New gadgets!!

OK -- so what happened? It's freezing this morning! Of course, the temperature is only 17 and feels like 17, and with the windows open, it's cool in the house. It's crazy weather! 

When I was in the Wal-Mart the other day, I spotted this in the yarn section: Faux Leather. What the heck would you do with that? Yes -- it's long and stringy, just like yarn. WAIT a minute—now that I see this again, I want some! 

A skein of Faux Leather

But I guess the idea is you knit up a sweater or a bag with it. There was a small swatch knit up so you could see what it looks like! Hmmm—I'm not sure I would do that. It came in multiple colors! 

A swatch of faux leather "yarn"

Yesterday was time to get out the garment pattern and have a look at it, as I need to decide what embroidery designs to put on it. 

The garment pattern

You can tell the pattern's age by looking at the pieces. Do you notice anything about it? 

What's missing on the pattern?

Yep—there is only one size!!! It's a mens/misses medium pattern. I'm not going to make any adjustments, but I will shorten it as the shirt and the sleeves are quite long. I may look at the shoulders, but this garment has a yoke, and I don't want to mess with that the way it is designed. I separated out all the pieces I need and ironed them gently. Now I'll shorten the shirt and the sleeves and hopefully get it cut out today. I also did some research for an embroidery pattern, and I think I have narrowed the style down; I just need to find the right sizes. 

It's been a long time since I sewed a pattern with plackets on the sleeves. I don't think that's the exact term, but you know what I mean. I just checked, and it's a placket! It also has a two-part collar! But I've made those in the past, and they are not complicated; they just take a wee bit more time. I have a serger now, so it should be easy!

This is another way to buy patterns. This is the Burda Style magazine, and it contains numerous patterns. You'll find them all on the pullouts in the middle, and the patterns are printed on top of each other in different colors. Tracing the lines to form a single pattern will be the most challenging part. 

The new way to buy patterns

Different times!!! 

In case you are wondering this happened. 

The last stitches of the table runner are done.

The embroidery for the table runner, which required three hoops in the 450 by 450 Mega Turnable Hoop, is done! It seemed to take forever, even though the number of stitches yesterday was HALF of the day before. But it's done. I now have to repair that one spot, then figure out how to trim and hem it. You'll get to see it when it's done. 

Have you noticed that there is NO setting things aside to get them done later - it's get them completed NOW. 

I spent the rest of the day prepping fabrics, finding patterns, etc for things that will be stitched out today or in the next couple of days. That was a lot of work. 

The next time you show someone something you have machine-embroidered, and they say, "Oh - that's no big deal, you had a machine stitch it," you'd better set them straight. It's a ton of work -- prepping the fabric, finding the pattern, choosing the thread colors, picking the correct stabilizer, having the skill to combine the elements, and knowing the many tools on the embroidery machine. Then, to make everything come out right and fix any issues should they arise. It's a whole different set of skills from doing it by hand, but trust me—it's NOT just about pressing START and walking away. People have ZERO idea. 

I was exhausted when I went to bed! 

Here is my finish for yesterday. YES -- it's off center, and I could have trimmed it to fit, but then it would have looked very tight! This is the one where I had randomly stitched the bird out in the middle of a piece of blue fabric. Then I figured out what to use the sample for, and well, it has lots of issues. But I bound the edges because it's a great learning piece, and I will certainly use it in classes for placement, the order of stitching, and many other things. I could always put a flower or something in the bottom right corner. It's not too late. Hmm -- that gives me an idea. 

The sample of the day

I'm in the process of redoing it, but it will be done the correct way or at least more to my liking. I started it last night, but I struggled with the stitches as I was so tired. So I left it and will tackle it this morning. 

If I don't get everything I want to done, I'm OK with that, but I can make a huge dent in the list. I think I'm down to ten things on the list and seven days!

So, do you know what this is used for? 

A new gadget

When I first saw the tool, I got super excited. A friend of mine told her husband, who is still working, that he'd better find a hobby for when he retired. Well, he took her advice to heart and bought himself a 3-D printer. He's not ready to retire for a few more years! He made that tool above, and it's brilliant, and about 6 weeks ago, I was looking for exactly such a thing. 

What's it for? 

Let's imagine you are making a small pouch and need to round the corners. But you can't find anything small enough or suitable for use with a rotary cutter. I swear I had some round templates, but at the time I couldn't find them, so I sort of rounded these corners, but they look messy. 

Messy rounded corners

But if I had had this tool, I could have used that! 

