Embrace your mistakes!

I'll get to the comments tomorrow. I had company all day and will have this morning, so I'm tight on time!

Here's an update on the class situation. If you are signed up for my Saturday Sampler or the Dear Jen classes at Thimbles and Things, you should have received an email from me about the upcoming classes this weekend. 

There's still time to sign up, but do it now!!!! 

Here's the link for the classes if you're interested. Dear Jen will be an especially interesting class as we take 72 "interesting" blocks created for hand piecing and convert them into something easy as pie on a sewing machine! Oh yes, we're going to have loads of fun and LOADS of learning. But it won't be hard. I've got easy, medium, and hard solutions for all the blocks! 

The Saturday Sampler has some interesting topics—the first being needles and thread. Do you have trouble with your thread shredding and don't know why? Sign up for the class to find out!

There's also Legit Kits, a paper piecing class in a new style. Exploring this pattern is going to be fun. 

Just scroll up and down that link for the three classes. 

As for The Crossing the Finish Line at The Hobby Horse (FULL) and Spice Market (still room if you want), I'm working on the distribution lists; those should go out by tomorrow at the latest. Time just slipped away from me! Most people from Spice Market got a notification. It's just those who signed up since that note went out. 

Bear with me -- it'll all get done later today! 

I'm excited. I'll spend the remainder of the week preparing for this weekend, as there are SIX classes and a Virtual Retreat! Yikes! It's going to be busy! But much of the prep work is done—I'm now just putting it into a PowerPoint presentation so the students can appreciate it!! 

Claire and I had a great day! While I have fun sewing and embroidering by myself, having a buddy is always fun! We did some embroidery, and then she continued in sewing mode while I started my prep work for the weekend! 

I checked with Project Linus, and I believe that both of these are acceptable, so guess what I'll be working on this weekend at the Virtual Retreat. I wanted to have 20 quilts for them, and they mostly need to be quilted, but these two need to be pieced. Well, they are partially pieced. How long can they take? 

Project for Project Linus

Another project for Project Linus

Those are famous last words, but both are started, so I don't think it'll take long to complete both. They are small and won't take much time to quilt. I'll be heads-down at that long arm starting on Monday! 

I also found this pattern in the tubs. Oh my gosh, I think I bought that pattern to embroider, not that I'm a huge fan of hand embroidery. 

Hand embroidery pattern

Well, look -- ALL The blocks are embroidered and trimmed!!!

All the blocks are done! 

Even the fabric is there. So I'll complete this one as well and then see what I do with it. It's pretty, but not sure it's my style. 

The fabrics for the hand embroidery

In the tubs, I also found some pre-cut beige squares, so they went into that basket of neutrals, which will come in very handy when I get back to piecing mode. Some other fabrics went into the community project's stash room. I'd like to get rid of some quilt tops and finish the four half-completed projects. Then, I can move on to something new or try to get some of my stuff done! 

Pre-cut squares

As I was moving stuff around and looking for the little baskets to hold those threads, I moved all my excess tools (thread snips, stilettos, and seam rippers) to this container. Now, all the like things are together, along with my sewing machine and cleaning tools. 

Small miscellaneous tools

I should clean the machine later today, as we did some felting on the embroidery machine yesterday, and I bet it's full of lint now! There are SO MANY amazing techniques and patterns or components that allow you to make designs that are endless! There are just too many to keep track of. Then, the new version of the mySewnet software came out yesterday with a new tool, so we had to play with that! More on that another day!

Oh, here's the basket of neutrals that I found in those tubs. That's a lot of neutrals, so I won't have to buy any for a long time. But once you start using them, they go quickly!

The new basket of neutrals

When I cleaned out the box for my next UFO project, this is what I found. 

I had a whole pile of felt that I was going to use to make gift tags. Well, the felt went back into the felt container, and the fabric went into the Christmas tub. 

Excess in a project box

This was the pattern in the box. 

The pattern for paper pieced ornaments

Of the eight ornaments on the cover, I had started FIVE different ones and up to 13 of the same style. Seriously? What was I thinking? They are now sorted, bagged, and tagged!

The ornaments are now sorted

I had my box of paper piecing supplies out for a demo last weekend, and I remembered seeing some papers in there. Sure enough, there were more copies of this pattern ready to paper piece! I put them in the project box, and I'll see how many I need to complete the projects. 

Patterns for the paper-pieced mittens

It just amazes me how or why we think that making so many is a good thing, and the next thing you know, the project is abandoned for YEARS!!! How is that possible? 

There was also a pile of embellishments in the box, which I left. 

Embellishments

So once I'm past this weekend, I'll take a closer look and see exactly what I will do with the partially completed ones. 

This is an excellent example of why we must take RESPONSIBILITY for our projects NOW. We can't leave this to someone else. Even a quilter would be discouraged, and many of these supplies and half-completed projects would end up in the dumpster! So BE the RESPONSIBLE person you are, and do NOT leave this shi*t, as Messie Condo would say, to someone else. It's YOUR RESPONSIBILITY, and I'm working on it! 

Maybe you don't have to sew everything up, but sort through the project and organize it. Wait—first, you want to decide whether it's worth doing (you or someone else). If not, then toss it. But if you or someone else might finish it, then organize the box. Bag the pieces and label them. Then donate or sell it. If you start NOW and do one a week, most people will get through their stash in a reasonable time. 

When I enjoyed my cup of Yogi tea the other morning, this was the saying, and OH YES --- I cannot stress this enough! 

Fabulous quote

Here's the interesting thing about this - the unknown to each of us is entirely different! Maybe for you, it's putting your binding on by machine for the first time. It's learning to build a house or decorate a cake for someone else! Our skill levels, experience, and so much more are unique to us; therefore, our mistakes and learning paths are different! Be gentle to yourself and laugh the mistakes off - it's not like you killed someone during heart surgery! That's not good! But screwing up a seam - that's OK. 

Oh my gosh --- I've signed up for four art classes next year. I don't think I shared them with you yet, but I will, as anyone can sign up. Although the Zoom lessons are in French, the written material is in both languages. One of the instructors was giving some general information about her project, which is a building. 

One of the participants wanted the name of each fabric so she could replicate the building exactly. She didn't want to make a mistake with the coloring. I think she is in the wrong class! 

Clair mentioned that someone in one of her classes said she didn't want to make the almost perfect quilt. She was tired of learning and wanted to know it all so everything would be perfect. Hmm—I think she needs to find a new hobby! 

Seriously? These people do not get the concept of creativity! They do not understand the ability to experiment and do whatever they want. Change the building to blue, green, purple, or whatever color you want. It blows my mind that people are so focused on the project rather than the journey! They are missing the point!

Here's a little homework assignment for you: Dig out one UFO and organize it! You don't have to do it, but make sure the pattern is there. Label the parts, make a list if something needs to be purchased, perhaps identify an issue if you were stumped, and then label the box and put it back on the shelf. These things must be organized if you want someone to care for your stuff when you're gone. They will NOT do that for you! 

Well, I'm off because it will be a busy day. I need to get the rest of those emails out, and I have four big presentations to complete. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!