Vintage jigsaw puzzles

I goofed yesterday. I typed out the blog, and I SWEAR I clicked on the PUBLISH button, but I did not. It wasn't until someone alerted me around 10:30 that I realized it was still in DRAFT mode. There are days like that! 

Even though it was Monday Sewing, I got a lot done. I typically just sit and chat, but I have a lot to get done this week, so there is no time to waste. 

I don't really have a lot to share since it's all for upcoming classes, but needless to say, I have almost finished prepping one of the three classes. I have a few more pictures to add to the presentation, and it's done! Actually, there are five presentations in total, since there are two sessions on Sunday as well, but they are less intense and mostly show-and-tell, with no prep other than loading pictures into a presentation. 

Today, I must get Studio B set up for the Facebook Live tomorrow, and I have pulled out all the cameras, tripods, and cables to make that happen. I don't think it will take too long, but since I'm switching things up a wee bit, I may have to play around with camera positioning, etc. And I need to clear those T-shirts off my portable design wall. I meant to do that yesterday, but got caught up in sewing. 

Like everything, once you get going, it doesn't take as long as you think it will. Let's hope, because sometimes the opposite is true! 

I did get smart at one point in the day and started using the flying geese for the winter quilts as my enders and leaders. I need to make 88 flying geese, and I have 1/4 of them made! It won't take long to finish that off, and if I eke out a bit of time each day, I can get those done in time for the UFO class. 

Flying geese for the winter quilts

Our renovated library is now open - I already told you that. But I had walked to the alternate location a couple of times over the summer. On my way, I had spotted these community gardens which look sadly neglected. What a shame that more people are not taking care of them. It's not that far away from the house -- it might be kind of fun to check it out. Yes—I could do a garden in my backyard, but I don't really have the space for it. 

Community gardens

My neighbor has a huge garden next door. Loads of veggies, and we get a few things from her over the summer. I'll have to think about this. As my landscaper says, do you really want to go down that path? I can't even keep the weeds at bay in the backyard, and now I'd have to add a small garden that is not even in my backyard? While I can walk, I could speed the trip by riding my bike.  

Perhaps I'll just keep sitting in the backyard and reading my book, which I do every day. Someone had mentioned that they can't go in their backyard without feeling guilty, so they don't go. Seriously? I could stare at weeds all day while I sat and enjoyed the gazebo's shade. It's like cleaning your house. Who is going to care that your house was spic and span? No one! I take the same philosophy for the backyard. 

It is neat, and it's mostly OK, but weeding will never be done. So I'm going to enjoy life, and I don't care about a weed or two. And instead of avoiding the space, I'm going to enjoy it. I do not want to be lamenting in the winter that I didn't spend enough time out there. 

I am managing to keep my head above water with the audiobook and ebooks. But it seems that as fast as I finish a book, a new one comes in. That's OK. The audiobooks help me focus when I'm sewing, so I don't mind. I finished and returned one yesterday, and another one appeared on my shelf this morning. I am NOT accepting any "skip the line" books. They can go to someone else who has more time. 

At this rate, I may just get to my stretch goal of 1.5 books a week. 

It's the same with gardening; we all have our personal goals, and if gardening is your thing, then you do gardening. NO ONE can tell you how to spend your time. 

Well, as you know, I have fallen hard for the world of jigsaw puzzles, and I love doing them, but I am also learning lots about them. Puzzles are not new, and I'm not sure when they were invented. WAIT --- puzzles started in the 1760s (who knew!) by a cartographer (John Spilsbury) who cut up a world map that had been glued to wood. He cut around the countries, and it was meant to be a learning tool. 

Puzzles have existed ever since, but like many things, they took a resurgence during the pandemic. 

And I'm learning that there are some coveted jigsaw puzzles. Apparently, back in the day, Springbok made puzzles with round boxes. From what I saw online, they made puzzles for every state, and each came in its own round box. They also made puzzles in round boxes based on some children's stories (I think that was it), and there is a blue one (Little Boy Blue???) that is extremely rare. 

Surprisingly, Springbok is not that old a company - they were founded in 1963. 

I have puzzles older than that. But in the blurb I read about Springbok, they got their inspiration from Waddington's (London) round puzzles. I have a couple of Waddington puzzles, and while they are probably 50 years old, they are nothing special. Well, maybe the size - I believe they are both 4000 pieces, and I have carried them around with me since I left the farm MANY years ago. I never dared to crack them open and do them myself. Although I think we may have done at least one of them as kids with my Mom. I'll have to ask her. 

I don't think these old puzzles are surfacing in thrift stores because people think they aren't appealing. But I have several old puzzles, and of course, there is the puzzle incident in our family! I'll attempt to get a picture of that puzzle at some point. 

