The rescue!

 Even though yesterday was the full moon, I slept like a baby! Although, isn't that expression kind of silly since babies tend to wake up a lot! I slept well - let's just put it that way! 

Yesterday was an interesting day. We had a visitor, and the Pony Express is alive and well. Actually, we had a visitor the day before as well. Both were making pick-ups and drop-offs for the Pony Express. And besides the rescue, which I'll get into in a moment, I just didn't seem to be working very fast. I'm not even sure why I was in slow-motion mode. 

I had great intentions of getting those placemats done (the day before), working on the soccer quilt, and doing some knitting, and well, I'm happy to say that the placemats did get finished as much as I could. 

There is a piece of fabric in the center, which I quilted through all layers - the fleece and the backing. Thankfully, I had orange thread on two bobbins in my bobbin holders to do the quilting. I also needed that orange thread to sew the borders on, since it was stitch-and-flip. But I basted the skinny little border on and used a different color to conserve the orange thread. The basting stitches had to be removed as I added the outer border. 

The placemats are pieced! 

Once that task was finally completed, it was time to trim the placemats. Sorry for those silly non-rotated pictures. It drives me mad! But the placemats are fun and bright. I did not add any quilting to the borders - I don't think it needs it. 

The placemats are trimmed

And these are the bits that were left over from trimming. Of course, I kept all those bits!! I can use the small black triangles as enders and leaders for half-square triangles; the larger triangles will go toward making hourglass scrap blocks; and the orange strips can go in the orange scrap box. The fleece - well, I can sew two triangles together to get a square for a hot mat, and I really should throw the other pile away. Those are really too small to do anything with. 

The scraps are sorted

Since I had purchased some solid black fabric the other day, I was able to make and sew the binding onto all four placemats. 

The binding is applied to the back

But not before I ran out of black thread for the top. ACK!!!!! Technically, I could have used any color for that part, but since the binding is black, I chose black thread. 

One empty spool

I got offers from several people to borrow black thread, but then I looked in my bobbin holder and VOILA - there are THREE bobbins of black thread. So I used one on the top and one in the bobbin. Perfect!!! 

Bobbins of black thread

When I was done putting the binding on the back, I put those three partial black bobbins in the retreat box. And when I get home, I MUST remember to stock up on the thread, as I'm almost out of my white sewing thread as well. Good grief -- how did that happen? 

The white thread is almost gone

But no worries because I can always use those bobbins on the top and in the bobbin to get me through the remainder of the retreat. All is good, and it sure feels good to use up those bobbins, but it's going to take a long, long time before they are all gone. 

By the way, when I was adding those black borders, I had just enough for the bobbin. Then it was totally used up!! How crazy is that? I played bobbin chicken and won. I think I had two inches left! 

Here are the four placemats with the binding on, but not topstitched to the top. I need more orange thread for that, and I'm happy to wait until I get home. I made GREAT progress on those. 

The four placemats are almost complete

The center is slightly wonky, but seriously? It doesn't matter. And I will likely keep one of them to show what can happen when you don't use a walking foot to quilt, but I may end up donating all of them. I'm just glad that they are almost done!

The center is slightly wonky

Helen Anne and I braved the wind and the colder temperatures for our walk, and it was fine. I actually think it was warmer than the previous day. Although from the house, it looked like it was almost blizzarding because of all the drifting snow. The little creek is still open because of the running water. 

The creek is still open

Lots of stuff is being made at the retreat, and two more people joined us yesterday, so we are now 8. I used to show all the things people made, but well, I don't anymore. It's hard enough to keep track of what I do. But here are two things that were made, and I asked permission, so here we go!! 

This is the Tula Pink Butterfly quilt that I taught several years ago. This one has a dark background, and it's stunning. Helen Anne made a different border than in the original pattern, and it's gorgeous. I won't go into details on what happened with the border, but let's say there was a wee design element at one point. The bottom line - it's done!!!! Beautiful quilt, Helen Anne!!!!! 

