One thing leads to another.............

Let's all pray real hard that those PODs are WATERPROOF. It's just a roll-up door on the back. I didn't check the contents yet, but I might go out later today to make sure everything is OK.

I'm feeling better today. The last couple of days, it's been a slog to just stay upright! OK - so I'm exaggerating a wee bit, but I got this stupid sinus thing and it just sapped the energy out of me. I woke up feeling a whole lot better even though my sinus is still having fun with me. But onwards and upwards - the worst of that mess is over. We've got work to get done.

I did get a fair amount of sewing done yesterday - mostly for the classes on the weekend, so you can't see. However, I'm really ticked at myself. I made part of the homework before I left. I was putting it in a tote bag that I use for classes or packing or whatever. I decided that I should move that block so I wouldn't lose it and might not think to look in the tote bag. I since used the tote bags when I went to Ottawa.

You guessed it - I CANNOT remember where I moved the stupid block to. I know!!!!  It's driving me mad! That's why when you put something in a place, you need to keep it there. We seem to remember the first place we put something but never the second or third. I remember when I moved it that I said to myself, this is a logical place for the classwork. But where the heck is that logical place? I'll find it after the class I'm sure.

Grrr!!!! 

Yesterday the painters were in. There were some walls that had to be repaired when the bottom of the drywall was removed because it was wet. The painter asked me for the color of paint that is in Studio B. Oh boy - let me check. I went to the cold storage room to try and find the can of paint. Nope - didn't find that can so he matched it from a chip. But look what I found. And NO - it wasn't my block.

I think this is every can of paint that we have ever used in our house. For some reason, when I took pictures with my phone yesterday, I was in a real hurry. The pictures are blurry. Well, nothing like the present to get rid of this paint.

Cans of paint

Some of the cans were pretty full. Didn't matter - it had been sitting there for a long time, so I winged everything into the car. I added some small dead appliances from the garage and some cable/electrical stuff that I've been accumulating. I drove it all to the drop off center which is just five minutes from the house - well maybe 15. Anyway  - this is all GONE!!!!

Car loaded with stuff for the recycling center

As I was rifling through the stuff in the cold room, (is that a common term? It's the little storage space under the front steps), I came across this quilting frame.

I was thinking about this quilt rack while in Ottawa. I bought the frame years ago because I thought it was neat. There are four posts. and there are rails but those are in the garage.

Posts for hand quilting frame

 There's a date stamped on the bottom of one of the posts. January 9, 1942. Anyone know of someone who wants this - FOR FREE????  It seems a shame to let it languish in that storage room. If there are no takers for it, I do have an idea of where I can put it, but I'm not going to share that with you just yet. Anyway - if you want it and can pick it up - it's yours.

January 9, 1942, stamped on the bottom of one of the stands

I also have another quilt rack for FREE. This one is for displaying quilts. It needs to be assembled. The screws seem to be missing from the rack, but easy enough to get 8 screws to assemble it. The holes are already predrilled. It's never been assembled.

Unassembled quilt rack

Here you can see there are two sides to the rack and four supports to hold it together. If there are no takers, this one is going to the donation pile.

Two side units and four connectors

If you're near to me and you want either of these items, e-mail me.

I do trunk shows - not many as I don't really advertise, it's all about word of mouth. In all the years that I've done trunk shows, I've never had an issue with a quilt getting damaged. Mostly the quilts are held up at the front of the room and then placed on tables where people can come and look at them. Periodically, I pass pieces around the room if they are small.

This little piece got passed around the room and I was standing at the table of quilts after the presentation when this got put back on the table. What the F@@@@???   That looks like BLOOD on the quilt. Seriously???? 

The quilt has sat for a while as I needed to wrap my head around fixing it.

Someone's BLOOD on my quilt

I got out the DAWN dishwashing liquid yesterday as I had this quilt and three more pieces of fabric from the water leak that needed to be soaked. So my quilt is now half soaking wet, but the stain is mostly gone. If you look really, really close, you can see a faint outline of the stain. Since the quilt is half wet, I now have to wash the thing and then if I can see see the faint outline, I might try to bleach it out. Thank goodness, the fabric is plain white.

