It's in the bag

Yesterday wasn't quite as productive as I would have liked it to be, but it was still great work!

I got myself down to the long arm and I finished quilting that lap quilt by lunch. I do need to trim it, get the binding, label, and sleeve on today. My plan is to deliver it tomorrow, but not before I make one more quilt also scheduled for delivery tomorrow. That quilt is cut out. It's small and very simple, but very cute. The quilting will be simple and thank goodness for machine binding. I'd be in big trouble if that wasn't happening at my house. 

It took a while to get that quilt cut out as there were a lot of fabrics (40) involved, but once I got going, it didn't take long. I confess that I had a chill out session in the afternoon - I was tired and I just wanted to veg out a bit. Don't ever worry about me burning both ends of the candle - I rarely stay up late, I rarely get up early (well earlier than my scheduled time) and I have no problems to take a nap if needed. 

My alarm went off at 4 AM this morning. Oh, shoot - I had forgotten to remove that alarm after we had to get Bear to the airport last week. Gosh - it seems like forever since he flew home. I miss that little muffin. He's so cute. But he is well loved and cared for at home and he's WHITE. Imagine that! He was white for only one day at our house. 

I had some books that had to be returned to the library so, after my nap, I took a brisk walk to the library to return them. As I was walking, I remembered a comment made recently by someone. They said that they found it hard to walk without a destination. Hm - that's interesting. I like to walk but I have to confess that most times, I do have a destination. So here's the thing - if you can't walk without a destination, then make one up. Decide that you're going to walk to the corner of X and Y streets. Or you're going to walk to the grocery store  - doesn't mean you have to buy anything - just create a destination and walk there. Then walk back. 

We do get set in our ways and one of those is what we eat. While we were at the retreat, we had a discussion on desserts. I'll be sending out a note to all the attendees for the next one. We had so many rich desserts - it was totally insane. Yes - I ate them, but I didn't really enjoy them. No - that's not right - I enjoyed them, I just didn't enjoy how I felt afterward. I had brought the lemon and coconut flavored yogurt pots for the dessert for my meal. They are light, they have 100 calories and it was a nice way to finish off chili for dinner. As we were having our dessert discussion, one of the ladies said that she didn't consider yogurt as a dessert. Hm - why not? We are so set in our ways that we can't have pancakes for lunch or dinner or we can't have eggs other than for breakfast. NO - we have to think outside the box and eat whatever we feel like when we feel like it. Switch things up - try foods at different times. I sometimes have oatmeal for dinner if I'm alone. Why not???

Here are the books that I bought at the used bookstore in Orillia. It's called the Book Re-View. It truly is the best bookstore around. No - it's not huge by any means, but the books are well organized. What makes this bookstore shine is the people. Carol is the friendliest person around. She cares about her clientele and will provide book lists of authors (if you need one), recommendations are very forthcoming if you ask, the staff is excellent and well - you just get a warm and cozy feeling when you're in the store. 

Now, what happens when you get a warm and cozy feeling in a used bookstore? You buy - that's what!!! Here are the books that I bought this past trip. Yikes - way too many!!!!  There's one more book that I forgot to ask about so I'm going to send them an e-mail today. I didn't take my list with me. 

Books I bought at the used bookstore

Here are the books that Mary dropped off for me at Monday sewing. One of those books was on my list and one was not. One more book off the list!!!!   I have to find the list - it's on my desk somewhere and then I'll post the last couple of missing books. I may have to break down and buy them online. That book list was a super fun summer activity.

Books from Mary

 I've put all the new acquisitions on my bookshelf which is now a tad full. NO MORE BOOKS!!!  When I was at the library, I did NOT even look at any other books. I just returned the books, paid my fine and then I was out of there. I have a "few" on loan from the library that I need to get read.

My "to read" bookshelf

 Last night, I was teaching a class on zippered pouches at Oh Look Fabric. (Check the link for the workshops for the rest of the year.) The class was full and it was a busy class. All the girls are fairly new to the sewing world and of course have basic sewing machines. They all did an amazing job despite the couple of machine difficulties we had. I'm very spoiled when it comes to sewing machines but I don't judge! We all have to learn. The frustrating thing is that you don't want to spend a lot of money on that first machine. But that very basic machine doesn't have great features which would make learning to sew so much easier. And who wants to lay out a lot of money for a machine if you're not sure you're going to sew? It's funny how the machines that the clientele bring to that shop are very basic (just learning to sew) while at other places I teach, we have a very different scenario with the machines.

Three of the five people finished their pouches and the other two were very close but we were already over our time.

Zippered pouch from class

Another zippered pouch from the class

The third pouch with a metal zipper

I don't think that any of them had ever put in a zipper so getting the pouch cut (and some had never used a rotary cutter before), zipper in and finished was a huge task given the size of the class and their skill level. Job well-done ladies!!!!!

It was late when I got home so I "slept" in after that 4 AM alarm. No spin class this morning. I so wanted to go, but I was tired. Next week or maybe I'll go on Friday. It's a different instructor on Friday, but I could still go!  Don't get set in your ways!!!

Hopefully, you've got the dates marked in your calendar for Quilts at the Creek. Don't forget those workshops. They're going to be loads of fun. Check out the link again and get signed up! There's a trunk show on the Sunday of the show. Why not come out, learn something new, see the quilts in all their glory in an outdoor setting, check out the Prince Cherrywood Challenge in person, and maybe even volunteer for a two-hour stint. It's all about supporting our local quilting activities. We need to build an AWESOME quilting community in Canada. We have the talent - let's build the community so we don't have to look elsewhere to get our fix. 

Speaking of Canadian Quilting communities, don't forget to check out the Canadian Quilter's Association. The big show is in June 2019 in Ottawa. There are lots of great shows scheduled at that event. There's the Trendtex challenge that you can take part in (a great way to stretch yourself), there's a guild challenge involving the color purple, great resources on their webpage and other social media pages. It's easy to find things on the website - just click on the appropriate button. 

Why not enter a quilt into one of the shows??? The Quilts at the Creek is easy. You just enter the quilt. There is no judging, there is no jury. You just enter your quilt. Drop it off at one of the drop-off spots near the show date and you're good to go. It's easy and who doesn't want to see their quilt hanging in all its glory?  

Pick ONE major thing that you'd like to do next year. Take a workshop, do a challenge, enter a quilt show. Set the date in your calendar and work backward with your schedule so you know when you have to do what. I love challenges, so I'm going to do the purple challenge and I'm going to do the TrendTex challenge. 

But first, I need to get four more urgent quilts out the door. That snuck up on me very fast and I wasn't mindful of the dates. I've got to watch that in future!

On that note, I'd better get the day started. 

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!