If you think there is a hole in the design on the bottom row, the half-square triangle at the point doesn't have much contrast. It's already been verified!!

We never know what Susan will be working on. She has several grandchildren and always seems to be working on something for them. She wanted to make a car seat poncho, and this is what she came up with. She never uses a pattern - she just wings it! It's adorable, and she made it with the two-sided fleece, and it's soft and so cozy. If I were the baby, I'd never want to take it off!! 

Car seat poncho

That is the same style of cozy fleece Princess Lexi sleeps on at home, and she loves it! But only if her bed is made!

A couple of the ladies went shopping, and boy, they were taking their time. But it's their retreat, so you can do whatever you want. And they had gone to a chocolate shop and a quilt store, so you can see why it took so long! 

Around four PM, I received a distress call. Their car broke down, and they were not far from the house but were waiting for CAA to tow it. The car was making a big racket, but they could run the engine to stay warm, so they didn't need an immediate evacuation! They gave me an address so I could track their location, and I was waiting for their call that the tow truck was arriving shortly.

As I was driving down one road to turn onto another, I saw the tow truck lights flashing and knew I was close, and they were exactly where I envisioned them. As I drove up behind their car, I spotted the tow truck driver standing outside it with a large wrench in his hand. What? NO WAY!!! The lug nuts needed to be retorqued? 

This tow truck driver was excellent (CAA in case you didn't catch that before). Instead of immediately hooking up the car to the truck, he asked questions. What was the problem? What did the noise sound like, etc? Well, it turned out that the lug nuts on the wheels were barely hanging on. He could remove some of them with his bare hands!!! Yikes—they are lucky they stopped when they did. 

I often see signs on the toll highway to get your tires retorqued after switching tires in the spring and fall. I never do, but this was a good indication of what can happen. So I waited until he was done, and then he drove off, and I followed their car to the retreat house. All seems to be fine. This is something that this person does every year - she gets the tires retoqued, but this year, she didn't get back to the garage to have them do that. 

So it was all good and a good lesson. But something else happened. While I was driving down the road, I glanced up and OH MY GOD -- the full supermoon was out, and it was spectacular. So I stopped MANY times along the road and took many pictures. WOW --- it was stunning. 

A full SUPERMOON

The colors in the sky changed as I drove, and it was fascinating to watch. If I had NOT received the "distress" call, I would have totally forgotten about the super moon. 

This picture was taken from the house's porch when I got back. 

Another shot of the supermoon

After my placemats were done, I dug out the knitting bag. Here are my thirty squares for the afghan. Yeah --- a couple of them have the knitted sashing done, but many are just blocks. I also checked out all my tools in that little tin I showed the other day. 

Thirty blocks for my afghan

And I found this gorgeous half-done set of hand warmers!! I LOVE them and have a few pairs, but this pair is very delicate, and the yarn is lovely. 

My hand warmers

I must get myself back to finishing those. I had a peek at the knitting this morning, and well, I'll explain what I'm doing tomorrow. It's quite the job I have ahead of me. Actually, it's super easy, but using some new techniques like casting off and sewing at the same time! I did it on some of the other blocks, so I can do it on this one. The only problem is that it looks backward (the wrong side is showing up on the right), so I must investigate how to fix it. 

And that allowed me to pack another bag that can go in the car! Yeah!! One less thing to pack when we leave. 

One more bag to load in the car

I also dug out another scrap project to work on, and the knitting. I dug out another puzzle from the retreat house and may or may not start it. It's only 350 pieces, so it should be easy to finish. 

Well, that's it for today! Things are going well - just need more time, but that's a constant issue. 

Today should be a quiet day. I mean, no one is coming, no more drop-offs or pick-ups, and well, I should be able to stay focused - I hope!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Ciao!!!!

Prepping for a machine embroidery workshop

People always say they can't wait to go on vacation. Do you know that prepping for vacation or even a couple of days away is one of my most stressful things? There is so much stuff to prepare, so much planning. It's one of the reasons my life at home is so routine—same breakfast, same lunch. There's zero mental ability expended on those tasks!

