Why do I work best under pressure?

I don't get it - I have deadlines. I'm very aware of the deadlines. My brain just doesn't seem to work unless the clock is ticking!

I'm working on a project - one that I can't share with you at the moment. I had a date in mind when it needed to be done. That was yesterday. Oh yes - along with everything else that had to be done. I had done a bit of preliminary work on the project, but I was overwhelmed. It's not quite my normal kind of thing to do - yep - my own worst enemy in that regard. As the deadline approached, I was working on the project but didn't seem to be committed to it. Well - at the ninth hour yesterday, I finally realized how I should be tackling the project. I didn't get it completed for the date that I wanted, but now that I have a very solid plan, it shouldn't take long to complete.

But why is that? Why won't my brain function that creatively when there isn't a deadline? I've no idea. Something I'm going to try and work on this coming year. While I don't mind the pressure and I seem to thrive on it, it can be a wee bit stressful if there is more than one deadline looming in the same time frame. I don't like that - I eat bad things when I'm in that situation. Still maintaining my "buffer zone" weight so I'm not complaining, but I don't like when I eat too many bad things!

So here's a situation I can share with you about being creative. Remember that reversible quilt I was working on? Well, it's being picked up today. That means I need to get it trimmed. I was tempted to NOT trim it, but I knew I would be helping this customer out a lot by doing so. We did have a chat yesterday and she is good for future (I hope!)

The quilt has been languishing on a set of work tables since I took it off the long arm. How to trim? Remember that the side edges of the front are wider than the back and the opposite is true for the other two edges. Does that make sense? If not - here's a better way of saying it. Suppose the side you see is the back. The sides of the back are wider than the front of the quilt. But the top and bottom of the back are shorter than the front. Don't ask how or why I quilted it like that. A challenge to myself I suppose. That does NOT allow you to give me a quilt like that!

The quilt waiting to be trimmed

How to keep the edges straight? I decided to get out my 20-inch square ruler and the medium size cutting mat. I used 15" as a guideline from the edge of the light green to the edge of the quilt maximizing the amount of fabric that was in the quilt. Very little was trimmed away.

Trimming the large quilt

I didn't touch the corners, yet. Just focused on the long edges. I trimmed one side and then moved to the other side of the table to trim the other side of the quilt.

One side almost trimmed

Then I flipped the quilt over so I could see how much fabric there was on that side. I think the measurement was something like 15 ½" from the outer edge of the center panel. So now all four sides are cut, but the corners are not. Is it going to work out and have nice square corners?

Surprising, those corners were PERFECT. 

Getting ready to trim the corners

See those corners exactly matched up!!!  They were perfectly square. All four of them were like that.

Corners are perfectly square

Now I realize that I was making it square with the method I used to trim. Despite the issues with the size of the two pieces, the customer had done a very decent job of measuring the width of all the pieces so I have to give her credit for that.

Anyway, it's now packed up and ready to go. Yeah!!!!!


Then it was onto the next customer quilt. And despite the fact that it was a large lap, it was a breeze to quilt. It was perfectly pieced. There was a striped fabric on the back and it was perfectly straight throughout the entire process.

The only problem? It seems that the bobbin loves to run out when I have this much quilt left to stitch. 

Bobbin runs out with this much left!!!

Here's the final quilt. It's now trimmed as well and ready for pick up later today.

Customer quilt - DONE

I'm down to six more customer quilts this year. I know - one more got into the line and I knew that - I was just ignoring it for the moment as I still don't have the actual quilt in my hands. I'm going to beg off doing one until the next year as I want to do something different on the quilt. But I have to ask the owner first. I don't see a problem - that one has only been sitting in the pile for a couple of weeks. One extra week or two won't make too big of a difference.

The big question will be - can I fit two more quilts in before Monday? The next one (which again is HUGE) is already loaded on the machine and I'll be working on that one today. I'm going to drive my Sit n Sew group crazy while I quilt the other one tomorrow. It's a wee bit noisy and normally I wouldn't do it, but I really want to get that one done as well. I'm on a schedule.

