Pep talks really do work!

I'm not a gadget girl. 

I used to be a gadget girl and I would buy every new little gadget/tool that came out in the quilting world.  However, a while back I realized that I couldn't afford to continue to do that.  Not only was it a question of money, but it was a question of storage and then it became a question of remembering that I had a gadget designed to do a specific job. The biggest issue of all was that I became smart. So smart (I'm so full of myself!) that I had figured out ways to do the same job without using the gadget. And that was a good thing because I no longer had to remember that I had these gadgets and it saved me time trying to find them when I needed them. 

I've made a lot of flying geese lately. Wait until you see my latest magazine quilts - there are a lot of flying geese in them - well not a LOT but there are some. When I was at Spring Market, I ran into Deb Tucker of Studio 180 Design.  She designs a lot of speciality rulers. As we were chatting, the subject came around to flying geese and she asked why I wasn't using my Wing Clipper which is Deb's ruler designed to make flying geese. 

ACK - I have one (wasn't 100% sure where it was) and so I promised her that I would dig it out when I got home as I had more flying geese to make. 

When I got home I found the ruler within a few minutes of searching, 

Wing Clipper ruler by Deb Tucker

It happened to be in a project that I taught a while back.

Signs of Autumn project (by Studio 180 Design)

It's a simple table runner and there it sits NOT finished.

And I also found the Corner Beam ruler in the bag as well.  ACK!!!

Corner Beam ruler by Deb Tucker

The big issue I have is where to keep those speciality items, like that darn book that I'm still missing.  Keep with the project?  That works if you're going to finish the project quickly and put the tools/books back where they belong.  And if I haven't earmarked the tool/book for a specific project, I know where they are. It's the ones that are with a specific project that is the problem.

So the biggest issue with flying geese is that it's hard to get them super accurate and I like super accurate. OK Deb - you win!  The Wing Clipper did make better flying geese units than I can do without it. There will be instances when it's better to do them  my way, but for this current project, the Wing Clipper is going to be used.  I've already sent Deb a note to tell her that I followed up on my promise! And thanks for the PEP talk Deb!

I'll show you the difference between the two if I get a chance to snap some photos.  If you have the darn Wing Clipper ruler - get it out!   Use it - it does give you perfect flying geese and the bonus?  You make four at a time with NO WASTE. None of those little corners get cut off!  Hmmmm - I'll miss them!

This is what my cutting table looked like when I arrived home whenever that was - last week? This week?  I've no idea any more. Let's just say that it was a HUGE mess.

Cutting table is a huge mess

It's been cleaned up several times since I arrived home as I have no time to mess around.

This is a photo I snapped of the studio this morning.  What a huge mess and there is NO time to fix that problem until after the middle of June.  I'm working with a lot of the stuff that is on the floor.

What a mess - this is crunch time!

Don't worry - the floor of my office looks exactly the same!!!  I load and unload several bags every day with stuff that I hope to get done at work. I'm making progress - one project at a time.

And last night, I got a customer quilt finished.  I'll be trimming it tonight and getting the next one done.

Customer quilt - DONE

OK - I must becoming a quilt snob or at least a binding snob. As much as I would like to say that I know a LOT about quilting, I'm always trying to learn new stuff so I try to read about "new" techniques and watch videos about how to do stuff.  So I'm watching a video this morning about binding.  ACK - it's everything NOT to do about binding.  The problem is that this stuff is out there on the internet (remember when it was called the World Wide Web?)   Well, this person is making the entire process very complictated and so not helpful, but if someone watches this, they might think this is such a great method.   OK - she just redeemed herself with recommending a stitch that I don't use. I'm going to try that today as I bind the quilt that needs to be in a FedEx box this afternoon.  But seriously, just because there are videos and tutorials out there, don't believe that they are the best. So many videos/tutorials just don't make sense. It's not that my way is the best way or the only way - I try to go for the most logical way to do things.  I guess my logic is different from others!

On that note, I'd better try and clean up part of the mess in my office this morning.  Oh shoot - got a meeting as well.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!