I'm not sure how I'm going to cope with planning for this upcoming vacation. I've left it to DH, which I know I shouldn't do! After Quilt Canada, I can focus on it. I'd rather just go and see where things take me. I am not a fan of structure! 

I'm leaving later today for a couple of days at a retreat. Well, technically, it's a machine embroidery workshop that I'm running, so it's not going to be too relaxing. Plus, I have a long-arm customer out that way, and I have MANY quilts from her to quilt. 

I spent most of the day either quilting or prepping for the workshop. Here is my pile of stuff to load in the car later today. Half of that won't come home with me! I still have to pack a few clothes and my office backpack and pick up some groceries for dinner tomorrow evening. I also need to add my own food container for breakfasts and lunches. 

The pile of stuff to pack grows even larger

I need something to do in the early mornings, so I must prep that. I will work on cleaning up my digital files for the long arm. I had a few spare moments, so I downloaded a couple of long arm patterns from my downloads to my USB. Tomorrow, I need to check what hasn't been downloaded. I will get this task done! I do not see how people could do this every weekend at the cottage. Nope -- not my style at all. But I didn't grow up with it either, 

After the weekend, I have a Facebook Live next week - Wednesday at 3:00 PM EST on Decorative stitches in sewing and embroidery mode. 

Then it's Quilt Canada, where you can see me in the Husqvarna Viking, PFAFF, or SINGER booth (they are all connected). Don't forget to come and celebrate my 25 years of teaching quilt making at Quilt Canada. There is a concurrent show with 29 quilts from my students over those 25 years. The quilts are arriving at my house (almost daily, it seems), and it's so exciting to see them. I can't wait to see them hanging up!  

A few classes are thrown here and there in June, mostly winding down for the summer. And then freedom! Well, not exactly, I have a bunch of writing and more quilts to quilt! But it's all fun! The weather has been so uninviting to sit outside that it's not an issue. 

Speaking of being outside, I got a call yesterday, and to try to eliminate any issues with the call, I went outside to the gazebo. It was sunny and relatively warm in the morning. There were no issues with the phone, but look what Murphy did. She was NOT happy that I wasn't paying attention to her. 

A dead fish in the pond

Yes - she dropped her fish into the pond pump! Oh, Murphy -- you are a silly girl!!!

And there's Lexi, happy to play around in the tall grass.I haven't seen any ticks on the girls, but she would be prone to getting them with her happiness in the grass. Thankfully, ticks are NOT as prevalent as out west—at least not in the city. But how would I find a tick on either of them? They have their medication, and let's hope it works! 

Our long-time vet is retiring, so we need to find a new one, preferably one that we can walk to. This is one more thing on the list. 

OK—what was wrong with this pin? I tried inserting it into some batting, and well, I think the pin is toast! 

The safety pin is dead! 

There is the daily customer quilt. Everything I've quilted is trimmed and ready to load in the car. 

Customer quilt - DONE

The next one is loaded; I just have to cut some batting and put it on. The quilt is not too big, and the plan is to finish it early this afternoon, so I can trim it before I leave. 

Batting to cut for the next quilt

So while I'm not slacking off at work, there doesn't seem to be much time to sew! I managed to get a 60-minute-or-less project done. Well, that's a lie. I advanced a project I was working on, but there are no rules, so that counts. I think the thing is that I want to try to sew a little bit each day. I'm trying to put things away when I'm done with them and puttering at some of the stuff hanging around, and that all takes time! But the cutting table, well, half of it, remains clear to work. 

I got the binding on three more placemats. Just the back, but that's the worst part!

Four of five placemats have binding

I had guessed how much binding to make, and I didn't have enough to finish the last one. So that binding is now made and ready to sew on, hopefully later today. 

Making more binding

And here are the girls. Murphy finally got bored enough to rip her blankets apart to find the ball, and Lexi is just hanging out with Dad, sitting in the chair. 

