A good news day!

I'm so excited, I'm practically exploding this morning. It's a super good news day!

I started reading "The Home for Unwanted Girls" and didn't give myself enough time before the audiobook expired. It was returned (yanked from my phone is more like it - OK - so that's being dramatic!) last night and I had only read about 28%. There were holds or so I thought as Libby wouldn't let me renew. This morning, I got a notification that the book downloaded!!!  Yeah - I can keep reading. The wonders of technology. And the best part? That audiobook remembers where I was when I left off even if the book was returned! How smart is that!!!!!

Why do I love audiobooks so much? You can do a few things while listening to the audiobook so it's a bit like doing two things at once, but to really enjoy the book, I always do non-thinking things - like loading quilts on the long arm. I never listen when I'm out walking as that is walking time and I love to listen to the neighborhood. I also love hearing the music (rare) but the narrator's voices add so much to the story. In the case of this book, the narrator reads the dialogue with a french accent if the person speaks in French!

I lived in Montreal (the setting for part of the book) and it's fun to get back into that environment. I LOVE Montreal! Wish I could go back someday to live!

A number of you contacted me yesterday about this book (rave reviews all around) and one person worked with the author's father for 20 years!!!!! She briefly met the mother and the author when she was little. Isn't that crazy!

So that was good news number one for the day.

The second bit of good news is this.

Tonga Rhapsody

This is the quilt top for Tonga Rhapsody. The top is DONE!!!!!  I'm so excited about this. This is one of my UFOs for 2018. There will still be 6 on the list when this one comes off later today. But I'm working on three of those 6. It could be a banner year for me!!!

Here's a close up of the four borders that seemed to take forever. When I went to put the last border on, I realized that the pieces had been cut in long lengths so no need to join the strips. More good news!!!!

A corner of Tonga Rhapsody

The binding is made and I picked out a backing. Yep - that backing is way too bright for the quilt top. Doesn't matter. I have loads of it. I don't have any large pieces of batik and I'm not about to start piddling with small pieces to make that huge backing. This is going to have to do.

The backing is chosen

The binding is also made so during Sit n Sew today, I hope to get that backing made.

Only one small piece of bad news or more like a wee accident. This happened this morning. Ouch!!!!

Ouch

When I was pressing that binding, the darn iron jumped and smacked into my arm. It's an angry red and my arm hurts. Oh suck it up and let's move on!!!!

I also got a customer quilt quilted yesterday. Shoot - I should have taken a picture of the back of the quilt. I'll do that later. This person is an excellent piecer The back is crazy pieced, but it loaded like a charm! Thanks for that!!!!

Customer quilt - DONE

I teach a lot of PRIVATE classes at Oh Look Fabric. It could be that the timing of a class doesn't work for the student or it's on a topic that only they are interested in. It works for me. Yesterday was interesting. We had a lady who had purchased a small embroidery machine (not my brand) and was looking for someone to help her. Sure - I'm up for that. She bought it online and the first thing she said to me was, "I know I shouldn't have done that!" However after hearing some stories about "free classes" from sewing machine dealers - I'm not sure it makes any difference.

She has sewn before so it wasn't like I was teaching her how to sew. That helped a whole lot. She hadn't even turned the machine on - it was fresh out of the box. So we went through all the controls and buttons. Then we went through all the accessories and she sewed with them all and we made them ALL work. She had a list of questions on how to do certain things. She was a very happy camper. We're going to meet again and focus on the embroidery part of her machine.

So - if there's something that you want to learn - I'm up for a private class. I'll teach anything including helping you understand your sewing machine and all it can do. It'll cost you - I don't do it for free, but we can talk!

I also got a notification that a package I've been waiting for has arrived at the post office. I didn't have a chance to pick it up yesterday, but I hope to get there today.

Let's see - I had lost two books from the library. I managed to find one of them and it was returned yesterday. One more to go and I know it's in this office - just haven't dug deep enough yet!

BUT - here's the really, really good news from yesterday. I was walking back from the library when my phone rang. It was a 1-877 number which I normally don't answer. But what the heck - I'll answer it. It was Bell Mobility - that's my cell phone carrier. They were calling to see how happy I am with the service and my plan. Yep - no problems. Well, they wanted to offer me a special. OK - what kind of special??  I now get UNLIMITED data and pay the same price that I was paying before (had 3 GB). PLUS I get to upgrade my phone for a wee price (buying out the remainder of my contract). Do I want to do that??? YES YES and YES.

Seriously????  I've always had to call them and wheedle a new deal from them. So this was quite exciting that they called me. I guess I should download some of my photos before I switch phones (Galaxy s10 - here I come!!!!). I remember the last time that it took forever to switch the phone because of all the photos. Although I know the photos get saved on Google drive. I'm not 100% sure of all the details. Just easier to download the pictures and then it'll take no time to make the switch.

Remember when it used to be a nightmare to switch phones????  No more!!!!! And technically, there's nothing wrong with my Galaxy s8. Anyone want to buy a phone??? DH is ticked that his provider has offered him anything exciting. Ooops - sorry!

Now I can use my phone as a Hot spot for demos with the sewing machines and not worry that I'm going to exceed my data limit. I don't go crazy with data, but not having to worry about it going to be awesome!!!!

In case you didn't know, this Saturday is National Jelly Roll Day. That means you should be digging out a jelly roll (you can't save them forever!!!) and do something with it.  I pulled two small jelly rolls. They each have twenty strips. I'm going to make a quilt. However, I can't share the quilt with you until late next week because I did the same quilt on QUILTsocial and the post isn't going live until late next week.

Jelly roll ready for National Jelly Roll Day

So you have ONE day - well two days - today and tomorrow to pick out a jelly roll and a pattern. If you make a jelly roll quilt that day, send me a picture. Even if you get it done next week, send me a picture and we can post them all together.

On that note - it's Sit n Sew today!!!  Oh, happy day!! I've got a quilt to load on the long arm, two quilts to trim and a backing to make. That might take all day! And then it's the used book sale at Sheridan Mall for the Mississauga Symphony.  I have loads of work to do, but I'm taking a few minutes to zip down there.

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!