I'm drowning

Well, I'm mostly drowning in ideas and inspiration. Isn't that awful? Actually, it's not, but there's so much to do and so little time!!!

I would like to share a proud moment with everyone this morning. The winners of QuiltCon 2020 were announced last night. And Peter Byrne (a member of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild) won for Best Machine Quilting Frameless (meaning on a domestic sewing machine). I don't have a picture of the quilt. BUT then he also won BEST OF SHOW. That's so amazing. I'm so happy for him. He's a wonderful and humble person and so deserving of the win. I don't have pictures - he won with TWO different quilts, but I'm sure they'll be posted later today. The one picture I saw of him after his wins - he's beaming from ear to ear as he should be!!! Congratulations Peter!!!!

I was at the dressmaking class last night and got my dart, pleats, and tucks samples back. All done extremely well and well pressed according to the instructor and the marks attached. No time for photos yet.

I managed to get my zipper samples done yesterday and handed them in. They are NOT perfect but if they were made using matching thread, I'd be OK with them. I'm still working on the invisible zipper sample but that didn't need to be handed in. I need to get started on my skirt. It's due in a month! Last night, we made a gathered waistband sample and a sample of the vent for the back of the skirt. I needed to do some hand stitching on the vent, so I'll hand them all in next week.

I was searching for a Dream Big panel. Preferably one of the bright bold ones. I've managed to buy one from a person online - I believe it's one of the teal ones. But then as I was waiting for some responses from the group, I thought I should check my stash. Oh yep - I already have one!!  But that's OK - because I technically wanted two of them. They are both different colors and both are fairly bright.

Dream Big panel

I've got big plans for this panel and now I need to get my act together.

I thought I would share this fidget quilt with you. I was meeting up with someone the other day and they brought one in to show me. This one is more geared to a man. It has all kinds of fidgety things on it. A small tie and under the tie are buttons. A tassel, velcro, buttons, keys, buckles, and all kinds of other things. They are used for patients with dementia and autism. Apparently, they love the tactile feel of all the different kinds of fabric and the doodads on it.  Hey - I could use one of these sometimes. Actually, I think people should have a small one attached to the steering wheel of their cars!!! It's supposed to be very calming.

A fidget quilt

Wouldn't that be great for smokers or stress eaters? OK -- Now I want to make one for ME. I have a TON of those tactile gizmos in the studio! I'm going to collect a few and some of the more tactile fabrics and donate it to Ann so she can make more What a great idea! And who knows - we might just be using one of those at some point in our life.

I've also had two private classes for sewing machines in the last couple of days. Both customers went home happy and that's all that's important. One of the sewing machines was a challenge to thread. It was a Janome and you had to TUG HARD to get the threads to sit in the tension disks. We did get it working, but it took a few minutes.

I think I've pretty much seen most of the issues that can arise from threading issues so if you need assistancer, I can probably help you.

In between all that, I have managed to get two small customer quilts done.

Customer quilt - DONE

Customer quilt - DONE

Both are small, but it still takes time to load, choose the thread, etc. One is trimmed and the other will be trimmed later today. Ready for delivery next week after I make some labels for the quilts. Oh yes - I run a full-service place - I put on bindings, make labels  - whatever the customer doesn't want to do!

I had asked you what UFOs you're working on and this is what I got from Mary.

I pulled out "High Strung" from the HHQG anniversary workshop with Jeanne and Shelley. I had all of the applique ready to be stuck on and machine-stitched and all the green fabrics ready to be cut and put it in a box and there it sat. Yesterday I stuck the applique pieces down and cut the green fabric into 5.5-inch squares. Do you remember what year the workshop was? The instruction sheet says Tuesday, October 16 but no year.

Mary's quilt

Notice that she asked for the year? Well, I'm never going to remember something like that, but I went to my blog and typed in Jeanne in that big white bar at the top and guess what? A blog post dated October 18, 2012, popped up. There you go Mary - 2012. It's time to get that quilt done!!!!

Elle and Torry are also working on UFOs. Elle is struggling with one that she has partially cut out. Sometimes, finding a new home for the UFO is a good way of dealing with it. Our tastes change, our skillset changes and well - if she finds a good home for it - I think she should give it away!!!  Torry is recovering from surgery at the moment so she's building a plan to get a quilt completed. Torry - I think you should be writing that plan down - not just in your head!!!

So as you are cleaning and sorting and decluttering, here's one other thing to keep in mind. I haven't done this. I have intentions of doing this, but it hasn't happened yet. There are so many days when I wish I could just get rid of stuff so I wouldn't have so much to deal with. But the fun stuff takes precedence. And work is fun so that's double incentive to do the fun stuff.

But have a read through this article. Start making a box - whether that be for your kids or your significant other or whoever remains behind. This is a GOOD IDEA. I also think we should start labeling our stuff  - like photo albums. "When I'm gone, this photo album goes in the trash. Don't even bother to look at it", especially if it's photos of vacations or whatever. Although that isn't so much a big deal with the thousands of digital photos we all have. Just hit DELETE and they're gone.

I have plans on what I want to do with my photos and other small mementos, but my kid reads my blog and I'm not ready to share it yet. Have a happy day M!!! Love you!!! It's almost her birthday!

On that note, it's Sit n Sew today and I'll be sewing on some homework - no fun stuff today! Well, any day sewing with friends is a fun day regardless of what you sew.

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!