Just chilling

This morning, I have some paperwork to complete, a quilt that I need to quilt, and a few driving errands. We're doing something unusual for our retreat. We are arriving at 7 PM and staying for two nights, leaving by 5 PM on Saturday. It's a perfect scenario for running a small workshop, but it's sold out—we are at maximum capacity! And it's the second one I host! 

I was running around the house collecting samples to take with me, but there was one elusive one. What the heck did I do with it? I looked everywhere. Don't you hate when people say that? Obviously, I wouldn't have looked everywhere if I hadn't found it. Then I looked in the LAST place I hadn't looked and there it was! But your brain goes into overload - OH - don't forget to pack that. What about this? 

I don't make lists! I could amass everything in the time needed to make a list. I just rifle through my samples. I know what I have and I know what I want to teach. It's easy and works for me. BUT when I'm back home, I desperately need to put the quilts back into their proper spots, as with the last couple of trunk shows, they did not get put away. Hence, it was challenging to find this last one. But I've got everything I need, and if I have forgotten something? There is so much already to see - we won't have time to see it all, and I can make things up in my head! 

Blank pages and empty space do NOT scare me! 

On that happy note, I'm out of here! I hope your 60-minute-or-less projects are coming along nicely! It sure feels good to put some of that stuff behind me! 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!

I CAN get on top of this!

Well, this message has hit very close to home! 

I'm listening to an audiobook by Oliver Burkeman called "Meditations for Mortals." Oh boy -- it's about trying to do everything in life and not always succeeding. It talks about our busyness, which is me! 

It also mentions how we feel we must read everything that comes into our house—that's me. We must listen to audiobooks/podcasts at double speed (NOT me) and millions of UFOs (OK—that's me). He wasn't talking about quilting but unfinished projects—like painting the living room, fixing the bathroom door, etc. He mentions working shorter but smarter hours. 

Yikes—there is a lot I can learn from this book. But what I love the most is this: "You'll NEVER get on top of it!" Oh my!!! He says we must put down the to-do lists and start making lists of things we've done!

It's a quick listen—four hours, and I'm halfway through. I was going to say that it's the kind of book you could take notes from, but why would I? I would never go back and refer to those notes! Nope, this would be a good book to reread once a year or every couple of months. 

Why are we like this? Primarily because of our upbringing, whether our parents or church or whatever. Remember when they said, "idle hands!" and "stop daydreaming." And the guilt that is inflicted on us if we are idle will kill us, so we work like mad. But are we enjoying everything we do?

I'm learning to let go and am happy to sit in the gazebo and do nothing for as long as I dare! I also walk without listening to anything except nature, so I'm trying hard to back off the quantity of things I do. But to read everything that comes into the house? Oh boy -- I could eliminate a few more things in my decluttering journey by taking that to heart. Perhaps that is the message I will take from this reading -- and see where that takes me. 

OH --- should you choose to read some of his philosophies, check out his website. Many of his blog post topics appear the same as in this book. If I had to sum it up in one sentence, here it is: "STOP -- what are you doing right now? How important is that to where you want to be? What will happen if you don't do that?"  OK - that was more than one sentence, but you get the idea. 

So, to reflect on what I've already accomplished this morning, I fixed the project I made a mess of on the weekend. It didn't take long, but the thought of fixing it wasn't fun. I should never have had to fix it, but it happened. Get over it and move on! 

The mitered corners are beautiful

It's fixed, so I can add the embellishments and get it out of the house! It needs to be gone ASAP. 

Then, I needed to put together a quilt backing. I hate it when I do this. Can you tell me why I would cut the corner out of a piece of fabric? I grabbed two pieces of fabric to make the backing, and both had a big square cut out. I would never do this now. Cut a strip of fabric off, leave the yardage intact, and go from there. I inserted a square into the hole. 

Good grief - who did this? 

Now, take a look at this. 

