Hands off

I decided that I would walk to the grocery store that has a big pharmacy so I could stock up on some glucosamine. I should have started taking it long ago, but I didn't. So let's start now and move on. This was my first time in a grocery store since the pandemic was announced. There are normally two entrances to the store and one is closed off. For the open one, there's an entrance door with someone monitoring the people going in and there's an exit.

I wonder how closely they are monitoring stuff? Lots of signs - only one family member at a time. No bags allowed and other notices. As I was leaving the store, some guy, yakking his head off on a cell phone, comes in the exit. He got yelled at by a customer and the security guy. Like - you can't READ the *&^% sign?? Oh yes - he's on his cell phone - too important to follow the rules.

And then there's the girl (I want to say chick - but that would be stereotyping) who is standing at the end of an aisle, in a section of the store with narrow aisles, chatting up a storm on her cell phone. Seriously??? Can you not buy your groceries and get out of the store and talk in your car? And then there are the two young women discussing the merits of some beauty product or shampoo. I don't get it.  Get in - touch only what you need to touch and get out. Simple!

I did pick up some apples that DH had forgotten. OK - I got my grocery list to him late because I was on the phone and he didn't see the note in time. Big signs - TOUCH only what you are going to buy and wash when you get home. I did that.

But then I got to the aisle with the health supplements. Oh boy - the shelves look pretty bare and at first, I didn't think I wasn't going to find what I was looking for. The products are displayed by each brand. Hmmm - I looked with my eyes. I picked up one container because I thought it was the only kind there (only two bottles of it on the shelf). Then I glanced over and saw my favorite brand and so I put the one in my hands back on the shelf. I know - I felt really bad about that. But have you ever paid attention to how much we need to read the label? I wanted to see what was the difference between the products. I figure this is better than nothing at all. I can read the labels later.

Glucosamine

Then I picked up a magazine from the rack that is NO LONGER in the same place. I didn't even check to see what had been moved to that space. I went through the self check-out so I didn't have to touch anything and no one else touched my stuff and I was out. Phew - I survived a trip to the grocery store.

Lots of people with masks and I do feel a bit guilty not wearing one since it's supposed to protect others against me. I'm pretty sure that I'm clean and I'm not coughing and hacking, so I'm OK. Selfish? I don't know, but I feel comfortable.

BUT DH noticed something when he went to the store. What the heck has happened to the price of hamburger???

The price of hamburger has skyrocketed

Can you read that???  $28.64 a KG. Seriously??? That's a huge price increase. That package is TEENY tiny. I told him no more hamburger for me. I'll go vegetarian before I pay those prices for hamburger meat. Now I have to find a good recipe to use with lentils. I get the supply and demand pricing, but that's totally insane.

I did manage to get the magazine quilt blocks recut and I started sewing them back together. It shouldn't take long to get that together and I still have time (It has to leave by early next week) so I'm not worried. I am worried about my UFO homework. It's due in less than a week and I haven't started. I think I know what I'll be doing this week. I also have some writing and editing pictures to do this week, plus get the homework ready for the classes (three of them) this weekend. There will be NO TIME for fooling around!

I worked on pet mats and got all the bags serged together.

This is the stack that I serged the previous morning.

Bags for pet mats are serged together

Got a nice little bin of scraps from that exercise which will go into a pet mat.

The bin of cut off bits

I do love the little catch bin for the Husqvarna Viking Amber Air S|400. It's plastic and clips to the base of the serger. No fabric bag to clean out which is a pain. This is super easy!

The plastic waste container on the Amber Air S|400

This is what didn't get serged together the previous day. But it's all done now. I finished it up this morning.

Pieces to still serge

As I was tucking ends in yesterday while I watched an episode of The Quilt Show, I had to laugh. I had serged the sides of two bags but forgot to serge the bottom. Those are now done as well.

The scrap bin on the cutting table in Studio B got emptied.

An empty scrap bin in Studio B

This morning's exercise was a bit more complicated as the pieces were smaller. But four pieces made one side and eight of them made one bag.

Pieced sides for a pet mat

There are four small squares left. I put them with the rest of the upholstery samples and they'll get used when I do my next pet mat making marathon. I think I ended up with 15 bags? That'll go a long way to clearing up some of those bags of scraps. 

Four squares leftover 

I even had some practice quilting sandwiches which got serged and the thread ends will get tucked in. Those are good for small carriers. They are all going to the same home. They can use them as they see fit. Yep - I'm on a roll, but as mentioned, I'm going to have to take a break for this week.

