There is no such thing as a coincidence

We had a great sit n sew yesterday. I'm going to get to that in a minute.

Two things happened yesterday that are NOT coincidences. First, I went to the Brampton Quilters' Guild meeting last night. Something I haven't done in a long time. It was great to see so many familiar faces. The speakers were the Downsizing Divas - a franchise that offers help to those who need to be downsized, specifically seniors. One of the guild members had the Downsizing Divas come into her sewing space and they helped her get organized. I left the meeting charged up and wanting to get more organized than I currently am. The second thing that happened after I got home.  I got an e-mail with funeral arrangements for a quilter that used to be in our Monday sewing group. She was 75. I know that her house is filled to the rafters with fabric, UFOs, and supplies. And now her two children are saddled with that problem.

Hmm - I see an opportunity here. The opportunity is that we ALL need more inspiration and motivation to get ourselves cleaned up - well our sewing spaces cleaned up. Not only did I learn things from the Downsizing Divas, but I learned things from the audience. I don't have time to share that this morning, so I'll have to let it simmer on the back burner in my brain. Let's just say that we're going to see a LOT more organizing on this blog. Organizing in the quilt world that is. But it can be applied to any part of our house.

On that note - we could squeeze one or two more into the UFO class on Sunday afternoon. Our stashes (disguised as hoarding) need to be addressed. Perhaps we'll be chatting about more than UFOs in that class.

OK - so what happened yesterday??  LOTS.

I see that Liz felt my kitchen looked a tad too empty. Look at the beautiful tulips that she brought me. Thanks, Liz - they do perk up the place. I'm not good with that kind of thing. Heck - I can barely get grocery shopping in, let alone any extra stuff. Yes - I know they sell flowers at the grocery store!

Tulips to dress up the kitchen

We had a show and tell to start the day. Pauline was working on this quilt top at the last sit n sew and the top is now finished. She had three coordinating fabrics and we came up with this design to showcase them. The fabrics are very hard to photograph, but the top is done!

 Pauline's bee themed quilt top

Liz also brought a show and tell. She was working on this quilt top at the last Sit n Sew. It's also finished. What a clever way to disguise those rectangular panels in the center of those blocks. You wouldn't know. All it needs is some quilting and its ready for next Christmas. 

Liz's Christmas quilt top

Pauline brought another show and tell which is a neat idea. It's a kitchen scarf. I could use this. I could use something. Oh, shoot - I have aprons - I must remember to wear them. I cook so infrequently. But this is a neat idea made with a tea towel that's cut in half. 

Kitchen scarf

By the end of the day, Tish had this for her show and tell. Some parts of it were together when she started - I didn't see how much. Doesn't matter - the quilt top is DONE. This one is for her. I love how the pinks fade out near the top. 

Tish's show and tell

Pauline worked on this table runner and it's now together and ready for quilting. Reminds me of Hudson's Bay colors!

Pauline's table runner

Linda was hard at work and got two small quilt tops finished. This one is an alphabet panel. I think this is the 15th quilt she's made with this panel. She must have bought an entire bolt of the panel. It's an awesome panel. Of course, you can't find it anywhere as it's been around for a while. Panels make great and quick gifts.

Linda's quilt top number one

 And this is the second one that she finished yesterday. Very simple, but those elephants are super cute!!!

Linda's second quilt top for the day

 Then she started to work on the Bonnie Hunter ender/leader project for the year. Lots of scrappy blocks. It's going to be awesome!

Scrappy blocks for ender/leader project

Pat was continuing to work on her 150 Canadian Women. I have to say that she's made great progress since last month. She's now in the dreaded '60s and '70s which have loads of little bits! I'm very impressed at the progress she's made and before we know it, she'll be sewing those blocks together!

One of the blocks that Pat sewed

Claudette was creating her "rope" so she can make a jelly roll rug. I didn't take a picture of it - she made a lot yesterday, but still has a long ways to go!

Diane was busy making half square triangles. Just the sewing part - then she gets the fun of trimming!!

And how's this set up for traveling with your supplies?? Liz used a cooler from Longo's that has a lid. She strapped her quilt table to the top. I love it!! We are so darn creative!

Cooler box as a sewing box

What did I get done? I had to make the binding for this quilt and put it on - both sides. It's done and delivered last night. That's finish number three for the year.  Yeah!! Not quite where I would like to be as we near the end of January, but I've got a couple more quilts that are close. I hope to make it ten by the end of the month? I doubt that will happen.

Finish number three for the year - the binding on the charity quilt

One more spool of thread bites the dust. I can't believe how quickly I seem to be going through my thread. However, there's still quite a supply. It's not like I'm going to run out anytime soon.

One more empty spool of thread

I made another binding and that got sewn to the back of the other charity quilt I was working on. I'll finish it off this coming week. The sleeve got handstitched to that other charity quilt for Quiltcon. Hmm - lots of charity stuff going on. Doesn't matter - they need to be finished.

 I'm taking a class today. I know - bad timing because I still have a lot of prep work for the weekend classes. I don't feel too panicked about the prep work. I've got the plans in my head. It'll all work out. Technically, I don't get paid for all the hours spent prepping for classes. But what I have learned in prepping? That's totally priceless and I've learned so much because of teaching.

Anyway, we have to take some quilt sandwiches with us. I was digging through my solids and came across some pieces of black. When I worked at Northcott, one of the things I did was to make samples of various solid blacks from Northcott and other brands. It was a "touch test" to compare the various weights and color of solid black. Thanks to Shirley as this was her idea. It's a great way to compare the quality of fabrics and quite shocking as well.

I no longer need the samples so the squares were in my stash of solids. That's why the B is in the corner. It was the identifier of what fabric was what. I must find the key so I can tell you which fabric is which. I know this is NOT a Northcott solid.

I used BLACK strips of fusible interfacing to join the batting strips as that was all that was in my supply cupboard at the time. Do you see what I see???   YES - you can see that black strip showing right through this fabric. This is one of the POPULAR solid fabrics currently on the market. Can you believe we pay good money for that garbage????

Black fusing shows through the fabric

Look at this next sample. It's a SOLID black and it's got substantial threads to block out the black fusing. 

More tightly woven black fabric

I don't want to bad mouth the wrong company so I'll try to find that key so I can share. But here's something we can all do. It's time to STOP buying those inferior quality fabrics. Can you imagine using that on your quilt? The problem is that manufacturers are trying to cut costs so they are slowly reducing the width of fabric - it's no longer 44-45". It's more like 41-42" (no kidding - measure the next fabric you buy). And the thread count is getting less and less. I'm not sure where we are at the moment, but it would be fun to do some thread counting. Hmm - something to do on an empty afternoon.

So we need to STOP buying garbage and START complaining to the companies. And we need to start being public about it (in a polite way). They will continue to produce garbage if we continue to buy it. NO ONE should be complaining if they don't take action!!!!

On that note, I'm out of here. I still have work to do before my ride arrives at 8 AM.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!