Status update!

I'm not sure what happened to my e-mail yesterday but the inbox exploded. I received so many e-mails and some of them need to be dealt with today - no slacking off like I sometimes do! OH - I slack off on those e-mails a LOT. I've got a couple of things to share with you from my inbox later in this post.

It was Monday sewing yesterday. My favorite day of the week. My intention is to work on those UFOs and get as many completed before the end of the year. Sadly, I'm running out of Mondays. I'm going to have to sew on those UFOs at the Sit n Sew days but sadly, those are running out as well. However, in total, there are EIGHT designated sew days left this year. Now it's impossible to get one project done a day, but I can make some leaps and bounds in those EIGHT days. And then there's always time at home. However, because of issues with the long arm (which hopefully are all fixed), I'm a bit behind in quilting, so I'll be working on getting those quilts done before Christmas.

There are a few quilts in that little deadline book that need to be addressed. But all is good and I feel pretty relaxed and calm. I'm even spending the evenings when I'm home just chilling in my chair reading. You gotta love that!

Before I forget, I'm teaching some classes this week at Oh Look Fabric. If you want to get out and learn something new, I've got lots of tips and tricks to share. We're making a snowflake applique cushion cover tonight using the Accuquilt to cut the snowflakes. Tomorrow is the paper pieced Christmas tree that can be made into a pillow or a wall hanging and Friday is a rope bowl class. Be sure to check out the link!

What did I get done yesterday? While it may not look like much, I did accomplish a lot. Thanks to my good friend, Jane, I'm putting a checkerboard board on the last of those three scrappy quilts. I should mention Lynn here as well. It was her who suggested that I do a different border treatment on each of the three quilts and then Jane piped up with the third option - the infamous checkerboard. BTW - Good luck Jane this morning with your surgery!

So I cut and trimmed and cut and trimmed and then I got to start sewing. I'm not done yet, but I did make good progress yesterday. I now have pairs of sections that will make up the checkerboard.

Pairs of sections

I believe I still need a few more sections before I'm done because the corners will also have the checkerboard pattern in them. When I got home, I went through the extra fabric that's been in the bag FOREVER and sorted out what I need to finish the sections. The rest got filed in the stash room in the appropriate color bins.

Fabric to complete the sections

I thought about keeping all the scraps in the bag until I was completely done, but what's the fun in that? Besides, I'm pretty sure there's enough here. I do have a wee bit of extra in there, but not gobs like there was before.

The good news is that the worst of this border is over! It shouldn't take too long to finish off those sections, sew enough of them together to get the border length - oh god - I just had a thought - a bad thought. I think one side has even numbers of sections and the ends have odd. Hopefully, the checkerboard pattern will work out. Hmm - might have to rethink that as I'm putting it together. I'll worry about that when I get there!

There's no bad news, except that it's taken me weeks to get this project finished or close to finishing. There are still a few more UFOs on those lists that need to be addressed. I'll be taking them one by one and starting on the one that requires the least amount of work in order to get as many done by the end of the year. My plan is to have loads of "free" time as we get closer to Christmas. As those customer quilts get quilted which aren't many and the deadline quilts get done - not many of those left for the year, that'll give me loads of time for my own stuff. I see a couple of solid weeks in December to do my own thing!

Two things to share with you today.

One - if you're looking for a great deal on some thread - check this out. A great pack of NEUTRAL threads. Because this is Black Friday week (no longer just Black Friday), there's a special holiday pricing available in stores November 21-23. If you're interested, call 1-800-847-3235 to find the shop nearest you! Here's a link to their webpage if you want more information on the thread. I just found a bunch of other super interesting information, but no time to share that this morning.

Signature Cotton - 12 spool pack of thread!

You can never have too much thread! And speaking of thread, it's amazing when I quilt something how much I use neutral thread colors. I know people would be shocked if they saw the color of threads that I use on their quilts. But neutrals work!

The other thing I wanted to share with you is magazine archiving. If you're a lover of American Patchwork and Quilting and have old issues and not quite ready to throw them away, but yet you want to keep them - this is for you!!!

The COMPLETE history of American Patchwork and Quilting, as well as Quilts and More, are in ONE spot for an amazing price. What's nice is that the USB is searchable so it makes it easy to find articles. Much better than putting a sticky note on the front cover!  I'm slowly trying to weed through magazines, but it's not an easy task. I'm fired up to clean, but just no time at the moment.

On that note, I'd better clean up some more of those e-mails. I have phone calls to make, I have e-mails, blog posts, and patterns to write. I also got the rest of that HUGE customer quilt loaded and that's on the agenda for today as well. Let's not forget the magazine quilt which is coming along nicely!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!