning? The group did such an amazing job at interpreting the design and then making it their own! So proud of all the work they did. And while I'm not ready to post the dates — OK, I should be, but I'm not — you know what quilts are slated for the new fall classes. OK -- if you don't know what they are, check out this blog post, which has all the classes. And there is a scrap quilt class as well. OK -- I need to get that organized! 

But what I wanted to say is that you will get the same kind of encouragement and instruction to make those quilts as the group did for Color My World. So when the signup opens, be sure to get yourself on the list. But as always, it's one thing to sign up for my classes; I can guarantee you won't learn much if you just lurk because of FOMO. You can't learn by watching - you must be doing! Plus, sharing what you are doing is part of the fun! 

How many people who just sat in on that class intending to do it later will have the motivation to design their four buildings on their own? It's probably not going to happen!

And how about this quilt? I so want to add this to the list, but I don't think that's a good idea because there isn't enough time. This is Busy Beach by Sew Fresh Quilts. I bought the pattern yesterday - it was just released. This is so cute, and the price was so low!!! 

Busy Beach by Sew Fresh Quilts

I'm keeping it on my list of quilts to make, and hence it will become a sew-along!

Speaking of Color My World, I spotted this quilt on Facebook yesterday. This is one of the quilts I shared yesterday, but it is now quilted and done!!! This is so exciting!!!! 

Brenda's quilt  - now quilted! 

Now let's have a look at the others that I didn't have time for yesterday. 

This quilt also has custom corners: the CN Tower, the Peace Tower, an Inukshuk, and a lighthouse. The small houses in the center of the outer row are also customized, and the trees changed. The backgrounds vary by section. As with all quilts I've taught, they start off timid and then by the end of the quilt, they are making so many customizations!!!

Lois

Three of the four corners of this quilt were customized: the Eiffel Tower, the CN Tower, the Peace Tower, and a lighthouse. What I love, and I hope that everyone takes away from this quilt, is that the way each person created their CN Tower, or Peace Tower, or whatever building they did - it will not and SHOULD NOT look like everyone else's! This is their interpretation and pattern making! Each person should be extremely proud of their accomplishment.  

Margaret

Look at the bright blue background with the srappy border! The tree trunks are white or light grey to accommodate the background so they show. You may notice that the main points in some of the Mariner's Compass in the center are situated at the 12, 3, 6, or 9 position, while others are not. It was all about how you sewed it together. Neither is right, neither is wrong. My goal was to get everyone to make a conscious decision and then sew it together. 

The four corners of this one are very unusual. They are different styles of religious worship. They are beautifully designed! 

Marina

Three of the four corners were changed in this one. I would say the Eiffel Tower and the CN Tower were the two most popular corner blocks! This quilt has the Eiffel Tower, the CN Tower, the Peace Tower, and the Burj Al Arab in Dubai. That building took a lot of planning and some bias tape!

Nancy

Another quilt with a busy background, with butterflies and dragonflies. Notice how the inner and outer roads do not match the pattern, and they blend into the quilt. The shape of the trees was also changed, as were the small houses in the outer row. 

There is a lighthouse, the CN Tower, a church, and a beehive burner, which used to burn sawmill waste and was important to this person because there is one in her town. Obviously, buildings had to be modified (in shape and perspective) to fit the block's shape. They did a fabulous job making that happen!

Nicole

Here is another with extensive customization. The roads are a solid fabric, the small houses in the outer ring are custom, and the four corners are lighthouses. Not just any lighthouses, but if you could see them up close, the detail that went into them is stunning. I'm not sure if they were modeled after real ones or generic ones. And the background is fluffy cloud sky fabric. So many choices!!!! 

Sandra

And the last one for the Show and Tell is one that was started during The Quilt Show sew-along. Well, I could be wrong about her actually starting it then, but I believe it was a kit purchased through them. She chose not to customize anything on the quilt, and that works just fine! It wasn't my job to persuade anyone to veer from the pattern - I only offered encouragement if they chose to go that way. In case you have forgotten, the original corners were Big Ben, Eiffel Tower, One World Trade, and the Centerpoint Tower (Sydney). The background fabric is polka dots, which is quite neat!!!

Zildi

And there you have it—the show-and-tell of all the completed tops. I'm seeing more progress on the Facebook page, and as the finished tops get posted, I'll share them with you. I'm sure everyone is taking a break over the summer, and I will host a couple of remedial sessions in the fall for those who still need a bit of encouragement to finish the quilt! They have come so far; it would be a shame to not get these tops done!!!

