Spring house retreat - that's what friends are for!

There has been much discussion about friends at this retreat. What is a friend? Do you have a friend you could call at 3 a.m. if you need help? As we went about our business yesterday, I looked at my pencil. Oh my!!!

Oh my!!!

I got quite a chuckle from that. 

But a bit of chaos happened at the house earlier in the day. You know what I'm talking about if you saw the picture on Facebook. Those red chairs around the firepit were calling for someone to sit in them. I had no takers. Seriously? We're friends, so why wouldn't someone volunteer to sit in them? Maybe they're not part of my gang after all!

Then Helen Anne said she would take a picture of ME if I sat in one of them. Well, that was all the encouragement I needed. And then it snowballed from there. Everyone else had gone shopping, and only Maryke, Helen Anne, and I remained at the house. Maryke was still in her housecoat. We made hasty plans, Helen Anne got her camera, and away we went! I laughed because someone commented on Facebook that we should be left unsupervised! Thanks for the vote of confidence - Sally! 

Seriously - don't those chairs just scream for a photo op? 

Come sit down - have a cup of tea! 

I have permission to post this, and it's so blog-worthy! Poor Maryke almost fell several times in that deep snow, which was NOT compacted, so she was up to her knees. Why? Because I didn't want any tracks showing how we got to the chairs. We circled around and came in from the back! But I was thoughtful and gave her the chair with the least snow! 

A dedicated friend! Or she's just crazy!

I came in from the other side, where the snow was much more compacted, so I only fell through a few times. I had my running shoes on but no socks. 

Flopping into the chair

We took plastic bags to save our butts from getting soaked. And I should mention that it was starting to drizzle. Also, Diane arrived about when we were getting ready to walk to the chairs. So we had an audience. 

So how's the weather? 

Those chairs were wet with the rain, but the temperature was only minus 1. It was the perfect time because it started to snow heavily snow after, although that would have also been hilarious. 

Oh my - what we do for entertainment! 

And there we are - the crazies. And a HUGE thank you to Helen Anne, who was the instigator of the entire process. We had to go back so I could take a picture of her taking pictures of us. I had my phone with me, but was laughing so hard, I completely forgot!!!

Another true friend 

We had so much fun, and I can't stop laughing every time I look at that photo. I'm uploading it to my Aura frame at home so I can randomly experience our joy. 

Life is way too short not to get out and have fun. Be silly, be crazy - whatever it takes to keep you going! Thanks to Maryke and Helen Anne for a silly and memorable moment. I think it's the best retreat photo of all time. How will we top that one? 

Maybe this has to be a new theme—some crazy setup from each retreat. Hmm—something to ponder. 

The farm excitement of the day was the cutting down of some trees in the back of the house. As you saw, it doesn't;t take much to amuse us!!

Tree cutting and moving in progress

There is no need to worry about running out of propane—the tank has been topped up. This has been a very entertaining retreat! 

Propane delivery

I decided to take some of my MANY bags to the car to avoid having to take it all out on the last day. It was snowing these huge flakes by then. I decided that it was warm enough to go for a walk. 

I wanted to check out the snow on the creek since it was so warm. 

It's not just snow on the water; it has to be partially frozen, as an animal walked right down the center! 

Animal tracks on the creek

But looking at the other side of the small bridge, you could see the water coming through the snow. 

The water is seeping through the snow

And when I walked down to the bridge on the main road, the water was definitely seeping through the snow. 

Water seeping through the snow

On the other side, you could see a little water seeping through the snow. However, it's cold this morning, so I doubt any water will show through. 

The creek on the other side of the road

I swear there are days when I'm regressing in life. Obviously, I had to walk in one direction toward the creek. On my way back, I decided to walk beside my previous steps, so I was coming and going simultaneously! I sometimes do that in the city. Why not make people guess—coming or going? Or both?  

Coming and going!