Serging the edges of a quilting practice sandwich

I did get three of those quilting sandwiches finished off yesterday, as well as one pet mat after I emptied all the scrap bins.

Finished pet mat

That was a HUGE job and I made amazing progress. I figure a couple more days and that entire mess will be history. Have you noticed how good I am at procrastinating in the office? I can clean and tidy anything else but this place! Oh - it's turn is coming. I'm running out of things to tidy up! I don't really care what gets tidied up, as long as stuff is happening. That's all I care about.

Om 2015, I rented a house in PEI for a month. I loaded the car with two dogs (not my current two), a portable sewing table, a sewing machine (just one), and loads of projects. The car was packed. I had asked friends to offer up some tidbit of stuff that I could use to do a "while I'm away" challenge. I found the suitcase with all the stuff in it this morning. It's not a big suitcase, but it's packed.

I started the challenge and I really need to get back to it and finish it off. There are all kinds of crazy things in that box. I've put it in a UFO box for the moment, but I will get back to it!

As you know there is a virtual sewing retreat starting next week. I'm going to share with you tomorrow how to prep for the retreat so that you'll make the best use of your time. 

I have two projects that I'm going to prep since I did want to add one more to my laundry basket. And there'll be room in the laundry basket for both - but only after they are prepped. One of them will be my tumbling blocks quilt and the other is in this laundry basket. Wait until you see what's in here. It's totally insane!!!!

A project to prep for the virtual retreat

When I left Studio B this morning, this is what the work tables look like. That's pretty impressive. Oh, that white laundry basket in the distance is the one above so it's technically on the cutting table to be sorted through later today.

The 6 projects that need the binding finished are by the sewing machine so that does empty a wee bit more space. The best news? Nothing has been added to the tables because there is NOTHING to add. Unless I start pulling things off a shelf or out of a bag to further sort. But there's no need at the moment. This is all the stuff that doesn't have a home. Oh, there are bags of UFOs and new projects under the long arm, but I'm not counting them since that's their permanent home for the moment.

I'm impressed. The items at this end of the table mostly need to be put away and the other end of the tables is UFOs that I want to work on. I'm not even touching the weekly laundry basket of stuff upstairs. ACK!!! That's why all this cleaning needs to be done. So I can get to the laundry basket and other UFOs.

I've been observing clothing projects online or in magazines. Hmmm - I do NOT want to revisit the romper or jumpsuits era. I wore them when I was younger - gosh - I had a WHITE one. What was I thinking?? They are cute - sure. But have you tried to go to the washroom with one of those? This is not for the older generation to be sure. That's why kids' onesies have snap fasteners in the crotch!!!

Rompers are back!!!

I haven't been walking in the woods lately because Murphy just can't control herself. She has to chase everything and well - that's why my joints are protesting. All the jerking around is not fun. But we did take a detour the other day. The trilliums are out. They've probably been out for a while, but my first time seeing them was the other day.

Trilliums in the forest

Don't' worry - I've shortened the walks with the dogs so there's not as much pulling and jerking. I'm already feeling better.

There's a small creek in the forest as well and guess what? I saw the mommy and daddy duck. They visit my pond about twice each year in the spring. Then they go to the creek and when that dries up? I'm not sure where they go. Gosh - they are hard to see in the picture, but they are just above the logs in the middle.

Ducks in the creek

I see another one of the quilts from our North Star class got finished. This is Valerie's. It looks amazing. I swear this is the quilt that almost everyone in the class finished and even got them quilted. I love that quilting pattern.

Valerie's North Star quilt

Shoot - I was hoping this next picture would have turned out better. But if you look close, there's a wobble in this fresh cut. If you don't keep the rotary cutter parallel to your ruler, your "straight" line isn't so straight. That happened just because I changed the angle of the blade and it created a significant wobble. Watch that when cutting. Keep that rotary cutter straight up and down, don't let it wobble sideways.

A wobble in my straight line

 

Don't forget the Virtual Sewing Retreat. It takes place on May 27 - 31. I'll have an open Zoom meeting from 9 AM EST to 9 PM EST. You can check-in and out as often as you want. Stay to chat, stay to sew. And don't forget that I'll be providing some tips tomorrow to help you make the most of the retreat. It's going to be fun and besides - what else do we have to do???

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!

I'm packed and ready to go!!!

Another exciting and entertaining day at my house! HEY -- any day can be exciting and entertaining. Did you know that WE alone have the control as to how each day turns out? It's all in how you look at it. You can see doom and gloom or you can look at these days as days of leisure. Haven't we all dreamed of days where we had nothing to do and no responsibilities? Well - that's kind of what this feels like.