But since we are quilters and sewists, here is an interesting puzzle. This one is made from a piece of fabric that is glued to wood and then cut out. 

A fabric and wood puzzle

A piece of the fabric was glued to the back of the box. 

The "picture"

And this is the final puzzle. It's 200 pieces. How cool is that? 

The completed puzzle

By the print, I'm guessing this was from the 70s. 

So if you have "vintage" puzzles at your house as you are clearing out clutter and you do NOT want them, let me know. I am NOT going to collect them, but it's interesting to see them. I have a puzzle here that belonged to my Dad, and before that, it belonged to his Dad. I'm not sure how I got it, but I found it the other day when I had to move the puzzles for the plumber. I must remember to ask. Wait—I'll take a picture and send it to Dad. 

We have gotten into the habit of sending short emails daily. He is not into phone calls and so darn hard to catch while home anyway. But the emails work for both of us. Now to grab a picture of that puzzle. 

I must brush up on the history of puzzles. Wait—a puzzle trivia event could be great for the Nationals next summer. I must bring that up to the group! On the next puzzle packing day, or I'll just drop Amanda a note. Done - I dropped her a note and ran and got pictures of Dad's puzzle. 

On that note, I'm off to the gym. I didn't go yesterday - it was a holiday; however, the gym was open. I took the day off, and now it's time to get back into the routine. 

It's going to be a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!

Family and true friends are important!!

Well, it wasn't a productive day in terms of visual things to look at, but it was a very productive day for catching up with family. I have a cousin who has recently moved to Toronto, and we spent the afternoon together having a great chat that we haven't had in a long time. It was beautiful outside, so we spent the day visiting in the backyard. 

Speaking of family, this photo has been sitting in my random photo folder for a while. This is my small family. The photo was taken at my older brother's wedding in 1979. I guess we are a bit of an anomaly, or maybe it was the norm at the time, but there were no divorces or remarriages then. Come to think of it, there was only one divorce, and that was me! 

Two sets of grandparents in the front row and my parents and their three kids and two spouses in the back. OH my gosh -- we all look so young!! It's funny how we age, and we just don't see it! I think that is the ONLY picture of everyone together. My grandfather on the left passed away shortly after that picture was taken. 

My first DH on the extreme right. I won't go into the whole story, but although we haven't been together in a very long time, we still chat or send messages from time to time. We were so young and had no clue what we were doing getting married. 

If we were to take a similar picture today with all the family, which will NEVER happen, but if we did. There would be the parents, my older brother and his wife (no kids), me and DH (one child, now married with no children), and my younger brother and his wife (two kids, both with girlfriends). We are a small family. 

I spent some time in the garden yesterday. I don't know what happened, but I'm getting a lot of silly little weeds that are growing, well, like weeds. They are too many and too small to handpick, so I need to dig out the hoe. I hand-tilled this small area by the pond pump, and it doesn't get much sun, so the ground is very clay-like and wet. 

Who do you think plunked themselves in that spot before I could even get a bag of mulch in place? 

MOM - I like the cool earth on my butt! 

But she was having fun with her stuffie, and that's all that counts. 

MOM - I love my outdoor stuffie

I did walk them both to the grocery store again. I didn't need much, so I can manage the lighter weight and the two leashes. I could always use my backpack, and then I'd have two hands for two leashes. Murphy doesn't pull nearly as much as she used to, so walking them is almost pleasant. 

I read quite a bit as I'm attempting to get through this pile of books, both in hard copy and in digital form. I'm not overdoing it - my brain would explode if I did. So I'm taking it one step at a time. I'm almost finished with another audiobook called "Know My Name" by Chanel Miller. It's interesting how to describe what the book is about. Do you say it's about sexual abuse? Or is it about being a victim? Is it about making things right? Is it about getting justice? Or maybe even making people aware? 

Whatever theme you want to call it, it's absolutely despicable that she had to fight for everything in this book. It's despicable how differently victims of abuse are treated compared to the abuser. It's despicable how the abuser and his family's status in life is more important than the victim and her family. I'm using his and her like that because the abuser is often the male person in the relationship. 

I'm excited about how Chanel worked through all the crap the court system and the world threw at her. I'm so proud of how strong she was and how hard she fought. 

But it saddens me to no end to know that, with the current political situation, this type of scenario is almost being made the norm, and that it's just part of daily life to abuse a woman. That is scary, and currently there doesn't seem to be anyone strong enough to dig us out of that hole. This is a step backward. Yet it is shocking to see women supporting certain behaviors. I wonder if they would change their tune if it were themselves, or a close family member, or a close friend who became a victim. Would men's perspective change if it was their daughter who was raped?  

It is long (12 hours) and read by the author. Her voice is very monotone, and I suspect that is deliberate. It sets the stage for what she endured. I was tempted multiple times to speed it up, but I didn't. I wanted to ensure I heard everything she had to say. 