It was so warm I didn't even have a sweatshirt under my coat. Neither did I have my scarf or a hat! But my jacket, which is so old, it's no longer waterproof, was getting soaked, so it was time to come home. My mittens were also wet from handling the car door handle when I put my stuff in. I seem to have lost my little black gloves from the dollar store. That's OK - they were on their last legs anyway. But where could they be? 

It's getting wet! 

Lots of accumulating snow, and it was WET. 

Heavy, wet snow

So, I bet my water coach wants to know the status. Well, first, I emptied another spool of thread. Why do we have so many partially empty spools of thread? I threw in FIVE partially used spools. Three were close to the end, and all three are now empty! I might look in the box of thread and throw another one in for the next retreat, but that is far away. Still, when one retreat is over, you must replenish the supply box to be prepared! 

Another empty spool

As for the water, I went through two containers and probably half of another one, so I'm happy with that. I'm about 3/4 through the first one today! I will never drink the quantity of water my water coach drinks, but that's OK. I'm doing OK by more than doubling my water consumption, and that works for me. 

I also managed to get some sewing done, but barely. After our little adventure, I returned to my sewing machine to find this. 

Stopped midway

I didn't even bother finishing the seam—that's impulsive. I'm okay with that!

You'll see what I worked on tomorrow, as I'm running out of time!!!!

I have some QUILTsocial blog posts to share with you. Since February is National Embroidery Month, the posts discuss what you can do with an embroidery machine and how to get started. 

The first post explains why quilters need an embroidery machine. OK, so you may not need one, but this first post shows you how to embellish your quilts with machine embroidery. 

Day One - Why a Quilter needs an embroidery machine

Day Two - Supplies needed for machine embroidery

Day Three - Examples of ten of the 36 different machine embroidery techniques

Day Four - Loading designs on the HV Designer Epic 3

Day Five - not posted yet

So much exciting stuff!!!! 

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

Have a super day! Do something so out of character that your family will start to wonder, and that's OK. 

Ciao!!!!

In the neighborhood!

 It's amazing how energized you are in the morning when you have a good night's sleep. If only we could bottle that. The previous night, I had a terrible time getting to sleep - last night, no issue. Now, why is that? 

Well, it doesn't matter - you take the good with the bad and move on! 

I like where we live. I like our neighborhood and our house, and even though the weather can be wild, I don't have to go to sleep with these thoughts on my mind. 

BC fires at night

This is a photo my cousin took off her balcony two nights ago. She lives in Vernon, and while the fire is across the lake, that means nothing. They were NOT on evacuation notice, but many others were, and apparently, RVs are parked everywhere as displaced people flee their homes. While forest fires are part of life, they have increased in severity, and lack of rain isn't helping. So for those that say global warming isn't real? Tell that to everyone who has lost their home. But I won't go there. Let's pray for rain for Western Canada. 

My brother lives in Penticton on the hills surrounding the city. They had to evacuate some years ago as the fires were literally on top of them. It was surreal, as when we drove up the roads after, houses were burned to the ground, and others were not. 

I believe I mentioned that a friend moved to remote Northern Ontario. Well, it's not the most northern that you can go, but it's NORTH for me. I sent her a postcard -- do you remember what it looked like? Here's a picture to refresh your memory. Little did I know......................

Postcard for Heather

Here's a picture that was taken in their driveway the other day. 

The welcoming committee

Hmmm -- I don't think I could have created a better postcard for them!! I laughed when I saw the picture. I'm not so sure that I'd like to live there. While I'm pretty adventurous, and I like to walk and, for the most part, don't think too much about wildlife, if I knew the bears were that prevalent, I might think twice. And can you imagine walking dogs, especially Murphy, in that area? Not happening in my lifetime!!!

