Oh - so that's where that is.............

I'm sure like some of you, you come home from somewhere and it takes a long time to unpack. I'm not talking suitcases here although I do procrastinate on that sometimes. I'm talking about a quilt shopping trip! 

I had a few minutes to spare yesterday and I was rummaging around in the stash room for some reason that I've totally forgotten at the moment. I saw a bag that had been sitting there for a while. I thought it was a bag that I had shoved stuff into, but no it was a tote bag that hadn't been unpacked since I got home from Missouri Star in September!  I know - I'm hanging my head in shame. I decided it was time to unpack that bag and guess what I found? Something that I knew I had and thought I had already misplaced. Nope - the item was not misplaced, it had never been unpacked.

This is what I found. A copy of The Archive of American Patchwork & Quilting and Quilts and More magazines for the last MANY years. It's the complete history up to and including 2016.

The Archive

 Lots and lots of magazines all on this little bitty stick. Apparently, it's searchable and sure takes a lot less space than all the physical magazines. Now to get rid of the magazines.

USB filled with magazines!

Wouldn't it be great if all the magazines did that???  I'd be in heaven. I hate to throw magazines away and it's a shame when you can't find something that you wanted to keep.

I was rifling through more stuff to find something else. Oh yes - it was for the class I'm teaching today. I was trying to locate the sample I had started. While doing that (which I did find), I came across this as well. I'd been saving a bag of the cut off pieces from making the red/white 150 Canadian Women project. I knew that I had other red/white bits (from another project), but where the heck had they disappeared to?

Bag of teeny cut offs from red/white blocks to be sewn

AHA - when going through another basket, I found the bag. This bag of little cut off pieces are already sewn together as HST and trimmed.

Red/white trimmed HSTs

There are even blocks sewn together. Those blocks are teeny tiny!!!!  Now the entire thing is in one spot - a bigger bag to accommodate everything.

Red/white blocks for a mini-quilt

I was back in the studio this morning. Not enough time to sew, but time to tidy up a bit. I decided that I might as well pack for the next retreat. I know - priorities? what priorities???  And then when the retreat actually comes, there will be a rush job that needs to go in the bag!!!  Well, the bag is full! It's heavy and the red/white project is in there as an ender/leader. I'm only taking one bag. It has some stuff that has been hanging around for a while, a couple of things that are on the UFO lists, some is old, some is newer. Only one bag is allowed in the event we carpool!!!

Project bag

I know that it's sad when I have a Monday bag with projects ready to sew. A retreat bag with projects to sew and there's still a ton of stuff sitting on the tables.


I've got a couple of sit n sew days coming up this month and I have stuff set out to work on. It's a bunch of NON-quilt stuff - like bags. It would be great to get these done and out of the way. They've been sitting there for a long time and it's just time to get this stuff done.

A bevy of bags that need finishing

While I'm much better than I was at finishing things, I still have a problem and let's not forget the challenge quilt that has to be done in two weeks. I figured out what I want to do yesterday and so that shouldn't take long. It won't be a winner because I haven't allowed enough time to do that much work, but it'll be a good exercise for me.

I managed to get one quilt designed yesterday for the latest magazine submission round. It was due yesterday and I had no opportunity to work on it before. Oh, my - I have to say that it was a SNAP to design the quilt in EQ8.  I know - I do it all the time, but this one was using the CUSTOM set. It used to be a pain in the butt to use the Custom Set. But seriously, I was madly designing away in a matter of minutes and I was able to get everything done (the way I wanted it) by just messing with the controls.  There was only ONE thing I needed help with - coloring the background of the quilt. A quick trip to the HELP feature and I was set. Oh boy - that software is amazing. I even did three different versions of the quilt. I hope they like it.

Speaking of patterns, I've written many patterns and I seem to have kept EVERY scrap of paper that was involved in the design process. Now that the pattern is finished, there really isn't any need to keep all that back work. I could pitch the entire whack of paper. But NO -  I'm removing the staples and recycling the paper. I feel guilty to use regular paper for everyday stuff. Very wasteful and this paper is good to sketch quilt patterns on as well.

Let's just say that you can walk completely around the round table in the middle of the office. YES - there's still a bit of stuff on the floor, but it's looking pretty spiffy. It was before I left, but it'll get even better. Just give me some time. I will have to pick up the pace. While throwing one pattern worksheets out per day will eventually get the job done, it's not very fast.

I also got all my classes organized for the fall. It's all set in stone now and I'm glad. The weekends are PACKED.  The ongoing classes for 2019 are chosen and I'm even going to have two ongoing classes at my house. Unfortunately, they have to be during the week. One of them is going to be a UFO session. I'll be sharing all that news with you over the next couple of weeks. I still have to write up exciting blurbs about the classes. And the best thing? The classes are spread out over several sessions, so you'll get feedback, help and get the project DONE.

I did sneak out for a break and sat in the gazebo. It was so peaceful and I just love that spot. The girls were having fun and it was a fabulous way to spend part of the afternoon. My phone didn't seem to be working yesterday as I was getting text messages all day, but none of them came through until about 5:30. Good grief! We got something for the backyard yesterday. I don't have time to share the picture with you today so watch for that tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about it.

On that note, I'm off to the dog park.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!