A sweat shop!!!!

Who would have thought that Marian was a slave driver???  Well she is!   I packed up my sewing machine and  shuffled off to her house. Sparky and Sammy went as well so they could have a play date with Kaylee.

I'm was thinking I might get some work done, but I got a LOT done. I was so motivated that I continued to work when I got home. Have a peek...............

Our sewing space - so nice to sew in the daylight. I am stuck in the basement at home!!!!!!

When I got home, I finished the last of the binding on Caroline's quilt and added the label. I was under STRICT instructions to deliver it to her as it was her birthday yesterday!!!!     And I get another project DONE and out of the house!!!!!!

A nice big cozy quilt - top is strips of minky, the back is flannel and it has batting in it. No doubt she will be nice and cozy!!!!!!

So while I am trying to get caught up on my monthly class projects and working like a dog on Farmer's Wife, I thought I could quickly catch up with Critter Christmas as well. These three blocks just needed to be sewn together

This block just needed a bit of hand applique

The heart block was looking a bit too much like Valentine's Day so I thought I would add some rick rack (thanks to Virginia who added some trim between her blocks). Well the first rick rack I had was too electric green for Marian so I found this. I think she will approve!!!!!

Dug through my stash and found this nice red metallic fabric for the sashing

Finished sewing the middle star together and then sewed the three stars together. So with the exception of some blanket stitching - all the Critter Christmas blocks are up to date. Now to prepare the homework for this coming month. 

While at Marian's I was able to finish these square in a square blocks for Storm at Sea. Actually I was short THREE of those blue triangles. In total, I had to cut about FOUR times before I got the right amount. 

Here they are - all DONE. Not even sure how many there are. I may even have to make more when I start sewing the quilt together. Depends how good my math is and by my accounts - it isn't very good!!!!!

Then I started to work on the diamonds. The peaky and spike units are together, but then two have to be sewn together to get the diamond shape. 

I got this many sewn yesterday - I am using them as an ender/leader project

Only this many to sew together!  THEN I can finally start sewing the blocks together

Finished up Clue 7 for the Border Creek Mystery for the lap size only. Still working on Clue 6 for the queen size. No you CANNOT see it until the last clue has been released. Well some stores have different dates so I won't show you until June 1.  

Got these "blocks" partially complete from the Day and Night. I was going to make a 3 by 4 quilt, but I see that I am short by 1 1/2 blocks. So I am going to make a 3 by 3 quilt and have 1 1/2 blocks to add to the orphan block box. Now what colour to choose to put in the centers??????    One colour or two?????

I also got SEVEN blocks of Farmer's Wife done. I think there are 6 more cut out. Then I still have TEN more to go to get the homework done for this month's assignment. But the important thing - I am making progress. I am pretty excited about that!!!!!!

I also got the serged threads tucked in and frayed checked on SIX of the SIXTY gift bags. I finally got  an audio book to listen to. I know - I should be using the iPad, but I am OK with the audio books despite the fact that some people must EAT these disks cause some of them are in bad shape. 

And Marian worked on these star blocks. Now we cannot compare her work to mine because these blocks are TINY. They measure 2 inches unfinished and can you imagine cutting and sewing those flying geese. They are a pain and she very painstakingly did a GREAT job on them.

And while we worked look what the girls did..................................

Sparky slept on the couch (something she is NOT allowed to do at home)

Sammy slept with her eyes OPEN cause she was afraid Kaylee would attack her. What a nervous Nellie

Kaylee slept wherever

And had fun playing on the couch

Here's a little tidbit on pressing seams. I am not 100% happy with all those Farmer's Wife blocks. Some of the seams are VERY bulky on the back and I don't like that. Here are a couple of things you can do to eliminate bulk.....................

In this case - if all the blocks were pressed identical, there would have been quite a bit of bulk at the star points where the blocks joined each other. So the blue and green blocks were pressed identical. The middle seams of the red block were pressed toward the center (the blue and green were pressed away from the center). Then getting the orientation of the blocks in the right order, the bulk is dispersed somewhat at those intersections. A good steam iron will also help to flatten those seams

In the case of the diamonds - I pressed this seam open. It will butt up against another bulky point and pressing this one open will help to eliminate the bulk

Keep in mind when you press a seam open - if you are planning to Stitch in the Ditch - DO NOT press open the seams that you will Stitch in the Ditch. Why????   Well - think about it. The only thing you will be stitching to the batting and backing will be the PIECING THREAD as both sides of fabric are not in the seam allowance.


So I have also been checking out venues to host an event. Wow - there are some fancy places out there...........

Look at this place - covered in crystals and.....................

a huge skylight with a giant chandelier

 

Then you have another space with fancy chairs and high ceilings - loads of room

However this is the space that I am going to rent - it is a nice space, just not as pretty as the other one. And the room is smaller and cozy. No I am NOT getting married. This is for our BIG event on Monday, October 15th. A dinner and a speaker for QUILTERS!!!!!!    You are going to love it - it will be loads of FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN. Make sure you leave room on your calendar!!!!!!

Now do you want to know the real reason I chose the smaller place - well in the bigger place, I had ONE choice of table cloth - WHITE. BORING!!!!!!!!    But look what I can have in the small place.......

BRIGHT ORANGE table cloths!!!!!!!!

Do you think anyone will notice???????    I have been told that I must choose emerald since the dinner is in honour of the guild's 20th anniversary and apparently the colour/stone or whatever is emerald. OK - so that is NOT as boring as white - but where is the sense of adventure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    I've got to work on those people and I could always say - those darn banquet hall staff - they screwed up. Who would know??????


OK - I think that covers all the excitement from yesterday. I've already been out - did my errands and now I am ready to buckle down and get some quilting done.


Thanks Anita for the alert on the article - cell phone theft. Yes - my phone has still NOT shown up. There is the possibility that it was stolen. I will likely never know what happened to it. I have settled back into using the older phone - it works fine. There is only ONE problem. When the new phone rang - you had to swipe UP to answer, SWIPE DOWN to decline the call. YEP - you guessed it - the older phone is the opposite. I've hung up on every call that has come in!!!!!!!  


Well better to work before the deadlines become CRITICAL and then I am in a heap of trouble.



Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!