Is it a sweater or a hat???

Caroline (M's best friend) came over last night. Now that they are both working - well I am sure they were having grandiose discussions about how they are going to spend their money!  I hope M does NOT forget that she has car expenses to pay for. I am sure she is dreaming of all the clothes she will buy!!!  No concept of how much things cost despite repeated discussions on it. Went to the grocery store yesterday and she wants organic this and organic that! Well I have decided to give her a grocery budget - let her figure it out. I am tired of fighting with her. It is one thing to eat healthy and another to go bankrupt over it and OVERDOING the healthy thing. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!   First you can't get them to eat healthy and then they swing to the opposite end of the scale!!!


Well the girls were having fun upstairs and I was enjoying myself in my studio. Next thing I know they bound downstairs................

M - by that smile - I know she wants something.

Caroline - another sweet innocent!

 AHA - they brought a sweater with them and apparently they have been on Pinterest or some other crafty site!!!!  Where are the scissors - how do I measure her head?????   Good grief - can they not do that by themselves??????

Well here is the sweater after it was cut out!!!!

Then M proceeded to sew the hat together with the serger despite the fact that the serger has black thread in it. Now funny how people today just do NOT care. She was ramming that THICK THICK wool sweater through the serger at a high rate of speed. Never mind that there are needles and a cutter to worry about. We are NOT talking thin cotton here. 

And sure enough - BANG - the needle breaks. And guess who gets to fix it. 

This reminds me of what I have noticed on the road since I got home. People just ASSUME they have the right to fly through stop signs - I mean - they do NOT even slow down. I have seen this so many times in the last couple of weeks. They do NOT think they see anyone so they just go. Speed limits do NOT exist for many drivers, and yellow lights - well that means GO  and as fast as you can and who cares if the light turns red BEFORE you hit the intersection. I mean really - what is the world coming to????  What if everyone said SCREW THE TRAFFIC LAWS?????   And then they complain about the high cost of insurance????   I have noticed that a lot of the cars that are doing this are NEWLY licensed, but other cars have been guilty as well. HEY people - think about kids, pedestrians, pets and cyclists. They have NO CHANCE against your idiotic driving habits. 

Anyway - I hope M takes better care of stuff than what I saw last night or I will have to BAN her from the studio. All it takes is a bit of RESPECT. If the tools get broken and she is using it - she WILL PAY for the repair. Simple as that. But I think we will have a little chat. But does no one care any more?????

Caroline - checking out the hat (after I changed the needle - I sewed the rest of the hat - it was NOT easy and I had to go very slow to prevent the wool from catching on the cutter which is what I think happened)

 

Almost turned inside out!!!!

Ah - isn't she so sweet!!!!!

The sweater AND the hat!!!!

The back of the sweater or what is left of the sweater!!!!!

Then they made arm warmers from the sleeves!!!!

Had a busy day yesterday and no time to blog about it today as I have NINE ladies coming for Pampered Sit n Sew. I have a feeling it is going to chaos!!!!   I will try to take pictures but no guarantee!!!!!

I saw this book yesterday and decided that I needed it. I had this book before and made one of the quilt in it - Blooming 9-Patch. I LOVE that quilt. And this book has some GORGEOUS patterns in it - but not for the faint of heart - they require HUGE amounts of sewing. Well I can't find my book and so I bought it again. I hope I do NOT find my original copy tucked in a box?????

On that note - I am out of here to finish getting ready for the sewing crew coming.

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


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

Pampered Sit n Sews Begin..............................

Yesterday was the first day of the Pampered Sit n Sew series for Fall 2014!!!!  (And most of the spots are sold out for the next five days - but there are a few spots left on the Sundays in October and November)   Oh boy - the ladies were stitching up a storm and I realized that I barely got any pictures!!!!   That is because I was so busy pressing for them!!!!

Rose came prepared with rows of a quilt that needed to be pressed right off the bat. I mean - let's take advantage of the day!!!!!!!!!!!!     I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   And then she got the top sewn together in beautiful turquoises. It is gorgeous!!!!!!!!   And she was working on her Border Creek mystery as well.

Pat was working on the Mississauga Block of the Month - and after chatting with some of the others - I want to try this in MANY different colour ways!!!!!!!!!!!

