Sorting and decluttering

So --- did you give any thought to those almost completed UFOs that could be done in 60 minutes or less? 

I stared around Studio B, and oh boy—the number of projects I found in that category would blow my mind. I'm not even tempted at this point to group them. So this is what I started with. Two pet mats were sitting beside the serger; all they needed was one seam to close them up and tuck the ends in. 

Two pet mats - DONE

And now they are done and sitting in the Pony Express area. Seriously? That took less than five minutes! I wonder what I'll work on today. But what a nice feeling and a quick win! How many more quick wins can I get? I have no idea, but I must remember to tackle one daily! 

The other thing I tackled yesterday was the drawers of beads. There were four of them, and they were a mess. So while we had Monday Sewing, I started sorting them. OH MY GOODNESS—what an eye-opener. 

The mess of bead stuff

Then I started to sort. I'm not ready to get rid of the beads yet, and now that they are sorted, I may actually find a use for them. There is one drawer for seed beads, one for funky beads, one for kits (those I should probably find a new home for), and one for tools. How many pairs of jewelry pliers does one person need? Wait! Don't you buy another when you can't find the first pair? I honestly do NOT know what went on in my head sometimes!

Sorting the bead stuff

And now the beads are all neatly stowed back where they were. 

The bead drawers are sorted

Should I need something (like sequins), I know exactly where they are. I have many sequins and want to keep them as I need them occasionally. Did I get rid of anything? I found many larger beads, and someone mentioned they could use them for fidget quilts, so that bag is on the Pony Express. 

Beads that were donated

I also found this fabric. Oh gosh—it was designed by Mark Lipinski and the collection was called Katmandu by Troy Corporation. I remember buying it to bead it. I can't remember if it was made for that, but I found lots in the drawer. I will never put beads on that, so the fabric went into the stash—or it will later today. Yep—the cutting table needs to be cleared again! 

The fabric that I was going to bead

Here's the thing -- you can't yell at me for continuing to mess up the cutting table. Anything that has a home and needs to be put away goes on the cutting table, and it then becomes a quick task to put it away. If something doesn't have a home, it sometimes doesn't make it to the cutting table, as I need to think of where to store it. 

Now, something amusing happened at Monday Sewing. One of the ladies asked if anyone knew of a Lori Holt pattern called Bee Happy. It's a cute pattern and YES - I know of it. She bought the book at her thrift shop for less than $2. But you need the templates to make the quilt, which I think is a real money grab by the designer. Sorry, but true. At some point in my life, I found the templates or bought them for some reason, but didn't buy the book. So between the two of us, we could easily make the quilt. 

The big question is where I stored those templates. I'm going to start looking later today. The bag would have gone into a basket or box of other odd things. Hmmmm—that could be anywhere. I know exactly what the bag looks like! 

While I have made a lot of clothing in my time, I've never done much with changing a pattern. But now, I'm trying to eliminate a bust dart. Oh yeah!! I've got it figured out, but I need to redo it today as I wasn't 100% happy with how it turned out. Well, it turned out, but my pattern is too flimsy, so I need to start with a piece of paper, not the pattern I had originally traced onto a lightweight stabilizer. 

Eliminating a bust dart

I think I mentioned that the deadline for the Cherrywood Challenge was this past week. I got mine in 20 hours before the deadline. Carla (the owner of Cherrywood Fabrics) posted a short video the other day about the number of quilts they received. The first year, when Wicked was the theme, they had 114 entries, and the number of entries has varied over the years. Last year (Poppy theme) was a record at 465 or something like that, and this year, that number was blown out of the water! I figured the number of submissions would be high based on the theme, Abyss. 

Do you want to hazard a guess? Sit down, as the number is insane!!!

Number of Cherrywood challenge entries

That's incredible!!!! The colors were fun to work with, and the theme was fun, so I could see why people wanted to enter. Now, the crazy job of three mystery jurors is to select 225 of the 570, which will form the official traveling show and the book. I've seen a few of the entries on IG, and none of them look like mine, nor did anyone use the techniques I used. But what are the chances of getting selected? It all depends on those three jurors and what they are looking for. 

