Taking stock of the coincidences!

 You guys are the best—so many good comments and suggestions. 

It was another amazing day of progress. And guess what? I have worked on almost all my projects - there are two bundles of scraps that I have not touched, and one quilt top! There are a few projects that didn't get finished, but they got advanced, and that is all that counts!

Here is the plaque from the BMO Museum in Montreal. What a hoot to see that. Thank you so much, Daphne, for spotting that and sending it to me, as I had no idea. I don't think I was ever in that museum, and I worked in that building for at least 10 years! I'll share that story and pictures with you when I get home. 

The writing about the scholarship

For something different, we decided to head out for breakfast, and this was one of the breakfasts. This was not mine, but it sure looked good. Let's just say that we did NOT need lunch. However, to help digest the goodies, four of us walked to the breakfast restaurant and then home! It was about a 30-minute walk each way. 

That's breakfast

Then it was back to the house to get some of those niggly little projects done, or at least advance them as much as I could. 

I'm happy to say that I got the invisible zipper back into that cushion cover. Good grief -- that job took all of 5 minutes, but it has sat on my sewing table at home for months. All that remains is to serge the edges together. 

Inserting the invisible zipper

I think I have now perfected how to put the invisible zipper in, especially how to avoid twisting the darn thing and get nice, neat corners at the edges where the zipper is inserted. That should be an easy finish when I'm home. 

A neat finish for the invisible zipper

I had attempted to cut away the zipper tape on the previous attempt, and with both zipper stops cut away, I had to use a clip to prevent the head from coming off!! But it worked, and I'm happy. 

Some of the zipper tape had been removed to reduce bulk.

Then I tackled this small binding sample. It had been turned inside out through the seam in the backing, and I wanted to add a few quilting stitches. 

So I added some stitch-in-the-ditch around the center part and top-stitched close to the outer edge. How long did that take? And yes—that has been sitting on the sewing table for eons. 

The front of the binding sample

The back of the binding sample

Then I grabbed this next binding sample. I wanted to put prairie points around the edge, as I didn't have a sample of that technique. I pulled out the fabric I was going to use, only to discover there wasn't enough. OK -- seriously? Why didn't I figure out how much I needed before I pulled out some black fabric? I wrote myself a note, and when I get home, I can pull the appropriate amount and either continue to work on it or bring it to the next retreat. 

Not enough fabric to work on this one

Then I needed to take a break and was going to check out the Canadian Jigsaw Puzzle Association on YouTube. They had planned to livestream the events this weekend. Imagine my joy when I found the live stream just ten minutes after the individual qualifying event started. So yes—I watched for about 40 minutes. Good grief - those puzzlers are intense, and the first puzzle was assembled after 38 minutes or something like that. That was a 500-piece puzzle - these guys are good, and I'm nowhere near that level! 

Watching the livestream of the jigsaw competition

The number of coincidences happening right now is incredible. I made a comment on the livestream that I was excited to watch and mentioned that I would be there today. Shhhh—don't tell DH that. Anyway, shortly thereafter, I got an email from a friend of mine who used to live in this area. They packed up and moved to PEI many years ago, and I saw her in person in 2015. I haven't really had contact with her since then. But she saw my post and emailed me right away to ask if I had switched from quilting to puzzling! 

She used to be a long-arm quilter and sewed quilts. She has given up quilting, and now she's a puzzler! It sounds like she keeps her puzzles, as she said they have close to 700!!! I don't plan on keeping mine. I'll be in touch with her—lots of questions, and it might mean a trip back to PEI. 

Then it was time to get back to work, and I had several pouches to work on. I had brought this pattern with me, but I wasn't all that excited about the construction method when I read through it. Hmm --- there is another way to construct these bags, but could I remember? 

Supplies to make a zippered boxy pouch

I got some information from one of my Monday sewists, who is in Europe at the moment! But I was certain there was a different way, so I got out some newspaper and cut some rectangles in the shape of my pre-quilted fabric. Yes -- it wasn't enough that I needed a pattern, but I would have to rejig it to match my shape. 

I had to make several iterations of my paper pouch, but I finally remembered the concept I used when making the bags in the past. It was quite the puzzle!!! But I didn't have the ratio of the cutout sections to make sure that all the seams would match up. 

