Finished is better than custom quilted

Oh gosh -- my washer isn't working, and I needed to do laundry yesterday! It has been acting up recently: the door catch doesn't always recognize when the door is closed and locked. So if you wiggle the thing, it would work again. Yesterday? The wiggling didn't work. Oh well -- I have enough clothes to make the next couple of days work. 

When I'm back in three days, then I'll have time to try and get some things done around the house. Like weeding the backyard, fixing the washer, and giving the long arm a spa day. And so many more things!

Thankfully, the rest of July is pretty wide open, so I'm looking forward to that. 

I had forgotten to mention that there is no virtual retreat this month. I simply wasn't home enough to make it happen. And while I could let the retreat run without me, I would prefer not to do that. I am the host, and I don't like leaving the ladies unattended! Not that I don't trust them - I just prefer to be there when I have an open call. So there may be TWO retreats in July, as I have a lot of hand stitching and sewing that I can do, and why not? 

So I'm going to host a Virtual Retreat for July 4 and 5, and then I'll figure out the date for the second one. 

I have to leave shortly for my road trip, so I don't have much time to post, but I want to share my version of Color My World. We had an amazing show-and-tell of the Color My World quilts. I will sort through the pictures and post the quilt tops as they are finished. There are quite a few that are done, and many that are almost done; once people got into the process, many started customizing the four corners. I will post finished tops, but that won't happen until later this week.

 We went through the trials and tribulations of designing our corners with buildings that are meaningful to each of us, and wow - the participants went wild with that task. I am so darn proud of all of them for stepping out of the box and making this happen. 

This morning, I'll share my quilt with you.  

I decided to change two of the four corners, so I had the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben, which were patterns included with the quilt. I switched out the Sydney Tower for the CN Tower, and the One World Center for a grain elevator. 

You can't have a grain elevator without identifying its location. This is the name of the tiny village near where I grew up. It shows up on Google Maps - seriously? I can't believe it - it's been a ghost town for quite some time, and there were two elevators in that village. Like almost all elevators in Saskatchewan, they are history. 

Machine embroidery on my grain elevator

Then came the decision of how to quilt the quilt. It is not typical of me to have one of our projects completely done by the end of the class, but I needed to take it to Quilt Canada with me. I thought long and hard about how to quilt it, and many of the ones spotted online were custom-quilted, with many lines of stitching in the ditch. 

You know how that is -- when I was a new quilter, 28 years ago, people used to say - just do "stitch in the ditch!" Well, I have since learned that stitch in the ditch is very time-consuming to do right, and it is NOT easy. I could have chosen to do it on the long arm or the domestic machine. It would have taken a long time to make it happen. Barbara Black said it took her six days to quilt the version she had done for The Quilt Show. 

I did NOT have six days, nor did I have any interest in all that stitch-in-the-ditch, so I decided that finished was more important than custom-quilted, and I loaded it on the long arm and did an edge-to-edge pattern with it. 

This is the pattern I chose. 

Edge-to-edge pattern on my Color My World quilt

And there it is, with an appropriate thread (color and weight), the thread and quilt design take second place to the houses. 

Color My World fresh off the long arm

If I remember correctly, that got quilted before I left for the wedding, and it got trimmed and bound on the "free" day I had between the wedding trip and Quilt Canada. 

I threw it in my suitcase, and when I arrived at the hotel, I had two quilts that I put out on the queen beds. 

Color My World on my bed in the hotel

I forgot how big the quilt is, but it fits beautifully over the top of a queen bed. I much prefer to make toppers for the beds rather than make a full-size quilt. Why? I don't need a full-sized quilt - a topper over the duvet works just fine for me. It takes less time to quilt, less fabric, less time to bind, and is smaller. Plus, big quilts just don't hang well on the corners of a bed, and there's the decision about what to do with the pillows. No more giant quilts for me.

As I lay in the other bed, I could admire the texture of the overall quilting. The quilting pattern was obvious, but it doesn't detract from the houses. I know I already said that, but it's so true. I do NOT regret my decision to do overall quilting on it. That is going to make me rethink many of the quilts I have waiting to be quilted. It will be better to have them quilted than to leave them as UFOs in a pile. 

The texture of the quilt is amazing.

And there it was hanging up at Quilt Canada, and you can see my wildly coloured CN Tower. I didn't want to make it black or grey, as there really wasn't any black or grey in the quilt, aside from the roads. The bottom part was hidden, and many people asked what buildings I put on the bottom - Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower. 

My quilt is in the booth at Quilt Canada

Here is the entire quilt. It looks like there is a ripple near the bottom, but that's because there's one near the top. I hung it up with some clips, and well, even if there is a ripple, it's good enough for me. Notice the orange trees? It's fall in my world - the original had green trees. 