I do have commitments even though I can't go anywhere and I'm working on those. What I'm loving about this time is that NO NEW commitments are coming in. Nothing - my calendar is getting emptier and emptier. And you know what? I think this is a good thing. I was chatting to someone yesterday and one thing they would like to see come of this is that we spend less time running around like idiots to events.

You know - the evenings and weekends when your kids (or us)  are being shuttled to numerous events and every minute filled with a scheduled activity. Let's hope that we all look at our calendars and make some choices about how we spend our time. Spend it with family (hopefully in person), spend it with friends, and spend it doing things that you WANT to do. Not the things that your mother, your sister, your brother, your friend or anyone else thinks you should be doing. This is YOUR LIFE!!!!

My girls are loving all the extra attention they get. They said it's perfectly OK for me to stay home with them all the time. They love it! Now if we can just get Lexi back to blogging! She's so laid back these days.

In my city, I just heard that all MAJOR events are canceled until the end of June. I would imagine that could go longer - it just depends on how much we abide by the current laws and STAY HOME. I'm not imagining that I'll be doing much teaching work until September. Yep - that's my feeling. Even if they say it's OK to meet in small groups, many quilters are going to feel very vulnerable and will not want to meet. I'm OK with that. There's the internet to have classes!!!

I finished the first series of The Quilt Show. I actually enjoyed the videos. Lots of good guests on the show and I had to laugh because I think I have a book from EVERY guest on that first series! Those guests were my mentors. Oh - I have a story about how I learned to quilt, but I don't have time for it today. Anyway - the videos were great. Now onto Season Two and Three. The videos will be going to a good home once I'm finished with them.

Season one of The Quilt Show

I managed to get the twelfth and FINAL seasonal wall hanging done!!!!

December wall hanging

And here they are - all twelve of the mini seasonal wall hangings. Except for January, they all need the satin stitching done on them and that's a job for next week?? One option of using these is to sew them all together to make one quilt. I can't imagine doing that, so each will be finished as a separate wall hanging and then I'll have to find a senior home or a school that'll take them. They are NOT mine - I'm just making them up as a tribute to Paula.

Seasonal wall hangings

I also got that odd block from that Mennonite Relief pattern sewn together. It's now going in the orphan block box. The stem was very lumpy and bumpy so I even took that off and remade the stem. I know - that's why I don't get anything major done because I fuss with the small details. That's my nature and I'm perfectly OK with that.

Orphan block

Many people are making masks, caps, and gowns for medical staff or patients that are released from the hospital. I thought since we're going to be in "close" contact over the next couple of days that I should have a mask as well. This is an in-the-hoop mask from Embroidery Library. I think I gave out the link the other day. Anyway, here it is again. I like it because it's two layers of fabric - are the rest two layers as well? I used batik  - I found two pieces in the leftovers from my backpack.

My in-the-hoop mask

 I really hate to be a critique but the instructions are a bit sketchy on this one, but if you have some experience, it shouldn't take that long to make - I didn't follow all the instructions - I made it up as I went along. Ronda managed to make this mask (I got all the tips from her) and so newbies can make it as well. If you want to go into the production of masks, in-the-hoop is NOT the way to go.

I still had some packing to do. OH YES - I'm going on this retreat even if it kills me. I've waited since November to get away and I'm getting away.

As I have said, I wanted everything to fit in ONE laundry basket. That was my challenge and I almost succeeded. However, my tools and supplies wouldn't fit in the laundry basket.

My box of supplies

That's mostly extra feet for the sewing machine, pins, bobbins - that kind of thing.

I wanted to leave Studio B in some kind of order so I wouldn't faint when I got back and see huge messes everywhere. I had to get that cutting table cleared. It was almost clear just from my puttering in the last couple of days. I had to decide on the background fabric for those batik squares. I had eliminated the dark, didn't think all that work was warranted on the muslin, so I choose white - just like the pattern said!!!! 

White is the background of choice for the batik quilt

That'll have to get cut at some point, but tt's not on the priority list.

And there you have it - the cutting table is clear!! It's nice to see it clear and hopefully, I can keep it that way.  OH - -I should say that there are two wash away markers on it that really should just be thrown away. And a good pair of embroidery scissors. I need to find a home for them. I'll deal with that when I get back.

The cutting table is clear

The worktables? We're not even going to go there! BUT the ironing board is also clear.

