Another successful event at The Sewing Machine in North Bay. I was on my way home when I realized that I did NOT get any pictures of the inside of the shop. Oh, shoot - they do a roaring business in the alterations/repair department and they have some very scary looking industrial machines in that room. There are three ladies who do alterations! And that classroom with all those bright lights - well it was awesome.
Jackie and her entire team are very welcoming, very talented and very experienced. I did pick up some red thread that I need for a project as she has a huge selection of thread. The Sewing Machine is focused on sewing (they are not a quilt shop and do not stock a lot of fabric), but if you want bag hardware or patterns, they have a huge selection and I got a few things in that department as well.
The best part - well the best part would have been for everyone to walk out of the event having purchased a Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC or the PFAFF Creative Icon. That didn't happen, but I can say with confidence that everyone left both events with a much broader perspective of what you can do in the quilting world with your sewing machine. I showed them loads of examples of how you can incorporate different and "new" stitches into a lot more places on our quilts. I saw many light bulbs go off and hopefully, when they get home, they'll realize that they a more advanced sewing machine!
As I left North Bay, I knew that I had to fill the car with gas. I still had a 1/4 tank but that wouldn't have gotten me home. I imagined like every other town, that there would be a gas station on the outskirts of town. Alas, that was not the case and next thing I knew, I was on the highway with nothing in view but rocks, snow, and trees. Oh - this could be bad!
I almost turned around but I decided that there are enough small towns along the way that something had to come up soon. And sure enough, I found a gas station in Callander. Gassed up and then I was good to go for the drive home. The drive home was almost 360 KM and I didn't have to stop once. I was a little leery because I had taught a full day and sometimes, I'm just tired later in the day. But I must have been excited to get home. I chatted a wee bit on the phone and listened to the radio and admired the view.
The roads were in excellent condition. A little wet in some places, but not slippery which is the important thing. The temperature went from -3 when I started to plus 2 when I arrived home. Oh yes - I had munchies in the car. Some good and some bad, but I'm a munchie eater in the car on long distances. I'd better find something good for munchies that last as long as a bag of chocolate covered peanuts!
Guess who was excited to see me when I got home? Oh yes - the girls freaked out! But it was good to be home nd the car is unpacked.
I didn't even go downstairs. Just vegged on the sofa for a bit after I had something to eat and started to read a new book.
However, excitement must have been running through my head as I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. I read a bit, ate a small snack and still nothing. So I got up and went to the studio. I hate to do that because it throws me off in the morning, but I didn't want to waste the time. What did I do? A tiny bit of tidying up and then I got out some fabric to cut.
Before I could go much further on the ender/leader project, I had to cut some more fabrics to get a better variety in the blocks. I dug out the black/white basket of fabric. I started by sorting into three piles.
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| The black on white |
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| The white on black |
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| And the rejects |
I've used this basket system for years and I'd be totally lost without it. It works like a charm and it's easy to upend the basket and sort through the fabrics and keep what I want out and put the rejects (for this project) back in the basket.
Here's an example of one of the blocks in case you've forgotten what it looks like. There will be 60 blocks that look like this and 60 blocks that will have the dark row on the inside and the light row on the outside.
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| Block from the ender/leader project |
It just doesn't feel right to be up in the middle of the night cutting fabric! I read a bit more and then finally fell asleep. Of course, I'm up late this morning!
Got loads to do this week. I'd better get some focus on that paperwork which I've neglected over the past couple of weeks. I have TWO more magazine projects to make before the end of the year. One is due next week - loads of time, but I'll be cutting it later today. The other one is due now as well, but won't take that long. I've got fabric for both and must get to work. I hope to get all the customer quilts finished by the end of next week and what's left is scheduled for January so I might just be able to get a few more of mine completed and to work on some community project quilts as well. The trick is to get as much of this stuff done while it's quiet. Let's not forget that there are some sample quilts and sample projects that need to be made. And after these presentations, I see where my range of samples is lacking so I'll be working on those as well. So while December and January will be quiet from a teaching class perspective, there's going to be loads of work going on in the studio. I'm looking forward to that!
Here's a fabulous vido about cycling and knitting. Doesn't this make you happy to look at???
I'd better go and get started. As much as I like to go away, I'm super happy to be home.
Have a great day!!!!
Ciao!
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