One more quilt done!

Another deadline bites the dust!

I got the quilting done on my Trend Tex challenge. Then it was time to put the binding on. Hmm - this was a bit complicated, and despite the small size, it took a bit of finagling to get that binding on. I was almost finished when I noticed a wee glitch. No one is going to see that - well, they might, but it's a design element now.

Because the binding was a bit unusual, I had to hand stitch it down. The hanging sleeve got attached, as well as a label. Then I walked it over to the post office. I had two options to send it - Regular post, which will take about 6 to 7 days for $12.30. Or I can send it Express Post, which will take about 3 to 4 days for $12.60. Those aren't the exact prices, but the difference between the two was about 30 cents.

That was an easy decision - I'll take Express Post, please. I have to say that I'll continue to go back to this post office. Even though the quilt got put into a bubble wrap envelope, the employee does NOT hassle you whether this is printed material or whether it fits through the slot and therefore qualifies to be shipped as a parcel. Nope - she just took it, weighed it, and gave me a price. I like this lady!!!

I now have a tracking number, and so I can watch the progress. If the quilt arrives before July 22, it will be judged with the other Trend Tex quilts. If it doesn't, it'll still be auctioned off with all the Trend Tex challenge quilts - whenever that happens. I believe it's sometime in September. I'll let you know.

In the meantime, you do not get to see my quilt, but I LOVE it. It turned out exactly how I thought it would. Depending on what other quilts are in the show, I may have to buy it back! Isn't that crazy? The Trend Tex challenge has always been a fundraiser for CQA, and why not participate? I learn so much from making challenge quilts.

More than ever, we need to be supporting our local stores, our local organizations, our local whatever. If we don't, then we won't have them, and that would be a shame.

Speaking of the mail, the mail from the US is super slow. I'm waiting on a package that was shipped weeks ago. It's for a magazine project that is due on July 23. Let's see - today is July 16. I should be putting the quilt in the mail today. I still haven't received the fabric. And it happens to be a project that I was going to need some experimenting with. I don't think that's going to happen. Let's just wing it together. It may need to get moved to another issue since I can't do a thing at the moment.

While I did the hand-stitching on the challenge piece, I watched more of BluPrint. I heard that it's going to become Craftsy again. Even though I have a membership, I don't seem to be getting the e-mails. I need to check into that. You can read all the news on the link above.

Do you know how much time is required to research and write all these follow up e-mails? It's totally crazy. I got a lot of that done yesterday, but I still have a few more to follow up today.

Speaking of Quilt Canada, I want to send a big thank you to Mary Ann. I received this pin in the mail a couple of weeks ago, and it's been sitting on my desk to acknowledge!! Yes - we have spent some great times at Quilt Canada, and I think she is a permanent volunteer to hang the Trend Tex Challenge. Sadly, that didn't happen this year. But I have this pin to remember what could have been and to remember Mary Ann. Thanks so much!!!!

Quilt Canada pin

Next year, Quilt Canada is in Mississauga. I'll be there. Hopefully, we'll be past the point of wearing masks wherever we go.

The girls and I walked through the forest on our morning walk. Well, part of the walk was through the woods. I had to laugh - the forest was treated for gypsy moths in June. And there's this moth stuck right in a tree. Now, why is that? We seem to have a LOT of moths at our house this year. Not sure why.

A moth stuck on the tree

 I was sitting at the table having dinner last night and was snapping photos of the birds at the feeder. I was questioned as to why I was taking selfies! HA!!! Apparently, I spend too much time on my phone at dinner. But I was snapping photos - of the birds, of the girls.

Birds enjoying the bird feeder

Remember how I chatted about stopping to see the roses? Well, when I opened this picture this morning, I was shocked to see that basketball net in the background. I don't remember that being there. The shed, yes, but the basketball net? Where did that come from???

I just checked. Oh yes - that basketball net is indeed in the neighbor's backyard. In the photo, it looks like it's right in front of the shed, but in reality, it's not close to the fence at all—just a quirk of the camera angle.

I put in a lot of KM yesterday with the walk to the post office and my two regular walks. I did double duty on the walk to the post office. I stopped at the grocery store, which is in the same plaza, and picked up some stuff that I needed. I love leaving my car parked in the driveway!

I've noticed this manhole cover on my evening walk and finally stopped to take a picture last night. This is an interesting way to say that there is water below. There's another one that I must get a picture of tonight.

Manhole cover with a fish on it

Way more interesting than this one, which just says Danger Water. Boring!!!!

Man hold cover

So here's another funny thing that I've seen on my walks and in many places around the city and even in the country.

I'm guessing this is some kind of vent. But a vent for what? It makes me smile because I think of it as when the earth needs to pass gas! Instead of blowing a hole in the ground, the gas can be released through these vents. But why? Why do we need these vents? I can understand in the city although there are no houses near this vent, but why are they needed in the country? What are they connected to under the ground?

So two quilts down for this week and well, there's still a couple more to go! And I have homework to get finished for Vintage Christmas. All in a day's work. Don't worry, I'm not overworking by any means. I did spend a fair amount of time outside reading. After the package was delivered to the post office!

Don't forget the Virtual Retreat this coming weekend. I can't wait. I've got several quilts that need binding and TWO quilt tops that I want to assemble. It's going to be fun to sew along with all of you. I hope you can stop by for a few minutes to say hi or stay all day!

The Virtual Retreat is Saturday, July 18, and Sunday, July 19.  It will run from 9 AM to 8 PM  EST.
Here's the Zoom link for Saturday.