My version of Color My World

And as you can see, the overall pattern does NOT detract from the quilt one little bit! I'm thrilled with the quilt and so happy that it is finished. I must get a label on it as well as several other labels on quilts, and I hope to get that done in July. Hmmmmm—there are a lot of things I hope to get done in July. 

Slow and steady will be my game. 

As a reminder, if you want to see what I am teaching in the fall, you can check out this blog post. I also hope to get the dates worked out in July. And I pray that I do not have another month like June. I have no issues with being busy - it's a stretch for me to be away for so long. I really haven't had time to recover from the wedding before it was time to take off again. That part I don't like. Give me one trip per month, and I'm happy. 

By the way, there will also be a scrap class starting in the fall that will run for 9 months. It's all about how to cut, store, save, and use scraps. More details when I'm back. 

On that note, I'm out of here as I need to get things organized for today. I have many suitcases to load into the car, finish packing the backpack, and hopefully get the girls out for a short walk. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Conquering technology one step at a time

OH MY ---- shipping to Canada. I didn't even think of that, as some companies won't ship to Canada and vice versa because of high shipping costs. Isn't that just the silliest thing, considering we are next-door neighbors? 

I have found a solution: an account with a cross-border shipping company. If I want something from the US and the shipping is high, I send it to my "address" in the US. Then I pay about $10 to have it shipped from the warehouse to Canada, and that warehouse is about a ten-minute drive from my house. 

I recently ordered something, and it came back undelivered. Hmmmmm --- after some investigation, I realized I had two addresses for the warehouse. The old and the new. Let's just say that the old address is now in the recycling. Why would I hang onto the old one when it had been replaced? I am my own worst enemy sometimes. So when that package finally arrives in Canada, I'll share it with you. Obviously, I don't order much from the US. 

However, if you want one of those fine tips for the glue bottles, check out the dollar store. Yep -- I found some of those applicators with the short needle at the dollar store. It was a smaller, lesser-known store. The tips I bought were on plastic bottles, so you can put the glue in and all is good. 

I believe someone mentioned you can buy them at Michael's in the cake-decorating department as well. 

Here's the thing -- as soon as someone discovers a tool, and it becomes a useful one for quilters, the price goes up! I'll try to take pictures of what I have and share tomorrow, although that might be a challenge since I'll be on the road. I'll see what I can do. 

I'm happy to report that the two presentations for today are DONE! It took a lot of work to make that happen, and I could still fuss with them, but they are as good as they are going to get! 

I can't believe how hard everyone worked over the last couple of days to complete the quilts for Color My World! Of the 50-some people in the class, many have completed (or almost completed) quilt tops. I can't wait to share those with you. 

Here are a couple more items I bought while I was away. This is a cute highland cow, digitally printed, and would be perfect for experimenting with thread painting. 

Highland Cow digital panel

And here's another panel that I didn't really need, but it looked like something fun to play with. It would be good for the sides of a bag? 

A sewing-themed panel

I have learned what causes me great angst in my life. It's when I am not in control of things. And by that, I mean, I may have tons of stuff rolling in my head, and they need to be written down. I have to prep something, and I'm pressed for time, or I haven't even started. Or it can be a technology issue that needs to be resolved because I need the technology to do whatever I need to do. 

Yesterday was no exception, but I'm happy to say that as the day went on, my stress level decreased. The thing that I have to combat is that I'm a stress eater, so when I'm stressed, I want to eat chocolate. In particular, milk chocolate, so I won't even allow it in the house! 

I don't think I mentioned this the other day, but when I went to the gym, I stepped on the scale. OH, and that's all I'm going to say. I know it's only a number, but I can't afford to let things get out of hand. I have worn-out tendons in both knees, and I can't afford to be carrying any extra weight. Let's say that I ate a few too many donuts over the past couple of weeks. I was not happy. 

I know what the culprit is - SUGAR. I might as well tape anything with sugar in it to my hips, as that is where it goes. And when I cut sugar completely out of my diet about 12 years ago, I weighed the least I have weighed in a long time. I don't want to become anorexic, and that will never happen in my life. But I'm starting to cut out sugar again. 

I do like my small bits of chocolate every day, and I won't eliminate that. I have decided to halve the quantity—from four Ritter bar squares to two. Guess what? I'm OK with that, and with my high stress level yesterday, I was able to talk myself out of eating more. I don't need it - it's a crutch. No alcohol, which is easy to eliminate, I barely have anything to drink. No pop, which I don't drink much of anyway. It's the desserts -- those are the killers in my world. So there will be no more desserts. 

Nope—not even a taste, because I don't need it. I don't want it, so why should I eat it? That will be tough, but I should be able to manage it - we don't have desserts in our house, and it's easy to just say no. But I've become lax in that department, and the scale shows it! 

