Crossing the finish line.....................

I survived!   I made it through those five days of total craziness. And had fun throughout! That is important - if things are not fun - then - well they are not fun.

Here are a couple of shots from the Sit n Sew this past Sunday. It was the last sit n sew for the season. This is my SIXTH year doing the sit n sews. SIX YEARS - hard to believe. I always threaten to not do them the following year and I get requests f rom people so I schedule more dates.  Well - the new dates will start in September so watch for that. I guess it all depends if I sign up to do the fundraising bike rides again next year!

I love to see what everyone is working on and their STORAGE CONTAINERS.  Liz had this amazing container for her project.  While I loved the project that she was working on, the container was AWESOME.   Have a look - see that drawer in the bottom - the blocks fit just perfect in that drawer

Look at that drawer - so cool

And there were several removeable tray inserts for sorting all those cut pieces

 She got it in a Christmas gift exchange. It was one of those exchanges where you can snatch gifts from each other and apparently this was the hot item that day. Liz was the lucky winner!!!!

My girls just love when we have company. They go hysterical - barking their heads off. BUT they are also very smart because they know who brings treats for them..........

A very attentive audience - they LOVE Katheleen as she is always bringing treats for them.   Oh yes - they know!!!!   (Look at that fatty Sammy!!!! - she doesn't need treats!)

Ronda was HARD at work on her Dear Jane. I think I saw smoke pouring out of her machine at one point. She had done a LOT of prep work and she spent the day stitching around her appliques.

Eight blocks

Then five more blocks

and another seven!!!!!!!!!!!!

She is going gang busters on this quilt and I have every confidence that we will see her finished top at our show n tell in September.

This was a class I taught a number of years ago and Liz brough her finished top to show me. It is absolutely stunning - the colours are awesome and she put a small piped border around the edge - well actually inserted it between two borders of brown and it really makes the quilt.

FABULOUS job Liz.  Just gorgeous

 I didn't get pictures of what the others were working on - I was too busy pressing stuff for Karen and Helen Anne. Thank goodness Ronda was doing applique and I didn't have to press anything for her!!!!

I did manage to get some  ripping done on my Amish with a Twist. I got half of it ripped apart.

Disassembled Amisth with a Twist

The other half waiting to be ripped apart

And ick - I have to remove all the fuzz from the thread. It is a mess. 

Then I measured the blocks and yes they are 1/4" too small (well smaller than the pattern). I started to cut down the sashings and for some reason they are all different sizes - my guess is that some of them stretched during the original sewing process. They are all being trimmed to the correct size and I have this much sewn back together again. Well - it is in three seperate rows. And guess what?   It is going together a WHOLE lot better than the first time.  I know - STUPID STUPID STUPID!!!!!

The "new" Amish with a Twist

I can't even call this Amish with a Twist II because there is a real quilt called that.

Amish with a Twist II

Hmmmm - I am looking for a pieced pattern to run as a year long class next year - hmmmmmmmmmmm - that might be a good candidate!  


Last night, I was the guest speaker at the Needle Sisters Quilt Guild in Elmira.  It isn't that far away, but I didn't want to get caught in traffic on the 401. Hey - there is a Fabricland in Guelph and Greenwood Quiltery is also in Guelph and both are OPEN on Monday.  After I got myself organized and packed up for the talk, I hopped in the car and I was off.

My missing fabric

Zipped into Fabricland - checked all the fabrics - NOTHING. I spoke to a VERY HELPFUL sales person who took my swatches and zipped around the fabric looking but nothing. She said the green one (which I never showed to you) was a VERY POPULAR fabric and it went pretty much right away. Couldn't keep it in the stores and I believe it as I can't fiind it anywhere else either. Which reminds me that I should go back to the original Fabricland to get more of the green before it is gone everywhere.

The Orangeville and Burlington stores have nothing either (thanks to Joanne and Marilyn for checking on that for me).  Karen is going to check in Winnipeg and perhaps my Dad will check in Saskatchewan. At this point - time to regig the quilt and see if I can come up with plan B.  Sandra did find me another fabric similiar, but I would rather go with something completely different.

I will also take the selvedge so they can search their database to find it????  Not to worry - this will just become another CHALLENGE quilt in that I will find a way to make it work since I can't make it with this one fabric.

Again BIG THANKS to everyone who did look for me. I appreciate it.


Then I popped into Greenwood. Oh dear - that wasn't a good idea. NO - it was a GREAT idea. I found a couple of different things that I just had to have.  Didn't do much damage, but I am so IMPRESSED by Christine - she is the manager of that store and there isn't ONCE that I walked in and I wasn't addressed by name. Even the younger sales girl working called me by name when I was paying. That is VERY impressive customer service and I don't even go there often.


Had just enough time to look around and oh yes - there were a few more things that I would love to have bought, but I also have to realistic!

In an ideal world - I would stay focused on Amish with a Twist. Finish ripping out and getting it back together and then the applique and it is ready to be quilted. Really - could I do that????   Me????  Well I could give it a try until I realize that I have a couple of samples that need to be worked on for a couple of upcoming classes and there is a stack of quilts that need to be quilted. Nope - I won't be working on just one quilt at a time, but I will make every effort to get it done soon.


Anyway - I was so impressed by the workmanship of the guild last night. The Mennonite Relief Sale is coming up soon. The guild had put together a number (a rather LARGE number) of small quilted items that will be for sale in the craft area of the Relief Sale. These notebook covers (the notebook is included) were STUNNING. I have forgotten the name of the woman who make them, but they were beautifully done. I wanted one, but I will have to go the Relief Sale if I want - and I was warned to go early!!!!!

Notebook covers

More notebook covers

Small lunch bags

There were table runners, bags, children's books, and many other items that will go to the sale. Awesome work!!!!!!

It was a fun evening - we had a lot of laughs so I hope I was entertaining and inspirational to the members.


The other day I was paying for something with CASH!!!   How often does that happen these days?   Anyway - look what I found in my change................

I knew it was old by the shape of it - but look at the date - it is almost as old as me!!!!!

And now it is time to get to work.  Remember how clean the studio was on Sunday????

So clean and tidy!!!!

Well look at it this morning!   NOT so clean and tidy.

The good news - it won't take long to put things away - they all do have homes. But again - I keep moving the same things!!!   I really need to focus and get some of them done so I can stop moving them around. The best news - I don't have to keep the entire place clean - just enough room for embroidery club - YES!!!!   And the paperwork is threatening to topple over - so best look at that today as well.


Have an AWESOME day - it is raining outside -(YEAH) that means I HAVE to stay inside. Perfect day for quilting.



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