I hope the next book is going to be happier! 

I managed to get some cutting done. I have three projects to prep for next weekend, and, well, I need to get to work. I'm almost finished with one of them and starting to work on the other two. It's always exciting to start a new project - what fabrics to pick. Do I use scraps or not? 

Cutting fabric for a new project

The old me would have hopped in the car to get something I needed. The new me said—think it over and weigh the options. Find SOMETHING in the stash and use that! And I did! 

As I work, I'm taking a lot of pictures, and they are getting sorted into the appropriate folder for a presentation. 

Yikes—this picture did NOT turn out well at all. I was picking some fabrics and found the remains of a fat quarter. When I opened it up, I could see that it has sections cut out, but look at that big white patch!!! That is faded!!! This must have happened at the store (wherever that was) because my fabric is stored in a dark room. But what the heck? Why would I have bought it? I probably just grabbed it and didn't look at the other side of the folded fat quarter. 

A major fade on a piece of fabric

I'm sure we have all had situations in our lives with people we thought were our friends, only to find out they weren't. I've had one major incident in my life, and even though I have forgiven them (I hope I have), I will NEVER forget what happened. It was traumatic. I don't need to go into details here. 

There were two people involved. OK - there were more than two people involved, but two people were what I considered my closest and best friends. I have run into one or more of these "friends" on the rare occasion - yep - a bit awkward. And I will confess that I have considered (albeit for a very fleeting second) whether I wanted to welcome one of them back into my circle of friends, and then I read these words of wisdom, and I'm OK with things the way they are. 

These wise words say it all. 

And sadly, the same needs to be said about family. I'm pretty sure that we all have some family member who has messed things up badly. Yes—you want to be the fixer, but seriously? They don't deserve our time. Let it go!!! And I have! 

I laugh at this one because this has happened. When I randomly met one person in particular from that incident, she literally wanted to be somewhere else. And once in the grocery store, she did avoid me. And you know what? It hurt at first, but I'm over it. Yes—it was a loss for me, but if your friends aren't loyal, they don't need to be part of my life. Personally, I think it was a loss for the one person who had to choose! 

There were also people on the periphery of the situation who I don't think ever realized what happened, and they have drifted away. That part makes me sad because they did nothing but were caught in a mess. It's like the friends of a divorced couple -- who do you have allegiance to? You can't be friends with both sides. 

Enough about all that doom and gloom. Life is great—I've moved on. They and their "friends" have moved on. All is good in the world. 

It's Monday sewing, and I have to get to work on tidying up Studio B and prepping it for the Facebook Live on Wednesday for the PFAFF creative icon 3. Here is the link to join. And you can also watch it on YouTube if you don't use Facebook.

I may not have linked the exact spot to see the livestream, but it's somewhere on those pages, and if you are set up on that page, you will need to REFRESH at 3 PM when it starts. The link doesn't just start. Refresh, and all should be good.  

And on that note - it's time to get the day started!!!

It's a wonderful day today!!! I'm happy to be alive!!!

Ciao!!!!

It's a GOOD news day!!!!

I chuckle at all the higher-toilet comments. This might be too much information, but I am not a tall person (66"), and I'm not sure what my inseam is - probably around 30". When I am sitting on the toilet, I need to be at a certain angle. I find the higher toilets are too high for my comfort. So I'm going to keep doing my standing squats so I can keep using the lower toilet! It's hilarious—but I can't use the higher toilet! How do vertically challenged people cope?  

Thanks for the recommendation of The Calamity Club. Oh my -- it's 29 hours!! I've just added it to my HOLD list, which is over 30 books, with 6 books in my inbox. One of those needs to be returned, and I'm partway through several of the others. I have so many in suspended status! Perhaps I've been a bit overzealous in the reading department. But that's OK. 

I must learn to rely on tagging the books as "want to read," but like that elusive Sunday morning pill, that habit just hasn't hit me yet. 

YES -- I am waiting 30 minutes before making breakfast—yet again, even though I've been up for several hours. OK—so maybe I do need to set an alarm on my phone for 5:30 AM. You would think this would be easy, but it's not, and I have another 12 weeks of pills! Yeah me!!!

And to clarify one thing I mentioned yesterday about AI. What I dislike about using AI as a search engine is that it finds the information I asked for. It doesn't let me browse the stuff I didn't ask for, and sometimes there are interesting tidbits there that are very useful. Sorry for that confusion! I love learning, and allowing AI to narrow down the search prevents me from learning other useful and sometimes useless stuff! But at least I get to choose, not a computer. 

Well, it's a good news kind of day!! Why? Take a look. 