Just say NO!!!! I'm a big girl, and I need to think about my mobility! Someone recently told me that the majority (I've forgotten the percentage) of fire department jobs involve picking up people who have fallen in their homes!!! And if you are heavy, it becomes an even greater issue. I refuse to let that be me. 

Now back to the technology woes. I needed to scan a document, but my printer wouldn't connect. Nope - it was offline, and I struggled to get it back. However, I managed to make that happen and scan what I needed. But why? Can you tell me why the printer was offline when I had no issues printing something the day before? 

Then, when I tried to print, the page was entirely blank. But it worked just fine the day before. I didn't have time to fix that issue. 

The biggest issue was that I had to update some software that I needed. I kept getting reminders that an update was available, but every time I checked, it said that all was OK. I knew it wasn't because I was missing a couple of features. Sigh....... Yesterday was the day to fix that - of course it was, when I was under the gun for time!

I sent a note to the support team, and then I thought, all I have to do is uninstall the software and reinstall it. That leads to signing in and passwords, which are a struggle for me, but guess what? It worked, and the new features are there. That was a long overdue update! 

I sent another note to the support team, and can you believe I got a response a few hours after I sent the original? Yep!!!! That was impressive. And they essentially told me that uninstalling and reinstalling was the only way to solve the problem. I should have done that months ago!

Anyway, this is the result of my messing around. I'm experimenting, and while it didn't work quite as I wanted, getting all the technology to work was huge. 

The results of my experimentation

I'll mess around with it later today and see what I can do to improve it. It's interesting to see how the different fabric (green) was much more successful than the red. It's the type of fabric (batik versus regular cotton), and it's also the size of the letters and the fonts! So much room for experimentation. There is NO fusible on the back of this, and those pieces are very tiny! 

So much for a guard dog!! Lexi was sleeping on the job! I guess that is why she was stretched full length so that anyone had to step over her to get into DH's office. 

Mom - I'm on the job - privacy please!

And Murphy? She likes making a mess! Her blankets are now strewn across the floor! 

Mom - just doing a little housekeeping and fluffing the blankets!

Bob Ross is still going strong! It's hard to believe, but I spotted this magazine at the drug store. 

Bob Ross - still going strong.

Well, I need to get myself going. I have to walk the girls, then head off to do the two presentations. Then I'll spend the afternoon prepping for my three-day road trip. It's by car, so that should be easier than the plane? OH -- I just checked -- it's only 2½ hour drive, not three as I thought. That half hour makes a huge difference! 

If you are in the Petrolia area, be sure to check out the events on Monday and Tuesday. Lots of stuff about quilting and embroidery software. It's going to be super fun!!! The store is Stitcherie in Petrolia. 

Here is the link to one of their events. You can find the others on their Facebook page. 

Have a great day!

Ciao!!!!

 

A pop of orange

I think travel and age are creeping up on me. I would like to be totally in denial, but I guess I can't deny any longer. I was so tired yesterday, and I think I had two naps. That's OK. The travel of the last three weeks, the carrying of heavy luggage, setting up machines, traveling in different time zones -- it's getting harder and harder! 

While I did tidy everything off the floor in Studio B, I did NOT get everything done. I simply moved some of it onto a table so it was easier to access. However, I did manage to get a lot done. 

I am about half-prepped for the second presentation, have dealt with some urgent emails, and quickly got answers in two instances, so that is all taken care of. Then I have most of the second presentation done as well. So it wasn't a total loss of a day. 

However, I found an ebook somewhere along the line last week, and, well, I started reading it on the plane, and I NEED to finish it. That consumed a bit of my day yesterday while I was lying in bed, relaxing! I have 80 pages left, and I guess it will have to wait until the dogs have their walk! Too bad it wasn't an audiobook -- I would have stayed up and listened while working! 

I also got distracted last night and was looking at house listings. Some of these pictures came from houses in another province, but what's the deal with the pop of orange? 

I suspect the orange in the first one is actually wood, but that can't be—it looks orange, not wood tones. At least the walls are beige! Most pictures of house interiors, including the furniture, are black, white, and grey. 

An orange dining room set

This is definitely a pop of orange in an otherwise neutral environment. 

An orange sofa

And the same with this one. 

An orange chair

And here we have a pop of orange and deep blue. 

Two orange accent chairs

I sometimes look at houses in my neighborhood or random houses that pop up for sale. Not that we are selling, but just for the fun of it. 

The houses are all so sterile. Can you imagine feeling comfortable in that room above? Nothing on the walls, just places to sit. It looks so uninviting. 

I know the houses are staged for the photos, but seriously—these people need to stage differently. Stage it so it looks inviting to live in, not just to eliminate all the clutter. I get it—get rid of the clutter, but then make it look pretty. I will struggle with the real estate agent when it comes time to sell our house. 