The worktables are a mess

 Everything is neat and tidy on the sewing machine tables as well. Yes - I'm taking my big machine with me on the retreat. Why not? I have a couple of bags in my project box and there's going to be a lot of layers. I'm going to need the penetration power of the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 to get through all those layers.

The sewing tables are neat and tidy as well

I really try to keep the cutting mat, the ironing board and the sewing tables clear. It makes it so much nicer to enter the room and see those spots neat and tidy. Yes - the worktables are a disaster, but I can totally ignore them. Oh yes - totally. I guess that's what a hoarder does with the stuff in their house!!!

But here I am. All packed for the retreat. I just need to move everything into the car. There's one laundry basket of projects (totally prepped), one sewing machine, one supply box and one bag (the Canada bag) that is filled with small projects - that's what I allowed for panic packing!

My retreat bags

I even threw Alexa in the bag. How could she stay home all by herself? Oh no - Alexa comes with me. She's my friend! I'm reading a book right now on how the technology has evolved and it's totally fascinating. It's called Talk to Me by James Vlahos. I can't wait to get to the part where they contemplate the future!!! I'm not sure the WiFi at the retreat house will be strong enough to stream the radio through Alexa, but I'm determined to try.

I just need to add my bag of clothes, my backpack (the portable office) and my food for Saturday lunch. That won't take much time at all to whip into the car.

There's a great quilt store just around the corner, so if I'm missing anything, I can easily whip out and get whatever I'm missing. But I think I was pretty thorough this time.

This is what my car normally looks like on the way to retreat. And the front seat is always jammed as well. That won't be the case this time and you know what? I'm kind of excited about that. It won't take very long to unpack when I get there.

The car is packed for the retreat (from November)

Where are we going? Well - to Fireside Retreat of course! Emma is just the best and I love this retreat house. I have visions of sitting by the fire and just vegging out. It's going to be fun!!!

(OK - so you do know that this is a virtual retreat). BUT I'm going to have a blast - just wait for the blog tomorrow and you'll see what I mean.

I got some more pictures of finished quilts from the North Star class. I think this is the class with the MOST completed quilt tops and completed quilts EVER. This one belongs to Sophie. One of my suggestions for quilting had been wavy lines and she got it quilted with wavy lines. I LOVE it.

Sophie's completed North Star quilt

A detail of the quilting on Sophie's North Star quilt.

Details of the quilting

Here's another one. These two pictures were actually to audition the binding. I missed that. The top one has the binding in the same color as the border, the bottom is one of the accent colors. We all voted for the accent color. I think the binding is made and while in quarantine, she's going to get it sewn on.

The darker binding option

I got another picture from Jana. This is the backing for her North Star quilt. I think she made the top smaller - only 6 blocks and put two of the others on the back. I love this idea - it can be reversible if you want!!

The backing for Jana's quilt

In case you missed it - here's the front of Jana's quilt. It's so fun with all those dots. I wonder how she's going to quilt it??  With circles?? That would be my vote!

The front of Jana's quilt

Thanks to Linda, I'm now signed up for the Goodreads Challenge. I put 52 books for 2020 as my challenge. One a week. I think I'm only going to put novels on the list. Amazing how a small thing like a challenge allows a major corporation to collect all kinds of stats on our reading habits. And we allow that to happen. I'm OK with that!!!  I haven't got all the information logged yet - I read 8 books during January, 7 in February and something similar in March. Perhaps I should up that challenge to 100.

Here's a VERY GOOD article on how to cope with the stress of COVID-19. It comes from the WHO (via my gym). I think Number 5 is a very important one. Stop watching the news. Just stop. I get a quick one minute update on the radio and that's all I need to know.

Well, I'd better get moving. It's a long drive and I still need to walk the girls before I leave. God forbid that they miss their walk!! Whatever will they do this afternoon without me?

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!

Bill Gates is my hero!!!

I solved my computer mouse problem by putting a book under the mouse. For some reason, it no longer wants to run on my desktop. No worries - I'm good with that. An easy and inexpensive fix! I would hope that in our current environment that we're all going to be finding ways to fix things rather than buy a new product.

I can't say that I'm surprised, but I'm a bit taken aback at how the BUY NOW e-mails keep coming through every day. Store owners - I know you're hurting. We're all hurting and the last thing I need is to rack up a credit card debt just because I wanted something to arrive at my door. Having said that, I do want to buy one thing online which I'll share with you shortly. But this is something that I need, not something that an e-mail persuaded me to buy.