I double-checked that the leader on the long arm was loaded in the correct orientation - clockwise versus counterclockwise. That was kind of hard to find online, but I did. When I first took the leader off, I had noted it with a piece of tape on my metal bar, but I didn't trust it. However, the tape indicator was correct, so I went ahead and secured the leader with wide painter's tape. 

The leader is secured with tape.

Using the Sew Tite Magnum magnets to hold that leader in place made this an easy task. I had a pair of scissors in one hand and the roll of tape in the other, and within two minutes, this part of the tape was in place. 

Then I took the roll and added a single layer of tape along the length of the leader. 

The second step in taping the leader in place

Hmm—that took another 2 minutes, and then it was done! 

I rolled it up, and it could be a bit tighter, but hopefully that will happen as I use the long arm. At least it's even on the edges, and that's all that counts. 

Then, since I was on a roll, I decided to load a quilt backing. Oh my—that was hilarious. I started placing the magnets on and then realized I was NOT attaching the back—just adding the magnets to the metal bars in the leader. OK—let's try that again!! And before I knew it, the backing was secured. Magnets on one side and pins on the other. 

The backing is loaded.

This is one of the community project quilts, and I realized I didn't have any batting made. So I grabbed three pieces, and I'll join them later, and I hope to get this quilt done today. Then I can move to some customer quilts. I have only three, so that shouldn't take too long. Perhaps I can squeeze in some from that huge pile of community project quilts. What I need to do is focus on that group of 11 and get that out of here! I think there are five left, including the one on the long arm. 

Then it was on to the next project: finishing the appliqué on those two winter quilts. And I'm happy to report that it is done! The appliqué on both blocks is complete! 

Progress on the winter quilts

You won't remember this, but the bells on the bottom right were NOT done, but I got those blocks completed yesterday as well. Yep—they are scrappy, as I couldn't find enough big pieces, and when I did, I managed to mess up the instructions, and well, it gave me another picture for my scrap class!

The bell blocks

But here they are --- the two winter quilt tops. 

Progress on the two winter quilts

All that remains is to make 88 flying geese. And if I had been smart, when I pieced Down on the Farm with all those stitch n flip corners, I should have been using these flying geese as my enders and leaders instead of those scrappy triangles. Alas -- that didn't happen. 

But I managed to get this much done yesterday. 

Progress on the flying geese

It's a start, and this morning, I got more cut, and I'm ready to sew. I don't think I have enough white squares, but I'll cut more from my scrap bucket when needed. Who can be bothered to count?

Ready to sew

Once those are done, then I get to sew the quilt top together. I need to find two fabrics for borders and binding. And then the back. I'm making progress, but I'm going to have to put it aside because I need to work on the class prep for next weekend. 

I'll see how the day goes!! It would be nice to get this off the wall, and I'm close, so I may get that far at least. 

I put away a few things that were on the cutting table. These batik strips are to die for!! You can find others like them at Heather Bell's Sewing Studio! 

Striped batik fabrics

Miss Murphy is doing OK. She only coughed once during the day and twice last night, so she seems to be getting over whatever this is. I left a message at the vet, but they didn't call me back yesterday. If she continues to improve, then there's no need to take her next week. 

But I'm noticing lots of changes in the behavior of the two. It's like Miss Lexi is coming out of her shell. No longer dominated by Murphy, she is becoming more "aggressive." She wants to play, and Murphy is the one to stand still (or lie down), and Lexi does all the running. Murphy is doing great on the stairs; she is allowed to go down as she seems to have zero issues, but she waits for me to help her up. We kind of have the hang of it now, but I keep the stairs barricaded at all times so we don't end up with a disaster. 

She doesn't make a fuss about not going downstairs, although she does come down every so often. It's just not the same, but this is life. She still has lots of love to give, and we have lots of love to give her, and we've found a way to work around her issues. The only thing we can do is to keep her comfortable and make sure she gets lots of love every day. 

OH MY GOSH -- you would think she is dying from my comments. She is not - she's just getting old, and because she was so boisterous, it shows more than it would with Lexi. 

And Lexi seems to be less skittish as well. She stands at the door to the office, asking to go out! And she will come and stand right beside me and let me hug her, which she never allowed before. It's strange how their behavior changes as they age. 

MOM - I'm ready for my walk! NOW!!

And this is the ONLY dog bed they share. Never at the same time, of course! But if the blankets aren't nicely laid out, she won't sleep there. 

Well, I've become Miss Chatty Cathy with the neighbors! I stop and talk to anyone or at least say HI. There is a house two doors from us - the same house as ours. That house was purchased about 4 years ago for an exorbitant amount of money. A real estate agent bought the house. It was funny because the house was the same as ours, and the lady who lived there before the real estate agent was named Elaine. 

