Progess on mitered border projects

Thanks for the information on the cadaver tendon use!!!! Apparently, the medical field has been using that technique for years!!! Who knew? And yes -- a lot is missing from the story of the man with the broken tibia/fibia. He's in bad shape, and I don't remember all the details - tendons pulled away from the knee and the broken bones (right at the knee cap) or something equally horrible. I must remember to ask his mother again. 

Another day - another project!!! And I managed to get through another item on that paperwork list, although a new one came up that I didn't even know needed to be done. All is good! 

Let's have a look at the table runner. I was making a scrappy backing for it, and that is now done. 

The table runner and the backing

Here's a close-up of the backing. I took the narrow strips of the border print and inserted a narrow strip of solid black between them to make the backing wider. I didn't really measure it, I just guessed, and WOW - it turned out to be the right size. What are the chances? I just go with my gut instinct, and again it worked! It also helps that the narrow strips should be the same length (or close) to the cut-offs of the wider strips, although the wider ones were sewn together. It doesn't matter - it worked. 

The backing for the table runner

And now the binding is also done, and so this is in the "to be quilted" pile. It's small, so I've added it to the list of what I want to accomplish this month. WAIT - make that next month. 

The table runner is now moved to the "to be quilted" pile.

I still had a few leftovers and didn't want to put them in my scrap bin, so I looked at it and decided I could make a placemat, which I could then donate to Meals on Wheels. I had two pieces of the narrow border print and some of the floral. I looked at the remaining pieces, made a few mental calculations, sewed the two narrow pieces together, and cut them to the same length. This is all I had left. 

The remains of the narrow border

Then I used the leftover floral pieces and the two narrow strips to get this. It's just the right size for a placemat! I swear—I didn't calculate the entire thing—I just went with my gut. I still had a few odd pieces, so I made a square-ish piece of the floral fabric and added solid black. I guess I forgot to take a picture of that. And then I found solid black to make the binding. It's rather pretty and won't show spills! The backing is pretty much the same size as the top, but it'll work for quilting on the sewing machine. 

The placemat is ready to be quilted.

There were two small pieces of black floral left, and those went into the scrap bin with the rest of the black with a bit of color. One day, that scrap bin will need to be addressed. 

Yeah!!!!! 

Now it was time to pull out the third (and final) project using leftovers from the mitered border prints. You will probably not remember this, but the wide mitered borders came from a zodiac-themed quilt I made for M. I don't remember what was in the center, but I used this very wide border print. The center was a picture that I had in the house. I wanted to get rid of the actual paper picture but keep the image, as it had special meaning, so I had it printed on fabric. So the picture got scanned and printed at Spoonflower. Can you believe that was in 2021? You can check out the story behind the print at that link. 

I'll try to find the blog post featuring M's quilt. I'm running out of time to do that this morning. 

I laid everything out on the floor. Hmmmmm. There is NOT enough border print unless I cut the picture down, which I didn't want to do. 

Hmmm - the border prints are not long enough.

When I really looked at the print, I don't think the colors went with the border print. OK -- time for plan B. 

Hmmm - the colors are a bit off.

I removed the printed picture, and I'll deal with that another day. Then I put the border prints together to see what I got. Hmmmm -- now I need something else to put in the center. What? What? 

OK—looks better. Now what to put in the center?

Then a brain wave hit me as I had literally just stitched out a new sample of one of the Zodiac constellations for M's bridal veil. What if I embroidered all 12 of them on some fabric for the center? OH MY GOSH --- what a brilliant idea. I can do the embroidery in gold metallic thread. 

Then it was time to audition some fabric. Well, guess who came to help? I swear - dogs can hear fabric of any size when it touches the floor. 

MOM - sorry I'm a bit late! 

And the situation got progressively worse as I auditioned more fabric. It was when I laid down this one that Murphy did, too. I guess that is her way of saying, "I approve!" Oh Murphy!!!

MOM - I approve of this one! 