Linda was quilting a quilt and she got to use my new marking previewer to check out some potential patterns.

I LIKE that quilting!!!!!

Sharon was working on Dear Jane and we will see the fruits of her labour after the class today.

Mary was gardening!!!!!   Have a look...............

The fruit and vegetable quilt. I LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Might have to put that on the list of things to do!!!!  Hmmmm - do you see a theme here????   Yep - I get all these people working on amazing quilts and I want to make them myself!!!!!!!!!!

Cathy was working on mini Dresden Plates which are to die for - I so want to make that too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Instead I was good after they left and got Flo's quilt on the machine and started to quilt it. 

On Thursday, I was frantically searching for my Easy Angle ruler to show at the guild. NOPE - I had just seen it, but also had to move everything off the tables in preparation of the sewing day. So I had no idea where it went. BUT - I did find it this morning.  BUT - now where is that missing embroidery block with the pattern?????

HOWEVER - as I was searching - I heard someone at the door and there was Heather with an EASY ANGLE ruler. I know - that was too freaky!!!!!   She had bought one too many and was dropping it off for Mary. The timing was perfect. BUT the best news - the one she dropped off is a 4 1/2" ruler - the two that I have are 6 1/2" and 10 1/2".   OH BOY - I want the 4 1/2" as well. That would be the perfect size for the Block of the Month quilt!!!!!!!!!!!

4 1/2" Easy Angle ruler!!!!!!!!

And last night - well I had a major allergy attack and was so stuffed up I could barely breath. We went out for dinner just the same. It was fine - I just sounded awful!!!!   And woke up with a HORRIBLE sinus headache - I never get headaches. But I went back to sleep and it was gone by morning. I am wondering if this is rag weed allergy, the bamboo batting I was working with or just plain old dust?????   Well - I never had any problems being outdoors all summer and then BAM - I get this. Maybe I better move my tent to the backyard!!!!!!


On that note - I am out of here.


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


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

Forgotten quilt!!!!

I am totally losing my mind!  I was working on a quilt yesterday - then I got to thinking about the upcoming Halton Hills Quilt Show which is October 4 and 5. I'm thinking about being in good shape for that show and then BAM - I thought - Flo gave me a quilt to quilt for the show. What the heck did I do with the quilt?????   She is going to be back from vacation TONIGHT and the quilt has to be quilt so she can stitch down the binding.

OH BOY - I know where it is. Still in the car!!!!!!!!!!!   You see that same night, I picked up all that stuff that was donated to the guild and the quilt went in with that stuff.

See that bag on the left - YEP - that is Flo's quilt!!!!

Guess what I will be doing later tonight!!!!   NOPE - can't do it today because I have Pampered Sit n Sew. There are seven ladies coming and it is going to be busy!!!!!

But I did get the quilt done yesterday that was my plan.

This was the quilt that I made with those embroidery blocks a couple of weeks ago. I want to try and get ONE done per month and get it back to the guild. I think there are enough blocks for four more quilts!!!!

Quick and easy NO MARKING quilting

Here is my QUILTING DESIGN plastic over lay. I also had enough vinyl for a small one and there is one extra for Anne!!!!    Anyway - I LOVE this - and way nicer to use than the cellophane. Note my blue painter's tape on the edge!!!!

 Now here is ANOTHER reason to finish up projects. I am sewing the binding on after trimming the quilt. Oh boy - am I going to have enough binding????

I would call this a BIT TOO CLOSE for comfort!!!!   Normally I would do the join diagonally, but there was JUST enough to do a straight seam. I did have more fabric, but the strip was slightly different. 

But since necessity is the mother of all inventions - a straight seam will have to do!!!!!

 Remember that the binding was made from a border print and I had TWO choices of how the binding went on.

Side A OR

Side B

I auditioned both and ended up with this - this is what the binding looks like on the front of the quilt

And this is what it looks like on the back. I think it turned out just great!!!!!

And people need to be educated about binding. I do not have time to hand stitch those bindings down, but when I took this in to the guild last night, someone asked me if the quilt had to be trimmed BEFORE the binding was hand stitched down. NO I said - the quilt has to FILL the binding. Sometimes you have to PULL that binding tight over the stitching, but FULL BINDING PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!   I just hate the feel of a limp binding. And NO skimpy 1/4" seam either - take a generous 1/4"!!!!!