I had a better day, but I don't have pictures to share with you yet, except for this. I made it back to the fabric store and purchased the remaining fabric on that bolt (1.7 M) in case I screw up again! I hand-washed it and threw it in the dryer so it would shrink (if any) at the same rate as the previous piece. 

Ironing the missing fabric

As I was prepping the fabric for the embroidery, I had a change of heart and decided to pick a different design which I like better. See that symmetrical issue was resolved in a better way! Although the new design is also asymmetrical, I'm giving myself plenty of room for the embroidery. That's not the issue - the issue was in cutting, so I'll use the yoke I cut yesterday to cut the new one! I was about to start the embroidery, but realized I was still missing one component to finish it. Off to the fabric store again, only to realize they closed at 6 PM. Sigh.............

However, the project I started out with earlier in the week, which is an amazing example of showcasing the EPIC 3 placement tools, has now been redone! And I have to say that it's pretty EXACT! I'm quite thrilled with it, and while that was stitching, my brain wasn't functioning. Well, it didn't want to sew, so I did this instead. 

The puzzle is done! 

It was funny how easy it was to slide those design boards with the pieces on them up just a bit so I could work on the bottom! And then I said, why hide what you are doing - let's just get it done! And so I did! I need to take a picture with the code word of the month and post it online! There are 215 posts so far this month. It might be a slower month because the puzzle was to be a certain brand, and some people may not have that brand or want to go out and buy one. I see they have a new series of 250-piece puzzles that you can buy in a bundle or separately. This puzzle is called Vancouver Island by Villager, and I love their puzzles. 

And FYI, their Advent Calendar puzzle box will be on the shelf on September 21st. No pre-orders!

The bottom section was easy as pie - the top? It was challenging! 

In the midst of prepping for next week, I needed some page protectors, and I couldn't find any empty ones. I pulled a book off the shelf in the office and found a few articles/patterns I no longer want or need. So those articles/patterns got recycled, and I got a couple of page protectors. 

A mess of articles/patterns from eons ago!

But I also spotted a couple of neat articles that I want to reread. Oh yes -- I know that I have some fun things in those binders that I pulled from magazines. I just need to read them, and one of them is right up my alley—quilting with your embroidery machine. But can you guess what date it was written? 2005!!!!! 

I made great progress yesterday on the prepping for next week. I have two things I'd like to embroider today, and then I need to switch into full-steam sewing mode. If I can finish a few of those small items that have piled up, that would clear the way to finish the remaining few things before I leave. 

I'm up early, and I don't have to wait for a specific time to get to the gym (no spin class). I notice that the 6 AM Wednesday class has also been canceled. What a shame because many people liked that class and loved the instructor. That's progress! No, that's some idiot manager who got a bee in her bonnet about something. I don't know the details. 

And with that, I'm off!!! 

Have a wonderful day!

Ciao!!!

Color My World Show and Tell Part One

What a great idea—those rose photos would make great puzzles!!!

I'm tired of talking about my projects for next week. Let's just say that symmetry or lack thereof has thrown me for a loop this morning, and I think I'll be making a trip to the fabric store. And that's all I'm going to say about that. 

Let's discuss Color My World. Someone asked me yesterday if they had missed the photos, and NO—with all the commotion going on, I totally forgot I was going to post the completed quilt tops. 

Plus I need to post the dates of the new classes. I won't do that today, but let's have a look at the Color My World quilts. 

The original four corner buildings were the Eiffel Tower (Paris), Centerpoint Tower (Sydney, Australia), Big Ben (London), and One World Trade (New York). 

Color My World by Wendy Williams

Right from the beginning, when I showed some other examples, the participants got excited about changing the four buildings in the corners and wanted to switch some or all of them out. It became an obsession in the class. Every month, I "nagged" them about making the choices for those four corners IF they were going to swap them out. If they were happy with the pattern, then they didn't have to worry. 

If they did decide to swap them out, they needed to start thinking about finding a pattern source. OOOPS -- since those corner blocks are so oddly shaped, they would have to draft their own patterns. This sent some into a tizzy, and others took the challenge head on! 

We chatted about perspective, shape, proportion, design, methods of creating patterns, and so on. It was quite the challenge, and I think almost everyone decided to do something different, at least in one corner. 

I believe three people in the group had started this quilt when it ran as the Block of the Month with The Quilt Show back in 2021, but they never completed it. 

Without further ado, let's see what we have. Keep in mind, this is only a small portion of the quilts. Others are close to completion; they are working on the final corners, and I'm not going to include them until they are done. So consider this Part One.

They are in alphabetical order from my list. 