Speaking of our mild neighborhood, this was the most exciting thing I saw on the walk yesterday. The previous day, I had noticed a Dad trying to bounce an empty stroller through one of the secondary paths in the forest, which are filled with roots. Did I mention that he was on his cell phone as he attempted to maneuver the stroller with one hand? Why? Why don't people use headphones at least? The kid was wandering off into the forest by himself. The dad was saying, "come back, you're too far away." Well, I won't go there. 

A lost shoe

I bet the kid finally got back into the stroller, and eagle-eye Dad didn't notice when the shoe came off because he was on his phone. Sigh..............................

And I see that they have tried to fix the path once again. Well, the next time it rains (and we have had some pretty hard rains here), all that loose sand is just going back down the hill. They need to pack it or put larger stones on top or pave it or something, but it's just going to do the same thing again. And this is only recently that this has started to happen. In the past 18 years, they've never had to do this. More people walking? More erosion because of more foot traffic? The paths, especially the secondary ones right through the trees, are getting quite worn compared to when we first moved here. 

The repaired path

One more thing about the neighborhood. Should I or shouldn't I???  Do they even know these tomatoes are edible??? 

Tomatoes ripe for the picking

The plants are loaded with tomatoes, and they don't seem to be picking them. The birds don't seem to be touching them. It would be a shame to let them go to waste. These plants are along their driveway in the front of their house. This is the same house where their beautiful flower gardens (and many of them) are totally overgrown with weeds. It's quite messy and a shame because the previous owners really took pride in that house. 

It's time for me to get back to work on my presentations for the fall. I have wanted to revamp some of the content in them for a while - take new photos, make new samples, rearrange the order of the slides, etc. So I started to do that yesterday. I also need to have some of them translated to French. Yep -- I'm going for it - let's do these presentations in French. Don't worry -- I'm practicing, and there's quite a bit that I need to brush upon. But I'll be ready. 

I like to include screenshots of the sewing machine in my presentations since it's a challenge to do some of the stuff live. And you know what they say - a picture says a thousand words. Now, if you've ever taken pictures of the screen of a sewing machine, which I'm sure you never have, it can be a challenge. The PFAFF creative icon is particularly troublesome because of the black screen and its angle. 

Have a look. This is what the photo looks like if you just take a picture. Tons of reflection and not very professional. 

Loads of reflection

What to do??? Well, I now tuck something black on the bed of the sewing machine to cut the glare. I could also turn down the lights, but just covering it is fast. Then I put something black on the table right in front of the screen. But that's still not enough. I finally had to wrap my phone in black fabric to prevent the phone's reflection onto the images. And lastly, I use a giant black reflector to cut the glare from the overhead lights. Thank goodness, I can use voice commands for my phone to take pictures. Oh -- the phone is on a tripod. It's quite complicated but well worth it. 

Taking screenshots of the PFAFF creative icon

Here's the raw shot - no glare. 

No glare!

And then I crop out the excess to get a nice shot. I know it looks a wee bit crooked in the photo, but that's an illusion. I think the angle of my camera is just slightly off from the angle of the screen. 

The cropped photo

Wait --- these are for a presentation in French, so I have to switch the language in the sewing machine and then retake the photos. I have to do that for ALL the photos in the future. Twice the work! But hey --- it's worth it. Learning lots every day. 

Same photo - en Francais

My other big learning curve yesterday was this. I bought a new speaker. I really just wanted something like Susan and Katheleen had with Bluetooth. But DH said NO - I need Bluetooth AND Wi-Fi. OK -- so he's right - better to get both connections. 

I thought it would be simple to set up. But NO -- I have a separate account from him, and well, that wasn't happening. I get so frustrated when technology doesn't work. 

New Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker

So he called their support, and they ended up connecting to my phone to see the log-in process, and we had the support person on speaker on DH's phone. All while we were sitting on the deck outside. And it took several tries and about a half-hour, but by golly -- she made it happen!!!!  I still have to make the Bluetooth connection, but I'm sure that'll be easy. 

