I got your back!

So did you sign up for the Canadian Quilter's Association Mini Swap??  It's going to be so much fun!! Hey - quilting is our hobby - we'd better be having fun with it or we need to find a new hobby. How many quilts can you make for you or your family?? This is something new and you get to make a new friend. I hope you signed up!!! 

I know that Nine did as she sent me an e-mail. Good morning Nina!!  She also sent me a link to her blog where she sewed the same backpack (well - the slightly larger one). She made some changes - we did not, but the next time we will.

Yesterday was a wild day! Ronda and I were determined to get our backpacks DONE. There will be no (or little) creating new UFOs when there is so much that needs to be finished already. She arrived bright and early and we set up the sewing machines. She was sewing on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC and I was sewing on the PFAFF creative icon. This will become important in a minute.

As usual, there were lots of learning moments and I'll share a couple of them with you. I'll also say that it's a good thing we weren't live streaming our sessions because there were a few times when - let's just say the air was blue! And it wasn't from cigarette smoke!

When we had gotten together the last time (you can read about it here), we managed to get all the pieces prepped. Oh - we had high hopes to make the backpacks in one day! HA - what foolish girls we were to think that!

So the appropriate color threads got loaded onto the sewing machines and we were off. We pinned the pattern to that stack of quilts (which are still waiting to be trimmed) and started to make the backpack back. Ronda did NOT put straps on her back - only the carry handle at the very top and she did NOT put any inside pockets in hers either!

This part of the bag went together fairly easily - it's the back of the backpack with a handle, shoulder straps (and the tabs for the straps at the bottom) as well as an outside zippered pocket.

The backpack back

You'll notice that the backpack is no longer a rectangle but has been shaped. That was an interesting task, but we made out just fine. There is a slip pocket on the other side.

Then we moved onto the front. A little finagling and we managed to get the fronts made as well. We also had to shape the backpack front and that was a task cutting it with the rotary cutter. Next time - we'd better put in a new blade. That's a LOT of layers to cut through. Just wait until we get to the sewing part!  I also would change the position of the magnetic snap on that flap.

Many, many layers!

There they are - the front and the back!! Shoot - I should have taken pictures of the insides with their many pockets as you can't really see them once the backpack is assembled. 

The front and the back of the backpack

Next up was making the gusset. This included another zipper. Oh no - I remember the zipper experience from last time. I couldn't get the zipper slide on the zipper tape if my life depended on it. Thank goodness Ronda was here and helped me out.

We learned two things yesterday about zippers. If you have a buddy, then one person can get the zipper slide on the zipper tape and the other person pulls the zipper slide to make the zipper. 

One way to add the zipper slide

But if you happen to be alone, it's a pain in the butt. So I gently put the zipper slide onto the zipper tape. Then I VERY CAREFULLY pinned it to the ironing board. 

The zipper tape is pinned to the ironing board

Then VERY SECURELY hold both sides of the zipper tape with one hand and gently pull the zipper slide with the other. This was FAST, FAST, FAST.  I'm not afraid to make my own zippers in the future. Notice how the ends are perfectly lined up? I find that if I do it in my hands that one side is off. No more wonky zippers!!!!

A perfect end to the zipper

I shall not tell you what happened to Ronda's zipper but we had to redo her zipper slide. Let's just say that there are NO STOPPERS on either end of the zipper. Ooops!!!!  In fact, we made a two-way sliding zipper so the zippers meet in the middle of the backpack rather than start at one side. Oh yes - we're good!!!

Another great end to the zipper

Once that gusset was made and that involved more trimming and the insertion of the zipper, it was time to do the final assembly. We started by sewing the gusset to the backpack back. The seams were finished with bias binding. I thought it was going to look terrible, but it actually looks pretty neat. I didn't get any pictures of it. Why? Too focused on getting those seams done. I did have to redo the bottom two corners when I sewed the last part of the bias binding down as it didn't sit right. And if Shelly happens to look inside - well, we wanted our bags to be Shelly worthy. You see, Shelly is a bag maker extraordinaire and we're trying to get into her league! I think we did a pretty good job yesterday!

The gusset is sewn to the back

Then came the final seams. Sewing the gusset to the front. This is where the air turned blue pretty quickly. That was a challenging seam to sew, although I noticed that Ronda was not having the same issues as I was. Perhaps, she's just not as vocal. But I had extra layers with pockets and straps and it was "fun".