So much easier with the rounded corner tool

I didn't do such a bad job hacking with scissors, but I much prefer using a tool like this. And notice that all the writing is raised and printed in another color! I love it!!!!

Easy to read letters and markings

And did you notice that he custom-made the tool in my favorite color? Thanks—you know who you are!!!

But WAIT --- there's more!!!! 

He also made me a set of cord minders! 

Cord minders

They snap together beautifully, and just the other day, I was looking for a cord minder for my heat gun. Now the cord is nice and tidy! 

A cord minder for my heat gun

And I also got a point turner with a hole at the tip that can be used to hold your needle for insertion into the sewing machine. 

A point turner

WOW --- that is an amazing set of tools!!! Thank you once again!!! I love them all. Now I have to remember to pay for them, which I'll do this morning. What did we do without the ability to e-transfer money? 

I believe they will be selling these tools at the Brant Heritage Quilt Show on September 25 and 26, so if you want some of those quilting items, check that out. Or if you want to place a special order, I'm sure that can be arranged. 

Someone at the last Virtual Retreat, which was at the beginning of July, mentioned this puzzle. Does anyone remember this quilt that raised the most money at the Mennonite Relief Sale ever? I believe it sold for $42,000. They made it into a puzzle. The quilt was created by Renske Helmuth and members of the Waterloo County Quilters Guild. 

What a great way to raise funds for the Mennonite Central Committee. There are many stories about this quilt online, but here is a link to one. 

Threads of Africa quilt

I found a store (In-Season) that sells the puzzle, and guess what? I had an $11 credit with the store because I had bought a number of things last summer, and well, that paid for the postage. The puzzle arrived yesterday. I need to stop buying or acquiring special puzzles because I won't want to give them away, but where the heck will I store them? Yikes—I think we need to have an intervention here! 

I'm not this bad yet, but maybe it's time to purge the quilt magazines and use those bookcases for jigsaw puzzle storage!!!

Someone's puzzle storage (not mine)

Speaking of puzzles, the theme for July with the Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association is a Villager-brand puzzle. There are already 181 posts from people this month. You know it's been done this month because you have to post a keyword in the picture. I see two people have done this one. I'm working my way slowly from top to bottom. 

Progress on my puzzle

I haven't resorted to sorting by shape for the trees yet, but I may have to. I think I have all the tree pieces pulled, but probably not! And then comes the challenging reflection, water and boats. Yeah!!!! But it's a nice way to end the day. 

And OH MY - the Villager company just came out with 250-piece puzzles, which are fun because you can do them in an evening, and they will also be releasing an Advent calendar. OK -- I have to get that!

Well, there's a lot to get done today, and I have to say I'm very focused and having fun, even though I'm learning with almost everything I do. There's so much more that I want to play with, but after this event, I need to get back to my quilting UFOs! But I will have other machine embroidery samples to make starting in August, so that will blow my quilting time out of the water! 

And on that note, I'm out of here! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Defying gravity!

There are days when I'm dangerous and should not touch anything. That's what happened already this morning, and it's only 6 AM. 

I saw a tiny spot that needed touching up on what I did yesterday. So I got things set up and pressed START, forgetting that I needed to check where it was stitching first. Like, how silly to trust everything to line up on its own? 

Now I have some fixing to do, but it can and will be done. I'm going to finish the rest of the stitching and then go back and do the repair. But seriously? I know better! My brain wasn't quite awake, I suppose. 

Remember yesterday, when I said I liked this pattern from Sew Fresh Quilts but couldn't find it? That's because she is still writing the pattern! That makes perfect sense. Now I can go ahead and place my order and get that one when it's published. I think it would make a great sew-along! 

Down on the Farm by Sew Fresh Quilts (in progress)

 

This is how stiff my linen was after using the Stiffy product! It was almost like cardboard, but the stitching is coming out just beautifully! Even the little area that I thought was going to cause trouble because it sort of bubbled up? It's gone! 

My stiff linen

And if you can't find Stiffy, remember that if you are a machine embroiderer or know one, they always have loads of leftover water-soluble bits. Dissolve that in water, and it becomes a paste that can be used to stiffen fabric. Actually, you don't want a paste; you want it to be a bit more liquid than that. I don't have a formula - I would go by look. 

I am using the Husqvarna Viking Mega Turnable Hoop with a stitching area of 450 mm by 450 mm. Let me say that I quickly moved everything off the table in front of the embroidery machine. Given the fabric's stiffness, I didn't want anything in the way.  

