I'm not competitive at all..............

There are two more days of sheer craziness and then things will calm down. Oh god - why do I even think that'll happen. It's sheer chaos at my house and this crazy schedule I set for myself this week - well, I'll be having some planning moments next week to prevent this from happening again.

I've got a lot to cover today so I'd better get started.

Here are those pictures from my studio as I promised. Loads of room for three people to sew.

Tables for three people to sew

 And there's loads of room for four people to sew here.

The other set of work tables

 I must confess that it doesn't look like that at the moment. Hey - I NEED space to work!

But this is my corner of the studio. Seriously?  We have a major problem here!!!  There are two sewing machines set up there if you can believe it. While I did a bit of sewing on the machine on the Sit n Sew day, I did take the one empty spot (yes - someone did NOT come so I had a big empty table to myself) and I did some hand sewing.

My space to sew in the studio

 Makes me feel right at home in that huge mess. Why or why do we do this to ourselves? I've been trying for years to tame this mess and it just won't go away. I'm doomed to sew in this mess for the rest of my life. I'm used to it so I guess it won't be so bad. However - I'm much better than I used to be and normally this mess on the tables is a bit more spread out so it's not that bad to sew.

However, there's going to be THREE people sewing at that station tomorrow. I think a bit of tidying up is going to have to happen. Later tonight!

By contrast, look at my sewing station at Monday sewing.

Monday sewing

 Normally there are three of us that get there early in the morning and we sew by ourselves until the other arrive hours later. My two cohorts were off shop hoping this past Monday so I was there by myself for a bit.

I got a lot accomplished on Monday - probably because the other two were not there to bother me. This is what my scrappy quilt (the third one) looked like at the end of the day. I forgot that I have to fix the second one before I start putting the borders on. But it's going to take a while to get these three done. Everything takes longer than you think it will.

Third scrappy top

I'm almost finished the ender/leader project I was working on. There are only these few pieces left. Do I have enough red????  Well, there's more in the bag that I carry with me so if I need more, it's there.

The last of that huge stack of enders and leaders

Here's the bag with the sewn bits. Now they need to be pressed and it's almost time to move onto the next step.

Bag of sewn bits that need to be pressed

 I did work on Farmer's Wife, but I haven't had time to take a picture. NO - I'm not done. Maybe I can work on those blocks tomorrow at the next Sit n Sew.

Here are some projects that some of the others were working on at the Sunday Sit n Sew. Pam got this quilt top together. It's a beautiful quilt and a LOT of work, but she made great progress on it. I remember when she started it a couple of months ago. Great job Pam!

Pam's quilt top

 The pattern is called My Checkered Past by Whirligig Designs.

Ronda wanted to learn how to put the binding on her table runner by machine. So we had a quick lesson - you see - it's not always about sewing your own thing. You may get an impromptu lesson as well.

Ronda's finished table runner

She did an amazing job on the binding and you'd never know that it was her first attempt. I see more machine bindings in her future!

The binding is sewn down by machine

Diane and I have a friendly rivalry going on. I'm keeping track of the number of items that I finish and so is she. Diane wasn't here on Sunday, but Lynn delivered a message from her. It was simple - 58. Hmm - that means that Diane has finished 58 items for the year. Well, we can't have Diane ahead of me. I was at 55. I had a few things that needed to get finished so I decided to spend the day doing those.

I started off by sewing the binding to this set of placemats by sewing machine. The first step was already done. We have agreed that a set of four placemats counts as ONE item. So now I'm at 56.

Set of four placemats DONE

These placemats will be donated to a local community group this coming Christmas.

Next up was to remove the sleeve from our QuiltCon Charity quilt. It's being donated as a quilt for a bed so no need to have that sleeve and that bright orange sleeve can be used on another quilt.

I had to remove the previous label and make and sew a new one on. I managed to get all that done. I sent Diane a text - 57!  No response. I did check in my list of finished projects that I wasn't double dipping with this one. I quilted and bound it earlier this year. NOPE - it's not in the book meaning that I was waiting for the day when I switched the label and took the sleeve off.

The other thing I needed to do with this quilt was to wash it. It was very heavily quilted and was a bit stiff. I threw it in the washing machine with NO regard for the fact that it had oranges, reds, and purples in it. Never even thought about the colors running. And they did NOT! The fabrics are solids from Northcott Colorworks collection. Hurrah for GOOD quality fabrics.

The quilt before it was washed

 I wish I could share with you the texture of the quilt now. It's GORGEOUS. It's still heavily quilted, but surprisingly it softened up very nicely. I'm ecstatic. I should take a picture of the quilt right now as it's in a heap on the chair waiting to be included in a trunk show tomorrow.

Here are several shots of the quilt AFTER it was washed. Like I said, you just want to touch this one - the texture is gorgeous and that means I can do heavy quilting and still have a soft bed quilt. Granted, it's not as soft as if it were more loosely quilted, but it's not bad.

The back of the quilt

Look at that texture!

Gorgeous texture after washing

 You can tell that the quilt has been washed, but that in no way detracts from its beauty.

More texture shots

 Don't you want to run your hand over that quilt???  I do every time I pass by it.

More quilting detail from the back

An experiment with colored threads on the front

More texture

Here's a link to the story of how that Charity quilt came into being. It's an incredible story and a great group effort on the part of the West End Modern Quilt Guild. A HUGE THANK YOU to Northcott for helping out with the fabrics in this quilt.

The West End Modern Quilt Guild Quilt Con Charity Quilt

Next up was to hand stitch the sleeve onto this quilt. This was the quilt that was on QUILTsocial on Monday. The one I put the flange into the binding. I love this quilt and it was made with Northcott Banyan Batiks. Lots of very yummy colors. The background fabric is from the basic Ketan collection. The others were from various collections and chosen because of their color. I like BRIGHT. This now hangs on my wall in the family room. It's a happy quilt.

One Fish, Two Fish

I pinned the sleeve onto the quilt and hung it up for photos. So it came down on Sunday and the sleeve was properly sewn on and because it wasn't my pattern, I decided to add a label to this one. Then I sent Diane a message - 58!!!  With a smiley face or two!

Oh - there's no competitive streak in the two of us at all. I'm sure by now that she's made several more quilts. No, wait - she was on the Charming Shop Hop (20 stores in three days and MANY MANY KMs) She didn't have time to sew.

The One Fish, Two Fish pattern is by JB Quilt Designs. That's Janet Barker if you know her that way. I tested the pattern for her a while back and it took this long to get the binding on.

Loads of fun and I've got some leftovers that I want to do something with.

Anyway - that's it for me today. I've got a ton of stuff to get done. Not just stuff, but a few deadlines that won't go away. No one's fault but my own.

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!