Speaking of houses for sale, there are now THREE houses for sale on our street. How did that happen? I suspect they will be on the market for quite some time, as the market is slow and two houses are overpriced. And there are two other houses that I suspect will go up for sale in the near future. Or maybe not. The people living on the street are aging out, and who needs to live by themselves in a huge house? 

I remember when we sold our last house. The price the neighbors got was incredible for that time. I suggested we put our house on the market as well. I don't think I'll do that here. I like it too much. 

Here are a couple of reasons why my suitcase weighed more than 50 lbs. This is the puzzle that I purchased at McNally Robinson. Lots of puzzles have been designed with a puzzle in the picture. Apparently, this one has clues to all of the books in the Miss Marple series! I may just have to reread Miss Marple, as it has been years. 

Miss Marple puzzle

A hardcover book that weighs a lot, and I also found this at McNally Robinson. 

A new addition to the bookcase

There are a few other things that I bought, but I'll share with you in a bit. This canvas fabric was bought at Quilt Canada from Emmaline Bags. So many cool things to make with stuff like this! 

Canvas for a tote bag

At one point during the day, I spied Miss Lexi lying outside DH's office. She is his protector, to be sure, and she is on guard for a good part of the day. I almost feel like I should put a mat in front of the door, but then DH will trip over it. She doesn't want to sleep in the office, as she is NOT good in a room, but prefers wide-open spaces. 

MOM - I am on duty - no pictures please!

We had a tremendous thunder and lightning show last night. Murphy was pretty upset and hung around upstairs all night, which is something she hasn't done in a very long time. 

I spotted this online a while back and keep forgetting to post it. 

It's a tip that you can add to your big bottle of glue to get a fine tip. 

A fine tip for a big glue bottle

This is way smarter than the one that came out originally on glue bottles for quilters. That tip was super long - someone said it was a medical needle? I don't know, but I guess that's what we had available to us at the time. The glue just clogs in those long skinny tips -- this shorter one makes a whole lot more sense.

Which reminds me that when I was at Quilt Canada, I had to be in the classroom to help the students with their machines. It's surprising how some teachers work. One of the teachers had a cap that you could put on a tube of glue to make the wider glue top smaller, making it more useful for quilters. 

They are glue precision tips. Someone asked the instructor where she bought the tip. She refused to tell them, so, of course, within seconds, someone googled it. You can buy them at multiple places, and you can also find a file to have them printed on a 3-D printer. I believe this is the one the instructor was using. 

I think she wanted to be a "hero" and email them the information, but as mentioned, it is easy to find this stuff online. If you have the right information or even half the information, or even a photo, Google will find it for you! 

I probably mentioned this before, but I certainly wasn't impressed with some of the teachers at Quilt Canada. 

Anyway -- it's time to get the day started. And I have a lot to do since I didn't get quite as much done yesterday as I would have liked. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Mom - are you really home?

I'm home, and the girls are happy! 

As far as travel days go, it was pretty uneventful, which is exactly how I like them. The only issue was getting all that luggage home. I love traveling light, and so when I have three suitcases and two carry-on items, that is a LOT to manage. Thank goodness for carts at the airport. 

I got everything packed into the three suitcases and my backpack, except for a few things which went into the handy-dandy tote bag that I had with me. 

Packed and ready to roll!

Upon reflection, as I was packing everything, I realized I had taken a few too many things, both in the quilt and clothing departments. I must have had a few wild moments before I left. And I bought a few too many things, given that I was already tight on space. But all was good. My airline status sure comes in handy, and the one bag was 61 pounds, but I didn't care, except that it was a pain to get around. 

Since it was still early in the morning when I left my room, I tried to be quiet. However, when the suitcases don't roll well on the carpet, and they tip over as I'm trying to get out of my room? Thankfully, this was the worst incident on the trip, so I didn't really mind. 

Great Scott - the bags won't roll on the carpet.

I made it to the elevator, and then downstairs to check out, and waited for the Uber to arrive. I just warned them that the one bag was heavy, and I love that all the Uber drivers during the entire trip got out of the driver's seat to load my suitcases. They got a tip for that. If they just sit in the front seat? No tip. 

In all fairness to the Winnipeg airport, I thought I needed to get a picture of the tiles in the women's washroom. I always take a picture when I am in Vancouver, where the tiles are more intricate, but these ones are orange! 

The tiles in the women's washroom in the Winnipeg Airport

I must be living a very sheltered life because I had never heard of Corn Hole, the game, until recently. We were at a quilt retreat a few years ago, and one of the ladies was talking about a friend of hers who was making the bags for Corn Hole. Corn what? I had never heard of the game. Apparently, this friend makes a LOT of the bags, and since they have to be a certain weight, she has quite the system to make that happen. 

We were at the same retreat; they had recently had a wedding on the farm, and there was a customized Corn Hole game with the bride and groom's names. My own daughter rented a Corn Hole game for her wedding, and then there I was at the Winnipeg Airport, and they had a Corn Hole game set up in the waiting area. 