I need a lot of room for stitching that stiff fabric.

We don't know where the future of machine embroidery is going, but personally, I would say they have reached the limit on how big to make the hoops. While they will likely attempt to make the machines bigger to accommodate larger hoops, this one is a challenge to find space to hoop and then to stitch out with all your fabric attached. 

However, I will say that having to hoop the fabric ONCE, instead of four or more times, is brilliant! 

Let's see where they go - that decision is probably already in the books, but make the machine smarter. While mine is very smart, I need one that reminds me to check the placement every time! I'm so silly!!! I know better, but I'm over it - the mistake can be fixed. 

But see what I mean about needing space? 

You need a lot of space.

And when you trim the jump stitches on the back, you need a spot to put the hoop. Oh yes - trimming the jump stitches as you go is equally important. I'm very proud of how this looks on the back as well. It's turning out beautifully. YES -- if the back is going to be visible, then it needs to look impeccable. 

You need space to trim the jump stitches.

It was a huge design with 180,983 stitches, and it took all day to complete. I had to trim threads and wind bobbins, which slowed the process down. I left the machine running while I ran errands, and I swear the bobbin ran out the minute I went out the door! 

That's a lot of stitches.

However, it is stunning, minus the one little spot that I touched! I'm only going to give you this as a sneak peek, and I'll share when it's done. And you can see that little bubble in the center, but it went away. That happens often when you are stitching/quilting anything, and you do the outside first and then the inside. See - the more you do, the more you know! 

A close-up of the stitching

I'm also trying to keep the space super clean. By space, I mean Studio B, so when I am finished with something, it gets put away. Trimmed threads in the garbage, supplies put away, etc. It makes it much easier to do things when nothing is in the way. I desperately need to sweep the floor, though. 

The cutting table is mostly clear.

And all that stuff on the right-hand side? That's the stuff I hope to tackle before we leave in one week. Actually, there are still eight days!!! You can do a lot in eight days!

As for my large design, there are two more hoopings to do, but each one is only 45,000 stitches, so it will take some time to position the designs in the hoop. I had to make a couple of slight changes (3-degree rotations) to two of the sections before I was happy this morning. All I have to do now is to float the fabric and place the design. WITH the design placement tools. This time, I won't forget. 

Hey -- it was a simple little fix that I did, but I forgot that the design on the second half of the hoop had been moved ever so slightly. That was my mistake—again—why is it always my mistake? Fix it and move on! No one will know!

Speaking of sweeping the floor, I spotted this this morning. Good grief - how can that pin be leaning like that? OH -- a spider web!!! Despite my little piece I finished the other day, I am NOT afraid of spiders. 

A pin defying gravity!

So while the embroidery machine was working away, I was sewing on the other machine. I was switching between stitches and presser feet, and I totally forgot to change the stitch, and bang - I broke a needle. I'm not in a rush; I just didn't change the stitch when I changed the foot. I haven't done that in a long time. 

Ooops!!!!

See what happened when I tried to keep that second able clear? I moved the seger to the floor - it really should go under the table to be totally out of the way. I took the samples I want to work on when I'm back and piled them up, but with the vibrations from the tables (YES - I need to get those new tables installed), they fell to the floor. ACK!!!!!

My stitch samples later fell to the floor. 

BUT - the good news is that I finished two more pieces yesterday. I wrote out a list of what I want to accomplish, and there were 12 items on it. I finished one more after that list was made, and now there are 11. Can I make it? I doubt it, but I'm going to get done what I can. 

Anyway, this is the first sample I completed yesterday. And yes, except for the binding, it was all done on the embroidery machine. 

My dandelion sample

Does anyone remember that piece I have taken to various classes and showed you? The blob that looked like fluff from a dandelion or the butt of a cat with a long tail? Well, I love dandelions, so I went with that one. I checked online and found an appropriate quote. The stem was taken from another design in the Design Catalog online; I cut off the flower. The background was quilted with the Quilt Block Wizard from the Creativate Embroidery Software, which I LOVE. And the more I use it, the easier it becomes to do anything. 

The tail of the fluff ball was stitched in place. It was when I moved from the stitch I used for that to a straight stitch that I broke the needle! I was too excited about how this piece was turning out! 

But the big news on this piece is the dandelion fluffs. Where to find an embroidery pattern for that? Yes - I could have bought one, but then I couldn't say that it was mine. And I would NOT have learned anything. So I opened up the Creativate Sketch Module and sketched out the little seeds. Then I opened Stitch Editor and repositioned the points on my rough sketch. And VOILA --- Dandelion seeds. 

