A PRODUCTIVE day

I hate when I wake up and realize the answer to a problem, and it's too late to fix it! I was doing machine embroidery last night and couldn't get the third hooping to match up. It was close but not exact, but I went ahead anyway. This morning, I'm pretty sure I know what happened. I do not have any way to verify that, but it irks me that I didn't think of it last night. 

The good news is that if I didn't tell you there was an issue, you'll never know, and I'm leaving it at that! 

I was exhausted last night when I went to bed. Almost 15 KM -- no wonder! Good grief -- I averaged nearly 13.5 KM a day in January! How did that happen? Thanks to Helen Anne for keeping me on track while we were at the retreat. 

However, I got the binding completed for BOHO Heart. 

Cutting the strips for bias binding

And here it is all done and ready to be put on when the quilt is quilted. 

BOHO Heart ready for quilting

Has anyone been to the Vancouver Airport (BC) and thought about how those bathroom tiles would make a good quilt? Thanks to my friend Pauline for the picture. I couldn't find mine, and she happened to be in Vancouver when I needed it! 

The tiles in the Vancouver Airport washroom

Here's my interpretation of the tiles into a quilt. I had to change it up to make it work as a quilt, and YES -- I eliminated the orange. I used the tiles as an INSPIRATION, not to copy it exactly. 

My interpretation of the tiles

Where is the pattern? You'll find it in Issue 61 of A Needle Pulling Thread. The theme of this issue is TILES, and there are some pretty cool tile-inspired projects in there. Go to the website and click on the cover to see some pages of what's inside. 

I managed to get TWO quilts quilted, but since they were small and loaded back to back, it wasn't a huge deal to do both. 

Back-to-back quilts on the long arm

And here they are - so adorable. The maker decided to leave the four sections as smaller baby quilts rather than sew them together to get the large one. I LOVE this quilt and should get my own top together one day. 

Customer quilts - DONE

And then I'm off on an adventure next week, so I've started packing. This is what I got so far. 

Packing for next week

Yep, another sewing adventure. But I have a ton of things to finish this week, so there is no time to slack off! 

I found a new marking tool for machine embroidery. I should wait and save this tip for the club, but I'll share it with you. In our Advent Box from Watergirl Quilt Co., we got this hera marker locally made from wood. I was trying to figure out what to do with it. But then I also HATE marking my fabric with a wash away pen, especially if I need to press during the embroidery stitch-out. So I decided to try the marker. And it WORKED beautifully through all five hoopings. 

Wooden hear marker

I like its shape and feel, and this type of tool (handmade of wood) is becoming a huge deal. Check out this link if you want to buy one. I'm very happy with it and will definitely use it again! 

And here's a sneak peek at what I was embroidering. I'm thrilled with the results. Again -- I shouldn't be spilling the beans before my clubs see it, but I have to share. I created the font to match the pattern. I did some sneaky stuff (can't share yet) in the embroidery software to change the font and then more sneaky stuff to get it stitched out. I haven't had a chance to clean it up yet and press it, but I'm over the moon with my newfound abilities in the embroidery software and machine embroidery, except for that ONE tiny mistake. 

What I was stitching

But you know -- making that mistake (I've only made it once before), but hopefully, it's solidified in my mind what to check should it happen again! And I'll take lots of pictures to share with the clubs. Oh -- it was a happy day when that was finished!!!!

Here's my new phone, all charged up and ready to go. Well, I should put in the date and all that stuff, but it was nice to have a conversation without someone saying they couldn't hear me. No time to deal with technical support yet with the cell phone. I hope this one has a speaker, as it's a pain to try and take notes with one hand!

My new phone

I started my new Virtual Challenge -- the Fellowship of the Rings. I'm doing the long route, so I'll be there for about three months. 

Starting a new challenge

Although the Lord of the Rings series is great, I'm not fond of the hand-drawn map. It's not as exciting as Google Maps, but the medals are supposed to be worth it. I don't really care -- I just walk. 

This drives me nuts. We have garbage furniture -- let's just dump it onto the side of the street. Who cares about the snow. This will be here all winter, and it's an eyesore. 

An eyesore on the side of the road

Oh boy -- my memory could be better with books I've read or not read. I snagged a copy of Atomic Habits yesterday, and to my surprise, when I popped it open in Libby, it said that I'd already read 32% of it. Really? I didn't remember that. I started back at the beginning. 

One doesn't need to read both habit books, as I find this one duplicates much of what was in The Power of Habit, referred to in this book. But the more one understands habits, I guess the better it is. I have to say that my mind wanders a lot in this book. I was so busy running from the embroidery machine to the long arm that I wasn't really paying attention, which is probably why I didn't remember reading the first part last time! 

It doesn't matter, and after a while, I stopped listening. It was too distracting. I find that it's OK to listen when sewing or doing one thing, but two things and listening? That's too much. 

Well, it's time to be off to spin class. Yeah!! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!