PRIORITIZE FOCUS WIN!!!

That feels better—I was off bright and early to meet with Brooke. My legs have been so tired since my last trip, but after my stretching and compression pants, they feel so much better! 

Well, I am loving this relaxed schedule and certainly want to take advantage of it for as long as I can! I have two trips, a quilt retreat, and one guild lecture to round out the last two months of the year, so that should be pretty easy. It's giving me lots of time to tackle those current project tables, but as we all know, everything takes longer than we plan. 

However, I managed to eke out a few things yesterday. The quilt is trimmed and ready for pickup! 

Then I loaded the next quilt and realized I had the backing for TWO quilts here. Remember the dog-themed quilts I made in September? I need to get those quilted, so one of two is done on this backing. 

The first of the two quilts for this backing is quilted

I won't unload this, but simply add the next quilt to the backing and away I go. It's pressed and ready to load this afternoon. The batting is wider, but not quite wide enough for two quilts, so when I get to the end, I'll add a strip to the bottom. 

Here is a better picture of the L stitch as a reference point when advancing a quilt. 

The L stitch as a reference

I was wondering how easy it would be to remove it, and after timing that other quilt, I quickly removed the reference stitching. It was super easy to remove, and I think I just found a new way to mark my quilts while quilting. This reference mark will always be there in case something happens. It takes a few seconds longer to stitch the mark, but it is well worth the extra time. I'm a believer! And I'm sure there are many other little tricks that I could learn about that software to make my life easier. 

Thanks to the APQS dealer out west who helped with that one. 

I also got the backing completed for that other quilt, so now it's in the "to be quilted" pile, and I have done the three things on my list for the afternoon. That quilt had been languishing on the floor under a table for several years! 

The backing, the binding, and the quilt top

Now what? I looked in the bucket on the cutting table and picked the next project, which was a quilt that needed the sashing cut. Actually, I needed to cut the cornerstones as well, and I had enough fabric scraps to do so. 

The cornerstones and the remaining fabric scraps

All the scraps are now compiled in a plastic bag. I finished with all the fabric except the background, so it all went into the project container, along with backing and borders, and the book for Vintage Farm Girl II. 

The leftover fabrics for the next quilt

The backing and borders won't fit in the box, so it went on top, and that project box got put on the shelf. 

This box went back on the shelf

The old me would have left that box out because I might want to start it. Well, the new me says NO -- I will pull it out another time, but now is not the time to work on this. My goal is to complete the top, backing, and binding of the original one. And this is how those tables are going to get clear! 

I still have more cutting to do for the background and borders, and that is on today's list. This is a larger project and I can't finish it in one day, but I can set myself a goal for each day. 

What is nice is that these projects I'm working on are ones that I committed to myself and the Many Blocks and UFO Clubs to get done. YES -- PRIORITIZE FOCUS WIN! 

And yes, before I shut things down last night, I had everything prepped and ready on the table for today. Notice how the blue box is NOT overflowing at this point. Yep --- there are still a few projects in there before I need to fill it up again. But so far, this is all working just great! 

The cutting table is ready for today

I seem to have this need to know that something is waiting for me to work on, but I overwhelm myself and my space by filling it with things I am sure I can accomplish in a day. If I can continue in my new way, I may just make this routine a habit! And dare I say I see some progress on the current project table? There was a basket of fabric on the table for the second Farm Girl quilt, but since I decided to set that aside, the basket is gone! 

I had purchased this book a while back, and it was in the blue box as well. I read the book last night (cute story), and it's on the shelf with the other children's books about quilts. Should I ever be blessed with grandchildren, they will know all the quilt storybooks by heart!

Storybook about the little ghost quilt

You know me and the wonderful world of technology. Well, for the most part, I email photos to myself -- and if you need to email pictures to someone, you should be aware that you can CHANGE THE SIZE of those photos. Many people don't know that, but it's a great thing to learn. However, there are times when I need to download pictures, and I have a data cable to do so. I have two of them. 

My data cable

However, something had happened, and the cable transfer wasn't working. OH, great —now what is the matter? I tried both cables and different USB ports, but NOTHING. And I really needed to upload a video because that was on my list of paperwork things to do. 

Hmmm -- I wonder if Google has an answer, and YES it did! I switched my phone in July, and for whatever reason, there are new settings for the Samsung 25+ phone. Of course there are—thank goodness people make videos about these small techie details. 

The phone has to be unlocked—that I learned many years ago —but you also have to allow it to transfer the data—that setting is new. Once I did that, all was good again! So if you want to watch the video and haven't seen it yet, here is the link. It's the video of my quilt show as the featured quilter at the Buckhorn Quilt Show back in early September. It's all about machine embroidery on quilts—from embellishing quilt blocks to making entire quilts with embroidery, quilting, and making labels. It's a great show if you want to check it out. 

The bottom line is that I fixed a problem I was going to need an answer to next week, and another crisis is averted! 