MY dandelion seeds

Of course, I am jumping up and down. I am learning, and my pieces are all about learning. 

Here is the second piece I finished yesterday. Again, the designs came from the Design Catalog. That is the SVP Worldwide catalog of designs, available online and used with an SVP Wi-Fi-enabled embroidery machine and a paid membership. 

Sample Number two - DONE

The design is stitched out using chenille yarn—yep, all of it — on an embroidery machine. Again, the background is quilted with something I created using the Quilt Block Wizard. 

Detail of the yarn stitching

And if you are with me and I see some chenille yarn for sale, just tell me that I don't need any more! I must have every color under the sun! And then some! Why have one, when you can have lots? 

That is my thing with puzzles. I had to go to the thrift shop yesterday and was looking for a table runner to embroider. I had a premade one at the house, but it was red, and I wanted green. Guess what? I found exactly what I envisioned for $4. How cool is that? But then I also found three puzzles (I was walking), and I brought those home. I need to puzzle faster! 

Remember my Color My World quilt that I finished last month? I also put some machine embroidery on the grain elevator. 

Embroidery on my Color My World quilt

I was digging through those two boxes of personal stuff a couple of weeks ago and found some scrapbooks. Of course I did!! And I found a picture of one of the village's original elevators. We must have been special because we had not one, but TWO. 

One of the elevators from Baljennie

There's a close-up of the writing on one of them. OK -- so I made up what I put on my elevator!! I guess this was the name of the grain company that owned the elevator. And it seems that all of them were different. I must remember to ask Dad about it.

The detail of the writing

OK -- so when the railroad was discontinued, the elevators became useless and were sold off. Some were torn down, while others were moved. If you want to watch this short video on moving them, it's fascinating. Those structures are NINE STORIES tall. A feat to move the darn things. It's kind of sad, and that video is sad because this is a part of our Canadian history and it's gone! It's called PROGRESS. 

Here's a picture I stole from the internet. Oh my--- when you see them like this, you wonder why they didn't tip over. Like the pin, they are defying gravity!!!

Defying gravity!!!!

Speaking to my parents is a challenge. Not the actual speaking, but trying to get in touch with them. Dad is never home, and if he is, they are just having dinner or watching Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune, or they have company! I'm going to have to book an appointment with them!!!!

Has this happened at your Wal-Mart? Our store is a two-level store that carries groceries. But aside from the groceries, the entire store has been reshuffled. All the departments have been moved, and there are huge gaps on the floor like this. 

Wal-Mart is getting a facelift.

Who knows what they are doing and why, but I had a hard time finding the craft section. I can't even remember why I looked. OH -- I was there to get something else, and I always stop by just to browse. 

They must have gotten rid of a lot of stock, because many of the shelves were quite empty. 

Empty shelves at Wal-Mart

I'm sure they are feeling the crunch of online shopping. Just like the small shops in many downtown areas of small towns across the country felt the crunch when Wal-Mart moved in. Again - that's called PROGRESS. I don't feel sorry for them. 

It's going to be a busy day, and I hope that two more samples can get done. I'm cleaning up threads on one, and it will be bound this morning. I need to find the designs for my garment and, hopefully, get the table runner stitched out, then hem it. To hem it, I'll likely have to wash it first, as it's stiff as a board. Then it's going to be flimsy to handle, but I may have to buy some spray starch and lightly starch it before trimming and hemming. I'm making this stuff up as I go. 

Did I mention that the linen I am using was supposed to be for my wedding outfit? I think I mentioned that. But don't worry—if I still want to make an outfit, I have another piece. Yep -- why buy just one piece when you can have two? It is gorgeous linen - well, I love the color. 

There is one thing I want to mention about the design on the table runner. The sample made using those designs was blue thread on white. A very classic look, but I didn't want that look at all. I wanted something softer, so I went with the green background. The next step was: what color to use for the stitching? I had an idea and started with it, but I was going to use two colors. As I got part of it stitched, I decided to go with one color family, and it looks stunning. TRUST YOUR GUT!!!!

I knew I would get mixed up in translating the colors, so I wrote myself a chart, which came in very handy. I need to be documenting all this stuff for my machine embroidery club. I'll have way more than an hour of show-and-tell!!! 

And I'm planning my trip for 2027!!! It's going to be an adventure for sure as I'm taking my aunt, who has never traveled on an Ancestry adventure. Where are we going? This is how you say good morning where we will be: Bore Da! I am not planning on learning any of the language - it's very hard to learn, but I think that English is pretty much a given. 