The next step was to join the border pieces so I could get a rough idea of the size of the center piece. I put the lengths on the design wall, so Miss Murphy couldn't make a mess of my border. I had to take down my Many Blocks quilt top. I must get the backing done for that quilt! So much to do and so little time! But focus!!! 

I got a rough estimate of the size and then popped over to the computer to see what it looked like with all 12 Zodiac Constellations in one spot. OH MY --- I think it's going to be perfect. I had thought about rejigging the placement of the border pieces so the wall hanging would be square, but with 12 Zodiac signs, square wasn't going to work. I did a vertical orientation, then a horizontal orientation. 

I'll have a better look at them today and see which one I like. Hmmm—let's put them on the blog and see which one looks better. OMG — do you know how nice it is to decide at the last minute to add a picture that wasn't in the initial email, and have it come through in MERE seconds? That alone has been well worth spending time with the Microsoft support team. I must remember to tell them on our next support call next week. 

Horizontal

Vertical

I put the constellations in order, starting with Capricorn. I'm leaning towards the vertical orientation because it seems less contrived. I'm not sure that is the correct term! I still have the option to move them around, and then let's see what happens. 

I have a jacket that I want to make for the April wedding, and it's bright fuchsia. I also wanted to embroider on it - just because I can. I found a design to test, and I finally got around to it last night. It turned out amazing!!! The big thing now is, do I want that particular design and what color? I asked Google what color I should use for the design. I'm stunned at what I got back. Who needs ChatGPT when I can get some basic information from Google? I'm sold. 

Anyway, it suggests that for a formal look, I can choose this color; for a casual look, I can use this. I think it gave me four options, and some I hadn't considered. So I need to pursue that later today and make sure I have the correct thread colors. I also need to settle on the design. I don't want it to be too formal-looking, since the jacket will be casual but dressy, but I also want whimsy. WOW --- that was an exciting exercise! I didn't take a picture of the sample last night as it was wet. I also did some more experimenting with the veil sample. It was very rough on the back, so I did another, and this time it's much softer. It's all about knowing how to set your embroidery machine!

And I got this giant quilt on the long arm. I've been neglecting the long arm for a bit, but I need to get this huge quilt done. I have four more quilts that need to be done fairly soon, and I need to get working on quilting the tops I've produced over the last couple of days. 

The giant quilt top is loaded on the long arm.

And now for the daily dog story!! Lexi is shedding like crazy, and unless I keep on top of it, she looks very scruffy. Her hair comes off in clumps. I don't always get to brushing her on cold days because I need to take my gloves off to do so, and I only brush her in the forest. This is the latest massive clump of hair. It's a daily thing and helps to keep the dog hair down in the house. 

The results of Lexi's daily grooming

Murphy was in her glory yesterday. I was in the garage several times as I finally cleared the driveway of snow. Not only did I have snow from yesterday morning, but I hadn't shoveled the snow from the previous week. I injured my knee on the day of the snow, and I didn't feel like hobbling out there to shovel. And no one else did either. Sigh......

While I was in the garage, a black garbage bag sprang out of the corner. Hmmm -- in it was the towel to wipe the dogs down after a romp in the dog park and FOUR Chuck-It balls. I quietly put them in Murphy's toy box, and not long after, she discovered them. She must have smelled them. 

MOM -- something new in the toybox!!!!

And then she hounded me to play ball with her all day!!

Let's play ball!!

Notice that one ball is in Lexi's bed!!

Hmm -- which one? 

MOM - Can we play ball now? 

How about now?

MOM - I don't know which one to play with!

Until finally, even Lexi got tired of it and tried to divert her attention with a rousing game of rough-house. Thanks for rescuing me, Lexi!!!!

Hey Murphy - cut it out and play with me!

