And they said it couldn't be done!

Oh boy -- another incredibly long day.  I'm not sure how I manage to keep going although I do find Nanaimo bars are quite handy to have on hand!  I have no craving to eat food when I'm at work or even on a normal day but put me on a deadline and I want FOOD!!!   But then we have nothing in our house and I'm too busy to go upstairs to get it (if we had it) so that is a good thing!  Then my mind wanders off and I forget!

After another insane day, this is what my cutting table looks like this morning. One pair of shorts that needs a button sewn on. They're not for me, but I guess with everything DH does around the house, it's the least I can do for him.  Let's not mention that they've been there for over a month!  A small item to be quilted which I had no idea how I was going to fit in the day, but then got news that it doesn't have to be quilted until after I'm back!  Now that was good news.

The stack on the right is the "would be nice" and at this point, it isn't going to happen!

Cutting mat this morning

A cool quote and I think it's one that I've been living by for the last couple of days!!!   Although I don't know about the SHOULD part!  I SHOULD learn to say NO!  or I SHOULD learn to schedule things better.

So what did I actually get done yesterday?   I got the quilt top and the backing sewed together. Loaded them on the long arm and realized that I did not have WHITE batting to quilt it with.  So off to the quilt store where I bought white batting and this!   Can you imagine that a 25 FQ bundle is an impulse buy!   I must be mad! As if I need more fabric!!!!!   I was just so happy that major progress was being made - I didn't care!

My impulse purchase

The quilt got quilted and I LOVE IT!!!   I have to say that it's one of my favorites so far.  Very cool and it took hours to custom quilt it, but I think it's worth it!   It's off for a photo shoot as soon as I hand stitch the sleeve on.

I got the tote bags completely done!!!!    I can't believe that as that was a long process, but the pieces are done and should take each recipient a minimal amount of time to sew them together! 

I have two other projects (no quilting involved) that I would like to get finished before I get on a plane later (much later) tonight. One is big and all cut out and about 1/2 sewn together and the other is small, and not cut out. 

I have some paperwork that has to be done this morning and then I'm back to the sewing machine to attempt the impossible!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!

Why sewing is like riding a bike!

Prepping for this Quilt Market reminds me of when I rode my bike across Canada in 2013. Along the way, we stopped in lots of places and chatted with a lot of people. When we were on the west coast of Canada and we told people that we were riding to St. John's in Newfoundland, people looked at us like we had lost our minds. As we moved closer to our destination, the attitudes of those we chatted with changed. They went from - "are you crazy?" to "WOW - you're almost there!"

It took 10 weeks to ride those almost 8,000 KM.  Well - I feel like I've been sewing for 10 weeks and I'm sure that I've sewed more than 8,000 KM of seams!!!

There is one major difference - I did NOT reveal to anyone exactly how much had to be done.  I'm an idiot, but I'm not that much of an idiot.  I know what people's reaction would be.  Can't be done, you're crazy, etc.

I leave tomorrow evening - late.  While I'm not out of the woods yet, I'm making excellent progress and you know, I might just get it all done.  There is zero time for mistakes, well major ones anyway.  I'm not even sure if I'll remember everything that I did - it's all a blur as I was sewing like mad!

This is what my cutting table looks like this morning.  Actually, I think absolutely everything that still needs to be done is on the table.  I have to finish putting the binding on that big quilt and hand stitch the sleeve. I'm thinking that it will get tacked on which I hate to do, but there is no time for hand stitching unless I have a few moments tomorrow before it goes into a box.

Cutting table

I had ONE more quilt for a magazine that was due by the end of the month. Since I'll be away, I had to rush to get these three (yes THREE) quilts done this month for the magazines.  The last one is all cut. There are 30 blocks in total, 4 of which are completely assembled, 10 which are plain squares of fabric and the rest just need two seams each and they are done.  I can't put them on the design wall as there is something else on there.  Yes - ONE MORE QUILT.  This one doesn't need to be quilted.  Has 18 blocks in it. When I arrived home last night, three blocks were already pieced, everything else (except one block) was cut.   Now there are four blocks left and then to sew in the pieced background which is also cut!

I still have those darn tote bags to finish up - the handles, the bottoms and the pocket lining.