Making pouches from newsprint

I remembered another friend had made a pouch in what I thought was the style I was looking for, so she sent me the cutting diagram, and DRAT -- it was the same one I had gotten earlier. But there is a different way. 

I have left that project out in case I get time this morning. I may decide to make several pouches using both methods. I'll have to find the pattern I'm thinking of when I get home. Then I can judge which one is easiest to modify, since I have quite a few pieces of pre-quilted fabric to turn into pouches. My sizes do NOT match any of the patterns. 

As the mother of the bride, with sewing skills, it's my job to fix this bowtie so a certain little Mister can wear it to the wedding. It had a huge buckle. I took the strap apart and will remake it with a velcro fastener. I managed to find a very similar colored fabric and will be making him another one that will be smaller -- this one is HUGE, and he's just a little guy. But don't tell the bride!!!! We'll have options, and I'm bringing a small sewing kit with me - just in case! And safety pins!

Deconstructing a bowtie

I pulled SIX raindrops off the Cherrywood challenge and WAIT --- someone suggested I use one of those shavers! I have one!!!!!! I'm going to try that when I get home. Thanks, Shirley, for that suggestion -- it's in a drawer of notions and I never even thought about it. That's why together we are a team!!!!!

More raindrops have gone from the Cherrywood challenge.

And someone has an answer for my three-needle bind-off, so I'll be checking that out as well. You guys are the best!!!!

There was one other project that I worked on - another small pouch. There is some appliqué to do, and I didn't have the right thread, and for some reason, I brought an invisible zipper. WAIT --- that was the zipper that came with the kit. So I'll get a regular zipper when I'm home, and they used snaps on it, which I didn't bring with me. So that can be worked on at home. 

Another zippered pouch

By this time, I had run out of things to do, including all the panic packing I had done. That left three bags of scraps and an entire quilt top to be sewn together. I grabbed the bag of scraps with all the leftover backing trim from the eight dog quilts for the vet and his staff. 

I had sorted them into bright colors and the muted ones. And I started making blocks. This process puts me in my happy place, and I just LOVE doing it. It's like a puzzle, and my brain is happy. 

Making fabric from scraps

I did a pretty good job at using up small pieces and cutting from the small yardage pieces. 

Making a scrappy block

OK -- this picture would NOT cooperate when I tried rotating it. But of the bright colors (a lot of them had black backgrounds), I have made/cut 82 six-inch blocks!!!! That's pretty exciting. 

I have made 82 blocks so far.

And this is all the fabric bits that remain for the bright colors, laid out to make one last block. That will be 83 blocks, which doesn't work well in any sort of configuration. I may have to add a few more solid colors or something. 

The last block

I'll work on the muted colors and see how many blocks I can make. I don't think I'll mix them, as they are quite different and will make the very scrappy quilt look even scrappier. WAIT --- that's a good teaching opportunity for my upcoming class in the fall!!! 

Here are a couple of pictures of what some of the others are working on. Look at all those beautiful colors of felt!!! Those came from Creekbank in case you covet them. 

Beautifully colored felt

Someone else bought a bucket of scraps and proceeded to cut them into squares of various sizes. Doesn't that look yummy!!! And she finished going through that scrap bucket!!! Yeah!!!!

Scraps in storage containers

And if you want to see something very crazy, these diamonds are hand-pieced. 

Hand pieced blocks

But she loves hand piecing, which is good because there are lots of diamonds to make (Quilted Diamonds by Linda Franz) and some of those pieces are tiny!!!!

Last night was the second full moon this month, so we kept an eye on it as it rose above the trees and risked life and limb (mosquitoes) to get a couple of pictures. The second full moon each month is called a Blue Moon (I'm sure you all knew that), and this one was supposed to be extra special because many planets were aligned!!

The Blue Moon

Well, I'm off to work on the rest of the dog fabric scraps, and who knows - I might be sewing those quilts together at the next retreat. But I have a bag of Oh Canada scraps in my retreat bag, and I NEED to get those sewn because they have traveled back and forth quite a few times. 

It's the last day of the retreat!!!!! I'll be leaving shortly after lunch and taking a bit of a scenic tour home, and then I can unpack and try to prep a few things to get them sewn this week. I feel quite energized and ready to tackle a lot of things. But I have quilts to quilt this week and a few things to finish or start for the wedding. 

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!!