Spin class went well, and my knee is healing nicely. As a matter of fact, it behaved pretty decently all day. But when I went to bed, it started to hurt. It doesn't like the lying-down position, so I got up, got a heating pad and a pillow, and that seemed to do the trick. The heating pad was so hot, I think I cooked the knee! Anyway, it's feeling good this morning, and I'll be off to the gym shortly to see Brooke. No fancy things with the legs, and especially no bending of the knee. It works, but I'm still very leery of anything that isn't keeping the leg straight! All is good!!!

I've got more stuff to get done today -- of course I do. And that one project is now two because I need to figure out something for the printed-on-fabric photo, but the mitered border project is the priority!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

My day off!!!

OH OH OH --- I love the idea of using the soccer quilt as a NICU quilt. I will look into that!!!!! Thanks for the suggestion. 

I cannot say enough about the Microsoft support team, which is also located in India. I asked yesterday! Every person I've talked to has been great, but the most important thing? When they say they are going to call, they call at that time! We usually set a two-hour window because they could be on a call with someone else, but for the most part, they have called right at the start of the window. 

Thankfully, Reesha knows the history of my claim and said I had homework since our last call. Did I get it done? She even checked!! And yes, my computer and BIOS are completely up to date! Yesterday, she recorded a video of various areas of my settings, downloaded it, and will share it with the engineering team. 

They are determined to find the answer. I'm OK with that, and I will say that when I send pictures to myself, the darn system syncs pretty quick. I sent one email from my phone this morning, and in 30 seconds it was on my desktop! Persistence and patience -- two good virtues. 

The only thing left is that all the emails come back to my folder system. However, I have access to them in the new version, so it's not like I don't have access. 

Well, I took the day off yesterday! GASP!!! Yep --- I knew it was going to be a busy day and I did some work in the morning, but then that was it for the day! 

Here's what I accomplished in the morning. I completed the top of the table runner!! I have to say I'm pretty impressed at how well it turned out, considering it was leftovers from another project, and had been hanging out for years on that current project table. 

The table runner 

I had an AHA moment about the size to cut the center piece. When I get too tired, my brain just doesn't want to work, but once I got back to it yesterday, I realized what I needed to do and look at those mitered corners!!! The blue strip is the edge of the border fabric. I did take a bit of ripping, and I had to cut 1/8" off the short ends, and then it fit perfectly. 

The mtiered corner

The first corner I had stitched just the night before looked too wonky for my liking, and I know I can do better. I'm much happier. Then I figured out how to use more of the leftovers for the backing, and that is cut, and I'll be working on that later today. That leaves the third group of leftovers, which I'll dig out today and hope to finish all three projects while this technique is in my head. They will get quilted later this month.

I had a chuckle when I went downstairs after walking the dogs. Hmmm --- if Murphy is going to sleep on my quilts, she really should learn to tidy up after herself!!

Someone has been sleeping on my project!

The tablerunner is off the floor, and a box is in its place. Hmmmm -- I can see the wheels turning. How do I open the box and spread out the fabric inside so I can test it? 

MOM - I need something to sleep on!!

She doesn't look too happy, but I needed to dig out that box because it contains my photo transfer stuff, and I need to transfer a photo onto fabric. That has to be done today!

Then I went for a massage, and while it was painful, my shoulders didn't seem as tight as they had been in the past. Could all that stretching be helping? I must remember to keep my posture in check and try a bit more stretching through the shoulders. At least, I'm not in pain daily like I have been in the past - that was many years ago. Our bodies are just one big item that requires a lot of maintenance!

Speaking of our bodies, here is the story about the knee. It's not my knee - it belongs to a 49-year-old man who fell off a ladder and broke his tibia and fibula. Quite badly, it would appear. It seems he will be getting new tendons from a cadaver! Yep — it's a thing, and if you want more information, I think this link will work, or you can simply Google it yourself: Cadaver Tendon Graft. 

I would love to have new tendons in my knees, but I'm in pretty good shape, so I'm not complaining. I'll save the cadaver tendons for those who really need them. Anyway, my knee is feeling decent, so I'm going to the gym this morning, and I'll stay for 60 minutes, but at reduced pressure. That is all about keeping the body moving, just not at the same intensity while healing! NO rule says I have to do the same thing every week in that class. 