Oh yes - almost had a major SNAFU yesterday. I got home a bit earlier than usual and realized that I didn't have enough of the background for this next magazine quilt. Thankfully Ruti's Needlebed, which is eight minutes away, had the fabric and I was over there and back in 20 minutes!  Last night, I realized that I had forgotten to buy WHITE batting.  I think I'll be making one more trip to the quilt store this morning as soon as it opens.

So there is still loads of work to be done but I'm sequestered in my studio today and I'll be attacking that sewing machine.  It won't know what hit it!

On that note, I'm out of here so I can get to work.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

By the way, I think Miss Lexi has something to say this morning.

The real reason I need a leaf blower

Yes - I know it's Motivational Monday and I'll get to that in a second. 

Let's just say that I found an excellent use for the leaf blower.  You do remember me mentioning the leaf blower (still in the box) that's currently sitting in my kitchen.

Brand new leaf blower in the kitchen

Let's say that a certain someone needs a haircut. No - that's NOT me.  But a certain someone who LOVES to roll in the leaves, run through the leaves and lie down in the leaves and then has the nasty habit of bringing those leaves into the house because her fur is COVERED with leaves!

Leaves in the kitchen

And more leaf bits

I'm thinking that instead of a broom, I could just get the leaf blower out and blow the leaves out the door?


Yesterday was another sewing MARATHON.  Seriously, I've never had this kind of focus at the sewing machine in my life! I got home from class on Saturday and furiously worked on piecing the blocks and did so for five hours.

Then up early on Sunday morning and back to the sewing machine.  I had set goals for myself.  Mental ones as there is ZERO time to be writing them in The Task Master.  This component of the blocks needs to be done by 9 AM. This component needs to be done by 10 AM - that sort of thing.  So technically, it's like the taskmaster, but in my head and there is NO DANGER of forgetting. 

As I was piecing the blocks, I also starting to assemble the rows of the quilt.  So by the time I finished piecing the blocks, the entire quilt was almost together.  I did have to make two extra blocks as I had miscounted on a couple of the components.  No worries, it all went together very nicely.

I have NOT worked on a big quilt in a while and I was finding it cumbersome to work on as I did the last part. But not to worry, there is no time to complain - just keep sewing! 

I had cut the backing a couple of days prior and so I whipped those pieces together and went to load on the long arm. Now I was really hoping to be loading the quilt around noon, but you all know how realistic that is.  I think I ended up loading it around 3 PM.  No big deal.  EXCEPT!!!!!  When I went to measure the top, it was FIVE whole inches larger than I had anticipated.  Why? Because I had taken the measurement off of my diagram and NOT the quilt (because it wasn't together then).  Then I realized that the diagram had used 1" sashing and in fact, it was supposed to be 2". 

Oh boy - this is going to cause some problems.  So I "stretched" that backing a wee bit and I didn't have much room on either side as you can see below.

Less than 1" along one side of the backing

The backing was made with three lengths of fabric and I knew when I joined two of them that one piece was a wee bit smaller than the others and sure enough, the backing was short in the corner! 

Missing a wee bit of backing

I knew this was going to be a problem, but the backing was already on the long arm.  Let's see how bad it is.  When I saw that it was only this little corner, I finished the quilt.  Trimmed it and now I've added a small applique piece over that corner and no one will be the wiser that there was an issue.

To recap, I started to sew this quilt (it was all cut and marked) at 5 PM on Saturday.  There are 36 blocks in the quilt - each block has 17 pieces in it. Lots of trimming for each block, each block had two partial seams and required squaring up twice. The quilt is done!  I finished it last night and was sewing the bias binding on, but I had to stop around 9:30 as my neck was killing me. Well - it wasn't that bad, but I knew I had to stop.  The sleeve is almost ready to hand stitch on.  I need about one-half hour to finish the binding which I'll do tonight.

BTW - did I mention that the quilt is 87 inches square?   I'm an idiot!!!  There is no other way to say it!

But I'm not done - there are still three full days before we leave for Market and I've got a few things yet to complete.   I did manage to rejig the wonky handles for the tote bag and no one will be the wiser about that!   They just need to be stitched. 

This is my cutting mat this morning.  I'm rather loving having all this space on that mat and will aim to keep it clear like this going forward. 

Cutting mat this morning

There is a wee bit of cutting on the next project and I hope to make some major progress on that one tonight. 

On that note, I'm out of here to clear up some paperwork so I can hit the sewing machine running!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!