A very uneven cut

Seriously? That is how the fabric was HACKED off the bolt. I made the backing, but I don't think it's as square as it should be. So help me! What is happening in my Studio these days? Everything I touch seems to get screwed up! But I'll take it upstairs and lay it out properly on the bedroom floor and see what the issue is. I'll be able to see if I can work around the problem, or perhaps I'll have to trim some and then add another piece. 

But all is good. 

Then I also trimmed ONE of the five placemats, which worked out perfectly! YEAH!!!!

One placemat trimmed

When I fold it in half lengthwise and widthwise, it's perfect! There are only four more to go, and then I need to find something to bind them with. At first, I thought black, but I might have a dark green. I'll check later today. This is NOT on my radar screen, but the big piece of those quilted placemats was taking up space, and I needed it cleared up! I'm so far from trying to get that mess cleaned up. It will happen, but when?

I used the 60-degree line on my regular ruler to ensure those lines were at the correct angle. 

Trimming using a regular ruler

It amazes me how people would need a specialty ruler or tool to trim, but we have the most common angles on our regular rulers. We just need to learn how to use them!

And how did the new harness work? Well, look at Murphy. Once that harness goes on and she is waiting by the door, you would think we were trying to kill her! She hates this part, but the second the door opens, all thoughts of the harness disappear. Don't feel sorry for her -- she's a drama queen! 

MOM -- I don't need a harness - it's  uncomfortable

A drama queen who insists on being close! Yes, she is happy to stick her head into the arm of the chair just to get a pat on the head. Do not feel sorry for her - she gets lots of attention during the day, but it's never enough! 

Mom - I need to get closer!

Oh gosh -- this EXIT Game is going to be our death! I had figured out the answer to the next clue, although the storyline wasn't quite where I thought it should go. Then DH did the puzzle and got a similar answer, but he wasn't convinced we were in the right spot. He made me look at the answers, and we were on the money with the first two clues, but how we used the clues was INCORRECT. Oh god --- so I was wrong, and he was right! 

I think the big thing with this particular puzzle is that it's hard to do together because of the nature of the book. We must take time to each read the story and then solve the puzzle together, something that we have not been doing! And we're a good team if we work together!

So I read the following story and figured out what we needed to do—well, I figured out the clues. Now, I'll wait for DH to do the same, and then we'll try to solve the puzzle together. 

Well, I must now figure out what to do in my three most productive hours of the day! I'm back writing and have a lot of prep work to do. That is pretty mindless, so I should be OK. Hopefully, I won't have to go back and redo something! I have several car errands, so I'm unsure how much sewing will get done. 

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!

Celebrating Canadian Quilt History!

I'll revisit the pricing issue later this week—there's no time this morning. I'm back home, and there is much to do this week. I must not let that wreak havoc with my schedule! 

The last day of the retreat is always bittersweet. I've been away long enough to create chaos in my work schedule and long enough to ignore it, but at the same time, I want to get home, sort things out, put things away, and give my girls a big hug! 

I'll share as much of that story as possible this morning before I go to spin class. I'm sorry, but the sorting story will happen tomorrow. 

But first, I promised to share two things with you, and here is the first one. Several years ago, I ran into Judy Lyons (Quilt Appraiser), who mentioned that she was writing a book about Canadian Centennial Quilts. I had forgotten that, but I spotted this at the desk when we were in the local quilt store at our retreat. 

Bookmark for a NEW Canadian Quilt History Book

OH MY --- Judy finished the book! I took the bookmark, and when I returned to the retreat house, I immediately emailed her! We arranged for me to pick up the book on my way home. 

And here I am with Judy, getting my copy! How exciting is that? It's autographed!!! Thanks, Judy!

Judy and I with her new book!

I'm so excited because we must celebrate our Canadian Quilt Heritage (or just our Canadian heritage—we're way too polite!). I sat down with it for a bit last night, but after the "ordeal" of getting home, unpacking the car, and trying to sort everything out, it erupted into another scenario I will tell you tomorrow. 