Anyway, a while back, the house went up for sale, and she was asking for MORE money than she paid. She bought it just before the market crashed, and I swore there was NO WAY she was going to find a buyer. Imagine my surprise when I saw her putting a SOLD sign on the house as I was returning to the house with Lexi. 

Of course, I had to stop and chat. She was never forthcoming with any neighbor during all the time she lived here. The occasional glance, but that was it. 

Yes—she sold the house, and the closing is next month. A family is moving in. I checked the price online, and she sold it for $50K over what she paid. I am STUNNED. Who the heck bought the house? Now I have visions of a family of five adults moving in, and the driveway will be packed with cars. It can only hold two cars. 

The backyard is huge, but it doesn't back onto the forest, yet it sort of does. Because the house is on the corner, it backs onto two other houses and has a narrow gate into the forest where the two yards meet. 

Let's keep our fingers crossed that we get good neighbors. There are two other houses for sale on the street (this is unheard of), and both of them were significantly less money. 

At dinner last night, DH and I discussed it and said - she must have fudged the numbers. The house still has its original carpet everywhere - that would be 30 years old. And no bathroom or kitchen updates. It's all very suspicious to me. 

We got really nice new neighbors two houses in the opposite direction; can we be so lucky again? 

I think my alarm system is on point with the day and time, but the weather? Not so much!!!

The panel is half right!

I really lucked out with my fish. They had a lot of babies, and they are growing like weeds. 

These are the baby fish.

I never see more than five big ones at a time, so perhaps two didn't make it, but the babies more than make up for it if we lost two. We now have new electrical plugs and a new bubbler, so there should be zero issues for the winter. I often see the fish swimming amongst the leaves, so this is the perfect setup. They have shade, and they have sun. 

The fish love the pond.

Someone posted a note in a puzzle group about this the other day. How can so many border pieces of a puzzle be missing? To be sure - this doesn't look like enough border pieces. 

All the border pieces for a 1000-piece puzzle

But within a "few" minutes, the border was together. I feel like I speed-puzzed that one together, although in speed puzzling, few people focus on only one area at a time unless it's an event with two people, aptly called a pairs event. 

The border is together.

I didn't do more than that because I have some reading to catch up on. In addition to the ebook and audiobooks, I have a few physical books from the library that I must get read! No one can accuse me of not having personal time! I am taking way too much personal time!

Here's an interesting sign at a local Michael's store - learn to sew!!! Michaels is now selling Singer sewing machines. Well, they have been for a while now, but there is a big push, especially since they are now selling fabric. 

All about sewing at Michaels

I'll be hosting a "Teach The World to Sew Day" in the afternoon of September 19th at a Michaels in downtown Toronto. That should be fun—I hope we get loads of people out! 

How true is this? How much do we want to think that we are irreplaceable and yet ignore the fact that someone else can do just as good a job? 

Therefore, we need to take some time and do stuff for ourselves, which I seem to have zero problem doing! I love sitting in the gazebo, with my new cushion, and listening to the water. Reading, napping, petting the dogs, or whatever makes me happy at that moment. 

I'm really liking this weather—it's cool in the mornings and nice in the afternoon! 

On that note, it's time to get moving! 

It is going to be a wonderful day!!!!

Ciao!!!

AI is NOT helping the Maker Space

A reminder: if anyone wants to join the second session for Making Scrap Quilts Beautiful, hosted by Thimbles and Things (taught by me), a second class has been opened, and it is filling fast! I wouldn't wait if you are considering joining. That class starts on September 20. You can get all the details at this link. The class is ONLINE, so anyone from anywhere can join! 

I gave the first session a wee bit of homework yesterday, and I'm seeing some pretty interesting quilts! 

I am back in work mode - at least for yesterday! It's funny how some days you have all the energy to conquer the world, and the next day? Well, not quite so productive. Oh - I get things done - just not always what I need or want to. Perhaps I should say my focus, not my energy, is the problem!

I finished another audiobook yesterday. Only at the end did I realize the audiobook was abridged, but it was still very interesting. And all I can say is my heart goes out to those living in war-torn countries and countries where women are not respected. And even in our first world country, some women are badly abused by their spouses. It's terrible that anyone has to live in those conditions, and under so much fear for their lives and the lives of their children. 

The book is called "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. I learned at dinner last night that the author is a man. OH MY!!! That was interesting. How the heck could this book be written by a man? But he did a great job, and I think he covered the woman's point of view very well, considering his nationality and the topic of the book. 

His family sought political asylum in the US when he was 15. He writes to raise awareness of the Afghan people and what has happened in their country. The books are hard subject matter, and although they are fiction, a great deal of them are "real." I haven't read any of his other books, but I might have to read the first one - "The Kite Runner." 

Let's just say that a lot of progress was made yesterday, and I'm happy. 