I saw Brooke at the gym on Monday and told her that I'm healing, so we'll work on the upper body tomorrow. 

Oh gosh -- I had a small package I was preparing to send with one of M's friends who is going out to visit her for her birthday on March 1st. Do you think I could find the birth certificates I wanted to send to her? Actually, now that I think about it, it's pretty funny to get your birth certificate on your 30th birthday! But I had slipped those papers under something, and I couldn't remember what. I thought it was the files in the office, but nope—it was under the files in the kitchen. All is good - the package was picked up last night. 

The missing paperwork!

I have two copies of this book, so if anyone would like it, I'm happy to send it off to you. Hopefully, you live close by, so I won't have to ship it! Anyway, free for the asking if anyone wants it; otherwise, it will go in the giveaway box. 

Free for the asking!

And look at that big, brave Lexi!! She is usually so timid about many things, especially about jumping up in this bed, which was technically for both of them. So I pointed to the bed and invited her up, and up she jumped!! She didn't seem too comfy, so I must try to encourage her to spend more time there!!! 

MOM -- this is kind of scary!

Yesterday was the final day of the $5 movie passes for February, along with a small popcorn, also for $5. I invited KU along, and off we went. We walked!!! Yep — she was a good sport and walked with me to the theatre — it's about a 25-minute walk, and the sun was out, and while it was minus 6, it was nice. 

We were early, and the theatre hadn't even opened yet, so we went shopping. One of my favorite clothing stores, Melanie Lynn, is around the corner from the theatre. So we went in, and it was very interesting. While I'm not in the market for new clothes, I saw some very cool items. Oh my -- it would appear that cutwork and lace are in, in a big way!!!! I MUST try something on the embroidery machine!!!

Can you believe that I ended up buying a pair of jeans? Yep—I'll share those with you another day. 

Anyway, when we went to buy the tickets, the movie had been moved to 4 PM, not 3:30, so we had even more time! And yes -- we were the first ones in the theatre! This seems to be a thing for me, because when DH and I went to the movies on Christmas Day, we were there very early, too! You would think I'm getting old and need to be at the theatre to get good seats or something. We had assigned seating yesterday, so that wasn't the case. It's just how it worked out!

The theatre is empty!

I had a gift card with enough to pay for two tickets, two popcorns, and two (very expensive) bottles of water. WAIT -- I was short by 17 cents, and they took that from my Scene card! We went to see Send Help, and OH MY! We had watched the trailer, and it looked like a good movie. It was, but it was NOT what we expected! I won't say more than that in case you want to go. 

But as we watched the trailers for upcoming movies, there seemed to be a lot of gore, scary, and satanic-type films coming up. We did see two that we might like to see in the future, and I hope to go again next week to see Crime 101. I think that is what it's called. 

But holy!!!! They are really getting in your face about disturbing others in the theatre and rightly so!! They called out five bad habits people do in a theatre: sending messages on your phone with that clicking sound on, getting phone calls, the light from your phone if you are texting but still in silent mode, and talking to your companion through the movie. There was one more, and I don't remember it. 

The hilarious (NOT!) part was that KU's phone kept going off! OK -- it was not constant, but she received several phone calls and texts while in the movie. It's not enough that it rang silently, that was NOT silent to me, but her flashlight goes off. Seriously????? She needs to address that before I go with her again! 

Anyway, it was great, and when we walked home at 6 PM, the weather was still nice (crisp), and it was still somewhat light. 

What's with the weather? We had snow again last night - not much, but just enough to cover the sidewalks, so if there are icy patches, you can't see them. Just dump the snow, let us shovel, dry off the sidewalks, and let it be!! Nope, small snow every second day. Annoying!!!

OK -- I must go, or I'll be late for spin class. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!