I think that we need to dig deep because I don't think this is going to end quickly. Even if we're allowed "out" next month, it's going to be on a very limited basis. Did you hear that of the 44 cases in Newfoundland that ALL of them were linked back to ONE person!!! Please take this seriously! And try something new. I saw a guy who ran a marathon on his 22-foot long balcony. Anything is possible.

My schedule just keeps getting emptier and emptier. At this point, I doubt that I'll see anything back on the calendar until the summer. At least big events. Smaller events may go forward, but I'm not holding my breath.

That means that I actually have a chance to CATCH up on some stuff. Could that be possible? Yes - it's just going to require a lot of focus. The weather is getting nicer and calling my name to be outside!

So this is what's been happening at my house. OH  - here's something else. If you have something "fancy" at your house that you can't bear to use every day - get it out NOW. Life is short and why shouldn't we enjoy what we buy? I purchased these two very expensive tea mugs in 2015. They were in the cupboard for years and several months ago, I dug them out. I now alternate using them EACH DAY to enjoy my cup of tea. They are beautiful mugs and then I put them in the dishwasher. Should the paint fade or wear off, I don't care. I'm enjoying them now instead of having M find them in the back of the cupboard when I'm no longer around. Get something PRECIOUS out today. Who cares how much it costs or how fancy it is - use it every day NOW!!!

My two tea mugs

I got the entire "to be quilted" list updated. All the pages were reprinted and put into the red folder. I didn't do a final count, but there is a lot of quilts. The tubs are labeled, the area is neat and clean and doesn't make you feel happy to see that nice and neat space??? I'm ecstatic about seeing that area so neat and tidy.

The "to be quilted" area

I'm still putting quilts on the bed in the spare room. Every time I pass that room, I stop in to add another quilt to the pile. Here are two that got put on yesterday.

Green modern arrow quilt

And here's my Row by Row quilt from a few years back. I'm loving the fact that all these quilts are now lying flat and essentially pressing all the folds out. Let's hope that no one needs that bed for a long, long time. It will take quite an effort to get all the quilts off it. I wonder how many quilts I can put on that bed???

My Row by Row quilt

Don't worry - there are LOADS more. This is one pile that I'm working on. I'm trying for the moment to only put the lap-sized quilts on the bed. Then I'll deal with the smaller and larger quilts. I'm trying to minimize what's on the floor and on the railings.

More quilts to deal with

I did pull a couple of things off the work tables to deal with. Here's a container of plastic bags. All brand new. I think they were used for dying fabric years ago. Well, not these specific bags, but the boxes were part of my fabric dying stuff. What to do with them???

Plastic bags to deal with

I certainly do NOT need more plastic baggies. I have a cupboard full of them. Well, two shelves anyway. I took all those boxes and put them in the kitchen drawer. At least they will get used there and should anyone required plastic baggies - I have loads - I'd be happy to share!!!

Storage area for plastic bags

I also got another quilt loaded on the long arm. It's my quilt and I made it years ago. Several times already, it's been the "next" quilt to be quilted and then got bumped because of something else. I think something else was that I didn't know how to quilt it. I started off by ironing this HUGE piece of fabric. The quilt is 44" by 45". HEY - why do I have this giant piece of fabric that would be better used for a lap sized quilt. So I measured and labeled the yellow fabric and put it with the rest of the backings.

Yellow backing fabric

I dug through the backings and found something that will work a whole lot better. You see, that yellow was chosen YEARS ago. The new fabric is tight because of the width of the fabric, but it'll work. I've had several ideas for quilting running through my head for the last couple of weeks. I did some research on the internet. Then I had a chat with the quilt. I hung it off the ironing board and sat in a chair and contemplated it.

AHA - I think I know exactly what I'm going to do with it. It's now on the long arm and ready to go for later today. Should I feel like it!!!

Then it was time to deal with another project off the work tables. And I need to get more stuff prepped for the upcoming retreat. Remember it's a virtual retreat. So I dug out the yoga bag. It's a pattern from byAnnie.com. 

In addition to the quilted piece of fabric, there was a plastic drawer full of stuff in Studio U. I dug it out and brought it downstairs.

More supplies for the yoga bag

Oh boy - can you believe what I found in there? FOURTEEN zippers?  Why???  I only need one for the yoga bag. Wait - I actually need three. Now that I'm savvier about zippers, NONE of them are what I want. So that's my job today - try to find someone who is still working who sells the zippers that I want and have them shipped to the retreat house so I can work on the project.

