Friends are the BEST

I've said it before and I'll say it again - friends are the best. Sewing days are the best. It's amazing what one can get done when you're focused. This group was an early starting group and we were off and sewing very early for the entire day. I got oodles done and I'm so excited - I wish I had the entire day to do it all over again, but I'll have to wait until Sunday for that luxury. 

Do you want to see what I got done? Better sit down because it was a LOT. 

First things first - George came home! He was exhausted by his riverboat cruise on the Danube but he was so excited to be on the road again! Except that immediately upon his arrival in the house, he was kidnapped by Murphy and taken out to the backyard. He's a tad dirty from that escapade. 

George is home

He's happily hanging out in the studio while he awaits his next trip. He's got some amazing photos to share with you once we get our hands on them.

George hanging out in the studio

First thing up was binding a couple of quilts. This quilt had the binding stitched to the back and just needed to be stitched to the front. It's DONE. This is one that will be donated to my guild's community projects. It's already in the bag ready to go to that meeting. And it will be one quilt out of my house!

Community projects quilt

It's also Finish Number 46 for the year.

I also have another goal and that is to learn how to PROPERLY crop these photos. I tried to learn quickly this morning, but you can see that that did NOT happen. It's possible and the videos make it look so easy, except they don't show you the critical things.  I will learn even if it kills me. What I would really like instead of taking a course is a guru to whom I can pose questions when I want to learn something. OH well - more searching on the internet to figure this feature out.

Anyway, this next quilt now also has its binding on. The binding was made but needed to be sewn on both sides. It's also one that will be donated to the community projects at the guild. It was made from leftovers of green and yellow flannels. The tops of these two have been made eons ago and were sitting in a bag of community project stuff to finish off. I used them to practice when I got the computer for the long arm. Now it's done - Finish Number 47 for the year.

Community projects quilt - DONE

Then it was off to tackle sewing a quilt top together. This was on the wall yesterday and now the top is DONE. That's pretty exciting since this is on the 2017 UFO list and I'm determined to get as many (I want ALL) of the 2017 UFOs and all of the 2018 UFOs DONE by the end of the year. I'm making good progress. It's all about focus and wouldn't it be nice to start 2019 with a BRAND new list of UFOs???  That's my goal.

Scrappy quilt top - DONE

As I had mentioned, there were enough blocks in the box to make THREE quilt tops that are suitable for community projects. This is the status of the second top. The blocks are on the design wall. The extra border blocks are made and TWO of the four corner blocks are made.

Next quilt almost ready to start assembly

I made all the missing border blocks for the third quilt and those pieces are sitting patiently waiting their turn. My guess, this quilt will be on the design wall by the end of the day on Sunday. 

Missing border blocks are now done

 I finished off the missing half of that one block - it's together and in the box with the rest of the blocks.

The other half of the block got finished

And here are the blocks for the third scrappy quilt - just two corner blocks are missing and it's ready to go. 

Blocks for the third scrappy quilt top

I've got backing sitting on the cutting table for all three quilts and that will get made in the next day or so. I pulled out the tin of leftover binding. I'll be rooting in that tin to get enough binding to bind the three quilts. Yep - not much goes to waste at my house. I'm very excited about this - I could have one more UFO completed within days. Yes - they won't be quilted, but I'm OK with that. The goal was to get them ready to be quilted. If they get quilted - that's a bonus.

Tin of binding leftovers

But thanks to the ladies who all commented about my Halloween quilt on the wall, I'm back at that quilt as well.

You see the problem is (was) that the embroidery designs were put onto a USB stick which has gone missing. It was ORANGE and I've no idea where it's gone. I had TWO of them and the one I have, but the embroidery designs are not on that stick. The designs come on a CD and I no longer have access to a CD drive at home. I was going to go to the UPS store to transfer them and then DUH - that's why we have a library!!  So after a lengthy chat with the neighbor, I scooted off to the library.

I'm sure the librarian thought I was an idiot. I've never used the computers there before - I didn't even know if we had to book them or what. But anyway, I sat down and 15 minutes later the design files for the Halloween quilt and a new one I need to work on was all on the USB stick. I think I'm going to transfer them over to my hard disk. I have other designs on CD and I think I'll transfer them the next time I'm at the library. Although I should go before school starts - those computers seem to be busy during school.  AHA - that could be my walk for today. It's only a 12-minute walk to the library.

Then back home and pulled out the embroidery machine and I was stitching more sashings for the Halloween quilt. This embroidery machine is FAST and I hit a button that did exactly what I wanted. Instead of stitching each unit individually, it stitched the first step in all three, then step two and so on. That made much more sense and before I knew it - I got two hoops of sashings done.

Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC!!!

And here are my sashings. One of the "blocks" was already done, now there are three.

Embroidered sashing for the Halloween quilt

I have to say that while I love my Ruby deLuxe embroidery machine, the Designer EPIC is FAST. Super fast and it didn't take long to have those sashings done. OK - I'm going to sneak in a few more today. I only need 61 I think and then I have to do some corners stones. I'll be done before you know it. I also hope to get more bindings done - I have to get rid of that pile of quilts. 

BUT I have some urgent paperwork to do this morning and then I MUST tackle the computer on the long arm. I'm loading one of my quilts and I'll be praying a LOT. 

Seriously - there is NOTHING you can't do if you put your mind to it and add a little bit of focus. However, you add that focus - sewing with friends, by yourself or whatever. It's a good mix and it's therapy. Gosh - I learn so much from the group and it's just a fun day!!!!   

On that note, I'm out of here to get the day started. 

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!