Playing Corn Hole at the airport

It seems that this game has taken the world by storm, and it's not new. If you go back in time, it is very similar to Quoits, which was first mentioned in an 1883 patent. In September 1974, Popular Mechanics published a pattern to make your own game, and the rest is history. Can you believe there are tournaments? World-class tournaments for Corn Hole? I'm way behind the times!

In the baggage area of the Toronto Airport is this very sparkly maple leaf. I'm not sure of its significance, but there it was. So as we waited for our luggage, which seemed to take a bit longer than usual, I got a picture. 

Very sparkly maple leaf

I noticed that when I grabbed one of my bags, the surface was wet, but there was no rain on either end. That was worrisome, but when I got home and unpacked, it was just surface water and had not penetrated the suitcase filled with quilts. 

As per DH, I took a limo home, not an Uber. It would be a challenge to get those three suitcases down the stairs to the Uber pickup spot, even with an elevator. The limo is right there, and there is much less confusion at the limo pickup spot.  

As I was getting the bags to the house, Miss Murphy spotted me through the window and went mad. She was barking and wouldn't be quiet. Then, when the door was open, she zipped out and wanted to get in the car. She equates my being away with being in the car! She doesn't like to be left behind. 

Needless to say, the two of them were pretty excited. Although neither of them looks excited in these pictures. 

MOM - how dare you leave me behind! 

Mom - seriously? Alone with that idiot again? 

But I swear, as excited as they are to see me, they don't really care that I am home. All they want is a walk! And later in the afternoon, we went for a walk, and all peace was restored in their worlds. 

I got home around noon and had the entire afternoon to do as I wished. Although I have a ton of work to do, I really wasn't in the mood. So the first line of business was to unpack everything. 

Any items I will not need or that don't require any follow-up work were put upstairs. The quilts that I need for the next round of events went into their appropriate pile in the living room. And the rest of the stuff got taken downstairs. Yikes—that is a huge pile of stuff that got put on the floor, and I need to process it later today. 

Stuff to put away or process today

Some of it won't take very long, as some just need to be put away, but some of it needs a bit of repair work, or finding something that was missing, or whatever. I hope to clear the pile today, but I still have two presentations to prep for the weekend. One of them is almost done, and I'm only waiting for student photos to come in. I haven't started the other one, and it will take a few hours to get it ready. 

Then that jigsaw puzzle called my name, and I had no choice but to answer the call. I had the two shades of purple to finish. These last two colors were the hardest, or perhaps I just needed to get my puzzling brain back to work. I had no choice but to assemble that line, and of course, I was missing a couple of pieces. But it soon went together. 

The line between the two shades of purple

And before I knew it, that one section of purple was together, leaving the final color. That was the hardest section of all, as the colors and shapes were very similar. 

One band of color left!

I even had to take the border section apart because it had not been assembled correctly. That's the thing about this puzzle: You think the piece fits, but it doesn't. If the pieces are in the correct spot, they fit smoothly, but they can also fit without being smooth. That is not correct, and you need to find a new home for those pieces. Some of the shapes were so similar, but not exact. It was the kind of puzzle where you count the number of pieces left to assemble, and the number kept going up as I reworked sections of that color. 

Reworking the border

But I had my trusty companion on the floor beside me, and I persevered and got the puzzle together. 

The puzzle is DONE

I really enjoyed that one, and while it was a challenge in certain colors, it was a lot of fun. It came down to shape, and in some instances, I took one piece at a time and tried it in various spots. There was no one section that I had left to do at the end. The last ten pieces were spread out all over the puzzle - well, in that final section. The missing pieces from that border? They were on the puzzle piece boards - I had missed them when transferring the pieces over. I got this puzzle from the thrift store! 

I need to take a picture of this and post it on Facebook in the CJPA with the keyword of the month and the box. And then I have one more puzzle I want to get done ASAP so I can post it. It's a special puzzle, and I can't wait to share that one with you. 

I was exhausted last night and went to bed right after dinner. I have an early-morning date with Brooke. I have to start taking responsibility for all those donuts. What is wrong with me? Oh yes -- I was enjoying life, but reality hits today, and no more donuts for a while. 

But as I was reading in bed, I heard Murphy come up the stairs and into the room. She looked at me and then went right back downstairs. I think she was just checking to make sure that I really was home. It was so sweet. The poor girl, well, both of them, are so used to us being home, and when we go away, they are not happy, despite having lots of company. It's never the same as when Mom and Dad are there. 

I see more student pictures have been posted, and I'll add them to the presentation. The participants did such an amazing job on their homework, I am beyond words with pride! Some of them stretched themselves to personalize this quilt, and I couldn't be happier! They did a stunning job, and I hope to start posting some of the pictures next week. 