I also had some paper from packaging that came in the last couple of days that I wanted to cut up, so it was on the cutting table, and it's now cut. I want to try my hand at making this IdeaBook, and they used brown paper for some of the pages. 

Some of the pages for my IdeaBook

I ironed the pages after cutting them to remove some of the wrinkles. No steam!

The pages are ironed

If you want to know what I carried home in that suitcase of mine, I dug it out yesterday. When I stopped by the farmhouse, I had a quick peek in my old room, and there was the FORTREL (crimpoline) quilt on the bed. I had planned to make one, but why make one when there is one that is just going to be left behind? 

With a sleight of hand, I removed the quilt from under the crap that was on the bed. ICK!!! It smelled like a non-housebroken animal had slept on it, and I found a mouse nest with skeletons in it. They were probably smothered by the polyester! I found a plastic bag to put it in because not only did it smell like urine, but it also had that musty, old-house smell. GROSS!!!!! I was NOT putting that in my suitcase unless it was encased in plastic! 

I laid it out in the backyard yesterday, and of course, the girls were extremely curious to see what it was all about. I checked it, and there are NO holes front or back—the mice probably broke their teeth trying to chew through it. It's back in the plastic bag, and I'll wash it this weekend. I will likely never use it, but it's a good quilt to have -- these were keepers back in the day. And besides, Victoria Finley Wolfe has one that her grandmother made! My mom would have made it. 

My crimpoline quilt

My girls are too funny—they do NOT want to be caught sleeping together. Lexi is outside, Murphy is inside, and they are happy. 

This is how we sleep close to each other

When they were both out at the same time, Lexi was sleeping by the door, and Murphy was by the gazebo. You would think they didn't like each other. 

When they sleep outside together

Look what I found at the dollar store - those sheets of laundry soap! I didn't check the price against what is in the grocery store. Are these the same products? 

Sheets of laundry soap

And OH MY --- GO JAYS GO!!!! They won last night, which is very exciting. I was listening to a group of employees from the radio station, and many of them had NOT been born when the Jays last won the World Series. I can't say the same thing! 

And that's it for today -- the pile of paperwork to process is set up, and the list of things in Studio B is ready to go, and I'm fired up!

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Grand Reopening!

Well, I learned a valuable lesson yesterday. DO NOT do something new with the blog, and then leave the house! That darn link didn't work, so as you can see, the class list is on a post in the main part, and I'll see if I can fix that later. 

Here's the link to the post with the classes, just in case you didn't see it. 

Yesterday was a long day, but we had a blast at the Grand Reopening of Sew Productive in Acton, and thanks to everyone who came out! Here's a picture of the official ribbon-cutting ceremony. The space is HUGE with a beautiful classroom where the store used to be in the back. 

The ribbon cutting ceremony at Sew Productive

The mayor was there, and we chatted about sewing, although I think she needs a new sewing machine! The kids were adorable, and that young girl, only 9, will be running the store soon! She was so cute as she greeted people when they arrived! 

Emily and I got to chat with the owner of the building, and what a story. It used to be a furniture shop many, many years ago. Sadly, only three tiles remain from the original tin roof. But the floors are original, and they are gorgeous. If you're in the area, be sure to stop by, and if you want classes, let Melinda know so she can scout for teachers and make it happen! 

And look at all the yummy food you missed! I swear that tri-color Gouda threw me for a loop with those colors, but it was YUMMY. It's made with goat cheese, red and green peppers! A wee bit spicy, but bring on the spice! 

Charcuterie board from The Holland Shop in Acton

Tri-color Gouda

So a long day with four demos back to back! But so much fun to see everyone and to show off a few things. I think everyone went home with their heads swimming with things they could do! 

Then it was the Virtual Retreat last night, and I managed to get the bindings on two quilts for someone. I had contacted them that their quilts were ready for pick up, and she asked if I had put the bindings on. AH - NO! So that is now done! 

You may remember this next quilt. I was at a guild, and someone brought in the quilt that had been found in a closet - a chest - I forget. Let's just say that the quilt now belongs to me, and I bought it -- I did not steal it! OH -- I should say that it's only the quilt top. This is 1/4 of the top, and it's HUGE, but it's made entirely from crimpoline/polyester/Fortrel -- whatever you want to call it. 

A crimpoline quilt top

But look at those wild colors! It's crazy, as I've never seen so many patterns of this kind of material in my life. The stuff we had back home was mostly solids. Notice that all the seams are hand embroidered.  

Details of the fabrics

I don't know if (or how) to finish it off. It would be kind of hard to quilt it. So I'll contemplate it and see what I come up with. I might also check around with some other people to see the typical way of finishing these quilts. 

Remember that after the two classes this morning, there's a Virtual Retreat until 8 PM. I have to say that I heard a few grumblings about shutting down at 9:17 PM instead of letting them go on for hours, but HEY -- this is Zoom. It's good to get together, but sometimes too much of a good thing is too much! 