The backing and the binding are made for Down on the Farm, and I hope to get it quilted before the end of the year. We'll see how that goes, but at least it's in the pile. OFF MY plate at the moment. 

Down on the Farm ready to be quilted

Then I decided to get myself in gear and get the metal bars sewn into the leader for the long arm. I had already stitched the channel a while back, but I needed to stitch pockets so the magnets didn't float around in the channel. So I stitched the edge of the channel, then inserted a metal bar, then stitched that pocket closed, and then along the edge for the length of the next pocket, inserted another metal bar, until the entire 14 feet was stitched. 

YES -- I had to insert the metal bar from one end into the channel and scoot it down to where it would reside. I don't know if that makes sense, but I stitched one long seam, with little jogs to close the pocket. It was easier than stopping and starting. 

Sewing the metal bars into the long arm leader

It really wasn't a big job as I anticipated. As is the case in almost all jobs that we procrastinate on. Why do we do that to ourselves? 

Before I knew it, I had reached the last pocket. 

Sewing the last pocket

Then I placed the leader on the bar of the long arm. It was super easy to hold it in place using the magnets, as the bar is metal. 

The magnets hold the leader in place.

Now that the leader is in place and quite sturdy with the magnets, I can tape it to the metal bar by myself. I hope to get that done this afternoon, and I might even attempt to load a quilt. I have two other leaders to switch from pinning to magnets, but just getting this one done is awesome. The rest will come, but I need to get the long arm back up and running. 

I have to laugh because someone at Monday Sewing mentioned that if you are learning something, it's not enough to just make one - you ned to make several to master the technique. I learned that with my table. The first assembly was a challenge; the second was fast! Now that I know what I'm doing with the leaders, I suspect the next two will go much quicker. Except it is a ton of work to scrape off that goop. 

Next on the agenda was to get to work on my UFO for this month. Of course, some appliqué was holding me back. So I got out my threads, and I started my satin stitch. 

Satin stitch appliqué

And of course, there are two blocks!!! Because I started making two quilts about 25 years ago! 

Working on two blocks

The trees on the left are done, leaving the boy on the sled and his dog. That will take a bit of time, since the pieces overlap and are small. But that is my goal for the day! I hope to get a few other things done, but at least if I get that done, I'll be happy. 

As for the current jigsaw puzzle? I finished it last night. 

Jigsaw puzzle done - almost.

Dang it, but there's a piece missing. I bought it at the thrift store. BUT WAIT --- I had noticed a few pieces were falling off my design boards as I was working, so I had a peek this morning. AHA - look what I spotted. 

The missing piece

That piece fell off the design board and onto the shelf, so I was able to put the last piece in this morning. 

The last piece

Yeah!! No missing pieces - I love that, and I only paid $5 at the thrift store. I probably got a discount because I rarely buy anything at full price. So that was a very good entertainment deal. 

Jigsaw puzzle complete!

Am I getting faster? I think I am. Am I ready for a speed puzzling event? I doubt it - I'm not nearly that fast, but what the heck. It will be fun. 

I didn't have any large zippered plastic bags, so I got some at the dollar store the other day. I always pack the puzzle into one of those bags and put an elastic around the box. That just helps to prevent pieces from going missing. 

I'll be meeting a few of my puzzle friends next month, and I might pack up these puzzles and see if anyone wants them. If not, they go back to the thrift store. 

And yes—the next one is ready to crack open tonight. That one is the theme puzzle for September, which is to work on a Eurographics brand puzzle. Last month, with the theme of Wild Animals, over 800 people submitted a picture. Well, I noticed one woman submitted more than one entry, and that is within the parameters of this event. But she makes it very noticeable. When we take a picture of the finished puzzle, it needs to have a piece of paper with the code word on it. Hers is very distinct. Oh well - if that makes her happy, then it makes me happy. 

Let's face it, some people are fully retired and probably spend all or most of the day puzzling! 

Our library has been closed for most of the summer as we are getting a maker space and new carpet, among a few other things. The library is now open, and I popped in yesterday to see if the quilt had been taken down. Nope—it's still hanging, which is good. The last time they painted, it got taken down, and it took a long time to get it back up. I don't think it gets a lot of sun, but it is looking faded. 

The library quilt is still hanging.

I didn't look around much, but I spotted the new carpet. Where is the maker space? I didn't see that. 

But look at the pretty display of books. Typically, you see the spines pointing out, but this time, it was the pages. Isn't that pretty!! I bet most of those books are fantasy, which isn't a genre I read. I checked a few, and yes, they are mostly fantasy. 

The pretty pages of books

I found a quilt book on scraps, so I brought that home to browse for any tidbits! 