On that note, I'd better get myself organized so I can get to the gym on time. 

Have a super day! 

Ciao!!!!

Don't tell me that computerized machines do not provide quality craftmanship!

It was a rainy day in Winnipeg. I didn't go for a walk because I had to pack, and since I didn't sleep well, I decided to take a nap before the day actually started. How crazy is that? 

And now I'm writing late at night because I have an early-morning flight and likely won't have time to write in the morning. EDIT: I wrote the blog last night and am editing this morning. 

This was the condition of the room when I left near noon to go to Carellen's Sewing Center. I had one suitcase mostly packed and most of the stuff off the beds. So that was good. EDIT: Just had a shower and everything is now packed, except for the computer. Then I'm off. 

The packing process

I wonder if, after any major quilt show, the X-ray people at the airport question these "things" in suitcases. There are many spools of thread in one of the suitcases. While these are loose spools of thread, there are two boxes of thread in another suitcase! 

A pile of threads in one of my three suitcases

We had a great time yesterday and saw a lot of inspiration for quilting with your embroidery machine. There is so much to share, and I get so inspired myself that I can't wait to get home and get to work. There is so much to do!!!! I have a load of samples I want to make, and I need to make a list of the things I need/want to make, as well as the things I need/want to learn. 

And it was great to see Brenda. Brenda is part of my machine embroidery club, and it's nice to see the people in person! 

OH my -- I should tell you what happened at breakfast yesterday. I was sitting at a table, minding my own business, when I noticed four women nearby talking about Quilt Canada. One woman seemed to be dominating the conversation. I tried not to listen, but how could I help myself? 

She was lamenting that so many of the quilts in the show were NOT hand-made, and that her quilt, which she had spent over 5 hours hand-embroidering a small section, was NOT accepted into the show. Then she told the others that these machines have no craftsmanship in their end result, and all the makers do is push a button and walk away. 

I think she was in particular talking about the jacket that won first prize, I think. It was beautiful and machine-embroidered on silk. It would have taken weeks/months to do all the satin stitching by hand. I have a picture somewhere. 

OK -- so I couldn't help myself. I had finished my breakfast, and I walked over to chat with them. I identified myself as someone who works with computerized machines, and I politely gave them a wee lesson: people with computerized machines still need to worry about the impact of what they have done, which involves choosing the design, fabrics, and threads. We also need to be skilled at using the computerized machine. It needs to be set, we need to know how it works and how to solve the problems, and a whole lot more. WE do NOT just push a button and walk away. 

I don't think she was too impressed. I was very polite. She then started to talk about how she teaches children to sew. So I piped up that if she was doing that, why didn't she sponsor children in her groups to participate in the Youth Challenge at the show? OH -- she didn't know what to say to that. But then she agreed that it might be a good idea. 

I then suggested that she write an article or contact CQA to see if they would be interested in publishing one on what she is doing in her community. It's not about embarrassing these kinds of people or making fun of them. Just ask them why they aren't making a bigger impact!!!! That's partly because they live in small bubbles and are not exposed to other things! 

I didn't stay too long to chat, but enough to make them think. However, I think she was the kind of person who would continue to complain about the computerized machines simply because her handwork quilt didn't get in. 

People do NOT get it that submitting your quilt to any show, even with exquisite handwork, doesn't guarantee that it will get in. What other quilts is it competing with? Just because you do exquisite handwork doesn't mean the overall impact is desirable, and there are so many other factors.  And each person's definition of exquisite handwork may not meet the judges' standards. 

And people, the rejection letter they send is NOT directed to you. It's a canned letter - it has no reflection on your work. She was quite offended by the letter. And let's face it - if your pictures are crap, that is all the judges see, and your quilt won't get in. 

So many factors—you can be disappointed, but you can't criticize. 

But to complain so publicly about it and to put down the computerized machines -- well, that was too much to let slip past! BUT I was as polite as could be, praised her for what she was doing in her community, and encouraged her to do more! I am not a mean person. Just like to set the record straight and stand up for us techies. 

Later in the day, I ran into someone who complained about the show's layout. People—the show coordinators are at the mercy of the space they have been given. Some shows are big, some shows are small. I don't know if the number of quits was the same as in past shows, but it's amazing how people remember shows differently. Oh, when the show was in "city X," there were so many more quilts. It was better laid out, it was bigger/smaller or whatever. I wish I were better at remembering statistics (which I don't even know myself),  so I could prove a point to people. 

And it is a show—there will be lots of people; the booths are small; it is all about MONEY!!!! If you have accessibility issues, then DO NOT go during the busy times. I do not know how many times I need to repeat that -- go when the crowds are lesser (later in the day). Don't go when it's crowded and then complain! I'm not sure I could handle being a coordinator of the show -- the complaints would drive me mad. 