A trip down memory lane

I LOVE hearing all your stories of repurposing projects, prepping for upcoming surgeries (good luck), and ideas for my Prince challenge. It's a process to be sure, but when you have a plan, or whatever you want to call it, life is good. I know the times I find hardest are when I have something (or multiple things) to do and no plan. Sometimes that is as simple as writing things down. 

I had several computer tasks to do, and I kept reviewing them in my head. That was taking up a lot of energy to keep track of them. I wrote them on a piece of paper (I KNOW - I should have put them in the computer to-do list), but this way they were right in front of me, and all of them were URGENT. This was motivation for me to get them done. 

Of those 9, I got 6½ done yesterday, which is great. The rest I can get done this morning. Writing the list down set my mind at ease, letting my subconscious work on something else without wasting energy trying to remember those nine things!

I had a chat with HP yesterday, and my computer is now up to date, and I know how to periodically check that all updates are up to date! It doesn't happen automatically! Who knew that? I'm ready for my fourth session with Microsoft this morning. BTW -- I asked the HP support person where he was located - Mumbai, India! Very nice person and very helpful. 

A LOT of things happened yesterday. It was Monday Sewing, and while we chatted, I was busy working. 

I pulled some "easy" things out of the UFO blue bin to work on. The first one was to deal with the leftovers from the soccer quilt that you saw last week. The leftover strips from the mitered border were too large to be considered a scrap. So instead of putting a mitered border on that square of fabric in the center, I did the opposite. I made the mitered borders and then cut the center to fit! And I got a 27" square table topper from those leftovers. 

The soccer table topper from leftover border prints

And there was enough fabric to make the backing. I used a solid black for the binding, and this one is ready to be quilted. I want to get it quilted this week, so I can finish it and then find a home for the two quilts. 

Ready to be quilted

I have THREE projects like this that were put in the UFO blue bin. I'll give you a better idea of what I started with and what I did on this next one. I think I remember what quilt this border fabric came from. It's in the "to be quilted" pile and has been for years! Anyway, I had a piece of floral yardage (top left), the eight cut-off pieces from applying the mitered border, and a length of the border print. Not shown are some leftovers from the border print. 

What I started with

Wait -- I took a picture of the leftovers from the border print.

The leftover border prints bits

 And here's a better view of the yardage. 

The yardage

This is called reverse engineering because I laid out the fabric to see what I had and to determine what sizes everything needed to be cut or where it could be used. 

Visually designing a table runner

YES -- I could make a decent-sized table runner out of this. I started by assembling the two short end borders. And then I constructed the long borders. I ensured that the two short and the two long borders were the same length, but honestly, I didn't really have to trim anything. They were equal! Good planning. 

Ensuring the long borders are the same length

And I laid it on the floor. It looks AWESOME!!! The tricky part is cutting the center to match the borders. I'm still working on that formula. 

That is going to look amazing.

But the MINUTE that was on the floor after I cut the center to fit, guess who came downstairs and guess where she went. She immediately went to that table runner and STOPPED. 

MOM -- is this for me?

Then she lay down! 

MOM - it's a bit small!

I have to say that when I went downstairs this morning, I half expected her to be lying on it, but nope - she was on her mat under the table. Good girl Murphy!!! And see that mat is plenty big enough for us to have a good cuddle.

Mat - I needed the extra thickness of my mat last night

I didn't finish the table runner yesterday, so I'll work on it this morning. And there is ONE more similar project in the UFO box. I'm going to get that one done this week as well, and then I need to set aside the UFO box for a bit. What is nice is that these small projects that have cluttered up the table tops are finally being done! I'm super excited!!!!

Oh my—sometimes we need to keep quiet. Remember the lady I ran into in the grocery store? Well, I took pictures of the project I had started for her and sent them to her yesterday. She didn't even remember the project!!!! ACK -- I could have just repurposed everything, and no one would be the wiser. But the guilt would gnaw at me, so we're going to discuss on Friday what to do about it. 