If mine doesn't get in, I'm not worried. I'm just thrilled that it actually got done and I LOVE it. This is the kind of thing I'd like to spend more time doing! And I could potentially use those seed beads on something like this, but there was no time! 

Apparently, they got many entries in the last 24 hours (mine included) and many in the final hour. I wouldn't leave an online entry submission to the last hour! That would tempt the fate of technology, which would fail for me! 

I'm reading an ebook and listening to an audiobook, and both flip back and forth in the timeline. They're quite different, so they're easy to keep separate. But I'm reading to the point in both where I NEED to know what is happening or what is going to happen. Hmmm—how do I manage to squeeze that into my day? 

So while I was curled up in my chair last night, guess who was trying to entertain me. Her ball had been hidden earlier in the day, and she had fun unwrapping it, but she didn't succeed in getting it out of the stuffie! You are not done, Murphy!

MOM -- are you watching me? 

We've had some rain, but enough to generate this growth? This is growing on a section of a tree chopped down several months ago. It's crazy that the fungi grew that much! 

Fungi on a log

So what is with this weather? It's crazy and cold. DH is away again and sent me a picture of the temperature where he is. It's 35 Celsius there, and it's 3 Celsius here! I bet he's glad he's away again! 

It's a pretty wide-open week, but I have writing to do and some prep for the weekend classes—only two. What will I do with all my free time? Don't worry—I have quilts to quilt, that writing to finish, and trying to find those templates! 

Plus, I will try hard to work on one 60-minute or less project daily! That is more of a memory thing than a time thing! That would clear up a huge amount of space! How about you? Are you onboard? Just think how much you will appreciate it, and it's not a big deal to get those done. Even if you do nothing else in the day, get one of those done each day, and you'll be way ahead of the game. 

And I don't mean that my memory is bad—it's just that until it becomes a habit, things like that tend to get sidelined by other things! 

On that happy note, I'm out of here! It will be a silly day, and I might as well get it started. 

Have a super day!

Ciao!!

Play Dates

OK - I took TWO days in a row for play days. Even better, M was with me for both and we had a lot of fun!!!!

Well over a year ago, I had admired a bead on Lisa's sewing bag.

The BEAD that started it all!!!!!

We had the intention of getting together and making beads forever. We finally settled on a date and I zipped up to Lisa's on Thursday.  I found my box of FIMO and we were set.


Have a quick look at what we did.............................

Getting started - WARMING up so to speak!!!!!

My first attempt

Getting those colours blended

Final beads!!!

M's first attempt

The end result

Nancy

Nancy's beads

She was way more creative than we were and made all shapes of beads

More of Nancy's beads

There was PLENTY of OOOHING and AAAHING as the day went on. It was loads of fun.

Lisa'a roll of clay

Lisa demoing how to roll the beads

One more colour combination by ME

Colours softened up and ready to roll!!!!

M's second colour scheme

No M, YOU CANNOT hide from me and my camera!!!!!!

Retaliation I see - that is ME hard at work making my beads!!!!

Yet ANOTHER colour scheme by me

Work it!!!!!

Can you believe that THIS came from those three colours above?????

Yes - indeed - pretty cool

OK - LAST one - I got on a roll!!!!!!

Pretty cool - tiger stripes!!!!

Then FANCY NANCY really got into the groove (she cheated and came with a bunch of notes of techniques she had seen on the internet!!!!)

Blending two colours

Not quite what she was aiming for, but cool

Clay STEAK anyone?????

Then Nancy got REAL fancy - look at this!!!!!

Add some blue and roll it out!!!!

Hmmmm - what is it going to look like?????

Hurry up!!!!!

So cool!!!!!!!   - but where is the green????

Still no green - but these look like candy!!!!