But the one issue with the facility was the stairs between floors 2 and 3. There was a slow elevator and one escalator that went up or down beside that set of stairs. I believe they had to swap the convention hall at the last minute due to an issue, and I'm not sure if the stair issue was the same on the other side of the hall. I don't know the details of that, but I do know that we were NOT in the hall that we were supposed to be in. 

For someone with mobility issues, taking the stairs either up or down could be quite the issue, or they had to wait for the slow elevator. Thankfully, I am very mobile, so I took the stairs up and down all the time. My knee wasn't always happy, but I told it to be quiet - I was in a hurry! 

The previous day in class, we were talking about donut shapes, and well, on the way to Tim's, guess what? I spotted this donut place and decided to stop in on my way back. 

OH Doughnuts!!!

I ordered from Tim's kiosk because the line was long. Then I was fiddling with my phone when I realized the line was gone, and I still didn't have food. One of the staff asked me what I was waiting for, and I said I had ordered at the kiosk. OH -- turns out my food had been waiting at the other end of the restaurant. Sigh............  I might get all this stuff sorted out at some point. They shout out the in-house orders to the customers, but not the orders in the pickup line. The kiosk qualifies as a pickup line. 

Ordering at the kiosk

So, on the way back to the hotel, I stopped by the donut place. OH MY!!!!! And yes, I had my cup of tea and several Tim's bags in my hands. Good grief. 

But look at those donuts!!!! OH MY -- they looked amazing. 

OH Doughnuts is right!

I bought the key lime donut, and let's say they weren't cheap, and I'm sure there were two days' worth of calories in each one. The lady asked me if I wanted a bag to put all my things in, and I said yes, because I had a lot of small bags from Tims.  

The donut was so thick I could barely get it into my mouth, and at one point, I had key lime pie cream on my chin and whipped cream on my nose. Thankfully, no pictures were taken at that time. 

Now that's a donut!!!

But oh my—it was delicious and well worth it. Not as good as if I had ridden my bike to the shop, but at least I walked there. 

I forgot to mention that after breakfast, I told the lady at reception that we had some excitement in the hotel earlier that morning. She apologized and then asked what room I was in. Later in the day, I got a text, and they gave me a slight discount on one night's rate. That was a very nice gesture, and it pays to talk to people!!! 

I'm back at the hotel, and I have everything more or less packed in the suitcases. I will have to carry a tote bag on the plane in addition to my backpack. Thank goodness for airline status, which allows for three 70-pound suitcases. Having access to the lounge? Useless for me. 

Hopefully, there will be no issues, such as flat tires on the plane, and I'll catch you when I get home!!! I can't wait!!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

What is this technique - mystery solved!

Oh dear -- I'm not sure what happened to that link for the classes, but I reset it in yesterday's post just in case I didn't get the correct one. And here it is again. The post is from June 18, so if that link doesn't work, you can go back and search for it. I have a lot of work to do when I'm home, and I didn't get much done yesterday morning except prep things for the afternoon and evening. 

OH MY—we have a hotel situation this morning. There is someone out in the hallway, and they don't sound too happy. I did not open my door, but she sounds inebriated and perhaps locked out of her room. Not sure what the issue is, but she doesn't sound happy. I finally called the front desk and security, and the police are on the way. Never a dull moment! Actually, this hotel has been pretty quiet throughout the stay, and things happen. Thankfully, I was awake when it started. 

Oh shoot --- she stopped, and now she's back at it! EDIT -- all has been quiet for quite some time now. 

Anyway -- I got totally sidetracked in videos on Facebook, and well, it's just one of those days. 

So I'm going to ask for your help. This was a quilt at Quilt Canada. It's quite impressive  - the base photo is all thread-painted. EDIT --- go to the end to see the mystery solved! 

Front view

View from the right

View from the left

The artist's statement

It won a prize - a judge's choice, if I remember correctly. However, it has sort of taken the show by storm, and I realized this morning while searching that the quilt won Viewer's Choice, but I'm a bit miffed about the piece. Why? Because if you read the credits on the statement, it says she used a technique that she saw at the Houston show 13 years ago. While this is likely correct, a book has been published on this technique. And I think that the book author's name should have been included in the credits. 

The big question is, who was that author? I can picture the book cover in my head, but I can't read the author's name. I'm not sure if I have the book—I might, but I don't remember seeing it when I went through my books a couple of months ago. Trust me, I have tried Googling everything I can think of to find the book, but I'm stuck. 

So—my question to you is: does anyone have that book, and remember who the author was? I think the credit needs to be attached to this quilt. I'm surprised the judge chose the piece when proper credit was not given to it. That should be a given when a quilt wins an award. It's also the problem with stuff that happened years ago. People think things are NEW and inventive when they are not—it's been done before. And yes—this artist did say she saw the technique 13 years ago, so if people read it, they should know it's not new. 