I had this border done, but it needs stitching in bright colors to really stand out from the background. And I have a ton of photos transferred to fabric, as well as a hand-drawn diagram of the direction we were going. 

The borders for the quilt

But as I was looking in the box, I spotted this! Notice the date - 2002! We weren't even living in this house at the time! And we've lived here for 23 years!  

Keepsake Quilting catalogue

For anyone who remembers that catalogue, it was the equivalent of being 6 years old again, and getting the Sears Wish Book, or the Eaton's one. The Wish Book was published from the mid-50s to the mid-70s, although I think the regular Sears catalogue continued for a few more years. 

The Christmas Wish Book

I browsed the catalogue while eating lunch, and what a trip down memory lane!! Here are some highlights that I found interesting. It was BIG -- 126 pages!!!!

EQ4 was the computer design software of choice. It's still going strong today with EQ8 being the current version. 

EQ4 for $110. CDN

OH MY -- the bugs in a jar quilt. This was a very popular pattern, and novelty prints were all the rage. Some people filled the jars with fruit and veggie-themed fabrics. I don't think I ever made this pattern (I'm sure I have it), but I have boxes and boxes of all kinds of novelty prints that are used for I Spy quilts. 

Bugs in a jar quilt pattern

There were many fabric clubs you could subscribe to, and of course, in 2002, there were NO PRE-CUTS. GASP!!! How did people survive? Well, you could buy collections like this one of 10" squares. I think this one was curated to make the jar quilt above. I may or may not have purchased some of these. 

10" squares of novelty prints

There's the pattern for Rosewood Cottage. Oh my!!! I taught that as an ongoing class in 2008 at The Hobby Horse, and again in 2013 at Ruti's Needlebed. My quilt is in the "to be quilted" pile. What fun we had with that quilt. If you click the link above, you can see the final show-and-tell. I don't have anything on the blog for the 2008 version. I was just starting to write my blog that year. 

Rosewood Cottage

And the final picture I'll share is Moonglow by Jinny Beyer. I made this quilt, and it is quilted and bound, though I'd like to add more quilting with metallic thread. WAIT --- this would be the perfect thing to do with the embroidery machine!!! Lightbulb moment!!!! This pattern was released again, but I'm not sure of the year. 

Moonglow pattern

I remember sitting in the Hobby Horse, and Gail was contemplating bringing in the pattern. So I quietly said, "I can make the sample." I had no clue what I was doing, but I LOVE the quilt. It was challenging, but the quilt is beautiful!! I don't seem to have any pictures of it on the blog either. 

WOW WOW WOW --- what a trip down memory lane. The catalogue is now in the recycling bin, except for the one page I wanted for that customer project - it was an idea for a family tree. Funny, how we keep the entire catalogue for one picture. 

WAIT --- I did this last night as well. 

Machine embroidery on tulle

I'm still designing the central feature for the bridal veil, but she also wanted Zodiac constellations on it. I managed to find those on Etsy, and they turned out pretty darn good. That is stitched on bridal tulle. Cutting away the excess water-soluble stabilizer was a challenge, and I managed to NOT cut the tulle. It's going to be on a plane tomorrow, so she can evaluate it. 

The only thing that needs to be changed, if possible, is that it's a bit scratchy on the back, which could be because it was quickly rinsed rather than fully washed. I will have to make another sample, or I could wash this more thoroughly today and let it dry. But amazing that you can stitch on see-through tulle and it's pretty strong. 

It was a jam-packed day, and I'm making progress in many areas. I will have to settle down later this week and start getting back to focusing on one or two things, not flitting around as I did yesterday. Some of the things done yesterday were just to see if we would go ahead with the project. If the answer is yes, then it needs to be scheduled in. 