Now the backing of this quilt was NOT wide enough - well it was wide enough for the quilt, but NOT really wide enough to load on the machine. SO I serged a scrap strip to both of the long sides and it worked like a charm. Technically I could have added it to just one side, but it worked out fine like this - more room at the top and the bottom to work.

Here you can see the quilt loaded on the machine. The backing was only TWO inches wider than the top and that scrap strip gives me room to work on that last border. 

After trimming the quilt - then I just cut the serged seam off. 

And now the strips are ready to be used AGAIN!!!!!!

Went to the gym for spin class this morning. A SUPER work out.  I have ONE more reason why I have so much energy. You know how people have talked about that HIGH they get after working out. Well - it is so true. I came out of that class, my clothes were wet with sweat, and I was so pumped up - I could have gone for hours!!!!!!   That feeling will last me for a good part of the day. It is not only the exercise that creates that feeling, but the feeling that you have pushed yourself and your body is able to respond. Spin classes are so good - well at least with our instructors - they PUSH and PUSH and then TELL YOU that you can do it. and you can!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And thanks to Mary VD - who located a copy of that book - for $60 (but still too much money for me. Then she located another web site that had a bunch of sellers - as low as $35 and as HIGH as $400 !!!!!!    Are you kidding me???????   well I will wait - Kathy may have a copy, but she has to unpack first. I am NOT in a rush. OH - I know some I should call and see if they have the book. Must do that RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!

The out of print book - Machine Freehand Patterns by Nan Moore

Anyway - back to the exercise thing. I recently read an article on diet (I am happy to report that I am about 3 pounds off my weight BEFORE I got pregnant!!!!!! - not that I am trying to lose weight - just very conscious of it because I want to maintain!!!!!). I am so excited about that, but also in the best shape ever!!!!!   Anyway - this article said - what is more important to losing weight - the diet (or food intake - not a DIET) or exercise? The article said - work out for 1 hour and then see how many calories you expended (most of the cardio machines today will give you a number). It sort of poo-pooed the exercise thing and said that you could just cut those calories out. I DISAGREE - you CANNOT get that high (which is GREAT - SUPER GREAT for the brain) from food!!!!!!!!!!!!      Not saying that exercise fixes everything - but it sure helps. And it bumps up your metabolism which helps to burn more calories!!!!!


Aren't you glad you don't have to put up with me today in the sit n sew!!!!!!   Oh those poor people are in for a HYPED up day!!!!!!!!!!!


On that note - I am out of here!!!!


Have a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!    No - have an AWESOME DAY!!!!!!!!!!!


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


(The husband of a friend of DH who was 42 - playing tennis last week - died of a massive heart attack!!! (No warning that we know of and no symptoms that we know of)  If you don't enjoy your life NOW - it will be too late!!!!!!!!!!     Do something FUN for YOU this weekend. Get outside - do something physical - do something different - do something you have always wanted to, but never had time - get on the floor and play - really play with those children or grandchildren).   Whatever - make sure that it is for YOU!!!!!

Show stopper Number eight, nine, ten .........................

I think the world is coming to an END!  And you ask why???  Well M has an early morning class on Thursday - starts at 8. Of course - that means driving to school during rush hour traffic. I was just on my way upstairs at 6:30 to make sure she was up and I hear her in the kitchen, making breakfast and then she was gone. Her reason - trying to beat the traffic. OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!    Which just solidifies what I am trying to tell myself - she is old enough now to figure time issues out - so STEP BACK and BREATH. It is NOT my problem any more.  Way to go M!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Yes - I do have to say that I am pretty proud of that kid!  But I laughed the other day. She said that when she drives - she sometimes diverts to avoid traffic. And then she ends up somewhere that she knows, but had never got there by the route she had just taken!!!   YEP - that is how we learn anything!!!!  


Although I managed to make good progress yesterday - it was one of those days!!!!   I started off with a short class at Ruti's - those Marti Michell templates!!!!!!!!!    So much you can do with them!!!!   We have TWO more classes if you are interested.