Join Zoom Meeting SATURDAY, JULY 18 9:00 AM EST https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84059623529?pwd=aVF6SnN4N1IzeHBxRGJsWWJmOFZjQT09 Meeting ID: 840 5962 3529 Password: 905818


On that note, I'm out of here for today.

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!

Making new friends

Can you believe? I didn't take a single picture yesterday. Well - just pictures of the ice on the sidewalks which I still need to write a letter about. There's just not enough time in the day. No - I spent most of yesterday fiddling with technology. Shooting videos to be precise!

You see, I wanted some videos to go along with the Vintage Christmas and Christmas Fig Sew Alongs that start today!! I'm super excited and I'll be sending out e-mails to the two groups later today. I was hoping to have all the videos done as well. However, I ran into trouble.

In case you're thinking that I waited until the last minute - I did not! I started the videos a couple of days ago. Plenty of time to shoot them and edit them. But first, the microphone didn't work. I watched a YouTube video and realized that I might need a new cable. It was New Year's Day when I discovered that so I couldn't check with anyone. Well, after a trip to the mall where I couldn't find a cable, I called the store where I bought the microphone and OH MY - I have all the cables - I just didn't attach them properly.

Back home to shoot the videos. Got them all shot and went to edit - darn the camera wasn't in the right spot! Oh, it was in the right spot, just that the top of my head got cut off. I had already shot some of the videos without the microphone and I needed the microphone. It's all a learning experience!

I'm happy to report that ONE video is done and three more to go. The more you do, the easier it becomes. Once I get this technology nailed down, I should be good to go in the future. What I need is a tripod stand for my iPad Pro. They don't make one for the big iPads so I'm going to have to find something else. In the meantime - I found a solution.

Of course, when I went to upload the video, I had issues with a password. So the video isn't uploaded yet, but I'm hoping to have that resolved later today. See - technology tries every which way to get me!

It's not too late to join the Sew Alongs if you want to join in the fun. Next Friday is the cutoff to sign up. There are two separate Sew Alongs and they are $25 each to join. Check out this link to see the two Sew Alongs.

The other way that I spent my day was messing around with my Virtual Challenges. Oh boy - this is quite the thing to get set up, but I think we have it done now. If I were doing it alone, that would be OK, but NO all four members of the Quilt Posse are doing it and we wanted to see each other's progress on the map. Well, that took a wee bit of effort, but thanks to Ronda, we're good.

The total distance of Route 66 that we're walking in 2020

It's actually pretty cool how they can take your mileage from your FitBit and map it onto Google Maps. I love it. We've just started, but I'm outside Chicago now. The others are hot on my tail!

The progress of the Quilt Posse members

To reach LA by the end of the year, I have to walk 6 miles more or less each day. Yikes - that's a big commitment. I did walk to the mall so I was good yesterday and I'm .7 mile ahead of schedule. I'm crazy about tracking numbers like this so I know I'll do it. Even if I have to go for a walk at the end of the day to make up the numbers which I guess is the point of the whole exercise!

There are going to be some days which present a challenge - such as being in meetings or teaching, but I'll find a way to make it happen. There's lunch hour to take a walk and before and after class. I'm in meetings/training all next week - so I'll have a good time to practice making up those steps.

I swear it helps so much (with my steps and my weight and my health in general) to do my errands or the majority of them without using the car. The bank, the dentist, the hardware store, the library, the mall, and even the grocery store. It's all within walking distance of my house so why would I take my car? Walking is so much healthier and you get to checkout what's going on in the neighborhood and no idiot drivers to deal with, no parking to find. I love it! And at the end of this year, if things go well, we're supposed to have a huge movie complex at the mall. With Virtual Reality - oh yes - I want to try that.

Well, here's a quilting thing for you today. And I swear I read in the paperwork that the sign-ups started today, but NO - registration started yesterday. It doesn't matter - you can still sign-up. This is called the Quilt Canada Mini Swap. You do not need to be a member of the Canadian Quilters Association to sign up. The deadline to sign-up is January 23. Then you'll get assigned a "friend" who has similar tastes in fabric and quilting styles as yourself. You will make each other a mini quilt based on those likes and dislikes. The idea is that you'll swap at Quilt Canada in Edmonton in June of this year. WAIT - even if you're not going to Quilt Canada, you can still participate. It just means that you'll mail your mini quilts.

This is going to be so much fun. I've already signed up. A mini quilt (maximum size is 24" square") doesn't take that long to make. DO NOT worry if you're a beginner - they'll assign you to someone else who is a beginner and so your skill levels should be similar.

I participated in this kind of a swap last year for QuiltCon in Nashville. It was a riot as Katherine and I e-mailed back and forth to get to know each other better. Then we met at QuiltCon and exchanged our quilts. You can see us in the blog post and the quilts that we made for each other.  It even transpired into a road trip to North Carolina last year to see Katherine and her quilt shop.

Get yourself together and SIGN UP!!!!  Apparently, a lot of people signed up yesterday - I don't know if they have a cut off for the number of people, but you'd better get signed up BEFORE January 23. Come on - this is the year you are going to branch out and do something new! And seriously - if you need help coming up with an idea - ask me! Everyone else does!! I don't mind a quick brainstorming session to help out.

Here's something else to ponder this morning. We need more of this to get the younger generation sewing. Way to go!!!!  How can we do more of this in the schools?? The problem for us quilters is that we're a bunch of old ladies - we don't have the same wow factor as athletes!!

On that note, I've got a couple of e-mails to get out before Ronda comes over so we can finish our backpacks. Hopefully, we finish them today! I need to get back to sample making!!! And finishing those other videos.

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!