T-shirts quilt in progress

I finished listening to that supernatural audiobook this morning. OK, so it's a bit farfetched, but it's supernatural, so of course that's going to happen. I'm done, and I will choose the next book wisely!

I also finished the physical book I was reading, and although I vowed NOT to pick up another book, I have another audiobook due in several days, so while I putter in Studio B, I'll listen to that. And I picked from my shelves a Nonfiction book, which slows me down! So all is good! I NEED to have a book to read. 

We had two Zooms yesterday. It's time to get back to work on those projects with MANY blocks. I'm so slow on mine that that 365-day challenge quilt will be going to the grave as a UFO with me. NO—I must spend more time with it, as I really want to move on. 

And for those poor people in Machine Embroidery, I sent MANY emails as follow-ups to our session and gave them homework. Will anyone actually do it? 

Speaking of moving on, I started working on my UFO project, which is due this coming weekend. After getting those two Cabin in the Woods quilt tops done, I moved on to something a bit less challenging, but every UFO has its challenges, which is usually why it ends up as a UFO. 

I'm working on a T-shirt quilt. The front of the quilt is together, except that I will add a border to it. As is the case with many T-shirts, there are things on the back that I wanted to keep. So those were hastily chopped from the T-shirts and left in a pile. My goal is to get the quilt ready to be quilted. 

I don't know what I was thinking when I chopped out the backs, but I left very little room around some of the motifs, and there is ZERO chance of centering them. 

A hacked-up T-shirt

So I'll take what I can get from them. This morning, I finished putting the fusible tricot (knit interfacing) on the back of the dark ones using the black tricot. I trimmed them to a somewhat similar width. 

Trimming a T-shirt

There are five light-colored ones, and I'll use a white fusible tricot on the back of those. This is a Pellon product, and I buy it by the bolt. Why? Well, it's the same product I use to fuse my batting strips together. It is stretchy, like batting, so there is some give. If you use regular interfacing, there is no give, and that's not necessarily a good thing. 

The darker-colored T-shirts are interfaced and trimmed

I have a huge stack of T-shirts from my future son-in-law to make a T-shirt quilt, and I see that my white fusible tricot is running low. Time to buy another bolt! 

Two of the five light T-shirts already had the interfacing on the back, so that leaves three to do later today. Then I get to assemble the bits like a jigsaw puzzle. I'll have to add some fabric as there aren't enough squares to make the entire back. I'm good with that—I just want the darn thing done. The best part—I'll get to choose a new UFO to work on next month. This is exciting!! BUT ONLY after I get this one done!

And yes, the quilt will be heavy with T-shirts on the front and back, but it's only a lap quilt, and there is some cotton mixed on the front and back, so everything will be good. 

On my walk the other day, I ended up at Indigo. I still call it Chapters, but it's no longer a bookstore like it was when it opened. They sell a LOT of gifts and houseware items. 

For fun, I always check the craft section, which has been moved to a new location. Oh boy—that craft section has sure changed. It used to have a ton of books on scrapbooking, mixed media, and quilting, along with other crafts. Now, it's dominated by crochet! I see books on quilling and origami, along with papers. And I'm surprised that coloring books are still a hot thing! Who knew? 

They are still selling paper calendars! I don't have room to put one up, but I guess for a busy family, it's the way to go. And let's face it—some of those pictures are so pretty!!! 

However, my real purpose was to check out the magazines. It's an old habit, and I'm entitled to browse. 

So I spotted several new issues and browsed them. Here's Quick and Easy Quilts, which has a lot of great ideas for quilts, including interesting colorways and a few interesting articles. And don't forget to check out the ads—that's how we learn about new products! It's not always on the internet!

Quick + Easy Quilts

And then I browsed Quiltmaker. Again, some interesting articles and, of course, some great quilts. 

Quiltmaker

These two, along with Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting, are the publishers I've mainly dealt with in the US. They produce the Love of Quilting TV show. I did not notice at the time that I paid $16.99 for the current issue of Love of Quilting. I was so focused on getting ready for the taping that I missed that detail. 

I was tempted to buy these two issues. OK - I was going to buy them UNTIL I glanced at the price. 

Ouch!!

Double Ouch!

WOWSER --- I will NOT be buying them any longer, not at that price. I think we can get both of these titles on Hoopla through our local library. Hoopla is a great tool, but not every library has the same subscription level. Our city has an excellent subscription, and we have access to so much—it's almost too much. 

I'm going to have to train myself to visit Hoopla online instead of the bookstore. 

Both of those titles are from the same publisher. I checked another publisher. 

Quilter's World

And their prices are almost HALF that of the others. So which one would you buy? 

Still the same price

That's totally insane. I get that paper and shipping are expensive, but that is just encouraging people to use their local library subscriptions. 

Or you could go to Quilting Daily, the publisher's online presence. There is a ton of free stuff on the site, and you can get more with a subscription. I think that might be a better option than the magazines. 

By the way, the magazine's digital version is $4 cheaper than the print. By the way -- I did not buy anything that day!

Don't get me wrong—those magazines' prices are not a bad deal. I've seen basic quilt patterns at almost  $20 these days, and you get many patterns in magazines, along with some articles. The key here is to use the magazine (or the pattern). We can no longer just buy for the sake of buying! 

Oh, I was checking on the status of my classes at The Hobby Horse, and hey, there's a bus tour.  It's on November 9th. I'm stuck at home teaching all day. I NEVER have a free Saturday for fun things! But then I like teaching, so I guess I can't complain!! 

I feel well-rested today. My head is pretty clear, and while I'm not sure my energy is 100% back, I'm in good shape! My body just needs that full 8 hours of sleep, and then I don't need to nap during the day! 

I got lots of work done this morning and even have a community project quilt loaded (after I had to piece the batting). It's ready to go later today. 

So -- it's time to get the day started -- there's a lot to accomplish!!!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!