But here's the link for today, and we start at NOON. 

July 23 Starts at Noon -- ends at 8 PM. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86119598156?pwd=ZDFxcElxS0NmeTRjczdSR2FXd3N2Zz09

Meeting ID: 861 1959 8156
Passcode: 053861

And on that note, I'm out of here! The presentations are done, and I've taken more pictures for my writing assignments, and all is good!

Have a great day!

Ciao!!!

Recycle!

Gosh - I'm a slug! When I don't have an imminent deadline, I'm a slug. I did get some work done yesterday, but I also laid around, I slept and I read. A slug. It doesn't happen every day, and I hate when it happens. Oh well - today is a new day, let's get moving.

Today it's all about recycling. Remember years ago, I got on a kick of collecting other peoples scraps. What the heck was I thinking when I asked for that? I must have been totally out of my mind. People have different ideas of what scraps are! In some cases, people saw it as an out to get rid of anything textile they had in their house!

The bags were originally under the longarm but then had to be moved when I started up my Sit n Sew days again. Now all the bags are in the cold room under the front step. I've had a green garbage bag sitting in the studio for months waiting to go through it. I knew the darn thing had few scraps in it and I didn't want to deal with it. But yesterday seemed like a good day to do that.

Bear will be disappointed as he loved to sit on that bag. And I knew whenever he was in the stash room as he bounced over the noisy plastic garbage bag. That little guy - he was snoopy.

Bear taking the obstacle course to the stash room

Bear chilling out on the bag of textile scraps

Gosh - we miss that little guy. Of course, we have the two big girls but they are lunatics! Little Bear was much calmer for the most part!

So what was in the green garbage bag??? 

All of this. There were some old clothes, some FORTREL (aka as crimplene), some fabric swatches on headers, and a bunch of other stuff. NONE of it was what I was looking for.

This is what was in the green bag

However, I'm on a kick of making things with recycled goods so I did keep some of the stuff. I found this beautiful piece of shiny fabric. I have just the right use for that later this week.

Shiny fabric

 Then there were these samples. They are poly/cotton, but who cares. There are enough of them to make something. Can't tell you what yet.

Fabric samples

The headers on the fabric samples

Triton Fabrics - that company is probably long gone. It was funny to find these in the bag. OK - so while there was nothing in the bag of the genre I was looking for, it was fun to go through the bag. Call me an idiot!!!!!

What was I looking for? I was looking for the scraps of cotton that people throw away when they are quilting. Not everything else.

There was a decent size of stained white sheeting. I trimmed the edges and serge it up to make a pet mat form.

Then I chopped up the ugly bits that were leftovers from making clothing.  My rotary cutter will need a good cleaning at this point.

Chopping up the ugly bits

 There was a couple of small strips of polyester batting. That got cut up and added to the mix. Once I had done that, the pet mat was full. I serged the opening closed and it's going to be delivered today.

A pet mat

I kept the crimplene to add to my treasure boxes that I took from Mom's house. And there's nothing left to hang around. Oh yes - there was a pair of jeans with some interesting detail. I do need to cut those up and add to the denim stash. I'll do that later today. But seriously, I found a home for everything and cut up what I would never use. That was NOT the intention of that exercise. I didn't want to add anything to my stash.

However, it brings to mind an interesting thought. It's one thing to always cut into fresh new fabrics to make a quilt or other project. But I seriously believe my creativity kicks in hard when I'm handed something that I have no idea what to do with. I love when I make something creative from it. That's how I learn, that's how I grow and that's how I have fun!!!!

I was even so excited that I pulled the next bag of scraps from the cold room. Call me a sucker! This one looks more like quilting scraps from the cutting table which will get made into pet mats. It's a wonder someone can't chop up all these textile bits and churn them up and remake new fabric from them. I suppose somewhere someone is doing that. But the cost is probably more than making new fabric.

Another bag of scraps to go through

 I'm going to have to find the bag(s) with the old sheets and towels in it so I can make the forms to stuff for the pet mats. I know it's in that cold storage somewhere. Just got to find out where.


I feel much more in control today. I decided to bite the bullet since I couldn't find the first little micro binder that I was using. I cracked open the spare. On each page, I wrote the deadline and the name of the quilt that is associated with that deadline. There are 14 quilts that I'm responsible for that have deadlines. The deadlines are spread out, but I NEED to review this little book each week so I can get the right amount of work done each week. I like the binder idea because it's easy to switch the pages around if a new project gets accepted. Moving the pages allows me to keep the dates in order.

My little binder of deadlines

On that note, I'm out of here.

Oh - I should mention that Lexi blogged this morning. That silly girl. Both of them are just silly.

And today is the last day of the craft sale at The Hobby Horse. Get yourself in gear and get out there to pick up some amazing gifts. There are quilts, table runners, ornaments, placemats, bags, stuff for babies and a whole lot more!!!!!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!