Getting there might be a challenge as it's in some remote little place on earth! But I'm up for an adventure. And I see there is a somewhat famous mountain peak nearby (thanks to Princess Catherine)! That's a HUGE clue! 

My apologies to people to whom I owe an email. I'm so focused on Studio B that my mind just can't grasp more than one function at a time! I will try to send out some emails. I'm also trying to tackle those weeds in the backyard! 

And on that note, I'm out of here. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Check your fluids!!!!

Progress was made, but not nearly as much as I wanted. I've just come to the conclusion that what I get done is what I get done! I am not going to sweat it, and there is a lot of "new" stuff that I'm working on. By "new," I mean techniques I haven't done in a long time, a new design I'm stitching out, and so on. 

But first, let's discuss this quote that Jackie posted in the comments. 

Drop the weight on your shoulders and put it under your feet to rise to the next challenge.

How cool is that? I couldn't agree more, and it's amazing how much weight we carry on our shoulders, and we don't even know it. Letting go of a UFO or finishing a project can be just that weight that you are carrying around! Let it go!!!!!

It was a tough day physically for me, as I had worked out with Brooke in the morning, and while I felt good, I had lifted a lot of weight. Then shortly afterward, I went to see Misty for a massage. This is not your "relaxing" massage. This is deep-tissue massage, and there were times I swear I saw stars from the pressure she applied to my neck and shoulders. The pain shot right up behind my eyes, and I was in agony. 

Thankfully, I feel fine today, but booking the two back-to-back probably wasn't a great idea! One of them alone is hard enough. 

And what's the deal? Someone took my locker at the gym! I'm definitely a creature of habit, as I've been using the same locker ever since the gym opened. A couple of times, I've had to use a different one in the area, but I've never changed areas. 

My locker was taken!

I still don't know how I am so fortunate to not get headaches from the tight muscles in my neck and shoulders. But knock on wood that my good luck remains. It's just another area that I need to keep stretching. More stretching, more often. 

I had to laugh- well, not really, because it was a wake-up call. But when I was away in June, I hadn't been stretching much. Nor had I gotten down on the floor. When it came time to work out with Brooke when I got back, my body looked at the floor and said, "Are you kidding?" That's how quickly we get out of a routine, and as we get older, it's harder to stay in the groove. Our bodies forget, so I must NOT let that lapse. I must not! Even if it means getting down on the floor ONCE a day and then back up! 

It's important because if you are alone and you fall and you can't get up? Who are you going to call? I mentioned recently that one of the most common jobs for the fire department is to pick up people who have fallen in their homes. 

I really was a slug on a rug for most of the morning and afternoon. I had a nap, and DH caught me being a slug and said, "I don't care what you do, just don't start panicking days before your trip, lamenting about not having enough time!" OK -- so he is right!

This was my view from the sofa in the living room. Of course, the girls had to be with me! I think it was raining and they don't like the rain. 

Mom - we are keeping you company!!!

When I got home from the gym, it was like there was a bunny fest going on next door. THREE rabbits and they didn't care enough to move! Murphy would have been beside herself!

A bunny fest next door

I had to do a bit of cleaning in the pond, as the water level was low. But look how high those lily pad leaves have grown. I spotted a couple of the fish, and they seem to be thriving! No maintenance! 

The lily pads have gone mad!

I didn't get much time in the gazebo, but I managed a few minutes, and, of course, Miss Murphy was right there with me. 

MOM - it's nice in the gazebo

Now let's get onto what I was trying to do all day. I have a very large piece of linen that I washed the other day, and I want to do some machine embroidery on it. It was supposed to be my outfit for the wedding. I don't mind green, but I need a brighter/darker version than what I wore to the wedding. But that's OK - it was the bride's day, not mine, and I was happy to make her happy. 

But here's a message to you all! That linen was pretty limp and needed some starch. I grabbed the only can of starch I had, and of course, the darn nozzle is clogged. I have tried to unclog the nozzles in the past, but it didn't work. So that will go in the hazardous waste. I do need to pack up a bunch of stuff in the garage before winter and drop it off. 

If there was anything in this can, it was empty now, so it went in the garbage. 

A can of fabric stabilizer - empty

Next up, I grabbed a bottle of Stiffy, which is used to stiffen fabrics. Thankfully, I have two of them. I gave it a good shake and found a container to put the liquid in to saturate the fabric. OH MY GOSH --- it came out clumpy, and there was quite a bit of the thick stuff (starch?) in the bottom. So I gooped that out into the container and spent some time breaking it all down. I threw my fabric in the container, but it wasn't enough, so I grabbed the second bottle. 

