Slow and steady

With the crappy weather we had yesterday, it was a perfect day to sew. And indeed, I sewed and quilted the entire day and I was happy as a clam. I'm going to have to name those sewing machines one day so I have "company" in the studio. Otherwise, I have the radio going in the background and life couldn't get much better.

I'm taking a break from the audiobooks for the moment. I'm finding the listening and working is too much or too - I'm not sure what word to use, but I don't want to have to backtrack because I missed something in the book and I don't want to slow down the sewing because of the book. And I find that standing next to the long arm or sitting in front of the embroidery machine - you can't hear a thing without blasting your ears so best to just find peace and happiness within my own head!

In my humble opinion, this is a huge issue today. People can't be content with just their brain to entertain themselves. Why do we need white noise? or background noise? or music? or an audiobook? I have loads of thoughts in my head and I might as well use those thoughts to solve the world's problems. Keep things simple and that includes the stimulus around us. I'm so thankful that I kicked the TV habit years ago.

So yesterday was an incredibly productive day as there was NOTHING to disturb or distract me. Imagine my surprise when at noon, DH came down to announce that he had made omelets for lunch. We never have lunch together even though we both work from home. Thank you, DH!!!!! I almost finished proofing the instructions for my colleague. While I'm proofing them, I'm actually making the item. I don't want to share it since it's not mine to share, but I'm learning so much by proofing these things. I've got a few more to do (not really proofing, but making for our events next year) and those instructions are going to come in over the next couple of weeks. I'm learning tons of things and so it's all good.

BUT I did things that I can share with you. I got this customer quilt DONE. It's custom quilted which I do very rarely for customers. But I got into my happy place and had loads of fun while I did it.

Customer quilt - DONE

Here's a couple of detail pictures of the quilting.

Detail of Santa's quilting

And one more picture.

Detail of the background quilting

So while I was doing that, the embroidery machine was chugging away. I got all NINE pieces of my 3-D gingerbread house finished. Let's just say that I learned a few things during that process as well. Life is a never-ending learning experience. Bring it on! The more mistakes I make, the easier they are to work around them. I don't shy away from mistakes anymore! I relish the mistakes because they make me much smarter than I was!

Pieces for the gingerbread house are stitched out

I don't have time this morning to share the learning experience with that, but I took pictures so I'll share another day. Let's just say that I got lucky - very, very lucky! I can't even call it skill - well, I could, because it did require a bit of brainpower.

I did three loads of laundry yesterday and it wasn't just clothes. Guess what? The ONE HUNDRED kits for the pillowcases are DONE!!!!!   They are bagged and boxed and waiting for tomorrow.

100 pillowcase kits

I had to wash some solids to make up some of the kits. I think I have 15 bands cut for the next sewing day (that's for next year). And I still have a big tub of fabric to cut. There's more coming tomorrow so that'll make a good start on the 100 for the next time. I'm going to try over the holidays to go through some bins and take out stuff that'll work for the pillowcases and start prepping for the next time. This is an EXCELLENT way to get rid of fabric. I'm jumping up and down at how easy this is. And my stash is slowly - VERY SLOWLY being reduced. This is stuff that's been on the shelves for years and I haven't touched it. It's been waiting for this very moment. So if you have child-friendly COTTON prints that you no longer want, e-mail me so we can chat. DO NOT just donate the fabric unless you've read the requirements.

Remember this huge bag of batting and how I said I wanted it taken care of this year.

A big bag of batting bits

Well, guess what - it's done!!! And I didn't have to cut anything. When I was at a local guild meeting the other night, I was asked if I still had bags of batting bits. "Matter of fact I do", I quickly said! She wants the bag - I used to give her my scraps several years ago. Guess what - the bag is now being pony expressed to her. I'm thrilled. I have tons of 2 ½" strips of batting in my other bag that if I wanted to make more rugs - I'm good. I'll also be quilting more quilts and that'll generate more strips. If she wants, I'm going to save her another bag with the larger bits.

OH - yesterday, at the request of a friend, I started to log my food (again) into MyFitnessPal. Not that I need to lose weight - I've maintained my weight for months (but not my body fat content). So yesterday, I was afraid to eat! Well, not exactly - but I CANNOT cheat the app. If I eat something, I have to put it in the app. And I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER go over the number of calories I'm allowed to eat in a day. I have no idea why, but I'm perfectly OK with that. I don't even get a gold star if I stay below the suggested calorie intake for the day. My brain works in mysterious ways! This is the best way (for me) to monitor what I eat. I do love it.

I tell you, it doesn't get much better than this. Even though I'm now off to shovel the driveway which is filled with snow and ice. Oh yippee!!!!  This is winter in Canada. I have to say that it looks absolutely gorgeous outside and I'll try to snap a photo or two.

Have a super day. Stay warm and drive safe wherever you are.

Ciao!!!