The blood stain is mostly gone

Here's some advice for quilters when you are looking at ANYONE's quilts. Whether you're at a guild meeting, a quilt show, a quilt store, a friend's house or even your own quilts. DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT have liquids near you. I've seen many people at guilds leaning over the quilts to get a better look and completely forgetting that they have a cup of OPEN coffee or tea or juice in their hands. YIKES!!!   THINK people!!!!! 

Anyway - nothing was done that couldn't be undone - but please be careful!!!  That was a BIG blood spot or maybe it was juice???? Or WINE??? at a guild meeting? Why not??

This is what I was serging the other morning. After a trade show, we always have quilted sandwiches from demoing and while most companies toss their samples in the garbage, I like to save them. I cut them into smaller pieces, serge the edges to make pet mats which get donated to the animal shelter. I think there are 7 pet mats. They are serged, the threads are tucked in and ready to go out the door. Paul did get all the quilt sandwiches from the long arm companies at Quilt Canada and was going to do something with them.

Little pet mats to be donated

Since I was a busy bee yesterday at the sewing machine, I needed lots of enders and leaders. There were enough quarter blocks in that plastic bag to make SEVEN additional red/white blocks. I got them all sewn together. Now there are 21 blocks in total. What can one do with 21 blocks???

Seven more blocks from the enders and leaders

I have a great idea but I'm going to need ONE more block. AHA - it so happens that there are almost enough red triangles in another plastic bag. I just need to get some white and find two more red triangles. Thank goodness that I still have access to the stash room. I'd be sunk or I would have planned better.

Red triangles to make ONE more block

I also managed to get the May block for the mini Block of the Month DONE!!!  I couldn't move ahead with the next block as I needed to soak the white fabric for this project. That had some blue stains on it that I had initially washed, but the blue didn't completely come out. Now the white pieces are all sparkly white after a bath in Dawn. I don't know what's in Dawn dishwashing liquid, but holy - it works like a charm for stain removal. HEY - a bottle of that should reside in the laundry room. But stains need to be soaked in HOT water.

One more mini block completed

I just needed to get out of the house yesterday so I went for a walk and despite giving the girls a very short walk (the painter arrived early), I did over 15,000 steps. Went to the bank, the grocery store, Chapter's and then back home. I really, really love our neighborhood. Almost everything that I need is within walking distant - the dentist, the doctor, the eye doctor, the mall, the library, the bank, the post office, grocery stores. It's crazy!!!  Why don't we get our butts OUT of our cars and do our errands on foot?? Now I wouldn't do a full grocery on foot, but small things? Why not???  It's great and even though it threatened to rain, what's the worse that can happen if it does rain? You get wet! Big deal. Move on! I LOVE my daily walk and miss it if I can't get out.

I also learned something. You CANNOT just transfer DVD files to a computer. I should have known, but I didn't think it through. So I asked Ronda if she had a portable DVD player that I could borrow. AH - she knows me too well. She asked me, "How many DVDs did I have to watch?" Well - a few. She immediately called me to qualify what a "few" meant. OH - too many to watch in one weekend. Well yes! So we worked out a deal. I don't want to buy a DVD player because once I watch these DVDs - that's it. Oh - I guess I could watch them on our TV. We do have a DVD player there, but I don't want to watch in front of the TV. Boring!

Here's a question for you because I'm seeing more and more of this kind of thing. Are you familiar with MJ Kinman? Check out her blog and check out some of her patterns especially the one at the link. Paper pieced blocks that look like gemstones. I've been tempted to buy one or two but didn't.

So then we have this. This is a fabric collection that was designed by MJ Kinman. There's a panel that you can buy with the gemstones already made. I'm on the fence with this. YES - if you want to make a very quick quilt, but what's the fun if most of the work is already done??? And you only get one colorway. I'm not sure if I like this idea of taking a quilt or quilt block and putting it on fabric. Thoughts????

I think it's going to be quiet in the house today. I see on the schedule that it's a repair day, but not sure who or what other repairs need to be made. The floor is coming on Monday which is good as hopefully the concrete will be dry by then. It's still damp looking this morning. The painter might be coming back for a second coat? I see the paint and rollers still in the basement.

On that note, I'm out of here.

I have a class tonight, three classes tomorrow and my UFO club on Sunday. I'm madly scrambling with what energy I have to get ready for everything. Now if I could ONLY find that missing block, I'd be super happy! Don't worry - I'm managing a nap in the gazebo every day to regain my strength!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!