Don't try this at home.....

Yesterday was an exciting day. Time to get back to regular classes at The Hobby Horse. While I've already taught at Oh Look Fabric this September, I got to see the new classroom at The Hobby Horse. New laminate floors and painted walls. It's so much brighter in the classroom. I love it but it took some getting used to. If you haven't signed up for a class, you should! Although lots of them are full or close to being full. Those two stores are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum in view of what product they carry! I love it - the best of both worlds!

In case you're wondering, YES - I finished that book by James Patterson and Bill Clinton - The President is Missing. Like all books, some great reviews, and some bad reviews. I came home from class, installed myself in the backyard and promptly had a nap as it was very relaxing (despite having two dogs romping and playing and trying to lick my face). Then after my nap, I finished the book. OH - it was very good. And I LOVED the "Presidential Speech" at the end of the book. Lots of good advice in there. And that's all I'll say.

I was so focused that I don't think I looked at my phone once yesterday so if you sent me a note, or Facebook or whatever, I totally ignored you. I LOVE that. I love technology but I also hate it. It's such an intrusion on our lives and I like to control when I let it intrude on my life. I was at the car dealership the other day for a quick service and I overheard a dad ask his two young sons if they would like to trade their van for a truck. The oldest boy (about 6) said ONLY if it has a TV. So much for conversations in that family. Well, maybe they have a cottage and use it for drives to the cottage. Still - I absolutely hate the idea of a TV in the car.

So what shouldn't you try at home? Well, it had to do with the long arm - of course.

I was working on a quilt. I had measured the quilt that was almost square. I loaded the backing (OK - so I didn't measure this very carefully) and after measuring the front, I loaded the front. However, it became apparent as I was approaching the last row that the backing was NOT long enough. The backing was barely inches bigger on all sides (if I had loaded it that way which I did not). Note to self - MORE CAREFUL MEASURING in future. But this is why we ask for 3 - 4 inches on ALL sides. Anyway - totally my fault at not realizing that the backing was so tight on all sides. 

There was a wee bit extra on the sides and I didn't need much. So I loosened the quilt and with scissors, I cut off the extra on one of the sides. The extra was 2 inches so not huge.

Two inches of backing was cut from the side

 I wasn't in the mood to completely remove the quilt from the frame so I unpinned only one edge of the backing and sewed the new piece on. How did I do that? A chair, a sewing machine, and pins!

I pinned the extra bit to the end of the backing. Using a sewing machine on a rolling chair, I sewed the extra bit on. Not the easiest way to add some length to the backing, but it worked. This is NOT the first time I've had to do this. Acutally it's the second. I think the other quilt was my own.

Sewing a wee bit of extra to the backing

Then I repinned the backing to the leader. You can see below that even with the extra added, that I had ZERO room for error.

Zero room for error here

The way the computer does the pattern, it almost always overshoots the bottom edge of the quilt. By how much is the question. In this case, after a wee adjustment, it overshot about 3/8" inch which meant that it didn't touch the pins. Thank goodness because that would have been a whole other story. 

JUST enough room to finish the pattern

Note to self - in future - make sure you measure the backing BEFORE it goes on the machine. There's nothing like having to take a half hour out of the schedule to fix something. And customers - please be generous with your backings. Not overly generous, just generous - 3 to 4 inches all around. Makes my life a whole lot easier. ACtually, I think that's the biggest mistake I see from anyone who gives me a quilt (if there is a problem) - it's usually the backing is a wee bit too small. While I can quilt a quilt with a smallish backing, the process takes more time and there is NO guarantee that those edges will be quilted like they could be.

Anyway, the quilt is gone. No one would know what happened to it as the backing already had other seams in it. All is good.

 The other day, I decided to tackle one of the boxes that's been sitting in the office for years. I know that it's filled with quilt related paper.

One of about 10 boxes of paper from the office

 I opened it up. Oh - it's not even full. That's encouraging.

The box isn't even full - yeah!!!

I unloaded the paper from the box and made two piles.

Two piles of paper from the box

I managed to quickly browse through the two piles. Gosh - there are photocopied articles here - I NEVER do that anymore. Anyway, I managed to get through some of the piles and kept a few things or moved them downstairs. I managed to throw some of it away and then I couldn't take it any more and I shoved it all back in the box and put the box back on the shelf. That's my problem. There's a lot of stuff that I want to keep, but I'll never use because it's shoved in that box.

I guess I need to set up a filing system for this kind of stuff. I guess what I need to do is to open ALL those boxes and start sorting them into piles. Once they are in piles, I can deal with each pile. When is DH away again? I like to use the kitchen for my sorting.

I was also going through the pantry in the kitchen. I think I shared that with you. Well, I'm still not done sorting the stuff on the kitchen counter so I must get that finished - hopefully, today. Look what I found! Some magazines on digital photography. Look at the DATE!!!!!  I'm guessing that I don't need to keep these - the buyer's guide from 2002!!!!  I'd say that the technology has changed somewhat since then.

Digital photography magazines from 2002

I maanged to get a bit more work done on the latest magazine quilt. As a result, I got a few enders/leaders on the black/white project done.

New ender/leader project

 Nope - I'm not quite done with the green/white/yellow one but they all need pressing before I can move on. Haven't had time to do that yet.

Here's the rest of my haul from the used book sale. None of these were on my list and FOUR of them are new series. Now, why do I do that to myself? Three of these are those fluff novels, but they're fun to read and don't take a lot of time. Oh well - I love to read and I'll get through these.

Novels from the used book store

My object was to reduce the number of books on the book shelf, but it seems that in order to do that, I have to increase it as I had to find some of the missing books - well books that the library didn't have. As much fun as it is to buy books, there is no need if the library has them. That's my first resource and why wouldn't I? It's FREE. I shouldn't have as large a list in the future as the newer books the library has. But by the time I get to the books, they could be gone.

I have TWO quilt related novels that I'm looking for. If you have them and I could borrow them, that would be awesome. I read fast and can have them back to you in a flash. Only those that are local so we don't have to ship. Unless you want to sell me the book in which case we can work something out.

• Wedding Ring by Emilie Richards
• A Stitch in Time by Ann Rinaldi

Oh shoot - here are the other fluff novels that I'm looking for. If you have them, I'd like to beg, borrow or steal them from you.

• Motif for Murder by Laura Childs
• Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews
• Fatal Feng Shui by Leslie Caine
• How to Know a Heart Back Home by Rachael Herron

Some of these books are available on Amazon, but most are not or they are a ridiculous price which I won't pay.

I did unpack that package that I received in the mail, but I think I'll go into that story tomorrow.

On that note, I'm out of here!!!  Got one class to teach today and I've got some prep work and I need to hit the sewing/embroidery machines this morning and later this afternoon.

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!!