Back to normal??

What is normal anyway? Around our house (and I'm sure all of your houses) there really isn't a normal. Sure we have routines, but nothing is normal or maybe the chaos is normal. And every day brings a new challenge - that's normal.

I decided to not go to spin class this morning. I'm working on breaking down that knotted muscle at the top of my butt and it's not quite gone so I thought I'd take a rest and maybe find a yoga class today. That might be better. There's nothing as exciting as giving yourself a deep tissue massage. I'm certainly not going to pay someone $100 to do it for me. I can only take the pain in small doses, but often. It's better - not perfect, but better. I think I'll need a few more days to work that one out. I think the reason? Not quite enough training outdoors - only myself to blame for that one.

I had to tackle that long arm yesterday. I wasn't looking forward to it, but finally decided I need to bite the bullet and see what's happening. I had to take off the customer quilt that was on the machine (I hadn't even started it) and I loaded my magazine quilt. That one is totally free hand so NO computer. I turned on the machine - yep - the needle goes up and down. I waited for it to warm up while I was listening to my online class (which was about the software). The instructor is also part of the support team so at the end, I asked her. Hm - static electricity is NOT a friend of the computer.
I checked the couple of things that she suggested but all seemed to be OK.

The bottom line - the DAMN machine worked like a charm. The computer was turned OFF. I have to finish my quilt this morning and get it off to the UPS store. Then I'm going to try it with the computer ON. Could it be that the computer is not behaving itself? Oh, anything is possible. This process of elimination is slow. Slow and steady - I'll get it working - I just need the process to go faster.

But the last quilt that I worked on was without the computer and it worked just fine, although the apple quilt (which wasn't done with the computer had issues).

For now - let's just focus on getting this magazine quilt done and then move onto the next step.

I'm hosting a sit n sew tomorrow and well - I have to do two things first. I have to make sure that I have something prepped to sew and that there is space for people to sew. I've had three cancellations. While that may be discouraging - it's actually a good thing - there are still seven of us sewing - that's a good crowd. I'm like the airlines - I overbook because history has told me that people will cancel. And now there are THREE tables less of stuff to move. Isn't that sad? All is good and I'm looking forward to sewing all day with no interruptions.

Here's what I dug out to sew. This is on the UFO list - actually I think it's on the 2017 list?

I had a huge basket of these checkerboard blocks.

Checkerboard blocks

 Quick count - there are 108 and a half.

Half block

I do believe I inherited this project from someone. My intention was to make it up and donate it to our community projects at the guild.

There was also a stack of these blocks which is the border block for the quilt. There are about 40 of these.

Blocks for the border

And four blocks for the corner.

Corner blocks

 I believe their intention was to make a queen sized quilt using ALL the blocks in one quilt. Seriously?? Who wants a flipping big quilt like that? And who wants that in the community projects box? NOPE - I decided to make THREE quilts from that pile.

Do you see a theme here? Almost every one of the UFO projects that I've picked up - there was enough to make three quilts. What is the matter with people? What is the matter with me rescuing people's UFOs? NO MORE!!!  I will NOT rescue another UFO.

I laid out the blocks on the design wall for one quilt. I love this quilt. It's very scrappy - can't wait to grab some leftover binding bits to make scrappy binding for this one (and the other two).

One quilt ready to sew

 That's what I'll be sewing tomorrow. And here are the leftovers for the other two quilts. I'll need to make the other half of that one block. I'll need to make 8 corner blocks and a number of the border blocks. I've pulled fabric this morning, so I'm all set to go on this one. I know I'll find some backings from my stash and I'm good to go.

Leftover blocks for two more quilts

 I've been doing a wee bit of tidying as I feel like it. So seriously (gosh I say that a lot! but only because I'm totally disgusted at myself for what I'm finding!) - what is this???  I had to search the database called my memory bank before I remembered that it's the wheel off of a chair. Someone had given me a chair for the studio and while I liked the chair, it had a loose wheel. The chair is long gone, but the wheel remained. It's gone now too!!!!

A lost wheel from an abandoned chair

While I was listening to the conference yesterday, I did some filing and I did some purging. Lots more to do, but I seem to be better at it when I putter than throwing myself fully into it. Why is that? It's almost like I'm afraid to get to the end. That's a silly thought process but seems to be true. I'm an idiot!!!

I'm not sure how many of you peruse the QUILTsocial website, but their latest (downloadable) issue is out. Carla picks some of the best (more informative posts) and puts them in a magazine format. Check out issue number 11.   You can read the issue online or download it for FREE. I'd download it to your iPad and then you've got the magazine (deadline to download - September 30). There's a great article on using twin needles and lots of other great tips. I've had so many comments from people who've read my posts (not in this issue) about free motion quilting and how helpful they have been. It doesn't matter whether you own the sewing machine that I reviewed - there are AMAZING tips being offered up. If you are NOT reading QUILTsocial - you should be. There's a NEW post every day. Speaking of that - check out the post for today.

OH -- and if for no other reason for downloading the magazine, check out the Northcott ad on the last page or very near the end. I took that photo in my forest! Actually if you see any of the pictures of the Stonehenge Maplewood quilts in a Northcott ad - I took those (obviously a LONG time ago).

On that note, I'm out of here. Got to get some paperwork done this morning before I tackle the long arm again. No rest for the crazy people.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!