My knee did just fine at spin class. Being clipped into the pedals helps keep the knee straight, and as long as it stays straight, it's happy. Try to twist it even one tiny bit, and it's not happy! So I'm extremely careful. It was fine all day, but it bothered me quite a bit last night, so I'm not sure what's going on. Slow and careful -- that's my motto. I only cycled for 30 minutes, with little pressure - I can crank out the equivalent of 30 KM in 60 minutes. Yesterday, I cycled 12 km in 30 minutes, so you can see I'm being responsible. I need to keep the knee moving. 

I'm running out of time, so I'll have to share another story about the knee tomorrow. 

Have a superb day!!!

Ciao!!!

Patience is a virtue!

And the busiest weekend for February is over! I survived it, and all the work got done on time, so my new time management is working out. By time management, I mean I have reduced the number of classes, which made time management so much easier. I didn't juggle my time better - I just had less to do. There's a huge difference, and I feel so much better!

I will always have things to do, but I will always ensure there is time for me!

If you remember, I talked about doing a couple of Zoom sessions on scraps, and the thought of scheduling them right now just didn't appeal to me. It's not so much the one-hour Zoom, but the hours of prep. While I want to do it, I didn't want to take away from my leisure time. 

I've decided to make it a four-part (or maybe longer) session that will run in the fall. My new schedule will include teaching a complete quilt, like Colour My World, and one other, preferably technique class. The scrap session will be the other. So that is on the slate for September/October, and you'll get lots of advance notice about how to sign up. 

I'm looking for quilt patterns for the new sew-along that will start in the fall. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Some appliqué is OK, but it needs to be pieced or mostly pieced. I have one quilt in mind and will be looking for others so I can choose. I will not break down and do more than one! I'm learning!!!!

Let me chat about Murphy first, and then I'll share my quilting stuff with you. This dog is persistent!! And like many dogs, she's smart. She knows when I am sitting at the kitchen table, that I'm there for a while, so she decides to try and get my attention even more, especially with that ball of hers!

She wants me to throw the ball, which I do, but it's annoying. Our ceramic floors are slippery, but she doesn't seem to mind. And if DH is on a call, he doesn't like the noise! He's always on a call! Thankfully, after about 10 throws, she gets overheated and needs to go outside to plunk herself in the snow. 

The other day, I was ignoring her, so she did this with her ball. 

MOM - Lexi is trying to steal my ball!

I didn't get up from what I was doing, so she grabbed the ball and plunked it into Lexi's food dish right beside the table. Of course, that action caused a kibble or two to spill out, so now those were fair game for her to eat! 

MOM - Lexi put the ball in her food dish!

I finally gave in, and then after our requisite number of throws, she went outside. 

MOM - I'm so hot!

She wants me to throw the ball outside, but I'm afraid it will sink into the snow, and she won't find it. OK -- I know that's a silly thing to say about a dog. She often has her head deep in the snow on our forest walks because she has smelled something. 

MOM - I smell a vole!!!!

And then don't forget the cuddles in her bed! I do NOT cuddle with her in that tiny bed in the office; rather, I cuddle her on her mat downstairs or on this larger bed in the family room. She loves it, and I think it's fun to get down to the floor and be with her on her terms!!! 

MOM - thanks for loving me!

You remember what happened when I put my quilt blocks on the floor the other night. Murphy took over rows three and four. 

MOM - I approve of rows 3 and 4

Well, I managed to get those rows together in the afternoon, but when I came down to work, she had commandeered rows 1 and 2 for sleeping. Why are quilts or even quilt blogs pet magnets? 

Mom - I'm testing rows 1 and 2

Such a silly girl. Anyway, the good news is that the entire quilt is together, including the border. It was a bit of an impromptu quilt that I'll use to advertise my upcoming Facebook Live. I'll wait until they post the ad on Facebook and then share the quilt with you. The topic is felting with your embroidery machine and will take place on March 11. It will be recorded, so if you can't make the March 11 date, you can still watch it. I have a "few" samples I want to make, but that's OK because I'm also working on a project on my Visual To-Do list. I wanted to learn all about felting on the embroidery machine as a goal. 