What did I learn?? If there's a screen on your phone that you do NOT want, including during the log-in process, you can swipe DOWN to get rid of it. That may not work for everything, but it's what I needed to do to connect to my account. Who knew??? 

Well, I've run out of time. The next quilt is loaded on the long arm. I have more pictures to take today, embroidery samples to make, presentations to whip into shape, and I have to finish cleaning up Studio B. It's rather messy at the moment. 

Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!

The photoshoot

Yesterday, my phone wouldn't stop ringing. I can go for days without the phone ringing. People send texts mostly which works for me, but I had a couple of long calls to take yesterday and then it was crazy how many other people called me.

My poor phone even died at one point! So while I did accomplish a lot, I was supposed to be working at the computer. Which I did in between phone calls.

Near the end of the day, I ran to the mailbox. Oh, a big white envelope. That usually means advance copies of a magazine. Sure enough - there was the September/October issue of Quiltmaker. What's in this one??? I have several quilts waiting to be published.

OH - it's the one with the Designer Spotlight and I was one of the designers chosen for that issue. I'm so excited about it. Happy dance!!!!!!

Do you remember back a couple of months ago that I cleaned all the quilts off the railing in my house? Where did they go?? They were used for a photoshoot which of course, I didn't want to tell you. Here are some outtakes from that photoshoot.

This was the original picture of SOME of the quilts hanging out on my upstairs railing.

Quilts hanging out on the railing

I thought I'd fold them all and put them in stacks to use as a backdrop. That was a LOT of folding. My upper body got quite the workout that day.

Then to test the shot. The camera is sitting on a tripod and I'm testing using the self-timer. Gosh - I'm still in my PJs. And yes - there's a helper although she wasn't much of a helper. But she made it fun for the photoshoot!

Test shot

PHEW - that's a lot of quilts. This isn't any of the small ones and NONE of the ones "to be quilted". Those are all mine and mostly ones that I've made. There might be one or two that I've acquired along the way. There's me sitting on my tuffet!

Me with my quilts

Then Miss Murphy said she wanted to be in the picture too. OK - then get in the picture. It's always a challenge with pets and a 10-second timer. Let's just say that Murphy and I had a LOAD of fun as we did this photo shoot. You'll have to buy the magazine to see what photo actually made it in.

Oh, Murph!!!!!

Here's the cover of the magazine. It's the September/October issue of Quiltmaker. It's probably not on the newsstand quick yet, but it'll be out very soon.

September/October issue of Quiltmaker

 There's the title on the page - Designer Spotlight - on ME!!!!!

Designer Spotlight!!!

I was running around with a camera in my hand for a good part of the day and still didn't get a photo of the gingerbread block. That's a story for another day. But I do have a picture of the quilt that I quilted two days ago. It's a panel and needs to have the binding on as it's a gift. Flannel front and back. I found this in my kit collection when Ronda and I went through it. That saved me buying a new one!!!

Baby quilt of mine - quilted!!!!

With all the interruptions yesterday and I had to teach a class last night, I didn't get around to quilting a quilt, but I hope to get that done today. I have a wee bit of some urgent computer/sewing machine work to tidy up today. Ronda's trying to be my assistant and helping me with the deadlines! I'm good - just had one too many days of fun!

I thought I would share this Row by Row video with you. The Row by Row has been going on for several years. I think it's petering out, but there are still shops participating. I stumbled across a collaborative quilt (eight shops got together to make a coordinated quilt top from their blocks) three years ago. It's become a tradition for us to collect the blocks for those collaborative quilts. Check out the video and you'll see. Our trusty navigator, Laura, has made it happen three years in a row. It's quite the day, but we manage to hit all 8 shops in one day. No small feat considering that some of them close at 3 PM on a Saturday.

Don't forget that it's my week for blogging on QUILTsocial. Check out the little wall hanging that I made.

So much more to share - I'm surprised my computer isn't protesting over the number of photos sitting in Photoshop to be edited. So far so good, but I MUST clear that today!!!