Not only were we going through many, many layers of foam and binding and fabrics, but the curves were tight and the backpack is stiff. But not so stiff that we couldn't manipulate it. My arms were getting tired as I manhandled that bag.

Challenging curves to sew

Trying to get that last binding seam around the curves. 

One last challenge around the curves

Now here's the thing. Ronda sewed on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC and I sewed on the PFAFF creative icon. Those are both top of the line sewing machines with HUGE penetration power (they both can sew through 14 layers of heavy denim or basically whatever thickness you can actually put under the foot). They both have significantly more space between the bed of the machine and the head of the sewing machine - it's about 3 - 4 inches than a traditional sewing machine.

Since I had more straps and pockets and therefore more layers, the PFAFF creative icon at times, said - "you have too much fabric under the needle". But I talked gently to it and it agreed to continue sewing with no skipped stitches. How could one ever sew this on a traditional sewing machine? I've no idea. I'm sure that people do, but those last parts were a challenge. I wonder what kind of sewing machines they use at byAnnie.com???  They must use industrial machines?

Anyway - I think the thread broke only once or twice for each of us which is amazing and that's thanks to these high-end machines. We didn't even use topstitch needles which we should have done for the assembly part. And there were NO broken needles. And once or twice the extra penetration power kicked in on the PFAFF creative icon and scared me to death with the noise!

Bottom line - we are done!!!!! The excitement was building as we approached the finish line. I guess you can tell which one belongs to me and which one belongs to Ronda.

Backpacks are DONE

The front of my backpack.

The front of the backpack

Here's the back of my backpack.

The back of the backpack

Here's Ronda's.

The front of Ronda's backpack

It was an awesome day! I highly recommend that if you've got a challenging project to make and you know someone who wants to make the same thing - do it together. There are a couple of spots where I would have taken a break, but because we egged each other on - we kept going and there is NO UFO.

I should mention that the pattern we used is from byAnnie.com. It's called Back at Ya. Now we used the original version of the pattern which was released in 2014. I believe there was another version released in 2018 (called Back at Ya 2.0) and this latest release is Back at Ya 2.1. I wonder how many of the issues we had have been revolved in the subsequent releases. Personally, I think that anyone who bought the original Back at Ya should get the Back at Ya 2.1. I shouldn't have to buy a new pattern just because the original was badly written. I'll be sending some pictures and thoughts. Here's a video so you can see some of the insides of the bag.   And if you check out this video - you get to see the other versions of the pattern. 

I'm super excited and I pulled out my yoga bag (also byAnnie.com pattern) so I could start on that. However, I have a ton of admin stuff to get done today and hopefully work on another sample because I hit the road tomorrow for meetings and training for a week. It's all about sewing and serging so it's going to be fun and to spend the week immersed in new stuff that coming down the pipeline of which I cannot breathe a word - you'll have to wait!!! 

This is my FIRST FINISH of 2020. There's going to be a whole lot more as well. I'm pumped, I'm committed to myself and I will make this happen.

As for my virtual challenge? We had sat around Studio B for most of the day so I was about 7,500 steps at dinner time. That's not good enough - I need to hit 10,000 steps for the day or I'm going to be behind the pace for the challenge. I took the girls out for a walk last night - they were thrilled. The weather was gorgeous. I see from the stats this morning - that I'm .9 of a mile behind the pace. No big deal. I could make that up today. It's going to be a challenge next week sitting in the meeting room, but last year, I went for a long walk in the morning and I see the weather is going to be good so I plan on doing that again!!!

On that note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a great day!!!

Ciao!!!

Know when tossing is best

On my way back from the gym, they were talking about Lucille Ball (on the radio) who would have celebrated her birthday yesterday. Apparently, she had a saying "put your oxygen mask on first", meaning take care of yourself first.  How true this is!  I see many people who live for their children or their parents and I get it that it's hard to put yourself first, but you must. Children won't be around forever, neither will our parents or our significant others. Then what will you do? I've seen it happen to people - they start to lose touch with their friends or their hobbies. It's hard to recover from that and guess what happens?? Loneliness - Depression!!!

Mind you, I'm probably the total opposite - I take care of me first almost 100%  all of the time and ignore everyone else! I'm a pretty selfish person if you look close enough.