Now I have done felting before, but I don't have a ton of samples, and I want to really explore the technique, so I get to kill two birds with one stone! I told you that I'm becoming a master at this, and there isn't much I don't make that doesn't cover two or more goals!

Let's talk about why something becomes a UFO. In my case, it's often because I haven't thought it through all the way. I get to a spot where I'm stuck, or I try to "ram" the sewing through, think it's going to be OK, and then, when it's finished or nearly finished, I'm not happy. Then the project gets set aside. I have many projects on the current project table because of that scenario. 

It's something I need to learn to live with or remake things properly! If the item is going to be a traveling sample, I simply cannot go out in public with one that looks a wee bit shoddy. Yes - there are times when a shoddy sample makes a good learning tool, and I'm happy to carry those, but there are times when I want the item to be a bit more perfect!!

So here's my latest ripping-out experiment. And YES - this is on the Visual To-Do list. See --- I am FOCUSED!!!! There isn't much, if anything, that I'm working on these days that isn't on that list. 

The theme of the Cherrywood Challenge in 2018 was the artist known as Prince. I loved the color - purple, and I had a great idea. Oh -- that's the case, I have the ideas, but don't always execute to my satisfaction. Anyway, you'll see the piece in a second, or you can check out this blog post. 

I wasn't happy with the placement of the raindrops. It never got finished to enter the competition. I decided to live with it the way it was and figure out how to quilt it. I wanted to use metallic thread, but the piece just didn't match the vision I had. I even tried free-motion quilting so I could just call it a day, and the piece YELLED at me that it wasn't happy. Neither was I. 

I added that challenge to my to-do list, and here is my plan. I need to rip out all the satin stitches around each raindrop, and there are a lot of them. WAIT --- first, I had to rip out all the quilting, which I did months ago. Then I could remove the satin stitches. 

The quilting has been removed.

OK -- now the satin stitches are removed from one raindrop. 

The satin stitching is removed from one raindrop.

Now those raindrops are fused in place, so will the fusing let go? I was able to pull the raindrops off after the stitching was removed. So much for PERMANENT fusing with a fusible web!!

And the raindrop peeled right off the background!

I had to tug some of them a bit more than others to get off, and a bit of residue remained on the background after removing the raindrops. Shoot -- what am I going to do with that? 

I gave it a quick press from the wrong side, and VOILA—except for the stitch holes, you wouldn't be able to tell that anything has been fused and stitched in place. The raindrops came off perfectly!!! 

Wow - the beginning of a clean slate

It's going to take some time to remove them all, as there are quite a few on the piece. I'm OK with that. I swear that sitting and doing this kind of project is perfect for Monday sewing calls, or Virtual Retreats, and it teaches a person patience. Patience is a very important virtue, and many people do NOT have patience these days. I find this kind of thing therapeutic. 

A lot of raindrops to remove

As you can see, I've made a start in that one corner. My plan is to put the raindrops back on the quilt, but in straight lines, so I can quilt straight vertical lines for the rain, hopefully in metallic thread. I was likely in a rush to get this completed and randomly stuck those raindrops on without much thought to the quilting, and then went, "ACK, how the heck am I going to quilt this?" and it's sat like that for years. 

I need to stop doing that! 

Am I upset with having to rework this piece? Not at all. Things happen, and I've learned to let them go. It was not a mistake, just a learning opportunity. I'm wiser now, and because I've made so many "mistakes" and allowed myself to make them, I can recover from them without beating myself up. How many times did famous artists go back and rework a painting? Probably way more times than we realize. So slow and methodical, and I'll get it to look the way I want. 

I'm off to spin class this morning. I'm going to take it easy and will probably only do 30 minutes, just to test out my knee. It's not really the joint, it's the darn tendons, which are not happy campers. Anyway -- more on that story tomorrow because I heard some wild news at the Virtual Retreat yesterday. I have to say that the conversations at the retreats are amazing. The number and variety of topics we cover blows my mind!!! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!