Did I mention how much I love my Quilt Path (the computer on the long arm)? It's my new best friend, to say the least. I have BIG plans on clearing up a bunch of stuff in the studio. BIG plans. Customer quilts are under control and since there's not a lot in the funnel for next year (but there could be if you call me!), then I'll be working on clearing up the community projects quilts that are sitting here waiting to be done.

That's exciting and each day I wake up ready to go. That truly is a great thing. I can't imagine getting up and dreading getting out of bed each day! And thankfully I'm one of those people that get out of bed and within minutes can be working. I don't need coffee, I don't need time - I get at it!!! That's all good because this "hobby" of mine has turned into more than a full-time job.

I have a story to share with you about a new quilt store in my town. Technically, it's not new, but a lot of people don't know about it yet. Michelle works out of her house and has a long arm business (but don't go to her for quilting your quilts - come to me instead!!!!)  OK - it's a free country - you can go to whomever you want and I know that I've been super slow in the past and I hope to change that this coming year. The turnaround has to be faster and will be faster, now that I have a plan.

Anyway, back to Michelle. I knew that she had fabric and I knew that she stocked a lot of Northcott. Would she happen to have some of the fabric that I needed for my quilt??  I had already tried another store a couple of days ago and they were out. I sent her an e-mail late the other night and I got an early morning phone call - she has the fabric. She's about a 15-minute drive away and I got half a meter. Thanks, Michelle.  The shop is called Quilted Memories. She operates out of her house. She's got a decent amount of fabrics - lots of blenders, wide backs. She also has a LOT of kits. Things like Riley Blake (Lori Holt) baking sew along, the Halloween quilt by McKenna Ryan, and the Elizabeth Hartman - the North Stars.  OH - I wanted to buy a kit, but then my right brain said to the left brain - "Are you CRAZY????   Don't even think about it!"  Check out her website for the fabric/patterns only - remember!!!!

Oh - I should mention how I knew that Michelle had purchased that missing fabric. If you go to the Northcott website and select the fabric collection that you're looking for. Under the Product Finder title in the top right-hand corner, use the drop-down menu to choose your province/state. A list of the SKUs (fabric numbers and a picture) will appear along the top - you may have to scroll left and right. and a list of shops that purchased the fabric. Now keep in mind - PURCHASED is NOT the same as still having it in stock, but it's an amazing starting point. Be sure to keep that in mind if you're looking for something. A GREAT tool - thank you Northcott for that.

Thanks to Michelle, I was able to finish cutting out the magazine quilt and it's ready to sew together today. 

Then I was off to teach a class last night at Oh Look Fabric. It was the last class of the year at that store, but we've got a HUGE line up of classes for the coming year. There's a partial list already on the website under Workshops. More will be added. While some of the classes are for beginners as the shop gets a lot of newbies (which we LOVE),  we have some amazing design classes and other fun stuff planned. I'll be posting ALL of my classes next week so you can pick and choose what you'd like to do. FUN FUN FUN!!!!!

I had two ladies in the pillowcase class who had attaempted to sew before, but with very unsatisfactory results. Both of them went home with a COMPLETED pillowcase. What's the best part? They were excited like crazy and so happy to have made something themselves. That's what teaching is all about and hopefully, we'll see them back for another class.

Two amazing pillowcases - DONE

While I was at Oh Look Fabric, I found this wild panel by Guicy Guice (Andover Fabrics). It's pretty cool. What to do with it? Well - I thought I could quilt it up and make a cushion cover or a wall hanging with it. Or it could become a block in a quilt. Not sure yet.

Wild panel

 And here's one of the corrdinates.

The panel and a coordinate

I'm not sure why designers are making these kinds of panels rather than letting the quilter do the work, but the pieces are so small, that you wouldn't want to piece it. Anyway - it's interesting and could become a great challenge. Oh yes - I can think of a few things to make with it. Now to find the time!!!

And look at my cute new pouch. I love it - nice and bright!  I love that it has a side pocket! Thanks Andi!!

Nice new pouch

I see that the Pantone color of the year has been announched.  Oh my - It's called Living Coral - let's face it - coral is in the orange family. I love it!!!

On that note, I'm out of here. Got some paperwork to do before I hit the long arm.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!