Good grief-- now Murphy seems to have developed a cough. I'm not sure where that came from, but I need to see if I can get into the vet today for meds for her. The poor thing! Of course, like people, she mostly coughs at night! But she is happy as a clam to sleep upstairs, so all is good at our house. 

I'm going to go on a wee rant here about AI. I know that people use various AI bots to do stuff for them. However, I don't see the point of using specific AI bots when our Google search does the same thing. YES - I know they have their own AI now, but it's just a glorified Google search, and Google has always been good to me. However, I will confess that I used MapQuest the other day when searching for a location. 

It's getting harder and harder to work "normally" when all these companies are strong supporters of the political unrest. 

Anyway, that was NOT my point. My point is that so much stuff that we see on the internet is AI-generated, and much of it is NOT specified as AI-generated. People are struggling to tell the difference, although for most of it, it is easy to spot. 

In the world of makers, AI - enhanced photos of projects are lending a VERY BAD image to the industry. I spotted someone on IG (might have been a store) saying that people are complaining that what they are buying or making is NOWHERE NEAR the look of the picture they saw. 

I see it all the time. Here's an example. This is a picture of the original project—NO AI involved.  

Original project - No AI

And look at the AI-generated picture. Totally different. In this picture, those leaves and flowers look 3D and made of some non-fabric material. I'd be ticked off if I went to a class and expected this and made the above picture. It's not a huge difference, but the enhancement is detrimental to roping new quilters/sewists into our world. 

AI- generated version

In a world where people can't tell the difference, this is going to keep causing so many problems. When researching anything, AI is only as good as the material it scans. I say, let's keep using our brains, figure stuff out ourselves, and leave AI to, well, I don't know who. But there is a place for it, but certainly NOT in the maker space. 

The big argument is that AI will quickly compile from various sources, but why can't we go to the sources directly and gather the information? What I dislike is that I learn so much from going to a site - that step alone increases my knowledge base rather than just the narrow focus of the search I asked some AI bot to perform. Keep your options open - stop being complacent and letting AI dictate what and how you gather information. Let's do some of this work ourselves, and I bet you will learn more than you could by using AI. 

On that note, I'd better get myself organized. I have a few things I want to get done today, and there's no time like the present to get started. 

It's going to be a wonderful day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

Farm Fabric!

I have to laugh at the comments about the higher toilets. I asked DH about it, and I got a typical male response: nothing. How can they go through life with such a lack of enthusiasm??? Oh well -- each to their own. I have enough enthusiasm for two people!

I have good news! All the class emails went out yesterday. And YES, there were a couple of glitches because I used the same information email for all four classes, but changed the dates and links, etc. And of course, I forgot to remove ONE sentence from the last group I sent. Thankfully, someone caught it, and I was able to send a note telling them to ignore that sentence.  

I swear, it doesn't matter how many times I proofread those emails; there always seems to be something I miss! I was worried about the dates and times because they're important, and they're tricky. My schedule doesn't always feel like my own. It would be so easy to say a particular class is always on the third Saturday, but that just isn't going to happen, and I really try to accommodate holidays and other special days. But sometimes? There just aren't enough weekends in a month! 

Thankfully, there weren't more classes. NOTE to self: next year, the maximum I will do is THREE, not four classes. All is good - it just makes it a challenge to schedule these all on the weekend along with everything else that all seems to happen on the weekends.  

WAIT -- there is good news. We have agreed on a SECOND scrap session. The information will be out in the Thimbles and Things newsletter, which comes out TODAY. YES -- it's in the newsletter - I just confirmed it. Be sure to pop over to their website to get signed up. A reminder, the class fee is $50 for the 10-part series. 

It is going to be super exciting and I can't wait to see and hear all the stories about scraps and scrap quilts! I know we are going to have some glorious show and tell. Oh my—I see some people have already enrolled! 

I was flipping through my blog the other day and spotted this picture. This is from 2023, and yes, I was organizing the office.  

An office sort session from 2023

It looks much better now than it did then, and this was an improvement from 2017. So progress is being made. The one thing we must remember about this space is that if there is something that I don't know what to do with, it gets dumped here. And because I haven't given a home to everything that is supposed to be here, it looks junky. BUT leaps and bounds of progress have been made. I'm getting there! 

I went to the gym and spent an hour with Brooke. I'm not sure what we did differently, but my arms are tired today! As a matter of fact, I was tired yesterday, so I needed a nap. And I'm OK with that. I went back to the gym in the afternoon to get my hair cut. They have a salon there (well, an entire spa). I tried to get my hair cut at the local salon, but they were booked up. So I got in the car and went to the gym. 

I had an intersting chat with the stylist. As an employee, she gets access to the gym and she is taking full advantage of it. She just learned to swim, works out with the equipment, and is planning to try pilates and yoga. We had a grand chat about towels and the lack of respect that people have for towels at a gym. They would NOT be bringing five towels to the gym if there wasn't a service. But they are quite happy to use many towels for one visit. It's sad. 