Yesterday was a super productive day - yet again. I'm not really sure where this focus is coming from. I'm loving it and I wish I could have found that focus years ago! I like sewing and I like creating so why was it so hard before?

I know - there were tons of distractions and it was easy to leave things behind. No more!

One of the things I'm working on these days is samples. I have access to two gorgeous sewing machines that are filled with beautiful stitches. The problem with those stitches is that if you don't stitch them out, you've no idea how easy (or challenging) they are and you've no idea where to use them.

These stitches are from the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC. They're called applique stitches. This is what the piece looks like after I've finished stitching.

Applique stitches before trimming

I've started to trim the excess fabric away. I should say that I've programmed these stitches into the embroidery unit so technically they were embroidered, but you can stitch them out like any stitch. The sewing machine is programmed to stop where it needs to stop so you can insert the little piece of fabric. The best part?? It's so darn easy to program the stitches into the embroidery unit or to stitch them out on their own.

Some of the applique stitches have been trimmed

Aren't they adorable????  One is candy and the other is a girl with a red skirt!

Two of the applique stitches after trimming

Next up were the sequin stitches. Yes - these were also programmed into the embroidery unit. Super easy to program. The EPIC knows when to stop so you can insert the sequins. I have to say this was a wee bit challenging until I figured out a couple of tricks. Some of the stitches I will probably never use and some of them are so neat that I'm trying to figure out where to put them. On my jean jacket???  I could bling that jacket up with sequins!!!!

Sequin stitches built into the Designer EPIC

I'm stitching on vinyl which complicates some of the stitches especially if the stitching is quite dense. It's all a learning experience and I'm very happy with what I'm learning. I've got more samples to make and having fun doing it.

I always say that anyone with a sewing machine with decorative stitches should do these stitch outs. If you don't, you'll never know what the heck you have and you'll never use those stitches. But once you see what you have and how easy they are to do, well - you're more likely to use them for projects.

In the midst of all this, I have a magazine quilt to sew. My goal is to get it pieced or mostly pieced before I leave. I'm just starting! However, when I went to start sewing, I was having a heck of a time. I'm sewing on my Husqvarna Viking Designer Ruby deLuxe. Hmmm - something was terribly wrong.

It's hard to see the stitching in this picture, but the bobbin was bouncing around, making a horrible noise and the stitch quality wasn't so pretty.

The bad seam on the left, good seam on the right

That photo shows the bobbin part of the seam. I cleaned the bobbin case area and inserted a new needle. No difference. Yikes - I can't sew a quilt with that kind of a mess.

I checked the bobbin. It seemed to be OK, but let's try a different one. HOLY - like night and day. This bobbin doesn't look too worn - not like some others that I have, but for whatever reason, it's not happy.

Bobbin 

Needless to say, that bobbin is now history. Know when to get rid of things that aren't working - be that a bobbin, needles, thread or whatever. If it's not working - it might be worn out (those bobbins are plastic after all), it might be damaged - don't bother to waste your time with such a small item.

Bobbin is toast

Speaking of magazine quilts, another magazine (and another one of my quilts) got axed. Easy Quilts is history. That doesn't leave too many quilting magazines from that publisher. Well - I hadn't started that one and I would have had to make it when I got home. What will I do when I get home??? Oh yes - more unpacking, more samples, and clean up more UFOs.

Then I fired up the long arm to get the T-shirt quilt done. If those seams are pressed well, and the T-shirts are well stabilized, T-shirt quilts are a dream to quilt. I had zero issues with this. A huge thanks to Heather for giving me the T-shirts. If my brother doesn't want it, I'll bring it back and find someone who will appreciate it.

T-shirt quilt - DONE

And here's the backing!!!!  I love it!!!!

The backing of the T-shirt quilt

I took a wee bit of time and went to the mall. I got seven bottles of distilled water for the irons. I hate to shop, so I'm stocked for a couple of months.

I also went to the Bulk Barn to look at stuff. I found all kinds of goodies that I can use in my cereal and probably less expensive than my usual grocery store. I even found powdered peanut butter!!! Actually, I was looking for that thanks to a comment by Nancy the day before. That'll be great for smoothies and easier to put the powder in the Vitamix rather than scooping out the real thing.

Good stuff acquired at the Bulk Barn

Oh - there were lots of temptations there. Loads of chocolate and candy. The only decadent thing I bought were yogurt covered cranberries which is my "sweet" snack. I love the darn things.

