Sit n Sew day!!!

What a crazy day! We had a Sit n Sew day scheduled, but was the weather going to cooperate? Well, it did and it didn't. We didn't get nearly the amount of snow that was forecast but it was cold. I left it up to the ladies to decide. Three die-hards showed up! Lynn, Linda, and Ronda and we had a blast. We almost (but didn't) say that we should have small groups for future sit n sew days!  NO - that's not going to happen, but it was a calm day, to say the least.

Took me about one hour to shovel the driveway clear of snow. It really wasn't that bad despite the fact that we have a wide driveway. It was great to get out and get some exercise and it wasn't as cold as they say on the radio. Mind you there wasn't any wind. Don't you love the doom and gloom the weather station is always talking about? OK - today it's cold. It's minus 20 with no wind chill.

We were chatting about the snow plows. I knew from past experiences, that our street wouldn't get plowed until late or the next day. Well, I know that at 11:06 PM when I was sound asleep that Murphy and Lexi were greeting the tractor that cleans our cul-de-sac. They were barking their heads off. But the tractor is noisy and bright so I can see why they were freaking out.  He did a great job with the windrow at the end of the drive. It's pretty small. I can drive over it this morning to get to sewing.

I didn't have time yesterday to walk the girls and I think it's a tad too cold this morning. Not for them - oh no. But for me! Up to minus 10, no problem. Minus 10 - 19 - double layers of clothes. Minus 20 and below - let's stay in the house! They are NOT happy. However, when your Husky is standing at the door with paws lifted, you know it's cold!

So what happened yesterday at Sit n Sew? We did some crazy stuff - as usual.

Ronda and I are taking a class on Friday - quilting with your walking foot. Hey - it's a good idea to take classes even if you already know how to do something. I want to learn more and I don't have the time to do it on my own. This is the fast way to gain some knowledge.

We need quilt sandwiches so we have something to practice on. Yep - I had forgotten. But Ronda reminded me and I got out scraps of batting from the batting closet and made the batting pieces that we need for the class. Five 20" squares for her and five for me.

Batting squares for our upcoming class on walking foot quilting

I always forget, but Ronda's Mom has a birthday today and so does mine. Happy Birthday to Mom and to Ronda's Mom. Gosh - I don't know her name! Oh - it's Karen. Happy Birthday Karen!!!!  Karen wanted a rope bowl in PINK so Ronda made this for her yesterday. I think Ronda has the rope bowl technique down pat. I love the shape of the bowl!

A PINK rope bowl

Linda was working on some zippered pouches. She managed to get THREE of them done yesterday. I love these pouches or bags. They're so cute. Great job Linda!!!

Linda's zippered pouches

Lynn was working on adding sashing to some blocks. I didn't get a picture of that.

I flitted around the room trying to focus although I did get a lot done. I started off by finishing a pet mat. I had a bag of scraps that needed to be dealt with. I added that pet mat to the one that I had rescued from my car and now I've got two to deliver this morning. I started the third one and there's still two bags of scraps in the laundry basket. That'll have to wait as I have a totally crazy week this week.

Two pet mats ready for delivery

So we chat about decluttering from time to time. Here's something BAD about decluttering. If you do manage to get everything tidied up, then you freak out when the slightest thing is out of place. Case in point - my kitchen. It wasn't really in bad shape yesterday morning when I got up, but there was stuff around so I put all the stuff away.

When I came up at one point during the day, I saw this "mess". Can you spot it???

The "messy" kitchen

I'm laughing - it was a plastic bag on the island next to that white bowl!!  Someone left it on the counter and threw the feng shui out of whack! No need to worry - I dispensed of the bag and soon we had our tidy kitchen back again.

And now everything is neat

I have to laugh when I look at the kitchen. Do you notice that "bouquet of flowers - right beside the red/white canisters to the left of the microwave??? M made those flowers in kindergarten or something like that. They are full of grease and dirt and grime. But I can't bear to throw the darn thing out! Oh well - it's just one thing and we can live with that! I remember trying to throw it out once but she was here and she begged me not to! How can you argue with that?

And then you go downstairs and see this and you wouldn't know that the two rooms belong in the same house! I'm OK with that!!!

And then there's the studio

But back to the sewing stuff. I decided I was going to put bindings on yesterday. No need to accumulate a pile like I did last year and besides, the two quilts that needed binding have deadlines.

I started with the local guild charity quilt. The guild had given me strips to make the binding so I made the binding and started to sew it on. Oh boy - I'm short - TWO INCHES.

Short of binding by two inches

No worries. I got out my tin of leftover binding and pretty much right at the top, I found some solid black that was very much the same black as the binding I was working on.

My tin of scrappy binding

It's hard to see in the picture, but the blacks match which is a miracle.

A scrap of black binding matches

And now that quilt is DONE and it's ready to be delivered at the next guild meeting. Oh, shoot - I forgot to write that in my book. That is finish Number Two for the year.

Charity quilt - DONE

In case you don't remember or never saw that millennium fabric, here's a closeup. It's the black fabric. There were several prints. I still have all of mine - totally untouched - 19 years later!!!  That quilt has been hanging around my house for a couple of years - not that I didn't have time - it was never a priority. This year, my goal is to get all quilts that do not belong to me out of my house.

Millennium fabrics used in the quilt

After the ladies left, I headed to the long arm. I don't really have time to quilt this week, but there are a couple that I really want to get done so I can deliver them when I go out.

I got this one quilted. This project was dropped off at a local quilt shop as the owner no longer wanted it or the family didn't know what to do with it. I pieced it a couple of Sit n Sews ago. And now it's quilted. It's only been hanging around my house for a couple of months, but the fabric is OLD. I think I saw on the pattern that it was from the early 2000s. I'm donating it to my local guild's community projects.

Community projects quilt - DONE

I couldn't make the binding until the quilt was quilted as I had to use the leftovers from the backing to make the binding. I cut the strips last night and they are ready to sew together. The quilt is trimmed. I'm not sure I'll get time to finish it this week.

As I get to the end of quilting one quilt, I think about what's on the list for the next quilts to be quilted and I choose one. So while the green quilt was being quilted, I got the next one ready to load. And now it's loaded and ready for me to quilt later today - I hope.

Next quilt - ready to be quilted

But wait - there's more! I was on a roll yesterday. I still had one more quilt that needed the binding put on.  I was merrily working on the front of the binding when I felt a tug on the thread. I looked up - oh shoot - I'm playing thread chicken yet again! See where the arrow is pointing? Yep - I was running low. I love using the PFAFF Creative Icon for sewing binding on - that IDT system is awesome.

Sewing the binding on

Phew - I had this much left once the binding was on.

Leftover thread after sewing the binding on

I used the same color to make the sleeve and once the sleeve was sewn, the spool was EMPTY. That was perfect!

Another empty spool

The sleeve is made and pinned on the quilt. It needs some hand stitching. Hopefully, I'll get that done this week. If not, early next week.

Sleeve pinned on and ready for hand stitching

Oh my - I'm having fun with my Vitamix. I see there's a function for making smoothies. I tried it this morning. It sets the timer to 45 seconds. Starts off slow and then kicks into high gear which is very NOISY. Oops - to those trying to sleep at 6 AM.

Still way below my calorie intake for the day. I need to have a second protein shake each day just to make up the calories. With all the exercise of shoveling the driveway, I had an extra almost 500 calories added to my intake. I think I missed almost 700 calories in the day which is NOT a good thing.

On that note, I'm out of here.

Have a great day and stay warm.

Ciao!!!