Carol had some show n tell..................

Jelly roll quilts for the CORE program

Another jelly roll quilt for the CORE program. And Carol has been practicing free motion quilting and she is getting REALLY REALLY good at it. I didn't take a close up of the quilting, but very smooth nice lines and all on her domestic sewing machine. WAY TO GO Carol . 

Before I went, I was tidying up that 2013 shelf (which is just as full as when the year started!!!), but I was tidying up for some reason. And LOOK what I found................

HUGE (and I mean HUGE) quantities of those triangles to be made into half square triangles. Oh my - I am going to have to make that a project - NOT just enders and leaders!!!!!    Anyway - the shelf does look a bit neater and I really need to find a way to get to some of the projects. 

At least I can say that progress is being made on the $10 quilts. I will just keep plugging away at those and then I can get back to the 2013 shelf. by then - it will be the 2014 shelf!!!!

First - I have to show you this. I saw it in a car in the parking lot in Streetsville. At first, I just thought it was just a stuffed toy in the back, but NO - it is made to look like it is trapped in the CAR SEAT. That is why it's mouth is open!!!!   There was also a sticker on the car so it must be some TV character about which I have no clue!!!!

OK - so what did I get done yesterday????   There were so many showstoppers I am surprised that I even continued, but I sewed until almost 10 PM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

I started with some flowers - there were four blocks for each quilt. I lay out the pieces and CRAP - there was NOT enough of the background fabric. Are you kidding me??????   At that point - I decided to go through the rest of the bags in the spring project. NOPE - no extra pieces there. Then I decided to go through the box with the winter and summer projects to see if the pieces had fallen out. NOPE - not there.  BUT I did find that missing little blue square that I needed for the corner of the trees............

Missing blue square for the corner of the trees. NO - I did not replace the square that I had already sewn on. But I did put this one in the scrap box. I know it is very sad!!!!!!

Well - holding my breath - I pulled out the first of TWO scrap boxes with LIGHT scraps and NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right there - near the bottom is the fabric I need!!!!!

This was the piece I found and I cut everything I needed and ...............

had this much left over!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Hey - I might actually get these flowers done now!!!!!!!!!!

OH NO - I need more stems made and while I had the green - there were no backgrounds (but I now had the backgrounds with that scrap I found)

Had to dig out some thread, change needles on the machine and applique the rest of the missing stems.

I made FOUR, but only needed three. So had to rip one out because I needed the background square for other parts of the block

Then I got FOUR blocks together and put them on the wall

My four blocks (wait for it!!!!!!!!)

Then I got the first block for the next quilt done and it was NOT until I was laying out the sixth (of eight) blocks that I realized that I had made a mistake. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????????   Yep - I managed to screw up THREE of the five blocks that I had made. 

So I ripped them out and finally got them back together again and eventually had all EIGHT blocks made. Well might as well push on to the next block - lady bugs!!!!


Ah - this should be fast - most of the little bitty pieces are sewn together. It was only after I sewed one head to the body that I realized that there was a mistake (AGAIN!!!!!!!!!) in the size of the head. So I had to rip out part of the head and trim back 1/4" of the black and then sew that itty bitty little triangle back on!

The head is TOO BIG

See how itty bitty those little pieces are!!!!!!!!!!!!

So things are progressing!!!!   BUT - this is not going to be an EASY quilt.

I get four of the lady bugs together and then started on the next four and OH NO - not again!!!!!!!!!!!!   Not enough background fabric.

See - there is only ONE more triangle left and I need SIX

BUT - there was a strip of the background fabric with the blocks, BUT it wasn't wide enough to cut a square (which then gets cut diagonally into two triangles). 

But I cheated and cut the pieces like this - and yes the outside edge has a bias edge, but under the circumstances I think we can deal with that. 

 And finally the lady bugs were done.

The pattern (which was filled with all those pieces of fabric) is slowly reducing in size.

The pattern with all the remaining cut pieces for the quilt

 Why not continue and let's have a look at the bunnies................


Hmmmm - pieces cut but NOTHING sewn. So I think this beige is the background?????

Nope - those pieces are NOT the right size!!!!