It was a fun haircut, albeit more expensive than the local salon. But I needed it cut! She knows Brooke, of course, so we got to compare notes on her training style and her adventures in these fitness competitions. Suzie was very funny and so enthusiastic!! 

DH was away in the day, but that didn't deter Lexi from protecting his space! This is her favorite spot in the day and lies right outside his office door. Since she is starting to be a little hard of hearing, I think you could carefully walk over her, and she wouldn't notice! But we won't let her know that. She is a good guard dog! 

DAD - I'm protecting your space when you are away!

I sort of got caught up in that audiobook, and I had to finish it. I really liked it. It's called "This Story Might Save Your Life" by Tiffany Crum. If you want to read this, I highly suggest you listen to the book, since it's about two podcasters and it's just better to listen than read. The narrators were excellent. 

In the past, I've read a lot of detective/mystery books, and typically this genre has a serious aspect to it. Lately, I've noticed that a lot of detective/mystery books have added a comedic atmosphere. Of course, that is not new, as we have Carl Hiaasen and Janet Evanovich, who have mysteries but could also be classified as comedy. Now with Richard Osman, Benjamin Stevenson, and others, this is becoming the new norm. I don't mind—they are fun to read. 

And now I'm onto the next audiobook. This one is quite different - "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. I'm not sure how this got on my recommendation list, but I think it's going to be an eye-opener. We MUST NOT take our lives in our country for granted. The main character has just been asked by her new husband to wear a burka when out in public. Sigh.....   Can you imagine? 

This was the girls when I was trying to finish the audiobook. Yes—I am horizontal on the loveseat. It just seemed to be one of those days!!! They had to be close to me - the silly girls. 

MOM - do you need some entertainment? 

I don't know what was with Murphy in the morning, but we have taken the same route (more or less) for years. And yet yesterday, when we got to a split in the path, she NEEDED to go the other way. That threw the entire neighborhood off, since everyone has their routes, and we met so many dogs doing their loop!! 

After dinner, when I realized I needed bananas for breakfast and their walks had been cut short in the morning, I decided to take them both with me to the grocery store. I know -- what was I thinking? 

But they sat quietly outside the store, and then I walked them home. I didn't have a lot to buy, so it all worked out just fine. Despite Murphy slowing down, she just has to be in front when I walk them together. By the time we were on our way home, she had settled down. What a silly girl. 

MOM - hurry up!!! We need to get moving!

Alright—let's get to the sewing part of the day. I managed to get the outer border on Down on the Farm. The top is done!!!

Down on the Farm - quilt top - DONE!!!

I added a 2" inner border of chocolate brown and a 6-inch border (cut 6½") for the outer border. That darn quilt is big!!! It's something like 66" by 77", more or less. Yikes!!!!! 

This is all that remains from that directional farm print. There is one seam in each border, which I would have had to do anyway. It worked out perfectly!!! These scraps went back into the box with the rest of the farm fabric. 

The leftovers from making the border

Oh - I see so many opportunities to chat about scraps in our upcoming class!!! I must send them a note asking for some photos and questions, and I must get that done today. 

Then it was on to making the backing. In that same pile of farm fabric, I had three yardage pieces for backing. I did NOT have enough of any for the backing, so I picked two, and I'm in the process of making that. I hope to get that finished today, along with the binding. 

Backing fabrics for the farm quilt

So that is good, and then I MUST get some work done on that long arm leader! Even if it's only marking the seam lines for the magnets. That has to be done! I need the long arm back in working order. And I need to get to work on my UFO for this month. The entire summer has passed, and I've not done a single thing on it! Now the class is less than two weeks away! It's not that I haven't been working, but the intent of the UFO class is to get us to work on the OLD stuff, not just the new!

Thank goodness for Dillon, who is a movie buff. He alerted me yesterday that a new block of movie tickets for Odyssey in 70 mm IMAX has been released, and I got tickets for Sept 28. The end of September and October are going to be tricky for scheduling, but all is good. Once I told DH I bought those tickets, he said, "What about Spider-Man?" Good grief—I don't have time for all these movies!!! 

And oh my --- a cute little 3-D machine embroidery haunted house just happened to slide into my online shopping cart yesterday. My friend bought two, and I got one, so we are good for a while to keep us entertained. 

Do NOT forget to sign up for the scrap session (the SECOND one) if you missed out the first time. Once people wake up this morning and see that, the class will fill very quickly. There will NOT be a third session. 

So yes, there will be more computer work this morning, but I need to get downstairs and get some work done! I have a few classes to prep for next week! 

And don't forget - it's going to be a good day. And if not, change something to make it a good day!!!

Ciao!!!