Used books any one???

I was driving around yesterday and going over all the things that I do - blogging, educating, teaching, etc. And there's one thing that I've decided I won't do anymore - workshops for quilt guilds. It was never big on my list of things to do. I never promoted it. But sometimes when I speak at a guild, I've been asked if I do workshops. I've done some in the past. But at this moment in time, I'm working with two guilds to try and get a workshop going. It's a lot of work to create something "super enticing" to get enough members of the guild to sign up. It's way more work than necessary and very time-consuming. I'm not sure how to differentiate the workshops at guilds versus teaching at a store, but there is a difference. And each guild presentation has to be almost custom created (or so it seems these days) and I don't have time for that.

So I'll work with the two guilds that I'm currently working with. And I'm teaching a very custom class next week. Then that's it! No more guild workshops. Just not going to happen.

Here's one of the things that I don't get. If the description says - technique class only, we're not going to make a project, why does the guild need to see a sample??  Sorry - I'm on a wee bit of a rant this morning. Quilters do NOT take the time to play. For whatever reason, they need to be making projects they can give away. No one wants to experiment and just have fun!  Why is that? Then they complain when they have another UFO to finish. I like to play and NONE of us take enough time to play.

Anyway, to appease the members, I made a very small sample. The topic is applique.

How do you make an applique sample in a hurry?? You get out your AccuQuilt - that's what. I used various dies and cut a bunch of shapes. I'm using the Accuquilt way more for cutting applique than for cutting quilts. I can cut a quilt very fast with the traditional rotary cutter. But applique - that takes time. I think I have to buy one more die and then I can really crank out the stuff. I've got a couple of projects in mind - just need the time to make it happen.

Cutting shapes with the Accuquilt

The workshop is on a variety of applique techniques so I also made stems using the bias tape maker. There are other applique methods but for the sake of a sample, I wasn't going for that.

Stems made with the bias tape maker

I grabbed a piece of background fabric and VOILA - there's a sample. There's a very specific reason why each shape was chosen. It's a great way to teach how to do the stitches on the sewing machine. I did some stitching on the piece and it's delivered.

Sample for applique

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter about the experience. I've just found that guild members are very fickle and very demanding for workshops and it's just not worth my time. No, let me rephrase that - it's not worth my PREP time as I don't get paid for prep time unless I up the charge of the workshop which I don't want to do. Solution - no more guild workshops.

A long time ago, I may have discussed dryer sheets and how bad they are to use. We haven't used them in our house for years. Why are they bad to use? They are filled with chemicals that'll leave a residue on whatever you put in the dryer with them.  I had a box of them that I found in M's room and it's been sitting on the dryer for a very long time.

When I was doing the applique above (a lot of it was fused), I goofed and got a bit of fusible on the sole plate of the iron. Rather than take a few extra minutes and use the proper tools for iron cleaning, I thought I'd grab one of those dryer sheets. Look at what happened to my ironing board cover!!!!

Ironing board cover after using a dryer sheet

The dryer sheet were a cheap brand - probably purchased at the dollar store. Needless to say, the box is in the garbage now. You should have seen the OIL on the bottom of the iron. It's like the heat literally sucked all the oil from the dryer sheet. The more expensive ones are probably not as bad, but those sheets are bad!!!

Here's another article about dryer sheets. There's a lot of information about them. Bottom line - they are BAD to use and not only damage the environment but damage your clothes.

Once that sample was done, I was off to the used book sale in Guelph.  The location was easy to find - a massive warehouse. I had to park quite a ways away from the door. There was an early bird time slot from 1 to 4 yesterday. EACH person who entered during the early bird was required to pay $10. Look at how full the place was!!!!  They would have made quite a bit of money just on that entrance fee.

The book sale

 It's very hard to see in that picture but the place was huge and it was packed. We received a map of the layout it was that big. There were all kinds of books and all the fiction were in alphabetical order by author last name. Well - all the A's were together and so on. That was VERY helpful.

WOW - the place was crazy. I didn't find any books on my list, but I did find something interesting. Whose books are the most popular at a used book sale? If you guessed James Patterson - you'd be correct. Numerous people remarked on that when I was in the P section.

At one point, someone was looking for Anne Perry. Several people said, "there are lots". Someone else asked "is she a good author?" to which we all piped up and said YES. Then we told that lady to read about Anne Perry. Rememer, she's the one who helped kill her friend's mother years ago.

I had limited cash with me but that's OK. The books were all super cheap. $3 for hard cover, $2 for soft cover and $1 for fiction soft cover. Or something like that.

When I finally found my way to the end of the line to pay, it was HUGE. I mean people had come with shopping bags, grocery carts or wheelie carts. They came prepared.

The cash

It took me 20 minutes to get through the cash.

What did I find???  I found these books about historical quilts. Yeah - that's the kind of thing that I'm really interested in and there were seven of them. $2 each. I wonder if the rest of the collection was there and it would come out later?  Oh well.  The books are Research Papers of the American Quilt Study Group.   If you check under the publications section, you can see the books. They are selling for $10 - $20 a piece. I paid $2 a piece and they are in pristine condition. If I had time, I'd go back today to see if there were more. But alas - NO time for that.

Books from the International Quilt Study Group

I also found a quilt novel and a couple of other quilt books. I did buy one novel but that was it. Total cost $24 for the books and $10 to get in. That was good entertainment value for an afternoon.

More quilt books

I also found this which I thought was hilarious. I almost bought it, but decided not to. A book of projects by the Husqvarna White Education Department. Quick Gifts to Make. I couldn't find a year or any names in it, but it was before machine embroidery as there was all these things to make using pictograms which was percusor to machine embroidery.

Interesting old book from Husqvarna White Education Department

The last thing on the day's activities was to teach a class on making a pillowcase at Oh Look Fabric. There were two in the class and both of them were successful in completing the pillowcase. The pillowcases turned out amazing. When you're making a pillowcase,  working with directions fabric can make a pillowcase a bit of a challenge, but these ladies pulled it off no problem. Neither had used a rotary cutter before.

Happy pillowcase makers

Next week, we have a class on Violet Craft's large animal paper pieced wall hangings. Come out and have fun with us!

Then home where I crashed and now up and ready to start the process all over again. Except that I'm not leaving the house. I'm going to be chained to the long arm, the embroidery machine, the sewing machine and the computer all day long!

In case you didn't see it, Lexi has something to say this morning. That silly girl. She thinks she's the best dog. Well technically she is, but then again, she isn't.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!