Could make a cool flower

Ah - there is the green - a little work on the technique and cutting will be necessary, but great fun playing around

A flower?????

Bottom line - we came home with a LOT of beads...............................

Of course - I am all excited about clay and requested two books from the library. At least - I didn't buy any books. Oh and the clay I promised Lisa I would leave at her house - NOPE - I brought it back. Am I bad or what??????   And what will we do with the beads???   Well - now we have to make bags or something to put them on!!!!!

In between play dates - I managed to get some other stuff done........................

While I am managing to get those HST sewn and trimmed for the Bonnie Hunter mystery - I still have all these to sew together yet!!!!!!

To be trimmed

Sewn and trimmed!!!!!

I see she posted Part 7 of the mystery yesterday and Part 8 (the last part) will be posted tomorrow. I am not even done ONE part. Oh well - I knew that when I started and who starts an INTENSE mystery at Christmas??????   Well we must not question the designer's logic because there are a LOT of people who are up to date with this mystery. Obviously they are groupies and have NOTHING else in their life happening. I will get it done, just on my own schedule.

Another opportunity to use the Tucker Trimmer. (Don't worry - I bought them for myself - I just don't have them yet)
This is a NEW project, but it is for the on-line Long arm class that I am taking on New Year's Day. I did it last year and really learned a LOT so I decided to do it again. Got to get the top pieced. I have started - does that count??????

Got my Mystery #2 from This n That quilted AND the binding is on. I got not quite half hand stitched on last night 

Note the cool quilting. That BOTTOM LINE thread hides a multitude of sins. And my Mega Quilter performed very nicely - black on the bottom - white on the top and NO thread pops - top or bottom. I love that machine. 

Did minimal quilting on Mystery #1 from This n That and got the binding stitched on. I want to do more quilting, but the batting was bugging me so I cut it off and will do more later. 

yes -as 2011 draws to a close - I am on a ROLL. I have high hopes of getting lots done. Now it is NOT just the end of the year - I have FINALLY got my room so that it works for me. All my machines are up and running - I NEED them to be like that - can't be switching one in and out. It just doesn't work. All my projects are on the shelf (OK - that's a lie), but they are organized (for me) and I am set. What is sad is all the projects that I know I won't be able to touch this year BUT if I can get all this done this year - then YES - I can pull out some other projects and get them done in 2013. AND even more important try to complete everything so the problem isn't getting compounded.

I want to be like Robin. She posted on Facebook a couple of days ago that she had to finish hand stitching a couple of bindings on baby quilts and then she has NO UFOs. I mean that is just SICK!!!!!    I could never be without a UFO.


OK - so that was play date number one. What did we do on play date number two?????   At first I thought it wasn't going to happen because the weather yesterday morning wasn't all that great. The roads were slippery - but I decided to forge ahead. The only problem was we got off to a late start - M doesn't seem to have any concept of TIME. Instead of leaving the house at 8:30 - we left at 9:30 and by the time, I did a couple of errands (including putting gas in the car) it was almost 10 by the time we hit the road. Want to know where we went??????


Here is a clue.................................

Yup - we went to the US for a shopping day

Sure is a LOT of cameras at the border

Since I don't go to the US often and I don't have a map of the area - I knew I could NOT rely on my memory to get us where we needed to go and we could NOT rely on our "iFriend" technology since we did NOT want to pay roaming charges in the US. After consulting with Mary and Marian, I got addresses for a number of places. I wrote them down and since I was driving - M was in charge of the GPS. Well - after we got across the border - and the GPS took us through several turns - I am thinking - I have NEVER been this way before and had no clue where the heck we were going.

However, both the GPS and M came through with flying colours. Instead of going over the TOLL on Grand Island - we took the scenic route along the north shore and it was a great drive. We saw this yard on the way there but didn't have time to take pictures - well wouldn't you know it - we ended up on the same road on the way back and got the picture this time.