Well, I keep getting distracted. 

This is one of the books I bought at the bookstore the other day. I know—I am not a fan of things that need to be done every day. But it's all about gratitude, which I don't think we spend enough time on, and there are puzzles for every day. Very simple ones, so maybe it will be a good diversion, which I haven't even opened this morning. 

My new gratitude puzzle journal

Yesterday's puzzle was a word search, which took about 5 minutes to complete. And there was a page to write down a few things. Sometimes, it's good to write things down - prompts for things you want to keep in mind, prompts for things you want to change. And there was a place to write one large goal for the month. 

I'm happy to share that goal; it's for July. It's all about getting my long arm up and running properly. While it has no issues with quilting, it does need a good spa day. The old leaders (20 years) need to come off, the rails cleaned, the magnets sewn into the new leaders, and then attached to the bars. I also need a new brake, which I must order today. Then I should consider putting all the screws back on the housing, since it seems the electronics are working fine. The design files need to be organized on the computer into a more manageable file structure. And I need to learn/practice that one technique. So it will be a busy month to get all that done, but when it's done? It'll be like a new machine. OH - and new clamps on the sides. 

That is my goal for the month, and I already have a date planned on July 1 when someone is coming to help me put on the new leaders. It'll be easier for two people because of the leader's length. Once we are done, then we zip to her house and install her new leaders! 

I saw this at Tim's yesterday. Yep—a small change can have a big impact. I don't get why people grab handfuls of napkins - one should usually suffice unless you are a very messy eater. And that's another mystery in life - why are some people prone to messy eating and others are not? Is it because they eat messy foods? Not paying attention? I am NOT a messy eater, but why? 

How many napkins do you really need? 

I don't have many shirts that require ironing before wearing, but I have this one, which I really like, and I should wear it more often. It's made from quilting cotton, and I find that after years of wearing knit shirts, wearing a solid cotton shirt is very restrictive. But the pattern for this shirt is amazing. It has a lot of darts in the sleeves and the front, not just one, and there are two darts in the back, and it fits like a glove. I should make a few more in different fabrics. I must dig that pattern out. It's super comfortable for a cotton shirt. I also have an orange one just like it. 

I love this shirt and should wear it more often.

Speaking of orange, this was the view from my room when I first woke up!!! WOW --- look at that color!!! It's spectacular. There was a bit of rain this morning, but I think it's going to be another nice day. 

The sky this morning

 

So my experience with Uber is typically getting to and from the airport. Since I wasn't able to rent a car, I decided to take Uber. It felt weird to go to a location other than the airport, but it's super slick and costs a lot less than renting a car that would have sat most of the day. Then, when I came back to the hotel last night, I had Uber pick me up. Because all the financial transactions take place within the app, you never need to worry about paying a driver and then figuring out a tip and whatever. You stop and immediately get out of the car. I LOVE it. 

I had to laugh last night because I had some tough attendees in the session on the digital cutter. Loads and loads of questions, and I suspect that one person had ADHD, and it showed! I was exhausted. However, I am shocked/surprised at the number of older people (people my age and older) who are into AI. If you don't know something, just ask ChatGPT. They might not be able to say ChatGPT, but they know how to use it. 

But don't use it when I'm talking. Anyway, their kids must have pushed that on them. And while I'm OK with people using it, I'm not a fan of using it for everything. Typing in a search engine works just fine as well. And it's a lot less intrusive in a class. 

Trust me -- I have tried searching for the author of the technique mentioned above, but I can't find them. 

SQUIRREL --- I was determined to find the darn information. Instead of trying to find it with words, I posted a picture, and VOILA—Google came through, and here is the link to the "original" author. I don't know if Flora is actually the first person to use this technique in a quilt, but she is the first place I saw it. Her first art quilt (in a show) using this technique was in 2014, and the book was published in 2015 by the American Quilters Society. Here is a link with her information. The quilts are stunning!!!

Trispective 3-in1 quilt book

OK, I can relax now -- I solved the mystery, and 13 years ago is not that long ago, but no one knew that this technique had been done previously and so famously!!!! The people who commented on Facebook had no clue. Flora Joy is a very inventive quilt maker. Her stuff is mostly 3-D and very cleverly constructed. 

I think that credit on that piece is NOT complete, and I don't care how good it is --- credit should have been given to the proper person. I have done that -- I posted the link and Flora's name on the pictures on Facebook. I used this current artist's photo to find the original - it took mere seconds to find that information (once I thought of searching by photo). The current artist should have done the same. 

The quilt at Quilt Canada also won the Viewer's Choice award - I didn't know that until I did my research. 

On that note, I can rest! I love a good mystery. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

NOTE: I am flying out early tomorrow morning, so there may or may not be a blog.