I found a glass jar that I can use when I mix up my cereal topping and I also found a shaker for the cinnamon which resides beside the cereal. No more cumin in my cereal.

Cinnamon in a shaker

As I was buzzing through the store looking for a few more items, I saw this. Really?????  It's only August and sweltering hot!!!

Winter coats in case you're cold

I also got the binding on that small Dresden Quilt for my Mom. Time to make some labels.

On that note, it's time to get back to work!!!  I wonder what I'm going to learn today????

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!

Be careful what you eat!

Mondays are just the best. I know that I say that every week, but it truly is an inspiration to be among so many talented women. Best of all, we learn so darn much for each other or as a result of research based on the conversations. Did you know that while a Tesla car might be a super cool car to drive, it's not a very practical car? With a fully charged battery, it has a range of 220 Miles. And it takes 1 ½ hour to get a full charge? That full charge costs about $13 US. Hmm - I think I'm very happy with getting over 700 KM for approximately $50 with my car. Sorry Tesla - while self-driving might be cool, the battery thing is not. Yep - I could charge at home, but seriously? What a pain that would be. I guess I'd better wrap my head around that because cars in the future will be like that. But not for many years.

One of these days, I'm going to post a few tips in case you're buying a new car. Let's just say that cars have changed!

I also learned about chia seeds. I put chia seeds on my oatmeal every morning, but did you know how healthy this food is?? It's a superfood. Good for weight loss, digestion, lowering blood sugar, high in fiber and much, much more. Actually, I put several things on my oatmeal in the morning, but did I think of premixing those items? Nope - well, I'm going to make up a mixture now and then I only have to scoop from one bag, not several. Thanks, Nancy!!!!

However, whatever you put on your oatmeal, it's a good idea to check the labels. When I took my first mouthful of oatmeal yesterday, I knew something was different. I checked the labels of the packages in the spice drawer. Oh dear.

I did NOT taste the cumin in my hamburger the previous night, but I sure tasted it in my oatmeal. Hey - those packages look IDENTICAL and so does the color of the spices. DH left it sitting on top and I normally check the label, just in case, but I did not. Oh well - it was interesting tasting oatmeal. I'm off to find myself a container for the cinnamon today which will then reside right beside the oatmeal.

Cumin and cinnamon look very much alike

Live and learn!!!!  DH asked what I did when I realized that I'd made a mistake. I ate it of course. It wasn't offensive - just different.

Not only was yesterday fun with friends and learning, but I got a lot accomplished. The sleeve got sewn on the POSH Santa sample and the samples were delivered as were several customer quilts and remember that stack of boxes in the basement? Well, I found a new home for the boxes. I didn't take the entire stack but got rid of a lot of the boxes. I did come home with four more customer quilts to add to the list. And something for Lexi which is still in the car. I just love the exchange of stuff that happens pretty much every Monday.

Besides the quilt sleeve, I finished the last block for the gingerbread quilt. That was HUGE. It's only taken me since January to get all the blocks completed. I'm slow and I didn't work on it every Monday as I wasn't there for all Mondays. Doesn't matter - the blocks are DONE.

The last block for the gingerbread quilt - DONE

I need to trim the applique blocks and then it's going to be put on the design wall and will be sewn on the Sit n Sew days later this month.

Time to figure out what else to take for handwork on Mondays. I could take my machine, but then the handwork will NEVER get done. This way, I'm "forced" to do the handwork.

I looked at my list of Dirty Dozen (some still not done from the 2017 and 2018 lists) to see what else is on the list that needs handwork or prepping that can be done on Monday. Hmm, there is Winter Wonderland - that is the redwork embroidery project. I think there are three blocks left to stitch. Here's the block that I'm currently working on. It's almost finished!!!!

Redwork embroidery block - almost done!

Then those blocks need to be trimmed and there's embroidery over the seams. That'll keep me busy for a while, but I need to find something else as it gets boring to do the same thing all day. I'm sure I'll find something that needs to be stitched or prepped. NO worries in that department.

I got another quilt quilted last night. This one belongs to my Mom. Yes - I've had it for several years. I didn't know what to do with it. I finally decided that an overall pattern would be just fine on it. She made the Dresden blocks from scraps of clothing fabric. Could have been her fabrics or more likely the scraps belonged to my grandmother. The background of the blocks is bleached sugar bags.