That's a LOT of lawn ornaments

Here is a better shot

So yes - it was NOT the fastest, but we had fun. Lunch at Arby's (where the Wi-Fi was NOT working). Try saying these three words - although they are spelled similar they are NOT pronounced the same - interesting......

ONE is NOT pronounced like the others

Having lunch

And let's give a round of applause to Arby's. I only had TWELVE US dollars on me. I asked the guy if they took debit - he said yes. So we ordered. It came to 13.45 (or something like that). He tried my debit - it didn't work. Oh - this is from Canada he asks???   Yes - Oh - they do NOT work in their machines. Crap!!!!   He said - no worry. He gave us a 10% discount and then "ate" the 40 cents or whatever was still owing. How cool is that!!!!!    Thanks Arby's!!!!!

We managed to get Wi-Fi at Barnes and Noble and I learned something about my iPad - thanks to M. Do you know how to do a Screen Shot with your iFriends??????    Saves taking notes - I LOVE it. Anyway - we found a geocache close to where we were. I have NEVER done any caching in the US - imagine that!!!!   Like I said - I rarely go there.

M found the first cache

This is the location of the second which I found. In the distance is the border to Canada. The GPS took us back the same road to this cache. The AVOID tolls must have been on. 

Anyway  - I always find with geocaching that you end up in little corners of the area that you would normally NEVER stop at. It was great.

Oh yes - and then M did a GREAT thing. Well - it happened earlier in the day. We were going to Joanns and I had tried to find coupons on-line, but no success. At one point - we had too much to carry so I asked her to get a cart. She gets a cart and when we got to the cash- I noticed a coupon in the bottom of the buggy. TEN PERCENT off the entire purchase!!!!!!    That was a GREAT FIND!!!!!!!

The weather was perfect in the US - no snow. The sun was out, the temperature was 7 degrees. It was a gorgeous day. I am so glad we ventured out.


Then back to Canada..................................

Gorgeous view - too bad we are on the bridge and can't get out of the car to get a better picture!!!!!

We saw so many more things that would have made cool pictures. I MUST train M better. She just sits there and looks - GRAB the CAMERA - I am shouting!!!!!    But all in all - she did GREAT. The GPS got us where we needed to go and we got great pictures!!!!!


Then we had ONE MORE stop.

Quilting Bee in Fonthill

This is the NEW location of The Quilting Bee in Fonthill. Basically same building - just around the corner in the back. OH MY GOD - the new location is STUNNING inside. There are BEAUTIFUL samples hung everywhere all beautifully quilted (most by the owner Kelly - I think????)    I wanted EVERYONE of them. They are gorgeous. Anyway - you MUST MUST MUST check out this store. It is really really nice. I got my redwork thread and a few other things and then we were finally on our way home.

It was raining and quite foggy by now. I kept teasing M about Stephen King and the mist and things that go bump in the night.

Then when we arrive home - we find that the lights in part of the house (mostly her room) don't work. The lights switches, the sockets. Nope the breakers are all on. Turns out we have a SHORT of some kind because when we turned on the light in one of the spare bedrooms - it turned on the light in her bathroom. OK - that is VERY weird. Yes - I will be calling the electrician on Tuesday. Just hope that everything will be OK until then. That light switch in the spare bedroom goes "pop" from time to time. There must be something wrong with it.

And that was my two play dates!!!!!!!!      A lot of fun on both of them.



I have one more play date in mind for M before she goes back to school. I must do a bit of reseach to get all the info.


On that note - it is time for a ME play date in the studio!!!!!



Have a SAFE and HAPPY New Year's Eve to everyone.

Thanks to everyone for all your comments, your inspirations and the feedback. While I mostly write this blog for me, it makes me happy knowing that other people are having fun reading it as well. If you have things you would like to share on the blog - I would be happy to do that. It is a learning experience for all of us.


Have a great day!!!!!   (above all - STAY SAFE!!!!!)



Ciao!!!!!!    ( see you on the OTHER SIDE - well in 2012!!!!!)