Two bottles of Stiffy

After the fabric is saturated, you wring it out and let it dry. The rest goes back in the container. I used almost a whole bottle on this piece of linen, but mind you, it's pretty big! And so it dried, and I gave it a bit of an iron this morning. 

My linen drying

It is now in the embroidery hoop, and it's stitching away, though I hear it has stopped and suspect the bobbin is low. This design is going to take hours, and I mean HOURS to stitch out, so that is all that will get done today. I may or may not finish it; it depends on how much more stitching I want to add outside this particular hoop. I suspect there will be three hoopings and each one may take up to 10 hours! 

However, it sure beats doing it by hand!!!

I have two small baskets of liquid products in Studio B. I also found this bottle of fabric softener. I have no idea why it's there - I suspect it was for photo transfers or something. But the bottle was all goopy! I don't use the stuff, and I might just toss it. It also sounded thick! But with a shake, it might come clean. 

A found bottle of fabric softener

So my lesson to you all is that if you have liquid stuff - starches, glue, etc.- make sure that you use them or go through periodically and get rid of what you no longer need or want!!! Those darn nozzles goop up very quickly. 

I had sent pictures of the T-shirts to Dillon and asked which ones he definitely wants on the front and which ones he doesn't care about. 

We went back and forth a couple of times, and these are the rejects. These will likely NOT get used in the quilt at all. And one of them was a duplicate. 

The "reject" T-shirts

It was like a puzzle: he sent me a list of the bands in each pile, and I had to find each band's name on the T-shirts and then move them into three piles!!!

These are the ones that will go on the back. Yep—it's going to be a heavy quilt, but the T-shirts are meaningful to him. He's a very—hmm—not sure how to phrase it —but he cares about stuff! 

The T-shirts for the back

And these ones are the keepers. I gave him two weeks to settle on those T-shirts, and then I will start to do the math to see how they would fit together and try to arrange the colors a bit. I think we have 19 T-shirts on the front and 19 on the back. That works for me. 

The T-shirts for the front of the quilt

So the day wasn't without some work getting done. I prepped the binding and sleeve for the next sample, but I didn't get to it this morning because I was hooping and picking colors for the project currently on the embroidery machine. 

I can bind and tidy up the other projects while this giant one stitches out. 

Last night, I decided to tackle the jigsaw puzzle. Oh my! This one is hard, and for whatever reason, my brain just can't handle the shapes. This is the FIRST time I have shape-sorted! The handles on each piece are quite unique, but that wasn't enough. 

Shape sorting

But I persevered, and I kept those shapes in their respective shape groups until the end. Obviously, it got easier as I progressed, but it still took quite a bit of time to do this. Obviously, NOT a good puzzle for speed puzzling. 

The shapes are still in their groups.

And when I was done, there were three pieces left. There is another small section of orange, so they must belong to that section. 

At last - the top orange section is complete.

Next, I grabbed all those pieces that are orange and green, and I'll work on those tonight. 

Speaking of speed puzzling, I did something bad! I signed up for THREE of the virtual speed puzzling events in the fall. I know—how did that happen? I just thought I would give it a try and see what happens. It's all for fun, so who cares how I do?

When I volunteer to prep those puzzles (wrapping and shipping) at the end of the month, I shall excuse myself from wrapping those three puzzles. 

Here's a story about a winning quilt at Quilt Canada. It was a unique quilt, and the owner should be very proud of it. 

So what did you think of Lorna's patterns? That's Lorna from Sew Fresh Quilts. How many did you buy? I have three in my cart and just need to pay for them, but I'm looking for one more, and I didn't see it on her site. Hey—I'm allowed to buy patterns! Plus it's supporting local artists!

Actually, there are two more I want to add, and both of them would make fun sew-alongs!!! Something to keep in mind for next year. 

I found one of them on her Facebook page. What do you think? The theme is very specific and probably not a winner for most of you, but for me, who grew up on a farm? I love it. I sent her a note to see if this one is for purchase. 

Down on the Farm by Sew Fresh Quilts

Speaking of sew-alongs, I MUST get those dates published and emailed out, and posted here on the blog. I've been a bit focused, well, trying to, on machine embroidery, and totally ignoring email. I must do some of that this morning while the embroidery machine is stitching its heart out. While I change bobbins! 

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

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!