Ah - here is the background - pink, but there is ONLY ONE background cut and NO FABRIC for the second one. 

I spent some time this morning and have EVERYTHING cut out and ready to sew for the bunnies (I HOPE). There are so many little pieces and then some of the spacers are NOT mentioned in the cutting instructions so you don't know you are missing them until you see the sizes don't match up. I only realized this morning that there are FIVE spacers in the log cabin section, but they are cut now and ready to be sewn together. 

Here is one of the bunnies - yes with FUSSY made ears!!!!!!  He still needs a tail and the ears are supposed to be folded over!

BUT - I would say that the quilts are coming along nicely and although I doubt I will have them finished by tomorrow morning, I am making a valiant attempt. I have the borders picked - haven't figured out if there is enough fabric for both, but I'll deal with that when I get there. 

But as I look through the last couple of blocks - I think I am still missing fabric - not missing, but fabric that just wasn't chosen.   Well I will do what I can - but holy cow - imagine if someone OTHER THAN ME had of picked up this box. No way would it have been completed!!!!!!!


And the BAD news - while I was checking the box with the winter and summer quilts - YEP - I have started TWO of each of those!!!!!!!!!!!   Oh boy - lots and lots of little pieces!!!!   I can hardly wait!!!!



While I was working on these itty bitty pieces, someone was using the long arm. BUT - if you don't watch the thread - it can get wound in the machine.  Now there is a cover which helps to eliminate some of that problem, but the cover was off because it had come loose and was rattling.

TWO openings where thread can get caught and get inside the machine - one where the take up lever is and one where the fly wheel is. 

Normally there is a cover over the fly wheel, but that tape had loosened so I took it off. 

At one point, the machine wouldn't go any more and when I checked, the thread had got caught in the take up lever slot and was wound around the mechanism inside.


Sometimes - you can use a pair of hemostats and pull the thread out through that slot, but NOPE - wasn't happening this time. So I had to take the cover off - well I took off the cover on this side!!!!!!!!!!   Yep  - the one with all the thread holders and the tension guide.

The WRONG side to take off

This is the back side and MUCH easier since there are only a couple of screws to take off. 

The first time there wasn't a lot of thread and managed to easily get it out, but then I could NOT get the tension dial back in the machine. Didn't appear to be any obstructions. CRAP - called the Service Department - they were busy. Called the dealer and she made a suggestion that worked!!!!   See those plates - well they fit INSIDE the front part, not OUTSIDE. Of course - there wasn't room for the other plate and the tension dial. CRAP - well I got it back together and it worked!!!!!


OOOPS - then it happened again and this time the thread went in with the flywheel. I took a quick peek inside - had a chuckle and got out the screwdriver to open up the back and LOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OH YES - I think there is some thread in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YUP - pretty important to keep an eye on the thread as it comes off the spool - then you don't waste time stitching with no thread and NO down time getting the thread out of the machine. This was wound VERY TIGHT and was quite hard to cut and pull out, but I got it out - cover back on and the machine was back working. I love these strictly mechanical things - very easy to fix!!!!!!!


Anyway - the quilt got done although it took a bit longer than planned!!!!!


Today - it is my turn to quilt on the machine. And then let's see if we can get those bunnies done!!!!

I am very happy to report that I have NO CRAVINGS for hot chocolate, but I have become Flo - don't make me miss my tea!!!!!!!!!!!  


Oh yes - I am slowly working my way through some back issues of magazines. I have picked one title  - The Quilter. I am now in the year 2010. Yes - I am almost finished!!!!    Here is ANOTHER big problem with reading older magazines - while I have seen some great ideas which I have taken note of and I have spotted a couple of books that I think would be a great addition to the library (as if there is room). BUT - this one book I found - well it is now out of print and I found it on Amazon but for almost $100. I have checked my local guild libraries and they do not have it. I can't even ask you if anyone has the book because you will want to sell it to me for big bucks!!!!!   I just want to have a look at it.. Anyone have the book????   It is called Machine Freehand Patterns by Nan Moore.

Machine Freehand Patterns by Nan Moore (must be an awesome book because it is pricey now!!!!)

I can hardly wait to see what happens today!!!!!!



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


Ciao!!!!!!!!