Anything is possible if you believe in yourself!

OMG—I am stunned, and I'm exhausted. But I managed to finish everything I planned on getting done! If I had had that extra day, I might have finished the two samples I knew I had run out of time for! 

I'm thrilled to death. Did it help that I started listening to a hilarious detective story? I don't know, but whenever I was doing something mindless, I listened to the book, and it helped to keep me on track. 

Let me share the samples that are done. 

You already saw this sample - it's the tablet case, but I had to saturate the front flap to get rid of the water-soluble stabilizer. That resulted in some creative drying, but not before I used a towel to absorb most of the moisture. I tidied up the inside, and it is stitched back together. 

Drying the table case

I must admit that it took me a bit to get started this morning. I just saw everything that had to be done today as a daunting task, and I really didn't feel like getting anything done. But then I opened up my tea bag and looked at the quote. 

My motivator for the day!

That was my incentive to get myself together, get downstairs, and get to work! 

The first thing I had to do was to remove all the excess water-soluble stabilizer from the linen table runner. 

Removing the excess stabilizer from the table runner

That was a very time-consuming job as I didn't want to cut the linen. And I was able to remove most of the errant stitching I had done, and there was no need to fix it after those stitches were removed. 

Then I threw this and the napkin (thanks Elle and Torry) into the washer to get rid of the excess stabilizer. 

Then I ironed the napkin again, and it looks stunning. That darn thing just doesn't want to photograph well. 

The napkin

Here's a close-up of one of the flowers. I'm very happy with this. 

A close-up of the napkin

Next up was to work on the zippered pouch. It went together like a hot knife through butter, and I'm very happy with the results. That flower (the same as on the tablet case) is on both sides. 

My zippered pouch

Here's the inside of it. 

The inside of the zippered pouch

I like to make a box corner on the bottom of my pouches, but I was working with a smaller piece of denim, and there wasn't really extra space. So I decided to round the bottom corners, which gives a much nicer look than square corners on a flat pouch. 

Guess what I used to round the corners? My new corner tool. It worked like a charm, and I was able to use my rotary cutter on it. I am a VERY HAPPY customer. I love it!!!! I will definitely be using this a lot!

Rounding the corners with the corner ruler

OH - -I also got the cuffs on the shirt, and it got hemmed. But when I went to put the pearl snaps on it, there was no tool in the snap boxes. That was a separate tool. So back to the fabric store, and they didn't have any!! I looked at other tools for grommets, eyelets, and other fasteners, but none looked like the one I needed. There is no time to get frustrated - as I stood chatting with the salesperson, my mind was already moving ahead. I will wear the shirt as a jacket, and I have a great belt to wear with it! No problem. Let's just move on. 

Then it was time to tackle that linen table runner. I must say that I have been avoiding working on it, and I don't know why. The fear of the unknown? How does one hem a table runner nicely? Well, I sort of had an idea, and so I just went for it. And here is the table runner. It's about 25" wide, so about 50- 60 inches long.

The linen table runner

While it has a few peculiarities, I'm very happy with it overall. I love working with that linen, and I have ideas for something else. That was supposed to be the linen for a wedding outfit, which didn't happen. But now I can use it for something else, and it's beautiful to work with. But this runner does need to be washed again. The water-soluble stabilizer that remains is keeping it nice and stiff, but not too stiff. 

The hem turned out nice - I hemmed it towards the back and mitered the corners - of course I did. That is the mark of a quality table linen. 

I had some experimenting to do with the embroidery machine, and I got it done and figured it out. This was the only area where I wasn't happy with my initial results. Well, when I did things a bit differently, it came out beautiful, but I learned a thing about using different types of fabric for the base. Let's just say that denim with spandex is not easy to use! I must make myself some notes on that technique when I'm back home. 

By this time, it was about 7 PM, and there remained ONE last item to be quilted and bound. Without so much as a second's hesitation, I set up the PFAFF icon 2 for free-motion quilting. The piece isn't that big, so it didn't take that long, and the binding was already made, although I had to add one more strip. And VOILA - the last piece is completed!

My wall hanging is complete!

As for unfinished stuff? I prepped the one item that I want to quilt, and if I get a chance, I'll do it at the show. If not, it's ready to do when I get home. There is one small wall hanging that I need to embellish further, and my success with my experimenting tonight means that I have some ripping to do and then I can redo that part on my shirt. WAIT - that's a different shirt than the one I made. This stitching was on a ready-made shirt. Oh shoot -- I need to throw that thread in my bag in case I get a chance to do it at the show. I will NOT have time to do anything - I know that, but just in case. 

The suitcase is packed even with my clothes. The only thing missing are the toiletries, and it all fits in one suitcase, which doesn't weigh that much. yeah!!!!! 

I've written two blog posts - the one with the classes is below this one, so be sure to go there and check it out. 

And as I left Studio B tonight, look at this. 

The cutting table is clear!

The cutting table is bare!!!!! Now if I can only figure out how to keep it that way! 

And here are the work tables. 

The machines are all put to bed for five days.

The stuff on the left is what I have to put away when I get back. I was too exhausted to make that happen tonight. Yes -- I am writing the blog the night before because I won't have time in the morning. 

We had several tornado warnings today, and it appears that one of them occurred about 3 KM from my house! WAIT --- when I look at the images again, someone says it's in Milton, which is about 10 KM away. Let's say that it was relatively close. The dogs were freaking out as the alarms went off on the TV and on our phones. 

But this was the sky when I went out later, and we got a lot of torrential downpour. 

The stormy sky

And can you tell me what Lexi is up to? Her hind legs are BLACK. I suspect she is digging under the shed and then she gets covered in dirt. She seems to like it! 

MOM - I'm a dog - I get dirty!

Well, on that note, I'm out of here. I have an early-morning flight, and I should be on a good schedule for the rest of the week to post the blog. I can share with you all the fun stuff that is happening where I am headed. I don't think I mentioned where I am going. If I did, then it's not a surprise; if I didn't, then it will be a surprise!

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!!



PS --- Had trouble falling asleep, so I got up and worked on the puzzle. I was either too exhausted or too excited. Here's what got done.