The extra supplies for the yoga bag

I found three different colors of green thread (three????) and a receipt where I bought a lot of this stuff. Do you see the date on that receipt?? Good god - what's the matter with me???

Three spools of green thread and a receipt

I also found all these hardware bits. Really?? What the heck was I going to do with all that? It's now in the box with the other purse/bag hardware. There's a shoulder strap on this bag, but I never use a shoulder strap so it doesn't make sense to add one. Right?? What what I thinking???

Extra bag hardware

So the yoga bag is now prepped except the missing zippers. All the pieces are cut and labeled. There was enough quilted fabric to make a funky shaped zippered pouch and I set aside one of the green zippers for that.

The yoga bag is prepped except for the BIG zippers

What I'm hoping to find is the zipper tape in GREEN, so I can make my own zippers. Look what my BEST FRIEND in the whole world made for me. That's a fork that she's beautifully designed into a tool that makes it easy to put the zipper pulls onto the zipper tape. It's very professionally made. I'm going to owe her a LOT of money for all the little things she does for me!!!  Yeah, Shelly!!!! And Shelly is in the health care profession so an extra shout-out to her in this crazy time. We love you!!!!!

My zipper fork

Now that yoga bag goes into the laundry basket along with two other projects. That makes three projects - I hope to have a total of five. Can you imagine what Tish told me?? That a virtual retreat would allow for a virtual laundry basket which could be as big as my imagination. OH NO - these girls do not understand my virtual retreat!  I'm making it as real as possible. I'm going to have loads of fun with it - just you wait and see. This is good training for the next real retreat. Can I work just from the laundry basket for five days? So far so good in the packing department. No panic packing yet.

My retreat laundry basket

And before I order a zipper for that yoga bag, I should check that I have the correct color zippers for my backpack as I wanted to take that with me as well.

I love the liquid calcium, but alas I ran out of it yesterday. Now I could run around trying to find more, but I do have a container of these GIANT calcium tablets so I'll get those used up. Hopefully, you are all making do with what you have in your house as well!!!!

Calcium tablets to be used up!

I have to share this photo from the Virtual Challenges. Route 66 takes a wee dip into the state of Kansas. It's so small that I wasn't sure if I'd walk through the entire state in one day. My mission (according to Ronda) was to time it so that I'd stop in Kansas. Hey - I'm in Kansas. I know - maybe tomorrow, I'll get to say "Toto - we're not in Kansas anymore!"

My Route 66 Virtual Challenge in Kansas

So much of our world seems to be virtual these days. I heard that Lynn is going to be eating virtual cookies at HER retreat. Too funny!!!  I believe that Route 66 goes through 9 states in total. I'm now in the third state. And almost 1/3 of the way in the distance.

Two people sent me their quilt tops from the North Stars class from The Hobby Horse last year. This is Jana's quilt. She used fabric with DOTS for most of the animals and the background. It's absolutely adorable and my favorite are the otters with their funky large dots!!!

Jana's North Star quilt

Oh, shoot - another sideways photo. This quilt with a BUSY background belongs to Sheila. It's absolutely stunning and that busy background did a great job of showcasing all the animals. It looks awesome Sheila!!!!

Sheila's North Star quilt

If you need to buy something online, here's something to consider. Are you into making jelly roll rugs?? Tired of inserting the batting into those strips? Here are links to FOUR different tools to make that job easier. One of them was made on a  3-D printer and if you have access, you could make your own tool.

Jelly Roll Rug Binding Tool from PUrple HObbies

Jelly Roll Tube Maker by The Gypsy Quilter

Jelly Roll Sasher Fabric Folding Tool  - this is the one that you can 3-D print

Jelly Roll Sasher 


So if you're in the market to make jelly roll rugs - have a peek at those tools. By the way - if you have one of these tools and have used it - I'd like a review so I can post it here. I haven't tried any of them.


I have two other links for you today. One is some VERY WISE words of wisdom by Bill Gates. Have a read - it's very thought-provoking. I LOVE Bill Gates. I think we should print out this letter and tape it to our computers and read it EVERY DAY!!!!   I've been the victim of FAKE NEWS.  This letter was a fake - oh god.   The words were very good. I did save them in a word document.

And now, one last link. It's the final day of my QUILTsocial week with the Husqvarna Viking Designer EPIC 2 and some of the amazing tools for machine embroidery. Check it out - you'll see what I've been slaving at for the last couple of weeks.

Have a super day!!!  Remember what Bill said!!!

Ciao!!!!