Here's the book's cover. It's big—269 pages. There are lots of pictures and lots of history about the 1967 Centennial. Where were you in 1967? 

The cover of Judy's book

And there's the flyer announcing the new book. 

ALERT - NEW BOOK!!!!

So, how do you get your copy? Judy is the only point of sale, so email her - at judy.lyons35@gmail.com.  

We had some interesting discussions about quilting at the retreat. I do not profess to know all the history, but I know what has happened in the quilting world since 1998 and who all the well-known quilters were then. But if you have recently started to quilt, you often do NOT know where some of these techniques came from. New designers frequently release a "new" technique, which has, in fact, been around for years! I think credit should be given to the original, but I bet the new designers don't even know, or maybe they don't care. Anyway - I'll leave it like that. 

But contact Judy. There was a limited production run, and you do not want to find out you can't get a copy. 

If you want to meet Judy and hear her speak about her book, there is an "official" book launch at Kindred Spirits Quilt Shop in St. Catherine's, Ontario, on February 14th. Check out the link for more details. 

Let's join Judy in celebrating Canada's Quilt Heritage. Thanks to Judy for all her hard work in preserving our Canadian history!

Speaking of quilt history, let's move on to one of my retreat projects. Jinny Beyer was one of the quilt gurus in her day. All her work was hand-pieced, and she designed many beautiful fabric collections. She is a legend in the quilt world, and I LOVE her stuff. 

OH - and she was FAMOUS for her border prints. Everything I learned about border p[rints, I learned from Jinny! She came to Canada (Alliston) and taught several classes, which I had the good fortune to attend. 

I even taught the border prints as a class, as I found this in the book. Did anyone attend that workshop?

Class requirements! 

This UFO consisted of one yard of the Christmas-themed border print, and I already had one placemat made. If I were doing this today, I would have cut the border print fabric into strips. I did not initially, but that's how I started yesterday. I aimed to make as many placemats as possible from the one-yard cut. 

After cutting the border print into strips, I used my templates to cut as many pieces as possible without having to piece anything. Jinny's concept was to match the principle design lines and the print within that wider strip. I soon abandoned that idea, as it would waste so much fabric. The placemats would be donated, and who would care? 

Laying out the placemat puzzle

So, it became a puzzle. How do I match up all these pieces to cut triangles? I needed six triangles, and none of my pieces were large enough. 

The puzzle pieces

With a bit of ingenuity in the piecing department, I managed to get all six triangles cut. 

Creative sewing to get a triangle

Some of them had a few seams, but all matched pretty well. 

Plan B - and it worked beautifully!

Here are the five placemats. The one in the back is completely finished, while the four in front are just tops. These have been on the UFO list for many years, and it feels great to have the fabric cut and the placemats together. If you look closely, two are the same, and the other three have different centers. That's how this border print worked to get the maximum from the yardage. 

The border print placemats

I might put this on my UFO list for February, and the job will be to finish them off completely. Then they can be donated, and they are gone! 

Speaking of things gone, well, that's a story for tomorrow. I'm almost ashamed to share it, but you will all be able to relate to it!

This is what greeted me when I opened the door. 

MOM - I got a big booboo on my nose!

I guess she's still trying to bury her bone in the frozen backyard. Sigh. Lexi does not want her bone, but Murphy is not listening! 

But yesterday, when I was on the phone with my parents several times and sitting at the table for snack and dinner, they entertained me! Those silly girls are so like little children. 

Mom's home - Mom's HOME!!!! 

Well, I'm off to spin class, and then it's a super busy day with the first of my online events for February, which is also National Embroidery Month!! 

Speaking of which, here is the FINAL QUILT social post. Check out what you can create with mySewnet Embroidery Software.

Oh, and now that I'm back on my big computer with a much larger screen and keyboard, I know why I have two computers. The laptop is excellent for travel, but I would hate to write on it daily! Yes, I could have external hook-ups, but this works for me!

Have a super day!!!!

Ciao!!!!