All four corners were customized on this one. A lighthouse, an elevator, and the other two are machine embroidered - wheat sheaves and prairie lilies! 

Bonnie

Note that all the windows are the same color. This made it easy to cut the houses as you didn't have to find that extra color for them! And the center blocks on the outer row were changed into parks, and I love how the big tree emphasizes the compass points. The four corners are the CN Tower, a church, a mountain scene, and the building where this person and her husband met.

Brenda

Three corners in this quilt were changed. The four corners are the Eiffel Tower, the CN Tower, the Peace Tower (Ottawa), and a tree with the night sky behind it. Some people chose to create buildings or scenes specific to their lives, and others wanted emblems of Canada. 

Carole

Lots of Canadian symbols in this one - a totem pole, an Inukshuk, a lighthouse, and the CN Tower. I wish I could share close-ups of all the unique blocks! That would fill another blog post - perhaps if there is enough interest, I might do that! 

Cathy

Lots more Canadian symbols in this quilt. We had one session where we brainstormed different ideas, mostly Canadian-themed ideas, and some came up with other great ideas on their own. This one has a lighthouse, the Big Nickel, the Peace Tower, and the CN Tower. The Big Nickel wasn't on our collective list, but is important to this person! I just love how everyone dove in and fit patterns into that wonky block shape. 

Cloe

This next person had to make some decisions right at the start! She has split the background in half - so we have night and day on the outer ring and seasonal on the inner ring. And then when she did the applique for the trees on the inner circle, she made all kinds of different shapes, and she made those trees seasonal!! The four corners are CN Tower, a lighthouse, Malahat Skywalk, and a grain elevator. Just keeping the background colors in order would have been a huge task! 

Darlene

I forgot to mention that people used all kinds of colors in the center compass as well. I love the fact that they encouraged each other, or perhaps it was peer pressure, to do things differently. Once they got started, there was no stopping them!! The outer buildings are the CN Tower, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, and a hand- and machine-stitched Tower of Pisa! 

Elaine C

Although this one isn't stitched together, I'm including it because all the blocks are laid out. I am especially proud of this person's work. She was one of the people who started the quilt with The Quilt Show. The inner ring to the second black road was complete. She had stalled at the outer buildings. I asked her why she didn't continue, and it was all about the four corners. I ensured that she got the encouragement she needed to make the decisions. Sometimes, making the decisions is harder than the actual work. 

Well, she blew me out of the water with her choices and how she assembled them. She has a Peace Tower, a totem pole on the land, with a whale swimming in the water, the CN Tower, and an Inukshuk. 

Elaine M

A different background style with small birds. I have forgotten to mention the outer border. Some decided NOT to put the border on, and others chose to put a border of a different color and size on the outside. Another way the quilts were customized was the roads. Notice there are no lines on these roads - just one color of fabric. 

The small houses in the outer row are customized, as are the trees. The four corners are a lighthouse, CN Tower, grain elevator, and a totem pole. 

Elizabeth

I'll finish off with this one today (running out of time), but there are still eight more to chat about, and there might be a new one completed and posted in our private Facebook Group. I'll talk about the other eight tomorrow. 

This person decided that after the outer road, she was done! She didn't need another big quilt, and it fits perfectly on her round table. This one is quilted and bound! 

Katheleen

What I love is that everyone did their own thing on making this quilt. From using a busy print for the background, to different fabric choices in various spots, eliminating the detail in the roads, customizing the blocks, making their patterns, changing the trees, and so much more! I could NOT be prouder of the group for their accomplishment!!! 

We ended the final class with a discussion about quilting because it is better to have the quilt quilted than to wait for someone to custom-quilt the darn thing. 

So stay tuned for the next round of pictures tomorrow. 

To finish off today, I have two more pictures to share. It's all about that darn jigsaw puzzle I'm working on. I always pull a bunch of pieces relative to the area I'm working on. Most jigsaw puzzles dictate how they need to be assembled. This one was top down. Those trees were a challenge, and I got stuck and thought I would never finish. But I managed to find a home for almost all the pieces I had pulled, but there were still a few holes. 

At last - progress on the puzzle

Before I put the design boards back on top of the puzzle to avoid temptation today, I pulled the next set of pieces. Well, this part looks easy, so I had to put some of it together last night. But then I said, STOP —this will be something to look forward to tonight! I have five nights to finish it - that should not be an issue. 

Oops - got a head start on tonight's part.

And on that happy note, I'm out of here. I have a lot of work to do again - but it's all coming together. I have multiple projects that now need some finishing. I still have a bit more machine embroidery to do, but I might take a break today and finish all the small things. Then I can go back to machine embroidery. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!