The quilt is done for my Mom

As I was loading it, I thought I could have done myself a favor and took the six blocks apart, squared up the blocks and then sewed it back together, but where's the fun in that? It was actually not bad except for one corner. Anyway, it's quilted.

I dug through my 30's fabric bin (which I could actually just walk right up to instead of navigating an obstacle course to get there) and found this blue floral for the binding. 

Fabric for the binding

Now the binding is made and ready to be attached later today. I need to call my Mom and get all the information so I can make a label. I think I'll be doing some hand stitching next week while I'm visiting. Labels and sleeves.

Binding is ready to be sewn on

As promised, here are the small projects that I finished the other day. These are for my classes in Saskatoon at The Sewing Machine Store. These two projects were designed (not by me) on the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC using some of the builtin specialty stitches.

This is a little book bag that is very cleverly assembled - I had never thought of making a bag that way. Sorry - you have to take the class to find out the details!!! But it's very cute and I found those primary colors in my bright stash basket.

Bookbag

Here's a group of greeting cards. These are stitched directly onto card stock. Again, they use the specialty stitches that are builtin to the Designer EPIC. I still have to color parts of them with markers. They are very cute and you get to learn a lot about programming on the EPIC, sequin stitches, and a whole lot more.

Personalized greeting cards

Those samples are put to bed. I'll be working on more samples for the remainder of the week. As I start to pack, I'll share with you what goes in the suitcase - keeping in mind that it needs to weigh less than 50 pounds. That's going to be tricky. I have four quilts to take with me as well - all for family members and how the heck will I get that in my own suitcase and still have room for a few clothes. Oh yes - who said traveling is fun?

Now that I've got two sewing spaces, there are things that I like to have in both spaces - like a radio. I'm not about to purchase a new radio (do they still sell radios?) so I've been using my iPad as a radio in Studio B. I use the Radio Canada player app and it works like a charm. You can get many different radio stations on it - never any static. I LOVE it.

iPad used as a radio

And I could use Siri to help me find things if I needed. I'm trying to use Hey Google (on my phone) instead of typing. It seems to work pretty well. I use Alexa when I'm home. I'm pretty geeky!

I doubt, that I'll have much time before I leave to do more organizing. I'm OK with that. As I'm working down there, I'm trying to visualize what the next step will be and how I'm going to make some of the other stuff find a home.

Look at what else is in that stash room. There are FOUR HUGE tubs of Minky and fleece. Yep - how does one accumulate that much???  This is going to be moved to the large storage area where it'll become backings for community project quilts. That's just obscene.

Four tubs of Minky and fleece for quilt backings

 This is my current ender and leader project in Studio B. These are the triangles that are created when I make borders and do the join on the diagonal. I laid the triangles out and will match them up in pairs. From there, I'll make half-square triangles and then turn those half square triangles into hourglass blocks. I've got a basket filled with sewn ones, ready for the next step. But I want to finish these off first.

Triangles ready to be paired up and sewn

This bag of leaves has been sitting on the work tables for a while. Hmm - what to do with it? There are LOTS of leaves. The leaves are double-sided (made with Northcott Stonehenge Maplewood). You should check out the pictures of quilts on that link. I took them - some in my backyard, some in the forest behind my house. That was a fun day!!!!  The leaves were die cut. Any ideas what could be done with them???  Because they are double-sided, I don't think they would be good for applique, but they might be good for pillows. Anyone want them???  They are free if someone has a good idea for them. Hmm - they would be good for 3-D applique. Anyone want to make a large tree applique with 3-D leaves????

Double-sided maple leaves - up for grabs

We often hear people complain - of aches and pains or frustrations with family or friends or sewing or whatever. But how often do we hear people say LIFE IS GOOD?  Well - I just want to say that LIFE IS GOOD. While I'd like to have more stuff cleaned up, I finally feel like I have a handle on life. I'm learning to finish things, I'm learning to say no and I'm truly very content. LIFE IS GOOD - That's Bill Stearman's line, but I like it. Thanks, Bill.


On that note - I'm out of here. It looks like it's going to be rainy today. Shoot - I wanted to walk or ride my bike to the mall, but since I need to stock up on distilled water, it might be best to take the car. Can you see me carrying 6 jugs of distilled water home on my bike? I don't think so!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!