OH before I go, I have to share this with you. Elle left a comment on my blog about buying stuff. I think her financial yardstick is AMAZING.

value every purchase in hours of life (the price of an item divided by hours to earn it). A VERY helpful tool in money management.

Isn't that just the BEST financial advice ever????   Thanks, Elle!!!!  You can read the rest of her comment at the end of yesterday's blog.






Have a super day!!!!!

Ciao!!!

Celebrities!

What a totally crazy day!  All I can say is THANK GOODNESS for IKEA bags. While I did not end up using them all, I used most of them in order to make that stuff disappear. It didn't really disappear - it got repositioned.

The tables were mostly clear and I managed to stuff all the goodies into the bags and carefully "hide" them under the tables.

Under the table storage

Under the table storage - side view

 OK - so a few boxes and bags did get moved out of the room entirely but only because I had run out of under the table storage space.  This is going to be a lesson to me. NO MORE BUYING. NONE. No trading. No swapping.

And there was one bag that ended up upstairs as it was moved because the space the bag was occupying was needed to position a light.

Bag that went upstairs and then came back down

Now I know that you want to know what this was all about. Well, technically I can't give you the details. Nope - none!

However, I will say this. As Audrey pointed out yesterday, the only thing that would make her clean up like this would be a photo shoot. And technically she's right. EXCEPT - it wasn't really a photo shoot. It was more of a TV shoot!  YES - how exciting is that. Lights! Camera! Action! The number of people in the house and the amount of equipment - well I have no idea. Let's just say there were a lot of people - double digits for sure!

We even had quilting "extras" who were called in with 24-hour notice and good sports they all were. But since one of the extras (Nancy) was willing to drive all the way to PEI several years ago to spend a week at the beach quilting with me, I thought she would be crazy enough for this opportunity. Ronda, who I've done a few road trips with - like all the way to MSQC and one day in the state of New York so we could visit eight quilt shops in one day. And let's not forget Audrey and Marilyn who are willing to drive anywhere. Matter of fact, the last time I saw them was in Houston where Marilyn picked up a ribbon for a prize on one of her quilts. All four of these girls are pretty crazy and they mercilessly harassed the crew (in a nice way of course!).  So if the crew thought that quilters were calm and quiet before, I bet they went home with a whole different perspective of quilting.

So what did the rest of my house look like? Never one to lose an opportunity, I opened the cupboards, unfolded the piles of quilts and this is what I got. Sorry - the pictures are dark as I had to take them early this morning.

But one of the reasons we bought the house was so that we could display quilts on this gorgeous railing.

The red/white section

The general section

The hallway upstairs

 And WHY or WHY - didn't I find another quilt to put on that quilt rack instead of the reverse side of that pink quilt?????  I know they did an interview upstairs, but I've no idea what happened or what was said or even what angle they shot. And how much of any of this gets into the show  - well that's anyone's guess.  This isn't about me per se - I'm the quick little consult with an industry (quilting) expert.

This is the quilt display downstairs.

Quilt display area in the basement

All in all, I think we impressed everyone. I impressed myself that I could turn that space around so quickly and I even managed to sneak in a manicure yesterday. Although here's what the manicurist said to me - "When did you know about this shoot? And why did you wait until the last minute to clean?"  DAMN HER!  She was very nice and not accusing - just making conversation!

Sorry - can't give more details than that at the moment. The episode airs in May and I'll provide more details and pictures at that time unless I slip and drop a hint or two in the next couple of weeks. Of course, I would never come right out and say what the show was so you may have to play detective.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!


And now back to boring reality. Although when I was photocopying some stuff for one of the crew, we were chatting and it becomes very routine for them!


PS   - the draw and the winners.  I did the draw yesterday and the three winners were e-mailed. I'm still waiting to hear back from two before I publish the names. So if you didn't get an e-mail from me last night, I'm sorry. But stick around - there's always something good for a laugh on the blog!